### 109

Shocked by this mental intrusion, you dig your heels into Jhani’s flanks and urge the old mare to the gallop. The elder dodges aside as your horse bolts forward and the Vakeros guards along the palisade loose off their arrows. They whistle past you on all sides yet, in the near-darkness, fail to find their mark. Keeping yourself pressed low against your horse’s neck, you steer her around the perimeter of the palisade and into a field of tall bamboo where you quickly disappear from sight.

It is dark when you finally rein Jhani to a halt. You dismount and tend to the hundreds of tiny cuts and abrasions she has sustained to her legs, caused by the sharp bamboo stalks. Rather than push on in the dark and have your horse sustain more injuries, you camp here for the night. Unfortunately, the bamboo fields of Dessi are notorious for their infestations of biting mosquitoes, and you spend most of the long night fending them off: lose 3 ENDURANCE points. Also, unless you possess the Discipline of Grand Huntmastery, you must now eat a Meal or lose a further 3 ENDURANCE points.

In the early morning light you are able to lead your horse out of the bamboo field and find your way back onto the road to Hikas.

Turn to 186.