Cassim rode into the layer of the Forty Thieves. Only then did he stop. He dismounted and went over to the fire pit. He started a fire and sat down. Iago flew down from his shoulder and landed on the ground beside him.
"Okay, what just happened back there?"
"Jafar and Sa'luk are alive again. A sorcerer brought them back to life."
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know, Iago. I don't know."
"We should go get Al. He'll know what to do."
"No. We have to do something about this ourselves."
"We can't possibly defeat them."
"Yes we can. They're *our* greatest enemies."
"Jafar is my greatest fear."
"He's still your greatest enemy."
"You're right."
"It's up to us to defeat them."
"How?"
"I don't know. We can't do it alone. We need to work together."
"Then we need to know more about the other villan."
"Okay. Tell me more about Jafar and what he did to you."
"He was cruel, heartless, and evil. If I made the tiniest mistake he would punish me for it. His punishments were very painful. One time he threw me all over the room then squeezed me so hard I couldn't breathe! He scared me for life."
Iago told Cassim more until he finished.
"So how about Sa'luk?"
"Sa'luk and I never liked each other. When I first became the King of Thieves he made me nervous because I knew he could easily kill me. I got to know him well. I knew his strengths and weaknesses. He knew mine. One day, it hadn't even been a year since I became the King of Thieves, he killed an inoccent person. That was after I added the rule that we never hurt the inoccent. The person he killed was a little girl about eight or nine years old."
Iago's eyes widened.
"I saw him kill her, and I snapped. The next thing I knew I was on top of him, and the point of my dagger was only an inch about his chest! I could see that he was shocked and a little frightened. I got off him and put my dagger away. He got up and stared at me. He didn't do anything like that again. I kept my eye on him. He had realized that I wasn't some pushover. He hated me even more ever since that day and was determinded to kill me. He didn't dare try for a while because he knew I would fight back and could probably kill him. He became a better fighter, but so did I. He also knew if he killed he would be breaking on of the rules of the code. He's dangerous, and now he's probably even more determinded to kill me."
"We're in trouble."
"Oh yeah."
Two Old Enemies by Cassim fan