### 112

Slowly you awaken and for a long moment you lie on the hard floor blinking sleepily at the pitted rock ceiling. The storm died down while you slept and all is quiet save for a sound that sets your pulse racing: the distant slap of large wings beating the air. The sound is becoming louder and you gather your equipment quickly and climb out of the cairn to investigate its source.

Silhouetted against the blazing horizon are six black shapes. They resemble dragons with snaky necks and ragged, bat-like wings, and upon their backs they carry golden-skinned creatures, vaguely human in appearance save for their lack of hair and their massive size. From their flight formation you can tell that they are hunting something on the ground, but it is not until you climb to the top of the cairn that you are able to see their prey. A brace of huge, lizard-like creatures are thundering across the plateau, darting this way and that to avoid the shadows cast by their winged pursuers. They reach the top of a rock-strewn ridge and one of the crimson reptilians comes pounding across the sand towards the cairn. The leading flyer sees you. He banks his dragon mount towards the cairn and the others follow closely in his wake. You fear that they are about to attack but at the last moment they veer away and circle the cairn before landing nearby.

Turn to 26.

Text copyright © 1987 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1987 Brian Williams.