‘I heard something about that, yes. Quite what I would be doing stealing eighteen-wheelers is anyone’s guess; I don’t even have a driver’s licence. Have you had lunch?’

‘And you’re not bothered!’ I jumped up, my voice rising. ‘There are crowds of people outside waiting for you to die and take over this haven! Doesn’t that worry you?’

Maltcassion stared at me and blinked the lids above his jewel-like eyes.

‘It bothered me once. I am old now, and have been waiting for you for a number of years. But there is another place we can see. Not radio waves or gamma waves but another realm entirely – the cloudy sub-ether of potential outcome.’

‘The future?’

‘Ah, yes!’ said Maltcassion, raising a claw in the air. ‘The future. The undiscovered country. We all journey there, sooner or later. Don’t let anyone tell you the future is already written. The best any prophet can do is to give you the most likely version of future events. It is up to us to accept the future for what it is, or change it. It is easy to go with the flow; it takes a person of singular courage to go against it. It was long foreseen that the Dragonslayer who oversaw the last of our kind would be a young woman of singular mind, remarkable talents and generosity of spirit. She would set us free.’

‘Are you sure you’ve got the right Jennifer Strange?’ I asked, not recognising myself in Maltcassion’s description.

The Dragon changed the subject abruptly.

‘There is more, but it’s all so vague. I could remember it once, but there are so many thoughts in here that it’s difficult to work out.’

‘You heard about King Snodd and the Duke of Brecon lining up for battle?’

‘Yes; all is going to plan, Miss Strange.’

‘All to plan? This is your doing?’

‘Not everything. You will have to trust me on this.’

‘But I don’t understand.’

‘You will, little human, you will. Leave me. I shall see you Sunday morning – and don’t forget your sword.’

‘I won’t come!’ I said as defiantly as you can in front of forty tons of Dragon.

‘Yes you will,’ answered Maltcassion soothingly. ‘It is out of your hands as much as it is out of mine. The Big Magic has been set in motion and nothing will stop it.’

‘This is the Big Magic? You, me, the Dragonlands?’

He shrugged in a very human-like manner which seemed vaguely comical.

‘I know not. I cannot see beyond noon on Sunday; there can be only one reason for that. Premonitions come true because people want them to. The observer will always change the outcome of an event; the millions of observers we have now will almost guarantee it. You and I are just small players in something bigger than either of us. Leave now. I will see you on Sunday.’