Disney Fan Fiction - A Desert Snake Ch 1

The great city of Agrabah was situated at the edge of the desert north of the jungle and next to the Jordan River. A bazaar consumed most of the city where anyone could find just about anything. Food from all corners of the world, rugs of every shape, size, color, and design, trinkets from far off lands, and even material household items. WIth Jafar as the sultan, it is also a center of a slave trade where those who are unable to pay the tax are taken and sold to those who could afford them. Another major market was the donkey trade, which had grown considerably after he took power. They were quite young and wild. Stories flew that there were cases that a few could speak but all that did was bring in more costumers. On a large rise to the north was the giant palace that overshadowed the city like a mother hen over its chicks. The entire building was made out of white marble with high walls, rounded parapets and domes, and behind the walls was a large garden.

It was in the bazaar that the caravan stopped. One of the merchants came up to the guards.

“Quite a load you’ve got here.”

Razoul turned to him and snickered. “The sultan will receive the gold first, Abis Mal. The rest will be auctioned off.”

“Oh, I know,” said Abis Mal slyly as he came to the slaves. One of them, a girl with a braided ponytail, lavender skirt with purple borders, and shirt that shows her midriff, caught his attention. He licked his lips as he held his hand to touch her but the flat side of a scimitar struck his hand. He recoiled to see Razoul glaring at him.

“That means no inspecting,” growled the captain of the guard.

“Fine,” the merchant pouted. “I’m not interested in slaves anyway.” His eyes roamed the amount of jars and vases inside of the wagon.  

Rumpelstiltskin heard the whole conversation while he was in the jar. His back was on fire for having to stay in the vessel for such a long time having to get out only when the caravan had stopped for the night. And even then he couldn’t stay out for long with only enough time to stretch and steal one of the goatskin water bags that was on one of the horses to quench his thirst. Now he was parched having drank the whole thing only hours ago.  His stomach also growled and though he had tried to sleep it off, as soon as he woke up it immediately grumbled and continued to grumble all the way to Agrabah.

He felt the wagon start again shortly and soon he heard the creaking of the massive gates that led to the palace. There was then a flurry of activity as he heard guards urging slaves to unload the gold. As soon as that was done the wagon and the rest of the occupants had left the palace and went back into the bazaar. It stopped on the back end of a stage.

Once he was sure that all the guards were gone he slowly and surely got out of the jar. There were several gasps that came from the new slaves that were chained to the wagon. He put a finger to his lips but it was too late. One of the children said a little too loudly, “Are you a slave too?”

Rumpelstiltskin winced at the loudness from the child’s voice. Sure enough it got the attention of two of the guards at the entrance to the stage, who shouted and drew their scimitars.

“Wish me luck, guys,” Rumpelstiltskin mock saluted to the slaves and took off down the alley. He found himself in the one of the streets with vendors selling livestock. The guards were hot on his heels, and he quickly hopped and tip toed on the backs of a herd of sheep. Seeing a rug hanging out of a second story window, he grabbed onto it and climbed up to find himself in a ladies’ dressing room.

“Beg your pardon, ladies,” he said, smirking as they all shrieked at his appearance. He immediately headed to the other side of the room, ducking underneath the suitor and went out another window. He landed on a wagon that was carrying carpets.

“Look there he is!”

He turned to see the captain of the guards now leading four of his men down the alley. Quickly, he jumped from the wagon and slipped into a small crack. Frustrated, Razoul took the men around the block. Rumpelstiltskin, however, wasn’t going to come out the other end. He quickly backtracked out of the crack to see the last of the guards going around the corner, and then he went back into the street that had the livestock. Pulling his hood up and picking up a staff he walked down the street. However, it didn’t last long as a shout came from behind him.

Immediately, he ran down the street and turned to find himself in the main bazaar. However, here there were more guards and they soon caught on and started to chase after him as well. Rumpelstiltskin ran past sword swallowers, fire breathers, coal walkers, and snake charmers. He ran past food sellers, and at those times he would use the items to slow down those guards that were gaining.

He knew that it was beginning to get hopeless as he was running out of tricks to play on them. Rounding a corner he found himself in a dead-end with only two doors that were locked and the windows too high. Hearing the shouts of the guards getting closer, he turned around and prepared to fight.

Suddenly, a rope came down in front of him and voice above him shouted at him to take it. Doing as he was told, he was pulled quickly into a room. Curtains were pulled over, making the whole room dark. Rumpelstiltskin was about to speak but someone shushed him when the guards’ voices sounded below the window.

“Where is he!?” shouted Razoul.

“He came down this alley,” said one of the guards.

“Where he isn’t here now is he? Try the doors.”

There was a pause.

“They’re locked.”

“What about the windows?”

“Too high.”

“He can’t have gotten past us. Spread out!”

There was a jumble of voices as they started out of the alley.

Another one of the guards spoke, “What if he had help?”

“He’s only been here a day. I’ll doubt if he found help here. Now get searching!”

There was a few seconds of silence. Rumpelstiltskin’s eyesight had adjusted during the conversation outside and he saw that he was in a mostly empty room with three other people. One of them was very big and obese with a slight boyish look and crooked smile. The other man standing above him was large and muscular with gray skin and a waxy, thin mustache. He wore a vest that showed his bare chest and in his fist was a knuckleduster that had three large claws near Rumpelstiltskin’s throat. The other man, who was near the window, was tall and dressed in a blue cloak with a gold clasp that had a hand engraved on it. A blue hood was pulled over his head and a blue kerchief pulled up the lower portion of his face with only his eyes appearing. He also wore dark blue trousers with gold slippers on his feet.

As soon as the rest of the guards were gone he rounded on Rumpelstiltskin and pulled out a curved and articulated dagger and pointed it at his throat.

“Give us one reason why you’re worth being saved?” he demanded in a low, muffled voice.