| When Fred and Astra awoke, they felt as if they had hangovers, but
were otherwise none the worse for the brew that had been forced on them.
They were alone in the room, whose door was - of course - securely locked.
"What was in that potion?" asked Astra, between drinks from the pitcher
of water that had considerately been left in the room. "Judging by the
way I feel, it must have had alcohol in it. Also a lot of far more exotic
ingredients, of course." "What did we tell them?" "Don't you remember?"
"Yes," Astra said, "but my memory of it seems a little hazy, so I'd like
you to confirm if what I think I remember is correct."
"Well, I'm pretty sure we told them everything. I think knowing that
we weren't willing tools of the dragons, and that we both originally set
out with the aim of killing Minestus, made them more sympathetic. They
still think we're abominations, but at least they no longer think that
it's our own fault.
"I tried to explain to them that I - like them - had until very recently
thought that all dragons were evil, but that Malachi's actions had changed
my mind. It didn't seem to cut any ice, though. As far as they are concerned,
it was just a ruse by Malachi to get us to go to Walants and spread the
lycanthropy. Even when we pointed out that Malachi had killed Minestus,
they took the line that it was only a fight over means, not over ends.
I think they've been seriously spooked by the rumours that they told us
about what Moreau has supposedly been up to."
"That's how I remember it too. And they told us that there was no way
that the Crystallic was going anywhere near Synizn. They did say that they
would let us go to find him, though, but would put a tail on us so they
could trap him. And of course we said we couldn't do that. So they said
that it was up to us, but if we co-operated they would call in a mage whom
they trusted and see if, with the aid of the Crystallic, he could turn
us back to human. Otherwise, they would get him to attempt to remove the
lycanthropy from us, but though we would no longer be werefoxes we would
remain demifoxes. They explained just what the difference was between a
werefox and a demifox. Then we explained that we only have about a week
more left before becoming trapped as we are." [1608]
"Yes, and then you told them that you were pregnant. [1567] That seemed
to worry them a little, though they wouldn't say why. I wonder if it would
make it harder for the Crystallic to transform you? They did say that the
usual demifox litter was three or four cubs, and that the gestation period
was intermediate between human and that of a fox, but was much nearer to
the latter at about twelve weeks. They weren't sure whether that would
apply to werefoxes as well, though."
"So what are we going to do? Co-operate in their plan, and hope we get
transformed back, pretend to co-operate but attempt to warn Synizn, in
which case they might do pretty much anything to us out of revenge, or
just say no, in which case at best we'll be demifoxes? Self-interest says
one thing, and honour says another. And what if we attempt to deceive them
but then they give us another dose of their truth brew?"
-
 Fred
thought for some time, and eventually said...
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