They're Expecting A Dragon? Then Let's Give Them One

"Late?" Exotica queries. "Thiortin's dead? We wondered what had delayed the return of him and his party. They had gone to the village to investigate the rumour that Lord Frederigo D'Honaire had been seen there, back from the dragon's caves."

"Yes, Thiortin's dead, and the survivors of his party are our prisoners," Cederik says. "And the rumour was correct, though now Lord Frederigo is no longer quite the man he once was you might say. But he and the two companions he acquired managed to kill the dragon and to free me."

"If Reyna - I mean Andrea - has told you all that I told her, you'll perhaps believe me when I tell you that I'm glad you're free. I know now that what my father told me at the time of your disappearance was all lies. Of course, if you succeed in regaining your throne, you'll be quite within your rights to have me hanged as an accomplice to my father."

"I know from what Andrea has told me that you've aided your father through fear of what he might do to your mother if you defied him. So I'm prepared to forgive whatever crimes you have committed if you will aid me now. We will do our best to ensure that no harm comes to your mother. In fact we can probably arrange things so that Emry need never find out that you've aided us. The first thing you can do is to tell us why such a big force was sent to this region, and why it needed a magic user like yourself. Andrea had to leave before she could find that out; she was afraid that you would attempt to make her your familiar."

Exotica takes a deep breath, then says: "Very well. My father had taken as a trusted adviser a man called Flagg, a man whom I did not like or trust one bit. Fortunately he has not been seen for some months, but my father decided to go ahead with the last plan of Flagg's anyway. That was to magically send a force of men to some place called Thunderclap to ambush a man called Roland and kill him. Once that was accomplished, according to Flagg it would be possible to bring the force home, though I wasn't sure that I believed him.

"Now for the sending spell, we would need some magical ingredients that only the dragon could provide. It would be too risky for the dragon to come all the way to Caemlyn, so a deal was struck that we would meet him here. We'd get the ingredients, then I would cast the spell to send our troops to Thunderclap. I'm the only magic user that my father would trust on this mission; even me he wouldn't have trusted were he not holding my mother hostage. We've been waiting here for some days now, but the dragon has not appeared. Now I know why."

"So Sir Guy and his men are expecting a dragon, are they?" Andrea says. "That gives me an idea. Would Sir Guy or any of his men be able to recognise the dragon of the Southern Caves? If some other dragon showed up, would they be able to tell the difference?"

"I doubt it. I don't suppose any of them have ever seen a dragon in the flesh. Anyway it's not as if any other dragon could show up."

"I wouldn't be so sure. Presumably if you're expecting a dragon to show up, you will have cast a spell on the men to ensure they won't be made useless by dragon-fright?"

"Yes, that's another reason why I'm here. It couldn't be done before we left Caemlyn, as the spell needs topping up every couple of days."

"Excellent. Please tell Sir Guy that it's time for another booster. Give the men the booster in the normal way, but include an extra item in the spell that will switch the protection off if the men hear a particular codeword shouted. Now what word wouldn't they hear in the normal course of events? Yes, 'Annafrid' should be suitable. Can you manage that?"

"Yes, I think so. But I don't understand."

1. "Don't worry. All will soon become clear," Andrea says.

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