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Prologue Banished

It is a Darke and storht

Black clouds hang low over the Castle, shrouding the golden pyramid at the top of the Wizard Tower in a dim mist In the houses far below, people stir uneasily in their sleep as the ruht from the sky

Like a giant lightning conductor, the Wizard Tower rears high above the Castle rooftops, Magykal purple and indigo lights playing around its iridescent silver sheen Inside the Tower the duty Stor the Stor an eye on the UnStable hich has a tendency to panic in a storyk is not usually affected by a stor Strike of Long Ago, which briefly drained the Wizard Tower of its Magyk and left the rooms of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard badly scorched No one wants that to happen again - particularly the duty Storm Wizard

At the top of the Wizard Tower in her as yet unscorched four-poster bed, Marcia Overstrand groans as a fah her sleep A loud craaaack of lightning splits open the cloud above the Tower and zips harmlessly to earth down the duty Storht, dark curly hair awry, trapped in her nightreen eyes open ith surprise as a purple ghost shoots through the wall and skids to a halt beside the bed

"Alther!" gasps Marcia "What are you doing?"

The tall ghost with long white hair tied back in a ponytail is wearing bloodstained ExtraOrdinary Wizard robes He looks flustered

"I really hate it when that happens," he gasps "Got Passed Through By lightning"

"I'rumpily, "but I don't see why you had to come and wake me up just to tell me that You may not need to sleep anyht for being out in a storh!"

Another craaaack of lightning illulass of Marcia's bedroomand makes Alther appear almost transparent

"I wasn't out there for the fun of it, Marcia, believeto see you As you requested"

"As I requested?" says Marcia blearily She is still half in her nightht around the top of the Wizard Tower

"You requested - ordered would be a better way of putting it - that I track down Tertius Fume and tell you when I had found him," says Alther

Marcia is suddenly wide-awake "Ah," she says

"Ah, indeed, Marcia"

"So you have found him?"

The ghost looks pleased with himself "Yup," he says

"Where?"

"Where do you think?"

Marcia throws back the bedcovers, slips out of bed and pulls on her thick woolen gown - it is cold at the top of the Wizard Tohen the wind blows "Oh, for goodness' sake, Alther," she snaps as she pushes her feet into the purple rabbit slippers that Septiave her for her birthday "I wouldn't ask if I kneould I?"

"He's in Dungeon Number One," Alther says quietly

Marcia sits down on the bed rather suddenly "Oh," she says, her night itself at double speed "Bother"

Ten ures can be seen scurrying along Wizard Way They are both trying to keep out of the needle-sharp rain that sweeps up the Way, Passing Through the leading figure and soaking the one close behind Suddenly the first figure pes down a small alleyway, closely followed by the second The alleyway is dark and smelly but at least it is sheltered from the near-horizontal rain

"Are you sure it's down here?" asks Marcia, glancing behind She doesn't like alleyways