The Scream

The dead female dragon and the dead mage referred to at the start of the last episode were those whom the "original" Fred, Thessamar ix'latl, and Velus had faced so long ago, the mage being none other than the infamous Sir John. It was a strange coincidence that the current Fred, Thessamar and Velus had had close counterparts, if not quite analogues, in the past of their world. (In fact although the Thessamars had been physically very much alike, if less so mentally, the "original" Fred had looked somewhat different from his modern-day counterpart.)

That earlier dragon had allied itself with Sir John, but was killed along with the mage before the Cardassi could be summoned/brought under control... whatever. The original Fred and Thessamar had apparently died in the battle, only Velus living long enough to tell the tale. But they had gone down with the blood of their enemies on them. The blood of Sir John, and more significantly that of the female dragon, was on them both.

The downed heroes of the distant past had transformed into evil dragons. Fred was now Minestus and Thessamar ix'latl was Moreau. However, this blood curse was a bit different in that the original personalities of Fred and Thessamar remained in the background of the dragons' minds, asleep for centuries as the dominant centres of the dragon brains unknowingly suppressed them.

With the destruction of certain parts of Moreau's brain when Minestus had put the dragon in a coma, there had been potential for the original "owner" to regain control. With Astra calling out the secret names of both dragons, it was like a fey's true name in that it acted like a psychic slap to the mind. It was enough in Moreau's case to awaken the original personality from its slumber. Thessamar ix'ltal now found herself in the body of a dragonness. She recognized Minestus as "her" Fred too, for Minestus upon becoming a wyrm had subconsciously chosen a human form just like his original one.

Through a quirk of fate, the events that had created these two dragons were unwittingly being replayed by one of the dragons who had been created by those very events. Minestus had wanted to create his new mate, Thessamar, through an elaborate method and that was how it was going to happen, based on the story that the original Velus had told - until the intervention of the Book had interfered with the script.

If the reader wonders how Astra 9 managed to recognise Minestus, given that he is in his human form, she had - when aged ten - seen from in hiding an analog of Minestus change into his human form [9546]. That human form had been imprinted on her memory, and what was in front of her now was an almost perfect duplicate. Ironically, as Astra had only discovered long after the event, that Minestus had actually been good rather than evil. She is in no doubt from what she has learnt about this Minestus that his character is very different.

"Wha... Fred...?" the dragoness Thessamar ix'latl mutters thickly, looking down at the darkly handsome man before her, reptillian slit-pupil eyes somewhat bloodshot.

She breaks off, realising that something is very wrong. The last thing she can remember clearly is the dragoness - killed by her swordthrust - collapsing on top of her. Now she feels as if she is awakening from a deep sleep. It looks as though she is still in what had been the dragoness's lair. But her voice sounds wrong in her ears, and her angle of view seems wrong too, as if she was looking down from a considerable height.

Then she looks down and see her body, and she screams. Few have ever heard a dragon (or dragoness) scream. It is a terrible sound, which none of those who hear it will easily forget. Even Minestus - already rather shaken by the recent unexpected events - is a little unnerved by it. In any event, any attempt at deceiving Thessamar (the human) seems to him to have been spoilt by his identification by the other woman who looks so much like her. He changes into his dragon form, in which he will feel more secure.

1. Whoever the newcomers are who have dared meddle in his game, he surely can take them out.

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