| 313 This could just as likely be a trap, or an ambush set by bandits. Deciding to err on the side of caution you disregard the somewhat convincing cries for help and ride on. Pallenten seems particularly eager to leave the vicinity and you console yourself that this is proof you made the right choice. As you ride westwards you notice the country gradually changing. The open grasslands are now being punctuated by large outcrops of boulders, the soft earth of the plains becoming harder and more stony. Very soon the lush cover of grass begins to thin and in patches the vegetation becomes drier and more hardy looking. For some time you ride, the vast form of the mountain breaking up the west horizon. Slowly you can see it inching closer as you cover the distance that still remains between yourself and the Devkraager Tor. With the plains spread out before you Pallenten gallops onwards, your thoughts are focused on the journey ahead, but the rhythmic pounding of the great horse's hooves on the harder earth cause those thoughts to wander. Before you now run memories of times past, of your first year as a noviciate at the Temple of the Suns and all the hardships that have occurred since the temple's destruction. The memories are not altogether harsh but they serve to harden your resolve, to revive your distaste of the Kalboreans and their subjugation of your people. Silently you curse them for their need to send you on this quest. Suddenly your thoughts are jarred back to the hear and now. Pallenten has pulled up abruptly on the crest of a rise and stands seemingly unwilling to move forward. At first you look at the horse's hooves in case she has somehow injured herself. You can see nothing but when you look up you see why she has halted. Ahead of you, some two hundred metres from the rise stands a large fortified village, completely surrounded by a high wall and an extensive series of earthen defences. It is as silent as a graveyard and just as foreboding. Sweat drains from your brow as you realise you have unwittingly stumbled onto the site of one of the greatest legends of Kalborea. You have come face to face with Kal Murda.
| Turn to section 263.
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