260
The night has grown old before you arrive at the torchlit entrance to a cave in the Kashima Mountains. Dioka leads you through a maze of winding passageways in the rock and eventually you come to a wide cavern. At the far end of the cavern, mounted on a rough-hewn dais of stone is a large throne. Sat upon the throne is the Masbaté king deep in thought, his hand cupping his broad jaw. Suddenly your heart lifts. You recognize this man!
‘My lord,’ Dioka begins. The king lifts his great head. ‘May I present!’
But the sentence is never finished, for the king is none other than Samu himself. ‘Grey Star!’ he cries, rising to his feet. ‘You live!’
Before you can speak a word, King Samu leaps from the stone dais and bounds towards you, sweeping you up in a bone-crunching embrace. ‘Seven years, Grey Star,’ he booms. ‘Seven years since last we stood together. We thought that you perished long ago, deep in the caverns of Desolation Valley. What became of your search for the Shadow Gate of the Daziarn—did you succeed after all? Did you find the Moonstone of the Shianti? What has happened since you stepped upon the wasted lands beyond the Lissan Mountains?’
He hugs you once again, squeezing the air from your lungs. When you have regained sufficient breath to speak, you explain what has happened to you since you were separated, and of how the passage of time runs differently on the Daziarn Plane. ‘I have but recently returned,’ you say. ‘And behold!’ You draw out the Moonstone. ‘I succeeded. Look you upon Shasarak’s bane—the Moonstone of the Shianti.’
A great noise fills the hall as the Masbaté warriors clash their weapons and call out their battle cries. The Moonstone blazes with a vivid white light that illuminates the whole hall and the faces of the fierce Masbaté. Samu draws his own sword with a great cry. ‘The final battle begins,’ he bellows. ‘Revenge will be ours. Death to the Shadakine! Death to the Shadakine Wytches … and death to the Wytch-king, Shasarak, foe of the Masbaté and the Shianti, enemy of all life itself!’
The great chamber echoes with the ferocious cries of the Masbaté warriors. When the clamour has died down, you and Tanith are led to chambers within the mountainside, there to eat and rest. The following morning you will meet King Samu to discuss ways in which the Masbaté can aid you in your struggle against Shasarak. You drift off to sleep that night with your spirits lifted. Tomorrow you must ensure the safety of the Army of the Freedom Guild before the Shadakine force, due to move in two days, is able to march against it. You know now that you will not have to face that peril alone.
