‘Regardless, some of their number remained; why, I do not know. Old tales tell that there were five who did so, but that is untrue. When I was young, about your age, and newly prenticed, it was my job to copy old scrolls that were falling into dust.’
He sighed. ‘It was tedious work, translating tongues of which no one knew the meaning. So long was I assigned to the task that, first the various languages became familiar to my eyes, and then by coming across the same or similar accounts in tongues I knew, the meaning of these languages became known to me.
‘Had the Loremasters I worked under known that I, a mere Scribe, could read knowledge they thought secret, I doubt very much that I would have been allowed to continue. But curiosity encouraged my silence, if not my diligence, and I managed to learn much that they knew.
‘I learned that there was not one group of explorers, buy many, over many years, and that these were the last of a long series.
‘There was bitter disagreement amongst these particular explorers about whether or not to continue. They had been travelling long; some said they missed their wives and families; others argued that conditions where they lived were not worth returning to. In the end, a group of them rebelled; from the accounts I have read, I would estimate that they numbered in the hundreds. They departed for what is now the Kingdom of Brand, to the south, where the sons of their kindred dwelt, though according to their own tales, some fifteen or twenty decided to remain here, in Nith.