Shadow on the Sand (15 page)
Suddenly, you catch sight of two warriors creeping towards you from a passage to your right. They are clad in jet-black armour and scarlet robes, and their hideous death-masks identify them as Drakkarim warriors. They are men, but they are evil men, as evil as the Darklords whom they serve.
One of them holds a razor-fanged Akataz, a creeping leathery war-dog, straining on a chain leash. The Drakkar hisses and the Akataz springs towards your throat.
If you wish to fight this creature,
turn to 273
.
If you wish to try to evade the attack and escape,
turn to 285
.
You pass under an arch where two brass-gilded, conical towers gleam like gold and enter a marketplace crowded with squabbling merchants. Exotic carpets, brightly coloured material, and all manner of foods are being bought, sold, and haggled over. The north side of the marketplace is devoted to the auction of douggas. The sleek but noisy desert beasts are being paraded, for the benefit of the bidders, around a paddock adjoining their stables. Just past the stables, a street vanishes into the Carpet-weavers' Quarter of Ikaresh.
If you wish to investigate the stables,
turn to 309
.
If you wish to ask one of the merchants if they know where Tipasa lives,
turn to 248
.
If you wish to leave the marketplace, continue along the adjoining street and
turn to 386
.
There is a sickening and acidic smell as a great gout of green blood gushes from the Vordak's red robe. The creature screams and topples from view, its mangled corpse spiralling downwards.
Sheathing your weapon, you grab the reins and fight to regain control of your injured mount. You have slain the Vordak, but the battle is not yet won. The Itikar is losing a lot of blood and could lapse into unconsciousness at any moment to drop you like a stone onto hard Lake Inrahim. Suddenly you see something in the distance — something that renews your faith in miracles.
You sense that the stone radiates pure evil. If you can only turn the stone's power against the Darklord, it will drain his strength and make him fade from this dimension. Although the stone cannot kill Haakon, it can at least banish him to a place where he can no longer harm you.
If you wish to try to grab the stone and turn it on your enemy,
turn to 268
.
If you wish to ignore the stone and attack the Darklord with your own weapon,
turn to 390
.
All you can hear above the wind that screams past your face are the gleeful howls of the Drakkarim. They are watching you fall to certain doom.
Pick a number from the
Random Number Table
.
If the number you have picked is 0–4,
turn to 234
.
If the number you have picked is 5–9,
turn to 293
.
There is no reply to your first knock. You are about to knock again when the door opens a few inches and the red-rimmed eyes of an old woman stare out from the darkness. ‘Banedon!’ she exclaims, her voice hoarse and shaky. ‘Thank the gods it is you.’
She ushers you both inside and locks the door. The house is sparsely furnished, and what little is there is either damaged or broken. ‘They have taken him, Banedon, they have taken my husband — the men with the faces of the dead. Ten days ago. They came like shadows in the night.’
She breaks down, her frail body wracked by sobs. Banedon comforts her as best he can, but you sense he shares her bitter loss. The Drakkarim have taken Tipasa, of that there is little doubt. By now they will have made him tell everything he knows about the Tomb of the Majhan.
‘We will find him, I promise,’ says Banedon, wiping the tears from the old woman's face, ‘but you must try to help us if you can. Tipasa always kept a diary of his travels — do you have it still?’
A flicker of hope shines in the old woman's eyes. ‘Yes, it is here. He told me to hide it when the evil men came for him.’
She kneels at an empty fireplace and prises a loose brick from the chimney; a leather-bound book drops from its hiding place into her hand. She gives it to Banedon who studies the yellowed pages, his face lined in thought. You notice that the book is full of cryptic symbols, numbers, and pictograms.
‘They are drawn by the night stars,’ says Banedon, tracing his finger along the astronomical drawings. ‘They hold the secret, I know, but without my star charts we cannot hope to find the tomb. We must return to the
Skyrider
at first light. There I shall be able to make some sense of this book.’
You discover little of interest: 8 Gold Crowns and a Brass Whistle on a chain around the guard's neck. You may take these if you wish, but remember to mark them on your
Action Chart
. (The Brass Whistle is a Special Item worn on a chain around the neck.) Suddenly, a noise alerts you to unwelcome company; Drakkarim are rushing along the tiled pathway that leads to the pens. Without a moment's hesitation, you turn and run inside the Itikar's enclosure.
‘By the gods!’ cries Banedon. ‘A vaxeler!’
The old man's face is a mask of green putrescent sores. The pupils of his eyes are yellow, and his ragged grey lips hang in tatters. Banedon grabs your arm and pulls you away from the wretched man.
‘He has vaxelus, Lone Wolf, a terrible disease that rots the skin. It is highly contagious — our lives are in peril.’
If you possess some Oede herb, you may give it to the poor vaxeler by
turning to 321
.
If you do not have any Oede, or if you do not wish to give it to the man, you can flee the cave with Banedon by
turning to 270
.
You reach the landing in time to see three Drakkarim warriors enter the tower. Maniacal laughter echoes from their ghoulish death-mask faces, as they form a line and creep towards you.
More of their evil kind are flooding onto the bridge, some carrying crossbows. You decide it would be suicide to attack the Drakkarim and sprint quickly up the stairs to escape from them.
You dive aside, your Kai skill saving you from the axe that is spinning towards the platform. Suddenly, a deafening
bang
rings out and the Drakkar is flung backwards, his breastplate torn open by dwarf shot. He gives a long, agonizing death-cry as he disappears from sight, tumbling into the darkness that surrounds the speeding skyship.
As if in answer to the shot, a menacing roll of thunder rumbles across the darkening plain from Barrakeesh. It is as if the city itself were cursing your escape.
Banedon appears at your side, his face lined with concern. As he offers a shaky hand to help you to your feet, you notice that the makeshift bandage which binds his wound is soaked with blood. He is pale and weak and close to collapse.
If you have the Kai Discipline of Healing,
turn to 377
.
If you do not possess this skill,
turn to 339
.
Despite your misgivings, the lime-green wine tastes delicious. A warm glow radiates slowly from your stomach, filling you with a comfortable sense of well-being. Restore 2
ENDURANCE
points. The man looks delighted by your reaction to his wine and offers to sell you the bottle for 5 Gold Crowns. If you wish to buy the Bottle of Kourshah, pay the man 5 Gold Crowns and make the necessary adjustments to your
Action Chart
. (There is enough Kourshah in the bottle to restore a further 4
ENDURANCE
points.)
If you wish to question him about Tipasa the Wanderer,
turn to 318
.
If you wish to leave his home and continue on your way to Ikaresh,
turn to 272
.
Fleeting shadows move through the densely packed trees: the Drakkarim are trying to surround you. Suddenly, a red shape bursts from the foliage and a mace glances across your forehead. You roll with the blow, tumbling over as though stunned by the force. The Vordak shrieks with malicious laughter and leaps upon you, its black mace raised to crush your skull.
If you possess the Sommerswerd,
turn to 349
.
If you do not possess this Special Item,
turn to 355
.
The Drakkar falls to his knees and makes a horrible rasping noise as he tries in vain to prise open his shattered death-mask. Your blows have staved in his helm, and the buckled metal has fractured his skull. You lash out with your foot and kick him from the outrigger, sending him spiralling down to Lake Inrahim to join the dwarf he murdered. But the dwarf is neither dead nor hundreds of feet below. He hangs by his foot, unconscious, snagged in the netting below the outrigger boards. You grab the dwarf's leg and haul him to safety before continuing the fight.
The platform looks empty — no heads are showing above its armoured parapet, but you sense something is wrong. Instinctively, you leap from the outrigger onto the main hull, your weapon poised to strike.
You focus your skill on a nearby spade, willing the spade handle to rattle against the wheelbarrow in which it rests. It only takes a few seconds for the vigilant Drakkarim sentry to leave his post and investigate the noise. By the time he returns, you are inside the Tomb of the Majhan.
At the bottom of the stairs, a wooden door braced with iron blocks the entrance to the scented garden. Frantically you twist the handle, but it does not open — the door is locked. Then a couple of palace guards appear on the bridge above; they see you and unsling their heavy crossbows.
If you possess a Copper Key,
turn to 246
.
If you do not possess this item, you can try to climb over the door by
turning to 301
.
Alternatively, you can run back up the stairs and attempt to attack the guards before they load and fire their crossbows by
turning to 375
.
You soon enter a public square where a throng of men have gathered at the ruins of a fountain. They are listening to the frenzied speech of a man dressed in red from head to toe; each man in the crowd is wearing a strip of the same coloured cloth, which covers the lower half of his face.
‘They're
Adu-kaw
— “the veiled ones”,’ says Banedon nervously. ‘It sounds as if they're declaring a blood feud on their old enemies, the men of Tefa.’
You follow Banedon to the shelter of a toa tree, where you will be less conspicuous. The speaker is denouncing the Tefarim for imposing a heavy tax for safe passage through their town and for use of the highway to Kara Kala. His ranting begins to stir the crowd to fever pitch.
Suddenly he points to where you stand and shrieks, ‘Tefarim spies!’
Illustration XIII—His ranting begins to stir the crowd to fever pitch.
If you want to try to reason with the crowd of screaming fanatics that are now running towards you with their swords drawn,
turn to 284
.
If you wish to follow Banedon's example and run for your life,
turn to 340
.
The Itikar fixes you with a cold, black stare, but you sense that it is no longer hostile. As you settle on its wide saddle, you catch sight of the Drakkarim streaming across the gangplank. Leaning forward, you unhook the anchor rope from the saddle ring and grab the thick leather reins.