CHAPTER SIX
Kai studied the map that Grandfather Heen had given to them. According to the rough key and faded markings in blue ink, the great River Ehm was only two days’ walk from the northern edge of Earthias. Crossing it would lead them straight to the road going to Xya.
‘Do you suppose this map is accurate?’ Xanna asked him. ‘I mean to say, if it really is as old as Grandfather Heen said?’
‘Well, geographically, the land should not have changed all that much, but we will not know how far the humans have spread until we see for ourselves,’ he said, adjusting his bag and stepping clear of the last trees of Earthias’ border. The view beyond made him stop dead; hillocks covered in small wildflowers and long grasses reaching up to his thighs spread out across the horizon, broken only by
