There Can Be More Subtle Dangers Than Dragons

Eventually he managed to break free, to see Astra regarding him with a mixture of ill-disguised consternation and fury (whilst Alexamder's expression could best be described as a smirk). "I hadn't realised that you even knew my sister Belinda, and certainly not that well," she said icily. He noticed that the armour that she had been wearing had transformed, presumably of her own volition, into a dark blue gown that was both tighter and more low-cut than Belinda's.

"But I don't know her," he stuttered. If the dream world had drawn the Castle D'Honaire from his memories, then how could Astra's sister possibly be there? He had barely even heard of her, and had never seen a portrait of her. In his flustered state it didn't occur to him for the moment that she might have been taken from Astra's mind rather than his own.

"What are you talking about, Fred?" Belinda said. "I know that you've been away on a quest for the last three months, but you can hardly have forgotten that we were wed only a few months before you left. And though you didn't know it, you left me with something to remember you by. If you look closely, you may be able to see that my belly is no longer completely flat."

She turned her attention to Astra. "Hello, sis. I suppose that I've been rather remiss in not yet welcoming you and your friend" - here she nodded to Alexander - "to Castle D'Honaire."

Astra seemed speechless for the moment, so Belinda turned back to Fred. "So you managed to rescue my sister from the Dragon then. Did you also succeed in killing the beast?"

"Wait a minute!" Astra said, finding her tongue, "Fred, did you really marry my sister prior to your expedition to the Northern Caves?"

Trying not to be distracted by the way that her bosom was heaving with indignation inside her dress, he said: "Of course not! This is only a dream, remember."

1. Astra realises that he is right.
2. Astra is so consumed with jealousy that she doesn't believe him.
3. Fred unwisely adds: "But I suppose that I should be flattered that you should be so jealous of your sister. I take it that the two of you don't get on very well?"
4. Belinda says: "What do you mean 'only a dream'? Have you been unfaithful to me with my whore of a sister?!"

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