Kevin J. Anderson - The Map of All Things (Terra Incognita)

The Teacher's voice came muffled from behind the
silver mask as he looked out at the massed army
beyond the wall.

I shall be interested to watch this.

Nobody had ever seen the Teacher unmasked. Many claimed he must be horribly disfigured, perhaps suffering from leprosy; then again, those might have been rumors fostered by the Teacher himself. Omra considered it more likely the man merely wanted to keep his identity secret: it added to his mystery, increased fear, kept others off balance.

Omra responded with a grim nod. It will be a bloody battle, and we will be hard-pressed to defend Ishalem. I know how well those Aidenists can fight.

You have nothing to fear, Soldan-Shah. Urec will take care of his faithful. Without their leaders, even an army of that size will be impotent. Tell your own swordsmen and riders to be ready to charge out onto the battlefield when the moment is right.

Charge? Omra looked back at the enormous Aidenist army. Why should I order the men to leave the protection of the wall?

You want to destroy the Tierrans, don't you? With a swirl of dark garments and a glint of sunlight on the silver mask, the Teacher stalked off down the wall.

Praise for The Edge of the World:

A spectacular adventure on the high seas, with excellent world-building that makes you feel like you're on board.

Romantic Times

Books by Kevin J. Anderson

TERRA INCOGNITA

The Edge of the World

The Map of All Things

The Key to Creation (forthcoming)

THE SAGA OF SEVEN SUNS

Hidden Empire

A Forest of Stars

Horizon Storms

Scattered Suns

Of Fire and Night

Metal Swarm

The Ashes of Worlds

Veiled Alliances (graphic novel)

Copyright 2010 by WordFire, Inc.
Excerpt from The Key to Creation copyright 2010 by WordFire, Inc.
Map by Richard Ware

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Orbit
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
www.HachetteBookGroup.com

First Edition: June 2010

Orbit is an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Orbit name and logo are trademarks of Little, Brown Book Group Limited.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

eISBN: 978-0-316-08851-0

To Darren Nash and Tim Holman at Orbit, for their excitement and
support on my voyage into new territory.

On the Map of All Things, each life is a kingdom.

Tales of the Traveler

Contents

According to legend, before ONDUN (the creator of all things) departed from the world, He sent out His sons AIDEN and UREC each in a separate great arkship to explore His entire creation, while His third son, JORON, remained behind in the Eden-like land of Terravitae.

Today, the known world has two continents, Tierra and Uraba, connected by a thin isthmus of land, on which the sacred city of Ishalem was built. The people of Tierra believe themselves to be the descendants of Aiden's crew, while Urabans are convinced that their ancestors originally sailed on Urec's ship. The wreck of an ancient vessel sits on a high hill in Ishalem, and each people insists it belongs to them.

After generations of strife, KING KORASTINE of Tierra and SOLDAN-SHAH IMIR of Uraba agree to sign an Edict that divides the world in half, above and below Ishalem. This will remove all need for conflict, and both leaders look forward to peace at last. Korastine sails from Calay, the capital of Tierra, with his young daughter PRINCESS ANJINE and her childhood friend, MATEO. Soldan-Shah Imir sails from Olabar, Uraba's capital, for the formal signing ceremony.

King Korastine and Soldan-Shah Imir meet at the wreck of the Arkship on the hill above Ishalem, accompanied by PRESTER-MARSHALL BAINE (representing the Aidenist church) and UR-SIKARA LUKAI (representing the Urecari church). The Edict is signed, peace is declared between the two continents, and the celebrations begin.

Back at the Olabar palace, Imir has left his son and heir, OMRA, in charge. Omra's beloved wife ISTAR is pregnant and will soon bear their first child. The sikaraspriestesses of the church of Urecbless the unborn baby, and Omra is very happy. His cousin BURILO comes from the distant soldanate of Missinia to deliver the head of a slain bandit leader from the Great Desert; the bandits have been plaguing the soldanate for years, but though their leader is dead, Omra knows the problem isn't solved. Before Soldan-Shah Imir can return from signing the Edict in Ishalem, tragedy strikes: Istar collapses and dies from a difficult miscarriage. Omra is devastated.

In Ishalem, we meet PRESTER HANNES, a fanatical follower of the Aidenist church, who has spent years in disguise among the Urecari. He was given this spying mission by Prester-Marshall Baine to gather information about the rival religion. Hannes hates the followers of Urec with a passion. During the celebrations after the signing ceremony, an accidental fire starts and quickly spreads across the city. Both Tierrans and the Urabans assign blame for the disaster and spend more time fighting each other than trying to extinguish the fire. As flames rage through the main Urecari church, Prester Hannes breaks in to steal a religious relic. In the process, he is caught in the inferno, terribly burned, and barely manages to stagger away, delirious.

Korastine flees the city with Anjine and Mateo, while Soldan-Shah Imir calls for an evacuation of his people. On her way to the harbor to escape the fire, ASHA (one of Imir's wives) finds the injured Prester Hannes; believing him to be a devout follower of Urec because of his tattered clothes and the Urecari relic he took from the burning church, she decides to bring him along and nurse him back to health. As Korastine and Imir sail away in opposite directions, the holy city of Ishalem burns behind them, and both leaders know the war is just beginning.

The young Tierran sailor CRISTON VORA and his new wife ADREA sail his cargo boat from the coastal fishing village of Windcatch to Calay. Criston dreams of sailing the seas and visiting new lands and, though he hates to leave lovely Adrea behind, joins the crew of the new exploration ship, the Luminara; CAPTAIN ANDON SHAY plans to sail to the edge of the world and find the lost land of Terravitae and Holy Joron. Criston sells his boat so Adrea will have money to support herself while he's away; she gives him a lock of her hair, and he promises to write her letters, which he'll throw overboard in bottles. The sympathetic magic binding the hair to Adrea should bring the bottles to her. She says farewell, and the Luminara sails off. Only after she goes back to Windcatch to live with her younger brother CIARLO (who has a lame leg) and Criston's old mother does Adrea discover that she's pregnant.

Another group of people, followers of neither Aiden nor Urec, are the Saedransscientists, craftsmen, philosophers. They believe their ancestors left Terravitae voluntarily, long after the two brothers sailed, and settled on another continent, from which they established a maritime civilization. But the Saedran continent sank beneath the waves, and the only survivors are the descendants of traders who were away from home at the time of the catastrophe. Saedrans have settled in both Uraba and Tierra but don't espouse either religion.