What to Do with Belboz?

Astra turned round from fixing Belboz's improvised gag in place. "I think so," she said. "I seem to have been very lucky."

Fred had by now tied Belboz's hands together behind his back. "What are we going to do with him?" he asked. "We can't kill him in cold blood."

"Why not?" someone at the back muttered. "He was going to kill us."

Fred ignored the interruption and continued: "But if we just leave him here then either some animal will get him, or he will die of hunger or thirst, which would amount to our having killed him, or he will eventually break free. In which case, what would prevent him from magicking you all back here again? I would like to take him with us, so that he could stand trial in my homeland. But there are places both within the caves and on the track down the mountain that would be very difficult for him if he had his hands tied. And we would have to remove his gag to allow him to eat and drink."

"We could destroy all of his spellbooks and magical artifacts," Sophie suggested.

"But would that be sufficient?" Isabelle asked. "We saw just now that there are some spells which he can cast without needing any outside assistance, even if luckily the one that he attempted didn't work. Besides, destroying magical things could be at best difficult and at worst dangerous."

"But that spell did work," Astra put in. "I was the tallest of you all, but I've just noticed that is no longer true. I think that I'm slowly shrinking."

They all turned to look at her. Astra had been the tallest of the girls by several inches, and Fred had noticed that she was almost exactly the same height as himself. Now, whilst not exactly petite, she was six inches shorter than he was, and a couple of the girls were clearly slightly taller.

Miranda chuckled, apparently finding Astra's plight amusing. But then she surprised everyone by saying, completely rationally: "I might be able to cast a spell of amnesia on Belboz. If he permanently forgot all his magic, he would no longer be a threat."

"That sounds like a very good idea, Miranda," Fred said (though privately he wondered if she could be relied on). "But can you do anything to help Astra?"

Miranda merely shook her head. Fred wondered whether she wouldn't help rather than couldn't.

Astra had continued slowly to shrink during this exchange, and was now only five feet tall.

1. Fortunately she didn't get any smaller than that.
2. Her shrinking stopped when she was three feet tall.
3. She did not stop shrinking until she was only one foot tall.
4. Astra seemed in danger of acquiring the nickname "Thumbelina".

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