“I’ll have what she’s having,” Dot said to Yousuf nearby, pointing at Sophie.
Sophie looked at Agatha. They both cracked up.
Then Agatha stopped laughing.
“What is it?” Sophie asked—
Crickets, she realized.
The music had stopped.
Both girls turned to the Queen of Jaunt Jolie, who’d noticed it too, she and Maid Marian standing very still at the center of the room. Everyone seemed to tune in, the pub going silent.
Then Sophie heard it.
Rattling and thundering, like a faraway quake.
Agatha was already dragging her outside, into the thick desert air, the others close behind—
Together, the two girls looked up into the night and glimpsed the swell of flames sweeping down the dunes like a storm. A thousand Shazabah camels, riders wielding torches and blades, side by side with soldiers astride gold-saddled horses.
Camelot horses.
Tedros stepped between the girls, his eyes locked on the king in blue and gold, charging at the fore of both armies.
“Time to go,” said the prince.
19
TEDROS
Secret Weapon
“You are a very strange compass,” Tedros murmured, who was used to a brass arrow that oriented you towards a goal. But instead, the Sultan’s compass featured a tiny phantom of a belly dancer, shimmying her hips to the left.
“Go that way,” the belly dancer advised.
Tedros jogged west in the dark, the glowing numbers near the belly dancer’s waist counting down the distance to the caves: 1,000 feet . . . 900 feet . . . The prince glanced back at the rest of his team, hustling to keep up. Over their heads, he could see the flames of Japeth’s army high on the dunes, miles away, but gaining ground. The Sultan had told Japeth everything, no doubt, thinking he was Rhian. Given him soldiers too.
Ten minutes, Tedros guessed.
That’s how much time they had.
At the most.
“You sure you know what you’re doing?” Agatha asked, rushing to his side.
“The implication being that I don’t?” said Tedros. “Uma and Kaveen didn’t trust each other. Look how they turned out.”
Agatha prickled. “You won’t tell me the plan.”
“For a reason,” said Tedros. “I know what’s at stake. Not just a test. Your life.”
“And what about the thousand men chasing us?” Agatha hounded.
“Choo-choo! Choo-choo!” said a voice.
Agatha looked down at Merlin, mop-haired and up to her ribs now, scampering beside her. The young wizard smiled.
“Big job for Tee Tee,” he piped.
Agatha peered at him.
“Like I said. We have a plan,” Tedros clipped, sprinting ahead. “Follow the others!”
Despite the Snake bearing down, he felt unshackled and free. Finally he’d taken control, having learned from the first test. This time, he’d handle the Snake himself, keeping Agatha in the dark. Not to punish her, but to protect her. If she knew what he and the Knights were planning, she’d jump into the fray. And with the Snake hunting her, that was the last place she should be.
And yet, he still had misgivings about the Knights’ plan. Japeth relinquish the throne by choice? The Snake surrender . . . for love? Only women could invest in such a plot. But he didn’t have a better one and the more he thought about it, the more his heart pulsed with hope. If he played his cards perfectly, then maybe . . . just maybe . . .
He picked up speed, looking back to see his princess fall farther behind, while the Snake and his army vanished into the valley of a dune. The idea of leaving Agatha outside the cave when Japeth attacked made Tedros sick. The Snake would go right for her to win the second test. Would Merlin stick to the plan . . . ? Tedros’ gut knotted tighter. He’d entrusted a six-year-old with Agatha’s life. A six-year-old who still peed his pants and had to be bribed with chocolate cake. No going back now, the prince thought, burying his doubts. He ran harder, tracking the compass girl’s hips . . . 200 feet . . . 100 feet . . . 50 feet . . .
A storm of sand erupted in front of him, a towering wall rising so high, it obscured the moon. Wind whittled this wall like a sculptor, Tedros covering his eyes, his lips and tongue coated in hot dust, before he squinted through his fingers and glimpsed the cave’s shape: a colossal magic lamp made out of sand, the tip of the lamp the opening to the cave, its portal of gold glow piercing the night.
Behind Tedros, the others arrived and flanked him like a shield: Agatha, Sophie, Uma, Hort, and the Knights of Eleven.
It was one thing to hear Kaveen tell a story. But to see the cave now, a real place, with the magic lamp sealed inside, the lamp that made Aladdin a legend . . . This is what Readers must feel like, Tedros thought. The prince’s palms started to sweat, his mouth dry.
“H-hi,” he said, inching towards the cave, “I’m Prince Tedros of—”
A voice thundered from deep within: “Many a man has disturbed me, seeking my Cave of Wishes. But none with so feeble an army.”
Tedros could hear the rumble of Japeth’s horses. There was little time for negotiation. “I come for the lamp,” he declared.
“All fools do,” the cave taunted, low and resounding. “But to enter the cave, you must bring me something in return. And as far as I can tell, you don’t even have a sword, feckless prince. So go. Before I feel offended enough to deal with you.”
The sand under Tedros’ boots thickened, as if to swallow him whole. By the time he looked up, the cave was collapsing back into the desert—
“I don’t come empty-handed,” said Tedros. “I bring your true love.”
The cave instantly re-formed.
“Show me,” it commanded.
Princess Uma stepped forward, taking her place next to the prince.
The cave seemed to shudder at the sight of her, the light of its portal burning red-hot, like a stoked fire.
Tedros could see Agatha grinding her teeth, as if she’d already decided this was the worst plan ever.
“Give her to me,” the cave ordered. “Then you may enter.”
“You’ll get her once I enter and exit your cave safely,” Tedros countered. “Otherwise, I have no assurance you’ll let me leave alive.”
“And what of my assurances? You may use the lamp to wish my true love out of this deal. Or she may flee while you are inside.”
“Neither of those will happen,” Tedros vowed. “I will deliver her as promised.”
“Your promises mean nothing to me,” said the cave. “What happens if you take what you now say is mine? What happens if you cheat?”
“Then you can have me,” spoke a voice.
Guinevere stepped forward.
“His own mother,” she said.
Tedros showed little reaction, as if this too was part of the plan.
“I’ll enter the cave with him,” the old queen explained. “If he fails to deliver the princess, then you may keep me as punishment.”
The cave’s light shone upon Guinevere, as if verifying she was who she said.
“What do I want with you, old bones,” the cave mocked. “Better fed to vultures.”
“Which is why you can trust me to deliver your true love,” said Tedros. “No boy would sacrifice his mother to certain death. The terms favor you.”