CHAPTER ONE
"Fifteen gold pieces!" Sebastian laughed. "You must be mad my friend. This map is worth at least twice that amount. This map will lead you unerringly to the secret chambers under Castle Caldwell, and I'm sure the King left quite a bit more than fifteen coins in his treasury when the castle came down around his ears."
The young man across the counter looked at him sceptically. "Twenty coins then."
"If you're simply going to waste my time," Sebastian muttered loudly as he snatched the map off the counter and began rolling it up. As he turned to replace the map in its cubby, he curtly added "You might as well just leave."
"No wait," the young man offered anxiously as he poured coins on the counter, and Sebastian smiled to himself. "Please, twenty five coins."
"I'm feeling generous," Sebastian allowed as he unfurled the map again. "Twenty eight and --"
His voice fell silent as a second young man entered the shop. He was of average height, garbed in a leather vest and blue shirt, with short dirty blond hair and fang-shaped necklace that was all too familiar.
Sebastian pushed the map into his customer's hands and swept his coins up, all in one smooth motion.
"Twenty five coins it is," he offered hurriedly. "Okay, out you go now."
He backed away from the counter as the Seeker casually strolled across his shop. The Seeker smiled at the young man, who nodded hello and started for the door, rolling his new map up as he went.
"Sorry," Sebastian said as he stepped into the back room of his shop. He reached out and flipped a lever and a heavy wood gate fell across the door, blocking it off. "We're closed."
Sebastian didn't wait to see the Seeker's reaction, he was already running for the back door of the shop. He struggled to throw off the heavy beam that blocked the door, then fumbled with the lock, casting glances over his shoulder, expecting the Seeker to chop the grate to bits with his legendary sword. He saw nothing.
Finally he flung the door open and the Seeker was there.
"Oh no," he pleaded as he raised his arms to shield his head. "Please don't hurt me."
"Hurt you? I'm here to ask you for help. My name is Richard Cypher, I'm the Seeker."
"Yeah, I know who you are," Sebastian replied nervously. "You're not here about the tracking maps?"
"No," Richard said slowly, then added: "You haven't been selling more of them, have you?"
"Of course not! I don't have the materials, and your wizard friend promised to fry me if I did. I take threats from wizards very, very seriously."
"Okay," the Seeker replied, but still eyed him suspiciously. Sebastian shrugged sheepishly and smiled.
"So, how can I help you?"
"Can we go in?"
Sebastian stepped back from the door and with a sweeping gesture ushered Richard into his shop.
* * *
Kahlan and Zedd rode in silence, following an ancient and forgotten road through the old forests. Kahlan thought about Damark and her powers, while Zedd worried about a confrontation with the Shota.
"When we reach Agaden Reach, I think you should go alone to see the Shota," Zedd said, surprising Kahlan out of her reverie.
"Why?"
Zedd fell silent and looked glumly at the mountains on the far horizon.
"Zedd?" Kahlan asked softly. "What is it?"
"When I was much younger, before Richard and I went across the boundary, before Anclara even, I was involved with the Shota."
"Involved?"
"Romantically," he said as he gave her a weak smile.
"You old dog," she laughed. "I take it that it didn't end well?"
"It didn't so much end as I ran away," he chuckled. "Scamped out the door in the middle of the night."
Kahlan gave Zedd a harsh look, but when he smiled sheepishly she couldn't help herself, and her sternly set lips gave way to a soft smile. "You must have left her quite upset."
"I'm sure, but I haven't seen her since. I'm -" he paused, searching for words.
"Don't worry Zedd, you're off the hook." Kahlan smiled sweetly, then added: "This time."
* * *
Sebastian ran his fingers over the surface of the Seeker's map and made soft appreciative noises. Richard fidgeted behind him, trying to see what the cartogramancer saw.
"The craftsmanship of this map is..." Sebastian looked back at Richard, his eyes filled with awe and his lips unable to find a word to describe the map. "It must be at least a thousand years old. There are techniques being used in it's construction that...well, they've been lost for centuries."
"No wonder I couldn't make any sense of it."
Sebastian nodded in agreement, but a sly smile played out across his lips. "You really never stood a chance. This map has been enchanted with a very subtle series of insanity glyphs. The longer one contemplates it, the more obsessed one becomes, and the less sense it makes."
Richard's eyes went wide. "I would have thought Zedd would have noticed something like that."
Sebastian shrugged. "Wizards are powerful, true masters of magic with a far greater range of powers, but their very adaptability and diverse understanding of magic leaves them without the specialized knowledge of specialty magics such as cartogramancy. This map was created by an absolute master of the art, only another cartogramancer, a very good cartogramancer, would be able to spot these glyphs."
Sebastian flashed Richard a cocky smile. "Luckily you are in the presence of a very, very good cartogramancer."
"So you can read the map?"
"Yes, I know how to see past the glyphs. But there is more to this map. It's incomplete, and only by following what is here can you hope to find where it ends. See these holes?"
Richard had spent many hours contemplating the strange, irregular shaped holes in the map. They were rough and oddly-shaped, but the crisp edges suggested they were more than mere tears in the paper.
"These are Haulmann Holes, a method of keeping secret key indicators on a map. This hole here, this corresponds exactly to the shape of the Grayfonne Forest, and this hole here is the Black Hills."
"So the holes are actually cut-outs then?"
"Yes, exactly. Somewhere out there in the world exists the key to this map. It will be a large plate, probably of metal, with protrusions in the exact shape of these holes. When the map is placed on the plate so that the protrusions align with the Haulmann Holes, the rest of the map will reveal itself."
"So where do I find this plate?"
"The map will lead you there."
Sebastian began rolling up the map, tying a red ribbon around it, then handed it to Richard.
"Good luck with that. Glad I could be of help." He gestured towards the door and smiled. "Don't be a stranger."
"Wait," Richard protested. "You said I can't read the map, because of the insanity glyphs."
"Yes, that's right."
"But you can read it."
"Yes...oh no. No no no."
"You'll have to come with me."
"No! I have a wife and children! I have a business to run!"
"And I have an entire world to save. This map could lead us to a treasure that will allow me to defeat Darken Rahl and bring freedom to the Midlands. If your children are truly important to you then their future must be important to you, so you'll come with me."
"Look Seeker, I understand that your mission is important to you, but I didn't become the most successful cartogramancer in the Midlands by following the treasure maps I sell. I leave that to men much braver and more foolish than myself. The thing about treasure maps is that they lead you to things that people wanted to keep secret and safe. And considering how few repeat customers I have, I suspect that most of the people with secret treasure have more guarding it than secret maps!"
"Look, I just need you to lead me to this plate and decipher the rest of the map for me, then you can return home. If we run into anything dangerous, you can return home. But remember, I'm the Seeker. I'm not going to let you get hurt."
Sebastian hemmed and hawed, refusing to meet Richard's steady gaze.
"And Sebastian, if you come with me, we may find treasure along the way. I'm only looking for one thing. Anything else we find is yours to keep. Could be gold, could be jewels, could even be the secrets of our mysterious mapmaker."
Sebastian's shoulders slumped as he let out a heavy sigh.
"Alright. I'm in. Let me close down the shop and pack a bag, and we can get started."
"Don't you need to say goodbye to your family?"
"Oh, no. I'm not married."
***
Richard and Sebastian headed out a few hours later, riding a pair of old mares. Sebastian had demanded horses, and the tired nags were the best Richard could afford. As they rode, Sebastian explained more details of the map. He showed Richard a set of three glyphs placed on the map. He traced a line from each of the glyphs, and Richard saw that the lines all met and crossed at a single point.
"So where is that?"
Sebastian pulled a second map from his bag and unfurled it, halting his horse in the process. Richard rode around him and considered the second map. It was far more detailed than the older map, but seemed to cover a much smaller area.
"It seems like the map is pointing here. Which is bad. Very, very bad."
Richard squinted at the map, but didn't recognize the text.
"What does that say? I don't recognize those characters."
"You wouldn't, this map is quite old. It says 'Keplat of the Rourazar.'" Richard looked at him blankly, not recognizing the words. "It's not a place anyone wants to visit."
"What is a Rourazar? Or a Keplat?"
"The Rourazar is legendary, a beast of fables and myths. In an ancient age it lay waste to whole kingdoms, devouring entire villages in a single night. It makes the fiercest gar seem like a sparrow. A keplat is a..." Sebastian gestured vaguely. "It's hard to translate. It means a tomb or grave, something underground where things lie for eternity."
"Well, that doesn't sound so bad."
"But the Rourazar is said to have fangs like daggers and claws like swords, with scales that turn the sharpest blades and the strength of a thousand men."
Richard shrugged. "I'd be more worried if the thing wasn't already in its grave."
Sebastian shook his head. "See, the thing is that keplat is a difficult word to translate. It usually means a grave or tomb, but sometimes..."
"Sometimes what?"
"Sometimes it means 'prison'."
***
Commander Vartolla was double-checking the requisition orders his quartermaster had left on his desk when his lieutenant, Bullant, entered the garrison's small office and came to attention.
"You called for me sir?"
"Yes lieutenant, I did. Loyalists in South Gaston report seeing the Seeker pass through town. He was seen leaving South Gaston by the north road. "
"South Gaston is almost fifty miles west from here, Sir. It seems unlikely he's coming this way."
"He apparently a local mapmaker in his company. They were seen again at the inn at Barlow Pass. They left by the northeastern route."
"Strange, there's nothing up that way."
Vartolla leaned back in his seat and contemplated the younger lieutenant over tented fingers.
"I've given you the facts you need, think it out son."
Bullant's brow furrowed as he considered the Commander's words. Suddenly he made the connection.
"The ruins near Lake Cordacan."
"Exactly. Now explain how you came to the conclusion."
"The Seeker is an enemy of the D'Haran state, but also an intelligent adversary. His actions must be presumed to be calculated towards achieving his goals, thus we can infer that any particular action he takes is in service of ruin of D'Hara."
"Excellent, continue."
"The northeastern route from Barlow Pass leads nowhere of significance, only a few small mining outposts, each home to no more than a dozen families. If he is recruiting for the resistance then he'll have little luck up there. Thus he must be searching for something, something inobvious and possibly unknown to us."
"A sound supposition. And the mapmaker?"
"The mapmaker cinches the case. Why bring a mapmaker unless one is seeking something hidden, something that can only be found by a map. The ruins near the Lake must hold some secret that only the mapmaker can find."
Voltarro nodded appreciately. "Excellent work Bullant, your mind is becoming sharper with each passing month."
"It is all due to your excellent mentorship, Sir."
The older man smiled warmly. "Don't sell yourself short. You have an excellent mind Bullant, I have only given you tools to think logically and strategically. Your use of those tools, your talent with them, that cannot be taught."
Bullant blushed slightly at the commander's praise, but Voltarro had already moved on.
"Take five quads with you. The Seeker will be traveling as fast as he can. Take the northern trail; ride through the night and you may catch him at the ruins. Succeed in capturing the Seeker and you will have your own garrison to command by winter."
The lieutenant smiled greedily at the thought, then snapped to attention. "Yes, sir!"
Bullant spun on his heel and strode from the office. Voltarro felt a twinge of pride as the lieutenant disappeared down the hall, then returned to his requisition orders.