The Charmingly Clever Cousin (5 page)

“I
T'S ABOUT TIME
!” A
HMED YELLED FROM THE
bottom of the well. “What took you so long?”

Fatima sighed. She supposed it was asking too much to expect a little gratitude. For a second she thought about leaving him there!

Since there was no ladder nearby and since the well opening was small, Fatima rolled up her flying carpet and dropped it down to Ahmed. It hit him on the head.

“Ouch!” he yelled.

“Sorry!” Fatima called.

Ahmed didn't own a flying carpet, and he'd never been very good at flying one. “Oof! “Ow!” he exclaimed all the way up as he bumped against the sides of the well.

After Ahmed was out, Elena doctored his scrapes and bruises, dabbing them with a creamy white lotion from a small blue bottle. The lotion was magical, and Ahmed's wounds healed instantly. He took no notice, however.

“Yusuf tricked me,” Ahmed explained to the girls. “On our way to my father's palace, he suggested we take a shortcut. When we reached this abandoned village, he pretended to be lost. Then he suggested we check the well for water since our supply was getting low.”

Ahmed rubbed his forehead. “I should've been suspicious, but I wasn't. He lowered me over the side of the well with a rope. I told him
the well was dry. But he just laughed, then yanked up the rope so I couldn't get out.”

“Of all the low-down, dirty rotten tricks,” muttered Tansy.

“That's for sure,” said Lysandra.

Fatima nodded. “And then he demanded you give up your right to be king!”

“That's right. He wanted me to sign a paper renouncing my claim—and Hassim's future claim—and naming
him
king.” Ahmed frowned. “Can you imagine Yusuf in charge of the kingdom?”

Fatima shuddered, thinking of the many servants he'd already fired and the changes he was planning to make to the palace. “Elena figured out the message you sent,” she said.

Ahmed sniffed. “Well, I'm glad
someone
did!”

Bats and bullfrogs! It was
impossible
to please him. And he hadn't even thanked Elena for healing his wounds. But if Elena minded,
she didn't show it.

Crowding onto Fatima's carpet, the five of them started back to the palace. Along the way, Fatima filled in Ahmed on all that had happened at the palace the last few days.

“How could my own cousin turn out to be such a fiend?” Ahmed muttered.

“I know how you feel,” Lysandra said sympathetically. Fatima guessed she must be thinking about her cousin Owen. A whiny boy, with a large chin and beady eyes, he was always threatening to reveal Lysandra's secrets unless she gave him coins from her magical purse. Yusuf was certainly more handsome than Owen, but Fatima had to wonder if he'd behaved like Owen when he was younger. It made her blush to think how they'd all been deceived by Ahmed's charmingly clever cousin.

The sky had begun to lighten, and daybreak was upon them when they reached the
palace. Fatima brought the flying carpet to a halt. Hastily she rolled it up, then burst through the doors with the others. A horrible sight met everyone's eyes.

Yusuf stood halfway up a long, steep staircase leading to a tower. Under his arm he clutched a wailing, kicking bundle.
Hassim!

Dressed in her nightgown, her hair streaming wildly about her face, Selime screamed, “Give me back my baby!”

Ahmed ran to her, and the two of them started up the stairs.

Yusuf drew his sword. The blade glinted sharply. “Don't come any closer or you'll be sorry,” he snarled.

Selime fainted into Ahmed's arms.

Thinking quickly, Fatima whispered to Lysandra, “Give me your purse!”

Without a word, Lysandra whipped her purse from around her neck and handed it over.

Fatima ran a few steps forward, waving the purse high so Yusuf would see it. “I'll trade you this purse for Hassim!” she shouted.

“Ha!” spat Yusuf. “What would I want with a purse when I can have a whole kingdom?”

“Watch!” Fatima motioned to Lysandra, who hurried forward. Lysandra held her purse upside down and showered the floor with far more coins than one small purse could possibly hold.

Yusuf's eyes gleamed with greed at the sight.

Lysandra closed the purse and tossed it to Fatima, who waved it in the air again. “It's a magical purse,” she called to Yusuf. “It never goes empty!” Of course, she didn't tell him that the magic only worked for the purse's true owner. If anyone but Lysandra so much as opened it, he or she would get a very nasty surprise.

“With this purse you'll be able to
buy
yourself a kingdom!” Fatima yelled. “A dozen kingdoms if you'd like. Just think of all the castles and palaces you can remodel. You won't
need
Ahmed's inheritance.”

“Good idea,” Yusuf called down. He mumbled a few words and Fatima felt her grasp on the purse loosen. Magically it rose in the air and began to float toward Yusuf.

“No!” Fatima lunged for the purse and caught it. She held onto it tightly. “I said I'd
trade
.”

Yusuf rolled his eyes. “All right. We'll trade.” With Hassim still clutched under one arm, whimpering, Yusuf came down the stairs. He waved Ahmed away with his sword as he passed. “Move!” he shouted to the other princesses as he approached Fatima. They scurried out of his way.

Fatima tucked the purse under one arm while she reached for Hassim. Shoving the baby at her, Yusuf grabbed the purse, then bolted out the front doors of the palace.

T
O
F
ATIMA'S SURPRISE,
H
ASSIM STOPPED CRYING
at once. His mouth crinkled into a smile as he stared up at her. Beaming back at him, Fatima kissed the top of his head. It was starting to be covered by fine black hairs, she noticed, and didn't look so much like a squashed pumpkin anymore.

Selime had recovered from her faint. She and Ahmed rushed over, and Selime took
Hassim into her arms. With tears running down her face, Selime hugged Hassim tight. “My baby! My darling!” she cried.

Hovering over them, Ahmed cooed, “Oh, my sweet little baby waby. My own little princey wincey.”

For once the baby talk didn't make Fatima feel like gagging. She was just glad Hassim was safe and sound. Standing together a few feet away, the other princesses caught Fatima's eye and smiled.

Prince Ahmed stopped fussing over Hassim. He smacked his forehead. “What's the matter with me! We need to catch Yusuf. We need to get Lysandra's purse back!”

Before Fatima could explain that going after Yusuf wasn't really necessary, a scream loud enough to be heard two kingdoms away sliced the air like a sword. The princesses began to giggle.

Lysandra grinned. “I think Yusuf just opened my purse.”

Following the screams, Ahmed and the princesses raced outside to the back of the palace. They arrived just in time to see a swarm of angry bees chase Yusuf into the lake. When he came up, gasping for air, the bees dove down to sting him again. “Help!” he screamed.

Spotting her purse lying open on the ground, Lysandra picked it up and closed it tight. Instantly the bees flew straight up into
the sky and disappeared.

Prince Ahmed fished his cousin out of the lake. Yusuf was covered with nasty red welts and blubbering louder than Hassim on his worst day. “I only wanted to improve things!” he cried. “I only wanted to show how well
I
could run a kingdom!”

“Right,” Ahmed said grimly. Clapping his strong hands around Yusuf's arms, he pulled him toward the palace.

“You understand me, don't you, Fatima?” Yusuf whined as he passed her. “You've always liked me. If you talk to Ahmed, I know he'll let me go.”

Fatima only stared at him. She had no sympathy for him anymore.

Yusuf fell silent. His upper lip curled and he glared at Fatima with a look of stone-cold hate.

Fatima shivered. Yusuf didn't look so handsome now that his face was swollen from bee stings and his hair and clothes were dripping wet. To think she'd ever wished Ahmed could be more like
him
!

Ahmed locked Yusuf in the tower for safekeeping. He asked the guards to keep careful watch so that Yusuf couldn't use magic to escape. Then he joined the princesses for breakfast in the Grand Hall. “Thank you for everything you've done for me and my family,” he said as he sat down at the table. “I
can only apologize for my cousin's wicked behavior.”

“That's okay,” said Lysandra. “I know all about rotten cousins.”

“And I've got six brothers,” said Tansy. “They may not be as wicked as Yusuf, but they can still make life pretty miserable sometimes.”

“We were glad to help,” Elena said.

“Yusuf may be your cousin,” Fatima told Ahmed, “but he's nothing like you. He's a slimy worm, and a mealy-mouthed maggot, and…and a son of a dung beetle!”

“Really, Fatima!” Ahmed exclaimed. “I've told you how I feel about cursing. Wherever did you hear such…” He stopped talking and, slowly, his face turned red. “Oh. I guess you must have heard
me
.”

The princesses giggled.

“Yes. And I completely agree with you,” said Fatima. “Furthermore, I think Yusuf
deserves the worst punishment you can think of.”

“So do I,” said Ahmed, reaching for a platter of scrambled eggs. “That's why I'm sending him home to his mother, right after I eat.”

“What!” said Fatima. “What kind of punishment is that?”

Ahmed spooned egg onto his plate. “Ah, but
you don't know my aunt. She'll be angrier than those bees when she finds out what Yusuf's been up to.
I
wouldn't want to face her.”

“What about King Murad?” Elena asked. “Do you think he's as ill as Yusuf said?”

Prince Ahmed's brow wrinkled with worry, and his shoulders sagged. “I'm afraid he may be. Otherwise, why would Yusuf have tried so hard to steal my inheritance?”

Fatima was worried too. It was the same thought she'd had. For Ahmed's sake, she hoped Yusuf was wrong.