A Whole New World (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,17

or a statue, maybe with a treasure map on its back.

Then it opened its golden outer wings to reveal a set of flight wings—also made of gold.

It sparkled and glowed and flew into the air with a heavy buzzing sound.

Aladdin jumped back.

The beautiful, frightening thing flew off into the valley with the directness of something not entirely insect-like. It circled around a large mound as if deciding what to do and then plunged deep into the sands.

Almost instantly the dunes slid forward in a disturbing way. Something large, something very unnatural was rippling and rising to the surface. A giant stone head of a tiger emerged, moving and growling and tossing like it was alive.

Aladdin prepared to run, but no more of the tiger appeared: just the head. It did not seem able to move and lacked the body of a sphinx.

Its eyes glowed like twin suns.

“Who disturbs my slumber?”

It was hard to say if the words were actually spoken aloud; the ground rumbled, the sky thundered, the tiger roared.

Aladdin backed away, almost tripping over his own feet.

This was not what he had signed up for. A dangerous trip into a deep, dark cave, yes. A jaunt into the middle of the desert at night, sure. This was too much. There had been no mention of a giant talking stone tiger with the voice of an ancient god.

The old man made an impatient go ahead movement with his hands.

“What?” Aladdin demanded. “Are you crazy?”

“You want the princess, boy?” his companion asked with a sneer.

Yes. Yes, he did.

Aladdin took a deep breath and tried to steady his nerves.

“Uh…it is I! Aladdin!” he shouted, feeling more than a little foolish.

The tiger was silent for a moment.

Aladdin got ready to run for his life.

“Proceed.”

The rumbles were softer, as if it was less angry.

“Touch nothing but the lamp.”

Its mouth snapped open, revealing a wide golden gullet. Down its tongue traveled a golden staircase. Aladdin couldn’t see to the bottom. He took a tentative step forward.

“Remember, boy, just fetch me the lamp!” the old man shouted, unconsciously imitating the tiger. “Get me the lamp and I shall make sure you get your reward!”

Aladdin thought of Jasmine.

He set his jaw.

“C’mon, Abu,” he said, and began to go down the steps.

The golden stairs very quickly revealed themselves to be disappointingly normal stone, only lit golden by whatever was below. But the sheer number of them was breathtaking: the path dipped and curved through the darkness as far as the eye could see. Several times when Aladdin thought they had reached the end, the stairs began again into a deeper descent.

Into—Aladdin was more than a little relieved to see—an absolutely enormous, normal cave. Not a stomach.

At the far side of the cave was a somewhat anticlimactic stone doorway that glowed so brightly from whatever was in the room behind it that Aladdin had to cover his eyes as he went in.

“Would you look at that,” he said, when he passed through to the other side, a wide grin growing across his face.

Gold. Ridiculous, ludicrous, unimaginable piles of it. Entire hillsides of coins, cups, urns, and statues. Giant golden cauldrons stuffed to overflowing with necklaces, rings, bracelets, and other trinkets. Golden thrones. Golden tables. Golden bric-a-brac shaped like fruit for no conceivable purpose other than to look at.

And among all this, rugs of indescribable beauty and size and chests full of jewels shaped like berries and flowers.

“Just a handful of this would make me richer than the sultan,” Aladdin sighed.

Abu chittered. Light sparkled on the closest chest, bouncing off a ruby the size of an apple.

The little monkey made a beeline for it.

“Abu!”

Aladdin ran desperately after the little monkey and did something he never normally would have. He grabbed the monkey’s tail and pulled him back.

Abu squawked at the indignity and tried to stop himself by digging his hind claws into the rich purple-and-blue rug they were standing on.

“Don’t. Touch. Anything,” Aladdin chastised, shaking his finger at his friend. “Remember what that big, scary cat thing said? Whose stomach we are currently in? We gotta find that lamp. First. Then we’ll get our reward.”

He plucked the monkey off the ground and set him securely on his shoulder.

“It’s got to be around here somewhere.…”

He wandered the path around the treasures carefully, making certain never to come too close to any of them. He kept one hand on Abu, just in case.

The monkey chittered irritably.

“I don’t know,” Aladdin answered, as if it was a real question. “A little oil lamp, I