The Poles Reversed

-Written by Gale-

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, but the concept is mine. No profit, just fun. Also, I'm amazed people are still favoriting and watching this story given how many years since I updated. I do keep writing, but then I get stuck. I've been stuck in the same place for a while now, so I decided to find a way to conclude the chapter and get this out to you. Maybe feedback will help get the wheels turning again!

Chapter #7: Of Windstorms and Wonders

On horseback and through a sudden and unrelenting sandstorm, the journey carried Mozenrath and Jafar into the desert and the latest, coldest hours of the night. Abu had climbed into the younger man's robes for the bulk of the journey to hide from gale and shiver alike, and they might have both lost track of Jafar's familiar had he not – free from the bonds of subterfuge – become more vocal.

"Put one wing outta Agrabah and of course the storms hit! Because this isn't already the least convenient time to be doing this!"

There were short spans in a matter of hours that were blessedly silent and only when Jafar's hissed threats managed to cow the rather talkative and sardonic bird into submission.

"Yeah, like the trip's gonna go any faster in total silence—A'RIGHT ALREADY, I'm shuttin up!"

Mozenrath might have found this obnoxious if now and again Iago did not put to perfect words exactly how he felt. Sometimes he felt Abu shake with more obvious laughter than cold, but he could not hear the creature's voice over the roar of the wind. He knew they were of a similar mind, and a little humor, however poorly placed, offered some respite from what was a completely bleak situation with only the promise of the least trustworthy person in the world to offer some possible reward at the end. If there were anywhere to go in short enough time, he would have fled, but he knew that with only enough supplies to get them to this cave and back, any escape attempt would have left him dead and stranded, even with luck on his side.

The weather had cleared only moments ago when Jafar dragged the reigns of his horse and came to a stop, calling for the boy to do the same.

"We're near enough now," he hissed.

"Then why does it look like we're not near anything at all?"

Jafar glanced sidelong at him. "Were you so obstinate toward your old master, I wonder?"

Mozenrath returned the look with equal irritation. "Making you what? My new master?"

The nasty smile that appeared there told the boy exactly how Jafar wanted to answer that question.

"You needn't be like this. I could teach you a great deal, you realize, and after this, I will—"

When he cut Jafar off, it took him a moment to be surprised at himself. "You can't teach me anything that I am interested in learning, your excellency." And then it sunk in – perhaps the tiniest twinge of learned guilt that struck him for being rude to one of his betters. Right now they were both doing something illegal, and as he always did in their tiny chats in his storefront, he was taken by his bravado once again. There would be no guilt. Jafar may have had one over on him, but he didn't have to like it.

"So let's be honest, here: You picked me because you couldn't find anyone else." And he might have thought he could get something else out of it. For now though, the apothecary would not linger on it.

"I'm here because I don't have any real choice in the matter, not because I'm the least bit interested in your charity. Let's accept that about ourselves and finish this. Now where is this cave? Or that key you were boasting about?"

The Grand Vizier's face was a mobile contortion of surprise and outrage, two emotions that seemed to never know exactly how to settle onto his features, so they shifted in odd little twitches across an almost liquid canvas. That they ultimately stopped on smug satisfaction left Mozenrath uneasy.

"Ask and you shall receive," Jafar quipped, and he drew two small golden objects from his robes. Abu climbed onto Mozenrath's shoulder to get a better look at the glint his eyes caught in the moonlight, but his master could not immediately decide what they were until they were placed together and burst with light so sudden and powerful that the boy had to wince. "Don't fall behind!" Jafar barked, and as the golden object (now recognized as a fluttering scarab) leapt from his fingers and zipped into the night, he kicked his horse into a canter, and Mozenrath clumsily gave chase, Abu clinging to his neck for dear life.

The scarab left a trail of shimmer in its wake as it weaved between the dunes with untold grace. Though Mozenrath was not a rider by any stretch of the imagination (as this was perhaps the second time he'd ever ridden one), it was not difficult for him to stay within sight of the flying bauble, and the horse seemed more sure-footed with a beacon to follow.

When the insect split into its separate pieces and disappeared into the blackness of a sand dune, Mozenrath barely realized that Jafar had already stopped, and his horse pulled up so suddenly that it nearly threw him. Between the tangle of monkey limbs grasping at his face for safety, the toss of the horse's neck and mane, and his desperate attempts to stay in the saddle, he did not see the mass of blackness rising from the dunes until its features as an immense stone face were plain to everyone else.

The tiger's head that was the Cave of Wonders peered into the night with moons for eyes, and a warm illumination crept past its jaws. Its voice was deep and inhuman, and it rumbled so that Mozenrath felt his heart skip at the vibration.

"Who disturbs my slumber?"

A bony hand grasped Mozenrath's arm and roughly yanked him down from the horse, spilling him and a startled Abu across the sand.

Jafar towered over him impatiently. "Answer it with your name," he said through his teeth, stooping to pull him to his feet.

If the boy were not still attempting to process that a giant stone tiger was speaking to them, he might have taken issue with the rough handling. The Cave waited, its gargantuan maw open wide and waiting.

Why did he have to answer again? He was just the bag man; Jafar was the one with the key. He woke it up.

This was all so far outside of his realm of comfort, all part of something he had known from day one he wanted no part in. If he felt anything short of annoyance, it had to have been disappointment in himself for letting it get this far. Was it simply his destiny?

Doubtful.

It had nothing to do with the Princess, he told himself. Jafar had wanted him, and he would have been picked up had she not wandered into his life at all. If he'd left her to be mutilated in the Marketplace, he would still be standing right here, staring down the throat of a beast that should not have even existed (much less had vocal cords).

"My name is Mozenrath..." he managed, his voice turning small on the last syllable when the immense head turned to look down at him directly. A nervous swallow. "Mozenrath," he repeated, clearly.

Thinking of something made of stone having "expressions" unsettled him, but the Cave certainly did. It seemed to raise an eyebrow at him, not with skepticism he hoped. And did it matter? If he failed it would eat him, and if it accepted him, he was going to same place anyhow, right?

"Proceed," it boomed after a time. "Touch nothing but the Lamp."

That caught him. "Wait, nothing but the lamp?" Mozenrath shot an accusing look back at Jafar, who at least had the good sense to try to pretend to be as surprised as he was. Anything else in the cave, he said? "What are you playing at?" he demanded.

Jafar rolled his eyes. "You cannot touch anything else until the Lamp has been removed. Bring it to me, and I will take care of everything."

"Why do I suspect this is going to end with you getting what you wanted and me getting nothing at all?"

"Because you have very realistic expectations for a boy your age," the older man returned flatly. "You said it yourself: you have no other choice. You may either choose to accept that I intend to reward you, or you may not, but this still ends with you going inside that cave. Now get on with it."

"Fine!"

Abu climbed back onto Mozenrath's shoulder, his round eyes shining with concern. The boy's own brow knitted with worry, at this situation and everything surrounding it. Could he bring a friend? Jafar did not appear to intend to go inside, himself.

On looking at the monkey's face, and he realized that like the stone face, there was expression there that perhaps should not have been. That was not to say that animals were without feeling, but their emotions and the means they used to communicate them struck Mozenrath as finite and rarely complex.

Not that he was especially experienced in such things.

Perhaps monkeys worried just like people did. Or perhaps Jafar was right, and he and his companion were somehow connected.

...If he was right, then the Cave would recognize them as one entity, wouldn't it?

"One way," Abu chirped, as though answering his thought.

Mozenrath climbed into the mouth of the Cave, its tongue giving way to perfectly carved stairs as his feet touched the interior. He chanced one look back at Jafar. Iago fluttered to his shoulder, the two of them now dim shapes, but he heard a gravelly, almost sarcastic-sounding "We're rootin' for ya, kid!" and grunted with derision.

It was no small feat for him to find that bird somehow more pleasant than his master.

Until he followed the stairs, the apothecary had trouble imagining how a cave of any particular worth or interest could somehow exist in the stomach of a giant stone tiger. He even wondered if perhaps the interior would take the shape of the creature's innards, but when it seemed he had been descending for some minutes, led somehow by lit torches (he doubted anyone was around to light them) toward a more intense light.

Through an archway, at last, he came to a chamber so immense that he completely forgot he was underground. Abu held a long, slow gasp, and he was hard-pressed not to do the same.

It was as though they had entered a desert where the dunes were made not of sand, but instead gold coins and jewels. In the torchlight they winked invitingly, and Mozenrath felt himself taking hold of Abu's tail to keep him in place.

"How are we supposed to find the lamp in all of this?" he asked.

"I can!"

Abu grinned when he shot him an unimpressed look. "Remember, we can't touch anything."

"And monkeys don't talk."

"I don't think that's important right now."

"Right."

For the first time since this whole fiasco began, Mozenrath felt himself smile a little. They had a hopeless task ahead of them, and even though he knew he would have to keep an eye on his friend for the duration to ensure their safety?

Having a friend along at all, and someone to talk to, already made him feel infinitely better.

"Well," he sighed, cracking his knuckles, "we'd better get to work. Is it bad that I hope this takes a long time? Not like – days or anything, but give the sun time to come up. Let Jafar sit and bake..."

Abu snickered.

Looking for the lamp entailed wandering from dune to dune and attempting to discern one glob of gold from the next. None were lamp-shaped, unfortunately. Mozenrath kept the small hope that it did not sit atop any of these piles, as it would then be impossible for them to grab. Each time he stopped to examine one pile, he felt Abu's paws tense on his shoulders, as though bracing to pounce.

The jewels were mostly what drew him, bright snatches of reds and greens and purples and blues in a sea of golden oneness. Sometimes, he was uncertain whether it was the jewels themselves that Abu favored, as he had no need to recognize them as valuable, or the colors, but he knew the shine was what it boiled down to in the end. It wasn't a matter of greed or extreme poverty, as it would be for humans given to stealing; Abu just loved all things that sparkled.

Soon the boy found himself tense for another reason, the hold on Abu's tail no tighter, but his other hand clenched at his side, and time and again he glanced back.

He had the sneaking suspicion they were not alone in this place.

Author's Note: Again, it's good to be back after so long! I hope you're still watching, and I'd adore your feedback!