>TM 4 >LS 2 >PS ON >PL60 >SM6 >CP ON >FO OFF >------L-----------------------!---------------------------R ไ141ไ You recite the words of the Brotherhood spell - Š ้Lightning Hand้ - and cast a bolt of energy at the Š leader. It strikes the bird's wing and breaks the Š bone, causing the creature to spiral out of control. Yranai cheers but his triumphant cry is premature. Š You watch aghast as the itikar collides with the Š balloon and stabs its talons into the canopy. In its Š desperation to survive, it shreds the cloth to Š ribbons before it falls away and plummets to its doom Š in the timberlands below. The impact of the bird hitting the canopy knocks you Š off your feet. Yranai falls on top of you and, for a Š few nerve-racking seconds, you lie entangled at the Š bottom of the basket. You can feel the balloon is Š rapidly losing altitude. When you pull yourself up Š and peer over the rim of the basket you see the trees Š of the lower mountain slopes rising towards you at a Š dizzying speed. Yranai looks up to see shreds of Š cloth trailing from the punctured canopy above and Š the sight is too much for him: he faints. Hurriedly Š you haul his frail body over your shoulder. Then you Š place one foot on the rim of the basket and get ready Š to make a desperate leap away from this doomed Š balloon as the tops of the mountain pines come into Š view. With the old magician draped over your shoulder, you Š leap from the basket and plummet towards the ground. Š As you fall, you utter the words of the Brotherhood Š spell - ้Levitation้ - and instantly the spell enables you to control the speed of your descent towards the Š trees below. You see the balloon smash into the Š timberland and you brace yourself in readiness for Š the moment when your feet touch the ground. Unfortunately, when you cast ้Levitation้ in mid-air, Š you did not anticipate that the increased weight of Š Yranai would have any effect on your control of the Š spell. It is not until you are within twenty feet of Š the ground that you realise that you are coming down Š too fast. You attempt to compensate but it is too Š late and you strike the rocky soil with a tremendous Š jolt that knocks you unconscious. Turn to โ341โ