Page 55

"This one's mine," says Merlyn, and she begins chanting her spell before Deke can reach for his fumball. She holds her arms outcrossed in front of her and bows her head upon them. She begins chanting words, few of which you recognize. You catch the names of both Kalyro and Kuaro, though.

She stops chanting, lifts her head, and spreads her arms. Suddenly water appears from thin air above the fireshrew, and splashes down on top of it, as if a bucket of water had been dumped over his head. You hear a hissing sound as the water quenches the shrew's flames. Soggy and very unhappy, the rodent runs away.

"Wow, this path is crawling!" Merlyn comments. "Good choice, Deke."

"Hey, we're winning, aren't we?" Deke retorts. "And we're getting some good experience from all this fighting, too. This road's not so bad at all!"

The three of you continue along the western path until late in the afternoon. You're starting to get tired and cranky from all this walking, when Deke points ahead and says, "It's just over that ridge up there! Just a couple of miles ahead."

You squint and look for signs of civilization farther up the road, but you see none. However, you do see a strange black shape in the road.

"Hey." You frown. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Merlyn and Deke both have a look.

Merlyn inhales sharply. "It's a waterwolf," she whispers. "Another spawn of the gods' fury. And this one'll be much harder to defeat."

"A waterwolf?" you ask. Water doesn't sound so bad to you at the moment. "But I thought the monsters were sent by Vulkaro, the fire god," you say.

"They are," Merlyn answers quietly. "But a god is not limited to working with its own element. Its own is simply where it is strongest. Each god can still use the powers governed by the others."

"Hey, can we go around it?" Deke asks. "Maybe if we leave the road it won't notice us."

"No," Merlyn shakes her head grimly. "It's already got our scent. We either run now, or we fight. It will be weak against my firespell, but I'm not sure I can control the spell well enough. What do you want to do?"

You gain 5 strength points, 10 courage points, and 5 luck points for defeating the fireshrew.

If you want Merlyn to fight the waterwolf, give up 10 courage points, and turn to page 59.
If you want Deke to fight the waterwolf, give up 10 courage points, and turn to page 57.
If you have less than 10 courage points or you want to run away, turn to page 29.