### 277

You crouch low as you wait for your chance to leap up and open the door. More and more crossbow bolts ricochet from the wall and parapet every second. The sound of iron-shod boots sends a shiver down your spine; the Drakkarim are storming the stairs--it's now or never!

You spring to your feet and run to the door, grasping the iron bolt with trembling fingers. A steel-tipped missile splinters stone less than an inch from your hand, another ricochets and opens a cut above your eye. The instant the bolt clears the bolt-hole, you pull open the stone portal and race through, unaware of what lies beyond.

Turn to 352.

Text copyright © 1985 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1985 Gary Chalk.