Deja Vu

Two days later, following the map he had been given, he arrived at the spot within a wild region of southern Hespan where the dragon's cave was supposed to be. Fred looked at the map again. "This is where it should be," he muttered to himself... He looked up from the map, viewing the two entrances again. The map didn't say anything about two entrances. He had a nasty feeling of deja vu. He was many hundreds of miles away from the Southern Caves, and the hills here were nothing like as high as the Shreken mountain range, but to find two entrances again was very unsettling.

Having gone right the last time that he had this choice, Fred decided that he might as well go left this time. As the light from the entrance behind him faded, he lit his torch.

He hadn't been going more than about ten minutes, when his torchlight picked up something pale and roughly man-sized up ahead of him. He drew his sword, for whatever it was the odds were that it would be dangerous.

But when he drew closer, he got a big surprise. Naked and chained to the wall of the tunnel was none other than Princess Astra! "Astra! How do you come to be here?" he asked.

"Fred! It's a small world, it seems. I was heading back to Aqualaria by the most direct route when I was unlucky enough to run into a dragon, and it brought me here and chained me up. What are you doing here?"

"I felt ashamed over my earlier cowardice, when I ducked out of fighting the dragon of the Southern Caves. So when it turned out that the Hespaniards also had need of a dragon slayer, I took the job. Now, let's see if I can free you."

1. He severed the chain with his sword.
2. He struck the chain, which notched the sword and was not harmed by it.
3. As he prepared to strike, his torch went out. The cave went pitch dark and he heard evil laughter.

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