What the Dragon Wants

"Since I don't believe that either of you is capable of harming me - no, not even Astra as a djinn - I shall want rather more from the two of you than that. But I suppose that I ought to include that as part of the deal. So will you so swear?"

Astrid gulped. If she did so, would she not be betraying her king, who had sent her on her quest? But Astra had said that even her powers as a djinn were not enough to kill the dragon. So would it hurt to swear not to do something that they were incapable of achieving anyway? If she didn't swear, she felt that it would amount to betraying Astra.

"I'm waiting," the dragon said.

Astrid came to a decision. "Very well, I swear by my honour and as a knight of Allaria that I will never seek to harm you."

"Very good. And now Astra."

"This djinn cannot meaningfully swear, since if her mistress - or some future master or mistress - were to wish for your death, she would have no choice but to try to bring it about."

"But I wished for your death earlier," Astrid told the dragon, "and Astra found that your magical defences were too strong for her."

"Very well. I suppose that will have to do. Now to the matter of what I require from the two of you in exchange for my help. I want you to go back to Belboz and kill him for me. I have tolerated his presence in my caves for too long. He has become too much of a potential threat to let live."

"What!" Astrid was astonished. "But we're not capable of killing him. Not even Astra could do it. His magic is much too powerful. And if we try, he is likely to do something very unpleasant to us. Even approaching him again would be very dangerous for us, considering how we parted."

"I admit that it will be risky. But I do have a plan that has a fair chance of success. Unfortunately it is not a plan that I can carry out myself. He is too well protected against magic cast from a distance, and I can't get close to him because the tunnels in that area of the caves are too small for me to enter."

1. Reluctantly Astrid agrees.
2. Astrid refuses.

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