Early in the morning the caravan set out for the city of the Sun.

Before they started the journey Juran had come to wake Ethan up. He had brought with him a bundle of clothes. As Ethan sat up rubbing his eyes, Juran thrust the bundle in his hands. "Change into this." he said.

Ethan unwrapped the bundle. It contained a set of new garments which looked similar to the ones Juran wore, except in colour. Juran seemed to prefer black, but this one was dark blue. Ethan couldn't help but appreciate the rich embroidery and the soft feel of the cloth.

"Won't I stand out too much in these clothes?" He asked.

"Well, I don't think you'll look very convincing as a camel keeper or cart driver either!" Juran chuckled. "Better to make you stand out then," he said.

Saying this Juran brought out a small metallic cube from inside his clothes. "Here comes the most important thing," he said.

Ethan was surprised by the sudden change of tone in his voice. Juran's low voice sounded grave and serious as he put down the cube in front of him.

The little cube was made of some unfamiliar material which gave off a metallic hue and yet looked soft and pliant to the eye. Intricate designs were curved on it. They looked like some exotic coat of arms.

Ethan tore his eyes off the cube and looked at Juran. "What is it?" He said.

"The mark of your identity." Juran said. "Give me your right hand."

Without asking anything more Ethan extended his right hand, palm open. Juran pressed the cube on his palm and held it there for a few seconds. As soon as the cube touched his skin, Ethan felt a tingling sensation spreading from his palm to his fingers and crawling up his wrist to his hand. Then his hand went numb and Ethan couldn't feel anything more.

Instead, he stared at his palm with awe.

Bright red tentacles of light were spreading out from the cube, curving intricate designs in red on his pale skin, similar to the coat of arms curved on the upper side of the cube!

In a moment, Ethan's right palm was covered in those ornate designs which glowed and pulsated like some living tentacles. Then they seemed to crawl into his skin and were hidden from view.

Ethan felt sensation coming back to his hand. He looked up at Juran who was staring intently at his palm. "What does this mean?" He asked Juran.

Juran was busy removing the cube and putting it away inside his clothes. He looked at Ethan; his face still devoid of the smile he usually wore.

"This is the coat of arm of my family. The mark of identity which will make others recognize you as one of my own people. Not that there is anyone left now..." His voice trailed off.

Ethan could recognize the sadness and pain in his voice. He gazed in wonder at Juran's face. 'What could have this man gone through?' He thought.

But Juran didn't explain anything. "Change your clothes and get ready now. We must hurry and reach the city of the Sun by afternoon today." He said and left.

****************************************

The sun was well above their head when the wall surrounding the city appeared in the distant horizon.

It looked as if a towering grey mountain rose straight from the white sandy desert and blocked the view on the western frontier. In the middle of it a huge square of an area seemed to shimmer and glow in the light of the sun.

Ethan was riding a camel by Juran's side. As the grey mountain with that shimmering square appeared in view, the camels increased their speed on their own, as if the outlandish view in the distant horizon attracted them like a mirage. The sun dipped more and more towards the massive mountain of a wall, and keeping in pace with it, the caravan moved faster and faster. The shimmering square in the wall slowly took the shape of a huge gate which seemed to reflect the rays of the setting sun. As Juran and his ride approached it, the gigantic gates swung open without a noise.

The men riding the camels entered, followed by the carts. As the last cart crossed its threshold the gates swung closed on their own.

Within the gate, lay a wide courtyard. It was cobbled with square tiles made of some coarse material which gave off a rusty hue, making the ground look like an abandoned battlefield covered with blood clogged and dried off long ago. In the middle of it, a giant round stone rose from the ground. It had a flat top which made it look like a round stone table.

Juran got off his ride. Ethan and the others followed suit. The cart drivers parked their carts neatly at one side of the courtyard and gathered around Juran who quickly organized them in a single queue in front of the stone table. Then he called Ethan and stood at a side with him.

One by one the men went to the stone and placed their right palm on its flat surface. Ethan watched with amazement how each time the stone surface glowed and some intricate pattern spread on it like delicate veins of light. He realized that it was some sort of identification system which ran automatically. For a moment he felt bewildered. There was no security at the gate; no human guard to check their identity or to seek any sort of papers from them.

Only a soundless automatic system which identified people with some sort of codes embedded into their skin by some God-only-knows sort of technique!

Ethan felt a chill speeding down his spine. What was this place? Run by what kind of monstrous people?

Silently, all the of them got themselves identified by the strange stone table. No one came to look into the carts which made Ethan believe that they were probably checked by some secret invisible method at the time they entered the gate.

The men talked with Juran for some time and then left with carts and camels one by one. The two of them left the courtyard too and started walking on a path which ran by the side of the gigantic city wall. The path was cobbled with the same material as the courtyard and Ethan felt creepy walking on it.

"Let's go to the inn." Juran had said before they left the courtyard. But as they arrived at the gate of the large building which flaunted a signboard where only the letters '...nn' could barely be read, Ethan was caught in surprise.

The building was surrounded by a high wall with a huge iron gate which made it look like more of a jail than an inn!

The gate was wide open, though. Inside of it a guard in faded livery sat on a low stool. As they entered the guard struggled to his feet and bowed to Juran reverently. Ethan understood that Juran must have been a well-known guest there.

Juran returned his bow and started walking towards the plain two-storied building that stood at the other end of the walled courtyard. Ethan followed at his heels.

A wide open veranda ran in front of the building. Two people stood there looking their way. As they drew near, one of them jumped from the veranda and ran towards them.

It was a boy of about fifteen years. He wore elegant clothes and a sheathed sword was hung on his back. "Juran! You are back at last!" The boy beamed. Juran laughed and messed up his hair. Then he looked at the other person who, too, had walked up to them. "Have you been alright?" Juran asked.

Ethan turned his eyes towards the newcomer. For an instant, he felt as if the ground beneath his feet had melted and he was sinking into it deeper and deeper. His cheeks burnt as blood rushed to his face.

It was a tall, slender girl with long, elegant limbs. The last rays of the setting sun shimmered off her red hair and surrounded her face in a golden halo. Ethan felt he could stare at her forever, but just as the girl looked at him, Ethan lowered his eyes. He was deeply embarrassed and at the same time, angry with himself. 'Why did I have to make a fool of myself in front of an unknown girl?' He wanted to go to some corner and bang his head into the wall!

Juran noticed his uneasiness. With a curious smile he patted Ethan's back. "Liz? This is Ethan. Our new friend. Ethan, this is Liz!" Juran introduced them.

The girl had stretched out her hand towards Ethan. That made Ethan more embarrassed. "Liz...Lis...Lisabeth?" He stammered out.

The girl laughed. In Ethan's ears a silver bell tinkered somewhere. "Liz as in lizard!" She laughed harder.

Ethan couldn't believe his ears. What was this girl talking about? He turned to Juran with bewilderment in his eyes; knowing perfectly well that he was making a prodigious fool of himself!

Juran laughed and rolled his eyes at the girl. "There, Liz!" He said in a mockingly serious tone. "Don't just freak him out on his first day here. Ethan? This is Liz and this boy here, is Ahir. They are the nearest of a family that I have now."

The girl stopped laughing, though her expression clearly said that she was having a hard time suppressing her laughter. The boy looked at Ethan with a friendlier smile. "Welcome, new friend!" He said.

The three of them walked towards the front door on the veranda. Liz and Ahir had already arranged for three rooms on the first floor of the inn. Juran talked with the innkeeper and the fiesty old woman quickly arranged for another bed in the spacious front room which Ahir had booked for Juran. "Go take some rest." Juran advised Ethan. "You rode a camel for too long today and I guess this is your first camel ride in a desert? You must be tired there," he said.

Ethan was really tired. His eyelids felt like lead and his limbs felt like some weightless feather. He dragged himself to the room, washed his hands and face reluctantly and nibbled on some food that Ahir had brought for him. Then he sank in the soft bed without changing his clothes. As soon as his head hit the pillow, sleep engulfed him.

****************************

Ethan had been asleep for how long he didn't know himself. He woke up as Juran touched his shoulder and shook him a bit.

As he opened his eyes, he couldn't remember where he was at first. But soon enough he remembered it all and sat up on the bed at once. As he took in the sound of people hurrying and shouting below their window, he knew instinctively that something had gone wrong.

A huge fire blazed outside. In its red glow Ethan could see Juran's face set in hard and determined lines. Ethan jumped out of the bed and followed him outside the room. Liz and Ahir had also come out of their rooms. They looked fully prepared for a fight or flee situation. The only thing they needed was a command from Juran.

Ethan, too, looked at Juran expectantly. Juran took them to a back staircase which spiralled down into the dark courtyard. The four of them went down the stairs one by one and found themselves at the back of the building. In the hue of the fire that raged in the front side of the building they saw a wall towering over them.

Juran drew the others close to him and said, "We have been ambushed. If we stay and fight a lot of innocent people will be killed. So we must flee at once. Liz?"

Ethan stared in awe as Liz ran to the wall and started to climb the wall without any kind of rope! Earlier, he had noticed her wearing high spiky boots, the spikes of which now dug into the stone wall and provided her support. But there was no way that an ordinary human girl could climb such a high wall with only her hands and feet!

But in the blink of an eye, the impossible became possible!

Liz had reached the top of the wall. Sitting there, she took out a coil of rope from a small backpack that hung at her back. She dug a long hook into the wall with her bare hands and tied one end of the rope with it. Then she flung the other end of the rope at them.

With its help the three people below crossed the wall one by one. As the three of them reached the ground at the other side, Liz took off the hook and the rope, stuffed them in her backpack and climbed down using only her hands and feet. As Ethan stared at her climbing down the wall at an incredible speed, suddenly a thought flashed in his mind! "Liz, as in lizard!" She had said, laughing!

So this was what she had meant! Her lizard-like ability to conquer any height!

Ethan found himself in a dazed state!