Wulf (The Fifth Place #1)

by Set Sytes

They exited the Eye and saw across a new land. They stood in dirt but in front of them the dirt sloped down and laced itself with grass; in tufts at first, but quickly spreading and lengthening, overwhelming the brown soil and turning it to pale prairie. In the distance the colour shifted steadily to green, painting grasslands and rolling meadows littered with trees. It was richest towards the east; there the ground seemed to glow under the sun like a vast emerald, climbing hills until blocked by their ascent into mountains. From that direction wandered a river – The River Karth, flowing from its source in the Rathian Mountains. Far westwards were great forests the colour of copper, and further still a black line that trailed the horizon like a border, no doubt a formidable range. In front of them a road made from the tracks of cartwheels ran from the Eye onwards north for many leagues, rising and dipping over low hills. It disappeared into woodlands and re-appeared again on a bend to the northwest, and escaped past the edges of his vision. Here and there across the country were tiny dotted towns, and across the grasslands were clusters of strange green mounds that from far off looked like pimples on the land. And there, in the far centre distance, past the woodlands, a great lake. Lake Ghoum. Jay squinted and could just make out a small island. The Isle of Ghoum,