### 47

You share your premonition of danger with Captain Prarg and wisely he heeds your warning. He suggests you draw in the sail to prevent the wind from propelling your boat towards the raft of weeds, yet once the sail is gathered, still you find yourselves drifting ever nearer to the obstruction.

With weapons drawn, you wait in tense expectation as the boat grazes the edge of the weed-raft. For a few seconds there is an unnatural silence, then suddenly a gurgling screech rends the frosty air. Like sorcery-conjured demons, a dozen ghoulish creatures rise up from the murky depths of the swamp amid a seething froth of bubbles. Swiftly they climb from beneath the weed-raft and slink from other hiding places among the dank thickets of the adjoining bank. Within seconds they have you surrounded.

'Ciquali!' cries Prarg, naming these ghoulish foes. He steps forward, brandishing his sword, and lashes out at the boldest of the dome-headed creatures as it tries to slip aboard. His razor-sharp blade severs its forearm at the wrist, sending a scaly webbed hand spinning into the swamp, trailing green ichor. The beast screams as it falls over the side, yet no sooner has it vanished beneath the surface when two more of its kin grab the gunwales and attempt to haul themselves into the boat.

If you have a Bow and wish to use it, turn to 180.

If you do not, or choose not to use it, turn to 7.

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