“What does she want in return for him?” I asked.
“That’s for you to find out. And you’d better do it quickly.”
“Why do you even care about any of this? You’re planning to destroy the world as soon as you get a chance.”
“Destroy the world? No. Your world will be reborn.” She leaned forward and spoke quietly. “But I will not be the one to do it, Deathbringer.”
A shiver ran down my spine, and the dream shifted to a different reality. Instead of sitting in my father’s office, we stood in the desert—the same desert I’d seen in another vision, one I’d tried so hard to forget.
I stood alone.
“This is your curse,” Theht whispered. “To be forever alone without anyone to guide or comfort you. That is the destiny of the Deathbringer. Like Ulizet, like the silverwitch, you will fulfill the prophecy, kill the ones you love, and then you shall be as them. Alone.”
I clamped my hands over my ears. “I don’t believe you,” I called. My voice echoed through the empty expanse.
“There is no need to believe. Prophecy happens whether you believe it or not.”
I sank to my hands and knees, the sand gritty as it clung to my skin. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“But you will be,” Theht whispered. “You will be here sooner than you think.”
I bolted awake, sweat slicking my forehead, my hands cold and clammy. My heart pounded, and the throbbing headache had grown worse. Outside, it was still dark.
“Olive,” Maveryck said quietly. “Are you okay?”
His words surprised me. I hadn’t realized he was awake. But then again, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen the man sleep.
“I… I don’t know.”
I rubbed my temples, trying to make sense of the dream. Had I really spoken to Theht? I tried to remember where I was. On the light carriage, headed for the desert. Theht was just a dream.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“We’ve just crossed through the outskirts near the elven capitol,” Maveryck answered. “We’ve still got a few hours to go.”
As I breathed deeply, the images from the dream faded, but I could still hear Theht’s voice.
Prophecy happens whether you believe it or not.
Trying to distract myself from the dream, I turned to Maveryck. “Where is your wolf?” I asked.
“I left Grace at the keep. She hates the desert, and she hates Jahr’ad even more. I thought it best if she stayed put.”
“I see.” I turned to the window, trying not the notice the haunted look in my reflection. “Do you really think this man—Jahr’ad—will be able to help us?”
“Yes. He may be the only person in Faythander who can.”
Taking deep breaths, I still couldn’t shake the fear I’d felt in the dream.
“It’s a shame that Silvestra appeared and took your stepfather,” Maveryck said. “I had intended to help you find the lost isle of Tremulac.”
“Did you know where to look?”
“Not exactly, but during one of my journeys, I came across some rare documents that held knowledge about Tremulac.” He placed his pack on his lap and pulled out a slim, leather-bound tome. “I hadn’t thought to look through this until now as it didn’t make much sense to me before. But after recovering the staff, the allure of the lost isle piqued my curiosity, and so I took another look at it. This book was written by a historian who lived several hundred years after the Madralorde, so I can’t say how accurate it is. Still, it does contain some fascinating knowledge.”
“What does it say?”
“It seems the Madralorde did indeed live longer ago than most suspected. In fact, they lived at the same time Earth Kingdom’s Egyptians were building the pyramids.”
“Wow. No wonder it’s so hard to find out anything about them.”
“Precisely. I have also learned that the Madralorde brothers built their keep on the site of what had previously been an ancient temple. The locals opposed the building of the keep as they claimed the Madralorde were desecrating sacred ground. In retaliation, the Madralorde brothers sacked the temple and killed everyone in it. They… tortured them in an unusually brutal manner, and then they burned them alive. After that, they displayed the charred corpses outside the temple as a warning to anyone else who sought to stop the construction.”
“My goodness, they sound like savages.”
“Yes. Remember, this was before the time of Pa’horan, so they basically were savages.”
“But they were also smart. They constructed weapons powerful enough to harness Theht.”
“True, but they had help.” He tapped the book on his lap. “This historian says that when the brothers unearthed the temple’s foundation, they found a wellspring of magic, and they used the magic to forge their weapons.”
“If that’s the case,” I said, “then wherever they built their castle must have been a place of great power. But if that’s true, then finding it should be easy… but it isn’t. Why?”
“Perhaps the magic no longer exists? They may have used all the magic in constructing their weapons.”
Sighing, I gazed out the window. The clouds had cleared, revealing a star-flecked sky. “Until a week ago, I thought the place was a myth.”
“Yes, as did almost everyone else. Everyone except the elven queen.”
“Does that book say anything else useful?” I asked.
“Only that the castle was built on an island and surrounded by a large lake.”
“Okay, then all we’ll have to do is scour every lake in Faythander. Easy.”
Maveryck’s smile didn’t seem to touch his eyes. “Yes, perhaps it would be easy if there weren’t over a million recorded lakes in Faythander, and perhaps a million more that haven’t been discovered.”
“All right, maybe not so easy. Then how do you propose we find it?”
He shook his head. “We need more information, and unfortunately, the one race who has the only collection of known records from the Madralorde are the elves.”
“And they won’t be giving it up any time soon.”
“No, and it’s quite likely they’ll find the island before we do.”
My shoulders slumped. I wanted to argue, but I knew he was right. I glanced
