“My journey into the wild lands happened when I was much younger, just a boy really, while my elven parents were still alive,” he started. “My elder brother Navarre wanted to take me on an expedition. What I didn’t know was that he was leading me into a trap. Looking back, I am sure he was jealous of me. I was the youngest, adopted, and doted on by our parents. He was the eldest and expected to be the leader, and he hated it. Needless to say, he didn’t like me, and so he led me into the wild lands. Whether he wished to kill me or merely scare me, I cannot say for sure. But he left me there alone.
“Unlike what most people think, the wild lands aren’t merely a desolate waste. In fact, they’re the opposite. They’re a place of enormous magical energy, so potent that plants and creatures grow mutated. After time, the magic began to wreak havoc on the area’s ecosystems, decimating some, causing others to warp into different species altogether.
“But the most dangerous aspect of the wild lands is neither the plants nor the animals—it is the magic that gets into your head. It makes you see things, makes you lose your senses, and eventually, makes you lose your mind.
“I was only able to survive because my family returned for me. Navarre had let it slip what he’d done, and so my parents came and found me. If not for them, I don’t think I would have made it through.”
“Is there any way around it?” Heidel asked. “Some way to get past the magic?”
“Yes, I believe so. Since then, I have made it a point to never be in such a situation ever again. Although I have not returned, I have done a fair amount of research and learned that there are trails protected from the magic in that waste, and if one were to find one of the trails and stay on it, it would be possible to navigate through the wild lands and avoid the most potent magic. However, I’ll have to know where we’re going. Magistrate Pozin spoke of a lake, but how are we to know which one?”
I rummaged in my pack and found the journal. Recalling something I’d seen inside, I placed the leather-bound tome on my lap and opened it carefully. The paper creaked as I flipped to a map near the middle of the diary.
The picture had been drawn by hand, although its detail and clarity were remarkable. The map had no name, but around the outer edge of the landmass were the words OUTER RIM. And inside were the words ACASER FORMATION. Other points of interest had been given names as well, but I focused on the lines crisscrossing the map.
“Look at this,” I said to Maveryck and passed the book to him. “Do you think this could be a map of the wild lands?”
He studied the map several minutes before speaking, turning the pages, then back to the map, then turning it one way or another. “Yes,” he finally said. “I think this most likely could be a map of the wild lands. But it has changed since this map was drawn.”
“Do you think we can rely on it to get us through?” Kull asked.
“There is only one way to know for sure,” he answered, then handed the journal back to me.
I studied the picture, wishing we had more than only this to help us get through the waste.
A large lake had been drawn near the map’s center. Several other bodies of water had been drawn as well, but the lake caught my eye, perhaps because the image of a skull, similar to the one I’d seen in Silvestra’s castle, took up the lake’s center.
“What do you make of this?” I asked.
“Could it be Tremulac Lake?” Heidel asked.
“It seems the most likely place. However,” Maveryck said, “not all is as it seems in that place.”
“Then why would Dracon draw this symbol?” I asked. “Come to think of it, this symbol looks similar to the skull symbol I saw in Silvestra’s castle. It means black magic. Do you think black magic is at work in the wild lands?”
“No, not that I’m aware of,” Maveryck answered. “It’s possible that the skull means something else—death perhaps, or a warning.”
“A warning about what?” Heidel asked. “Is there something in that lake we should know about?”
“Hold on,” I said, staring at the map. A small, five-pointed star was drawn in one of the skull’s eye sockets. “There may be something here. What do you make of this?”
Maveryck took the book once again and studied the picture. He shook his head. “I don’t know. Perhaps it has no meaning at all.”
“I doubt it.” I took the book back from him as I contemplated the star’s meaning. The longer I looked at it, the more I thought the star was oddly shaped, with the ends ending not in points, but in curves, like an asterisk.
My breath caught in my throat. “Theht,” I whispered. “This is the symbol for Theht.” I looked up. “I think I’ve found our lost castle.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m fairly certain that we’ll find something here, whether it’s the castle or not, I think this should be the place we travel to.”
“But if it’s the symbol for Theht,” Maveryck said, “shouldn’t we avoid it?”
“Logically speaking, yes. Why Dracon decided to mark this lake with Theht’s symbol must have been for a good reason. But if we want to stop the summoning, then this is where we’ll have to go.”
Running headlong into dangerous, possibly life-ending situations was becoming a habit of mine. One day, I’d have to consider breaking it.
“Then it’s settled,” Kull said. “We’ll have to make it to that lake and hopefully find our missing castle. Maveryck, how long will it take to travel through that wasteland?”
“The lake sits at the center of the area, and if we are able
