One moment Geiss was in the middle of her herd, grazing and ruminating, the next she was running along with all the others towards a group of trees, fleeing from a dragon. While the others sped ahead she didn't even come close to the cover before she felt claws around her back, digiing into her flanks and lifting her off the ground. She struggled and bleated as she was carried away. Of course that didn't help at all.
The goat hadn't stopped its struggles once throughout the entiry flight. Hunting in itself was an activity he loved - exerting himself, speeding up, outsmarting his prey... He felt alive when he did that.
Hunting for food was something else. There were dragons who had no second thoughts about killing a sentient creature, but he wasn't one of them. He felt guilty.
The goat had been cursing him, pleading and crying, all the while flailing her legs. He hadn't responded once.
When they reached the cave her struggles became less energetic. This didn't seem due to acceptance or resignation but simple exhaustion.
Claw couldn't bring himself to snap her neck just like that, so he sat there for a while, staring out of his empty cave and tried to ignore the moving body in his claw.
It didn't work.
"Let me go!" This wasn' screaming anymore, this was whining.
He looked down onto the goat and finally spoke. "I cannot do that. Like any living thing I need to eat."
Geiss started wailing and tears began running down her face once again. "I don't want to die, I don't want to die, oh let me go you monster!" She started screaming.
Claw felt a pang, guilt and panic rising in his belly. Why had she so much energy left, why wouldn't she stop torturing herself?
"Calm down, calm down! Just stop struggling, you're only making it worse!", he pleaded "Why can't you try to enjoy your last moments!"
The goat stopped screaming and stared up to the dragons eyes.
"Enjoy... my... LAST... MOMENTS? WHAT THE... EASY FOR YOU TO...", she screamed and then broke down crying again.
Well, that was definitely a very sensible thing to say, he thought. "Look, I'm sorry, I know this...."
"You're sorry! That's very comforting to know and makes it a lot easier for me to be EATEN! I hope I taste well!"
"Hey now, it's not like I am enjoying this!"
"Oh, how I pity you!"
"At least i am trying to make this easier for you!"
"Ah, so you don't kill me right this instant because you need to relieve your guilt first!"
Claws cringed. When she put it this way his guilt for planning to kill her was accompanied by the guilt for thinking how to comfort her so that eating her wouldn't taste as bitter. At the same time it wasn't fair that he had endure scolding while the ones who hadn't his ethical standards and fed on goats as if there was nothing else to do hadn't to deal with any of this. It made his heart pump faster and his teeth grind.
"So, you would rather have me kill you right now?" he hissed.
"NO! I wanna LIVE!"
"Thought so."
There was a silence. His heart slowed down again and he made a conscious effort to relax his jaws.
