Candy from a Baby
by Alan Clark
For years, the people of the town of Noname have told tales of 'their' dragon: a huge, ancient, and evil wyrm who lives in the high hills to the west. His treasure hoard, they say, must be vast. Many daring and powerful adventurers have gone to seek it. None have returned.
Imagine the consternation when, one perfectly ordinary morning, an enormous dragon is found dead, apparently of old age, at the edge of town. Word spreads like the wind. Drawn by the prospect of an unguarded dragon's hoard, fortune hunters of every stripe are swarming into Noname. Many of the bolder townsfolk are outfitting for a trip into the hills, or have already left.
And no wonder. A fortune is out there just waiting for you, yes, you, to claim it! That is, if the other fortune hunters don't get there (or get you) first. And if nothing else lurks in the dragon's lair. And if the dead dragon was the dragon. And if you can handle the many and deadly ambushes that await any who make it back to Noname. And if there ever was a treasure in the first place.
(Originally appeared in Re:Quests!, issue #34, June 1994, p. 33; Mary H Kelly, editor.)
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