by Eric Vall
It seemed we were now packed, and the princess came over to me with an excited look in her eyes.
“Joe, let’s go back down to the magical storage room,” she suggested. “I think it’s almost time for us to go.”
We made the long trek downstairs, and after Jessamine had let us in, I was amused to see the rug still hovered near the ceiling.
We needed to figure out a way to get the magic carpet out of the storage room, so I began to try to pull the rug down, but it was unexpectedly resistant.
“Princess Jessamine, it looks like we are going to have to wrestle this thing down from the ceiling,” I grunted, not sure how to proceed in this unique situation.
“I don’t think brute force is going to work here,” the princess replied as she frowned thoughtfully up at the carpet. “From what I understand about the carpet, and what I have already seen of your talents, I know you will ultimately be able to control it, although it is more a matter of mental discipline. Let’s combine our mental strength to try to bring the carpet down to the floor.”
“I’m willing to try anything at this point,” I muttered before I took several deep breaths and attempted to focus.
Princess Jessamine grabbed my hand, and I was momentarily distracted, but I was brought back to reality when I sensed a powerful force of energy jolt through our joined palms. It was like the world’s largest static shock had just arced through my body, and I was reminded of what had happened when she’d hugged me earlier.
“Whoa!” I shouted. “What the hell was that?”
“I think that, with our combined powers, we are going to be able to do this!” the beautiful princess exclaimed in an excited tone of voice. “Come on, Joe, keep trying!”
As the energy surged through my hand, I focused all of my thoughts on bringing the magic carpet down. Next to me, Jessamine knelt on the floor and appeared to be in a trancelike state.
“Shhh,” she whispered with her eyes closed in concentration.
Another powerful jolt of energy surged through my palm, and suddenly, the giant carpet landed on the floor with a giant thud. Now that I could see the rug more clearly, I could tell it was a deep red in tone, with both traditional floral patterns and strange symbols.
“Thank god,” I muttered. “That was intense.”
“Well, that’s one thing down!” Princess Jessamine chirped with a cheerful grin. Her positive attitude was infectious, and I was readier to go than ever. “I’m so excited I’m going to get to fly again. I have wanted to use the carpet for some time, and now that you are here, it’s possible!”
“Well, let’s fly out of here,” I told her, ready to go.
“Hmm… ” Jessamine considered. “I’m not sure we should use its magic on something like flying out of a storeroom. Ali said it could only fly for a few hours or so before it got tired.”
“Alright. Let’s get this thing rolled up,” I grunted with exertion as I started to mess with the carpet, but it seemed just as unmanageable as a regular rug. “Jessamine, would you mind lending me a hand?”
The two of us worked together, and, with a bit of effort, we were able to get the carpet rolled up. Next, with some undertaking, we were able to lift the rug together and pull it back out into the bright sunshine.
“Awesome,” I murmured before I glanced around. We seemed to be alone, though the bright sunlight blinded me, and I wished, not for the first time, that I’d been transported to Fairyland with a pair of sunglasses at hand.
“It is awe inspiring,” the raven-haired beauty agreed with a nod, but then a thought occurred to me.
“Princess Jessamine, are we trying to keep the magic carpet a secret from your men?” I asked.
“No,” she replied as her eyes sparkled. “They are definitely going to see us fly away. After we grab our supplies, I think we should be able to take off right from the balcony! It will remind me of the first time I ever rode it. I am very excited to share the experience with you, Joe.”
“Awesome,” I said, and I couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm.
We made fast work of grabbing the crates of supplies the servants had packed, and the princess and I also bid a quick farewell to Omar. From what I’d seen of the new general’s intelligence and mechanical skills, I felt certain he would be able to handle the palace in our absence.
Princess Jessamine and I were soon back outside the palace with the rug, and we spread it out on the sandy ground. Despite what I’d already seen of its magical abilities, it was still hard to believe we were going to use it to travel.
“Let’s test it for a moment,” I suggested. I wanted to put all of our supplies on the rug, because I was doubtful it was going to be able to support any weight. In addition to preserved food, a couple flasks of water, and some basic survival items, Princess Jessamine hadn’t exactly packed lightly. We had a couple pairs of scimitars, both the beautiful princess’ golden and bejeweled set and a slightly less ornate pair for me that we’d grabbed from the palace armory, which were, of course, necessary. Nonetheless, several outfit changes for the princess seemed less important.
And I was still impressed by the casual way the princess had grabbed handfuls of jewels to travel with. I thought they might make us more of a target, but Jessamine insisted they would be useful for trade and to bribe our way out of sticky situations.
We put our crates on the rug and stood back to contemplate it for a moment. It seemed unlikely the relatively flimsy carpet would be able to lift the heavy supplies, but we were about to find out.
I bent down to touch the tassels, and the rug slowly began to move upward and drift into the air, even with all of the crates on it.
“I’m relieved it seems to be lifting our stuff,” I murmured. The rug still only hovered about a foot above the ground, but I was amazed to see it still seemed to be completely solid, as if the heavy supplies were resting on a platform instead of on a piece of fabric.
“You did it again, hero,” Princess Jessamine gushed. “I am so thankful you are in my life, and here in Fairyland.”
“Yeah, me, too,” I chuckled, but then I winced a bit and pointed at the carpet. “How do you get onto a magic carpet, anyway?”
Chapter 4
“You just jump on it,” the princess laughed. “Come on. It’s a whole new world.”
“Okay. Here goes nothing,” I sighed before I turned to Jessamine. “Grab my hand, and let’s do this!”
“I’m ready, Joe!” she giggled, and when she reached out to hold my hand, I briefly felt the same jolt of power I’d experienced in the storeroom.
Then the two of us gingerly climbed onto the rug and sat there, and we both started to laugh when nothing happened.
“Hey, Your Highness, I know you’ve been on one of these things before” I chuckled. “Maybe you should drive.”
“It’s been many years since I’ve been on a magic carpet,” the princess replied with a thoughtful and bittersweet expression. “Ali used to take me to tour the kingdom, but I was always holding tightly to his back. Besides, Joe, I’ve never driven anything before. I’ve ridden a horse, of course, but this doesn’t seem to be the same thing…”
I could tell the princess wanted me to take charge of the situation, so I reached forward and touched the tassels again. Then we both shrieked as the carpet jerked a few feet into the air, and I could see a couple of guards gape at us from the ground below.
“Princess Jessamine, I think we’re doing it!” I exclaimed, and I was practically giddy. We were barely a few feet off the ground, and this was already more exhilarating than any ride at Six Flags. “But how do I control it?”
“I have no idea,” Jessamine admitted as she pressed heavily against me. “Try leaning forward and see what happens.”
I positioned myself at what I decided was the front edge of the carpet and touched the tassels as gently as I could. It seemed to be effective, as the rug slowly rose a couple more feet, but I still had no idea how to make it go forward. I leaned forw
ard while touching the tassels, and it inched forward a couple of inches. Then I leaned back, and it pulled back.
“Yes!” I gasped. “Jessamine, are you ready for the ride of your life?”
“Let’s go find Cienna!” the princess cooed, and then she grabbed me around the waist.
I slowly attempted to raise the carpet even further into the air, but the rug lurched and jerked.
“Careful!” Jessamine laughed.
“I’m trying!” I told her as I tried to be gentler with my controls. I managed to lift the rug straight up into the air, helicopter style, and I felt a rush of accomplishment. We were almost as high as the palace domes, and I choked back a rush of vertigo. Now, to go forward, careful now… and we almost tipped over.
The princess shrieked and grabbed me even tighter, and I could already tell her constant touch would definitely be a benefit of magic carpet travel.
The carpet, now about three-hundred feet up in the air, soared forward over the courtyard. Gaping bystanders pointed and shouted as we flew above their heads, and I realized something.
“Jessamine, I don’t even know what direction I’m supposed to go in!” I shouted.
“Head west,” she gasped breathlessly as she gripped me even tighter.
I reached forward to touch the tassels again, and the carpet turned toward my best approximation of west with only a slight lurch. I’d already gotten better at flying, and I seemed to be able to change direction with only the slightest touch of the controls.
The sun blasted down upon us as we soared high above the palace, and the sand below appeared to glow bright white. I looked down at my arm, and I’d definitely started to get a sunburn. I imagined the zombies’ leathery skin, and I shuddered as I wondered what they used for sunblock in Jessamine’s domain. I looked down behind us to see the enemy lines encroaching on the palace courtyard, and I knew we needed to move fast.
Still, I had to admit this was fun.
“Now, we’re really flying!” I shouted as the princess’ arms grasped even tighter around my waist. I’d thought the past few days were exciting, but this was beyond my wildest dreams, other than the fact that my stomach felt like it was constantly dropping out of my body.
“It’s just like when I was younger,” Princess Jessamine remarked into my ear. “Ali used to use the carpet for more serious missions, of course, but he would also take me soaring around the palace grounds and sometimes even farther. I have always loved to fly!”
“It’s pretty incredible,” I laughed. We seemed to be putting a good distance between ourselves and the palace now, and I would have guessed we were traveling at about twenty or thirty miles per hour, which was a little stressful given there were no guardrails on this thing.
Slowly, though, I began to settle down and relax into the journey. My stomach still leapt from time to time, but the view was incredible. The sandy landscape was laid out below us, and from time to time, I could see small caravans traveling with camels. The sky was a deep, cloudless blue, and the hot wind was fierce and whipped my body with grains of sand. I wished I’d put on more to protect myself than the thin, sleeveless tunic I wore, but when I turned around to look at the princess behind me, she was a vision of perfection in the sun.
Her long, black hair gleamed with tiny streaks of red in the bright light, and her face was flushed from the heat and excitement. The jeweled band she wore around her head glimmered in a rainbow of colors, and I thought I’d never seen such a spectacular woman.
Everything seemed to be going perfectly, but I hoped we were actually headed in Cienna’s direction. At the current moment, aside from a darker ridge of mountains in the distance, everything down below looked the same from my vantage point. It had gotten easy to sit back and relax, and I grew almost drowsy in the hot air.
I settled back into Jessamine’s warm body, and I could feel her breasts press into my back. Her legs were also wrapped around my thighs, and I briefly imagined what it would be like to take the time to turn around, lie down, and fuck this woman on the magic carpet as we flew through the air.
“Um, Joe.” Princess Jessamine poked me in the back and interrupted my fantasy. “There is something I probably should tell you.”
Shit, I wasn’t sure this sounded good.
“Go for it, Jessamine,” I said over my shoulder, but I was already wary.
“Well, um, I’m not exactly sure how far the carpet is going to take us,” the princess responded as she dropped her head sheepishly, and I was concerned to see her pick up one of the flasks of water and squeeze the last drops out of it. “I know it has limitations to its power, and I’m not sure we can take it all the way to Cienna. It may not last beyond the reaches of the desert, if it even lasts that long.”
Damn, just when I was getting used to flying, not to mention drinking water.
“It’s okay,” I told her in a voice that sounded braver than how I actually felt. “The landscape hasn’t changed yet, and the carpet is still flying as high as ever.”
We sped over hills and dunes, and the air grew cooler as the sun got lower in the sky. It must have been hours since we left the palace this morning, and I thought I could see a tiny bit more greenery in the landscape below.
Unfortunately, the magic carpet soon started to dip a little lower. The difference was subtle at first, but we had definitely started a very slow descent, so we needed to come up with something.
“It’s as I feared,” the beautiful woman behind me sighed. “It can only fly for so much time every day.”
“Princess Jessamine,” I replied as I started to form a plan in my head, “I think our goal right now is to make it as far as possible on this magic carpet. The longer we can fly, the less we have to travel on foot.”
The carpet was not only faster than walking, but we had complete protection from roving bands of thieves and vicious desert beasts, not to mention Jamar’s forces and whatever else was lurking behind the dunes.
“I agree.” The princess nodded. “What do you think we can do to keep the carpet going as long as we can?”
I turned around to look behind us, and my eyes caught on the heavy crates the princess had packed. I wondered if it would help us fly farther if we were able to shed some weight, though I hated to ask the princess to let go of her belongings.
“Princess, I am so sorry,” I apologized, “but I think we might need to go through those crates and decide what we really need for our trip.”
The princess let go of my waist and looked sad for a moment, but then she turned and wrenched open the top of one of the boxes that rested on the carpet. She reached in and pulled out a tangled assortment of colorful sandals. She blushed for a moment as she appeared to realize the cargo she’d packed seemed frivolous, but she proceeded to explain.
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to wear all these shoes on our journey, Joe,” she began. “I was hoping to bring some extra items to trade along the way for extra supplies, but I am beginning to see all of these extra goods are difficult to carry. If it is necessary to keep the carpet flying farther, I am willing to make a sacrifice.”
As if to punctuate her point, she took the handful of sandals and tossed them over the side of the carpet. With a touch of nausea, I watched the shoes fly downward until they disappeared from view.
“What else do you have in there, Jessamine?” I asked her. “Anything else we can let go of?”
I watched in amazement as the princess pulled out stacks of garments that billowed in the wind as she dropped them over the side, and I was fairly certain we were about to dispose of more clothing than I’d ever owned in my entire life.
“Hey, at least I brought along our armor,” the beautiful woman laughed as she pulled two sets of chainmail out of the crate and set them down on the intricately embroidered surface of the rug. She was definitely a good sport about things.
“Yeah, we’ll definitely need that,” I agreed. “I trust you, Princess Jessamine. Why don’t you go ahead and ditch everything we
aren’t going to need on the ground? I think we’re going to have to travel light, and I’m not sure how much longer the carpet is going to fly.”
“I understand, Joe,” the beauty agreed. “I know we aren’t going to be able to hold on to everything I brought.”
To my relief, the more cargo we dumped over the edge, the higher the carpet seemed to fly, at least temporarily. Regardless, I still had the feeling we were going to completely lose some magic jet fuel sooner rather than later. The large rug had started to slow down, and darkness was coming quickly. If we couldn’t fly all night, it made more sense to land and find somewhere safe to camp out.
“I think I’m going to try to land before this thing completely dies,” I told the beautiful woman, who nodded at me.
As if the carpet heard me, it started to jerk and lose altitude. This was worse than the turbulence on any jet I’d ever been on, and I wanted to land the carpet before we had a chance to crash.
“Yes, Joe, I think that makes sense,” Jessamine said, but she bit her lip nervously.
I got the feeling that although the princess was a tough warrior, being out in the wilderness wasn’t exactly her thing. She was accustomed to palace life and the relative safety of her guards, and on the ground, we’d be basically defenseless, other than our weapons and our wits.
I pulled up on the tassels in my best guess of what would cause the carpet to descend, and I was relieved when it appeared to work. Then I laughed to myself for a moment.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are now beginning our descent into the wilds of the desert,” I announced, more for my own benefit than the princess’. “I hope you brought your scimitars, because it is crazy out there!”
Jessamine giggled politely at my joke, though it was apparent the princess was still quite nervous. She now held on to my back again, and the closer we got to the ground, the tighter she squeezed.
We dropped lower and lower, and I attempted to steer the descending carpet clear of any large areas of brush. The afternoon light was still warm, but I suspected a chill would soon start to creep into the air.