Theo was very tall, very broad-shouldered, and very warg-looking. This was sometimes good and sometimes not-so-good.
Because he stuck out like a sore thumb, he could not scout in the normal fashion of intermingling with the local crowd and gleaning details from overheard conversations.
Jana had, in no uncertain terms told him that he had been relegated to being one of those to be left behind.
Theo sat on the divan in one of the sleeping chambers looking glum and out of sorts.
He followed Janna's movements under lazy lidded eyes as she made preparations to leave with the dwarves and the two celadonians who had been assigned to scout duties.
Seeing his grumpy countenance, she came to him and patted him on the cheek.
"Cheer up. It's only going to be for a few hours. I'll be back soon."
"You think I'm sad because I'll be missing you?"
"Of course. Why else would you be sad?" She smiled and kissed his forehead. Then she skipped away like the proud prancing cat she was.
Growling gently under his breath, Theo settled back on the cushions of the divan she had just vacated.
He had come to her room to convince her to let him tag along but the aggravating minx didn't even want to hear anything he had to say.
All she did was…
Theo's face heated up as he backed away from those thoughts.
It was a good thing he had a certain amount of self-control and decorum. She was constantly like a cat in heat---always teasing him and torturing him in the most tawdry, unladylike---breathtaking way.
He looked down at the band she had placed on his wrist. It was supposed to be a permanent thing but of course, couples who separated removed them all the time. Only fools ever thought they were supposed to be worn for life.
Theo sighed.
He was such a fool.
For the first time in his life, he actually felt a solid attachment to someone who was not a part of his immediate family. In fact, she was not even part of his species.
He wasn't sure if Jana had soul-bonded with him as a surefire way to answer a question for the Queen or if she had any other ulterior motive for doing this. He just knew it was not going to be something that would last too long.
But for Theo, the answer was a mute point.
Her actions thrilled him deep to the core of his being but that did not change the fact that she was an impulsive kitten with a penchant for doing things on the spur of the moment. The thought that a simple band would have deep meaning for someone like her was ludicrous.
And besides, how in hell was he going to be able to tell his father about her.
Theo was most certainly upset that he could not join the scout team, but what really riled his ire the most was the fact that Jana was right.
He was already missing her.
Left to his own devices, Theo rolled onto his side and snuggled into the large pale green pillows that smelled like the kitty who had just skipped out in merry abandonment, leaving him behind.
He groaned and rolled to the other side. Her kitty scent did not dissipate. It was everywhere in this room.
Sitting up in disgust, he rested his head on his fist and tried to ignore his nose. The more he tried to ignore it the more he wanted to follow the source of that titillating scent.
This was bad. He needed to get out of her chamber.
Theo jumped off the divan and bounded up onto the window sill. The drop from Jana's sleeping chamber to the forest floor was at least thirty feet.
He leaped off the window sill.
Once on the forest floor, he wandered about skipping from boulder to boulder exploring his immediate surroundings. His nose led him from one interesting plant species to another interesting root-bound ancient stone structure.
The night was cool. Mists of dew infused into the ambient air carrying with it the scent of lemon blossoms and wild ylang ylang.
All around him, the sounds of the jungle reverberated through the trees. It was that time of the year for the cicadas to come out. He could hear them buzzing and clicking in a deafening cacophony. The birds here were loud and raucous as well.
This jungle was so alive and so beautiful, much as his beloved bog was. It was far more alive than the paved jungle of the cities teeming with people but so lacking in diverse flora and fauna.
He stood in the clearing breathing deeply the perfumed night air. What was the use of such a powerful nose if he was stuck out here in the middle of nowhere smelling flowers all night?
Theo shook his head. He had to get closer to the action.
With his mind firmly made up, Theo mumbled a power Command and opened a port into the city of Topaz.
The portal opened up into a deserted alleyway in between a series of clothing shops that had closed for the night and a darkened bakery.
Suddenly, Theo's nose perked up.
There was a smell that was incongruous with the scent of the city at night. It was an offensive smell that he knew well.
The putrid decay of corpses, the sickly sweet smell of roasted bodies being cremated, the smell of disease and fear...these were all familiar smells that warriors like him lived with on a daily basis.
But what was this smell doing in a city as opulent and decadent as Topaz?
He began following his nose. The faster he moved, the stronger the smell got.
To keep himself away from the populace, Theo took to jumping between rooftops. The darkness hid his stealthy movements but it did not hamper him in the least. His eyes were well-adapted to the night.
His body was also in top condition. He easily leaped from one cornice to another with very little sound. Where the gaps were too far for normal jumps, Theo simply relied on his mage training and levitated himself until he could reach for a solid landing.
It did not take long before he reached the source of the stench.
Ten minutes out of the city, in a clearing at the base of Topaz Mountain, Theo could see the huddled masses of creatures.
He found a large sprawling oak tree next to the creatures and perched himself on top of a solid limb. At that vantage point, he could see the entire clearing.
Theo could barely believe his eyes. Daisy-chained together like criminals were baboons, orangutans, gorillas, and apes of all shapes and sizes. They numbered in the hundreds. In fact, Theo estimated that there could be over a thousand of them.
No wonder the smell was so strong.
All the primates were sitting or lying together in groups. They looked to have been sedated with magik since they made no fuss and no noise.
Walking among them were several dozen people in Overlord bodysuits. They all carried some type of wand with a glass knob at the end. He winced as he saw one poor ape getting shoved in the stomach with the glass knob.
He wanted to free them but he was alone and there were so many Overlords. Furthermore, in their sedated condition, there was no way he could lead them anywhere. The only thing he could do was observe and report back what he had seen.
Theo remained on his perch for a short time taking note of the Overlords' movements and the general condition of the primates.
The more Theo observed, the more he was convinced that these were not common woodland creatures. They looked intelligent by the way they interacted with each other. These apes had been magikally enhanced to be able to do basic common work.
It did not take long before the Overlords began rousing them from their stupor. As the primates struggled to their feet, the Overlords began prodding them with the metal wands.
Theo's eyes grew hard. They were sending electric shocks through the metal rods at the poor chained primates who could not resist any of the abuse, chained as they were together in one large mass.
He could hardly wait to get his hands on a rod and give them a taste of what they had been dishing out to the poor primates.
Theo began following them from behind.
The Overlords said little. They were all intently trying to keep the group moving in one direction as quickly as possible. It was a slow moving herd, but it was not a mob. They were orderly and lined in rows, as if they had been trained to do so.
It took another two hours before the chain-gang was led to their destination. The Overlords pulled open a set of wide double doors that opened up half the side of a building.
As the primates trooped in, Theo could see that it was the external building to a much larger maze of hallways that led somewhere deep into the mountainside.
He briefly thought about following the primates into the building but abandoned that idea. As tall as he was, there was no way he could mingle in with the short primates and look like anything but an out-of-place bogwarg.
Theo took note of the positions of the constellation of stars above in relation to the mountain top. With those two reference points, he knew he could find his way back to this location again.
Theo mumbled the command to open a portal.
"Mashangjokai"
In a single bound, he slipped through the shimmering portal, returning once again to that sweet cool glade in the middle of the Celadonian jungle.