“Certainly true,” said Amirantha. “The author of this work labeled these cantons with a variety of colorful names, ‘Pandemonia,’ ‘Discordia,’ ‘Despair,’ ‘the Miasma,’ and ‘the Fallen.’ We have no way to know what the demons themselves call these cantons, or even if the number of five is correct, or much about them.”

“He writes a great deal on experiences here on Midkemia with demons, and the rest is inference as well as specifics about this place.” Gulamendis sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Putting aside colorful embellishment, at the heart of this work stands this truth: there exists a realm that is threatening ours, at the heart of which stands a society or societies about which we know almost nothing. In fact, one about which we were ignorant until recently.” With no vanity, he pointed to Amirantha and said, “And we are, most likely, as expert on the subject as any two beings you might find in this world today.”

“Speaking of ‘at the heart,’” said Sandreena, pointing to a dark spot in the middle of the map. “What is that?”

Gulamendis shrugged. “Another tiny realm perhaps? All I can say is it is marked with a single word, ‘Void,’ and about it nothing is written anywhere.”

Laromendis arrived at the door and said, “Ah, there you are. Time to gather below. We are leaving.”

Sandreena, Amirantha, and Gulamendis all looked out the window and saw the sun hanging low in the western sky. Without further discussion, they hurried down to the marshaling yard.

CHAPTER 16

RECONNAISSANCE

Kaspar signaled.

They had ventured down the first trail, taking them to the rim of the valley, where they would begin the tedious descent down the switchback trails unless Pug decided he and Magnus needed to get everyone down in a hurry. All the magic-users had been cautioned to not use magic in any form, active or passive, unless they were attacked, as the defenders might have wards up to detect it. Looking at the long trail downward, and more trail beyond the distant rim, Amirantha turned to Gulamendis and said, “At least we should have a quick exit. I’d hate to have to run back up those trails.”

The elf nodded. “Some of my people are hardy, able to do this for days. I am not one of them.”

They had discussed this plan in detail, but arriving on the rim of the valley, where they could first see the construction, had caused them all to stop. “My gods,” said Kaspar. “What is it?”

The construction apparently was finished. The four large arching towers now pointed to a center point above the vast open area in the center of the wall structure.