141
In a burst of sudden rage, the blacksmith slaps the Gold Crowns from out of your hand and scatters them across the floor. Before you can retrieve them he orders his son to chase you out of their workshop. Rather than resist and risk slaying them both in a fight, you turn and run towards the door. (Erase from your Belt Pouch the number of Gold Crowns that you have lost here in the blacksmith’s shop.)
Hurriedly you return to the quayside where you stop to catch your breath. After a while you resolve to explore the tangle of alleyways that make up the city’s eastern quarter in the hope of finding someone more willing to talk about the Prince. Unfortunately, your efforts garner no useful information. As the sun begins to settle on the horizon, you finally abandon your search and hurry back through the darkening passageways towards the market square.
Wizard Acraban and Lord Zinair are already waiting aboard the Starstrider by the time you reach the market square. The magician orders the boarding cage to be lowered and you are winched up to the skyship. They are disappointed to hear that your search for information has been in vain. Fortunately, Lord Zinair’s efforts have been more fruitful.
‘Prince Karvas is not here,’ he says. ‘He lived here when he first came to Sheasu some ten years ago, but a young woman called Amarelda arrived soon after and they were married, here, in the harbour. They left Mydnight the day after their wedding and settled somewhere on the northern coastline. It has been more than a year since they last visited the city.’
Turning to Acraban, Zinair says: ‘I propose we travel north at first light and commence a search of the northern shoreline. I suspect it will be easier to espy their retreat from the air than to attempt any search by land.’
Acraban nods in agreement. Then he passes word to his young crew to prepare the Starstrider for a voyage north at first light.
