The Map of All Things (54 page)

UNWAR kel in the Uraban military, provisional governor of Ishalem, builder of the great wall.

URABA the southern continent, composed of five soldanates; its population follows the Urecari religion.

UREC one of the two brothers who sailed from Terravitae to discover the world. The descendants of his crew populated Uraba.

UREC'S LIGHTHOUSE a tall lighthouse on the eastern side of Ishalem.

UREC'S LOG Urecari holy book.

URECARI follower of Urec's Log.

UR-SIKARA lead sikara of the Urecari church.

USTHRA trade minister of Uraba.

VANOV, GENERAL military leader from Alamont.

VICKA SONNEN daughter of Calay blacksmith Ammur Sonnen.

VILLIKI third wife of Soldan-Shah Imir, mother of Tukar, disgraced and exiled for her part in the plot to poison Omra.

VORANNEN marshall of the Calay city guard, married to Enifir.

WEN NA-CURIC younger brother of Aldo.

WINDCATCH small Tierran fishing village on the Oceansea coast.

XARIES
a Uraban board game similar to chess.

XIVIR soldan of Missinia, father of Burilo.

YSTYA beautiful young woman living on an isolated island, daughter of Iyomelka.

YUAREJ one of the soldanates of Uraba.

YURA NA-CURIC Aldo's mother.

ZADAR workmaster in the Gremurr mines.

ZARIF Uraban title of prince.

Author's Note

With the first Terra Incognita novel,
The Edge of the World
, we added an innovative dimension by developing a companion rock CD, with story and lyrics written by me and my wife, Rebecca Moesta.
Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon
was performed by the supergroup Roswell Six and released by ProgRock Records. The tracks featured music written by keyboardist/producer Erik Norlander (Rocket Scientists, Asia featuring John Payne) and performances by some of the legends of rock music: Michael Sadler (ex-Saga), James LaBrie (Dream Theater), John Payne (ex-Asia), Lana Lane, Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery, Amaran's Plight), David Ragsdale (Kansas), Chris Brown (Ghost Circus), Chris Quirarte (Prymary), Martin Orford (IQ, Jadis), Kurt Barabas (Amaran's Plight, Under the Sun), and Mike Alvarez. I wrote the connective story between the songs, and multiple award–winning artist Bob Eggleton supplied the paintings for the CD booklet.

Beyond the Horizon
tells the story of young Criston Vora sailing off to sea and leaving his young wife Adrea behind; he places letters in bottles for her and throws them overboard, longing to come home—but Adrea is captured by Soldan-Shah Omra and taken off to a distant land forever.

Because the first CD was such a satisfying experience, listed among the Best Progressive Rock Albums on numerous sites, we decided to create a second CD for the next novel in the series,
The Map of All Things
. Again working with Shawn Gordon at ProgRock Records, Rebecca and I wrote the lyrics for the new CD,
Terra Incognita: A Line in the Sand
. This time, the companion album tells the story of Queen Anjine and Mateo and the ever-darkening, never-ceasing war against Soldan-Shah Omra.

A darker and grittier CD required a harder sound and a different mood from the songwriting and performances. To differentiate the two albums, we turned to Henning Pauly (Frameshift, Chain), whose music I have enjoyed for years. Henning—already a friend and a fan of my work—took on the project with great enthusiasm. He developed music that conveys the distinctive cultures and personalities of the two lands at war and the three main characters in the story. Rebecca and I crafted a set of lyrics focused on the war, targeting religious intolerance and the perpetual spiral of hatred.

Because our guest performers have extremely busy careers of their own, and because
A Line in the Sand
tells a different part of the story with different characters, the second CD has some returning musicians and some new names. Grammy Award–winning rock, folk, and country star Janis Ian—whose song “At Seventeen” struck straight to my heart when I was in high school—cowrote the lyrics on two of the songs.

Among the new participants in
A Line in the Sand
, we are proud to have Steve Walsh from the group Kansas (whose powerful voice on songs such as “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind” influenced a whole generation, including me)—as Soldan-Shah Omra. Sass Jordan (Album Rock's Female Vocalist of the Year) belts out the vocals for Queen Anjine.

Lee Gibbons created another fabulous iconic cover painting for both the book and the CD, and Bob Eggleton again provided interior art.

If you listen to the two CDs you'll see and hear a whole new dimension to the Terra Incognita universe. For samples and more information, go to
www.wordfire.com
.

A last note, the story of the map in
The Map of All Things
: Richard Ware is an aspiring writer who attended one of my writing workshops in Los Angeles. He is also a skilled tattoo artist by trade. He contacted me via Facebook after reading
The Edge of the World
and offered to draw the expanded map for the second novel, which is included here. Rich also graciously provided some excellent interior paintings for the
A Line in the Sand
CD booklet.

Thanks for joining me on these voyages to uncharted lands. I hope you enjoy the conclusion of the trilogy in
The Key to Creation
.

Acknowledgments

Words, artwork, and music—for the Terra Incognita series, I had to draw upon the talent, expertise, and excitement of many different people to fill in the gaps in
The Map of All Things
. Richard Ware volunteered to create a wonderful, expanded map of the Terra Incognita world. Lee Gibbons produced another magnificent cover that immediately conveys the feel of the novel.

The musical visionaries involved in the two
Terra Incognita
rock-opera CDs provided a constant flow of inspiration as they interpreted the story and lyrics: Henning Pauly, Shawn Gordon, Steve Walsh, Janis Ian, Sass Jordan, Michael Sadler, James LaBrie, John Payne, Kurt Barabas, C. S. Brown, Gary Wehrkamp, Chris Quirarte, Mike Alvarez, and Erik Norlander.

My typist Mary Thomson kept up with me, transcribing all 125 chapters as quickly as I sent her the audio files, and she also offered her expertise in many areas. My hardworking test readers went over drafts of this novel with sharp eyes and sharp pencils, adding their input, insights, and ideas to make this a stronger story—Deb Ray, Diane Jones, Louis Moesta, and of course my wife, Rebecca Moesta.

My editor Darren Nash and publisher Tim Holman have stood solidly behind this series, ably assisted by Jennifer Flax, Jack Womack, and Alex Lencicki. My agent John Silbersack at Trident Media Group continues to help ensure that the Terra Incognita series reaches the widest possible audience.

extras

meet the author

K
EVIN
J. A
NDERSON
has written forty-six national and international bestsellers and has over twenty million books in print worldwide in thirty languages. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the
SFX
Readers' Choice Award. He is best known for his highly popular
Dune
novels written with Brian Herbert, his numerous
Star Wars
and
X-Files
novels, and his original science fiction epic, The Saga of Seven Suns. Find out more about Kevin J. Anderson at
www.wordfire.com
.

introducing

If you enjoyed
THE MAP OF ALL THINGS,
look out for

THE KEY TO CREATION

Book Three of the Terra Incognita Trilogy

by Kevin J. Anderson

The
Al-Orizin

The spectral resurrected ship hurtled after them, borne on storms and vengeance. The old island witch had her own powers and iron determination to seize her daughter back.

Captain Saan had already ordered all the sails set on the
Al-Orizin
, and the vessel fled before the wind, racing away from the wrath of Iyomelka. Beside him on deck, Ystya clenched Saan's hand. He tried to look brave and confident, not just for her but for his entire crew. They looked to him for answers, sure that he had some kind of plan to save them all.

In truth, he didn't have the slightest idea what he could do.

Ahead of them, growing ever closer, towered the immense scaly body of Bouras, a sea serpent so huge that it was said to girdle the entire world. The
Al-Orizin
had no way around.

“My mother is no match for Bouras,” Ystya said, her voice quiet, her words nearly snatched away by the increasing howl of the winds. “But she will not stop.”

“Well then, neither will we.” Saan managed a smile for her. “Don't you worry.”

Yal Dolicar, a man thoroughly familiar with half-truths and exaggerations, turned gray, easily seeing through Saan's façade.

Saan took the spyglass once more and looked aft toward Iyomelka's jagged gray ship. The old vessel had been sunken in the treacherous reefs around her isolated island, but the woman had used her restored sorcerous powers to raise it from the depths. Its sails were tattered, barely held together with strands of seaweed. The hull was encrusted with barnacles, starfish, and driftwood. A sharp, twisted bowsprit of coral antlers protruded forward like an ominous spear. Iyomelka stood on deck beside the crystal coffin containing the preserved body of her husband; her hair and garments whipped in the gale she had created to drive the ghost ship along.

Saan lowered the spyglass; he didn't need to see any more.

One of the
Al-Orizin
's sails came loose and flapped wildly. The painted Eye of Urec on the broad silk sheet folded, then stretched tight again, as if winking. The big reef diver Grigovar yelled and grabbed the rope, using all his weight and strength to pull it taut once more, wrapping the end about a stanchion until riggers could connect it properly.

From her unearthly ship, Iyomelka summoned knotted black thunderclouds and hurled them toward the
Al-Orizin
like giant missiles from an unseen catapult. The storms whorled around the
Al-Orizin
, squeezing it in a stranglehold, whipping the water into a froth. Then Iyomelka summoned two towering waterspouts, whirling columns of water and air that marched across the waves toward them.

Sen Sherufa, her brown and gray hair whipping loose around her, stood frightened. “Captain! The sea serpent is straight ahead!”

Saan snapped his head in the other direction and focused on the towering reptilian body of Bouras, the father of all serpents, arching through the water—condemned by Ondun to bite his own tail for millennia, until such time as he was released from his curse.

The titanic beast spun and spun with a speed so great that the scales—each one the size of the
Al-Orizin
's mainsail—were a blur. The spray and ripple of its passage tossed the
Al-Orizin
like one of the toy boats Saan's little brother Omirr played with in the ponds back at the Olabar palace. In minutes, they would ram the reptilian barrier, and Saan had to make a decision.

“Turn south!” he shouted. “Hard starboard!”

Grigovar took the captain's wheel and used his considerable strength to turn the rudder hard over. The riggers set the sails to catch the wind, and the
Al-Orizin
sharply heeled about until it began to cruise alongside the serpent, riding the swift currents generated by Bouras as he continued his unending circuit of the world.

Iyomelka's two waterspouts swept closer, but they were caught in the turbulence around the serpent's body. They struck and rode upward over the slick body, then dissipated. Even though the
Al-Orizin
sailed along as swiftly as possible, Saan watched the giant serpent speed past them.

And Iyomelka, too, gained ground behind the
Al-Orizin
. As the increasing storms continued to blast them, the island witch's voice boomed out, carried on the thunder, magnified by the gale, “You have stolen my daughter! Return Ystya to me!”

A tall wave crashed against the
Al-Orizin
's side, spraying water over the deck and throwing Yal Dolicar and Sen Sherufa to their knees.

Sikara Fyiri, looking terrified but pretending to be a bastion of strength in her red robes, came out of her cabin, brandishing her heavy unfurling-fern staff, though she wobbled back and forth as she attempted to stand firm. “Captain Saan! You must give the girl back! Return the demon's daughter and save us all!”

“I will do no such thing.” Saan gripped Ystya's arm. He knew that others of his crew were almost certainly thinking the same thing. “Iyomelka plans to destroy us either way.”

As the crewmen began to mutter and wail in terror, Yal Dolicar came to his rescue. “Don't be foolish, men—the only reason the witch hasn't sunk us yet is because she wants Ystya alive. That girl is our only bargaining chip!”

Saan replied in a low, sharp voice, just loud enough for the one-handed man to hear, “Ystya is not a bargaining chip.”

Though the young, ivory-haired girl looked fearful, she was no quaking flower. Rather, she squared her jaw, took deep breaths. “You will never outrun her, Saan. You can fight back, but she has powers you cannot imagine. And she has my father's body aboard. Who can stand against the power of Ondun? Only I might be strong enough to fight her.”

“It has been said that fighting is the last refuge of the unintelligent,” Sen Sherufa remarked; her voice shook, though she tried to cover it.

Saan held on as another wave rocked the ship from side to side. “If we don't have weapons or powers to match Iyomelka's, then we'll just have to be smarter than she is.”

Up in the lookout nest, one of the
Al-Orizin
crewmen had lashed himself to the mast so as not to be thrown overboard in the violent waters. “Captain! The serpent—it's changing! Something's coming our way!”

They all crowded to the side of the boat as lightning crackled around them. The scaly body seemed to be tapering off, until it abuptly changed to something much larger—a huge angular shape with ridges, scales, flared horns, and a pair of golden, glaring eyes. It plowed along, sending up high curtains of spray with its passage, roaring toward them.

Saan yelled, “We've reached the tail! This is the tail of Bouras—and
that must be his head
!”

The monster's dragonlike head bore down upon them, and as the reptilian eyes spotted them, the pupil slits widened to drink in this unexpected obstruction in his way. Scaled lips curled back to expose ivory fangs as long as mainmasts, pinned in the flesh of its tail.

The crewmen wailed and cried out for mercy; many dropped to their knees in prayer. Yal Dolicar managed a wry, quiet remark, “At least the thing can't open its mouth to swallow us.”

Nevertheless, the serpent's head—as big as a mountain—split the waves and spewed up high sheets of water twice as tall as the
Al-Orizin
. It came toward them like a battering ram.

“It doesn't need to,” Saan said.