Sorcerer's Wish

Chapter 8: His Answer

"You have until sunrise," the king of the underworld announced from his throne with a grin.

The god and the sorcerer both knew time was a mere suggestion down here. Sunrise could be days from now or minutes.

Jafar went over to stare at the green pool once again. Witnessing the moaning souls whirling around in the basin did not improve his mood. He could not deny that this unknown time limit was worrisome. Jafar had always been more of a strategist than a tactician and after decades of using magic to get all the time he could want to mull over any pressing problem, he was wholly unused to quick-thinking of any kind.

Now, however, was not the time for such ruminations. "I'm so close," the sorcerer said to himself, for that was what mattered to him. Then he went about searching his robes and his mind for a solution.

None of his research had prepared him to do this without a spell. He had used up his carefully selected artifacts. All he had was his clothes, the bag of silver for the return trip, his staff, the lamp, her bracelet, and his mission. Reconsidering his remaining tools, the sorcerer hatched a new scheme.

It began by confirming what he knew. The sorcerer tried dropping a silver coin into the pool.

As expected, the souls attacked it like the coin was the last bite of food in a famine and it was soon lost under the piles of inconsolable creatures.

His second attempt was aimed right at her.

She snatched the coin out of the air. Even in death, she was not one to be bested by the petty mob.

Encouraged, the sorcerer dipped his staff into the pool next. The tip of the rod instantly began to boil with heat.

Gritting his teeth, Jafar yanked his staff out as fast as he could.

Relieved that it was undamaged, the sorcerer put his precious staff down and moved onto the lamp. Unlike with his staff, the lamp turned frigid upon submersion and the souls actively avoided it. This was no surprise to the sorcerer.

It was all as he had predicted.

"Time is ticking," Hades jeered.

The sorcerer tried to ignore him and took out her bracelet. It had been badly bent out of shape and soiled when he had recovered it from that two-bit witch. Now it looked as it ought:

A serpentine coil decorated with delicate gold scales and studded with two amethyst eyes.

When Jafar whispered its name, the head of the bracelet tilted in question with those amethyst eyes completely focused on his.

Jafar's research had never found an answer to whether this animate object was truly sentient or simply a great mimic. Habit had him swallowing hard before he asked it to do his bidding.

After the bracelet held his gaze for a moment more than was comfortable, it obediently tied itself to the head of his staff and then dangled off of it, more than ready to reunite with its true master.

"Going fishing, are we?" Hades asked.

Something in the god's voice made Jafar pause and turn.

Hades was still smiling, but there was a hint of wariness in his eyes that the sorcerer had not seen before.

"I hear that the gods do not give impossible tasks, only...incredibly difficult ones," Jafar said in as neutral a tone as he could manage.

Hades scoffed. "That totally depends on who's on the chopping block. Just look at old sissy-boy up north and his ongoing rock collection."