ENDURANCE points.
The lookouts fumble with their crossbows, desperate to fire again but before they can reload you have disappeared along the beach. Shortly you reach a small secluded cove where Prarg discovers a rusty anchor. It is a landmark, left on purpose by agents of King Sarnac to point the way to the cave where they have left your boat and provisions. You find the cave and together you haul the boat down the beach and raise its coal-black sail before pushing it out into the icy waters of the Tentarias.
Once aboard you trim the sail whilst Prarg takes charge of the rudder. There is a good wind and within minutes your tiny craft is bobbing towards the far western channel of the Hellswamp, twenty miles distant. You ask Prarg if this dark estuary has a name, and he replies, ‘Yes. The Drakkarim call it “Dakushna's Channel” after the Darklord who once commanded the city-fortress of Kagorst. They say it is a fitting dedication, for the waterway is as deadly and as treacherous as the creature after whom it is named.’
Turn to 60 .
15
Prarg rushes towards the dying Drakkar and, before he can sound his horn, he deals him a killing blow.
‘Quick, Sire,’ he says, sheathing his sword. ‘Let us away from here lest this knight is not alone.’
You leap over the corpse and run down the corridor following closely on the heels of your companion. Soon you come to a junction where you are forced to choose a direction, left or right. You call upon your Kai skills and immediately you sense a strong presence of evil lurking at the end of the right-hand passage. You focus on the source of this evil and determine it is the Doomstone. You tell Prarg, and together you advance along the passage until you reach a closed door.
If you possess Grand Huntmastery or Grand Pathsmanship, turn to 214 .
If you possess neither of these Disciplines, turn to 229 .
19
Using your advanced Kai skills you conjure up a cloud of fog which completely obscures you from the sight of the approaching lookouts.
‘Hurry, captain!’ you whisper, as you pull Prarg to his feet. ‘We must get away before the wind destroys our screen.’
The lookouts stumble into the fog and you hear them cursing as you make good your escape along the beach. You soon outdistance them and, a few minutes later, you happen upon a small secluded cove where Captain Prarg, to his delight, discovers a rusty anchor. At first you cannot fathom why this should please him so; then he tells you that it is a landmark, left on purpose by agents of King Sarnac to point the way to the cave where they have left your boat and provisions. You find the cave and together you haul the boat down the beach and raise its coal-black sail before pushing it out into the icy waters of the Tentarias.
Once aboard, you trim the sail whilst Prarg takes charge of the rudder. There is a good wind and within minutes your tiny craft is bobbing towards the far western channel of the Hellswamp, twenty miles distant. You ask Prarg if this dark estuary has a name, and he replies, ‘Yes. The Drakkarim call it “Dakushna's Channel” after the Darklord who once commanded the city-fortress of Kagorst. They say it is a fitting dedication, for the waterway is as deadly and as treacherous as the being after whom it is named.’
Turn to 60 .
21
With bated breath you watch as the cavalry approaches. You recognize them to be Zagganozod, a unit of armoured Drakkarim cavalry of a type you once encountered many years ago, during a quest that took you to the land of Eru.
The enemy horsemen reach the road where they draw their mounts to a halt. They exchange a few words, and then they turn their horses towards Darke and gallop away towards the battle that is raging around its walls. As soon as they are out of earshot, Schera and Maquin's men let out a collective sigh of relief.
Turn to 234 .
23
Schera wakes you shortly before dawn and wearily you rise from your makeshift bed. Mindful of the journey ahead, you
Colm Tóibín, Carmen Callil