The Race to the Ampitheater

Astra froze for a couple of seconds as she felt the cool stone floor with the soles of her feet. He boots were gone, and her feet were bare. Then much like a startled deer, she bolted toward the dark passage, running as fast as she could.

Fred and Checkers started to follow her. Solbert raised his cane in his right hand, holding it horizontally across his body and moving to block the path of Fred and Checkers. They stopped.

Solbert said, "Let her go, and hope that she makes it to a large room before she transforms back to a dragon. I noticed that the boots that she wore were gone. She is losing control of her human form. We need to gather the goods of this place, to take to her in case she does make it."

Checkers took the great golden necklace that she had made, coiling it loosely around her neck. Fred took the statue. Solbert took the two silver guilders. Having cleared the room of its contents, they entered the dark passage.

Astra did not think deeply over most of the run to the ampitheater. It was somewhat like a time that she was thrown from her horse as a young girl - she knew then that the results of the next few seconds could result in anything from a minor bruise to her death, but there was little that she could do. She felt that way now. The urge to get out of the cave made her take the risk of changing back into the dragon's form in an unsafe space.

Although it took her less than ten seconds to cross the dark passageway, it seemed to her to be several minutes. As she entered the wider passage lined with seller's benches, she felt a breeze across her bare belly, and knew that she had lost her blouse, and control of her human form was slipping from her. She was picking up speed, gliding across the floor of the marketplace. She saw the door at the end, the last and greatest danger. Halfway through the little market, she had lost the last of her clothing, and felt a sharp pain in her side. Ignoring this, she continued her run at top speed. In a couple of seconds, she would know whether she was safely through the door.

She stumbled, and started to fall. "Oh, no!" she thought. "And I am so close! I just need to cross the threshhold, and I am safe." She took threw out her arms to her sides, and took long, awkward strides, trying to keep her balance. She stumbled through the door. Before she hit the ground, she had turned into a dragon, and with a great effort of her wings, the she was able to lift herself up, and sail over the circles of marble terraces. In an action that is best described as a controlled crash, she landed on the stage of the ampitheater.

Although the last part of her run and flight was ungraceful, she was relieved that she was not injured, except for a bruise on the tail and left hind paw, and happy to find herself in a room with more space.

Within a couple of minutes, Solbert, Fred, and Checkers entered the room with the pieces of her small hoard.

1. Astra asks Solbert about something in the room.
2. Solbert asks Astra about the two coins.

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