Freeing Astra

When she saw Shen Tso, her eyes widened in surprise. "Goddess, a golden golem!" she exclaimed. Perhaps she couldn't think of a suitably alliterative word to refer to Shen Tso's extreme shortness of stature.

"I am not a golem," Shen Tso objected. "But I have been subject to a lot of magic that has made me what you see. My name is Shen Tso, and I am on a quest to destroy the dragon."

"As was I, before he captured me and chained me up here. I am Princess Astra of Aqualaria. Good luck with your quest. I hope that we may meet again after you have accomplished it."

"Don't you want me to free you?"

Astra smiled ruefully. "And how would you do that, exactly? I doubt that using your sword on these chains would achieve anything apart from blunting the sword."

"Like this." Shen Tso swung the side of her hand at one of the chains attached to Astra's ankles. Ordinary gold is a soft metal, but she knew from her earlier experiment that whatever gold-like metal she was made from was much harder. Sure enough, she sliced through the chain as though it was made of butter. Astra's mouth fell open in astonishment. The other ankle chain soon followed. Shen Tso had to jump to reach the chains that were attached to Astra's wrists, but she was able to cut through them too.

As Astra massaged some life into her stiff limbs, she said: "Thank you!

1. "Would you be willing to tell me your story, Shen Tso, for it must be a fascinating one?"
2. "Now we can quest together."
3. "My heart wants me to go with you, but my head says that without a weapon I would be a liability. Given your strange abilities, even my strength wouldn't be likely to be of much use to you."

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