247

The voyage through the Koos is breathtaking. The Skyrider glides between the towers of rock that rise from the valley floor with fantastic and unearthly grandeur. Far below, sulphurous water bubbles from fissures in the orange ground and streams of hissing lava carve circular channels, which glow like moats of liquid fire. You watch the sky, but there are no signs of the enemy.

‘Ikaresh,’ says Banedon pensively. ‘ “The Eagle’s Lair”. That is where we will find Tipasa the Wanderer. It is the place of his birth and the home of his family. He roams the Dry Main, but he always returns to Ikaresh.’

It is late afternoon when you reach the hills beyond the Koos that overlook the town of Ikaresh. Banedon moors the Skyrider to a pinnacle of stone, and a rope ladder is lowered to the ground. It has been decided that you and he will enter Ikaresh on foot and locate Tipasa, while Nolrim and the crew wait in hiding for you to return—the sight of the Skyrider hovering above the mountain town would be sure to arouse unwanted interest in your arrival.

You and Banedon prepare yourselves for your mission by staining your skins with brown copalla berries and dressing in the grey and white robes commonly worn by the mountain people of this region. You bid farewell to Nolrim and set off across the barren hills.

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