Identity Confirmed
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 89140
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Since Gloria did not want to waste any time, she saw no need to repeat
the questions that the centurion and the mayor had asked, as the answers
to them were recorded in the message. She had had sufficient presence of
mind after reading it to find a miniature head and shoulders portrait of
Princess Astra and to bring it with her. She took it out of her bag and
turned it so that Vedagaisic could see it. Her first question she
intended to be "Is this your woman of stone?"
"Yes, that's her!" Vedagaisic said before she had time to say anything. "Of course, you can't tell now what her hair colour was originally, but I'm sure that those are her features. The eyes are the right colour too, and her hair is in the same style as in the picture, though a little longer. Is her name Astra? I forget to tell the mayor and the centurion that Viani - she's our shaman - said that in one of the visions the stone lady showed her that that was her name." "Yes, that is a portrait of Princess Astra. I thought that it must be her, both from the resemblance to the Queen that you noticed and also because she has been missing for quite some time. Now there is no longer any room for doubt. It seems that she must have been the victim of some spell of transformation, perhaps cast by some wizard working for the dragon. Unfortunately I have never heard of a spell that could turn a human being into living stone, and have no idea of whether it might be reversible. Can you tell me about her physical qualities? Does she move very slowly?" "Not at all. She seems to move with as much speed and agility as a normal person. She appears to be as heavy as stone, though, or nearly so at any rate. I saw how, when she walked across a patch of soft ground, her feet left deep indentations. She can't speak. In fact I never heard her make a sound of any kind. When it gets dark she immediately falls asleep. She doesn't seem to have any control over that. Then you could hardly tell that she wasn't really carved from stone. We tried burning torches near her but, though she just about stayed awake, she appeared to be very sluggish and gave the impression of barely being able to understand what was said to her." "If what this message says about the princess leading a group from your tribe into the Northern Caves is correct, then I could help with the light problem, if I can get there in time. Among the spells that magic users like myself can perform is one to make a torch burn almost indefinitely with a brilliant white light." "Ah, I think that the lady Astra may have been trying to tell us about that. In one of the visions, she showed a woman dressed much like you accompanying the group going into the caves."
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JH
3/10/2010 1:37:01 PM
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