“Where’s the cartographer?” questioned Chad.
Riyan indicated the door in the far wall. “Maybe in the back,” he said.
Kevik shut the door and they moved further into the shop.
“Look at this,” Riyan said as he moved to one of the maps displayed on the wall. It was a map of a city. The name on it read ‘Yerou’. “Yerou?” he asked. Glancing back at the other two he asked, “Ever heard of it?” Chad and Kevik both shook their heads no.
Yerou was a large city with a massive defensive wall surrounding it. The keep was positioned in the upper section of town. Kevik was interested in the tower that rose beside it. He peered closer to the words written at the bottom of the tower. “Kylon’s Tower,” he murmured. The name seemed familiar but he couldn’t remember from where.
“Can I help you?” a voice asked from behind them.
Turning around, Riyan saw a youthful looking young man who couldn’t be more than twenty years old. “Are you the cartographer?” he asked.
The young man shook his head. “No,” he replied. “I am one of his journeymen.” He glanced at the three of them in turn before asking, “Are you in need of a map?”
“Wouldn’t be here for any other reason,” quipped Chad.
The journeyman nodded understandingly.
“We were looking to purchase one showing the lands to the south,” explained Riyan.
“Are you interested in just the area along the border?” the journeyman asked. “Or deeper into the Moran Tribes?”
“So you do have maps of that area?” asked Chad.
“Of course,” the young man said. Then he turned his attention back to Riyan.
“Can I see a couple of what you have?” Riyan asked. “I’m not exactly sure what our needs are going to be.”
Nodding, the journeyman went over to one of the shelves and removed three maps. Each was rolled and secured with a bit of twine. He carried them over to the table and removed the twine from one of them.
“This map shows the lands of the border between Byrdlon and the Moran Tribes,” he explained. Unrolling it, he held it open for them to see. It did show the borderlands in great detail, but not much else beyond it.
“Is there one that shows further into the Tribes?” Riyan asked.
The journeyman nodded again. He then rolled the map back up and secured the twine around it. Setting it aside, he picked up the second map and soon had it unrolled on the table before them. “This one gives an overall depiction of the terrain for a hundred miles south of the border,” he said.
Riyan gazed at the map and thought this might do. He looked closely at names of the few towns represented on the map for any sign of Hylith, the place they believed to be the city where the lords of the Orack Tribe live.
He followed the road that led south out of Kendruck and found Hylith to be situated on the south side of a lake some distance from the border. Riyan nodded to himself, then glanced to Kevik.
“This will do,” Kevik stated.
“I think so too,” agreed Riyan. Turning to the journeyman cartographer, he said, “How much?”
“A gold and six silver,” he stated.
Riyan’s eyes widened at the price.
“Why so much?” asked Chad. He too felt the map would prove useful for them, but a gold six?
“It takes time to carefully draw a map,” the young man explained. “Meticulous attention to detail must be maintained for the map to be accurate.”
“Where’s Sandlun?” Kevik suddenly interjected.
“What?” Riyan asked as he turned to the magic user.
“Sandlun,” repeated Kevik. “The town that was sacked some months ago.”
The journeyman indicated a place southeast of Kendruck. “Here,” he said.
Riyan looked at the spot for a moment then handed over the coins for the map.
“Thank you,” the apprentice said as he took the coins. “Would you care to look at any other maps?”
“No,” replied Riyan. Rolling up the map, he placed it inside his pack. “I think this will be all we need.”
“If you should ever require another,” the journeyman said, “remember that Orren’s maps are the best and most accurate.”
“We will,” Riyan assured him before turning to head for the door. Once they were outside and heading back to the inn, he asked Kevik why he had asked about Sandlun.
He shrugged and said, “I was curious.”
Riyan grinned. “Let’s hurry back and see if Bart has met with any success at the trading house.” But when they got back to the inn, they found that he hadn’t.
Bart was not in a very good mood. “They wouldn’t even talk to us,” he told them. “We had no sooner entered the building when two Tribesmen came and said we had to leave. I tried to explain why we were there, but they quickly ushered us out and shut the door.”
“At least we have the map,” Chad said. At which point Riyan produced it and spread the map out on one of the tables.
Once it was unrolled, Riyan pointed to Kendruck. “Here’s where we are,” he stated. Then his finger began following the road heading south. “If we follow this road, it will eventually take us to Hylith.” His finger continued to follow the road until it came to the city.
“Then what?” asked Chyfe.
Riyan glanced up from the map and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Once we get there, what do we plan to do?” he asked. “If what we can expect from the locals is anything like what we experienced at the trading house, things could get dicey.”
“Play it by ear,” Bart said. “We should have an idea of what to expect by the time we get there.”
“Then once we are there,” continued Riyan, “try to locate the last segment of the key.”
“How?” asked Chyfe.
“The previous two keys we found were both secreted beneath ruins dating back to the time of the King,” he explained. “All we have to do is locate such ruins in the area and get it.”
“But there could be ruins all over the place!” asserted Chyfe. “And even if we find such, there’s no guarantee that the segment will lie within.”
“But they all won’t have the coat of arms that we are looking for,” interjected Soth. “Each of the previous two were found in ruins bearing one of the coats of arms. All we need to do is find an area bearing the final coat of arms and we’re in business.”
“All the while the locals could be after our blood,” added Seth. “You know what is said about the Tribesmen, and our visit to the trading house only proved its validity. They’re not tolerant of strangers.”
Bart removed the wine bottle that he had taken with them to the trading house. “All we can do is but try,” he said, then held the bottle up before the others. “We’ll be agents of a merchant looking to acquire a contract for quantities of this wine.”
“Might work,” Riyan said. Even Chyfe agreed it was worth a shot.
The rest of the morning and afternoon, they spent restocking their supplies. Then when the sun rose the following morning to a sky all but devoid of clouds, they rode through the southern gates on their way to Hylith.
Chapter Nine
The sun brought a welcomed warmth to the world as Kendruck disappeared behind them. All that was left of the snow which had fallen on their trip down were small patches in the lee of hills or under the sheltering branches of pines. Off to their right, the white peaks of the Tinderlock Mountains were a stark contrast to the blue of the sky behind them.
While they remained on Byrdlon’s side of the border, Riyan and Bart rode point. But it had been decided that once they crossed over and were in Tribes territory, Seth and Soth should lead. Though it was true their ancestry couldn’t be directly traced to the Tribes, it was hoped their appearance would soften an otherwise harsh reaction.
The walls of Kendruck had barely disappeared before they encountered a Byrdlon patrol. A score of riders appeared out of the east, and once the riders had taken notice of their party, immediately altered course to intercept.