in the Jungle

Fred then made an observation, quite a surprisng one for one such as he... a book-learner who only by the Phaets was born the son of a Duke, and one who only unwillingly entered the squirage of knighthood, and one who only surprisingly and with much luck actually became a knight (though some in the Kingdom whispered that it was due to his father pulling strings). This was Fred's observation: "You have NO IDEA where we are."

"I beg your pardon?" said Astra stunned.

"You and I are lost... LOST. By definition 'lost' means 'in a state of not knowing where one is.' We could be in Aqualaria, or the Sweltering Jungles of the South, or the Biyelzarik Swathe of the Extreme Southwest! I don't know... and neither do you!" Astra was about to respond but Fred kept on going: "Sure, the lack of animal sound is a clue that we're not in parts that you're familiar with... score one for Miss Sherlock! BUT you can't then make a jump that we're in the Sweltering Jungle! Where's the logic in that?!? You can't deduce a positive from a negative! the lack of evidence, ie animal sounds, cannot be proof of anything, let alone our true whereabouts!" Fred took in a breath and Astra made to speak but Fred broke in again: "You're a charlatan!" Fred was beaming now, he felt in control for the first time in his shallow, forced, and planned life. "All this time I thought you were the smart one, the tough one, the Woman Who Knew What She was Doing! but you are NOT that woman at all... you've been making it all up as we go along!!!"

Finally Fred ceased.

Astra glared.

Astra then breathed... in, out, in, out... and then she laughed!

"Bravo!" she said with a wink. "You've found me out. Sure I make it up... it's what I've been TRAINED to do! To THINK, to ANALYZE, to ACT! It doesn't always go well... I mean, here we are, in the middle of friggin I DON'T KNOW WHERE and without Velus or Alfred, but atleast I'm not some breeder sitting on her %$#@! watching the cockatoos fly by! and by the way, I can still kick your @#$%! anytime I feel like it!"

The two were then silent for a moment.

"So," breathed Astra. "What's YOUR plan?"

"I think..." began Fred. "I think we need to find rocks, big ones, and real quickly."

"Why?" asked Astra perplexed by this strange break in their conversation.

"Because..." answered Fred. "Unless those eyes belong to Hespan Raiders or Malbran Miners, or maybe even to the pygmy pirates of Tol Nostra, then we may be looking at wild beasts, or daemons, or wampyrs, or worse!" And with those macabre words he pointed with dirty finger at the jungle leaves to their left and as they rustled, the pair saw that a large "thing" with bright chartreuse eyes began to move towards them... all the while Astra was wishing that her sword hadn't been banged and dented and ruined after a year's worth of living and toiling on that a'cursed island prison to which she and Fred and Velus had been sent by the Dragon; Fred, for his part, was wondering if whatever was coming at them had a groin he could kick...

1. It DID have a groin!....
2. It did NOT have a groin....
3. It was not an IT but a HE!....
4. It was not an IT but a THEY!...

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