263

You hide the bodies of the two scouts in some bushes that border upon the stream. Then you take one of their horses and release the other into a nearby field before setting off along the highway.

For two hours you ride past the farms, estates, vineyards, and hamlets of the Demera Quilt until you come within sight of Duadon. As you approach the city’s South Gate, you join a queue of wagons and riders who are waiting their turn to enter. To your left, you note a distant column of supply wagons that is approaching the city’s West Gate laden with ore and timber: raw materials for Duadon’s armouries. To the right, a seemingly endless file of Vorka march out from the East Gate towards the River Storn. You watch them closely and your Sixth Sense tells you that they are on their way to bolster the Eldenoran army that is besieging Varetta.

As you inch your way closer to the gate, you cast your eye across the city’s bleak perimeter walls and fortified watchtowers. Through the portcullised arch of the gatehouse, you catch fleeting glimpses of buildings swathed in clouds of soot-laden smoke. It is not a welcoming sight. Inside the perimeter defences, the city echoes to the perpetual clang of hammers and the roar of mighty furnaces. Under Vandyan’s command, Duadon has now become little more than a vast machine, a grand and terrible factory of war dedicated to the efficient manufacture of his conquering Vorka army.

At length your turn comes to enter the South Gate. Two armoured guardsmen step forward and demand to see your regimental orders. When you say that you have lost them, they become suspicious and order you to dismount.

‘Losing your orders is very careless of you, trooper,’ says the taller of the two guards, his rasping voice full of sarcasm.

‘Now, if you were to make it worth our while,’ says the other, slyly, ‘well, we might jus’ overlook your slipshod ways. What do you say?’

Clearly these two guardsmen are inviting you to bribe them. You stare into their greedy faces and sense that they are expecting something of high value from you in exchange for turning a blind eye to your missing papers.

If you possess the Tekaro Chalice, turn to 335.

If you do not possess this Backpack Item, turn to 65.