Mydnight’s Hero

194

As you ride through the fields that border upon the packed highway, you receive a chorus of catcalls from the queue that alerts the gate guards to your approach. You rein in your horses at the South Gate and Karvas demands that you be allowed in at once. An angry guard demands to know why you should not wait in line like everyone else, and Karvas says: ‘We are court riders from Oberra. We carry an important message for Marshal Phedros. Let us in at once.’

You pray that the guard will believe the Prince’s bluff and let you enter, but you can tell by the man’s grim expression that he is not impressed. The Prince sounds convincing, but his Sommlending clothes do not lend credence to his story. The man beckons to a group of his fellow guardsmen who are standing at an archway in the gatehouse wall. ‘You’ll have to see the captain first,’ he says, brusquely.

You dismount and the guardsmen escort you and Karvas into the gatehouse, to an empty chamber where they tell you to wait for the guard captain. After several minutes he arrives and you notice that he is cradling a crystal sphere in his gloved left hand. ‘So you’re messengers from Oberra with an important message for the Marshal, are you?’ he says, and he holds up the crystal as he awaits your reply. ‘Yes,’ says Karvas, impatiently. The clear crystal sphere becomes milky white, and then its hue changes to crimson.

‘You’re lying,’ he says impassively, and he withdraws a slim glassy rod from his sword belt and points it at your face. Suddenly a blinding white light flashes before your eyes and you feel yourself rapidly slipping into unconsciousness.

Turn to 332.

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