| 338 For a moment you think about a fire but consider it too dangerous. In the cold and wet the welcome warmth of a fire may also draw to it more trouble than you would wish at this time. Settling down next to Pallenten you try and get comfortable but sleep eludes you. The day's travel and the curious nature of your quest leaves you full of unanswered questions, questions that pose a number of practical problems. Not the least of these problems being how you are going to survive the next few days. With the wind beginning to build again you listen for a time as it blows through the nearby trees, and you think on how lucky you were to escape the dungeons of Maenum alive. The nature of your quest is your main concern though, and what the Kalboreans think you are going to achieve. Your captors at Maenum have proven that they know a considerable amount about the history of the Dwarvendim, and the circumstances that led to the loss of the Tellandra. It was equally plain that they do not have a good understanding of the real nature of the EarthMagic nor the true power of the pillar of stonewood. The Kalboreans certainly have sent you on this journey, and they have ensured you complete it by the use of the metal collar that rubs uncomfortably at your neck. What they do not realise is that the act of fixing the Tellandra will forever take it out of their grasp. Your early training at the Temple of the Suns, and the echo's of more than one learned voice, have told you that the magic the Kalboreans wield with the Tellandra is only a pale reflection of its true power. This power is something they have never experienced, and because of this will be wholly unprepared for upon its restoration. Since the demise of the ancients only the Dwarvendim have attempted to test the limits of the powers of EarthMagic. Having done so they have respected it enough never to do it again, the consequences of the Tellandra's full power simply too overwhelming to control. With the Tellandra restored the Kalborean's hold on it will falter as surely as attempting to tether a wild horse with twine. Then the Dwarvendim LoreMasters will be in a position to take back their mastery of it. It is true that the Kalboreans sent you on this quest, but you resolve to complete it because you know what it will mean to your people and to their chances of shrugging off their servitude. Of course, there is the small matter of what the Kalboreans will do to you once they realise that the Tellandra has been restored and that their control of it has ended. But then you've never been one of their favourite thieves anyway, and you feel sure that no matter what happens you will be little appreciated. The whip and crack of tree branches outside brings you back from your musings and you feel the heavy hand of fatigue grab you squarely about the shoulders. For a short while you listen to the wind as it howls through the many breaks in the old stone walls, but then your eyes close and you fall into an uncomfortable and dreamless sleep.
| Turn to section 314.
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