Castellan's Offer

Castellan said, "I am certain that I have the knowledge, and the will, to give you a better chance than anyone else to fulfill your deepest desire, whatever that may be. Of course, for a simpler and more limited man, I can just give you something. For a such a man, it is usually girls, gold, or glory. It might take some time, but getting someone something like those really would be routine for me. But I think that you might be playing for higher stakes, Belboz the Necromancer. Do you care to at least tell me your ambition?"

Astra's spirit stayed silent, frozen in fear. Castellan's offer would tempt anybody. And Castellan was now using subtle flattery - "playing for higher stakes" to try to get Belboz to do what he wanted - which in part had to have been to release Castellan from this room.

Belboz said nothing for a minute, and said, "We need to go to a more comfortable place. I am obligated, by the rules of my Order, to keep you within this hidden fortress, but I have some discretion with regard to dealing with the unusual. And I would grant that your appearance here, sir, is unusual."

Castellen smiled and laughed a little, voicelessly. "It is that," he said with apparent good nature, "Is there anything that you need me to do once you open the lock, or will the transport be done for me?"

"Oh, yes. It will just be a simple walk through a portal that will be appearing. The area that we are going to is still secured, so if you try to break out, you will find it difficult."

"I have no need to do so. I just want to talk. Are we going be alone?"

"Yes. I think that it is better that way." Belboz slipped a knuckle duster on his right hand. He rotated the rings through which the fingers fit in a way that made sense to him, but not Astra. Castellan said, "That is interesting. Why does your order - I presume that is where you got the key from - why does your order hide the key in a crude weapon?"

"I am not sure, exactly. But this form of key works well enough."

A portal opened. Light poured into the cavern. Belboz led the way, and Castellan followed, still clutching the blue potion.

Astra now had to take a chance of being detected. If the portal became sealed, then she would likely be condemned to be stuck in this part of the cavern for an indefinite time; although she did now have more freedom to wander than she had had a sort time ago. Perhaps Belboz - or some other member of Belboz's order - would come by this way relatively quickly, and she could tell the story then.

She could make her presence known to these two wizards, but what good what that do? She was powerless, and in her present form it would be hard for her to find arguments to make Belboz take her seriously.

Another long shot was to keep hidden, and hope that she could somehow elude the closing of the portal without being noticed. Maybe with the bright light on the other side, that would be possible. But she had to decide quickly.

Astra decided to

1. stay behind, and hope that someone would come before Castellan could do any evil works.
2. yell out something to the two wizards, and hope that she could pursaude Belboz not to fall in with Castellan.
3. try to sneak past the portal before Belboz closed it, and not be noticed.

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