The stegoceratops did not find Lowery until very late in the evening. To her surprise (or perhaps not, because he was an idiot), she found him tied to a tree that may or may not have had breasts. She walked up to him slowly, then loosened the ropes that bound him with her magic. He fell backwards and stood up immediately, brushing himself off with a casual air.
"Cool. You rescued me. Not that I was in peril, because I'm awesome at wizardry, but you know . . . Now we can go and do your thing. The thing with the bull-boar. The entelodon- Look, you know what I mean."
The stegoceratops nodded.
"I suppose so."
They lumbered down the hill.
"Leaving so soon?"
The stegoceratops froze at the sound of a new voice. It was familiar to her, and yet it wasn't real. She wished she could say the opposite.
"Karen?"
The woman uncrossed her arms.
"How do you know my name?" she asked with suspicion.
"Why didn't you come here with me? Why aren't you real?" the stegoceratops asked, ignoring her question.
"Why did you avoid me for all those years?" she countered.
The stegoceratops tossed her head. She knew what Karen was referring to, but it was slipping from her mind like sand in a colander.
"Karen . . . Karen . . . Karen . . ."
Lowery the magician looked at each of them intermittently.
"Am I missing something here?" he mumbled.
The stegoceratops could feel her heart trembling, but she didn't know why. All she could remember was that Karen, the real Karen, should be here with her. But where was here? What was this world, and where did it come from? Why was everything so familiar, yet so foreign? The stegoceratops yearned for answers to these questions, but none would come. Not until she continued down the road, at least. With tears in her eyes, she turned back the way she had come.
"Where are you going?" Lowery asked.
"You've been traveling in the wrong direction," the stegoceratops and Karen replied at once.
Lowery batted his eyes.
"Okay . . . Is Karen coming with us?"
"Yes," they both said.
And they made their way to the castle of an evil king, where it was rumored that the Red Entelodon was waiting.