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Grethe's blood was mixed. She looked rather human on the outside, but was much like a dragon on the inside. She certainly had a dragon's vices. She'd been a plague on the country for quite a while, eating livestock, stealing valuables, and terrifying anyone she met, but her reign of terror had come to an end.
When the knights stormed her lair she was easily cornered and put in chains. They were pleased with the bloodless victory, but aggrieved by the lack of spoils. The dragon's den should've contained a king's ransom in gold, silver, and gems. All they found were bones, clothing, and a few trinkets. The knights were men of honor and mercy. They promised to release Grethe if she returned the stolen valuables, but she wouldn't so much as open her mouth when they asked where she'd hidden them.
When the knights moved the prisoner they put together the puzzle. She was weighed down by the treasure she'd hidden away before her lair had been penetrated. They stripped her bare, but she was still heavy with loot. She must've hidden it inside herself, leaving only what was too large to fit down her gullet. She'd become a living treasure chest, one her captors were determined to unlock. Too honorable to kill the captive and raid her corpse, they decided to let nature take its course.
Grethe now lived behind stone walls and iron bars, chained to a bench with a hole in the seat like a child forced to sit on the potty. Each morning the guards fed her and replaced the pot underneath the bench, but there was never anything but liquid inside. Her greed was so great that she maintained possession of her wealth by denying herself relief from the miserable fullness of her bowels. She sat there defiantly day after day, a permanent scowl upon her face, a permanent constriction upon her fundament, a magnificent bounty within her distended belly.