### 290

You ride into Eula at the captain’s side, his banner emblazoned with a flaming battle-axe fluttering overhead. The town has been turned into a huge army encampment; its people have long since fled to the north, abandoning their homes and livestock to the gold-hungry soldiers. Men from a dozen nations rub shoulders with warriors of less-than-human origins, united by common greed. The captain turns to the south where the highway is clogged with foot soldiers. As you catch your first glimpse of Tekaro, burning beneath a pall of black smoke, your heart sinks. This is where the Lorestone lies, in a city under siege from an army of ten thousand fighting men.

As you approach a tangle of siege-works at the bank of the River Quarl, the captain points to an encampment in a field to your left where a blue flag with a gold eagle flutters in the soot-laden air.

‘Prince Ewevin’s standard,’ he says. ‘The time has come to meet our paymaster.’

If you wish to stay with the captain’s company, turn to 204.

If you decide the time has come for you to leave the mercenaries, turn to 280.