to continue or to turn back.
"In the end the matter was decided for us. Stil, the elf, had climbed a high bluff to survey our position, and had espied a large party of rock-gnomes and goblins following our path. We fled before them, straight towards the east and the sea.
"The road began to wind considerably as it crested the steep hills before the coast. Presently we reached the leeward side and came in sight of the ocean. The terrain became flatter, and soon there were many side roads and paths. And there was life once more. Scrub grass and bracken broke the bleak monotony, showing us that we had reached the end of the Burning Lands. But this was not a glad sight, for the roads and paths showed that they were well-travelled, and recently, by goblins and gnomes. And at last we knew ourselves to be deep within lands held by the enemy.
"On the fourteenth day the ocean was but two leagues distant. The bracken and scrub grasses had given way to a land of rolling hills softened by heather and copse. We chose to rest the remainder of that day and for the night beneath a high bluff of stone. There was the temptation to light a fire, but near the midnight hour we heard the sound of many feet on the coastal roadway which lay behind us a mere furlong away. The sound of booted feet was punctuated by the occasional clank of metal and soft, guttural voices. They passed by us unawares in the dark.