A Daydream

Fred decided not to leave just yet. While he did have a princess to save, he had no idea how to do it. He needed a mage, and the closest thing he had was sitting with the princess - where? One of the rules that he learned from the Marshall was "When you have dug yourself into a hole, there is no use in digging further." He was literally and figuratively in a hole at this moment, although this was a glorious hole. It was time to stop, rest, think, and look on the problem with fresh eyes.

Fred became more and more awestruck the as he gazed around the room. One of the exits was flanked by two bronze statues of a man lifting a great globe, with a map of distant lands. Every three meters there were niches that contained life-size statues of heroes and heroines. It was amazing how life-like a sculptor could make bronze and marble! A young lady of white marble holding an bow, with a quiver of arrows on the ground, was the statue closest to him. Draped over the lady's shoulders was a blue silk gown, trimmed in gold, that covered her down to her knees. Her eyes sparkled with a sapphire blue. They were real sapphires. There was a slight red tint to the cheeks, taking advantage of a discoloration in the marble to make her seem as if blood were running through her cheeks. If she had been real, Fred could easily imagine falling in love with her. Delicate travertine lined the niche, gilded with gold and blue stones. A legend was written in an old language that Fred could not understand. There must have been about fifty of these statues, some of men, some of women, a couple of creatures that did not seem quite human, but all sculpted with the same skill. He was not sure, but one statue looked like a queen of Aqualaria, and there was one with wings that looked like a male Glider. No doubt Astra and Checkers would be pleased to see their homelands represented in this grand collection. Perhaps there is one of a hero of the Great Kingdom on the other side of the room that he cannot see.

Contasting with the white of the niches was the fine red, white and black grain of the polished granite wall. At the base of the dome are painted little scenes having nothing to do with the dragon - of farmers sowing grain, smiths hammering iron, singers singing songs, youths flirting with each other, merchants haggling, and children playing in the fields - scenes of everyday life. The contrast between this and the dragon is unsettling to Fred. Fred observes many arches, regularly placed, that seem to be exits. The pale red tint of the white travertine complements the design well.

Fred begins to daydream. He can imagine a great crowd of people - attention riveted to some drama, laughing at the quibbles in some comedy, or singing in a great chorus, the resulting echo reverberating through the ampitheater. He sees a different type of drama, a great assembly of notables, deliberating on the pressing concerns of the day, or passing judgment on important matters. Life at the court of Suffex seems narrow and confined compared to what he imagine went on here. The scale was disorienting.

His eyes then saw something that did not quite fit in on the wall. It appeared to be a notice board, composed of a fine soft wood, with bits of parchment supported by copper nails. These were, again, in a language Fred could not read, but he imagined them to be news and the schedule of events in the Ampitheater. It was little objects like this confused Fred. These people had been gone for how many hundreds of years? Yet the Ampitheater seemed to be as if it were built within the last year, and ready to resume its place as the scene of the little dramas of everyday life that Fred had imagined. The bread was certainly not an illusion, and the market, and notices - it felt that all the corruption and decay of the cavern had been eliminated, except that there were no people. With that blank wall in the former chamber of the great light, he was cut off from his last links with humanity, if you could stretch the term to cover the transformed princess and the woman with the wings.

"What in the name of the might of the Great Kingdom did Checkers do?" Fred said aloud, with nobody to hear him.

1. Fred sees three shiny objects in an undistinguished niche in the granite wall.
2. Fred goes back through the marketplace, trying to see if he missed something.

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