| Astra 4 blinks and then rubs her eyes. It makes no difference. The
oil lamp hanging from the roof of the wagon gives only a dim light, but
there is no doubt about it: the dwarf sitting opposite her is rapidly transforming
into an orc. The dwarf himself seems unaware of the change as yet.
Astra runs through the possibilities in her mind. The apparent change
in the dwarf could conceivably be merely an illusion caused by some spell
cast on Astra herself. But what could the purpose of such a spell possibly
be? She assesses that possibility as being highly unlikely. The alternative
is that the change is for real. She had not thought that, since the Crystallics
ceased to function, there was any magic left on Terra that was powerful
enough to do something like this. Could someone have somehow found a way
of "recharging" the Crystallics? However it was done, whoever is responsible
must have a rather malicious sense of humour, she thinks, given the traditional
hatred of dwarves for orcs. It would certainly seem that the spellcaster
is not on the side of her captors. But I can't assume from that that
whoever it is will necessarily be on my side, Astra thinks.
The possibility of the change just being an illusion is removed when
Astra hears cries of dismay and horror coming from outside the wagon. She
realises that the other dwarves must have been transformed as well. Whoever
did this must be even more powerful than she had first thought. The former
dwarf who is guarding her gets to his feet, so that he can stick his head
out of the wagon and investigate. For the first time he sees his new body,
and lets out a terrible howl of anguish.
-
 Astra realises
that what has occurred is not necessarily good news for her. Being in the
hands of dwarves would be bad enough, but being the prisoner of these newly
created orcs could be even worse. (Alternate version).
Go Back
|