TASTE OF ETHER III

                                   THE LORTH MAGICIAN SANCTION

The island they were on was unmarked, and few people were aware of its existence. It rested on the desolate seas of the Dead East Ocean, the body of water that divided Ithea and Trerth. The rest of the world thought the waters of the Dead East Ocean to be cursed and poisonous, and after the Trerth crossed it to reach the other kingdoms, they declared it cursed once the conflict ended. No one had ever dared to venture more than a mile into the ocean seas, or to float so far out that he couldn't see the coast. Fishing ships that had once dominated the water had abandoned it, and it appeared that the fish might finally rejoice. There was also a group of solitary islands far out in the ocean. Those islands were thought to be home to