Ravish Me, Oh Great Wizard King!!!

For the rest of the morning, Mira and Carol spent time gossiping and catching up with current events on Earth while the men holed up in the large library on the third floor.

Whatever it was they were discussing in the library, it had to have been very important, because at mid-day, when Mira came up to check on him and to call him to lunch, she was barred access by two of Daran's guardsmen standing in front of the double library doors.

"I'm his wife. I just want to call him down for lunch."

"I'm sorry, Princess. He said no one is to be allowed into the library at this time."

"Not even me?"

"Especially you, Princess."

Well, that was that.

Mira then spent the time by herself in the solarium at the back of the house, reading up on the geography and layout of Ashrya.

True to his word, Zander had provided various maps of Ashrya and its surrounding cities for Mira to look at, and although the words were written in Ashryan script, Mira could pinpoint various locations from known areas on the map.

She asked Violet for paper and quill, and with the help of the handmaid, had replicated the map of Ashryan within the hour. She replaced the Ashryan curlicue script with her clean printed English text, and added a few footnotes to clarify certain areas.

She pinpointed Jade City as the main capital, and from there, she drew out the other major cities.

Immediately north of Jade was the Dwarven Underground City of Tourmaline, and immediately north of Tourmaline was Sapphire City. Even farther north of Sapphire was Diamond, of the Tamein Kingdom.

Geographically, Tamein Kingdom was huge and incorporated many cities. Its land mass was much larger than Jade Kingdom, but because it was so far to the north, there were fewer cities, and presumably, less people living in that far flung wastelands.

East of Jade was Peridot, and north of Peridot were the cities of Olivine and Citrine. South of Peridot were Emerald and Amethyst cities. To the south of Jade, there were Garnet and Jasper cities, and below that was Topaz.

The map ended at Topaz although it hinted of a larger area south of Topaz. Since Mira was barely able to absorb Jade Kingdom alone, she tucked that stray piece of information away for future exploration. At the moment, there were more pressing demands on her time.

Where there was a portal door that she knew existed, she drew in a small rectangle so she would remember their location.

There was one in the marshlands of Tourmaline Bog, which linked up to the one that was inside Jade Palace. This was the one that Erick Rashak took when he returned to Ashrya from Earth.

She drew a small rectangle and labeled it Jade.

There was also another portal from Tourmaline Bog into her back yard on Earth, so she drew a second rectangle next to it and labeled it 'Earth'.

Jade, by far, had the most rectangles.

There was a portal from Jade to Diamond City, which Zander's parents had taken to travel back and forth from their home to the capital. She also heard that there was a portal from Topaz, which linked into Jade Palace. This was the portal that Princess Celeste Zaravan had taken to arrive into Jade.

By the time Mira was happy with the way the map looked, it was time for dinner. She told Violet to go help Carol prepare for dinner, and then she picked up her skirts and walked out of the solarium.

Along the way, she grabbed an iron poker from the fireplace.

The third-floor library was huge, by any standards. It took up an entire west wing, and there were two entrances. The large entrance was located next to the staircase and had double doors, and the second entrance was at the far end of the hallway, accessible by a single door.

Sadly, there were guards stationed on both ends.

"I need to talk to Zander." she announced even before she had gotten to the top of the stairs. "It is dinner time and he needs to eat. He cannot be skipping two meals in a day!"

The guards glanced at each other. "We are sorry, m'Lady. No one is allowed entry."

Mira stared at them icily. "You will either open those doors, or you will have to fight me." She advanced on them with the iron poker in both hands, raised over her right shoulder.

The guards immediately went into a crouched position. She was the princess, but they were trained guards. They had no plans to harm her, but neither did they want to get hit by that iron pole with the wicked hook at the end.

"Please put that down, Princess," one of the guards put his hands out, "You cannot hurt us, and we do not want to hurt you."

"Let me in or I will whack you with this thing."

"Princess--please..."

Suddenly the doors opened.

Zander stood in the middle of the doorway, hands crossed over his chest, wearing a strange look on his face. It was almost as if he was trying to hold in his laughter.

Mira lowered the poker. "Zander."

"What were you going to do with that, wife? Were you going to beat the Royal Guards over the head with an iron poker?"

Daran peeked around Zander's body and gasped. "Oh no!"

He ran out and began kicking the guards' buttocks. "Get down on your knees, you imbeciles!"

As the guards went down on one knee, Daran whacked them over the heads with the flat of his palm. "What did you do to the Princess that she had to come at you with a poker??? Do you understand that inside this palace, the one person you must protect at all costs is Princess Mira Lee of Tamein!"

"Please, Captain. We are sorry. We were only doing what you asked."

"I told you to guard the door and don't let anybody in. I didn't tell you to antagonize the Princess to the point where she felt as if she had to fight you! No dinner for the both of you tonight. Now go!"

"Yes Captain." The two ran off, relief showing clearly on their faces. It would seem as if Captain Daran Duluth was rather lenient in this situation.

Zander made his way towards Mira and took the poker from her hands. He handed it to Daran and then grabbed her around the waist, pulling her towards him. "I am here Princess, at your command."

"I command you to eat dinner!" She punched his shoulder playfully. "You didn't eat lunch, and I am not going to let you skip two meals today."

"As you wish, my Princess." Zander lowered his head, silver-blue eyes twinkling, and covered her slight pout with his mouth. It had seemed like a very very long time had passed since he last kissed her, and he was starving.

His lips took in the essence of her, and he sucked and licked her till she began pounding on his shoulders.

"Ummm---Zander. Daran is---Ummmm----he's here---Ummm"

Zander lifted his head and glanced at Daran. "He is? I don't see anyone here."

Daran ran away with the iron poker.