Free Into the Void (The Dungeoneers) by Gavin Chappell

 
     
     
     
    THE DUNGEONEERS 36: INTO THE VOID
     
    by
    Gavin Chappell
     
    * * * * *
     
    PUBLISHED BY:
    Schlock! Publications
    (www.schlock.co.uk)
     
    The Dungeoneers 36: Into the Void
    Copyright © 2013 by Gavin Chappell
     
    * * * * *
     
    The story so far (for previous series see end of eBook ) :
     
    And in this series:
     
    25: The Road to Trinovant - On their way to warn Trinovant of impending doom, the adventurers are pursued by wolves...
     
    26: The Vertical City - Reaching the city of Trinovant at last, the four adventurers encounter new complications...
     
    27: Old Enemies - The adventurers encounter familiar adversaries amid the tangled web of Trinovant...
     
    28: The Desert of Dread - The merchant caravan crosses one of the most dangerous quarters of the notorious Desert of Dread...
     
    29: Death on the Sands - Lost amid the desert sands, assailed by desert orc raiders, the merchants and their adventurer companions find tensions mounting both within and without the caravan...
     
    30: Prince of the Desert Orcs - The adventurers journey across the sands in the company of a savage horde of desert orcs...
     
    31: Altar of Darkness - The adventurers battle their way into the burrows of the desert orcs. Hideous perils await them...
     
    32: The Ornithomancer - Escaping from the desert orcs, the adventur ers encounter an avian magician.
     
    33: Amazon Incursion - The four adventurers struggle to save Hollowdale from the threat of the Amazon Legion...
     
    34: The Journey South - What is Immiel doing amongst the Amazon Legion? How will our heroes escape their foes? And will they ever speak with Photogenia the Witch?
     
    35: The Dunghill Rats - After pursuing their quarry to the city of Cosht, the adventurers fall in with thieves...
 
    THE DUNGEONEERS 36: INTO THE VOID
    Percy looked urgently at Gerald.
     
    ‘It’s her!’ he said.
     
    Gerald was staring at the retreating form of Photogenia, the Witch of the Northern Wastes, as she raced away from them into the street.
     
    ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘We’ve got to speak with her!’
     
    ‘No!’ Percy said. ‘I mean, it’s her ! The witch!’ By now, Photogenia had vanished round the street leading to the river.
     
    ‘Which witch?’ Norman demanded, hefting his sword. ‘We’ve met so many.’
     
    ‘You’ve met more fairies,’ Brian sneered. ‘Especially when you joined that theatre troupe.’
     
    ‘Shut up!’ Percy exclaimed. ‘I mean it’s that witch we saw in the Witch Wood. Back on Planet Earth! The one we followed! The one who led us into this mess.’
     
    ‘Didn’t we see her in Kashamash?’ Gerald asked thoughtfully.
     
    ‘Yes, we did,’ said Percy. ‘Not that we knew what she was called back then. I’d never guessed when King Rat gave us this mission that we’d be after her.’
     
    ‘Then she can definitely show us the way out of here!’ Norman exclaimed. ‘We can use her dimensional travelling device to go home.’
     
    Gerald regarded his own bloody sword pensively.
     
    Did he really want to go home? What awaited him, except exams, and the possibility of passing them; or else going to college, or even getting a job? As if there were any jobs to get in this latest recession. As if he wanted to get a job!
     
    Their aimless wanderings across this improbable world had certainly been more fun than dozing in double geography, or even cross country running. Dangerous at times, of course. They’d almost lost Norman - shame he turned up in the end. But now their wanderings had brought them here at last, to within a whisker’s breadth of escape.
     
    ‘After her,’ Gerald said. ‘Otherwise we’ll never get home.’
     
    Gerald, Percy, Brian and Norman hurried through the muddy streets of the Shipgate District. Photogenia the Witch was visible as they left the yard, sprinting a long way ahead of them. The decrepitude of the district was obvious to Gerald – it reminded him of Bootle back home, or even Rock