He swallowed.
“Ennpithia is the answer. I can fix it. You understand, don’t you? I hear it all the time. In here.”
He banged a stump against his head.
“I know it’s there. The path I’ve had to take since the day I was born. I know how to put the pieces back together. You have to believe me. You have to understand how important it is.”
Nuria looked at the man.
“You should have gone back to Dessan. There’s a family there that needs putting back together.”
“I have nothing back there,” he snapped. “Why can’t you hear me? I have to sacrifice Sadie and my child for this.” He raised his arms. “Why do you think this was done to me? My hands. My precious hands. He could have cut off a leg or an arm or just one hand. I was being punished. I’ve strayed.”
Nuria let out a sigh.
“So we’ve decided then,” she said. “We’re going to cross it.”
“I think we have to see what’s there,” said Stone.
“Stone’s right,” said the Map Maker, latching onto him. “This has to be completed. I must mend what has been fractured.”
“What does that really mean?” said Stone, turning to face him. “You say it all the time. Putting the pieces back together.”
He gestured toward the Metal Sea.
“You can mend all that?”
The Map Maker frowned, shaking his head at the mudflats dotted with rusted beasts from another age.
“No, of course not.”
“Then what?” said Nuria. “What are you talking about?”
He looked between them both.
“I thought you understood,” said the Map Maker. “It’s people. It has always been people.”
He took a step forward, stared out from the beach.
“Those are the pieces I can put back together. And Ennpithia is where it begins.”
THE END
The story continues in …
The Wasteland Soldier, Book 3
Drums of War
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wasteland-Soldier-Book-Drums-War-ebook/dp/B018PVX868/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
The Wasteland Soldier, Book 2, Escape From Tamnica (TWS) Page 35
