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Lazarus looked up from his tea with a look of surprise.
At first, I was anxious and a bit fearful,
but his words quickly lifted my doubts:
"Ah-ha!
That scoundrel convinced me
it would take longer to get here!
I suppose that's a decent use of trickery..
at least I'm pleasantly surprised and not dead, or worse: disappointed!"
He looked at me and nodded knowingly.
"Scoundrel! I almost thought it would arrive too late!
See, I spoke to a friend on the desert coast-
well, he's a bit more of a jester I once tried to banish, really, but a friend, nevertheless!-
about some possible leads for finding this child.
He agreed to draw me a map based on his research.
However, the only thing is that this map
is shrewdly coded.
You see,
though I may be more frail now than in my youth,
I've certainly learned a thing or two
and I'm afraid I must accompany you,
for what do you make of this map?"
He showed me the scroll
and it seemed to be a sketch of the Kingdom with symbols for places and landmarks. Some parts were even upside down and there were several burn marks where the Volcano is. In the corner was an ink flurry I could only imagine to be the signature of the artist.. it seemed to read.. 'Scoundrel.'
Was 'Scoundrel' his name, or a title? A joke?
Certainly seemed to be fitting, regardless.
Clever little ******, I figured this trickster fella to be.
Seven locations were encircled in deep red,
but only three had an icon of the sun stamped with a golden ink.
"Seems like a treasure map."
"Of sorts..
a mad map drawn by a mad man for a mad quest.
Quite apropos, indeed.
The encoding would prevent those of impure mind from finding the child, should the worst happen to the bearer of this map. Leave it to a scoundrel to think to safeguard a map to the Chosen One against foul play. Wisdom can be found in such impishness as his, so long as the darkness doesn't break you. It takes one to know one, I suppose. Hah."
Lazarus turned to me and sat up straight, clearing his throat.
"Now, should you allow me to come with you,
I can decode it based on the clues we come across,
that is, unless you wish to make it on your own."
His expression was stern, yet infused with wonder and anticipation.
"The choice, my dear Dhorna, is yours."