Exchanging Stories

"Do we look like lackeys of the dragon?" Elaine said irritably. "Especially those two." She gestured at Adele and Matthias, necking in the corner.

Now that the light that had been provided by the glowing jewel was gone, the corner was only dimly lit, and the liberated woman had apparently not seen them until Adele pointed them out, for her eyes widened in surprise. "You have a point," she conceded, visibly relaxing a little.

"We are the ones who have freed you," Fred explained. "I am Lord Frederigo D'Honaire from Allaria, but please call me Fred. I am here on a quest to kill the dragon. I encountered a necromancer called Belboz, who directed me this way, saying that I would find others who might be able to help me in my quest. I found these three entrapped in jewels like yourself. This is Elaine, and over there are Adele and Matthias. Adele and Elaine are both sorceresses - Adele is Belboz's daughter - and they helped me to destroy the jewels. I'm afraid that in doing so we could have alerted the dragon to what we are doing, though."

"You have my gratitude for freeing me," the woman said. "I am greatly in your debt. If I can, I will help you to destroy the wyrm. For that was why I myself came to the caves. I am Princess Astra of Aqualaria, but please just call me Astra. My mission did not go well. No-one in my land knew that the dragon was also a magic user. I was no match for him. He magically stripped me of my weapon, then of my armour and finally of my underthings. Then he imprisoned me in that damnable crystal."

"I remember hearing the tale of Princess Astra," Fred said. "Of how a beautiful amazon princess bravely entered the dragon's caves to do battle with the beast, but was never seen again. But that happened before I was even born."

"What! Just how long was I trapped in that infernal jewel?"

"It must have been at least twenty-three years if you are the same Astra, maybe quite a bit longer. When my father told me the story, he just said that it happened before I was born, not how long before."

"I've lost my youth to that damned dragon!" Astra looked at the skin of her arm in the dim light, apparently searching for wrinkles.

"Don't worry," Elaine said. "You were in magical stasis all the time you were in the jewel. You won't have aged at all."

Fred expected Astra to ask what year it was now, so that she would know just how many years had passed, but she did not. Perhaps she was too stunned to think of the question. Or perhaps she had decided that she would rather not know, at least for now, fearing that many more years even than twenty-three might have passed.

"I had a sister of eighteen," Astra said instead, "two years younger than me. She married young, and was pregnant when I left on my quest. Her unborn child will now be older than I am. This is going to take an awful lot of adjusting to. Of course, if we can't defeat the dragon and get out of the caves, that won't be very relevant."

"To that end, do you know anything about someone called Sigin?" Elaine asked. "He could be a big help to us. He's a rogue dragon mage who Minestus - that's the name of the dragon who imprisoned you, in case you don't know - turned into a tiger. We thought that we'd find him trapped in the orange jewel, but we found you instead."

1. "Siggun?" Astra said, badly mispronouncing the name, which apparantly was outlandish to Aqualarian ears. "Never heard of him, I'm afraid."
2. "He's trapped in the next chamber."
3. "Perhaps I can help you there," a sonorous voice came unexpectedly from behind them. Everyone was startled, even Matthias and Adele breaking free from their clinch.

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