Cassim slung himself into a wide chair; leaning back against one arm, cigar already out and ready to light. “So you think you have an idea that can fix… this.”
“Maybe.” Keep calm, Alibaba told himself. “I’ve been talking to a lot of merchants to find out what they see happening here. Now I want to listen to what you know. I’ve got a plan that might work, but I need a lot more information to pull it off. And you might know something that means I’ve got to scrap the whole thing and start over. Though if it’s that bad…” His throat felt dry already. How was he going to get through this? “If it’s that bad, we get everyone we care about together, steal a ship, and head for Sindria. Because no matter how bad things are right now, if what I’ve found out about the Kou Empire is right… things could get much, much worse.”
Hassan had stalked out of yet another doorway, standing behind Zainab so she could lean back against his muscled chest, if she wanted. “Worse than everyone starving, noble boy?”
They know. Alibaba refused to flinch. Fine, they know. Keep going. “Worse, as in all of Balbadd wiped off the map. The Empire has a Djinn.” We think. Never mind, worst case is they do, and Cassim needs to think of that. “Did you ever hear the story about how Sinbad took out part of the mountain range around the kingdom of Sasan?”
That raised a hiss of whispers, even as Cassim’s eyes widened.
Good, I’ve got his attention.
…Great. I’ve got his attention. Panicking now. Argh.
“And you think you’ve got a plan that can fight them,” Cassim said quietly.
“Head on, not a chance,” Alibaba admitted. “But so far, they’re not fighting head on. And I think… I think I know why.” Reaching into his sleeve, he pulled out a map.
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
ƪƪ’▿’)
(‘▿’ʃʃ
ƪƪ’▿’) (Sorry just had to try it)
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It’s the attack of Walk Like An Egyptian! 😉
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A djinn. Singular. Poor Alibaba, your problem is so much worse than that. If it was a singular Djinn, you might have a tiny chance of winning and we can’t have that now can we?
Which is why I’m hoping you’ll scrape out a win anyway. Stick it to them!
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Poor guy, he thinks he’s planning for the worst-case scenario. At least he’s giving it a shot, based on what he knows?
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I can’t wait to see Alibaba’s explanation of the plan and Cassim’s reaction. *G*
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*Halo*
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At the very least you are throwing a serious monkey wrench in their plans and may call attention to their B.S. You might not be able to save all of Balbadd but you will gain some very useful allies . . . of course, by then you will likely know about the Empire being aided and abetted by a pack of world-destroying lunatics who needed to be both stopped and stopped permanently as soon as possible.
I have the feeling that Sinbad is going be grinning a lot soon. And anyone familiar with him and that particular grin is going be terrified . . .
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I actually turned up an interesting idea to derail the Rens in the course of writing this. I’ll have to see if it pans out. 🙂
And once Sinbad catches on to the plan, yes, there will be grinning.
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Ooo. Am intrigued by this derailment idea.
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Emailed! 😉
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Spinning through the air a metallic object flies closer and closer. With a thwip thwip thwip noise it passes your head and lands smack dab in the middle of a machine with a hole exposing the gears. It is a metal monkey whose arms are each a different sized wrench. In the distance you hear “How do you like me NOW???”
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*Snrk*
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