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Windhammer, Copyright Wayne Densley 2008 All Rights Reserved
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550
 The western track appears a better option. It is wider than the trail you have been following and shows sign of having recently been used. If you are lucky it will lead you out of this wetland and back onto the open plains.
Turning Pallenten onto the new trail you find quickly that it heads into the west for some distance. Around you the vegetation thickens, the bush giving way only to wide ponds of still water, edged by the dome-bushes that seem so common here. Enclosed completely by the marshes, you follow the track as it negotiates the bogs and meres until you reach a small landing. It is no more than a wooden platform, suspended above the water's edge upon a series of thin pylons, but it is what you find standing at the centre of the lake beyond that piques your curiosity.
The lake is a wide circular body of water, still and dark in the afternoon sun. Upon this expanse of quiet water there stands a farmhouse, raised above the surrounding lake upon a multitude of thick timbers, and connected to the water's edge and the landing before you by a long, narrow bridge of equally unstable supports.
The farmhouse is a ruin but the sight of it suspended out of the water is something you have not seen before, although you know the reason why it was done. It is a well known fact of the frontier that the Faerron Marshes have been expanding, reaching further into the plains that surround them with each passing year. At some time in the past the farmer who had claim to this land must have realised that his livelihood would inevitably be swallowed up by the encroaching waters, and faced with ruin decided to elevate his farmstead above the rising marsh. Nothing could forestall the inundation of his lands but he had time to build up his home, and here it now stands, a strange memorial to his efforts, and his ultimate failure.
As you look about the lake it becomes apparent that you have met a dead-end here yourself. The track stops at the landing and there is no other exit to be found at any other point along the lake's border. Unfortunately the time spent upon this trail will not return you to the plains as you had hoped. Frustrated by this you carefully turn Pallenten back towards the path, your intention to retrace your steps, when there comes from the interior of the farmstead a definite sound of something moving within. You call out but get no response.
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If you would like to go and investigate the farmstead turn to section 516. If you would rather return to the trail and go back to the northern path turn to section 570.
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This book, and its associated books and other documents in the Chronicles of Arborell series are the intellectual property of the author, Wayne F Densley, and all rights are reserved by him. Windhammer is best viewed at 1024 x 768 resolution. Any questions regarding the Chronicles of Arborell can be answered by emailing the author at densleyw@shoal.net.au
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Windhammer, Copyright Wayne Densley 2008 All Rights Reserved
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