The little dragon's skin was moving as though heavy industry was being carried on inside. Nothing in Diseases of the Dragon said anything about this. From the swollen stomach came sounds like a distant and complicated war in an earthquake zone.
That surely wasn't right. Sybil Ramkin said you had to pay great attention to a dragon's diet, since even a minor stomach upset would decorate the walls and ceiling with pathetic bits of scaly skin. But in the past few days . . . well, there had been cold pizzas, and the ash from Nobby's horrible dog-ends, and all-in-all Errol had eaten more or less what he liked. Which was just about everything, to judge by the room. Not to mention the contents of the bottom drawer.
'We really haven't looked after you very well, have we?' said Vimes. 'Treated you like a dog, really.' He wondered what effect squeaky rubber hippos had on the digestion.
Vimes became slowly aware that the distant cheering had turned to screams.
He stared vaguely at Errol, and then smiled an incredibly evil smile and stood up.
There were sounds of panic and the mob on the run.
He placed his battered helmet on his head and gave it a jaunty tap. Then, humming a mad little tune, he sauntered out of the building.
Errol remained quite still for a while and then, with extreme difficulty, half-crawled and half-rolled out of his box. Strange messages were coming from the massive part of his brain that controlled his digestive system. It was demanding certain things that he couldn't put a name to. Fortunately it was able to describe them in minute detail to the complex receptors in his enormous nostrils. They flared, subjecting the air of the room to an intimate examination. His head turned, triangulating.
He pulled himself across the floor and began to eat, with every sign of enjoyment, Carrot's tin of armour polish.
People streamed past Vimes as he strolled up the Street of Small Gods. Smoke rose into the air from the Plaza of Broken Moons.
The dragon squatted in the middle of it, on what remained of the coronation dais. It had a self-satisfied expression.
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