The manservants dressed him in a garment to wear while he ate, more comfortable than his princely robes but just as elegantly designed, and the maidservants kept him company. Two sat next to him, two danced and sang for him, accompanied by an orchestra of four manservants, and two were just happy that he was there—they ran back and forth to get food, drink, pillows, and anything else he wanted. After some of the wonder wore off, Aladdin was happy that they all were there. He learned their names and he ate and sang with them. When dinner was finished he had a luxurious bath, complete with hot and cold running maidens, and they helped tuck him in when nap time came. All in all … he was very, very refreshed!
<<<*>>>
It was nearly dark when the chief manservant woke him.
“Time for you to ready for travel, sire,” he said.
The servants bathed Aladdin once more and dressed him in luxurious suede. He noticed a set of scale mail armor and a sheathed sword on a rack.
“Will I be wearing that?” he asked.
“We will put you into that after you eat,” said a manservant. “It’s quite comfortable on a horse but a bit clumsy at the table.”
Aladdin ate a light dinner and with the manservants’ help girded the sword and armor on himself. He admired himself in a mirror. If anything, he looked even more commanding and princely.
As he turned from the mirror, the genie came in.
“Good, you’re ready,” said the genie. “There is much to do this evening.”
His hand on his sword hilt, Aladdin declared, “There will be fighting tonight.”
“As we discussed in the plan with your father. Yes. The fighting begins tonight and you will lead the units who begin the fighting.”
“I … I … I’ve never fought in a real battle before,” Aladdin said.
“Fortunately for you, that won’t change tonight,” said the genie confidently. “We are providing a distraction. The men you will be leading will be my army, a genie army. They are very easy to command, and they don’t die … well, not in the human sense, anyway. What you need to do is stay behind your men … my men … and be commanding. You must convince the Iron Men that you are a real prince and a real prize. A prize worthy of capturing. Can you do that?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Good! If you do that the Iron Men will follow you and we will lead them to the prize that will keep them away from Induslan. Let’s get started.”
Outside the tent, Aladdin saw what the genie had been working on for so many hours. On the top of rock column now stood a sturdy-looking stone tower, 15 meters high, with many arrow slits and many men behind those slits. If the Iron Men attempted to rush up the road, they would get pincushioned with arrows from the tower.
“Wow! Very nice!” said Aladdin.
Then a thought came to him. “If you have made this sturdy tower, why are we bothering with the distraction. Wouldn’t this be enough to save Induslan?”
The genie looked at Aladdin with some pain in his expression, as if Aladdin was missing some piece of information that was terribly important but that the genie didn’t want to discuss. It was the kind of look Aladdin’s father gave him when he first asked where babies came from.
And then the genie gave Aladdin his father’s answer. “Let’s talk about this a little later.”
“Ah, well …” thought Aladdin. “I’m in for a surprise.”
“Right now,” the genie said, “climb on the magic carpet.”
Again they circled over the Induslani camps and great cheers went up. Then they flew higher and headed over the Iron Man camps out on the great waterless plain.
As they rode through the dark sky, the genie said, “From talking with you and your father, and listening to the Iron Men, I can tell that humans have had no contact with my people for many, many years now. Why the genies have disappeared remains a mystery for another time. But while you humans remember our magic, you have forgotten its powers and limitations.”
“Limitations? But you have made me a prince, and you have made a wonderful war tower, and you are about to make a wonderful army.”
“You are clearly not aware of a major limitation of all genie magic. It is not what you humans call permanent.”
“Not permanent! … All this stuff is going to disappear? I will stop being a prince? When?”
“When it is forgotten,” said the genie. “The rule of genie magic is that once out of mind, it is gone. Since it only has to be out of mind for a moment, that is usually as simple as being out of sight.”
Aladdin thought some more. “So I stay a prince because you stay with me.”
“Right. Although your own thinking can also sustain your princeliness. Even after I leave, you will stay a prince as long as you, or someone around you, is thinking of you as a prince. What that usually means is you will stay a prince until you sleep.”
Aladdin had another thought, “The gold you gave Almanzor back in Sambi is.…”
“Most likely gone. Especially what was hidden. Which in this case is probably not a bad thing. The story of the gold will quickly turn into a tall tale invented by the children, and that will save them all a lot of grief that would be caused by greed and envy.”
Aladdin considered a moment. “I suppose so.”
“Anyway. The permanence of what humans build has always been something genies marveled at, and that ability is perhaps why humans are here now and not genies. It is something I will research further, once I have fulfilled your wish.”
The rest of the flight was in silence.