A Whole New World (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,76

thief, surprised.

“My friend,” she said gently, “Jasmine is the best thing that ever happened to you. You should do anything you can to keep her.”

“I should? What about you?” he asked with a thoughtful smile. “When was the last time you gave in to Duban?”

“We’re not together,” she answered promptly.

Aladdin raised an eyebrow at her.

“Officially,” she added.

He waited.

“Oh, shut up. He gets his way enough,” she said, hitting him in exasperation.

“I’m worried about him,” Aladdin admitted, glancing at their friend, who was refusing Pareesa’s game. “He usually manages to suck things up and deal with them in his own way. He’s never been the broody type.”

“I know,” Morgiana said, frowning. “I’m worried about him, too. He’s acting strangely—almost secretive. Pulled into himself. If I didn’t know better…wait, look!”

She pointed. Arcing high into the sky from the Garden Quarter were four flaming arrows, tracing a giant tiger’s claw across the night sky.

“That’s the signal,” Aladdin said, crawling over to the edge of the roof to get a better look at the city.

Somewhere in the distance a noisy, torch-carrying crowd was assembling to very obviously march on the palace. Uneasy patches of glowing red across the city reacted immediately, heading toward the disturbance. Like ants suddenly realizing that their home was threatened. Overhead, the phalanxes of soldiers and ghouls patrolling the skies stopped their maneuvers and headed in the same direction.

Aladdin found himself counting in his head. Right when he got to twenty, an explosion lit up the Old Market. The aerial guards paused, unsure what to do. One scout broke away and made for the palace. Morgiana and Aladdin watched this one zoom impolitely over the walls and through a large midlevel window. Moments later, the shutters flew open on the Public Balcony and Jafar stormed out to see for himself what was going on in the city.

“Let’s go!” Aladdin ordered.

The four thieves appeared to dive straight over the side of the warehouse.

But of course each of them grabbed a clothesline below. They pulled themselves hand over hand across the street—above the heads of some human soldiers running out into the night. On the other side they dropped onto a terrace. From there they leapt to the ground and made for the shadow of the palace wall. Morgiana, Duban, and Pareesa clenched daggers in their teeth, but Aladdin held nothing as the four of them scurried up the old battlement—which was made for keeping out armies and militias, not thieves. They were terribly exposed: four dark shapes against the expanse of white that fairly glowed even under dim conditions. At any moment a guard pacing the top could look down and easily see them.

Aladdin just worked steadily at finding footholds and pulling himself up. He refused to look up or down to check his progress.

Finally, at the top, he flipped himself up and over and landed in a crouch, looking quickly both ways. The plan seemed to be working: there was no one else up there. The only guard left was running toward the main gate to help release the outer portcullis. Aladdin fixed a rope around a sturdy beam to prepare for shinnying down the other side.

Morgiana’s head popped up beside him, and then her body, light and fleet as a bird. She couldn’t help taking a moment to survey the palace, laid out so perfectly below: the towers, the gardens, the hidden courtyards, the waterworks that supplied the baths. It looked like one of the old sultan’s toy models from up there.

She shook her head and allowed herself a low whistle. Aladdin gave her a rueful, sympathetic grin.

Duban and Pareesa finally made it up. When they were settled, Aladdin pointed to the tallest tower in the palace.

“That’s Jafar’s? The Moon Tower?” Pareesa asked.

Morgiana nodded. “Good luck!”

The girl gave a wicked grin. “I don’t need luck. All I need is flint and tinder.”

Then she silently ran along the top of the wall. Despite her grace and speed, Aladdin still turned away as she made the leap to the tower. There was a vast expanse of night air between her and it, and he didn’t want to see if she missed.

“All right,” he whispered to his remaining team. “Let’s go.”

The three of them lightly rappelled down the inner wall and landed silently on the soft, fragrant grass of the bailey. The palace had grown like a clump of mushrooms over the centuries, each new building like a single stalk. Aladdin counted carefully and picked out one of the shorter structures near