“Oh, I didn’t know.” The location of the Four Realms was not readily shared.
Cassiel passed him the journal. “No one is to know.”
Zev found the Hermon Mountains on the map. They rose on the north end of Azure, about nine-hundred-miles from Hilos. Now that he looked at it, the Azure Kingdom was only a fragment of the country. The rest was unfamiliar to either of them.
“After we leave Urn’s Chip, we will be traveling blind,” Zev said. Following a map was not the same as accurately knowing your surroundings based on experience. There was no telling which road was safest or quickest.
“We should employ the services of a Guidelander,” came Dyna’s distant declaration. She was nowhere in sight.
“Dyna?” Zev called, wildly searching their surroundings.
“I’m up here!” They followed the sound of her voice to the tree beside them that she had climbed when neither of them had been paying attention. She stood on the tallest branch, looking out past the leaves. “Zev, you must see this! The view is incredible!”
“God of Urn.”
“What are you doing?” Cassiel asked dully. “Are you attempting to break your neck? Because this is how you break your neck.”
“Get down from there.” Zev rushed to the tree, holding out his hands to catch her. Dyna laughed and started climbing down. “Be careful.”
“We aren’t far from Landcaster,” she said as she reached for another branch. “We are less than a mile away.”
“You didn’t need to climb a tree to know that,” Cassiel replied. “Now watch your footing.”
“I climbed to the top, didn’t I? I can manage to climb dow—” Her foot broke through a brittle branch and she screamed as she plunged to the ground. Cassiel launched into the air in a bustle of wings and caught her with a grunt. “Oh …” She blinked at him. “Thank you.”
“Are you all right?” he asked tersely.
Dyna gave him a small nod.
Cassiel landed and thrust her into Zev’s arms. He strode away, muttering under his breath, “She is a living calamity, that one. It is no wonder humans don’t live long.”
Dyna’s blush reddened under Zev’s frown as he set her down. He sighed, rubbing the center of his chest. “I’m sure I lost a few years.”
“I’ll give you some of mine,” she said sheepishly as they continued. “As I was saying, we should employ a Guidelander to guide us. It’s their livelihood to know all there is to know of Urn and the surrounding continents. We can find one in Landcaster.”
Cassiel shot her a glower over his shoulder. He opened his mouth, probably to call her “stupid” again, but he gave Zev a pointed look instead.
It was not that Dyna was stupid, but that she was unaware. She had lived in a secluded village that was safe for the most part. Other than the Shadow, she had not been under any other danger. She grew up with people she had known her whole life. The villagers helped one another, but that could not be said of the rest of Urn where most took and scourged to survive. Revealing their map to the treasure island would attract every Relic Hunter, thief, and cutthroat who wouldn’t hesitate to take it.
“Look, there it is,” she announced.
They came to the end of the forest. It opened to a vast meadow with tall grass rippling in the wind. Beyond, were endless rows of crops and fallow fields. Large timber houses and farms spread out among the valley speckled with sheep. A group of foremen on horses led a large herd of cows down the hills. Below the rise appeared Landcaster. It wasn’t a large town but it was full of activity. Travelers came and went on wagons and caravans, taking the dirt roads snaking into the horizon.
Dyna bounced on her toes. “Come, let’s find us a guide!”
“Hold a moment,” Zev said, but she was already rushing down the meadow.
The Prince rolled his eyes to the sky as though to ask for mercy from the Heavens. “Go. I’ll meet you in the market.”
Cassiel pulled out a long dark gray coat from his pack. He slipped it on, and his wings immediately disappeared. The coat settled on him like he had none at all.
Zev gawked a moment, not sure what he was looking at. There would be time to ask about it later. He had to go after Dyna. He jogged down the hill and spotted her where she had stopped by the trodden and mired road as a yellow caravan jostled by.
“Dyna, you need to wait for me,” he said.
“I did. Where is Cassiel?”
“He’ll catch up to us.”
