I found myself standing in front of the largest squirrel I had ever seen. The monster towered over me and looked down with an obvious smirk. "My, you really pissed off someone didn't you?" the creature asked.
"What the hell is going on!" I roared.
Actually, I squeaked. A little tiny squeak. The sound panicked me, and I began running in circles until the squirrel grabbed me up by the scruff of the neck and shook me a couple of times.
This was it. I was about to become squirrel kibble.
"Calm down, guy. Why is it you dragons fall apart so easily?" He shook me again and then put me down in the very tall grass. "It's not the end of the world. What is the last thing you recall before you showed up here?"
I tried to stop hyperventilating because that made me squeak more. The squirrel waited.
"I flew over the village and headed to take my choice of the sheep. Nothing different from any other Saturday. Well, except someone had moved into the old tower. I swept around it, and a man appeared at the window. Impolite guy. He started yelling and said, if I didn't go away, I'd be sorry."
"And?"
"And I'm a dragon," I said and spread my wings. Yeah, that was impressive. "I flew around it two more times. The old guy leaned out the window waving his stick and yelling at me."
"Old guy. Stick. Did he, by chance, wear a long blue robe with symbols embroidered on it?"
I thought back. "Yes, he did."
"What color was his hair?"
"Long and gray," I said.
"Good."
"Or maybe silver."
"Bad."
"Why?"
The squirrel's tail twitched as something huge with wings swept overhead. I had the odd feeling I knew how sheep felt. It was not pleasant.
"Watch out for the ravens," he warned. "But about the guy -- he must have been a mage. If he was gray-haired, he was human. If he was silver-haired, he was fae."
"And that makes a difference? I thought they were all about the same."
"Not so much. Human mages grow old, sometimes lose the threads of their old spells -- and suddenly you're released from the magic. Fae, though, never forget, and they are immortal."
"Ack."
"Best not to dwell on it. I'm Graytail, by the way. I'm one of the guardians -- placed here by mages as well. What should I call you?"
I almost began the recitation of my 123 names, one for each year of my life -- but that was a bit pretentious for something that had to stand on his back legs to see over the grass.
"Einian," I said with a nod, giving my last year name. I suspected this year's name was going to be 'Tiny.'
"Come on. I'll show you around Smallville. Just a warning, though. Some of those who show up here are bad-tempered and rude. You aren't the first dragon to arrive, and the others haven't always done well. Don't pick fights. Don't get belligerent at all. The bunnies don't like it. You don't want to make the bunnies mad."
I thought about cute little bunnies -- and then realized they'd be closer to Graytail's size than mine. Yeah, don't annoy the bunnies.
I also thought about revenge. I could maybe bite the mage's nose while he slept. There we go. That would make me feel better.
"Why am I here?" I asked as we passed through an opening carved in some rocks. "Why do we arrive at this place?"
"Some kind-hearted mage set up a portal to grab those hit by a shrink spell and drop them here so they can be safe. So here we are." He ducked his head as we passed through the rocks. I didn't need to.
We came out of the opening into a massive town of stone and adobe buildings and filled with all manner of magical creatures. I couldn't see the far side of the settlement. I must have been ... hundreds of yards across.
A set of trolls stomped by and scowled. They were barely four inches high. Local tough guys, I guessed from the way Graytail sighed. I had the feeling he was tired of people causing trouble.
The squirrel gave me a tour of the upper town, found me a place to stay on a roof, and explained the rules -- most of which were variations on don't cause trouble.
"Food shows up for free at the cafes. We appreciate it if some of you help out with building and maintenance, but mostly you are free to do anything but cause trouble. I'll tell you more about the history of the place later. Right now -- trouble."
I was not surprised the problem was the two trolls. They had cornered a young pixie about a quarter of their size and were yelling at her. Everyone knew pixies were easy to intimidate, and it just annoyed me to see them frighten her.
"Hey," I said and pushed my way in between the two trolls. "Stop it."
"Ha!" the slightly larger one to the right laughed. "What are you going to do? You aren't such a big guy now, dragon."
"Guess what? Neither are you."
I whipped my tail around, caught him in the chest, and sent him flying a few feet. Well, maybe inches -- but it was far for him. He landed in a bush.
I looked at his partner.
"Right," Troll Two said. "Later."
He hurried away.
Graytail had calmed the pixie. I wondered what she could have done to get sent here. Probably a prank. Pixies loved pranks, and they didn't know when to quit. She gave me a quick nod and fluttered off.
"You know, I think you are going to do alright here, Einian. Let's go have a bite to eat and discuss a proposition I have for you."
And that's how I became the Sheriff of Smallville. I have a few tales to tell, too. Later.
No comments:
Post a Comment