He could hear the breathing of the dragon echo through the cave like a thunderstorm. He gripped the sword tighter, feeling the sweat cover his hands beneath his gauntlets. Today he would finally win the highest honor of a knight.

“Oh, hi. I’ve been expecting you,” said the dragon. It reared its shining red head and looked him in the face with its bright yellow eyes. It wore what looked like goggles, of the sort one wore in the highest mountains to protect from blindness.

“Do not taunt me, wyrm! Upon my honor my lord will be avenged!”

“And what makes me think I did that?”

“You are a dragon. That is what your kind do.”

“It’s true that many of us are greedy and proud. Just like you. It’s no wonder we don’t get along. But as you can see I don’t have a lot of treasure.” He looked more closely at the horde and saw it was full of books, some with bejeweled covers and some whcih were plain. “Gold is overrated. Now can we talk?”

He’d trained his whole life to face dragons, but he wasn’t prepared for this. “Yes.”