I Hate Dragons

I Hate Dragons
Released	December 2011
Word Count	2,015

I Hate Dragons is a short story written by Brandon Sanderson as part of a dialogue exercise. He wrote the story using only dialogue, although admittedly, he did use large caps and occasionally very descriptive conversation. Some time later, Brandon expanded the short story, putting in descriptions, and added more chapters.

The short story can also be found in Dragon Writers: An Anthology (WordFire Press, 2016).

Summary

Original

Skip has the unusual ability to smell delicious to the dragons, and he can also hear punctuation and spelling when people (or dragons) speak. Because of the former talent, Skip acts as bait in a crew of dragon hunters. The leader of the crew, Master Johnston, only pays Skip in food.

During a hunt, Skip ask Johnston if he can switch roles and become one of the actual hunters instead. Johnston tries to appease him with compliments and a meaningless percentage-based raise.

A dragon then comes, Johnston hides, and Skip gets into his role. The dragon insults Skip's acting and attempts to convince Skip to let himself be eaten. After some time arguing about the roles of humans and dragons in the food chain, Skip pretends to be convinced to get into position for the trap. The hunters then come out and kill the dragon.

Extended

In this version, we get some additional descriptions and details about the world, like that it is a cube. Skip's abilities are called knacks, and most people on his side of the cube have some kind of knack. But the actual plot begins mostly the same as the original version.

After the dragon is dead, Skip reflects on his own mortality. A sorceress takes Johnston's sword and opens the dragons stomach. It is filled with riches, but the sorceress does not find what she was searching for. She tells Johnston to move the hunters into the more-dangerous mountains with larger draconic beasts.

The sorceress then talks to Skip and tries to dissuade him from quitting his role as bait. Skip explains that he does not get paid, and that he wishes to invent a dictionary. The sorceress promises to help him with his dream of writing a dictionary if Skip continues to be bait for a few more weeks. Skip never agrees, but the sorceress seems to think he does. Their conversation ends, a couple hours pass, and Skip finds himself alone and cornered by another dragon.

Notes

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