Faith of the Heart

Part 2: Chapter 9
CITY OF MYSTERY

Written by DisneyFan-01
HTML Coding by Shadow20X6

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"Rise and shine, mates!" Silver called at the entrance of the crew's quarters.  "Ever'one up!  Don' let me tell yeh twice!"

Goofy sat up and gave out a long yawn, "Good mornin', Cap'n."

"Ah, buenos días, Capitán," Panchito leaped to his feet and bent his knees a few time for his morning exercise.  Then he called out loudly, "YAAAAA-HAAAAA!!!"

The sudden loud call made Donald, Marina, and José all fall out of their hammocks.  Donald remained on the floor with his face turned red as he cover his head with his pillow.  While he was muffling his words, José just sat up and yawned, "Bom-dia, Capitáo."

Marina growled, "Somebody better be dead or dying, Silver.  I just know I've been asleep for less than three hours."

"Ah, c'mon, Marina," Panchito helped her sit up.  "¡Andalé!  We've got a new day ahead of us."

"Panchi. . ." she moaned.  "It's been a day and a half since we left Nevada.  All day yesterday, I've been doing nothing but chores and my shoulders are killing me.  You know I love you, Panchi, but I'm seeing you as a morning person.  So, right now, I hate you."

Panchito chuckled and patted her on the back, "Ah, you'll become one someday soon, amiga.  Now, up and at 'em."  He brought her up to her feet.

Silver approached him and patted him on the back the same way, "I tell ya, Pistoles, you make the best wake up caller I've yet to come across."

"Naturalmente.  I am a rooster."  He went over to Donald and threw off his pillow, "Up we go, Donal'.  Wakey wakey."

Dale stretched his back and asked, "So, are we there yet, Silver?"

"Aye, lads," Silver answered.  "Morning be on it's way to the main city of this world and the days are known to be short.  I'll be bringin' the ship down to the world this time."

Chip asked, "Will that be safe, sir?"

"No worries, Chipper.  We'll be anchored where no one will find us.  After all, this world be in the middle o' nowhere.  No one would have the brains to set foot out where we'll be."

"Why?  Where are we anyway?" asked Goofy.

"The Arabian Desert," Silver answered.

Marina blinked her eyes open after rubbing the sleepiness out.  It got her attention.  She asked, "Arabian Desert?  The second largest of desert worlds in this quadrant of the galaxy?"

"That be the one," Silver turned to make his way up to the deck.  "All of you get ready and. . . dress proper.  It be like an oven upon this world and much worse than it was in Nevada."




Once the gang came up to the deck, Marina went over to the foredeck to get a better view with her spyglass.  Once she got to the bow sprit, she grew a smile.  The world of Arabia was as she imagined and as she had read.  It was enormous and looked like it was nothing but desert.  From space and with a telescope, anyone can see the cities that were at least a day or more apart from each other.  Some of them were recognized as the smaller kingdoms, but the one kingdom that was closest to the large sea of the world was the destination.

"Agrabah," said Marina as she looked through the glass.  "Kingdom of Sultan Hamid."

José came to her side, "Still memorizing different kingdoms and rulers?"

"You know me, Zé-Zé," she glanced at him for a second.  "If memory serves, Sultan Hamid is an old man by now; A widower, at that, for over a decade; Has a teenage daughter named. . . uh. . . Jasmine, I believe."  She lowered the glass, "I think it's come around the time for the princess to be married."

Jiminy approached them, "Is that so?  Who's the lucky prince?"

"Well. . . no one knows yet," she answered.  "This is a Muslim world.  I read about some of their customs.  From what I know, it's a law for a princess like Hamid's daughter to marry a prince by the time she is sixteen.  She's to choose a suitor and marry him asap."

"A forced marriage?" asked Jiminy.

"Traditions are traditions," Marina shrugged.  "There are a number of princes in the neighboring kingdoms of this desert world.  She's bound to have interest in one of them, I'm sure.  At least. . . I think.  I mean, I know it's cultural in places like this, but it just seems wrong to be forced into marriage.  One just. . . wouldn't know what it's like to really be in love.  It's kinda sad once you think of it."

"Well, maybe she will find love in one of the princes," said José.

"That'd be great for her," she nodded once.  "But for now, we have to tell her father about us and that we were getting a reading of Nightmares near his kingdom."

"Oh, but we can't tell him about getting a reading on a radar," Jiminy reminded her.  "This is a world that is not familiar at all about electricity or modern and future technology."

"A world lost in time as some put it," said Marina.  "But magic is a known thing in this world.  A lot of our abilities can be explained even to the Sultan.  I hope Donald has the credentials Mickey gave us so we can get into the palace."




With Von Drakes invisible forcefield cloaking the Argentum during her descent, she took anchor upon the world.  It was rested at an oasis a few miles from the outside of Agrabah.  Once the engines died down and the sails were furled, Silver came down from the bridge to the main deck.  

He announced, "Make sure each of you carry enough water on your person.  No matter where you go in this world, this place be hot enough to roast a duck."

"Hey!!  Watch it!!" Donald yelled as he was coming down the foremast shrouds.  

       "And before ye go, boys," Silver reminded them, "I want each of you to head below wit' me and help me cover up the engines with canvas.  If this wind picks up and blows sand around, it can do some damage."

       Dale cocked a brow, "Wait a sec.  Don't tell me you're gonna let us walk all the way to the city.  That's a long walk."

       "Tis only a few miles, matey," Silver answered.  "Besides, you know how people are wit' the unfamil'ar.  They don't know of this technology of ours."

       "They could understand a little, Cap," spoke Marina, who was staring at the city near at the bow of the main deck.  "After all, like I said before, this world is known for different kinds of sorcery and stuff like that.  If someone were to see this ship, they would probably just believe that it was captained by some great wizard of sorts."  

       "Clever perspective, Lass," Silver huffed.  "Yet all in all, we best keep the ship hidden within the trees of this oasis and with this invisibility contraption your Professor made.  Another t'ing I don't want is for desert raiders to come around and bombard me ship."

       "I don't think we'll have much to worry about," Marina shrugged.

       Donald hopped down to the deck and told her, "Y'know, Marina, the least you could've done is help us tie up those sails.  It's not easy to do this with just me, Goofy, Joe, and Panchito."

"Take that problem up with Silver, not me," Marina still didn't face him, but started writing her sightings in her journal.  "I've told you before that I don't know how to tie those sailor knots."

"Then it's time you learned!"

"I agree with the duck," Silver nodded.  "I expect you to learn new t'ings while on me ship, Lass.  With a small number for me crew, I want everyone to be up on the yards."

Marina turned around and faced Silver, but still had her head and eyes down to write in her journal.  She completely ignored him and said, "Donald, I'm drawing a rough diagram of the city.  Could you tell me where was the reading coming from last night?"

Silver shook his head knowing that she wasn't paying attention to him.  He rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck and started walking away, "I tell yeh, Lass.  Don't think I'm gonna brush this one off.  As soon as we leave this world, you an' I are gonna have a little talk."

Marina looked at the radar in Donald's hands and put a small star on the rough map she was drawing.  She said, "It stopped somewhere behind the palace?"  She looked back at the city and looked through her spyglass.  After focusing it a little, she pointed out, "The city is completely surrounded by those rocky mesas.  They're like a wall of a round room. . . or more like a horseshoe.  There's a manmade wall that we'll have to pass through.  I can see a pair of guards at the gate, so we'll have to show our credentials to get in."  

Donald nodded, "So, I guess we'll have to get into the palace and tell the Sultan about the situation of why we are here.  Even though it's a good thing the Nightmares aren't here anymore, we should tell him to take the precautions."

"And after that, we'll check that back mountain for evidence," Marina added while putting in the finishing details of the map in her journal.  "Until then. . ." she paused to shut the book, ". . . we'll walk our way through the city to the palace and see if we can find anything.  Even though it's impossible for a Nightmare to survive in this heat, one could probably hide in a dark shadow of an alley."  She looked up to the clear blue sky for a second and winced at the intense heat that hit her face like a punch.  She fanned herself with her journal, "Speaking of heat, I'm going to change my clothes again to something better and putting on a ton of sun block because this desert sun is torture."




After the long walk through the desert and using up nearly all the water they took from the ship, the gang made it to the city walls.  Getting through the front gate of the city was easy after the gang showed the two guards their credentials.  The moment they set foot in the city, Marina started writing down the things around her in her journal.  She walked slowly to keep from getting pen marks on the page, but doing so only annoyed Donald every time he saw her falling behind.

Once they had entered the start of the market place on the street that was leading from the front gate all the was up to the front gate of the palace, Donald finally stopped and turned around.  

"Marina!  Will you hurry up already?  I wanna get to the palace while the sun is still out!"

"Oh, let her be, Donal'," Panchito patted on his shoulder.  "She's an explorer.  She wants to write down all of the things of this world's culture and custom."

"Absolutely," Marina finally caught up with them.  "Y'know, I'm thinking that ol' Sultan Hamid must be one who expects big things.  That front gate we went through is big enough for a holiday parade to go through."

"Sim," José nodded.  "Big enough for the Rio Carnival to pass through."

Jiminy said, "Well, let's hope that it's not a giant Nightmare that can pass through that gate."

Marina pointed her pen up the street, "This is the main street.  It leads straight to the palace.  All along this street is the marketplace."

Donald rolled his eyes, "Then let's keep heading straight ahead."

"Learn to be a bit more patient, Don," Marina finished writing a sentence in the journal.  She looked up and handed over the book, "Goofy, could you be a dear and hold this?"

"Sure," he took it.  "Gonna get a better look at the palace from here?"

"Nope," she dug through her satchel.  "Just seeing how far we have to go.  If Silver was here with us, he'd save us some time with that eye of his."  She pulled out her sextant and peered through the scope.  After focusing and measuring for a few long seconds, she whispered, "Wow.  Perspectives really are something else."

"What's up, Marina?" asked Dale.

She lowered the sextant, "The palace is a whole lot bigger than I thought. . . or than any of us thought.  We can see how it looks so big from where we are now.  Imagine how big it must be when we get to it the next half a mile to go."

Donald eyes were opened wide, "Wooooow.  The sultan must be as rich as Mickey."

Marina put her sextant away with a smirk, "There are times when I wonder how a palace like this would look like in the point of view of someone the size you guys."  She looked down at Chip, Dale, and Jiminy.

Chip smiled back, "Believe me. . . it can sometimes be best that you remain the size you are now.  It can be a little scary from this view."

Marina took the journal back from Goofy, "Well, that's what I'll do for now.  When we get to the palace, I'll just write down a few more notes of what we'll see along the way."

"What do you think we'll see along the way?" asked Goofy.

"Well, there's. . ." she prepared to answer but something caught her eye.  "Wow!  Hot dog!!"  she rushed over to the first booth she saw in the marketplace.  

Donald saw that the man at the booth was selling loomed scarfs of many colors.  He immediately slapped himself in the face, "Oh no!  Not again."




It was almost like Vegas all over again.  Marina went to almost every other booth up the marketplace buying whatever struck her interest.  From dozens of kinds of jewelry to scarfs to curly toed slippers to clothes and to hijabs.  On the side, she bought herself a couple of brass pots and a large rug.  Everything she was buying fascinated her the most after she saw that everything was handmade by their merchants.

Everyone but Donald and Jiminy took their time at one of the merchants in the middle of the marketplace.  The merchant's wife was in the back at a loom making a new rug.  They all gathered around her while she demonstrated how it was done step by step.  Donald stood out in the street tapping his foot with Jiminy on his shoulder.

"Ah, phooey!  Let's hurry it up, guys!" he quacked.  No one was listening to him.

Jiminy crossed his arms, "Give them a few more minutes.  Even I can say the culture of this city is quite interesting."  He pointed down the street, "Did you notice how the classes rise up in the city the further you go toward the palace?  It's as though the closer one lives at the wall, the poorer you are.  The closer you live to the palace, the richer you are."

Before Donald could comment, something caught his eye.  He looked over two booths where a merchant was selling melons, but it wasn't the booth that had his attention.  It was the eighteen-year-old boy sitting on the canvas awning.

"Psst," Donald whispered.  "You seeing this, Jiminy?"

Jiminy spotted the boy.  Judging from the kid's attire, he came from the lower section of city.  According to the patches on his white billowing pant, he must've come from an area closest to the city wall.  On his shoulders rested a purple vest and on his head was a small fez and standing next to his knee was a little rhesus monkey wearing a similar vest and fez.  

The boy gave a signal and the little monkey hung by its tail in the back side of the awning.  It grabbed a melon causing the merchant to turn and take it back.  While the man's back was turned, the boy reached down and snatched himself a melon before the man got the other one back and turned around.

"Did you see that?" Jiminy gasped.  

Donald tried not to chuckle, "Now that was clever."

"Well, we can't let him get away with it are we?" Jiminy frowned.  "The boy's a thief."

"Who's a thief?" Marina came up them.

Before Donald and Jiminy pointed the boy out, someone bumped into Marina.  This resulted in dropping some of her newly bought goods.  At first, she thought it was Silver and was just preparing to put on an angry look in her eyes and yell at him.  That was until she turned around, finding a young girl.

"I'm sorry!  I'm very sorry!" the girl apologized as she quickly got down and started picking up the goods.

Marina went down to picked up the rest, "No.  That's okay, dear.  Really."

"Oh, I hope I didn't break anything," the girl spoke with a voice as gentle as a breath of fresh air.  "I wasn't paying attention."

While the girl was speaking, Marina looked upon her for a few seconds.  This girl was of sixteen years.  She was wearing a peasant's robe and hijab as though she came from around the lower part of the city.  However, what stood out about this girl was not only how her beautiful face wore make up, but the large blue jewel she was wearing on her head of thick black hair that was nearly the size of bar of soap and the large earrings made of solid gold indicating that she could've been from the higher part.

The girl looked up at Marina having her notice her large brown eyes.  The girl handed her one of the new bracelets, "I'm really sorry."

"That's quite alright," Marina stood up with her still staring at her young beauty.

The girl covered her jewel with her hijab and noticed Donald who was staring in total awe at her.  She smiled at him kindly.  Donald gave out a long loving sigh and lowered his lids as he smiled back at her.

As the girl was walking away, the other boys came to Marina's side.

"Gawrsh," Goofy whispered.  "Who was that?  Sure is purty."

"Espantosamente bela," said José.

Dale asked, "Did you see that jewel in her hair?"

"It was a tiara," said Marina.  "The jewel was a sapphire.  A very rare jewel to find around here.  Must cost a pretty penny to buy in a city like this.  She's gotta be rich enough to live in the upper part of the city, but she's dressed like she's from the lower part."

"Well, maybe she's from another city," Chip shrugged.

"If she was. . . then where's her ride?" asked Marina.  "One would be mad to walk from one city to the next without a horse or camel."

"Camel parking lot?" Panchito joked.

After the gang chuckled it up a little, Donald finally snapped out of his love stare when he saw that the girl was now in trouble!  After giving an apple to a little boy from a booth, she didn't know that she had to pay for it and had to face the penalty from the merchant:  Amputation of the hand.  Right before the gang made a move to save her, the merchant's saber was stopped by a young hand.  It was the same boy Donald and Jiminy saw before.

The boy took away the saber and shook the merchant's hand, "Oh, thank you so much, kind Faroud.  Oh, I am so glad you found her."  He faced the girl and waved a finger at her, "I've been looking all over for you, young lady."

Before the two walked away, the merchant, Faroud, grabbed the boy's shoulder, "You know this girl?"

The boy sighed with his arm around Faroud's shoulder, "Sadly. . . yes.  She's my sister.  You'll have to excuse her.  Y'see. . . she's a little crazy in the head, if you know what I mean."

Faroud grabbed the boy by the vest, "Your 'sister' told me she knew the sultan and could get some money from him!"

The boy simply brushed his grip off his vest and smiled, "Sir. . . she thinks our pet monkey is the sultan."

When the girl saw the little rhesus below her, she immediately fell to her knees and groveled to him, "Oh, my wise, exalted Sultan Hamid.  Allah be with you, Your Majesty.  How may I serve you, oh Great One."

"Tragic isn't it?" the boy whispered to Faroud.  He brought his 'sister' up to her feet, "Now come along, Sis.  It's time to see the doctor."

The 'sister' stopped in front of a camel, "Why hello, Doctor!  How are you?"

"No, not that one!" the boy brought her away from the camel.  "Come along, Sultan Hamid.  Let's go."  The two of them walked by the boys and Marina easily.

The rhesus followed the two by first hopping on top of Donald's head and then climbing up to Marina's shoulder.  She was quite startled about it at first until she saw the cute little face.

"Uh. . .cute," she giggled.

The rhesus bowed but accidentally revealed to all eyes that he was hoarding a few of Faroud's apples.  He panicked when he saw he was spotted and ran for it.  When the boy and girl did the same thing, Faroud yelled down the street for them to come back with his goods, but it was no use when they disappeared into the crowd.

"Now that was quite a show," Panchito clapped his hands.

"That kid was a fast thinker," Donald patted on his chest.  "That big palooka was about to chop off that girl's hand!"

"Who's a big palooka?!"

Donald went frozen when he knew the voice behind him was Faroud.

"Nada!  Nada, Señor," Panchito raised his hands in reason.  "Here.  I'll pay for what's been stolen as long as you not worry about the whole thing."  He tossed the man a coin that was not only enough to pay for the few apples that were stolen but for at least a dozen more, which he started filling up in a bag.  He kept one out and took a bite out of it saying, "Adios, Señor.  Come along, amigos.  We've got business to tend to."

Once the apple booth was behind them, Jiminy said, "You shouldn't have done that, Panchito.  Donald and I both saw that boy steal a melon from the next merchant.  The boy's a thief.  Everyone knows that stealing is wrong."

"That boy looked like he came from the lower part of the city," said Marina.  "A. . . pauper I guess you can say.  I could let it brush off if I saw him steal.  Obviously, he steals to live."

"And the monkey?" Jiminy asked.  

"It's common for some monkeys to be a little klepto," Marina shrugged.  

Goofy asked, "You think that pretty girl will be okay with her brother?"

"Don't tell me you fell for that," Donald frowned.  "He wasn't her brother.  He was just protecting her."

"I'm sure she'll be okay," said Chip.  "The boy looked like he's been on the street his whole life the way he could handle that big ape."

"I found it a little strange though," said Marina.  "What kind of girl goes around a marketplace like this not even knowing about paying for something?  If I didn't know any better, I would say she doesn't get around much. . . or at all in that case."