It's a Cycle

Before Fred could reply the cave went pitch dark and they heard evil laughter. "Oh, come on," sighed Astra. "Minestus? Really?"

The torches illuminating the chamber re-lit on their own, revealing Belboz this time. "No, just me," he said, then chortled. "This really is a lot of fun, you know. It has gotten a bit ridiculous. I mean, the dragon has Fred chained up now as well. The only way it could get sillier is if.. oh no..."

Before Belboz could finish his thought the cave went pitch dark and everyone heard evil laughter. "For f%@#'s sake!" exclaimed Astra, exasperated.

"Language," chided Belboz, from Astra's left. When the light came back on, Belboz was also chained up with her and Fred. "This is preposterous. MINESTUS!" he yelled. "YOU STOP THIS CRAP RIGHT NOW! I HAVE A BRIDGE GAME AT FOUR THIRTY AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"Silence, foul necromancer!" said Fred, straining at his chains. "Your words hurt my head. Stop yelling!"

Time passed...

Astra wasn't sure if she had been hallucinating, or if all that strange stuff at the Enterprising Inn and subsequently had really happened. Well, there was no use worrying about that now, she decided. The endless talking was really on her nerves, however, as Fred and Belboz argued constantly, about every topic imaginable. She had participated at one point, but long ago decided to just shut her mouth and try to ignore them.

The worst thing was the belching and farting from the two men, she had decided on that long ago. About fifty yards down the tunnel, a torch attached to the wall gave just enough light to prevent her from being in total darkness. Watching its flickering was the only thing keeping her semi-sane as the two men endlessly busied themselves with rambling discussions about things she did not care about.

More talking. She realised that she couldn't tell if it had lasted minutes or hours. Maybe it was days. No, it couldn't be days, she decided, as she didn't feel hungry or thirsty. Unless the dragon had cast a spell on her to prevent her becoming hungry or thirsty?

"Shut up! Both of you!" she screamed eventually, more to shut them up for a minute than any expectation of compliance.

1. As expected, they immediately resumed their current argument.
2. But there was an answering "Hello!" Then she saw a flickering torch flame in the distance, the torch presumably being carried by the person who heard her yell.
3. Fred and Belboz look at her expectantly. "Well?" said Belboz, "what do you want?"

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