56

Gingerly you push the door with the toe of your boot and it swings open to reveal a sumptuous chamber. Tapestries adorn the walls and golden ornaments gleam on lacquered shelves and sculptured wooden cabinets. You cross the carpeted floor and look out of a tall window to see a panoramic view of Cavalia, its roofs and spires gleaming in the afternoon sun. Below you can see a troop of citadel cavalry, their white pennants trailing from their lances as they ride across the drawbridge and canter away from the citadel along a broad, shop-lined avenue.

The evil that you detected from outside the iron door is stronger now, but it does not originate from this chamber. You sense that it comes from an adjoining room which is separated from this chamber by velvet draperies.

If you wish to pull the draperies aside and investigate the source of this evil, turn to 178.

If you choose to search the chamber that you are in more thoroughly, turn to 288.