A Difference of Opinion

She knew nothing about her "Outlier" captors, not even whether they were human, having only seen one in silhouette. Nor did she know where she was. It hardly seemed possible that these Outliers could have been operating within the dragon's caves, yet it seemed equally hard to credit that she could have been snatched away to some location outside them. The only thing that she knew for sure was that she was the prisoner of beings who had shown that they combined great power and knowledge with utter ruthlessness. That was not a very comforting thought.

Meanwhile Fred and Astra had been searching for Checkers. "Could she have deliberately abandoned us for some reason?" Astra asked. "Is she trustworthy?"

"I know that I can trust her with my life," Fred said, "because I would be dead if she had not shown great courage against the wallhugger. Does that answer your question?"

"It does."

"Besides, she isn't strong enough to have taken Belboz's corpse with her, so something strange has clearly occurred."

Their search soon took them past the spot where Belboz had kept Astra as his prisoner. She shivered when she saw the chains hanging from the wall.

Lying on the floor was the gown that she had been wearing when she had been simultaneously teleported and transformed by Checkers' accidental spell. Seeing it reminded her that she had been naked since she returned to human form. Somehow she had hardly been aware of her nudity. Was it because she was now really a dragon, and that in her natural form clothes were alien to her?

"I suppose I'd better put the gown on," she said, "though it has unpleasant associations for me. I don't know how well it will fit, though. It must have been stretched when I was temporarily plumper."

But the dress must have had the magic property of adjusting itself to the size of its wearer, as she found that it fitted her perfectly. It was hardly the ideal attire for speleology, though, being flimsy, low-cut and tight-fitting.

Shortly afterwards Fred and Astra decided that searching any longer for Checkers was futile. She was clearly no longer in the immediate vicinity, and Fred's ankle was still giving him some trouble. They returned to Belboz's chamber, as being the most comfortable place to rest.

"Since Belboz is dead, I suppose that my quest is over," Fred said. "Once we've rested, we can leave. I don't like abandoning Checkers, but there seems no hope of finding her."

"You can leave if you like, but I want to spend some time carefully examining everything in this room. I hope to find something that will help me to understand, and even better to control, the powers that I suspect that I now have."

"Aren't you happy just to be back in your rightful body? Why do you want to use these powers, assuming that you have them?"

"You haven't experienced being a dragon, Fred, so you don't know what it's like. I felt more alive than I have ever felt before. I want to experience that again."

"You sound a bit like a drug addict saying that they want another dose of their drug."

"If I can fly, and possibly do all sorts of other marvellous things, then why shouldn't I?"

1. Fred says that she can stay if she likes, but he is leaving.
2. Fred decides that, whatever else Astra may now be, she is still a lady, and his knightly vows mean that he can't leave her alone in the dangerous caves.
3. Meanwhile, what of Checkers?
4. Meanwhile, where did Belboz's body disappear to?

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