Dialogue with a Dragon

(From The Hat Lady, by me)

I turned again to the beast, and then I realized just what he was.

          “Y-y-you…you…you’re a dragon!”

          “How observant,” Said the dragon, with a sarcastic eye-roll.

          The dragon was certainly going to eat me. After all, isn’t that what dragons do? But I was surprised to find that I wasn’t scared at all. Maybe it’s because I knew I couldn’t get away, that trying was hopeless. Anyways, I just wanted the awful beast to get it over with as quickly as possible.

          “What are you going to do to me?” I asked.

I tried to move, but my hands were tied behind my back. Not even this scared me. I felt brave, like Nell.

          “Do to you?” The dragon snorted, sending a puff of smoke into the air. “What would I do to you?”

          “You’re going to eat me,” I said flatly, scooting back so I could lean against the cave wall.

A diamond stabbed me in the leg, and I leapt into the air with a yelp. The dragon kindly swept it out of the way with his spiked tail.

The dragon just sat there and looked down on me. It’s hard to read a dragon’s face because they don’t have eyebrows or lips or anything like people do. But I think, inside his scaly head, he was calling me stupid.

“Are you going to eat me?” I asked.

Suddenly, the dragon erupted into that weird growling that might’ve been a laugh. I jumped, again.

“Eat you?” He wheezed. “Eat you?! I suppose you buy into those silly bedtime stories as well as any other child, but I had expected more from a princess.”

Like a tidal wave, fear crashed over me. The dragon wasn’t going to eat me? Then what would he do? What awful torture did he have planned?

“How do I know you’re not lying?” I said, trying to sound brave again. But I could hear my own voice trembling.

The dragon snorted scornfully.

“A dragon’s word,” He said, “Is his most prized possession. And upon my word, I have not the slightest intention of eating you. Humans have a terrible aftertaste; I much prefer beef. In fact, it is not the tradition of dragons to eat people. Because of our size and flaming breath, we have been unjustly stereotyped as cruel beasts.”

“Then what are you going to do to me?” I asked, frightened tears blurring my vision.

“Don’t cry, now,” The dragon sighed, puffing out a cloud of smoke that made my eyes water even more. “I don’t plan to hurt you in the least.”

“Then wh-why did y-you k-k-kidnap me?” I sniffled.

“A dragon’s life is terribly dull,” Said he, lying down on his belly and crossing his front legs like a dog. His face was only two feet away from me. “People are afraid of us, and common animals are too stupid to converse with.”

“Don’t you talk with other dragons?”

“Frankly, we don’t get along,” He replied, twitching his tail. The firelight glowed in his red-and-gold scales, and I thought for a moment how beautiful he was, in spite of his knifelike teeth and frightful spikes.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

And I really meant it. I couldn’t imagine living without Nell or my parents or anybody to talk to. Just thinking about it gave me a hollow, lonely ache-the exact sort of ache I’d felt when Marina was telling Nell and me about her husband.

“’Tis a lonely lot,” The dragon said dramatically. “Stealing cattle is rather entertaining for a little while; it makes such a stir in the villages. It’s quite charming to watch those panicked little peasants run about like ants when their mound is stepped on.”

The dragon laughed his throaty laugh. I stopped feeling quite so sorry for him.

“That’s mean!” I said.

Shrugging, the dragon went on with his speech.

“Alas, the cattle game does grow tiresome. And something must be done with those noisy cows. I personally prefer the taste of venison and other wild game; it’s much fresher. Peasants only cry and tremble when one kidnaps them, and it’s not often anyone takes much trouble to get them back. It seems the only way to get a fair bit of attention is to borrow a princess.”

“So you’ve just taken me to…to entertain you?”

          “No, no, no,” The dragon yawned. I could see red-hot embers glowing in the back of his cavernous mouth. “In a matter of days, knights will be coming to challenge me. I’ll fight them off and-”

          “You mean you’ll kill them?!” I gasped.

          The dragon glared at me with his glowing yellow eyes.

          “Would you mind terribly if I finished a sentence? Most knights are blubbering cowards when it comes to dragons. They’ll run away after a few fire blasts and a little wing-beating, perhaps a tail slash or two. Most of them I never touch, you see. They all go limping back to the castle with pretend injuries, lying about how I wounded them in order to defend their ‘honor’. It’s rather fun, and frightening those arrogant knaves does break up the daily grind. When I get tired of it, I’ll pretend a knight has defeated me and let him carry you home.”

          “Oh,” I said, not sure of what else to answer.