"Lying? That's not possible."

"Oh, it is, darling. In the human world, we call it a stratagem or a ruse. He just wants you to think he has got the entire dragon on his back, so you will give the throne up without a fight."

"So, there's a thing like that?" Fred drew away from the window and approached me, staring at me like he was seeing me for the first time. "You mean to say he wants to scare us into thinking he had everything under control when he didn't?"

"Exactly."

"Wow. That's unexpected." ...