"See you at your wedding, Alladddinn!!"
The women said simultaneously and chuckled loudly.
"I'll see you later, my lady," Aladdin said, wrapping his arm around Jasmine's waist and leaning in for a kiss.
Jasmine leaned in as well and kissed his lips.
After that, they pulled back.
Abu snorted with his arms folded at the fact that he had been ignored.
"I'll see you later too, Abu," Jasmine said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.
Abu cupped his cheeks with both hands, blushing profusely.
Jasmine chuckled at his response.
Aladdin winked at her, then vanished into thin air alongside Abu.
The women quickly gathered around Jasmine and dragged her back to her seat.
"We still need to add some finishing touches so everything will look perfect."
"We're going to make you look like the perfect bride and make this the most talked-about wedding of the century."
"Come on, tell us more about Ababwa. You've been there far more than we have."
Genie slammed his fist against the chessboard, scattering the pieces, before grabbing the board and throwing it away.
"This is unfair! You're cheating!!" Genie said, pointing a finger at Carpet accusingly.
Carpet uncrossed his legs and spread his tassels wide open, then shook them. However, nothing came out of it.
"Tchh!! How can I lose to a magic carpet? I know… It's this game. It's bad luck," Genie said, shifting his accusing finger to the chessboard.
A white light shot out of his finger, disintegrating the board out of existence.
"We'll have to choose something else next time. But before that, we have a wedding to attend," Genie said, then whistled with his two index fingers in his mouth.
Carpet flew across the room before halting beside him.
Genie leapt onto it and shouted, "Let's ggoo!!"
The window magically expanded, becoming wide enough for them to soar through. They swirled across the veranda before soaring higher into the skies.
"Such a joyous event! And the people keep pouring in from near and far for the wedding of the century!"
Genie transformed into a TV news broadcaster, dressed in a black suit with an earpiece receiver, while holding a wireless microphone in his hand as he spoke.
[There's a party here in Agrabah,
There's excitement in the air,
People keep pouring in from near and far,
'Cause Jasmine and Aladdin are having a weddin']
Suddenly, Genie transformed back into his normal form and sang loudly and joyfully as he guided Carpet towards the entry gates of the Kingdom of Agrabah.
[There's a party here in Agrabah,
So I'm going to paint the town.
If you want to see what the colours are,
Follow me around.]
Meanwhile, in a different part of Agrabah, while Genie enjoyed himself across the city and amidst the entourages and carriages arriving, two carriages accompanied by guards and horsemen made their way into an alley and stopped.
The carriage driver gave a signal with his hand, and the horsemen and guards immediately drew their weapons and stood at both ends of the alleyway to keep watch and deter people from entering.
The carriage drivers then tapped their knuckles against the carriage windows a few times.
Suddenly, the carriage doors burst open.
Numerous men emerged from both inside and beneath the carriages.
They were thirty in number.
Among them was a tall, muscular man with light grey skin, a thin moustache, and a scruffy beard. He wore a black-and-purple gilet, large blue pants held by a red band, and black shoes.
His name was Sa'Luk, second-in-command of the Forty Thieves and a notable figure in the underworld criminal organisation, particularly for his immense strength and ruthlessness.
Surrounding him were members of the Forty Thieves.
Four bodies, roughly wrapped in bandages, were pulled out from the backs of the two carriages and brought toward him.
"What should we do with these bodies, Sa'Luk?" one of the men asked.
"Throw them in a dumpster. I don't care. Just get them out of my sight," Sa'Luk responded in mild annoyance.
The six men holding the four corpses nodded in fright before swiftly walking away toward the nearest dumpster to dispose of the bodies.
Several of the men approached him without fear.
"What are we going to do when the leader finds out that we've disobeyed his orders and killed someone?" Omid, one of the members of the forty thieves, asked.
"There's nothing to explain. Or haven't you noticed how difficult it was for us to get into the kingdom? We've visited Agrabah several times in the past to map out the surroundings for a heist, yet we've never encountered such defences. Among Agrabah's guards, there are others dressed in strange uniforms I've never seen. And some of them can even use magic," Sa'Luk responded with a glare.
"They even managed to spot and capture some of us using our wanted posters. If I hadn't been smart enough to evade them, I would've been captured and imprisoned as well. Now we've lost nine members of our group. Cassim didn't tell us that we'd be encountering such forces and facing skilled magicians, so he should be more worried about how we're going to complete this mission, rescue them and get out of this kingdom while still keeping to his self-inflicted rules."
He sneered inwardly. Regardless of how surprised he was at the number of guards stationed at the entrance and across the kingdom, it couldn't exceed the excitement he felt at the thought of watching Cassim fail at his task as the leader of the Forty Thieves and relinquish control of the group to him.
Still, he kept his guard up, as he didn't want to be caught during the mission.
"True," Omid and the others replied.
"Bring the item," Sa'Luk said.
One of their members pulled out a pocket spyglass and handed it over to him.
This was not a normal spyglass used for looking into the distance, but also for sending signals through the refraction of light on the glass.
Sa'Luk held the spyglass in his hand and looked toward the direction of the palace.
////////
If you want to read 15 chapters ahead, you can join for $10. /patreon.com/Stormwill
Join the family on: discord. gg/ EUmdp2EUVX