50

It’s a long walk through the rest of the valley, and your haste does not make it easier. The sun is soon out, and without the slightest veil of cloud burns your skin. It burns in the part of your hair, it burns on your hands, and it burns even through your clothes, sweat doing less and less good to help regulate temperatures. Yet you keep up a brisk pace, aggressively climbing over bumps in the landscape, turns, and hurrying past the other two fortified farms.

Elia’s behaviour bothers you; that she should fly from taking her father and brother’s **** in stride, to being overcome by desire, and then tearing up at what you see as mere confirmation of her family’s destruction, then already clear. The way she wanted you to stay in her bed you initially attributed to the demon’s influence beyond the grave, but it didn’t affect you. You wonder if it isn’t the sign of some other influence. If another monster is already lurking so close then her uncle’s help may be too late...

You arrive at the last steep slope to pass over, leading right up to the gates of the Citadel. The city rests lower than the plateau you originally descended from, yet the way up from here is much more brusque, the sheer angle forcing you to slow down. Additionally, there is no cover of trees, and no grass to absorb some of the light, only gravel, and more gravel, well kept, and reflecting the sun painfully well.

“Whoa there, stranger, don’t you know little apes can die from the heat?”

You’ve arrived in front of the gate, limping, almost falling from one step to the next. One of the guards jumps forward to catch you.

“Here,” he says, pulling a gourd from his belt, “drink.”

The liquid is sweet, but you don’t recognise the flavour. Now you’re on level ground and part of your weight is shared, your senses come back to you, and you feel a little better. Your eyes droop and you let them shut, relieving your brow from all the endless squinting. Soon you recover and you remember your mission. What do you do?

• Ask for directions to “The Big Bight”? Turn to 62.

• Tell the guards themselves of the demon? Turn to 370.

• Say nothing? Turn to 280.