112

You ride across this busy square and enter Ladder Way, a thoroughfare which heads towards the very heart of Varetta. Apothecaries and candle-makers’ shops flank this wide street until it opens upon an ornate park that is filled with rare and beautiful flowers.

To the west of the park you notice a fortified tower, by far the tallest in the city. You feel inexplicably drawn towards this tower; it is as if it possesses the solution to all your problems. You leave the park by its west gate and enter a wider thoroughfare called Brass Street. Here you see the courtyard entrance to a grand building whose brick and marble façade is adorned with the words ‘Halls of Learning’.

You enter and ride along a gravelled path which leads to a building where a sign, hanging over its richly-carved oak door, simply says ‘Library’. You feel compelled to stop here and, without quite knowing why, you dismount from your horse and tie his reins to a ring which is set into the wall. Then you push open the door and enter the library’s cool interior.

Countless thousands of books and parchments crowd the stone shelves of this magnificent library. Your eyes travel along them until they reach another door at the far end of the hall. There, standing framed in its archway, is an old man clad in plain brown robes. He looks at you and smiles knowingly.

‘Welcome. Grand Master,’ he says. ‘I have been expecting you.’

If you have ever visited a hut on Raider’s Road, the city of Tahou, or Lake Vorndarol (in previous Lone Wolf adventures), turn to 348.

If you have never visited any of these places, turn to 184.