Winning Story for Firebreathing Creature!

This week’s winning story is Persuasive Fire by Gregory Baer! Thank you to all the entrants, this was a tough one for our judges!

Gregory Baer
Grade 9

Persuasive Fire

The Dragon:

Smoke boiled from houses, swirling through the streets. People coughed as they ran, holding whatever they could take with them. Fire swept out from windows and doorways, throwing columns of flame into the night.
The dragon swirled above, raining death and destruction down on the peaceful town that had dared to be built under the shadow of his cave.
His huge claws dug into the ground of the square as he landed there, spraying flames from his gaping jaws. Screams and yells came as fire poured down alleys that people had thought safe.
Arrows and spears glanced from his armored hide, falling burning to the ground.
Laughing, the dragon smashed the statues, pillars, and fountains that filled the great space of the square.
His flames swirled and flickered around him, lighting the ruins with more fire. There was a stream of people flowing out of the gates and down the roads, and he let them go. He merely wanted their gold, and maybe a small meal.
He scattered the guards that tried to defend their lockhouse, and then smacked a huge claw against the front.
With a roar and a crash, the front of the building crumbled, and the gold was visible, gleaming in large piles.
The dragon gathered it in large clawfuls, and then lifted off, flying back to where his cave gaped on the hill.
He made several trips, until the gold was gone. Then he crawled onto his golden bed and slept. Who knew when more humans might decide to build their town in front of his cave?
He blocked up the opening and returned to his dreams, his cruel jaws curling in an evil smile.
* * *

20,000 YEARS LATER:

Mark:

Mark looked up from the small control board in front of him as his friend, Alex, walked in.
“Are you still fiddling with that stupid console?” Alex asked him. The console was well over fifty years old, and had been in its prime forty-five of them ago.
“Why not?” Mark answered, plugging in a wire and then flipping a switch. “It’s mine, and I can do all the stuff I need on here without anybody else watching.”
Alex nodded and then sat down on a small sofa. This Mark certainly knew what second-hand stuff to scrounge.
Mark shook his head and flipped the switch back to the “off” position. If his fiddling worked, the console would turn on.
He pulled and pushed at a few more things inside, then flipped the switch once more. There was a loud hum, and then the screen of the console gave a brilliant flash. The was a pause, a whir, and then the screen settled into the “Sleep Mode” wheel.
Mark let out a whoop and almost bounced in his chair. Alex looked across at his friend, not sure whether to think him crazy or celebrate with him.
“I fixed it!” Mark cried, almost dancing around the console in his excitement.
Alex grinned, and then rose to grab his friend and try to calm him down. Mark did calm down, though he was still excited as he sat down to the console once again.
He tapped a few keys, and the screen immediately lighted up, ready to serve. He entered a search into the console’s search engine and waited, as the hum increased in intensity.
The results from his search appeared and he clicked on one of them. The large words DRAGON’S BATTLES scrolled across his screen as the loading bar shot across its slot.
When it finally opened, he saw that all of his stats were there, work that he had thought lost.
He soon chose his dragon rider and chose a city to destroy.
Picking one of the harder ones, he hit play, and watched at the dragon waited for battle. Soon the screen changed to a video game look of a dragon standing on a cliff.
His fingers skating over the keys, Mark ordered it into the air, and tried the fire shortly.
As expected, bright orange flames swirled around the dragon as he looped and circled.
Finally heading for the city, he saw that his damage points were already a little lowered, as he had been hit with multiple arrows.
He swirled away from a flight of them and set a few buildings ablaze. He then saw a guard tower powering up a large windlass and fired at them.
The console gave off muted screams and Mark shook his head, muting it. That was the one part of the game he didn’t like, was the screams.
Suddenly, his damage bar leapt upward, and he saw that he had been hit with a large arrow.
This one was too hard for him.
He exited it, and then picked a modern city. This one was a little easier but it would be good.
Oh well.

* * *

Captain Morgan:

“Earthquakes you say?” Defence Captain Morgan said, leaning on the back of the Head Geologist’s chair, staring at the man’s screen.
“Yes sir, though there is no evidence as to why.” He said, “There are no faults around here and the only continental edges are over a thousand miles away. The only other thing, caverns. There are none around here.”
Morgan rubbed his chin with two fingers. “Are we sure about that?” he asked, staring out of the main window at the hill rising above.
The Head Geologist followed his gaze and then shrugged. “That’s most likely just old wives’ tales.” he said, then looked back at the computer.
“They had to get the idea somewhere, didn’t they?” Morgan asked, tapping his fingers on the back of the Head Geologist’s chair.
“Look, Morgan,” the man said, swiveling in his chair to face Morgan, “what kind of animal would be big enough to create the amount of seismic waves we are reading?”
Morgan shrugged. “No idea, but it gives me the creeps to think of the size of that possible animal.”
The Head Geologist snorted and then swiveled his chair back to face his computer.
Morgan slowly turned away, finally wrenching his eyes away from that forbidding peak. He strode toward the elevator and stepped inside.
But instead of going down, he hit the button that would take him to the roof.
With a hiss of released pressure, the elevator shot upward, and in three seconds opened on the roof. He stepped out, and then nodded to the saluting guard. The man relaxed, then turned back to his Overwatch 483 Laser Cannon.
The huge thing was designed to knock out military cargo airships, the largest airships there were. It would have no problem with any of the other fighters and other military airships.
“Put it on standby.” Morgan said, looking out over the town.
The man nodded, then punched in a code on the side and tapped a few keys. In an emergency, he would simply pull a lever, sounding an alarm and bringing the full might of the city’s defences online.
The large weapon suddenly gave off a small hum, and some lights flickered and the target control screens came online. They showed a small wheel and the word STANDBY in soft blue letters.
Morgan glanced at the hill, then shook his head and turned back toward the elevator.
He stepped inside and closed the doors. He felt the building vibrate and glance suspiciously toward the mountain.
Just before the doors closed, a side of the mountain erupted in a shower of stones.

* * *

Mark:

“Hah! Missed me!” Mark shouted, punching buttons on the console control board.
His dragon was flipping and diving, avoiding the cannon fire from the city. Fire was already burning in a large amount of the city, and four of the ten cannons were out of action.
A shot sizzled by his dragon, the near miss causing his damage to jump a little. Mark immediately flipped his dragon once more, and lasers burned through the air where it had just been.
“I wish you wouldn’t play that game, Mark.” he heard a voice say and whirled, surprised. Alex had gone home a half an hour before.
But instead of Alex, it was his friend Isabelle.
“Why not?” he asked, turning back to the console and flipping his dragon. Those cannons were zeroing in.
He zoomed around one of the towers, spraying fire at the top. The gun exploded and fell, scattering sparks as it went.
“Because it gives a wrong impression of dragons.” she said, sitting on the couch Alex had plopped on hours before.
“The wrong impression?” Mark said, his eyes glued to the screen. His damage was dangerously high, so he needed to watch out for the towers.
He saw that one was powering up for another shot and swooped past it, trying to stay out of its line of fire. But he wasn’t fast enough.
The blue laser burned across his dragon, and the screen went black.
CONTINUE?
Mark hit “No” and then turned his attention to Isabelle.
She looked at him, and eyebrow raised, until he gave her his full attention. Then she continued.
“Do you know what the dragon is a symbol of?” she asked, looking him in the eye.
He shrugged and then put the console on standby and turned back to her.
“It’s a symbol of Satan.” she said, and he glanced at her sharply.
She nodded. “And when you get into the mentality that dragons are good, guess what you think is good. It’s symbol inversion and it’s bad. That’s why I don’t want you to play that game.”
Mark nodded, tapping two fingers against his chin. Suddenly, there was a quiet buzz in the room.
Mark glanced around, but Isabelle simply pulled a cellphone from her pocket and looked at it.
“Oh, I have to go home.” she said, “dinnertime.”
Mark nodded and watched as she left. Finally, he shrugged and turned back to the console.
When he woke it up, he found that it had not left the game. Instead, the dragon was crouched on the cliff.
Still needed to fix stuff.
A laser sizzled by the dragon, and it rocked, damage jumping. Mark swiveled back to the board, gripping the edge of it hard.
The dragon rocked again as more shots sizzled by.
Gamer instincts took over.
The dragon leapt off the cliff, swooping toward the town. Fire blazed and lasers burned past.
Suddenly, it all slowed, and the “camera” circled the dragon, showing that the rider now had a small cannon mounted.
Mark licked his lips and settled deeper into his chair. Suddenly, all went back to normal, except that now the towers had damage bars on them.
Hitting keys, Mark swiveled the cannon and fired at one of the towers. The gun there jumped, and it’s damage bar filled half way.
Twin laser beams burned past him, and he turned the dragon, startled. There were two small airships now in the air, and one of them was powering up to fire.
Mark could do only one thing. Dive.
The dragon nosed down toward the ground and suddenly paused in midair. Mark frowned, then realized that the ground was shaking slightly.
But it passed, and the game went back to normal. Two more shots burned past him and he knew that the airships were closing.
He flew low, trying to stay out of their aim, and dropped more fire on the city.
More screams sounded, and the crackling of fire filled his ears. He frowned and swatted at the mute button. That sort of thing wasn’t supposed to happen.
Definitely have to fix more stuff.
But the screams and the crackling continued. And suddenly Mark caught the smell of smoke.
Smoke?
He looked at the console, but it was still up and running. His dragon had flown into a building and was standing on top, jerking from repeated laser hits.
Suddenly, Isabelle staggered in, and with her came a blast of hot air.
“What the-” Mark gasped, rising to his feet.
But Isabelle merely waved for him to follow, and ran back outside. Mark looked at the console, but the screen was now black and dead.
More hot air washed through the doorway and he gasped again, throwing a hand up above his face.
Then, setting his jaw, he plunged out into the heat.

* * *

The Dragon:

He stared out of the small hole he had kept, overlooking the town. He had gone to sleep since the last attack, and he saw that he had slept rather long.
Dragons lived nearly forever, unless they were killed. As long as they lived, their armor and size increased, though luckily, the dragon had chosen a very large cavern.
He shook his wings, and they rattled, causing the dust around the cavern to fly up in thick clouds.
This caused the dragon to sneeze, and flames added a few more layers of soot to the walls.
The dragon shook his head and tried not to breath too hard and turned back to the peephole. There was a city out there, looking as though it was made of metal. Tall towers rose higher than he did, and small grey things shot up and down the alleys faster than he could fly.
The dragon stamped, causing the earth to tremble beneath him. Those humans were incredibly stupid. They continued to build beneath his mountain, each civilization more powerful than the last.
But they had all been overthrown by him, and he knew that no city would be able to stand against him.
He licked his teeth with a long forked black tongue. Maybe there would be good feeding.
As he thought that, his great stomach gave a rumble, and he knew that he needed to eat soon.
“Then we’ll just burn the city, shan’t we?” he said, his voice heavy and snakelike. He stamped a little more to get the blood back into his muscles and then tested his fire.
Flames swirled around him and the heat of the cavern increased. But the dragon was not bothered. He withstood heat well even for a dragon.
Finally, he decided he was ready. He walked over to where he had blocked up his hole and prepared himself.
His cruel jaws curled once more in a harsh grin. The people down there would never know what killed them.

* * *

Captain Morgan:

“Sound the alarm!” Morgan said, hitting the emergency open button on the elevator door.
The doors slammed back and he leapt out, jumping slightly up to reach the roof.
The guard had already pulled the lever, and was trying to lock onto a target. But there was nothing.
There was simply a gaping hole in the side of the mountain.
Morgan walked to the edge of the roof and gripped the parapet, gazing at the hole. The way the rocks had exploded outward the way they did, something had to have hit them.
That meant one of three options. The first was a volcano. Morgan dismissed that one, because there was no smoke, just a dust cloud. Also, lava would be pouring out by now.
The second was that enemies had dug some sort of huge tunnel. But by now, they would at least be pouring out of the hole and setting up high powered cannons and guns.
The third was that the probable “beast” was about to attack.
There was a rumble, and the “beast” issued forth. It was large, and it was golden, with red batlike wings sprouting from its shoulders. It had a long neck and tail, and even at this distance some wicked-looking teeth.
Only when it began to breath fire at the outer parts of the city, did Morgan recognise what it was.
“It’s a dragon!” he shouted, staring at it with wide eyes.
Beside him, he heard the cannon roar as it sent its charge through the air toward the dragon.
He had not been expecting the cannon to fire, so the shockwave nearly knocked him off his feet.
The guard was standing in targeting, trying to lock down the dragon again. The first shot had missed, burning into the cliff face. The other towers were firing as well, and the dragon was spraying fire.
“Makes for quite a display, don’t it?” Morgan asked calmly of the guard, though his ears were ringing.
The man merely grunted and then shifted to the other side of the cannon and pulled a large lever.
Morgan had only time to realize that the lever was marked: FIRE before the gun went off.
The shell streaked off, and exploded near the dragon. But the beast was clearly unhurt.
“You’ll never get him with solid shell,” Morgan said, climbing onto the targeting station, “Switch to laser.”
The man glanced at him quickly, and then nodded.
The gun gave a hum, and then a different targeting strategy came on the targeting screens.
Morgan tapped the small image of the dragon, and immediately felt the gun turn as it tracked the beast.
“Fire!” he shouted, and the man nodded, pulling the lever.
The a glow came out of the tip of the barrel for a few seconds, and then the gun fired. There was a terrific jolt, and the scent of ozone filled Morgan’s nostrils.
Far off, he could see the dragon jerk, then recover. They had hit it. But it had not been enough.
The gun was cooling from the shot, and Morgan knew they wouldn’t be able to fire for a minute or so.
“I wish they would be able to make these things cool faster.” he grumbled, shifting impatiently in his chair.

* * *

Mark:

Flames were falling from the sky, and scorching heat was flowing from every house. Every now and again, something would explode, and screams would come from the proximity of the blast.
Mark tried to shut his ears to the screams, staring instead at the swooping dragon. The thing seemed to be enjoying itself, killing the humans that had dared to build in the shadow of its abode.
Mark ducked as it swept by overhead, and gasped at the suddenly increased intensity of the heat.
“Where are we going?” he asked Isabelle, looking up at the dragon as it paused a little away and dropped flames.
“We’re trying to get Alex, I saw his house on fire-, look out!” she suddenly shouted and hurled herself backward.
They had been running toward a small intersection, and just before she had run into it, the dragon had sent fire flying down the cross-street.
Mark tried to take as much of the shock of their fall as he could, then helped Isabelle to her feet.
They glanced around the blackened and smoking corner, then ducked into the alley and sprinted down it.
Mark looked up to see that the dragon had paused again, but suddenly jerked and dropped in altitude slightly.
There was a fading blue stream through the air, and suddenly Mark’s spirits leapt up.
“They’ve hit it!” he cried, trying to contain his excitement, “they hit it with a cannon!”
“Yes they did,” she said, “But they haven’t really hurt it yet.”
Mark saw that it was true. The dragon had merely roared in anger and then flown off.
Presumably to flatten the gun that had dared to mark its precious hide.
“Why are they using shells?” he wondered, shaking his head. No shell would be able to penetrate.
But maybe lasers could.
“Come on Mark, we need to find Alex!” Isabelle was saying, pulling at his arm.
He nodded, snapping his attention back to the present.
They set off down the street at a fast pace, trying to make sure that they remained out of the dragon’s sight.
All around them, buildings were falling, spraying bits of metal and glass in all directions.
Even as Mark watched, one of the guard towers toppled, scattering men from the top.
It crushed many houses before it finally landed, smack in the middle of the town.
Mark looked around, trying to see through the dense smoke. Another building crumbles with a roar and a puff of smoke.
“This is getting really dangerous. Are we sure that we want to do this?” Mark asked, dodging around a pile of burning wood.
Isabelle simply looked at him and then continued onward for a little.
Suddenly, a laser shot burned into the house, just missing her head. The incredible shockwave threw her against the opposite wall, and her clothes flickered and charred from the intense heat.
Mark leapt forward and caught her before she hit the ground.
Now he was in a worse spot than before. He couldn’t carry Isabelle and find Alex at the same time.
He looked around desperately, and then his eyes locked on a small float car. Instantly, he was in it, trying to bypass the computer lock.
The stubborn software refused to give in, and in frustration and desperation, he smashed the computer.
That meant that he lost power steering and height control, but it was better than nothing.
He kicked the accelerator pad, and the car jerked forward, unwillingly turning.
Mark stopped next to the unconscious body of Isabelle, then parked the car. Jumping out, he picked up Isabelle in his arms and placed her in the backseat.
“Hey Mark!” he heard a faint shout, and whipped his head around to see his friend Alex running toward him.
Mark stopped the float car and waited for Alex to catch up. The boy soon did, swinging himself into the seat beside Mark.
“Let’s get out of here!” he cried, his eyes wild.
“What about your family?” Mark asked, putting the float car into power.
“They’re dead!” He cried. “The house collapsed, and they were all inside!”
Mark stared at him, horrified.
“Well, let’s go!” Alex cried, gesturing forward.
Mark swallowed and then increased his speed, sending the float car whirring down the side street they were on.
When it reached the main street, he saw that it was deserted, so he turned onto it and increased to high speed.
Suddenly, a large car pulled out in front of him, flaming. Mark slammed on the brakes, and was thrown hard against his restraints.
Fire licked along the length of the car in front of him, and then the car exploded.
“The thing’s blocking our way!” Alex shouted, then jumped out and ran toward it.
“Alex!” Mark cried, but a snake like voice came from above and behind him.
“Let him go, and save yourself.”
Mark gripped the steering yoke as hard as he could, trying not to scream. The dragon was behind him, standing on the street, and talking to him.
“What has he done for you to save you?” the dragon continued.
Mark didn’t answer, trying not to be sick.
“Think only of yourself, Mark,” the dragon said. The thing knew his name! How in the-?
“Abandon your friends, save yourself, take your girlfriend and go.”
Girlfriend?
Mark slowly turned the float car around, influenced by the dragon’s spell.
To his half deceived mind, the thing looked rather friendly, in spite of the fact that it was spouting fire from its mouth.
But suddenly Mark’s mind freed itself. He saw the dragon for what it was, a deadly, lying monster of death.
“A symbol of Satan indeed.” he said, then raise his voice.
“No!” he shouted toward the dragon, “Alex is my friend, and you will never be able to persuade me to leave him!”
The dragon’s eyes widened in surprise, and for a moment he couldn’t do anything.
Mark took that moment to fire the car’s engines to full power and burn through the air toward Alex’s running form.
“Alex!” he screamed, and the boy glanced back at him.
Mark leaned out of the cab, extended and hand and did one of the stupidest things of his life.
He grabbed onto Alex’s hand, and yanked upward.
His arm was almost torn from its socket, but Alex swung up onto the back of the car.
Mark screamed in pain and drove the car out of the main street. He was just in time as the dragon had recovered and had thrown flames at him.
Mark gasped in pain but focused on driving. They soon saw that the dragon had leapt into the air and was going to land in front of them.
Mark instantly swerved the car into an alley, avoiding the flames that burned down the street.
When he glanced back, he saw that the dragon had taken no further interest in him, and was swirling through the air. It suddenly dodged, and Mark saw that a laser had passed where it had been.
The dragon swirled out of sight, roaring in anger.
Unconsciously, Mark slowed the car. “Only one shot? What happened to the other towers?” he asked under his breath.
“They’ve been destroyed, or the gunners killed most likely.” Alex answered, looking up at the tall buildings.
Mark nodded, then kicked the car into high power once more.
“Are you insane, Mark?” Alex cried, staring at him as though he had indeed lost his wits.
Mark clenched his teeth. Controlling the float car was extremely difficult. “Not yet.” he said,
Mark leaned to the left as he wrenched the control yoke. The float car swerved violently, and then straightened.
Isabelle groaned from the backseat, and Alex climbed back to her.
Mark saw that the street they were on led to the base of a tower, the gun silent of top.
The float car rumbled as it slid to a stop, and then Mark jumped out.
He would kill the dragon, or be killed himself.

* * *

Captain Morgan:

“Preparing to fire!” Morgan shouted and ducked away. The cannon jumped beneath him, and he immediately turned back to the targeting screens.
They had been firing at the dragon nonstop since it had come, and it had as of yet not attacked them.
He could see that it was still enjoying itself, raining fire and death on the stream of refugees trying to escape down the road.
The laser was again cool enough to fire, and the turret swiveled. But the dragon was getting smarter. He would not fly in one direction for long, always hesitating and halting.
This had stopped most of the shots from being direct hits as the turret tried to keep up with his flitting movements.
Even now, the turret was whining as the dragon flipped and swirled. But he stayed going one direction.
The cannon roared, the laser burning through the air toward the dragon.
It was a direct hit, and the dragon rocked beneath the blow, roaring in pain. As it roared, flames flew from its mouth, causing an arc of fire to fly into the darkening sky.
Morgan gasped, and looked over had his co-gunner, whose face was blackened with smoke and oil.
The laser came up to power, and Morgan once again tapped on the image of the dragon.
The laser roared again, but it was a miss, and the dragon swept near. Flames leapt from its jaws, sweeping across the top of Morgan’s tower.
The co-gunner was obliterated by the oncoming fire, but Morgan was sheltered on the lee side of the gun.
The heat caused him to gasp and fall from the turret, choking. The dragon flew on, thinking that everyone there was dead.
But Morgan was still alive. Rolling to put out the fire on his clothes, he glanced up at the swirling form of the dragon and shook his head.
He was too hurt and weak to fire the turret any more. If he couldn’t kill the dragon, what or who could?

* * *

Mark:

He pulled Isabelle, who was half conscious, into the elevator and laid her on the floor.
The other one was locked somewhere, the computer had told him, and there was no way to get it down.
Just as well that this elevator was not locked.
The doors closed with a ding, and they shot upwards. Mark waited impatiently by the doors, but Alex was kneeling by Isabelle.
With another ding, the doors opened on the roof. Mark gasped as heat and smoke poured in, and for a moment thought that the roof was on fire.
But there were no flames, just smoke.
He stepped out into it, to find that it was already dissipating, blown away by the wind from the dragon’s wings.
Mark turned back toward the elevator.
“We’d better leave Isabelle inside here, Alex.” he said, “It’ll be safer there.”
Alex looked up, then nodded. Making sure that the doors would remain open, he left with Mark and strode toward the turret.
“What are you doing here?” they heard a voice rasp from the side, and whirled, terrified.
But it was a man, lying on the ground in a captain’s uniform.
“We hoped to try and kill the beast sir.” Mark said, trying to hold eye contact.
“And throw your lives away?” the captain asked, his voice gentle.
“They are already in ruins, sir.” Mark said, dropping his eyes to his shoes. “And we believe we have nothing to lose. But we have everything to gain.” there was a pleading note in his voice, and the captain nodded slowly.
“But you will probably only get a few shots off.” he said, “I don’t know how much the turret was damaged.”
The two boys nodded, then leapt up onto the turret. Mark saw that it was not that hard to handle, and immediately settled in the target section and tapped the computer screens.
They remained black.
“The computer is out!” Mark cried, jumping out of his seat and looking over at where Alex was staring at his control board.
“But we still have power on the turning mechanism.” Alex said, “And the gun is still working.”
Mark heaved on the turret, straining to move it with his strength alone.
“You’ll never be able to move it alone.” he heard the voice of the captain say, “At least not fast enough to be able to hit the beast.”
“That’s why he won’t be alone.” Mark heard another voice say, and turned to see Isabelle standing in the door of the elevator and smiling up at him.
But it was a grim, hard smile.
In a few moments, she was beside him, heaving on the huge turret as they strained to turn it toward the flying form of the dragon.
The beast now believed himself safe from all fire, and had in fact settled on one of the roofs, raining fire onto the street below.
“Fire, Alex!” Mark gasped, after laboriously lining the barrel up with the golden form of the dragon.
Alex pulled the lever and the barrel tip glowed, and then the gun fired. There was a loud report, and the entire turret jumped from the shockwave.
Far away, the dragon shrieked in pain, and jumped into the air, searching for the tower that was still firing.
But he saw nothing, as he did not look at the tower he had just hit. His mind told him that it would not be used, everyone there being killed.
But maybe one of the other ones had been merely foxing its destruction.
He flew toward the other towers, crashing into them, seeking to knock them over. But they were more sturdily built than that, and he merely ended up pausing on their tops, clutching at them.
It was then that he was hit with a second shot, this one actually burning through a scale.
The pain was immense, and he clutched at the tower, but he was not dead yet.
Mark saw him return to the air and heaved on the turret once more. His arms were already tired, but he forced himself to continue heaving his weight at the turret.
Suddenly, Alex pulled the FIRE lever, and the tip glowed. Mark glanced up just in time to see the turret’s shot slam into the dragon.
By now the dragon was dying. He had lost very much strength, and that last hit was too much. He sprawled on a couple of roofs, weakly trying to lift himself on his claws.
Mark saw the tip of the barrel glow, and knew that this shot would be the last. Sure enough, when the shot hit the dragon, he jerked, and then fell back.
His fires went out, and his body relaxed in death, the cruel claws now harmless.
Mark stared for a long time at the dragon’s body, lungs heaving like a bellows. He was now almost completely exhausted, and the release of strain almost made him faint.
It took about four minutes for people to to realize that the dragon was dead, and that they could set about the business of rebuilding their city.
It took another minute for the cheering to start.