Black mud

Janet lives in Windvalley, a village in the Land of the Dead. Here, people continue their existence after death, but there are no children. Janet longs to experience the joy of raising one, and despite the dangers beyond her home, she decides to leave Windvalley in search of a child she can bring back. Her journey quickly takes her beyond everything she knows. After traveling through unfamiliar territory and surviving a dangerous fall, Janet discovers a world filled with creatures that she had believed could not exist among the dead. Her curiosity leads her deeper into the unknown. Eventually, Janet reaches a settlement inhabited by people who died of hunger. When she asks about children, she learns that the villages have been stripped of them. The children have been taken by the City of Burning. Janet follows the trail and encounters the ruins of a destroyed village. There she discovers the memoirs of Shahm, a former warrior who knew Lothrique, the ruler of the City of Burning. Through Shahm's writings, Janet learns the truth: Lothrique has been collecting children from surrounding settlements and training them as soldiers because he believes an army raised from childhood is the only way to defend his kingdom against the Ghayaghems, enormous and brutal beings from beyond the mountains. When villages resisted surrendering their children, Lothrique answered with destruction. Janet decides that she must enter the City of Burning. She encounters Shahm, who warns her that she cannot defeat Lothrique alone. Janet refuses to turn back and infiltrates the city through its underground waterways. Inside the city, she finally finds the children she has been searching for. But before she can reach them, she is captured and imprisoned. In prison she meets Nasa'im, an ancient woman whose history stretches back through centuries of the dead world. Nasa'im becomes another mystery within Janet's journey, carrying knowledge of kings, death and the forgotten history of the realm. Meanwhile, the conflict surrounding the City of Burning escalates. The Ghayaghems move toward war, while other populations including the disease dead are enslaved by the Nuz in the mountain realm of Zinnar. Janet's journey becomes intertwined with these larger conflicts. What began as her desire to find a single child has become a struggle against systems that treat children and entire populations as possessions. Shahm and his allies eventually join the struggle, and Janet discovers that the animals she encountered earlier may provide an unexpected advantage. Horses become a crucial part of the conflict, helping the humans move rapidly through the dangerous lands. The war reaches its climax as the Ghayaghems and the forces of Zinnar collide. The fighting devastates both sides, but ultimately the enslaved humans are freed. Janet survives another confrontation with Nasa'im, who turns against her and attempts to use Janet for her own purposes. Janet is saved, but the victory comes with loss. When the fighting finally ends, Janet sees children playing freely. Shahm tells her that this is her reward. She runs toward them. The woman who left Windvalley searching for one child has helped create a world where many children can finally live without being treated as soldiers. Janet eventually returns home. Windvalley celebrates. Elena marries Alexander, and Janet watches the people she loves begin a new chapter. But the journey has changed her. As she looks toward the distant Sea of Gloom, Janet begins to wonder what lies beyond it. The world of the dead, she realizes, is far larger than she ever imagined. The manuscript ends with Janet returning to the Valley of the Wind and looking toward the unexplored world beyond the Sea of Gloom.