Andrea's Plan

She wished so much that she had been stronger, and able to resist the demon. How had she even finished up in the realm of the demons? According to the tales that Fritha had told her, only those who had been evil in life were supposed to be sent there after death. She knew that she had done some things that she shouldn't, but had she really been bad enough to deserve such a fate?

But it was no use feeling sorry for herself, she knew. She needed to decide on a course of action. Should she tell Astra what had happened to her? Would she even be allowed to, or could the Presence stop her? (It seemed appropriate to her to think of the thing using a capital letter.) If she did manage to do so, it might save Astra's life, but it would also alert the Presence that she was not totally within its control, as it assumed.

Doing nothing was definitely not an option. If she and Astra continued travelling together, then sooner or later she would kill the Aqualarian. She wouldn't be able to stop herself - unless Astra was sufficiently alert when she attacked to kill her first. (Could Andrea die a second time? That was just one of several questions to which she did not know the answers.)

Leave Astra then, perhaps when the princess was sleeping? The drawback was that doing so would alert the Presence to the fact that its control of her was not as complete as it thought. Unless she could come up with a reason for doing so that sounded convincing? An idea came to her, one that might give her the opportunity to break her curse.

She attempted to address the Presence mentally, not being able to speak to it out loud since Astra would be bound to hear. (All the time that Andrea thought, Astra had been checking her for injuries, to her astonishment finding nothing more than cuts and bruises. Though Andrea's clothes were drenched in blood, it all seemed to be that of their foes rather than the girl's own.) Astra is a warrior, skilled in fighting, hardy, agile and alert. If I am to kill her, my best chance might be through magic. To do that I would need a powerful magical ally. A powerful warlock called Belboz the Fell is said to dwell to the north. I propose to go north to seek his aid. I can tell Astra that I am going to see him to seek his help against the dragon's forces.

1. The Presence accepts this.
2. Andrea is not good at deceit. The Presence rejects this.
3. It seems that she is not able to speak to the Presence telepathically, even though it can do so to her, as there is no response.

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