The horses were good. Aladdin and the genie flew like the desert wind along the Induslan trail. At first Aladdin laughed and laughed at the pure joy of it. Never before had he ridden a horse. Now he was riding one in masterly fashion under a star-filled sky with a genie at his side. He was headed to Induslan to win a war and become a hero of his people. Yes, it was a good night to be alive!
They made good time. The first blue glow of dawn was in the sky when they rode into Induslan. Aladdin was no longer laughing spontaneously, but he was still feeling good and not tired at all. Induslan was still mostly burned down but a few buildings were restored. And beside one of those Farmer Maburak was washing his face.
They rode up and stopped beside him. Aladdin mouthed silently to the genie, “Watch this…”
In his new commanding voice he asked, “Farmer! Where are the brave fighting men of Induslan?”
Maburak looked up with no recognition in his face. He saw a prince, bowed his head, and spoke with great respect. “My lord, they are at the mouth of the valley. The Iron Men have returned.”
“Thank you, farmer,” said Aladdin and he and the genie rode on. As soon as they were out of earshot, Aladdin started giggling. “Oh … this is fun! He really thought I was a prince!”
The genie said nothing and looked as if something else was on his mind.
As Aladdin and the genie rode, the day brightened and they saw more and more people on the trail, a mix of workers and soldiers, most with grim looks on their faces. At the checkpoints he and the genie were stopped only briefly. When Aladdin asked about the whereabouts of his father Adnan and his uncles using his voice of command, the guards were quickly satisfied he was an important man and on their side. They waved him through with helpful directions.
The valley opened up to show the plain beyond, and the enemy camps came into view beyond the camps of the Induslani. Adnan’s camp was now close. But before it was in sight, the genie stopped Aladdin.
“Wait, before we talk to your father, let’s find out more about this enemy. Let’s do a little scouting.”
The genie led Aladdin to an isolated, rocky outcrop with a good view of both the valley and the plains below. It was some two kilometers away from the Iron Men’s camp, so they were not in arrow range, but close enough that an ambitious scouting party might patrol nearby. There they dismounted. The genie conjured up some kind of compact instrument that he put to his eyes and for about four minutes he looked over the camp without saying a word. At first Aladdin followed his gaze, but when nothing changed he began studying the rest of the terrain. So it was Aladdin who spotted the ambitious scouting party headed toward their rock.
“We should leave,” Aladdin told the genie and pointed to the patrol climbing towards them. They were about 500 meters away and 50 below.
“No reason to leave, just yet,” said the genie. “But we can take some precautions. Let’s back off the cliff edge for a moment.”
When they were out of sight of the men below, the genie gestured again. With the first motion their horses disappeared, and with the second the genie vanished!
“We are now invisible,” the genie said. “You can still be heard … and felt … and hurt, so be cautious! But we can stay here and learn more.”
Aladdin held his hands in front of him and didn’t see them. But when he shuffled his feet he saw the dirt move and dust rise. He could hear the hiss of the dirt under his feet, too. The scouts couldn’t see Aladdin or the genie, but they could indeed still be detected by all the other senses.
Aladdin quickly practiced walking without leaving easily spotted footprints. Aladdin guessed it would take the scouting party about five more minutes to climb the hill. It took them ten because they were sneaking up—they were ambitious and they did want to catch whoever it was they had seen! On the outcrop they remained very alert and very careful. One of the men came within three meters of Aladdin and his face changed expression—perhaps he smelled something! But he didn’t see or hear anything so he kept moving on.
When the Iron Men’s scouts saw that the outcrop was empty, they were disappointed, but rather than moving off immediately they took a break. The leader looked around the valley, noting the camps of the Induslani soldiers while his men relaxed and talked quietly. Aladdin couldn’t understand a word of it. Their clothing was old and grayed with too many days spent on too many dusty trails. It was of a strange fabric, cut fairly tight, revealing the shapes of their legs, which were too long for their bodies. And there were too many kinds of faces, round and square, narrow and wide. Their hair ranged from nearly white to as dark as Aladdin’s own. Their skin also came in so many variations! Some looked fairly normal but many looked … way too red!
The amazement of looking at these strange people froze Aladdin for about five minutes. But then it struck him that he had a problem: He didn’t know where the genie was! Had the genie left? Had he gone back in his bottle? This worry grew steadily and he thought about sneaking off the outcrop and walking to his father’s camp. But he stayed put and kept quiet.
After they had rested for some fifteen minutes, the leader said something, the tone of which was, “All right, men, up and at it,” and the scouting party continued its climb. Aladdin was relieved to see them go.
A few minutes after they left Aladdin heard the genie say “Fascinating” from about three meters away.
He was so relieved! But he only said, “Could you understand them?”
“As well as I can understand you.”
Aladdin was deciding he really didn’t like this invisibility. He had no idea what the genie was thinking or doing unless the genie was speaking. He looked for footprints and listened for the hiss of silk on silk as the genie moved but observed neither.
Soon the genie said, “Those soldiers come from quite far away. They look so different!”
“I noticed that, too.”
“Those men sailed across an ocean to get here.”
“An ocean? Oh, you mean what’s next to Tyre! I’ve heard merchants talk about it. They take their stuff to that ocean and bring stuff back from it.”
“Where is this Tyre?”
“Oh … I don’t keep track of such things … but I think it’s a week’s walk west of Induslan.”
“West of Induslan … across this plain?”
Aladdin looked west. He had never traveled on the plain. From listening to the caravan masters in the bazaar he knew that crossing it was a hot and dusty task, and they were always happy when they reached Induslan. Once in a while he had dreamed of going with a camel caravan to see what lay beyond the plain, but adventure was not a big part of his heart. His father had advised him, “If you want to be a good merchant you must travel. You must see what places and people are like beyond Induslan.” He had decided he didn’t want to be a good merchant. He would rather be with his friends.
“Yes, a week’s walk across the plain,” Aladdin answered.
A frown clouded the genie’s face. “If Tyre is where I think it is … in my time there was no ocean there! There was no city. Just a cliff that overlooked a desert a thousand kilometers across and a thousand meters below. My people lived at the bottom of that desert, ten thousand years ago. The heart of my world is there … was there. … Has there been that much change? This is something I must see for myself … but perhaps not right now.”
“So … did you find out what you needed to find out? Will we have victory over the Iron Men?”
“Oh … that. Yes. Their iron is simple passive armor. I had feared they were mechanical men of some sort. But they’re as human as you and nearly as primitive … sorry, but it’s true. Now, would you define a victory as having them leave and not return for at least a year?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because I think I can help you do that much. But if it takes more for you to feel victorious, if I must cast a spell that turns them all into little green toads so they bake in the desert sun while you laugh and taunt them about their dire misfortune in tangling with a prince and a genie … I can’t do that.”
“Ah, I see … Yes, if we can get them to go back where they came from for a year that will be fine.”
“That may be too much to ask—from what they were saying, they came from a long way away. It would take them a couple of years to go home. How about … they go back to Tyre, and don’t come this way for a year or … how about, it is a victory if they go anywhere else and don’t come near Induslan for a year. That’s even better.”
Aladdin was getting annoyed. “This is old men’s talk. If we get them away from Induslan for a year so that I can move back and my family is happy, that’s a victory.”
The genie cringed. “Ouch! Three wishes all in one breath!” he sighed. “But, OK, I will take that as the definition. Now we should meet your father.”
The genie summoned the horses once again and they rode down from their outcrop to Adnan’s camp.