Summary

Oscar left the huge bag filled with every liquid and powder that he could find in Caleb’s shop outside the back entrance, along with one of Caleb’s special animal traps. Oscar reasoned that if the soil was hungry and wanted magic, all he had to do was feed it. It is a long way to the northwest strip, and not much to see between the Barrow and the sea beyond the barren plague lands.

He notices as he walks that the wizard trees seem to have aged centuries in the past few months, and Oscar realizes that the gnawing feeling in him is sadness. He walks for a long time and his body complains with the effort. Finally he sees a stretch of open sky and a hole in the forest. He wills himself to go closer, feeling cold...