After another fruitless day of searching, Donovan sat staring into his mug, despondently. If he didn't find this phantom soon, he'd be out of luck. Staying here at the inn wasn't costing him much, but after so many weeks, his funds were nearly dry.

"And then what, mighty dragon hunter?" he muttered to himself. "Where do you go from here? I'll tell you where, nowhere, that's where." His bleary eyes noticed that the mug he was staring into had somehow emptied itself. He waved his hand in the air.

"C'mere, I's need more of this stuff."

The inkeep's daughter wove her way between tables towards him. Nothing's right, he thought to himself, disjointedly, none of the stories came true. No evil dragon, no grateful townsfolk, not even a winsome inkeeper's daughter. The girl bearing a mug toward him could hardly be more than fourteen.

She plunked it down in front of him, and then started to move off, but hesitated. Glancing around at the mostly empty room, she leaned over the table and looked at the drunken would-be dragon-slayer.

"Sir? Why do you want to kill the dragon?" She asked, her head tilted to one side in a gesture of curiosity.

"Why? ‘Cause it's mos' likely dangerous, tha's why. Dragons don' live near villages, ‘cept when they're up to somthin' so this one's mos' likely trouble."

"But what if she isn't?"

"Maybe be the best that way, then. I don' know if I kin kill the thin' anyway. If the thin' is, is. . ." His lost track of what he was saying for a minute before finding it again. "If it wants," he pronounced very carefully, "to be friends, that's good. Always good to have friends."

The girl was peering down at him. Tall, he thought to himself, she's awfully tall for a little chit like that, how'd she get so tall? Then his head met the table and he was out of it.

Serali shook her head. She'd seen plenty of drunks in her life, but it was still pitiful to see a grown man collapse like that. He hadn't drunk quite that much on any of the previous evenings, but apparently his lack of success was getting to him. I'll talk to him in the morning, she thought, maybe I'll have more luck then. But I'm becoming more and more certain that I'm safe, that he doesn't really want to kill me.