33

Throwing the boy onto the sledge, you grab the whip and lash the Kanu-dogs, driving them for everything they are worth. The Ice Barbarian scouts immediately give chase, shouting to the boy in their strange Kalte language.

You have covered less than a hundred yards when the boy leaps from the sledge into a deep snowdrift. At the same time, a volley of bone-tipped arrows whistle past your head, and one grazes your shoulder. You lose 1 ENDURANCE point. Although the boy is free, two scouts continue to pursue you; but your dog team is fast, and you have soon outdistanced them and their arrows.

By nightfall, you reach the very edge of the Viad Mountains. These awesome granite mountains rise vertically out of the ice and snow; they will be impossible to cross on this cold and moonless night. A wind rising in the west heralds a night blizzard. You must find shelter or you will die of exposure.

If you have the Kai Discipline either of Tracking or of Sixth Sense, turn to 348.

If you wish to search northwards, turn to 27.

If you wish to search southwards, turn to 314.