Thinking of ways for characters to outwit each other can be hard. That third one especially, though, takes the cake for inventiveness.

Overall pretty good job. I must admit I'm rather fascinated with the way the ending was left open; the idea of the hatchlings, once they are old enough, having to struggle with their identities and and having to decide if they were unjustly forced into becoming the thing they hated most, is most intriguing.

I am very happy to hear that you enjoyed this story. Even a small number of interested readers, such as yourself, really contribute to making the writing be worthwhile to me.

The ending is left open for exactly that reason, and it's also why I won't write a sequel to this. Maybe Mirav's and Ophelia's plan will work out... or maybe they made a horrible, horrible mistake. It's something for the reader to think about themselves, rather than have me say something like, "Yes, they lived happily ever after."

Do feel free to comment again anytime if you have any more thoughts.

An interesting one to say the least. Fighting the mechanisms of fate is something that I suppose everyone ponders when inconvenienced by the way life turns out sometimes. I always love to see a good clash of cunning. I've always believed that the mind is the greatest of all weapons. It's why I always game as a mage. It's a bit different where magic is concerned and intellect does actually correlate to a corporeal medium of strength. The idea is the same though. Sometimes the direct approach, in this case, slaying the slayers, just doesn't work. So it takes some creativity to truly vanquish ones foe.

First, thanks for reading. Really.

It appears that you understood the story well, and I don't have much to say in reply, other than that I agree. I've been known to play the odd game, and I have a strong aversion to anything that doesn't allow me to add my own personal style to the play.

Hope to hear from you again, and always feel free to comment a second time if any afterthoughts occur to you.

From a literary standpoint, I quite like the fact that you didn't come right out and say that they were dragons for the first page. Really sets the scene nicely and lets you start to grow attached to them with no sort of species bias or prejudice.

Character-wise, very solid personalities and quite unique individuals. All struck me as living and breathing folks, which is always the treat in a story. For the slayers in particular, the crafting of a trap for each of them was a cool idea that brought out the type of person they were.

A couple scenes particularly struck with me, the first absolutely being the feral dominance and intoxication at having Gerrik powerless. Something I very much enjoy, so seeing it illustrated in words so nicely was wonderful. Add to that the almost lustful sensation of losing oneself in eating, and you've got a winner for sure. *grin*

I also liked how it wrapped up in the end, a very interesting loophole to take care of the party...and one that may or may not to prove a good idea. The open ended-ness of it was nice.

Also, paladins are so gullible. *chuckles*

That's some extremely good deep thinking there, sir. Not many notice (or at least, haven't mentioned) the species ambiguity on the first page. My original purpose of it was to add a little initial confusion on whose side the viewpoint character is on -- and that whatever the case, he has an unusually non-violent temperament.

Indeed, although Mirav is intelligent and thoughtful -- even spiritual at times -- he is still a dragon, and does have a certain feral instinct within him. As do we all, if I may be so bold to suggest it. Naturally, it's not always (realistically) easy to be intelligent and thoughtful while swallowing someone larger than you're used to, especially when they're wearing bulky and vile-tasting armor.

And yes yes yes, absolutely, on the ending. I don't even know if it was a good idea. It could backfire very terribly, and do far more damage than simply getting Mirav and Ophelia killed. On the other claw, maybe they'll succeed in doing the things they mention, and it will all work out. Since I have no intention of doing a sequel on this, I guess it'll always be a mystery.

And regarding paladins: Gerrik never trained his stamina, Croix never trained his magic safety, and the paladin... never trained his common sense. :)

While the prospect of a sequel to a good story is often something one pines for, I'm glad you're not doing it for this. That would ruin the mystery and thought-provoking aspect of this.

This was a really fun story =)

I too liked the start, as it kinda has that "normal people" feel to it. Normal thinking? Not sure how to put it. Kartonis says it best probably.

Heh, I think this is the kind of stuff I look for when I'm out there trying to do RP'ish things. Nothing is ever as deep and meaningful though. I really liked how they each had a flaw to exploit and loved the fear involved in it, once they were caught ;) The paladin didn't seem to have a "cowardly" touch though, compared to the other two. I liked how one had a poison blade and the other an immobility trap. Maybe I missed the paladin. He didn't seem so cowardly, just, blinded by his rules and faith.

Anyway, this is PURELY MY OPINION!!!! ... I love stories where dragon slayers slay a dragon that truly deserves it. It's satisfying. I love stories where dragons defeat the dragon slayers and it's obvious the dragon wasn't that bad and just defending itself! [and usually involves OM NOM! Which admittedly is a reason I read!] I'm always a little sad though.... when dastardly, mean, blunt minded individuals get turned into dragons. =P Ok, the paladin maybe... he seemed ok actually. The other two? They deserve to be neat little piles of poo!!!! =P =) Just my opinion though ;)

You write incredibly well, you find the perfect words to go with everything =) I'll have to read more stuff! [Direct me to something interesting even!]

Thank you for reading, and thank you even more for the comment.

You know, I... I didn't really think about making each of the three hunters "cowardly". Certainly, I wanted to give them individual flaws, and a good bit of fear once they realized they were in over their heads.

The "cowardly" bit was a bit hypocritical of them to be using, but it was supposed to be a semi-accirate, semi-ironic term for Mirav, himself. He is a bit cowardly -- if by cowardly, we mean that he didn't run out there and take all three of them on at once, roaring and snarling and breathing fire and doing other stereotypically dragon things. No, he engaged on his own terms, one at a time, and exploited precise weaknesses.

As for the ending... Certainly, I like an ending where sadistic "dragonslayers" get what's coming to them. In this case, though, we might assume that Mirav has tried that somewhere on the order of four times in the past (and maybe to plenty of other would-be heroes). Maybe, in this one case, the only option left is to take a chance and attempt to redeem the irredeemable. Mirav is peaceful. It pains him to do harm to others. The dragons rathered to relocate than to keep being forced to kill in self-defense.

As for directions to something else interesting, I do of course invite you to check out my other stories. However, little is immediately coming to mind that's similar to Cowardly Wyrm. There is, of course, 'The Best' by Margaret Weis (skip to page 209) -- actually ... ahem ... a small bit of inspiration for Cowardly Wyrm. if I recall correctly. Doesn't have any eating though, which is disappointing.

Let me know if you'd like to talk about dragon stories some more.

I definitely got the fear part =) In fact, as a .... lover of Om and Nom... I was a little sad that I didn't get to hear "their inner voice" when it came to being eaten alive. It was definitely portrayed a bit, but a lot more on Mirav's side =) Still, fantastic. Just enough to be awesome and not over bearing.

You know, I did see that at the beginning. Or it was hinted that Mirav tried a lot of things, and I didn't know if your world where he exist in had "resurrection" I guess, or the ability to transfer out of a body when dead, to another. I was assuming that was hinted at in the beginning. I guess that was a touch confusing, but only in the manner of "Reformation" is strange to me the person =)

But very cool! I'll dig around and read another some time =)

Ah, yes, the idea was that they're being reincarnated in more of a Buddhism sense. For simplicity's sake (and because the universe is apparently conspiring against the poor dragons), they have the same names and are the same species. The kicker is that their skill/talent carries over between lives, too.

Wasn't really supposed to be "reforming" as the contemporary vore term goes. I actually really despise overt reforming. As you voiced an interest in stories being deep and meaningful, perhaps you can agree that a Reset Button is anything but.

Ya, it's mostly just... with reformation/rebirth there shouldn't be fear... if you actually remember your life from before that is. I guess the pain and torment is enough to be fearful of such a thing [Especially being eaten alive!] But when you know you can't, or never will die... Why care? Chioxin comes from a game named Horizons/Istaria, and I really dislike how no one fears death there. "I'll toss myself into battle! It's fine! I can be reckless! Death means nothing!" To fix this, death means a lot to Chioxin, especially the older he gets there. It's not that there's a limit to being killed and rising again, it's just a painful trip to die. It's not easy to him, and somewhat horrific. It's a short trip to the other side, which he comes back from, but not with out the weight of seeing those who are no longer there, or those he couldn't help... or those he was responsible for putting there.