Abu screamed and clawed Aladdin’s neck.
“What is it?” Aladdin demanded, turning around to see what was bothering his friend. There was nothing behind them, just the path they were on. And also a carpet that looked suspiciously like the one near the entrance, by the chest Abu had almost touched. It even had the same golden tassels, one on each corner.
“Huh,” Aladdin said. He turned and began walking again.
Abu was silent for a good ten seconds before beginning to screech in fear.
Aladdin whipped around.
Again, nothing.
Except for the carpet.
Which was right behind them.
Again.
Aladdin frowned, looking at the thing.
As he watched, the carpet rose hesitantly off the ground. Like a fish, or something used to swimming in the air.
Aladdin’s eyes widened in wonder.
“A magic carpet!” he said with a whistle. “Mom used to tell me bedtime stories about djinn and their magical treasures.”
He put a hand out to it, delicately, slowly.
The carpet responded, sliding forward as if propelled by an invisible breeze. Its rear flapped gently like a flag. Aladdin found himself scratching and ruffling its nap as he would a cat’s fur.
“Good…carpet. There’s a boy. Good boy. Hey…may we get on you?” he asked politely, getting an idea. It would be much faster to scour the cave from above, gliding among the dangerous piles of gold without needing to go near them.
The carpet sensed what he wanted and lowered a little, like a trained elephant going down on one knee to enable a rider to easily jump up.
Aladdin grinned.
He stepped on carefully. It was a strange feeling; the rug both gave and held under his feet, like he was walking on a pile of flax waiting to dry. He crossed his legs and settled in, putting Abu in his lap. The monkey was not entirely happy about this turn of events, but since Aladdin didn’t seem scared, he remained relatively calm.
Whether or not he won the princess, this was the best adventure of his entire life.
“We’re trying to find a lamp,” Aladdin said. He felt a bit like an idiot talking to a rug. But then again, the rug was flying. Who knew what it could understand or do? “A…special lamp?”
The rug rippled for a moment, as if thinking. Then, without a sound, it began to drift higher and higher into the air, picking up speed. Soon they were dipping and gliding around the mountains of treasure as easily as an eagle through the clouds. Abu gripped Aladdin’s arms until his tiny claws drew blood, but the boy just laughed.
Following a series of tunnels and passageways he would never be able to remember full of treasure he would never forget, they eventually came to a cave even larger than the first one. Aladdin couldn’t see the far walls; it all drifted into darkness. The bottom was filled with a lake of perfectly still, pellucid water. Rising out of the middle was an island made up of boulders that looked like mushrooms, one on top of another, with steps carved out of their middle. At the very top, a single shaft of light from somewhere high, beyond sight, illuminated a small bronze object.
The lamp.
The carpet didn’t fly to it, however; it gently set itself down on a rocky outcropping on the near wall. A narrow causeway led from there to the mound. An ancient, idolatrous golden shrine guarded the way; some unknowable god who looked like an ape with too many teeth. It held aloft a ruby the size of an orange—as if it was a lamp lighting his way.
“All right, here we go,” Aladdin said, adjusting his vest and trying to put the image of the angry god out of his mind. Something about the place, whether it was the size, the silence, or something else, kept him from just running across the causeway. Something demanded silence and respect. He found himself walking quickly but carefully, as if he was in a procession he couldn’t quite see.
He slowly and solemnly climbed up the stone steps on the island. When he finally made it to the top, Aladdin picked up the lamp carefully with both hands…but it was as solid and sturdy as any modern household lamp. Morgiana decorated her hideout with dozens of these.
“This is it?” Aladdin swore, an incredulous smile on his face. He turned to Abu and the carpet. “Look at it, guys. This is what we came all the way down here to—”
He was just in time to see Abu grab the giant scarlet gem and try to wrest it out of the golden ape god’s hands.
“Abu! No!” he cried.
“INFIDELS!”
The very ground itself spoke; the air, the earth.
“You have touched the forbidden treasure!”
Aladdin watched in horror as the ruby melted like so much dust in Abu’s tiny hands. The monkey screamed as if it burned him, and scampered away from the golden statue, which tipped forward, also melting.
“Now you will never again see the light of day!”
The light shaft that had illuminated the lamp in gold now turned a bloody red.
The cavern began to shake.
Aladdin made a beeline down the steps back to the causeway. Stones fell away under his feet. What had been a stairway quickly dissolved into a ramp he slid down, barely keeping his balance as the whole cave shuddered and began to collapse. He pitched forward.
A deadly heat hit him from below. He chanced a look down and saw to his horror that water no longer filled the bottom of the cavern—now it was all lava.
That one look was enough to throw him entirely off balance. As if the cave could sense his instability, a particularly big quake sent Aladdin flying toward the red-golden furnace below.
“Carpet!” he cried.
Aladdin windmilled his arms and legs, trying to slow his fall. He felt the heat singe the hairs on his legs, the roar of the molten stone rushing up to meet him…
…and then the soft, firm cloth of the magic carpet beneath him.
He didn’t have time to relax: in a panic Abu had tried to run toward Aladdin and was now stranded on the last of three remaining stones in the causeway. The tip of his tail was smoking.
Sensing Abu’s need, the carpet dove toward the monkey. Aladdin grabbed Abu by his poor burning tail and swung him aloft.
The carpet flew up away from the heat and through the air, picking up speed. A hot wind surged against their backs. Aladdin turned around. The lava had pulled back into one huge roiling wave that rose above their heads, ready to crash down on them.
“Faster!” Aladdin urged.
The magic carpet doubled its speed and ducked them through the cavern’s doorway. A split second later the wave crashed behind them. Lava exploded through the door and kept coming, boiling up from some immense pit as if it had no end.
They dove through each of the incredible burning caverns of treasure like a falcon hurtling toward its prey. Aladdin and Abu both ducked as the carpet shot through the final door that led into the first treasure room.
Aladdin started to sigh with relief.
And then the giant piles of gold began to explode.
Each priceless hill swirled into a molten pile of fire and ash that shot toward the ceiling—and at the carpet. Aladdin helped steer, torn between fear for his life and heartbreak at the destruction that was being wrought there. As the explosions hit the ceiling, it began to cave in, boulders and square stones that had shaped the giant cat head now falling like bombs. The earth screamed in anger, frustration, and pain. Lava began to shoot like blood from every tear in its surface.
Aladdin covered his face and let the carpet find its way to the top. It followed the rapidly disappearing stone staircase up the cat’s throat, keeping close as if it was safer.