### 254

With quaking heart, you ascend the hill. You stand at the top in a circle of stone forms with the indistinct features of men. Their voices murmur in a haunting, faraway whisper.

'He comes . . . the Grey One comes . . .'

'Does he bear the key . . . the Masterstone . . . our salvation?'

'Who are you?' you shout into the darkness. The whispering subsides and one voice speaks to you.

'We are the Kazim; the Stone peoples. Old as the earth. We have waited.'

'For what?'

'For the bearer of the Masterstone to set us free from this hill that we might claim back what was once ours. We seek our hearts that the Dark One stole from us long ago.'

A glimmer of realization dawns in your mind. 'Who?' you ask, urgently. 'Who stole your hearts?'

'He who calls himself Shasarak, sundered and shameful brother of the Shianti.'

The Kazim Stones of the Shadakine Wytches must be the hearts of these poor, forlorn creatures. Trapped and heartless upon this hill they have waited for you to free them. 'But how?' you ask the Kazim.

'You must have the key or we would not have awakened from our sleep of centuries and felt your presence here in the forest. You are the bearer of the Masterstone. Take it out and free us as the Shianti promised.'

They must mean the Moonstone. Long ago the Shianti must have promised to free the Kazim out of shame for the actions of their renegade Shianti brother. Now you have come to fulfil that promise for them. The Kazim mentioned regaining their hearts. If they are successful, they rob Shasarak's most powerful servants of their power. The separate threads of the story fall into place as the ancient plans of the Shianti finally come to fruition. You draw out the Moonstone. Though you have not exerted any power upon it, it is shining with a blinding white light of its own. The seven Kazim roar with pleasure as the rays of the Moonstone touch their rocky bodies, and then they begin to move, stretching their craggy limbs after centuries of sleep.

One of the Kazim speaks to you. 'We thank you,' it says. 'But you must go now, back to your people. Their enemy approaches, bringing with them an enemy of ours. We will come soon, when we are fully ready and restored to life. Hurry. Battle begins.'

In the distance you can hear the sound of many voices shouting. The Shadakine must have attacked by night. You whirl around and dash down the hill, heading towards the sound of battle.

Turn to 358.

Concept copyright © 1986 Joe Dever and Gary Chalk.
Text copyright © 1986 Ian Page.
Illustrations copyright © 1986 Paul Bonner.