longwings and regal coppers , heavy-combat dragons and the rarer breeds , no expense or difficulty would be spared to preserve ; but for the rest - common yellow reapers or quick-breeding winchesters ; older dragons likely to be difficult when their captains died ; the weaker or less-skilled flyers ; these , a brutal political calculus would not count worth the saving , and leave to die in neglect and misery , isolated undoubtedly in the most distant quarantines which could be arranged .