"Please hold still," came the deep, rumbling voice. "I'll make this quick. I promise you it
will not hurt."

"I will not hold still!" came the somewhat incredulous reply. "How can you possibly expect me
to?"

A deep sigh. "Come, now," the voice said. "We both know that this is the only possible way that
this can end. It is nothing personal."

"Nothing personal?!" came the Rider's reply.

Eomer stared in disbelief up at the huge red dragon sitting on the grass in front of him. His
horse had long since run away in terror, galloping mindlessly away as fast as it could over Rohan's
green grasslands.

"Nothing personal? You land here, scare away my horse, tell me you are going to eat me, then say
it is not personal? It is to me!"

The dragon sighed again, a hint of frustrated exasperation evident in the great gust of air. "No,
it is not personal. I am hungry. You are food. I am going to eat you. Can't we be civilized
about this?"

"Civilized?" Eomer exclaimed. "Dragons are monsters! They're not civilized!"

He realized his mistake as soon as the words left his mouth, but by then it was too late to hold
them back.

The dragon cocked its head to one side, blinking slowly as it thought over the Rider's words.
Coming to a conclusion, it shook its head and looked to Eomer, eyes glazing over with hunger.
Its large tongue snaked out of its mouth, licked hard lips. "You know, you're right! Dragons
*are* supposed to be monsters!"

Then the huge head snapped forward and ate up Eomer in a single gulp.

With a satisfied rumble, the dragon unfurled its great wings and took to the air.

The Rider had made a wonderful appetizer, but the dragon was still hungry. It had a sudden
craving for horse.

END