Guards Guards - draco nobilisi

“Draco nobilis,” she said hoarsely.

“Pardon?” said Vimes.

“Draco nobilis. The Noble dragon. As opposed to these fellows-” she waved a hand in the direction of the massed ranks of whistling lizards-“Draco vul-garis, the lot of them. But the big ones are all gone, you know. This really is a nonsense. No two ways about it. All gone. Beautiful things, they were. Weighed tons. Biggest things ever to fly. No-one knows how they did it.”

And then they realised.

It was suddenly very quiet.

All along the rows of kennels, the dragons were silent, bright-eyed and watchful. They were staring at the roof.

***

Guards Guards - 117