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Beyond the east gate of Battle Pass, the trail winds down through craggy borderland towards the lush river valley of the River Ioma, where an ocean of sun-yellowed grasses sways languidly in the warm afternoon breeze. This rolling vista has a graceful tranquillity that reminds you of the Southlund Marches of southern Sommerlund. It stirs fond memories of childhood days in that distant province and prompts an unexpected bout of homesickness that dampens your spirits. Karvas, too, is feeling a little melancholy. Yet his mood is not born out of a longing for his homeland, but from a sense of loss. You ask what ails him and, with some reluctance, he tells you:

‘The beauty of this valley belies its bloody past,’ he says, and he sweeps his arm across the distant horizon. ‘Many of my ancestors and countrymen have fought and died here in battle. For the Siyenese it is a land filled with proud and bitter memories.’ He points to a distant spire of rock and, when you magnify your vision, you see that its grey granite surface is too smooth and symmetrical for it to be a natural feature of this rolling plain.

‘There stands the Oridon Stone,’ he says. ‘It marks the graves of ten thousand men who fell at the battle of Inkil Reach.’

Prince Karvas regards the monolith with a mixture of sadness and pride, and you sense that quietly he yearns to visit this battlefield marker.

If you wish to leave the trail and ride with Karvas to the Oridon Stone, turn to 104.

If you wish to dissuade the Prince from visiting the monolith by reminding him of the urgent need for his swift return to Seroa, turn to 139.