Leaving the Premises

Astra reexamined the travels that had brought her to this point. She had begun by accepting the Dai's Xerxe, the Savage Hunt. Her mother was not happy about that at all; in fact, during the trials used to wean out the unprepared, Astra recalled that she had had to wear a mask the entire time just to not be recognized! But in the end she proved her worth, and her mother Heliastra acquiesced to the truth of her daughter's destiny. She rode up the roads and paths that took her to the northernmost territory of the amazon lands, then she climbed the trails leading to the mouth of the monster's lair. "I prowled those subterranean halls for some four days before I was captured, then I was a prisoner for over a week before you rescued me," she told Fred. She saw again, in her head, how the mystic monster had smelled out her mischief (the odor of dead and decaying dragonservants is a hard thing to miss). She was finally caught, but the beast –who called itself Minestus- did not kill her, instead it left her trussed up in a cave with only one exit. She was fed and taken care of for a while, and then the monster returned, but this time it seemed...different. The creature had lost any semblance of pity, it chained her to a cavern wall and began torturing her. And then, when all seemed lost, Fred arrived and freed her.

"But I was brought to you by the dragon-beast itself!" said Fred. "It was masquerading as the boy-cum-hound Velus. Why would it bring me to you? Unless...."

"Unless," continued Astra. "Unless the beast that chained me to the wall wasn't Minestus at all. It was this Zardoz masquerading as Minestus, and then—"

"And then the real Minestus took pity on your plight and brought me in so that—"

"So that you could free me and then we could—"

"Could find the evil Zardoz and dispatch it without any further ado!"

The duo was greatly elated by their logical reasoning and deduction and the fact that the scientist's idea seemed to fit the facts, but then they heard a strange clapping sound, they looked about but all they saw was the desert and Dr. Vincent's tower in the distance. The clapping came as if from nowhere, and it sounded as if it was everywhere. But the voice that followed was the worst of all. "Well done, well done!" it said in mocking tones. "Whether you have the truth or not I shall not say, but your minds are strong and that is joy in and of itself. Too bad that your strength is now employed against me, otherwise I would love to have you join me."

With that there was a trembling under the earth and a wind that was wild and fierce. The duo braced themselves for an invisible impact, but when the blowing sands receded and they were able to open their eyelids, what they saw was nothing but more desert. Behind them was the tower and above that was the bright moon.

"Full moon?!?" cried Fred and Astra simultaneously. "But it's the morning!" They ran to the tower to find out just what exactly had happened. The tower rose high into the night sky and it was a thousand paces across. [935] The stone was black as pitch, this still unnerved Fred, and their reflections shone easily thereon. As before, Fred saw that his reflected right pinky wore a kingly signet ring. He pressed his true pinky to the reflection and then found himself within the tower with Astra.

1. Strange Meetings

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