The Birds Have Flown
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 50330
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In all, Synizn had been away for well over a week. [50325, 50327] Time
enough for Fred and Astra to regain consciousness and to largely recover
from their ordeal at his hands. Physically, at least, for their mental
scars might never be wholly healed. The time that had elapsed also meant,
if what Fred and Astra had been told was correct, that their demifox forms
were now permanent beyond any possibility of undoing, even using the
Crystallic. Astra's pregnancy would also be substantially further along.
Synizn had not known how long he would be away. Though he had not expected it to be so long as it had proved to be, he had put an ample supply of food and water in his prisoners' cell before he left. He had known that it would be unsafe to rely on his hired thugs to keep Fred and Astra fed and watered whilst he was away. It took his presence, and their fear of him, to keep them obedient. Indeed there had been no sign of them when he returned home. No doubt they had fled when the earthquake and other portents had occurred. The stout door to Fred's and Astra's cell had still been in place when he investigated. Unfortunately the wall next to it had shattered, opening up an easy escape route for the demifoxes. They would now presumably not only want to avoid Synizn himself, but also the demifoxes from whom he had snatched them. That would imply that they would have moved by night to try to avoid being spotted, and would have left Walants as quickly as possible. Which way might they have gone? Unless... There was one other possibility, he realised, though he thought it unlikely. That was that they still had some hope that he might be able to help them, but had felt that underground was not the safest place to be if the earth might shake again at any time.
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JH
6/6/2005 1:07:35 PM
Extending Enabled
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