Crash!

"It's overbalancing!" one of the men shouted in alarm. It was too late to try to push it upright once more, so they hurriedly side-stepped out of the way. The cupboard fell full-length, door side down, with a great crash.

Meanwhile Astra had completed her double somersault off the stage, landing in the aisle. Her execution had almost been perfect, but she had landed slightly off-balance and finished up on her backside, to a mixture of applause and raucous laughter.

"Ralph says 'get to your feet and return to the stage'."

Astra did so. She had no way of telling how much time had elapsed since she began her forfeit, since no clock was visible. Though it seemed like a long time, she suspected that in reality it was only about five minutes.

"You're looking too glum. You should be enjoying this. Ralph says 'smile and keep smiling'." Astra forced her features into a smile.

"I've been remiss in not finding out your name. Ralph says: 'What's your name? And don't forget to address me as Master.'"

"Astra, Master."

"Are you thirsty, Astra?"

"A little." The hall was quite warm and she was perspiring a little from her exertions. There must be a bar somewhere in the building, as many of her audience had pewter tankards (though those of some of the patrons in the front row had been knocked over earlier on [79598]). Seeing Ralph staring at her, she added a belated "Master".

Ralph turned to the man sitting on his left (the lord was sitting on his right). "Ben, pass your tankard up to Astra, please."

Ben duly picked up his tankard from where it was placed on the floor by his feet and passed it up to Astra. He had evidently visited the bar fairly recently and had also avoided his tankard being knocked over, as she saw that the receptacle - which she estimated held not far short of two (US) pints - was almost full of a brown liquid which she assumed was beer.

"Ralph says down it in one if you can, and at any rate as quickly as possible."

Was he trying to get her drunk? Perhaps that would make her even more amusing. She had a pretty good head for beer, so as long as she wasn't required to drink any further tankards she didn't think that the effect would be too great. She started drinking, and found that the beer was surprisingly good.

As she drank, the lord turned to Ralph and whispered: "She's very good. I'd like to see more of her."

"I don't think that there's any more of her to see, my lord."

The lord grinned. "You know pefectly well what I meant, Ralph. Can you find a way to prolong her forfeit?"

"The remaining acts are no problem. So long as they are paid, they won't mind not appearing. As for the lady Astra... She has no way of telling the passage of time, so we ought to be able to spin it out to at least forty-five minutes without her being any the wiser. Beyond that, a little trickery may be called for. Some wager that she thinks that she's almost sure to win, when in fact she's certain to lose. If she wins, then her forfeit ends immediately and she gets a good set of clothing. If she loses then..."

Before he could say any more, he was interrupted by a crash from somewhere backstage. "Go and see what that was," he ordered Ben.

Looking at the stage he saw that Astra had finished the beer and was waiting for his next command.

1. "I have a sporting proposition for you, Astra," he said.
2. "You still look thirsty," he said.
3. He took something out of his pocket. "You will need this for the next part of your performance," he told Astra.
4. "You're a strong woman. We're going to play horse and rider, with you as the horse."
5. Meanwhile, what of Fred?

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