Green Dragon

"It’s been three days. I grow impatient."

The general looked at the figure before him. He had watched as the serpent shifted its shape into the form of a man, a handsome young soldier in green armor.

"We can’t march in during a thunderstorm, sir," said the general. "We’d have no visibility. We would be lucky to make half a mile in an hour, with all the mud…​ and we don’t know where we’re going."

"Don’t you think it strange," asked the dragon, "that this torrent begins every day before dawn and ends every day after dusk?"

"It is strange," said the general. "But we still can’t go in. We’d be sitting ducks for an ambush."

"So what you’re telling me," said the dragon, "Is that you and your men are useless right now."

The general bristled, but said nothing.

"Fine," said the serpent. "Your men can shiver in camp. Storm or no storm, tomorrow I’m going in there myself."