Ravish Me, Oh Great Wizard King!!!

Jana jumped through the portal created by the Wizard Prince Erick and landed on the other side. They were somewhere on the ridge of a mountain looking over a landscape that looked much like any other city in Ashrya.

The glittering, golden city of Topaz spread out below in splendid opulence, with its tall spindly spires, waving flags, and gilded domed rooftops.

Beyond the city, the ocean sparkled and shimmered, a gradual gradation from greenish-blue aquamarine, to the azure of lapis lazuli, all the way to the distant sapphire depths.

As colorful and amazing as the city was, it was the dazzling white, reflective limestone surface of the colossal pyramid set at the epicenter of Topaz that truly set the city apart from all other cities in Ashrya.

This was, no doubt, their energy center.

They were too high up to hear the bustling and humming of Topaz's busy streets and open air market square, but the swarms of people going about their daily lives was mesmerizing to watch from this altitude.

"Wow it's hot here." Theo muttered. His body was used to the more chilly climate of the damp bog that the heat instantly hit his body.

Jana nodded. Marble savanna was a much drier, much warmer place, but Topaz had that wet muggy heat which tended to sap a person's energy quickly because there was no way to sweat in an environment where the ambient air was already at 100% humidity.

"How far are we from Imara House?" She asked.

"Quite far," Prince Erick narrowed his eyes into the distance. "I didn't want us to port into the center of town because I don't know this city well enough to not send us into the middle of a bustling crosswalk filled with people. We need a bit more anonymity than that, especially with you two looking so out of place."

He looked at the periwinkle sky, stained a blush pink at the far western edge. "It's already early evening. We have about an hour of sunlight left."

He quickly made a few calculations. "Let's get moving and try to get as near Imara Castle as we can. Then at twilight, we can move in and see if we can locate Zander."

In stealthy moves, they darted from tree clumps to jutting boulders to scraggly bushes, keeping to the side of the road as much as they could to avoid the few travelers coming down the mountain.

At the road split, they finally saw the dusty road sign proudly proclaiming the name of the road they had been traveling on. This was the famed Garamond Road that wound its way up into Topaz Mountain, ending at the Topaz Academy of Magikal Arts.

The road that forked away from Garamond, Montclaire Road, would lead them into Topaz itself.

"We are still about half an hour away from nightfall. Let's wait until then." Erick decided, leading them into the cover of a large clump of hot pink azalea bushes.

As twilight slowly stained the landscape with shadows of purples and deep reds, the landscape muddied into one glob of uniform grey. The cicadas and crickets were out and about, their symphonic rattling and chirping sounds filling the air with that familiar call of summer.

Within the span of a baby's breath, the sun had slipped behind the rolling hills taking with it, the light of day.

The three warriors slipped into the city of Topaz under the cover of darkness. It was not as difficult to travel at night as it had been in the bright daylight.

By this time, nightfall had completely settled into the nooks and crannies of Topaz City. The only bright spots left were the isolated pools of lights coming from the scattered iron lamp posts on the sides of the major roads.

It took another thirty minutes of sprinting before they were able to catch a glimpse of House Imara.

In an otherwise perfect world, Imara castle would have been something out of a fairy tale. It was a large and solid castle befitting the ancient House Imara.

There were climbing roses of some indistinct color which covered the grey stone walls of the castle all the way up to the slate roof. Jana counted five tall spires with tall narrow windows that had stained glass panes.

Erick pointed to the middle spire. "That's the one. It's the largest tower."

"Also the tallest," Jana grimly agreed.

"Nevertheless, we have to scale it, even with all those nasty roses growing everywhere."

"Those roses weren't grown for their beauty. The thorns are a great deterrent for persistent climbers like you," Erick grinned, his white teeth flashing in the night.

Jana looked at them with revulsion. Their scent was so overpowering, it was going to take everything she had to keep from choking on their odor. And then there were those thick claw-like thorns.

"Let's move it. I'll be right behind you," Theo whispered.

They scattered. Erick took the left side, Theo and Jana darted to the right. In one quick motion, the cat and the wolf catapulted onto the rooftop and began jumping from one roof to another.

The speed at which they moved astonished even Erick himself. He scanned the grounds. There were no guards, and no groundskeepers. Not a single light illuminated the inside of the castle.

It looked abandoned, as if the occupants had cleared out some time ago. Something was not quite right.

He looked up at the tower where Jana and Theo had cleared. They were coming back out. In a matter of minutes, they were back within the thicket where Erick was.

"There's nobody in House Imara. They've all pulled out."

"You checked everywhere?"

"We did an auratic scan for any magik aura signature but there isn't any. I also could not smell anything living that was larger than a mouse." Theo frowned. "The auratic scan for Zander showed the last time he was here was over a week ago. We're too late. They've taken him away."

"Alright. Let's head back."

He opened a port and they stepped through, back into Celadonia's cool temperate climate.

Dinner that night was subdued. No one stated the obvious. They were a week too late to find Zander and he had once again disappeared without a trace.

The dining area within the celadonian tree castle was a large area built in between several trees. The honey color oak table was grown from the very tree that it was anchored to, as were the chairs.

Mira could hardly believe her eyes. Every piece of furniture she had seen so far within Celadonia was a part of the living tree, magically transmuted into usable shapes.

Although celadonians were vegetarians, the food they offered to their guests were quite omnivorous in nature.

There was fresh fish for the cat, disguised in the form of sashimi type slices. There were pork chops for the dwarves along with plenty of potatoes and corn chowder. For Prince Erick, there was his favorite roast chicken and greens soup.

Since Mira did not have any food preferences, she was given the same vegetarian food that Gerald Pomfrey ate.

As they sat eating, dozens of celadonian servers wearing loose fluttery gowns in various shades of greens and blues wafted in and out, carrying an unending stream of food and drinks to the group.

"We could send another fleet of fireflies, although they are rather limited in use." Gerald Pomfrey swirled the reddish contents of his glass.

Jana poked at a piece of uncooked fish. "I saw a pantheran coffee house as we were making our way through Topaz. It's called the Magikat Coffee Shop. Maybe I can go in there and nose around a bit."

"That's a great idea." Ziggy piled his plate high with pork chops. "There are some bars and dives that a few dwarves are running in town I could go check out."

Erick brightened. "I can go with you...check out the local nightlife."

Raphael Summer who had rejoined their group earlier in the evening shook his head. "You can't show your face out there. You're too sparkly."

"You can just make me a little homelier."

"You'd still be too recognizable. I'm afraid you'll have to stay in Celadonia."

"What about me?" Mira looked up from her plate.

Raphael shook his head. "I'm sorry My Queen. You're even more noticeable than Prince Erick. There aren't many hybrid humans like yourself around. Even the pantheran woman is less noticeable than you are."

"You can stay here tonight and watch the fireflies being released." Gerald Pomfrey suggested. "The chances are good that we will find some kind of lead with one of the fireflies."

Once all the plans had been laid out, dinner was concluded and the scout teams set off in twos and threes leaving Erick and Mira back at Celadonia with Gerald Pomfrey.