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  Throne of the Phoenix

  Kingdom of Fairytales Aladdin book 3

  J A Armitage

  R Castro

  Contents

  1. 1st July

  2. 2nd July

  3. 3rd July

  4. 4th July

  5. 5th July

  6. 6th July

  7. 7th July

  After the Happily Ever After…

  A NEW FAIRYTALE ANTHOLOGY

  Join us

  A note from the author

  The Kingdom of Fairytales Team

  About J.A. Armitage

  About R.Castro

  Copyright © 2019 by J. A. Armitage and R.Castro

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Edited By Rose Lipscomb

  Cover by Enchanted Quill Press

  Created with Vellum

  Kingdom of Fairytales

  You all know the fairytales, the stories that always have the happy ending. But what happens after all those storybook characters get what they wanted? Is it really a happily ever after?

  Kingdom of Fairytales is a new way of reading with one chapter a day and one book a week throughout the year beginning January 1st

  Lighting-fast reads you won’t be able to put down

  Read in real time as each chapter follows a day in the life of a character throughout the entire year, with each bite-sized episode representing a week in the life of our hero.

  Each character’s story wrapped up at the end of every season with a brand new character and story featured in each season.

  Fantasy has never been so epic!

  1st July

  The kingdom of Badalah shone like a crown in the desert, and Kisbu was the jewel in the center. The sun glinted off the domes of the palace as we came in to land. The giant airship of the Urbis Express lowered slowly in the sky, finally resting with a slight bump on the ground at the station.

  All around the station, people were running, fear etched onto their faces.

  “What’s happening?” I said to the conductor who merely shrugged. I craned to see what everyone was running away from through the small windows. All I could see were people, all running toward the center of Kisbu. Hesitantly, I stepped down from the airship, and almost immediately, I was swept out into the crowd.

  “Go home,” I whispered to Asher. “I’ll see you there.” Asher rose into the sky as I was jostled along, caught up in the tide of fear. It was only as the gates of the palace came into view that it became apparent that these people weren’t running from something but to something. They were crowding the palace, banging on the gates, shouting at the guards who stood at the other side of the gates. I pushed through to the front.

  “What’s happening here?” I shouted through to a guard, but he didn’t even acknowledge who I was, let alone respond. Whatever was going on, I wasn’t going to get answers here. Nor was I going to be let into the building. Fortunately for me, I’d been sneaking out of the palace at night for a year. It meant I’d also been sneaking into the palace. Pushing through the swathes of people, I heard them chanting for food. They were hungry, starving even. Young children were among them, the elderly. All the people my parents had sworn to protect were now crammed together in anger. The back of the palace wasn’t as crowded as the front, but there were enough people there that would see if I climbed the vines I normally used to get over the walls. All it would take was one person to see me, and then they’d all follow. The palace would be swarmed with people. Angry people who were currently muttering threats about my mother.

  As I continued on around the perimeter, I remembered another way into the grounds. A way my father had taught me not too long ago. He’d crawled through a gap in the wall, invisible to everyone as it was hidden behind a bush. I picked up my speed, keeping my hood up so no one would recognize me. Not that I knew if they would if I walked through them wearing full ceremonial costume and shouting my name, but I wasn’t going to chance it.

  When I was sure no one was looking, I dove into the bush and through the gap. Before anyone had the chance to see me, I followed the path my father had shown me down to the underbelly of the palace. From there, it was only a matter of walking into the main cellars and up to the palace. It was eerily quiet, a stark difference to the bedlam outside the walls. Fear gripped me as I wondered if anyone would remember me. My mother flitted in and out of her memory so often, and that was before I’d left for days.

  As I walked through the palace, the sound of my shoes echoing off the marble floor was a poignant reminder of my situation. I was alone. The noise of the crowds outside remained, though, a distant chanting getting louder, the closer I walked to the front of the palace. I headed to the one man I needed to see more than anyone. Maybe he wouldn’t remember me, but I remembered him. I was halfway down the corridor that housed his suite when someone called my name.

  “Jamal!” I said when I saw who it was. I ran to him and almost fell into his arms. Almost, but not quite.

  “What’s happening?”

  He pulled me away from the window that looked out over the front of the palace.

  “I don’t want them to see you,” he said by way of explanation. “They aren’t very happy with the monarchy at the moment.”

  “I can see that. Why? What’s happened? Are they still mad that my mother held a party in the name of the out of towners?”

  “I wish it was that simple,” Jamal replied. He pointed to a set of stairs to the second floor. “Come on, I should show you the extent of the problem before I tell you what the problem is.”

  The stairwell was dark, and it was only as we began to climb the stairs that I realized why. The curtains covering the windows that opened out onto the royal balcony were closed.

  At the top, Jamal pulled them back an inch to give me a view of the people outside. It was much worse than I feared. The balcony had been built for the royals to stand on and wave to the people during special occasions. From it, the view stretched on down Kisbu’s busiest street for miles. It had been designed that way to allow as many people as possible to see us. It also meant that from here we could see them...all of them. People by the thousands filled the streets in every direction.

  “Everyone in Kisbu is out there!” I exclaimed, stepping back from the curtain.

  “Not quite,” Jamal added, “but most of them. They are hungry. There’s no food.”

  I ran my hand over the back of my neck, rubbing it to comfort myself. “We fed them a few days ago. Kisbu has plenty of food. They can’t all be hungry.”

  “We fed the poor a few days ago.”

  “These aren’t the poor?” I asked, confused. If they weren’t poor, why were they protesting for food?

  “You said it yourself. Most of Kisbu is out there—rich, poor, and everyone in between.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Jamal took my hands in his. “When you left, there was food in the shops. Now the shops are closing. They cannot buy food from the farmers. People who can afford food cannot get access to it. The whole of Kisbu has shut down. The gates are closed. The people of Kisbu closed them to stop the out of towners, but now they can’t get food in.”

  “You mean the people did this to themselves? Why doesn’t Mother just demand that the gates to the city be opened again?”

  Jamal slowly shook his head. “It was your mother that ordered them shut in the first place.”

  Now I was really confused. “Why would she do that?”

 
“She’s gone, Gaia. Or at least, the memory of who she is has. Completely. Since you left, I’ve seen none of the woman I once admired. She was sad that you’d gone, but when I asked her about it, she couldn’t articulate the cause of her sadness. When I said your name, there was no flicker of recognition.”

  This was my fault. Talking to my mother wouldn’t help. If what Jamal said was true, the only way to bring her back was to solve this whole problem. The problem of the magical curse that was blighting our kingdom. I just wish I knew how to fix it. I sneaked another peek through the gap in the curtains. So many unhappy people. How had we spiraled into this in a matter of weeks? Then I saw something that tore my heart in two. Right near the gates, at the front of the crowd, was a man dressed in rags, not the Sultan’s uniform I was used to seeing him in.

  “My father is out there!” I said, turning to Jamal.

  “Aladdin?”

  He joined me at the window, and I pointed out the pathetic looking figure at the front. My father was practically eye-to-eye with one of the guards. The men he had personally hand-picked to serve the royals.

  “Do we have food?” I asked.

  “You don’t need to worry on that score, Gaia. The kitchens are well stocked.”

  I turned and began to run downstairs.

  “Where are you going?”

  I paused, turning my head back to face him. “I’m going to open the gates. I’m going to let them all in.”

  “Are you serious?” Jamal said, chasing me down the stairs. But I was too quick for him. I knew what I was about to do was insanity. We’d be swamped, overrun with people, but I’d made a pledge to serve my kingdom. I might not be the Sultana, but I was the only royal in the palace who hadn’t lost their mind.

  In the main entrance, a lone figure stood at the doors. Peering through the glass.

  “Freya!”

  She turned around. Her face lit up immediately when she saw who it was. She ran toward me, but stopped short about five feet from where I stood. Her face lost its excitement, and her expression turned to one of worry. Her eyes darted to the side, just over my left shoulder. When I turned around to see what had gotten her attention, I saw Jamal just behind me shaking his head. When he saw me looking, he stopped.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You can’t open the gates, Gaia. Look at the people out there. They are out for blood.”

  “They are out for food, and I’m going to give it to them.” I turned back to Freya. “Can you go down to the kitchens and tell them to bring everything we have into the main hall?”

  “Everything?” she asked quietly, looking more at Jamal than me.

  “Everything!” I reiterated. “Jamal, find a guard. Take them to my mother. I’m assuming she is in her room. I want to make sure she is safe if things do turn nasty.”

  Jamal walked around me to stand between me and the door. Just behind him, Freya watched on with tears in her eyes.

  “Turn? Open your eyes, Gaia. Things are already nasty. If you’d have stayed here to deal with this mess rather than go off gallivanting to Urbis, you’d know how bad it’s got.”

  “I can see for myself how bad it is, but my father is out there.”

  “Your father doesn’t even know who you are!” Jamal shouted.

  I stood stock-still, not used to the way he was speaking to me.

  “I know who he is,” I replied, standing my ground. “Now, please do what I ask you. I’m still in charge here.”

  He put his hands on his hips, blocking my way.

  “Move...now!” I looked into his eyes, which had taken on a hard edge. He was taller than me, so I had to incline my head slightly, but I wasn’t going to back down.

  When it became apparent he wasn’t going to move, I casually walked around him and opened the door to the palace. No one was going hungry while I was in charge, no matter what Jamal said.

  The crowd jeered as I walked down the stairs to the gates. The noise rumbled through my ears, making me wonder if I was making the right decision, after all. But then I saw my father. While all those around him were shouting, he was still. He looked at me with such sadness that my heart broke.

  “Open the gates!” I said to the nearest guard. At first, I thought he’d forgotten who I was, but then, I realized the look of incredulity he was giving me had more to do with my request than who I was.

  Inside the guards’ hut, was a horn. It was used to announce ceremonial affairs to the public. Today was far from a ceremony, but if I could get at least some of the people’s attention, then it would have to do. I ducked in, found the horn, and ran back up the stairs to the palace doors. Inside the open door, the entrance hall was empty, which meant either Freya and Jamal had acquiesced to my requests, or they had gone and hidden somewhere. I held the horn to my lips and blew with as much force as I could muster.

  Immediately, the crowd quietened.

  “People of Kisbu,” I shouted. “I know you are hungry. I know you are scared, and I know you are angry. I’m going to open the gates of the palace to feed as many of you as we can. I hope to open the gates to the city too and solve the problems we are having. Until then, I invite you all to come and have a meal on us. I only ask that you line up in an orderly manner and take only what you need. We also have a limited supply of food, and I’d like as many of you to eat as possible. I want you to be assured that I’ll be doing everything I can to solve the situation so that none of you go hungry in the future. Guards. Open the gates.”

  My heart almost stopped as the guards did what was asked of them. Despite my assurances, I wasn’t sure how the crowds would react. I was in the doorway of the palace. If they wanted to overrun the palace, I’d be trampled in seconds. But as I watched, the people did exactly as I had asked, shuffling themselves into an orderly line once they were within the palace grounds.

  I watched my father take his place at about twenty people back. I gave him a smile that he didn’t return. When the man at the front of the line got to me, I ushered him inside.

  “This way, ladies and gentlemen. I’ve asked the kitchen staff to bring food into the great hall. There are two doors, one at the front and one at the back. I ask that you take your food and move through quickly to the back exit so that others can get food too.”

  Freya was in the hall with some of the palace staff. Long tables had already been set up, and the kitchen staff was busily bringing food in. It was a long cry from the banquets we usually put on in the grand hall. There were no decorations, no tablecloths or place settings. There were not even chairs for people to sit on, but there was food, and that was all that mattered.

  I extended my hand in invitation for the people to go in.

  “Freya!” I shouted as the people began to file past me. She turned her head in my direction and placed the platter she was carrying on one of the tables. I beckoned her over.

  “Can you go to the other side of the hall and escort the people out once they’ve got enough food. They can walk the far corridor and out of the staff entrance. That should keep the flow of people going.”

  “There’s not going to be enough food,” she whispered. “What will we do when it runs out?”

  I looked at the long line of people slowly snaking its way through the door. By some miracle, everyone was being orderly, but Freya’s fear was justified. In our grand hall, we could seat and feed over a thousand people for a formal banquet, more for a buffet. We could probably handle as many as two thousand, but there were so many more people than that. I waited until my father came to the front of the line before I ventured into the crowd myself.

  “We meet again,” I said.

  He smiled up at me. “This is a nice thing you are doing. There are a lot of hungry people. They need someone to take charge. If I was the Sultan, I’d do the same.”

  I wanted to tell him that he was the sultan and that the only way I knew to do something like this was from following his lead. He’d made it his life’s work to make sure that not one person in th
e kingdom went hungry. This was his legacy. I wanted to tell him all this, but I couldn’t. I wanted to hug him, but I couldn’t do that either. I had to let him go. To get his food along with all the others. At least, I knew he was alright, and he was eating. It was all I could hope for right now.

  The staff was coming and going almost as fast as the people were filing in. They filled the tables up quickly then turned to head back to the kitchen to grab more. They knew the drill. They might not know my father. They might not even know my mother or me, but they knew how to do this.

  I helped, collecting platters as they were emptied and passing them to the staff to refill. Freya joined in, helping along with most of the palace staff. I’d been letting people walk through for ten minutes or so when a figure appeared at the other end of the grand hall that made my heart soar.

  The line was moving smoothly, so I left my place at the door, ignoring my own empty stomach and bounded through the hall that was filling rapidly.

  “What’s happening?” Genie asked.

  “I opened the doors. I’m feeding them.”

  I waited for the lecture, but it never came. He gave me a smile. “I’ve never known anyone quite like you.”

  “So, you remember me?” I asked. My biggest fear was that he’d forget me again. Apparently, my mother had, and I knew, for a fact, my father only remembered me from our meeting the previous week.

  “You are not easy to forget, Gaia. How did it go in Urbis?”

  I pulled him out of earshot and told him everything I’d learned. It was only when I’d gotten to the end of my story that I remembered the other problem we had. “The Vizier is back. I saw him with my own eyes. He said it was me that defeated him all those years ago.”