Closing In

I have to admire the way that Dragon Synizn carries it off. "You'd thought that I was downstairs?" he says, having obviously noted the man glance across at the stairs. "Well, as you can see, I'm not. Now, I have some visitors. Our business must be strictly private, so I want you and your colleagues to go out for a few hours. I'm sure that the nearest inn would welcome you. You should be able to buy plenty of drinks with this." With that he tosses some gold coins onto the table.

The men look surprised. Apart from anything else, I don't suppose that "their" Synizn was much in the habit of entertaining visitors. Nor of being generous either. "What about the prisoners?" one asks.

"I'll see to them. Now be off!"

I imagine that these men have already learnt the hard way that defying Synizn is not a good idea. In a very short space of time both they and the gold coins are gone.

"Prisoners?" Dragon Synizn says when they are gone. "I don't like the sound of that at all. I expect that they will be the ones that we are seeking, though. Most probably Fred and Astra - in demifox form I imagine, since if they were in human form then some of our number would have been recognised as near duplicates of the local Astra. Well, I suppose we had better go downstairs. When we encounter the local Synizn, leave me to do the talking. It sounds like he may take quite a bit of handling. I can remember how desperate and bitter I was myself, but I can't imagine that I'd ever have gone to the lengths of imprisoning anyone. I only hope we don't have to use force."

1. But just then we hear the heavy footsteps of someone climbing the stairs.

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