A dragon attacks:
fifty feet long;
scale-armor;
muscle;
a large snake head;
bat wings;
iron talons.
"Downward the monster slanted, overhauling them with nightmare speed." (p. 64)
Is the word, "nightmare," a giveaway? Will Holger's entire experience of the Carolingian universe turn out to have been a dream? He has already considered that explanation:
"...unless he was dreaming (and he doubted that more and more; what dream was ever so coherent?)..." (CHAPTER THREE, p. 25)
Meanwhile, we remember Ariel's butterfly wings. An Andersonian hero, at least one who is also a twentieth century engineer, has to ask:
"...what amendment to the square-cube law permitted that hulk to fly?" (ibid.)
Holger also wonders about the metabolism. There is some speculation here. He smells sulfur dioxide.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
In this context, of course, the "nightmare" felt by Holger and his friends was based on sheerly helpless terror.
Not just Ariel's wings! I still remember how an astronomer derided the absurd wings pf that devil in "Pact."
Of course a scientifically trained 20th century engineer would HAVE to wonder how a fire breathing dragon could fly! Some kind of heavier than air beast flying like an ornithopter with an internal combustion of some weirdly "natural" kind?
And wouldn't a flying, fire breathing "worm" have to EAT a lot simply to maintain its metabolism? Or since dragons are sometimes described as sleeping for long periods, their metabolisms might "cool" down to long periods of dormancy unless aroused.
Ad astra! Sean
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