A Whole New World (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,61

said. “Maybe I’ll have a couple made up in gold for those who support our cause.”

“Our cause?” Jasmine asked, entering the chamber. She pushed her disguise hood back from her face. Morgiana followed close behind. She scowled when she saw who sat drinking tea.

“Your Royal Highness,” Amur said, leaping up and immediately executing a perfect salaam. “There were rumors you were somehow connected with all this, in hiding.…”

“The rumors are true,” she said with a smile, indicating for him to sit down. She sat as well and took Aladdin’s cup from him. He grinned and let her have it.

“I am gratified to see you are still alive and well. Underground, literally as well as figuratively,” Amur said. “And this leads us nicely to what I came here to discuss.…I want to talk about the little situation Agrabah has with Jafar.”

“Why do you care?” Morgiana asked. “He’s not bothering you. He’s not making you swear an oath of loyalty for bread. At night, when curfew tolls, you guys just stay inside your mansions and wait until morning. How is he bothering you?”

Amur gave her a withering look.

“Life isn’t that simple, thief. Let’s start with gold, for instance. I am sure that as a thief you are aware of how much this magical influx of coins has devalued it?”

Aladdin chuckled, but not meanly. “He’s got you there, Morgiana. Jafar is ruining their trade, too.”

“A second thing,” Amur continued. “And no less important. Jafar has closed all the libraries, all the religious education centers, and all the trade halls that deal with science or magic. The Alchemaics, I have it on good authority, are forbidden from meeting on pain of death.”

“But why would he…?” Duban began.

“Because he doesn’t want competition,” Morgiana said grimly. “He’s looking to break the laws of magic and doesn’t want anyone stopping him.”

“And of course everyone who’s educated knows how Jafar’s ‘benevolent’ rule ends,” Jasmine said, nodding.

“It’s true. Imams, mullahs, priests, rabbis, teachers, scholars, students…they are…dissatisfied with the current state of affairs, to say the least,” the jeweler said with a sigh.

“And you…?” Jasmine prompted.

Amur steepled his fingers. “Let us say I am representing them. I come to speak for a certain segment of the population, which includes the religious leaders, and guilds, and others in various quarters of the city…people you might not normally have discourse with. Who have…heard of some of the caravan raids and other exploits carried out by your little band of outlaws here. Who are willing to support you in your endeavors as best we can.”

“And they elected you to risk your sorry self down here?” Duban asked with a toothy grin.

“No,” the man said calmly. “I volunteered.”

Duban had the decency to look abashed.

But Amur wasn’t done. “You know, thief, you are not the only ones who value freedom. To do what you want where you want with whom you want. To read what you want, if you can read. To live. I have a pair of granddaughters I used to walk with every evening up the hill past the cloth market to watch the sun set. It seems like such a little thing not to do anymore…but it matters. For them, and for me. And even mansion walls do not keep out the fear of the night and the odious new things it brings.”

“So we do the dirty work and you secretly support us?” Morgiana demanded. “Your talk about freedom is all well and good, but living, the freedom of that, is denied to many of the poorest in the city. Where were you before the breadlines—when people were just hungry?”

“It’s a fair point,” Amur allowed. “But it’s hard to gauge the severity of a situation when your sorry self, as your friend so nicely put it, is in danger every time you set foot in the poorer parts of town. When there is a well-organized gang of thieves bold enough to start infiltrating the gem and gold markets.”

“And that’s a fair point,” Jasmine said with a gentle smile. “Can we, perhaps, agree that when this is all over, it is a problem we will all work on? Together? That Agrabah’s problems are everyone’s, and we need everyone’s help?”

Amur and Morgiana glared at each other for a long moment.

“Yes,” Amur finally allowed.

“All right,” Morgiana said, not quite sullenly.

“All right,” Jasmine said with a relieved sigh. “It’s past time I got out there and started distributing bread to the families who have refused this whole swearing allegiance thing. Who are starving because of the