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It is late afternoon before we get to the three stakes that have been prepared. These stakes are in a different location from the traditional site in front of the cave mouth. They are in a steep-walled gully which has a grove of trees part way up it. Downhill from the ladies, "protecting them", is my Dragon Machine. A dragon who comes in this gully to get the ladies will not be able to fly out easily, or dodge quarrels fired from the grove of trees. It is in that grove that the crossbows are hidden, and manned by Gunther and Lazar. I tie my ladies to the stakes -- a rope about the waist and a rope about the neck -- and blindfold them. Now we wait.
On the way here the wind has been gusting from the south -- a storm is brewing, much as it was on Dragon Day. I fret. This wind could ruin a well-aimed shot. But as we wait the wind dies down, and it's replaced by a chill, but silently moving, mass of air from the west. The front has passed, the wind will turn to the north soon, and a slow steady rain will begin.
I thrill with panic! The crossbow strings! Will they work in rain?? I don't know!
I calm myself. If there is a problem, Lazar will tell me.
My wait ends. It is now deep dusk, the color has drained from the dark green vegetation around me. I don't see, but I sense her presence... I start building up the pressures to drive the Dragon Machine. In a minute, or so, it will be able to perform it's imitation of a dragon.
"You have come with my prizes, Woman Stealer. Does this mean you are ready to pledge to me?" I hear her... but I don't see her!
She laughs. Ack! She is on the ledge above the gully, not in it!
"The ladies have come to offer themselves to protect their villages. I am here to see that their sacrifice is not in vain." I say. I'm babbling; I must figure out how to get her into the gully!
"I want your pledge." I shout.
"You would take the pledge of an old dragon?"
"No. I want something tangible." It's a logical answer, but I'm just fishing.
"What would you like, Woman Stealer?"
An idea is coming to me... "... the Head of Qin Non-won!" it's nonsensical, but it buys me some time, and it sounds important.
Queen Almidahl roars with what is likely a dragon laugh. "And how to you propose I get you that head?"
"You know... you're right. There is no bond of yours I can trust." I pull levers and kick my Dragon Machine around to face my ladies at their stakes. I turn on the whistle and start the fire up sequence.
"NOOO!" screams the Queen over my whistle, and in a scary display of dexterity, she scuttles down the gully wall and circles herself protectively around my ladies. She breathes hard on my Dragon Machine.
The good news is that my Dragon Machine is relatively immune to fire -- accidents will happen, so I designed it that way. The bad news is that Dragon Fire is a whole lot of fire! The elementals that are part of the machine squeal in delight at the intense heat, but the imps abandon ship, and the brass gears warp. The Dragon Machine grinds to a stop and simply hisses futilely. I am protected by a formidable flame protection spell, but my ruse is finished -- any physical attack by the dragon will do me much damage. I brace...
But the attack does not come. The dragon remains coiled around the ladies, and does not move.
I hop quickly out of the Dragon Machine, and slowly approach the dragon.
I hear the twang of a crossbow, and the thunk of a quarrel hit. "Not needed! Not needed!" shouts Lazar. He is out of the grove and running towards Almidahl -- that must have been Gunther's shot, then, and probably his second.
"Come, quickly, help me!" Lazar shouts to me as he runs down the slope; we meet at the Queen.
"Quickly, lift her head." He has a quill out, with some magic ink. He is writing glyphs on her neck. "Quickly, I must write these around her entire neck." I push the head a bit. It must be three hundred pounds. I motion for Gunther to come down and help. The two of us wrestle the head up while Lazar gets down on his back and continues his glyph writing on the underside of her neck.
The Queen is breathing. There is fire in her eyes, but she doesn't move. I smile as Gunther and I hold up her head. My ploy worked. When the Queen saw my machine move to threaten the ladies, she moved to protect them. She needed them alive. In so doing, she turned her back on the crossbows, and stood still. She took at least three hits, and Lazar's potion was as fast acting as he claimed.
The glyphs are finished. Lazar clamors back to his feet. "You may put her down." We do and back off beside him. He chants a spell, and the glyphs are replaced with a steel collar.
"It is done." Lazar says with a sigh of relief, "She is mine, now."
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