Rise of a Sultana

Chapter One ~ Jasmine

"It's time you start doing what you were meant to do an be silent." Jafar's words felt like the cold steel of a dagger gliding across her skin. There sat Jafar on her father's throne and she could do nothing. She could do nothing as she watched the guards drag away her father, Raja following Dalia reluctantly with a sad look back at his mistress. Jasmine caught a last look of them as the doors closed and life as she knew it made a sharp turn.

A call for the head guard bubbled in her throat but before she could call out the guard on her left pulled her sharply to the side. "Come with me princess, we must get you to safety."

"But Jafar...."

"That man may call himself Sultan or whatever title he chooses, he is not my ruler. As long as you live free our people may have hope." A flutter of hope swept through the princess as he ushered down a side staircase. Jasmine tensed seeing two more guards but let out a breath when they nodded their heads to her and opened a side door. "Go princess, they will take you to Shehrabad. You must warn them off Jafar's plans."

"My father, Dalia....prince Ali..."

"I will do what I can to get them out but you must go. Now!" He all but pushed her out with the guards before she had another chance to protest. The younger of the two took her hand.

"Come princess, we will wait for them in the dunes but we must be quick." She found herself nodding reluctantly as the man draped a dark roughly woven cloak over her head and shoulders. The three of them scurried out like thieves in the night out into the seemingly never ending desert that surrounded Agrabah. The men seemed to follow a path clear as stone but invisible to her. They stopped only after the city was out of sight and there Jasmine was finally able to take a moment and let everything sink in.

Her knees gave way and she sat heavily in the sand. The younger guard was at her side again with a water bladder. "Drink my princess, and breathe. It may look hopeless now but all is not lost." He smiled kindly at her and closed the mouth of the bladder when she'd had her fill.

"Thank you....I don't even know your name."

"Vihaan your majesty, and the silent man over there is Reyansh." The second guard did not give them even a glance at the mention of his name, keeping a vigilant watch on the horizon. "There is no need for thanks, it is our duty and joy to protect the royal family of Agrabah."

"All the same, you have my thanks and so much more." Jasmine smiled though her eyes still carried a flood of worry. "Will he be able to get them out do you think?"

"We will wait till tonight to see, but no more than that. Have faith princess." He tucked the edge of her hood better over her face and her mind turned to her prince. Her prince....

"Ababwa!" The spark of hope fanned into a flame. "Shehrabad's army would be no match for ours on it's own, it's hardly an army at all. But surely Ababwa will have an army large enough judging by the wealth they displayed." Vihaan nodded slowly looking to his companion who still did not look their way.

"Could it work?"

Reyansh shrugged. "We will ask the prince when he arrives. He can bring his army while the princess goes safely to Shehrabad." Jasmine's eyes narrowed.

"I will not sit back while my people cry out for help." She stood prepared to argue for her plan when both her guards tensed facing a small approaching trio. Jasmine rushed past them immediate recognizing the large cat running ahead for her. "Rajah!" She held his massive head between her hands resting her forehead on his before hugging her handmaiden. "But where is Baba?"

The guard who had helped her before stood behind the pair and shook his head. "I could not get to him my princess, Jafar is keeping him close."

"And Ali?" It was Dalia who spoke this time, taking Jasmine's hand tightly.

"He was going for the lamp but Jafar caught him. They were leading me away but I heard Jafar argue with him. Jafar wished himself to be the most powerful soccer in the world and banished prince Ali to the ends of the earth. He is gone." Panic swelled in Jasmin's chest like a wave threatening to smother the flame of hope, but she pushed it back for now.

"Then We will go to Ababwa, his people will come to take vengeance for their fallen prince." The men began to raise a voice of protest but she would have none of it. "I know the way and we will leave now." A chorus of 'yes my princess' answered her command.

(A quick note: hi all! I appreciate you taking the time to peruse this first chapter and I just wanted to give you a little heads up as to updates. Thankfully I'm a pretty proficient writer and I don't usually have trouble getting things down, it's just time. I work full time and have a buttload of housework like everyday cause I procrastinate and leave it till the next day...I am an adult dammit and I'll clean when I want to. Anyway, the more readers that appear I'll update more often. I get plenty of quiet time to flesh out plots in my head. If it's been more than a week please someone smack me? Thank you again!)