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"What do you aze from its armoured flanks

What did he ht fast

"It's just not physically possible, that's what Ithat heavy should be able to fly, or breathe fire like that I told you"

"But it looks real enough I auzy"

"Oh, it's real It's real all right," said Raic like we need, like we needsunlight? Or food"

"It's a thauic, that's all," said Vimes, who had not had a classical education "I ons, always on the point of extinction, suppose one day back in prehistoric tiic?"

' "There used to be a lot of natural htfully

"There you are, then After all, creatures use the air and the sea Ito use it, aren't they? Then it wouldn'tsize and so on, because the ic would take care of it Wow!"

But you'd need a lot, he thought He wasn't certain how h to let tons of armoured carcass flit around the sky like a s, but he'd bet it was lots

All those thefts Soon

He looked at the bulk of the Unseen University Library of ical power on the Discworld

And now the dragon had learned how to feed itself

He became terribly aware that Lady Ra towards the dragon, chin stuck out like an anvil

"What the hell are you doing?" he whispered loudly

"If it's descended froons then I can probably control it," she called back "You have to look them in the eye and use a no-nonsense tone of voice They can't resist a stern human voice They don't have the willpower, you know They're just big softies"

To his sha to do with anyher back

His pride didn't like that, but his body pointed out that it wasn't his pride that stood a very reasonable chance of being thinly la with embarrassment he heard her say: "Bad boy!"

The echoes of that stern injunction rang out across the plaza

Oh gods, he thought, is that how you train a dragon? Point them at the melted patch on the floor and threaten to rub their nose in it?

He risked a peep over the horsetrough

The dragon's head inging around slowly, like a crane jib It had soht below it Vireat red eyes narrow as the creature tried to squint down the length of its own nose It looked puzzled He wasn't surprised

"Sit!" bellowed Lady Ras involuntarily sag "Good boy! I think I may have a lump of coke somewhere-" She patted her pockets

Eye contact That was the iht, shouldn't have looked down even for a on raised one talon in a leisurely fashion and pinned her to the ground

As Virip and cleared the trough in one leap He bounced across the plaza in a series of hirring arcs,to flaue of blue-white fire thatbut failed to strike the challenger It was hard to pick him out of the air because, quite clearly, even Errol didn't knohere he was going to be, or ay up he was going to be when he got there His only hope at this point lay in ly furious bursts of fire like a scared but deteron reared up with the sound of a dozen anchor chains being thrown into a corner, and tried to bat the torave in at that point and decided that they s for a while He scurried across the intervening space, sword at the ready for what good it rabbed Lady Ra her on to his shoulder

He got several yards before the essential bad judgeh" His vertebrae and knees were trying to fuse into one lump Purple spots flashed on and off in front of his eyes On top of it all, so sharply into the back of his neck

Hethat when he stopped he was going to be utterly crushed The Ramkins hadn't bred for beauty, they'd bred for healthy solidity and big bones, and they'd got very good at it over the centuries

A gout of livid dragonfire crackled into the flagstones a few feet away

Afterwards he wondered if he'd only i the rest of the distance to the horsetrough at a respectable run Perhaps, in extremis, everyone learned the kind of instant moveh was behind hi his are a bit of life back What did you do next? She didn't see a person's clothing, but in Lady Raerous without special tools

She solved the ih and hauling herself upright

"Right,'' she said,' 'it's the slipper for you-" Her eyes focused on Vi on-" she began again, and then caught the scene over his shoulder

"Oh sod," she said "Pardon y The stubby wings were indeed incapable of real flight, and he was re h the air One of theht one of the plaza's fountains, and demolished it

The next one swatted Errol neatly

He shot over Vi line, hit a roof behind hiot to catch him!" shouted Lady Vimes "You must! It's vital!"

Vimes stared at her, and then dived forward as Errol's pear-shaped body slithered over the edge of the roof and dropped He was surprisingly heavy