Now Karth here was a dragon. He had a special love for treasure of all sorts, as all dragons do, and he took pride in all of the treasures he'd come to possess. But like all dragons, he too had to pull himself away from his mountain cave and all its glory to hunt for food. Oh, any living creature would do, of course, but nothing tasted ever so fine as a human. And so it was that found Karth, all asparkle with his glittering scales like stained glass of the deepest blue, stalking the forests below his mountain home in search of a proper meal, for he had not had a good meal in days. Of course, dragons did not need to eat very often, as they spent most of their time sleeping upon the piles of their treasures, hibernating until they needed to eat, or to defend their horde.

It did not take long for the dragon to sniff out the scent of a human, and began to stalk his quarry. The human was a young female; the tastiest kind, in his own very not humble opinion. For it was well known that dragons thought very highly of themselves. They also liked riddles. A dragon could spend years debating riddles with other dragons. Despite a dragon's ego, however, they were by no means stupid. They were clever, deceitful, and had tongues of the purest silver. They could beguile anyone into trusting them, only to snatch them away for a crispy dinner.

But Karth was not very interested in exchanging deceptive words with this human. And so he gave his dinner no warning. Pouncing forward from his hiding place, Karth snatched up the young female in his well-kept talons and flew off with her, back towards his cliffside cavern, really quite pleased with himself for managing to catch her unawares, since dragons were certainly not small creatures, and nor were they easily camouflaged.