A Different Quest

"Couldn't Jarlath and the others finish our quests?" Fred the Satyr asks, almost begging.

"I'm sure we would be glad to help you," Jarlath replies. "But your words suggest that you don't want to join in yourselves, which seems strange." "We don't want to be away from what we are rapidly coming to look on as our people, for what could be a prolonged period," Fred explains. "They aren't yet capable of fending for themselves, and they seem to look on us as their leaders, almost as their parents. We both feel a responsibility towards them."

"I imagine no-one has yet had a chance to explain to you that, thanks to one whom we know as the Doctor, we can travel through time," Jarlath says. "You can return to your people seemingly a matter of minutes, or even seconds, after leaving, no matter how long has elapsed as far as you are concerned. So you and Astra need have no worries on that score, but can come with us to kill your dragon."

Astra the satyr, standing beside Fred, smiles. "You are jumping to conclusions," she says. "We managed to kill 'our' dragon. We then moved on to another quest, to overthrow the usurper Emry and put the rightful king, Cederik, on the throne of Allaria. We think that may take weeks, maybe months, so what you have told us about being able to return here immediately after leaving is very welcome."

Astra's words take the Champions by surprise. In no other reality that they are aware of is Emry other than the rightful king. Nowhere else has he had an elder brother, and in any case most of the analogues are better men than to act as this Emry has. The news doesn't affect their offer of help, though. In fact some of them feel that something different from either dragon-killing or dealing with an evil mage may make a pleasant change.

As has already been mentioned, the satyrs Fred and Astra have only a few very vague and incoherent, but highly disturbing, memories of what happened to them from the time the Book transformed them up until their "reawakening". Jarlath and Andrea decide that to probe their minds magically in an attempt to determine precisely what had happened in the interim would not be wise, even assuming that the two satyrs would give their consent. Not only would it risk restoring some memories that the satyrs might be much happier without, but conceivably it might even be dangerous for the probing mages.

Before the two satyrs and the Champions leave on their quest, Andrea gets a chance to have a conversation alone with Astra. "Perhaps it's because I'm a demifox myself," she says, "but I have a particular interest in what it feels like to be a member of a non-human intelligent species. For example, what's it like walking bipedally on hooves?" "It seems to come naturally, and I don't find it a problem. Being about nine inches shorter than I was before seemed a little strange at first, though I'm getting used to it."

"There was something else I wanted to ask you," Andrea says, "but it's a little difficult..." "You've heard the legends about satyrs, and wonder if I'm sex-mad," Astra says with a grin. "I do seem to have an increased libido now, but it's nothing that I can't control."

Slightly embarrassed, Andrea is glad of a chance to change the subject. "Here come the others," she says, pointing. "It looks like we're ready to depart."

It has been decided that for the whole party (Jarlath, Astra 9, Annafrid, Andrea, Synizn and Joan, plus the two satyrs) all to appear inside the small room where the two satyrs, Prince Cederik and Velus had been having breakfast would risk causing something of a panic, besides making the room very overcrowded. That's even with Synizn being in human form. So the party is delivered to a point a short distance away from the inn, and then the satyrs enter the inn on their own to break the news to Cederik and Velus.

Fred and Astra enter the room that they had disappeared from a matter of seconds before in local time - at least, seconds is all that it will be if they have got the timing right. And it seems that they have got the timing right, for Cederik and Velus are still there, the bemused looks that the disappearance resulted in still on their faces.

Fred and Astra's welcome isn't all they might have hoped for though. Cederik draws his sword, and says:

1. "Who the hell are you, and what have you done with Lord Frederigo and Princess Astra?"

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