### 243

The force of your killing blow sends the Drakkar reeling backwards across the deck. He collides with another sailor, who was coming to his aid, and knocks him headlong into the sea. You brace yourself in case there is another waiting to rush at you, but the smoke from the vessel's funnel is so thick, and the other Drakkarim are so preoccupied with hooking their marines out of the water, that they fail to notice you creeping towards the wheelhouse near the middle of the deck. A steel door swings open at your approach and three hefty Drakkarim confront you on the threshold. You parry one's blade, take the second in the chest, and see the third spin sideways, trailing scarlet spray from the fatal wound you have dealt him. A quick thrust to the heart puts paid to the remaining sailor. He screams and falls through the doorway, tumbling down an iron staircase that descends into noise-filled darkness.

If you have the Magnakai Discipline of Divination, turn to 26.

If you do not possess this skill, you can either descend the stairs: turn to 266.

Or you can slam shut the steel door and look for another place to hide from the Drakkarim sailors on deck: turn to 169.

Text copyright © 1988 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1988 Brian Williams.