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"Sure is. Why do you think that madman wants it so much?"
Aladdin hefted the lamp in his hand. It was such a small thing – his mother had two such at home, both in much better state than this. "What does it do?"
Kaveh grinned. "Give it a rub and find out."
Aladdin almost obeyed, then stopped himself. Something had killed the other men Gwandoya had sent here. He'd survived this long, but who knew what Kaveh's motives were? Perhaps he'd killed them, or tricked them into doing something that had.
"No," Aladdin said. "I have a job to do. I must fetch this lamp from the city and bring it back to Gwandoya. Then I get paid." Not enough to let him see Maram again, though, Aladdin realised with a sinking heart. A man who ate bugs wouldn't have a princess's bride price to spare. Why hadn't Aladdin thought of that before?
"The only repayment he'll give you is a slit throat. He can't risk you telling anyone what you found in here," Kaveh said, as though reading Aladdin's thoughts.
Aladdin sank onto a chest, his head in his hands. "What will I do? I have to get home. I need that money." Funny, Gwandoya had never mentioned just how much Aladdin's payment would be. Now he knew why.
"In debt, are you?"
Aladdin shook his head. "Who would lend money to someone like me? Even I know I'll never be able to repay them. No, it's...there's this girl..."
Kaveh's eyes lit up with an unearthly glow. "A girl? Is she as glorious as the moon?"
Aladdin's mind cast up a vision of Maram bathing naked in the bathhouse. The image from his dreams. "The moon herself would weep to see her, she is so beautiful."
"So you want a gift to win her affections?"
Aladdin laughed. "I would need a whole kingdom before I had a chance of that. She's the Sultan's daughter, you see, and I am no prince."
Kaveh nodded thoughtfully. "So you need a gift fit for a princess. You know, I think I can help you."
Help never came for free. "What will you want in return?" Aladdin asked.
"Don't give the madman back his ring, and I'll show you the perfect thing to win your princess's heart, and her father's, too."
Aladdin stared at Kaveh for a moment. "What do you want me to do with the ring?"
Kaveh shrugged. "Keep it. I'd like to meet this princess of yours."
"She's not mine, and she never will be," Aladdin said steadily.
Kaveh grinned. "Never say never. Women fall in love with their heart's desire, not with whoever their father wants them to marry."
Aladdin didn't bother arguing this time. Judging by his clothes, Kaveh was highborn, maybe even as highborn as Maram herself. He had no idea what it was not to be able to remember when he'd last eaten – or wonder when he might eat again.
"We'd better get this lamp up to the surface. I said I would, and my word is all I have left." Aladdin rose.
"You're a fool," Kaveh said.
Aladdin knew he was right. "Perhaps, but an honest fool."
Kaveh shook his head. "I don't have to watch this." He dissolved into sparkling blue light, which streamed into the ring before the light winked out.
Aladdin peered at his hand. It looked like an ordinary silver ring, but he knew he hadn't imagined Kaveh.
Aladdin tucked the lamp inside his tunic, before tightening his sash to make sure it didn't fall out. He'd come too far to lose it now.
The hike back through the tunnels seemed a lot shorter now. Maybe it was because he was headed for the surface, or he knew where he was going, Aladdin wasn't sure, but there was a spring in his step as he glimpsed the yawning entrance to the cavern he'd dreaded when he first saw it. How wrong he was.
"Do you have it?" Gwandoya asked eagerly, his shadow blocking the light coming from the entrance.
Aladdin dug into his tunic and produced the sorry-looking lamp. "Yes."
