The Prisoners of Time (4 page)
Read The Prisoners of Time Online
Authors: Joe Dever
Tags: #Fiction, #Fantasy, #Lone Wolf, #Magnamund
All sense of time and space is lost as you plunge headlong into the whirling black throat of the abyss. Only a numbing chill and a mournful sound, like a million voices crying in despair, accompany you on your descent into the unknown. Gradually your mind is filled with fearful visions, nightmare shapes that reach out of the darkness to claw and bite and scream at your passing. They grow in menace until they are swiftly dispelled by diamond-shaped motes of light, which streak past at incredible speeds. The tiny lights engulf you in a cone of fiery brilliance and a metallic smell of ozone, sharp and pungent, assails your nostrils. A sensation of warmth surges through your frozen limbs. Then, an instant later, you strike solid ground with such a suddenness that you are left stunned and panting for breath.
Pick a number from the
Random Number Table
(if you pick 0 it counts as 10). The number you have picked represents the number of
ENDURANCE
points you have lost during your passage through the Shadow Gate. Adjust your
Action Chart
accordingly.
You throw the Fireseed against the wall of the tomb and it bursts into flame, showering the Chaos-creatures with splinters of stone and motes of red fire. Now they screech and squeal and rip each other to pieces in their panic to avoid the searing flames. The Fireseed has saved you from their initial attack but you sense that it is just a temporary reprieve. The whole area is saturated with hundreds of their kind and if you stay here you will be overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers. Reluctantly you are forced back to the Grand Sepulchre and the three tentacled horrors that command its entrance.
Using your Kai skill you command the sinister reptilian to halt and return to its lair. Immediately, the rustle of its scaly body ceases: it is losing interest now that it can no longer detect your scent. It turns and slithers away, and you hurry up the stairs towards the surface.
You leave Serocca's chamber and follow T'uk T'ron as he leads you out of the tower and along a busy street towards the city's main square. Three gleaming bronze chariots, each drawn by a team of strange, horse-like creatures called onipa, are ready and waiting to take you to Tolakos. With the Ookor captain you climb aboard the leading chariot and grab the hand-rail as its driver cracks his whip. The onipa surge forward and, in a cloud of thick dust, the chariots race out of the city and along a stony road that cuts through the centre of the valley beyond.
Three hours pass before you catch sight of a village on the road ahead. T'uk T'ron grins and points repeatedly at his open mouth. ‘You want eat here?’ he says, shouting to make himself heard above the incessant rattling of the chariot wheels.
If you wish to stop at the Ookor village for a meal,
turn to 124
.
If you wish to press on to Tolakos without stopping,
turn to 258
.
Your new scout's name is Arke, a wiry Meledorian with steely grey hair and a lean, scraggy face. He is an expert woodsman and with his help you are able to avoid all contact with marauding remnants of the chaos-horde. The journey to the edge of the Plain of Guakor takes nearly 100 hours, during which time you are able to conserve your food supplies by living off the land. In fact, so bountiful is the Nahgoth Forest that you are able to gather a surplus of food equivalent to 3 Meals (if you wish to keep any of this surplus food, adjust your
Action Chart
accordingly).
You share a meal with Arke and bid him farewell (you do not need to erase a Meal from your
Action Chart
). Then you check your equipment and consult your map before setting off with trepidation across the barren Plain of Guakor.
Pick a number from the
Random Number Table
.
If the number you have picked is 0–6,
turn to 202
.
If it is 7–9,
turn to 318
.
Puzzled by its purpose, you step back from the monolith in order to look at it in its entirety. You have taken less than a dozen steps when you hear the rustle of foliage: you are not alone.
Filling the alcoves and lying on tables of solid silver in the centre of the vault are huge piles of jewels, precious metals, and artefacts of breathtaking beauty. Never have you seen a wealth to rival the hoard surrounding you here. Open-mouthed you wander between the tables, sifting and examining those objects that outshine the vivid brilliance of the rest. One unique item in particular fires your admiration — a mighty broadsword set with rubies, emeralds, and polished korlinium. Its size and weight are perfectly balanced, and, as you raise it above your head, it hums with a potent magical force locked within its mirror-bright blade.
If you wish to keep this Ironheart Broadsword, mark it on your
Action Chart
as a Special Item which you carry strapped across your back.
You raise the sword and essay a cut or two to assess its worth. It is a fine weapon, skilfully crafted by an expert smith. Its hilt is bejewelled with emeralds and the curvy blade is engraved with a spectacular fiery dragon. At once you recognize the design and your hopes of retrieving the last Lorestone are revived. It is identical to the symbol you first saw in the Table of Visions: the mark that emblazoned the stone gate of Haagadar.
You focus your Kai skills on the blade and they confirm your suspicions. The scarlet warrior came from Haagadar, and it is to that distant city that his black-winged mount is now returning with the last Lorestone of Nyxator.
You search for a solution that will break the spell of holding that secures the door, but your senses tell you that you lack the means to overcome this alien magic. Reluctantly you turn your back on the door and consider your next course of action.
If you wish to investigate the adjoining room,
turn to 170
.
If you choose to remain in the room,
turn to 219
.
The hack of weapons and the ghastly howls of the attacking Chaos-creatures grow louder. The battle noise, especially the dying screams of the Ookor, play upon your mind as you run for the safety of the hills. When eventually you reach the first ridge, you look back at the bridge guiltily in the hope of seeing T'uk T'ron and his guards victorious. But your hope is in vain, for the only creatures alive and triumphant are the grey horde now feasting ghoulishly on the slain.
Remorse clouds your mind and your senses give no forewarning of the menace skulking nearby. From behind a moss-covered boulder emerge six hideous monstrosities, crouched and snarling, each with the fire of chaos burning in their evil eyes. With a blood-curdling yowl they fall upon you and drag you to your knees.
Agtah Pack:
COMBAT SKILL
34
ENDURANCE
40
These creatures are immune to Mindblast (but not Psi-surge). Owing to the surprise and ferocity of their attack, you are unable to unsheathe a weapon and must fight the first two rounds of combat unarmed.
If you win the combat,
turn to 114
.
The pain fades but it is replaced by a fearful numbness that drains the strength from your limbs. Odel's face and the canopy of dense branches swirl and grow dim as the toxins of the deadly orange Khetu Spore buds poison your blood. You sink into a deep sleep — a sleep from which you will never awaken.
Your life and your quest end here.
Hastily you tip your provisions onto the wet, flagstoned floor and run up the stairs as fast as your legs will carry you. Your quick thinking pays off: the gigantic sewer snake stops to consume your food, enabling you to escape.
Drawing on your Kai skill you command the waking reptilian to close its eyes and go back to sleep. But the creature is ravenously hungry and, despite your success at masking your body scent, it begins to edge forward in preparation for attack.
Pick a number from the
Random Number Table
and add 1 point to this number for every Magnakai Discipline you possess.
If your total is now 8 or less,
turn to 271
.
If it is 9 or more,
turn to 199
.
You inscribe the symbol and suddenly a blast of cold vapour hits you squarely in the face. You choke and retch as the bitter, poisonous gas seeps into your lungs.
If you possess the Magnakai Discipline of Curing and have reached the Kai rank of Mentora or higher,
turn to 223
.
If you do not possess this skill, or if you have yet to reach this level of Magnakai training,
turn to 99
.
The scouts spin on their heels to face you, raising their forearms in reflex action at your sudden appearance. ‘Hold it!’ snaps one of them to his companions, who are both on the verge of firing their weapons. ‘He could be the one.’
Warily they approach and demand that you identify yourself. You tell them who you are and suggest that they look in your pocket if they require proof that you speak the truth. Gingerly, one steps forward.
The stumpy little Ookor takes a rapid step backwards when you tell him you do not come from Meledor. Nervously his followers close around him and raise their spears, forming a defensive wall to protect their leader. You assure them that you mean no harm and try to explain how you arrived in their land, but fear and suspicion cloud their eyes until you mention Serocca, the name of the one whose help you seek.
‘Very well,’ says L'yan-K'ril, pensively. ‘We will take you to Serocca, if that is truly your wish.’
Desperately he tries to avoid your Arrow but it penetrates his armour and lodges in the side of his neck. He screams at the sudden pain and tears the offending shaft from his flesh, hurling it back at you contemptuously. Such fortitude is impressive but you can tell that he has suffered a serious wound. Feverishly he scoops the Lorestones into a small velvet sack which hangs from his sword belt, and you shoulder your Bow in favour of a hand weapon as you run forward to prevent his escape.
Sagely the old Ookor nods her head and retrieves her cards from the table. She bows, and as she turns she mumbles something in her native tongue, before shuffling away to help her daughters gather the empty food bowls.
‘She say it sometimes better for warrior not to know his future,’ says T'uk T'ron, and rounds off his meal with a hearty belch. ‘We go now, yes?’ You nod and the little Ookor captain orders his company back to the chariots.
As you prepare to leave you notice the old fortune teller waiting near the door of the hut. She has something in her hand and, as you approach, she offers it to you. It is a large, wooden charm shaped like the wing of a bird. If you wish to keep this Ookor Charm, mark it on your
Action Chart
as a Special Item which you keep strapped to your Backpack.
With a wave, you bid farewell to the cheerful villagers and hurry back to your chariot.
Your Arrow grazes the creature's eye then ricochets off its horny lid. The sudden unexpected pain sends the creature into the sky, screeching an agonized cry across the empty plain. Then it turns and flies away to seek the shelter of its lair and nurse its weeping wound.