As the race to map the world continues, so does farmboy turned reluctant adventurer Quinn's voyage into the unknown. When the Libertas docks in the exotic jungle port, of Barbarin, they are shocked to discover another Verdanian living there - a notorious thief who has been on the run for decades.

The King is determined to create the first map of the world and has scoured the kingdom for boys who could become mapmakers. When Quinn is chosen for the King's training school, he's amazed - but that is nothing compared to his shock when he is selected as one of the three mapmakers and finds himself on board a ship, competing for the big prize. So begins Quinn's reluctant journey deep into the unknown, on a ship captained by a slave, with a stowaway...