The dragon stretched its wings again, once or twice, and then dropped heavily on to the tawdry assortment of mildly precious things. Its claws scrabbled at the pile. It sneered.
A three-legged lizard wouldn't hoard this lot
, it thought.
'There will be better things,' whispered Wonse, temporarily relieved at the change in direction. There had better be.
'Can I-' Wonse hesitated-'can I ask you a question?'
Ask.
'You don't need to eat people, surely? I think that's the only problem from people's point of view, you see,' he added, his voice speeding up to a gabble. 'The treasure and everything, that doesn't have to be a problem, but if it's just a matter of, well, protein, then perhaps it has occurred to a powerful intellect such as your own that something less controversial, like a cow, might…'
The dragon breathed a horizontal streak of fire that calcined the opposite wall.
Need? Need?
it roared, when the sound had died away. You talk to me of need? Isn 't it the tradition that the finest flower of womanhood should be sent to the dragon to ensure peace and prosperity ?
'But, you see, we have always been moderately peaceful and reasonably prosperous…'
