Solbert's Code

The gnome walked to the statue of the young lady in the blue silk dress. Solbert tossed the cane onto the platform, and pulled himself up. He rubbed the jaw of the horse's head, and waited for half a minute. He was apparently satisfied of the results, although none of Fred's party had an idea of what change may have taken place. He gently touched the end of the cane to the statue's right leg. The leg twitched just a bit, and the statue's chest expanded and contracted slightly, as Sartoma took a breath.

She looked at Solbert, and said, "Hello, Solbert. What do we have to work with?"

Solbert replied, "The city appears to be whole, Sartoma, but we appear to be in a wilderness. There are no people around. I am still trying to understand. I think that we have been asleep for a long time. Three from outside the city have come, from places that I have a hard time recognizing."

"I see. Are you hungry?"

Checkers responded, "Yes, I am," for she had not had a chance to eat while taking care of Astra. Sartoma frowned, and she stared at Solbert. He responded, "No. I ate an exotic meal before I took my place, and am quite full."

She then responded, "I hope that you left some for me."

"Yes. We will want to invite our three guests, too, to see if they like the fare. It is only sociable."

Fred suspected that there was more to the conversation than met the eye, and he was right. Sartoma saw Astra Dragon, and asked, "Are you hungry?", which was a code for "Is the dragon an enemy?" as the odds were that a dragon would not be friendly, and that Solbert was under duress. The standard reply was "Yes, I am hungry" for "Yes, he is an enemy, and we are in danger," or "No, I am not hungry" for the "No, the dragon appears to be trustworthy." Solbert added something that was not part of the original code. "An exotic meal" was meant to signal that the dragon was not an enemy, but there was something unusual that had to be handled carefully. The "invitation to our guests" was meant to signal that Solbert was not sure of their intentions, but that they seemed benign, and that she should treat them as such unless they started to behave otherwise.

Sartoma then said to the group, "We will dine on smoked redfish and field peas tonight, if there are no objections. I hope that they have kept well. As Solbert has probably told you, I am Sartoma. I am the Archivist of Mount Erebus. I know a little bit about a lot of things. I hope to learn more about you during dinner."

"Me, too," said Astra. "Do you have any magical power? Can you change me back into my human form?"

Sartoma said "Hmm," and nodded her head. "The exotic meal" part of Solbert's coded statement now made sense. Sartoma then responded, "Not off the top of my head. But I do not think that this would be too difficult. I do know that there was a case recorded in Old Tetralonia where a man was transformed into the dragon, and the transformation back took place without pain on his part, and at nominal expense. So it is probably an easy process."

"Yes, I thought so, too," said Solbert. "But there is more to the story. That is why I woke you first, Sartoma. You remember Minestus, don't you?"

Sartoma thought a bit. Her memory was marvellous, but even she had to mull this over, as she had just been unfrozen. "He was one of the dragons, but why does his name ring a bell?"

"The Inspector General," Solbert interjected.

"Yes! Now I remember. The one that came here and threatened Lady Atheline. That pipsqueak. Is he still around?"

Solbert replied, "The dragons are mighty, but they are not all- knowing. They left Minestus in charge of the caves, apparently."

"No! You are kidding."

"That is what these three tell me. Astra had the most intimate contact with him. She killed him."

Astra interjected, "Your Minestus is not a gentleman."

Sartoma replied, "Yes, we knew that. I cannot believe that they put that fool in charge of the caves. I hope that this is a sign of overconfidence on their part. I am looking forward to hearing your story, Astra, over a plate of smoked redfish. Four standard plates and one dragon-size. It should be ready by the time that we get to the banquet hall. You will need to change, of course," she said to Astra.

Astra responded politely, "Lady Sartoma, I have no idea of where the banquet hall is, and even if I did, I am not sure that I could hold my human form for the time that it takes to get there."

1. "Yes, that could be a problem. I understand that you are not naturally a dragon. We will have supper served here, then."
2. "I can help you there, Astra," said Sartoma. She then tugged gently on Astra's ear, said something, and Astra vanished.

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