Making Plans

Finding a source of light was easy enough. Minestus the dragon might have been able to manage with very little light, but in the form of Belboz he had had no better than ordinary human vision unless he used magic, and to use magic the whole time would have been exhausting. So he had had plenty of torches stored in his chamber. Some of these had been magical, and so had become useless with his death, which had apparently nullified all of his spells. (It occurred to Astra and Checkers that it was very fortunate that, as far as they could tell, Belboz had not employed any magic when treating Fred.) Other torches, however, were mundane in nature, made of a slow-burning wood that gave off very little smoke, and these they were able to use.

Neither in dragon form nor as a human had Minestus had any use for weapons, for as a dragon his weapons had been in-built and when in human form he could use magic. But he had required knives for various purposes, so Astra took the largest one that she could find.

Meanwhile they had been talking about their future plans. "Cutting off enough of the dragon's hide to make into a pair of coats may be difficult," Astra said. "Doing that and then removing all the flesh from the hide without damaging it will need considerable skill. But we can't afford to wait until we can get an expert skinner in, as the hide will swiftly start to deteriorate if it's left in place. If we can't manage to remove enough undamaged hide for coats, then we might try for belts. I could do with a belt, in fact, having lost all that extra weight. But if it's proof that you need, then I could sign a statement for you saying that you had killed the beast. If that would not be enough, then I would happily go with you to your homeland to corroborate your story, for I owe you an enormous debt."

"Thank you, Astra, but I'm not sure that you quite appreciate how very far away my home is. It would be a very long journey. Also I'm afraid that my people fear and distrust humans. I'm not sure that they would believe you, or even that it would be safe for you."

Astra made a face. That possibility had not occurred to her. "Well, in any case I think we should initially follow our original plan, [34138] and that when Fred returns we should all head for Aqualaria. Then my people can be told about the death of the dragon and that I am safe. After that, we can decide how best to convince your people that you have fulfilled your quest."

"I would certainly like to see your country, Astra."

"Good. Well, let's try out this knife and see if it's sharp enough to cut dragon hide. By the way, we'll need to remove the scales from the hide, I think. Otherwise a coat would be too heavy. But you might want to keep one of the scales as additional proof."

1. Astra tries her hand at dragon-skinning.
2. Fred and Alric are in transit.
3. Somewhere in the Red Dolomite Range, far to the east, a Glider discovers
4. Wartha [42794] wonders why he hasn't heard anything more from his master in several hours. He comes to investigate.

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