A Desperate Plan

"You might be surprised to learn that we have already built two catapults and carts, which of course are well hidden. This will be the third. We plan to have them firing at the dragon from different directions. And we are going to get them as high up the walls of the valley as we can manage, to ensure a clear line of sight and to increase the damage that a hit will cause."

"Given their weight, you are going to need a great deal of effort to pull them even a short distance up the slope. And though height will make the projectiles more effective, I'm still not convinced that - even if you could get a direct hit - you would do much damage to the dragon. The princess is another matter, though. With rocks raining down from more than one direction, there would be no cover for her. You would probably be signing her death warrant."

"We have thought of that. We plan to dig a small but deep pit, and to cover it with rushes so that it is not obvious to the dragon. The princess is going to dive into the pit at the last moment. Unless a projectile should make a direct hit on the pit, which would be very unlucky given the angle at which they will be descending, she will be protected."

"It still sounds very risky."

"She is willing to take the risk. She knows that - as I said earlier - she is living on borrowed time. If the dragon should capture her again, she would either be killed or imprisoned so securely that there would be no possibility of another escape. So she feels that she has nothing to lose, as she would sooner die than spend the rest of her life in thrall to the wyrm."

"But can your projectiles really kill the dragon?"

"They don't have kill him, but merely to disable him sufficiently for long enough that we can finish him off with swords or crossbows at close range. Yes, it is a desperate plan and could well fail, but we agreed that it was worth trying."

"Who is this 'we'? The whole of your community?"

"Not quite. There were one or two that we did not tell, for fear that they would betray us to the dragon out of self-preservation. For if our attempt should fail, the dragon will have this valley thoroughly searched, and it will be the end for all of us."

1. Fred, rather reluctantly, accepts the plan.
2. Fred suggests an improvement.
3. Fred suggests that it would be better to try something completely different.

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