53

You watch aghast as the Itikars swoop past the balloon and rake their talons across its canopy. The sudden loss of gas from the canopy shakes the basket and you are knocked off your feet. Yranai falls on top of you and, for a few nerve-racking seconds, you lie entangled at the bottom of the basket as the balloon rapidly loses altitude. When you pull yourself up and peer over the rim, you see the trees of the lower mountain slopes rising towards you at a dizzying speed. Yranai looks up to see shreds of cloth trailing from the punctured canopy above and the sight proves too much for him: he faints. Hurriedly you haul his frail body over your shoulder. Then you place one foot on the rim of the basket and get ready to make a desperate leap away from this doomed balloon as the tops of the mountain pines rise into view.

If you possess Kai-alchemy, turn to 107.

If you do not possess this Discipline, turn to 115.