A Much More Fearsome Monster

"Medieval fantasy characters?" Helena said disbelievingly. "Are you claiming that that's what they are?"

"I know it sounds crazy," Betty said, "but that is truly what they are."

Helena looked extremely sceptical. "But they seem to be speaking modern- day English," she pointed out.

That was something that had not occurred to Betty until now. She supposed it was a consequence of the way Fred and Astra had been written about in the addventure, with all the dialogue being either in modern English or at most having only a slight hint of the archaic. But she didn't feel up to explaining to Helena just yet that, as well as being medieval and fantastic, Fred and Astra were - or at least had been before erupting into her life - fictional.

Betty was saved from having to reply to Helena by a loud gasp from Astra. The brief lull in the traffic that had happened to coincide with Fred's narrow escape was over, and a large truck was approaching. Astra was regarding it with a mixture of disbelief, confusion and horror. This was a far larger beast than the one that they seemed to have incapacitated. Fred, whose attention had been fixed on Betty and Helena turned to see what had caused Astra's gasp, and reacted similarly.

1. The truck drew up by the side of the road only a few yards away from them. Apparently it had a delivery to make. As the driver stepped down from the cab, Astra grabbed him and held her dagger to his throat.
2. The mailman took the opportunity provided by Astra's being distracted to drive off, narrowly avoiding knocking her down.
3. "It's another horseless wagon," Betty said, though not really expecting Fred or Astra to take any notice of her. "I didn't conjure it up, honestly."

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