### 189

You ask Steel Hand to give you his rope and he obeys dutifully. You sling its coiled length around your shoulder and then you commence your climb. The rough, pitted wall offers many handholds and you progress swiftly to the ceiling where you are able to work your way quickly across to the middle of the chamber, directly above the fissure. Once you are in position, you fix one end of the rope to an exposed stone beam and cast the other end to your companions waiting below. One by one you watch them swing across the void and, when all have crossed safely, you untie the rope and make your way over to the far side to join them.

‘Come, my lords,’ you say, anxious to waste not a minute more, ‘we must press on. We’ve a trail to find.’

Turn to 160.