| "There must once have been many people living in these caverns," marvelled
Astra."Yes," said Fred, "there were, before the dragon took up residence
and killedsome, drove out others and enslaved the rest." Velus barked his
agreement.
Some of the stalls had probably once sold fruit and vegetables, presumably brought infrom the outside world. Their produce had long since rotted away. Others had soldclothes. The garments at first sight had been remarkably well preserved but, when Astrapicked one up, to her disappointment it crumbled away into dust. Whilst she was unwillingto wear bandages, she would have been happy enough to find some proper clothes. ThenFred called Astra over. "Look at this," he said. He was at a stall that had sold householditems, trinketsand cheap jewelry. (Perhaps it had sold some more expensive items too, but those would have been takenby the owner when he left, or else had been looted long ago.) Astra looked at what he washolding up, an old oil lamp. "Do you think if I rub this a genie will appear?" he joked.He rubbed it.
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