An Incipient Tragedy

What a tragedy that such a thing should befall the brave and noble man who had put an end to the dragon's reign of terror. In answer to Fred's question, I told him that there were two possibilities of a cure. The first was to see the court wizard of Aqualaria. As an expert on dragons, he could probably cure him. The problem with that was that we had several week's journey ahead of us. Who knew how far the change might have gone by then?

The second option was for me to take up my sword and cut off Fred's right arm, for the contagion would almost certainly have spread well beyond the hand by now, even if the effect was not visible as yet above the wrist. Not surprisingly, even a man as brave as Fred blanched at that. "Of course," I added, "there's no guarantee that even such a drastic measure as that would work, as the evil may already have spread beyond your shoulder."

"Or I could just leave the party and go off into the wilds, far from humankind," Fred suggested. "That won't work. Once you have become fully a dragon, you will come looking for human prey and will seek to establish your own kingdom like the old dragon did. And dragons can cover enormous distances, so however far you go it would not be far enough."

Fred thought for a while and then said:

1. "The court wizard it is, then."
2. "Please ensure your sword is sharp, Astra."
3. "Wait a minute. What if...?"

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