### 169

You enter a wide street where vendors compete for space for their stalls beneath the overhanging balconies. The market is crowded with people; they each wear a black sash as a mark of respect to their dead Zakhan, but here, unlike in most of Barrakeesh, business continues as normal.

You pass a stall festooned with black sashes, each costing 2 Gold Crowns. If you wish to buy a sash, pay the vendor and mark it on your Action Chart as a Special Item (which you wear over your tunic). You hurry away from the stall and dodge into a narrow passage lined with eating houses and small taverns, where the smell of food is mingled with the odour of stale wine, and the air is alive with chatter and gossip. Your attention is drawn to a notice freshly pasted to a tavern wall. The bold headline reads:

THE ZAKHAN IS DEAD--LONG LIVE THE ZAKHAN

If you wish to stop to read the poster, turn to 88.

If you wish to continue along the passage, turn to 113.

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