Delissa has already prepared the route by which you can escape from Duadon. One of the ancient tunnels of Skull-Tor passes directly below the city’s North Gate and it emerges in the middle of a coppice less than a mile from the city wall. She and Hulsta found a way to enter this tunnel through the cellar of a warehouse located less than half a mile from the cooperage. Hulsta scouted the tunnel before you arrived in the city, but Delissa is anxious to ensure that the way is still clear now that Vandyan’s troops are out hunting for you.
Shortly after dawn, she leaves the cooperage to scout the surrounding streets. When she returns an hour later, you sense that she is anxious and disappointed.
‘Vandyan’s men have discovered the tunnel,’ she says, despondently. ‘They have sealed it off and posted guards around the building. The watch on the battlements and at the city gates has been trebled, and a reward has been placed on your head.’ She takes a scroll from her pocket and gives it to you. When you unfurl it you see your own face depicted upon the parchment. Below is printed the sum of 10,000 Gold Crowns, and the words: ‘For delivery of this man’s body to Skull-Tor. Dead or Alive’.
‘They are posted on every street corner,’ she says, shaking her head. ‘It is not safe for you to leave the cooperage—everyone is looking for you. Duadon is awash with rumour. The Vorka have perished and the Eldenoran army is in retreat. The citizens fear retribution at the hands of those who were overrun by Vandyan’s horde, and as for Vandyan himself, they say he has gone mad with rage. He has ordered his most feared troops—the Sinistrari—to return to Duadon at once to lead the hunt for you. They are riding from Luyen and will arrive tomorrow.’
Delissa insists that you remain hidden in the parlour over the next two days. She hopes that Vandyan may begin to believe that you fled Duadon immediately after your escape from Skull-Tor, and that you are no longer to be found in the city. Her reasoning seems to be borne out by a reduction in the number of guards she sees patrolling the streets at the end of the second day. But when the third day arrives, you can no longer afford to lie low and wait for Vandyan to release his iron grip upon this city. You must reach Xaitar’s Rock before nightfall in order to rendezvous with Guildmaster Banedon.
Now that the tunnel can no longer be used, you formulate a new plan to escape from Duadon by way of the city’s North Gate. Delissa prepares a disguise for you, using theatrical make-up and a wig, and she also creates a convincing story to explain your departure from the city. You are to play the role of her cousin, and the two of you will be leaving Duadon bound for Luyen in order to tend to Delissa’s sister who has suddenly been taken ill. It is a bold plan, and as the hour of your departure draws closer, you offer up a prayer to Goddess Ishir in the hope that she will grant it her blessing. (Having rested for three days, you may now restore 9 ENDURANCE points to your current total.)
Delissa makes the final preparations before your departure from the cooperage. She dismisses the apprentices and closes the shop, and then she helps you to apply your disguise. When she is satisfied that you will pass for her cousin Jac, you leave the parlour and collect two saddled horses from a small stable at the rear of the workshop. You mount up and Delissa leads the way along an alley that gives access to Flank Street. At the end of the street you arrive at a plaza located before the city’s North Gate. It is late afternoon, a time when this square is normally crowded with people, yet as you ride towards the north gatehouse you can count the number of citizens that you see on the fingers of one hand.
On reaching the gate you are challenged by the spear-wielding guardsmen and told to dismount. Delissa protests, and she demands to see the Sergeant of the Guard. The sergeant arrives and greets Delissa with a wide smile. They are old friends. The sergeant listens sympathetically to her story that you are her cousin and together you are bound for Luyen to nurse her sick sister. When she has finished her tale, the sergeant nods his approval to a face that is peering out from a window of the gatehouse. Moments later you hear the rattle of heavy chains and the grinding noise of moving gears.
As you are waiting for the heavy gate to rise, the sergeant turns to you and asks: ‘Are you from Luyen?’ You nod your reply. ‘Ah, ’tis a fine place. I have a cousin there, myself. He’s an armourer by the name of Daliem. He has a shop in the centre of the city, at the Square of the Dragons. Perhaps you know him?’
(I use Telegnosis)
Your mastery of Telegnosis warns you that the sergeant is trying to trick you. There is no ‘Square of the Dragons’ in the centre of Luyen. You tell him this and suggest that he must be mistaking Luyen for some other city. He laughs: ‘Of course, of course. I meant Kron. My cousin Daliem lives in Kron, not Luyen.’
The rising gate reaches its full height and creaks to a halt. The sergeant bids you both a safe journey and his guardsmen move aside so that the way is clear for you to leave Duadon.
As you ride along the highway that heads north from Duadon, you see in the distance a pair of grassy hillocks. The highway passes between them before rising to a cultivated plateau which is crisscrossed with irrigation channels. You are drawing closer to the hillocks when you notice two units of armoured riders are stationed here, one unit on either side of the road. These horsemen are clad in fearsome suits of black armour, embellished with skulls and scarlet dragons, and their mounts are similarly protected by plates of burnished steel that shimmer like liquid fire in the light of the setting sun.
‘Sinistrari!’ whispers Delissa. ‘Ishir protect us!’
Coolly you steer your horse along the highway at a steady pace and pass beneath the watchful gaze of Vandyan’s élite troopers. The mounting tension draws beads of cold perspiration from your brow, but these enemy riders offer you no challenge and you are able to continue unhindered. As you emerge from the hillocks, you whisper to Delissa out of the side of your mouth. ‘Just keep riding … and don’t look back!’
It is not until you reach the safety of the plateau that you dare glance back over your shoulder at Vandyan’s horsemen, now five miles distant. Beyond them, silhouetted black against the darkening sky, you see the walls of Duadon and the domed peak of Skull-Tor. Now that you are safely beyond reach, you raise your fist and give voice to a defiant cry of victory.
‘For Sommerlund and the Kai!’
It is nearly dark when you enter the hills and ride with Delissa to your rendezvous at Xaitar’s Rock. Within minutes of arriving at this spire of weathered granite, you see a thin sliver of light in the darkening sky. You magnify your vision and your heart skips a beat when you see that this sliver is the sleek metal hull of Cloud-dancer—Guildmaster Banedon’s wondrous flying ship—fast approaching from the southwest.
Banedon brings his vessel to a halt directly above the spire of rock. Then a landing cage is winched down and a young Toranese crewman beckons you and your companion to step inside. Your stomach flutters as the cage is hoisted up to the deck of the flying ship where the Guildmaster himself is waiting to greet you and congratulate you upon the success of your mission.
Within minutes of your arrival aboard, a new route is charted and Cloud-dancer is set on course for the city of Varetta. The journey by air takes little more than two hours and, although darkness has fallen, Banedon has little difficulty locating the city. Its siege-damaged walls are ringed with beacons of fire that are visible from 50 miles. As you draw closer, you see the lifeless remains of the Vorka horde spread out across the plain surrounding Varetta, and the regiments of the Freeland Alliance marching proudly towards the city gates. The beacons guide Banedon’s craft towards the centre of the city where it is made to hover above the Halls of Learning. Swiftly you are lowered by cage to the grounds of this magnificent building where the New Order Kai are encamped. You are greeted by the thunderous cheer of your fellow kinsmen, and the proud embrace of Lone Wolf and Gwynian the Sage. It is a joyful and victorious reunion, one that will live forever in your memory and in the legends of the New Order Kai.
News of your arrival spreads quickly through Varetta and you are fêted by its grateful citizens. By your brave action, the cruel siege of their city was lifted. Following a night of celebration, Lone Wolf orders you to return in triumph to the Kai Monastery aboard Cloud-dancer the next day. He will ride home with the New Order and arrive with them in a week’s time. Gladly you obey your leader’s command, and shortly before noon you wave farewell to your proud brothers from the deck of Banedon’s magnificent flying ship.
Early the next day, you arrive at the Kai Monastery and deliver the glad news of your victory at Skull-Tor. Warmly the defenders praise your achievement and listen in awe when you recount the details of your perilous mission. You inform them that Lone Wolf and the Kai crusaders are returning from Varetta and will arrive at the monastery one week from today. You are now the highest ranking Kai present at the monastery and so you take charge and oversee preparations for their welcome home.
Five days pass and the preparations are completed ahead of schedule. Everyone is looking forward with eager anticipation to their return. It is late in the afternoon when a Kai scout named Gold Rain arrives unexpectedly at the monastery. His face and clothes are badly travel-stained, and it is clear from his state of near-exhaustion that he has ridden hard without rest. You are hoping that he brings glad tidings, but you soon learn the contrary. Gold Rain has grave and shocking news to impart.
You learn that Lone Wolf has disappeared. During an overnight encampment on the outskirts of Ruanon, your leader was abducted. Those who witnessed the abduction said that Lone Wolf was engulfed by a whirling black shadow that fell upon him from out of a stormy sky. So swift was the attack that your fellow Grand Masters were unable to prevent him from being carried away.
A cold chill runs down your spine when you listen to Gold Rain’s report. His description of the whirling black shadow is identical to the form adopted by Zorkaan the Soultaker. You are filled with a gnawing sense of doubt, a fear that the destruction of the rune used by Vandyan to summon Zorkaan did not bring about the fell creature’s demise. Instead, it has trapped Zorkaan on Magnamund. Immediately you suspect that Lone Wolf’s abduction is an act of revenge. Your Sixth Sense tells you that Lone Wolf is still alive and present somewhere upon Magnamund, but you cannot determine where that place is.
You have achieved a great victory at Duadon, but the shocking news of Lone Wolf’s disappearance casts a shadow of doubt over your triumph there. You fear that the loss of your illustrious leader is too high a price to pay for the defeat of Vandyan and his Vorka hordes. Your natural instinct is to do everything in your power to find Lone Wolf and release him from his shadowy abductor. But this will be a great and difficult task, one that is sure to test your bravery and skills to the limit. If you have the courage and resolve of a true Grand Master, the challenge of finding and freeing Lone Wolf awaits you in the next exciting adventure, entitled:
Trail of the Wolf