“Why am I here?” Though one reason was perfectly clear; Judar had wanted to talk to him, without annoying little interruptions from people trying to rescue him. The Fog Troupe could get a lot of places, but back inside the royal palace? Tricky.
Alibaba’s merchants think the Kou magicians are using mind-control on people….
“That.” Judar pointed to the disassembled Fogblade. “Somebody set that up to leech onto you, and then when the time was right… there’s some nasty commands in the rukh set to go off if that thing stabs a king.” He clapped his hands together, brushing off dust. “Merhdad, or Sinbad, or you. Somebody had one of you targeted. Or all of you. Maybe Merhdad’s a weak kitten of a king, but I like Sinbad, and I think I could like you. So I want to know who sold you that thing, because they tried to break one of my toys. And that’s just bad manners.” An elaborate shrug. “I like the hag, too – though don’t you ever tell her that. She’d get all weepy and clingy and ugh. And I hate that.” Red eyes narrowed, glittering with the kind of not-sure-what-to-do fury Cassim knew all too well. “She’s got all kinds of hopes for marrying somebody who might be like Sinbad, and Abhmad is. Not. Sinbad.”
Cassim shook his head, wondering if the cider had more alcohol than it tasted like. Because Judar was starting to make sense, in a sideways shake-logic-silly fashion. Zainab had said their weapons were too cheap for such powerful magic.
She said I could trust Alibaba, too. And how did that work out? The bastard has a Djinn!
But if the magi’s hints meant what Cassim was beginning to think they did…. “The princess… needs to marry a king. Of Balbadd.”
“That’s the plan,” Judar scowled.
This was crazy. But the whole night had been crazy. “But he doesn’t have to be a royal king.”
“Well….” Judar laced his fingers together, stretched his arms over his head. “Technically, by all those silly treaties… she just has to marry the next king of Balbadd. So who’d be king if something awful happened to Rashid’s two sons?”
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
You know, Judar is kinda of sweet. In a completely crazy, pain in the neck, better keep one eye on him at all times because his idea of fun is rather bloody sort way. But sweet.
So I want to know who sold you that thing, because they tried to break one of my toys. And that’s just bad manners.”
I predict Ithnan might be in for a bad day. Because Judar in full on ‘you stay out of my room and away from my toys’ mode is not something anyone with even a shred of sanity wants after them.
Especially since Judar is probably the type to do something permanent to make sure you don’t do it again.
So who’d be king if something awful happened to Rashid’s two sons?”
I suppose someone could give him the honest answer of Alibaba Saluja. After all, he doesn’t know that Merhdad is Alibaba.
Yet.
He probably learn sooner or later. And knowing Judar, will think it is hilarious.
(Alibaba might not. Not just because of the whole getting out of Kou’s power thing and he doesn’t want his half-brothers dead so much as smacked around their thick skulls thing. But because it will probably make him significantly more interesting to Judar. And being interesting to Judar can be . . . difficult. As Cassim can now testify.)
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Alibaba will definitely not think it’s funny. Judar is having a blast.
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Alibaba will definitely not think it’s funny.
Poor kid. He just cannot catch a break.
Judar is having a blast.
The first clue of just how crazy things are will probably be the fact that nobody has ever seen such a big, happy smile on Judar’s face. And he’s even humming a jaunty tune.
It’s enough to make the smarter people or the ones with the sharpest survival instincts immediately start making a very hasty exit. They don’t know exactly what is happening but do know that they want to be as far away from it as it is possible to be.
And somewhere, at some point, Ja’far will be begging for a return to normal. He’ll take Sinbad-crazy over this insanity any day of the year.
“Are you sure?”
“Very sure.”
“Because after this, our normal might be too boring for you.”
*Swipe of razor sharp blades that just miss their target. This time. Their owner is determined that this time he is definitely going to kill him this time. Kill him a lot.*
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*EG*
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I wouldn’t be surprised if Alibaba just had a someone is walking over my grave moment. As funny as bonding time between Judar and Cassim is for us, it’s probably going to leave Alibaba with stess caused ulcers.
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*Nods!*
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Is Judal undermining Al Thamen? Deliberatly?
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*Twiddles thumbs, whistles innocently*
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Well, Al Thamen wants to destroy the world, right? And that’s where he keeps his toys*, so it’s not really his favorite idea. Or so I imagine.
*Granted, he’s a psycho who considers people as toys, but…
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I see him as being a lot like Spike – early Buffyverse Spike, that is. He’s evil. He loves violence. But you need to have a world to be violent in, or things are no fun at all. So there.
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Yeah, not exactly the picture of good mental health is Judar. Of course, I don’t think he had much chance to become a well-adjusted mentally sound person . . .
But I can appreciate his “You can’t break the world. That is where I keep all of my stuff” attitude.
Besides me and the bunnies like tropes such as Even Evil Has Standards.
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Though Judar thinks morals might be a kind of mushroom….
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At this rate, by the time the final showdown happens, Judar is going to be laughing too hard to hit anything… Maybe he’ll end up hitting some of the Al’Thamen “by accident”.
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*Snrk*
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