### 234

In a complete daze you tumble and spin, totally unaware of whether you are falling head or feet first. The warm wind tears at your face, forcing your eyelids and mouth open. You can barely breathe. You scream with terror until you hit the upper branches of a toa tree; in the next instant you hit water. You rapidly surface again, and instinctively begin to pump your legs.

You have no idea in which direction you are swimming, but in three strokes you find yourself at the side of this deep, sculptured pool of clear water. Still shaking from the shock of impact, you crawl your way out on to a mossy bank. Miraculously, you have escaped injury, but your ordeal is far from over. The Drakkarim and the palace guards watched you fall and at this very moment are racing down from the tower and the bridge to the palace gardens.

Ahead of you, beyond a tree-lined colonnade, a flight of steps ascends to a small portal in the wall of the upper palace. To your right, a leafy tunnel winds away into the trees and shrubs.

If you have the Kai Discipline of Tracking, turn to 220.

If you wish to climb the stairs to the small portal, turn to 352.

If you wish to follow the winding path, turn to 391.

Text copyright © 1985 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1985 Gary Chalk.