Velus becomes human again.

"Oh, praise heavens!" human Velus exclaimed. "At last, I can proudly walk upright and communicate without growls and barks!"

"Indeed." Fred said. "Now tell me, Velus, and posthaste - how can I find the dragon so I can chop it's loathsome head off?"

"Alas, my lord, I do not rightly know." the youth said in anguish. "I've spent rightly a year prowling these caves, dining on bones and lichen, and yet I've come no closer to discovering the hideout of the evil wyrm."

'But surely you have some information!" Fred cried in distress. "Surely you know some way deeper into the tunnels, some direction we may start in that is less hopeless than another!"

"All I know, my lord, is that these caves are filled with evil horrors unimaginable." Velus said. "The deeper I have gone, the more horrific and nightmarish did the sights become, until I turned back for fear of my doggish life! There are caves filled with giant insects that float on the breeze and suck the life from you with horrid beaks. There are caves that orckish tribes have made their home, yes, the orcks! Foul cannibals and bandits of the Western Wastes, their once human form twisted into a blasphemous parody. There are caves of slithering creatures made of nothing but ooze, that melt anything they touch. And yet other caves..." Velus shuddered. "Please, my lord, don't make me remember the horrors I've seen!"

"I see." Fred said grimly. "It seems we have quite a journey ahead of us. Tell me, Velus, have you any skill in weapons?"

"I swing a mean quarterstaff at the county fair, and I've twice used a longbow to kill wolves raiding my flocks." Velus said modestly.

Fred took out his dagger and handed it to Velus. "Here." he said. "This shall have to do."

Velus trembled in excitement as he ran his fingers over the blade. "Gosh! This is much finer than the dagger my papa owned!"

"Obviously." Fred muttered. "Now let's go, Velus, for time is of the essense."

But then the ground beneath their feet, weakened by many centuries of internal erosion, cracked and broke, sending Fred and Velus hurtling into the darkness below...

1. When they awake...

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