Failure to Communicate

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 22231


Astra the Dragon hovered, awaiting a response. She did not know how long that she could keep in the air. She did not feel as if she were in any immediate danger. The knight was lame, flailing his sword over his head ineffectively, and she could easily avoid him. The other creature, who was perhaps one of the harpies that were rumored to inhabit the East, was unarmed and not trying to attack. She had to keep them alive. Not only would it be unfortunate to kill the two over a misunderstanding, but somehow one of them had worked this spell. If she killed them, then it might be ages before the spell would be reversed, and she wanted to be Astra the Aqualarian again.

"It is time to try some mind reading," thought the dragon. Both minds presented problems. The knight had been seized by the primal urge to fight, and the only thing that Astra could read were pictures, and not fully formed thoughts. She saw an image of dragon's head mounted on the walls of a castle, a sword stuck in the underbelly of a dragon, the knight jumping off a large spider-like monster and pain from a hurt foot, and an image of the harpy throwing a spear into the dragon's face. The harpy presented a different set of problems. She was thinking, at least, but her thoughts drifted between the common language of Aqualaria and Allaria and some unknown tongue.

"According the legends, dragons fight with guile as well as with force. That is the most likely explanation - it wants something out of us, and cannot get it by attacking. Otherwise, Fred and I would both be dead. I never have heard of a dragon doing good. But this one is not attacking. Maybe it has been charmed by the poem, or bit milini sei letei mi siliti. Senit listi nilite lastiminiti sforzi. Eliminit laste Astra de Aqualaria silelini. Selinitis Fred ilinisi Astra ti Aqualaria e slinfi mi ilsili stentce. Maybe if I could find a way to test it. God knows I don't want to try to fight it without a weapon and being angliderim since the wallhugger attack. We aren't going to kill the dragon today, so it may be better to play its game. Think, Checkers, your life depends on it! Astra di Aqualaria mile angliderim, se tregimi mi gliderim. Dikini! Keliminil e tregimi minefi lemni. Astra anminefi e tregimi menefi. Ki el de."

  1. Checkers tests the dragon.
  2. Astra communicates to Checkers.
  3. Hey, Checkers' race has several different names. Is there a consistency problem?

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree

Display All 2 Links to this Episode


Anableps

11/14/2002 11:29:33 PM

Linking Enabled

Extending Enabled

The Never Ending Quest Home

Extend-A-Story Home

21320907 episodes viewed since 9/30/2002 1:22:06 PM.

Do not click me.