Last Queen of Neruby
by Parys zai Moura,
Watchmaiden and Scribe to Queen Roshana
Chapter Nine
THEPOWER HITS MElike a strike of lightning to my brain.
It radiates in glowing tentacles from Aladdin and coils up my arms and legs. It sinks through my skin and collects in my chest, a pulsing ball of white-hot energy. The hair on my arms stands on end. This feeling is like swallowing the sun. It has been centuries since I felt this much power at my disposal. Aladdin’s first wish was a mere trick, a simple reshuffling of reality. It took just a puddle of magic. This wish calls for an ocean of it.
Aladdin can’t see any of this, of course. He sees me draw a deep, gasping breath, sees my eyes grow wide, perhaps. He watches intently, his face flushed with excitement.
I turn my hands over, where the magic curls in gold patterns and sinks into my skin. Making Aladdin a prince will be tricky. No grand display of fire and explosions. No flourish or fanfare. In the old days, I could have put on a spectacle seen for leagues around—but if Aladdin is to be welcomed into the palace instead of beheadedin front of it, this must be done quietly. I sift my thoughts like sand, searching for hidden jewels.
“Take my hand,” I say.
He looks down at my open hand and winces. “What are you—”
Impatiently—I must release this magic or I’ll burst!—I grab his hand and the world spins and suddenly we are standing on the high cliff overlooking the sea. Far, far below, the waves crash into the rocks, and the moon, suspended over the dark water, seems much larger and nearer than it did in the city.
Aladdin shouts and stumbles backward, away from the edge, his face a bit green.
“What are you doing?” he gasps.
“Thinking.” I stare out at the sea, and my vision is tinged with madness. This much power is intoxicating. I can see the possibilities glowing on every surface of the world, the way a sculptor might see forms hidden in a block of stone. I can change it, mold it, melt it in whatever way I need to grant his wish. My hands itch to begin. My body hums with energy.
I extend one hand and point it at the horizon, concentrating with all my might. Far out on the moonlit sea, magic gathers. The water foams and froths. The air sings and burns. I see the threads of reality, and I grab them and twist them and weave them in new patterns. Water becomes wood; air becomes cloth. I draw the elements together and transform them.
“It’s a ship,” Aladdin breathes. He stands on the edge of the cliff now, enraptured.
“It’syourship,” I tell him.
In moments, it is finished. The ship is made of red cedar, with three rows of oars and a tall figurehead carved in the form of aroaring lion. The sleek ram beneath it is painted black. A proper warship. A ship fit for a prince.
As the sea around the ship settles, I turn to Aladdin, who is still gaping like an open clam. “Well? Do you want to get a closer look?”
•••
“This,” says Aladdin breathlessly, “isincredible.”
He is standing proudly at the bow, relishing in the beauty of my magic ship.
“I’m glad you like it,” I mutter. I lean weakly against the rail, my stomach churning. The moment I transported us onto the deck’s ship, I felt a wave of regret.
“Are youseasick?” asks Aladdin, his eyes bright with amusement.
“Shut up, human.”
After conjuring the ship and transferring the pair of us onto its decks, I enchanted the oars and set them rowing, but the wind is against us, and every wave strikes the hull like the slap of a whale’s tail. I’ve always hated the sea. So dark and deep and wet. It swallows things and never lets them go.
With a shudder, I flick my hand at the oars and speed us up a little.
It must look as though we’re coming into port like any other ship, which is why I conjured it at such a distance. The story goes that Prince Rahzad rai Asnam, youngest son of the Shah of Istarya, set out to explore and make his fortune. After a terrible run-in with a tribe of vicious maarids, only he and his servant, the lowly but lovely Zahra, survived. Now we limp into the Parthenian port, seeking refuge at the king’s court.
Alas. I gaze about the beautiful ship and try to decide how best to destroy it.
“Aladdin, you may want to stay close to me.”
