Fred's Dead

To Astra's surprise, Fred suddenly vanished. "Where did he go?" she asked. Not that she expected an answer, since she had no idea that Reaibn had anything to do with it or that he now wielded almost infinite power.

"I killed him," Reaibn said. "I decided that it would be best if he simply ceased to exist."

"You what?!" Astra said, hardly able to believe her ears.

"You see, I found this," Reaibn said, taking out the Eye of Hayzus and showing it to her. "It's given me god-like powers within the borders of Allaria. Let me demonstrate."

Astra's makeshift toga, which she had made for herself out of a strip of curtain, transformed into a fine gown made out of pink silk. Matching slippers appeared on her feet. The chains attached to her wrists vanished, as did the remaining mud that she hadn't been able to remove. Her unkempt hair tidied itself, and lipstick and eye-shadow - understated rather than ostentatious - appeared on her face.

"So now that you've seen what I can do, it only remains to fix a date for our wedding," Reaibn said.

"I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man on Earth," Astra snapped. "You killed Fred!" She advanced towards him threateningly.

"Playing hard to get, Princess? Very well. Then you'll be held prisoner till you see sense."

With that, Astra found herself:

1. Back on the throne where she had originally landed. But now her arms were chained to its arms, her legs to its legs and her waist to its back. Since the throne weighed several hundred pounds, she wasn't going anywhere.
2. In a cell in the castle dungeon.
3. In the stocks outside the castle, where peasants - no dount under Reaibn's control - were queueing up to throw rotten vegetables (and other items) at her.

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