### 71

An arrow gouges your heel and a sharp pain runs up the back of your leg, making you stumble. You struggle to stay on your feet but the weight of your unconscious friend throws you off-balance and together you crash down on the steps in a heap. The Drakkarim howl with delight and, as you pull yourself free, they fire a final volley of arrows.

There is a flash of light and a blinding pain fills your head, but this is soon replaced by a total blackness. You feel yourself falling forwards into an infinite void, as if you had just stepped over the edge of a towering cliff. Reluctantly you surrender to the sensation for it is the last you will ever feel.

Sadly, your life and your quest end here.

Text copyright © 1991 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1991 Brian Williams.