the Moon shall Rise

Fred had only one thought after deciphering the runes etched onto the dead man's bone: What?

Then he shivered; it was late afternoon and a breeze was making him very aware of his wet clothes clammy against his skin. Fred needed to get out of them, dry them in what was left of the brightness of the sun, but to do so he needed to find some place safe. He scanned his surroundings in all directions, he needed to find out where he was, and, more importantly if the Dragon was near.

Behind him were rocky hills and cliffs. The beach itself seemed to have no end as it curved along the sloping rocks, disappearing in the far off distance at either end. Before him was the deep blue sea. It filled the horizon like a wall. And like a wall, it made Fred feel trapped. He had never been on a beach, or seen anything but pictures of the ocean; Allaria had only one coastal duchy and Fred had never been there.

Fred's stomach growled. Not only was he wet, but he was starving too. He looked over at the skeleton again. Whatever clues he might have hoped for simply weren't there. The soft, white sand that surrounded him (and the remains of poor Sir Toby) were without track or mark. It was as if both he and the skeleton had simply appeared here or had been deposited here by some great hand from out of the sky. But why here?

"High ground," Fred grumbled to himself. "I need to get to high ground."

But even before Fred could take but five slow strides up the rocky hill that fenced in the sandy beach, a deep fog rolled in! It was thick and cold and it came from off of the deep blue sea. It smelled strongly of damp, fresh-turned earth. Fred was frightened by the sudden change in weather, and he was afraid to lose his footing upon the rocks. But he knew that heat rose and so continued his climb. After but a few moments he found that the fog seemed to lessen and the hill seemed to flatten.

That's when he saw it. A fruit juice stand. It looked like it was made of thin wooden planks, and it was shaped like an apple. It was the kind that Fred had heard about, the kind that a person could run into on the side of roads and pathways leading to out-of-the-way hamlets.

A panel creaked and rasped open to reveal a slightly lopsided counter and a sign swinging above it. The sign read: GOBLIN FRUIT STAND. OPEN ALL HOURS OF THE SANDGLASS. Inside the stand someone spoke in a deep, growly voice. Fred didn't hear what the person said and so he took a few steps closer. "What was that?" said Fred. "I didn't quite catch what you said."

"Give me a boost up, dillhole, else I shan't reach the flapping counter!"

"Here now, what did I tell you about calling me insulting names?" inquired a falsetto voice. "Stand on the blinking stool, why don't you?"

Fred noticed two paws gripping the edge of the counter. They were furry and catlike, yet somewhat too large for any cat that Fred had ever seen. The paws were followed by a head. The fellow who looked out at Fred had a sort of catlike face, and wore a homespun robe with cowl. "You are, am I right to say, Frederigo of the D'Honaire clan?"

"Uh, yeah," said Fred. "Though we prefer to say the House D'Honaire."

"Semantics!" cried out the voice from under the counter.

"Uh," said Fred. "You'd be what exactly? The sign mentions goblins, so is that--"

"Stow the blooming small talk," piped in the under-the-counter voice again. "Get to the dire warning, if you please."

The visible goblin stared down at his partner with frustration. "You have to build up to these things...that's what they call the soft sell... don't you know anything?!?" Then the goblin looked up at Fred and coughed into his shaggy paw. "Anyhoo, since were not into dancing round the bush, pissing into the can, or shooting the breeze, here comes the warning: DO NOT AID, ABET, OR OTHERWISE HELP ASTRIX MOON IN ANY WAY, FORM OR FASHION. IF YOU SO MUCH AS HELP SAID PERSON IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM...WELL, BUDDY, HUGE UNSEEMLY DEMONS FROM THE PITS OF THE ICY FREEZE WILL COME FETCH YOU FOR DINNER! AND YOU WON'T BE ON THE GUEST LIST... YOU'LL BE THE MAIN DISH!"

"Wow," said Fred. "How do you manage to speak in all capitals like that?"

Before the goblin could answer his companion growled: "She's coming, let's scram!" The stool made some scraping, tottering sounds and then the goblin fell from view. The sign whipped itself back into the stand while the fog thickened and hid the entire stand from Fred's vision. Moments after that the fog dissipated, but in front of Fred was no stand, no wooden structure of any kind, only a pile of rocks with a few frogs mating. That's when Fred heard a cough from behid him. Whirling about he saw a woman, a slim girl of only some four feet in height. She wore a leather skirt and shirt and had bracelets of simple metal. Her hair was black and long but tied into rings of grey metal so as not to get in her way.

"Hi!" she said with a smile. "You're the first person I've seen in a while. I need your help."

"Uh-huh," said Fred, suspicion rising with every syllable. "And who might you be?"

"Me?" she said with an innocence dripping with sincerity. "Why I'm just lil' ol' Astrix Moon."

1. Who is Astrix Moon? What kind of help does she need? Where is Za'ha'dum? Why does Fred still feel as trapped as ever???

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