The Guardian

 

Hello, what's this? Travelers. We don't get travelers very often here.

It's not a big town. The usual town square, some merchants buying and selling wares made almost exclusively right here, a couple of inns hosting almost exclusively people from right here - sometimes you just want a dinner someone else has cooked. Or you're working on the house, and in the meantime you need a room to sleep in with a solid roof over it. This is a very circular economy, the money in town just goes around and around.

It works. It's quiet. We love it here.

I mean. There is of course the occasional, unavoidable livestock loss. But it's invariably the older, less hardy ones. The ones that might not have made it through the winter. As losses go, it can be overlooked.

In exchange, the roads into and out of town are safe. One hundred percent, guaranteed, no equivocation. Safe. And the whole town is safe. Kids can play outside after dark. Strangers are not a threat - guaranteed.

So when the travelers come sauntering up toward the east gate - I can barely remember the last time the gate was even closed, even before the underbrush was allowed to grow up so close to the town wall, that's how safe this town is - I was there to meet them.

There were four of them: three men, one woman. The woman was the tallest, with muscles, armor and a sword. The sword looked a little short for her but otherwise she looked competent. A couple of scars attested that she wasn't inexperienced. The men were Small, Medium and Large; the largest carried a hammer and shield but looked barely strong enough to use the hammer as a weapon. Maybe he would be using it to split wood? He almost certainly wasn't a fighter, but the other two...maybe.

"Welcome, friends...if friends you be."

They jumped. They hadn't spotted me in my hiding spot. I'll be honest, I do enjoy surprising folks. I'm pretty good at staying out of sight. Being a guard can be unexciting; you find ways to pass the time. Me, I hide. The kids love it when I pop out and surprise them.

"Hello? We're here to help you with your problem."

"Help is always welcome. But to what problem are you referring?"

"The word we heard, from three towns away," and the tall young man with the war hammer gestured vaguely over his shoulder, meaning there were about nine towns to choose from in less than a week's walk, "was that there's a monster here threatening the town. And if that's the case, we'd like to help you get rid of it."

Hmm. "'Threatening the town,' you say? Are you sure you heard that rumor correctly?" They looked at each other. "Well...yes? They told us this town, they said there was a monster and a threat."

Oh dear. "Ah, poo. I'm afraid you've been taken in. There is a monster, but he's only here to deal with threats, not be a threat. There's no enmity between the dragon and the town at all, but an equitable exchange of services and goods. Townsfolk get a guardian, dragon gets a steer once in a while. It works out for everyone."

The travelers shuffled their feet. "That doesn't make sense. Will you please show yourself? It's strange, talking to a person we can't see." As their spokesman addressed me, Small was moving carefully around, getting away from the middle of the road.

"Stay put, please. Stay where I can see you clearly."

"But we can't see you."

"Yes, well, you're not the gatekeeper, and I am. I'm deciding whether to let you through the gate or not."

"We're only here to fight the dragon."

"Why? Did he insult your mother, or something? Leave him be, he's not bothering you and we'd much prefer you not bother him. We get along around here. Don't start any trouble and there won't be any trouble. That was the deal between the town and the dragon, and it's held so far."

They talked amongst themselves. I couldn't hear it all, but one thing I did catch was, "...doesn't sound like he's afraid of any dragons or anything else..."

"I think you folks have wasted a trip. Listen, it's getting late and you shouldn't travel after dark. Why don't you take a couple of rooms at the inn for the night, and you can start your journey back home in the morning?"

Again, they conferred. "Well, okay. Where is it?"

I stood up from my hiding spot in the bushes and pointed with my tail over the town wall. "It's right over there on the far side of the square. See the sign? 'The Dragon's Deal,' very clean and the doors lock from the inside, though I assure you that if any harm comes to you in the night, I'll harm the ones that did it ere long. Okay?"

A-ha. The men are making The Face, the face that means Oh Dear and Oh Shit and We're Screwed all at once, but the woman is smiling. Clearly, she's been around. "Okay."

I stretched my wings briefly. They do cramp up when I hold still to hide. I'm very good at hiding. The kids love it when I surprise them.

-end-