I wanted both. I mean, who doesn’t like dogs and dragons in a story? Look what it did for A Song of Fire and Ice and George R.R. Martin. I had a dog. Long sequence with Will living on the street in Barstow and befriending a dog. Turned out the dog liked what Will could provide from dumpster diving more than he liked Will. When it came to a choice between eating or comraderie, both Will and the dog chose eating.
Wouldn’t you?
With the current COVID-19 kerfuffle, people are joking about buying treats for their pets to fatten them up so that they’re better eating when civilization collapses and Walmart can’t stock Little Debbie Snack Cakes anymore.
They are joking, right?
Anyway, the dog sequence got caught in pursuit of a word count closer to 100K. I still like the dog. Maybe he’ll make a comeback in future volumes.
What about the dragons?
I settled for a wingless, flightless dragon who couldn’t breath fire. I called it a dinosaur. There may be dragons in some of the unexplored realms referenced in the book. I just haven’t found them yet. They’re probably in the Muddled Times Plaza in the mountains outside Orc Town. Maybe in the Wilds.
What about combining them? Have a dragon dog? The closest thing I remembered was that thing from Neverending Story. Not my favorite.
Then I found this:
He’s not mine, but I’d adopt one at the shelter. He just might figure prominently in a future story.