The Jungle of Horrors (23 page)

You urge your horse up the steep bank and across the fallen branches that litter the trail beyond. Less than a mile from the brook you hear the sound of rushing water. The track bears north and you see a roaring waterfall cascading into a rocky pool, its surface lost in a cloud of fine spray. A huge tree has fallen across the pool, creating a bridge, and the track leads straight to it. You are halfway across the tree-bridge, looking down at the swirling spray and foaming water below, when a ghastly howl rings out above the thunder of the waterfall. You look up and stare slack-jawed at the creature that is advancing towards you across the tree-bridge.

Turn to 212
.

You are in the presence of great evil. Your skin prickles and your blood runs cold as you recoil at this sudden realization. But alarm soon turns to fear as a new threat begins to manifest itself.

Turn to 190
.

You pull Paido to his feet and help him along the causeway, leaving behind the dead Rahgu and the stinking cloud of gas. The volcanic spur soon comes to an abrupt halt, its jagged edge overhanging a sprawling tangle of reeds, marsh thistles, and black moss. The pools of dark water are few, but the hazards are more than ever before.

‘The brown patches,’ says Paido, his voice hoarse from the effects of the gas, ‘are quicksands.’ He points to where the marsh weeds are sparse and the ground pale and sandy. You stand and count the little tan-coloured patches but give up when you reach fifty.

If you wish to try to cross this quicksand bog,
turn to 21
.

If you decide to return to the junction and take the west spur,
turn to 175
.

If you have the Magnakai Discipline of Divination,
turn to 142
.

Using your Magnakai skill you increase your metabolism, burning your reserves of body fat to counter the effect of the necromancer's freezing spell. In seconds the frost and ice have gone, thawed by the heat that emanates from your body.

Turn to 199
.

A Ghagrim lopes towards you, fixing you with a ghastly stare. It slavers and drools through thick grey lips as it licks the blade of its rusty iron sword. With a chilling howl it issues its battle-cry and closes to attack.

Illustration XX
—A Ghagrim lopes towards you fixing you with a ghastly stare.

Ghagrim:
COMBAT SKILL
 23   
ENDURANCE
 38

You can evade combat after three rounds;
turn to 309
.

If you win the combat,
turn to 9
.

The north gate guards, tired after the long night's watch, grumble wearily at your demand for the gate to be opened. ‘What's the hurry?’ growls one guardsman.

‘Matter o' life and death is it?’ sneers the other.

The portcullis finally clanks open and you leave the town, riding the broken dirt track towards the distant hills and the frontier town of Syada. Grey-brown grasses brush your shins as you cross this wild, uncultivated plain. Accompanying your ride is an unnatural silence which is broken only occasionally by the cawing of ravens circling like vultures overhead.

By midday you are among the hills. The terrain becomes increasingly rocky, undulating like a storm-tossed ocean. The tall plains grass has given way to sad little plants, scraggy and deformed, stunted by the winds that sweep down from the barren wastes of Ogia. The track passes through a narrow valley where a small stone cabin stands beside the entrance to a disused mine shaft. As you approach the cabin you see a face at the window.

If you wish to stop at the cabin,
turn to 85
.

If you wish to investigate the mine,
turn to 120
.

If you wish to continue along the valley,
turn to 152
.

‘We had best delay no longer, Lone Wolf,’ says Paido, looking anxiously at the afternoon sky. ‘The highway's no place to be after dark and we're still a long ride from Tharro.’ You nod your agreement and spur your horse along the track towards the village of Topham.

If you possess a Lodestone,
turn to 29
.

If you do not possess this Special Item,
turn to 170
.

You take a bottle from the rack, crack it open against the wall, and tip the potion into the remaining wine. Carefully you tilt back Paido's head and pour the mixture into his open mouth, a drop at a time: in his comatose state he is unable to cough and it would be easy to fill his lungs by accident. It is a slow and painstaking process, which takes you hours to complete.

It is dawn of the following day before you know for sure if you have saved his life.

Turn to 10
.

Anger and frustration well up inside you as helplessly you watch the Kraan and your captured companion disappear beyond the horizon. Gradually your anger gives way to sadness as you ponder his fate and wonder if he will ever survive this cruel abduction. You pray for his safety, calling on the spirits of your ancestors to watch over and protect him and, as if in answer to your prayer, you feel a sudden calm engulf your senses. The power of the Lorestone, transfused into your being the instant it appeared in your hands, has greatly increased your intellect and awareness. With confidence you know that Paido will survive his ordeal and that one day you will meet and fight again, side by side.

The return voyage to Dessi is a swift but lonely journey. The starguider ensures that the Levitron stays on course for Elzian and as you cross the canal which encircles the city, a pilot skyship arrives to escort you down. During the voyage you have discovered how to control the Levitron, and now, as slowly you approach the landing platform of the Tower of Truth, you disengage the starguider and make a faultless landing. Lord Rimoah and the High Council have gathered to greet your return, and upon hearing of your successful quest their hopes for the future are renewed in spite of the sad news of Lord Paido's capture by agents of the Darklords.

The High Council listens avidly as you recall your treacherous journey through Talestria, the perilous trek across the Danarg, and the wondrous discovery of their lost temple. When finally you have completed your account they applaud and pay tribute to your courage and daring, their faces beaming with pride. But, despite their joyous greeting, you sense that something is wrong; they seem distant, as if their minds were preoccupied with the solving of a difficult and perplexing problem.

You ask Lord Rimoah if all is well, and he replies: ‘You have grown in perception, Lone Wolf. Many things have occurred since last we spoke, and although your quest for the Lorestone of Ohrido has succeeded, the peril of our age has grown ever more deadly. The Darklords now wage open war throughout Magnamund, and many lands have fallen before their Giak legions. Talestria has been overrun. So too have the Stornland nations. Sommerlund stands firm against the armies of Darklord Gnaag, but she has lost her southern province of Ruanon.’

This shocking news fills you with an urge to return to your homeland, yet to do so would defeat the Magnakai quest.

Lord Rimoah bids you follow him to the chamber of the High Council. Set into the floor is a circular well, brimming with a silvery liquid metal. Rimoah kneels and touches the surface and slowly a vision takes form within the shimmering depths of the pool: it is a fortified city surrounded by rolling hills. ‘You look upon the city of Tahou in the land of Anari,’ says Rimoah, his voice now solemn and composed. ‘The Lorestone you must find next lies deep below its streets, in an ancient city that was built during the dawn of Magnamund.’

The vision of Tahou heralds the start of a new and perilous episode in your quest for the Magnakai. If you possess the bravery and courage of a true Kai Master, the challenge of Tahou awaits you in Book 9 of the
Lone Wolf
series entitled:

The Cauldron of Fear

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