### 288

Vivid green flashes of forked lightning and the rumble of distant thunder add menace to the towers and sheer stone walls of Kazan-Oud. Many of the roofs and turrets are in ruin; their twisted beams and floors lay open to the sky, giving the fortress a burnt-out and deserted appearance.

As you approach the tiny bay, which is tucked inside the shelter of a horseshoe reef of jagged black rocks, your eye is caught by the glow of tiny red lights, moving in the shadows at the base of the fortress wall. You notice a dry hollow among a group of rocks close to the shore that offers an ideal hiding place for your little boat. Silently, you disembark and drag the coracle up the beach towards the rocks. Seconds later you are halted dead in your tracks by the sound of muffled squealing. Sweat breaks out on your brow when a flash of lightning reveals scores of small red eyes close to the sand. A seething flood of rats, each as large as a puppy but gaunt and half-starved, is scurrying down the beach towards you like a torrent of black water.

With pounding heart, you search for some means of escape from this ravenous horde of squealing, snapping rodents.

If you wish to climb over the rocks and escape across a deserted beach, turn to 336.

If you wish to drag your little boat back into the lake and paddle away from the bay, turn to 117.

If you prefer to stand and fight the onrushing flood of giant rats, turn to 45.

Text copyright © 1986 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1986 Gary Chalk.