### 189

Your horses lose speed as they labour the last few hundred yards to the top of the ridge. Anxiously you glance over your shoulder and see that the glow of your pursuers’ torches is getting brighter as relentlessly they close the distance between you. Upon reaching the top of the ridge you are relieved to see that the coast road now begins a long and gentle descent through the hills, but when you coax your tired steed to greater effort it fails to respond. The others, too, are unable to make their horses run any faster.

Knowing that you cannot hope to outrun your pursuers, you scour the hills for a place to hide. Your night vision reveals a deep gully running parallel to the road and you signal your companions to follow as you urge your exhausted horse to enter it. Here you dismount and wait until those who are chasing you have ridden past. When their torches can no longer be seen in the distance you remount and begin to retrace your tracks out of the gully. You are within a few dozen yards of the road when something startles your horse and he rears up on his hind legs, throwing you heavily to the ground (lose 2 ENDURANCE points).

You are getting to your feet when you feel a sharp pain shoot up the back of your leg: you have been bitten by a snake. Oswin unsheathes his sword and leans from his horse to take a swipe at the ground. His blow severs the snake’s head from its body and it falls close by. To your dismay you see that it is a Jubai—the most poisonous of Vassagonia’s desert serpents. Your natural Kai curing skills act swiftly to counter the toxin that has entered your blood, but Jubai venom is very potent and you have received a massive dose.

If you possess the Grand Master Discipline of Deliverance, turn to 169.

If you do not, turn to 26.