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English
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Published:
2019-10-06
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1,028
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1/1
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The Importance Of An "O"

Summary:

He got a letter from a faraway village.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

It is our hope that this letter should reech the one called Gallanoth. We've heard of your prou prowez strength in battle, and we are in need of your help. Our animals are being stolen from us, and the village maidins dare not leave the site of their kin without a guard for fear they get stolen to. We are under atack, good sir, and we recwi need your aid......

-----

He got a letter from a faraway village shortly after waking up one morning.

That wasn't particularly unusual. Usually, when a faraway village asked him to take care of their dragon problems, they'd send one of their own to tell him the story, potentially while still on fire, but Galanoth had gotten the occasional letter from a town that couldn't afford to sent someone away and hope that they find him in time.

It was actually kind of a nice change of pace. Getting a job from a piece of paper instead of a person meant that he didn't have to pretend to be all grand and serious at 4 am or 11 pm or whatever time they finally reached him, and he didn't have to feel like a jerk for not wanting to invite someone on fire into his log house.

Galanoth had no idea why it was always the ones on fire that wanted to be invited into his house. It's like they forget that they're on fire.

He sipped a mug of coffee as he examined the letter, flipping it over to note that there was a crude map scrawled on the back. It probably wasn't accurate, but at least they tried.

Oh well. Time to get travelling.

-----

Galanoth arrived at the village maybe three days later to the usual amount of shouting peasants and crowding children all amazed to see him as he rode in.  

It was always kind of amazing how no matter how many different villages he traveled to, or what kind of dragon (or dragons) he was dealing with, the people always reacted the same.

He hopped off his horse and asked around for whoever could tell him more about the attacks, eventually ending up in a house that was much too small to fit someone of the dragonslayer's substantial height sitting awkwardly on a couch while the village seamstress described their last run-in with the dragons.

There were many of them, apparently, somewhere between four and a dozen.  That caught Galanoth's attention.  Dragons didn't usually work in groups.

They came under the cover of night and ransacked the village, stealing whatever livestock they liked and breaking whatever they didn't, usually by setting it on fire and crushing it underfoot.  There was a cave that they were hiding in during the day, and the seamstress could easily show him where it was, but considering the vast danger none of the villagers dared to go their themselves.

He didn't begrudge them.  Taking on great danger for the sake of others wasn't a job that just everyone could do.  Galanoth thanked the woman for her assistance and headed out to check the caves surrounding the village for his quarry.

If the dragons came out at night to hunt, then logically they would be asleep during the day.  And while there was little glory to be had in killing a sleeping foe, more dragons in one spot meant more ways that this job could be his last.

-----

He didn't do many hunts in the middle of the day.

Usually by the time Galanoth reached whatever hole a dragon had decided to curl up in, dusk had already fallen.  Not this time.  He didn't want to catch the dragons awake if he could help it, and the villagers were starting to ask him exceedingly personal questions about his past hunts anyways so he was happy to leave them.

He found the cave soon enough, at least.  It was the only one with a glow coming from inside.

Galanoth checked the lights dancing along the far edge of the cave wall.  Yellow and orange by the looks of things, but not very bright; there was a fire burning in this cave, which meant one of the dragons was awake.  However... with how dim the firelight was, it had to be fairly small.  Probably a juvenile fire dragon that just realized livestock were a lot easier to catch than wild game.

The dragonslayer eased up the grip on his sword, just a little bit.  Juveniles were easy prey.  He wouldn't even need to be careful like he would with a regular dragon; even if the damned lizard were still awake it wouldn't be strong enough or experienced enough to cause him much trouble.  Then when that was taken care of, finishing off the rest of the dragons would be a cinch.  He might even be able to start heading out of this village by nightfall.

Head high and steps unbothered, Galanoth rounded the corner into the cave's mouth, ready to charge at the dragon and kill it, and—

And—

And there was no dragon.

Instead, eight men sat meandering around a campfire, while eight horses watched them from a distance. Every single on of the men carried a musket at his side.

Every single one of the men turned to look at Galanoth when he turned the corner.

"Uh..."

A sudden cry sprang up among the men and they all reached for their guns, already taking aim at the dragonslayer before his sense of self-preservation overtook him and he ran off into the surrounding woods, a volley of musket fire following after him as he swore the entire way on his journey for cover.

-----

It is our hope that this letter should reech the one called Gallanoth.   We've heard of your prou prowez strength in battle, and we are in need of your help. Our animals are being stolen from us, and the village maidins dare not leave the site of their kin without a guard for fear they get stolen to. We are under atack, good sir, and we recwi need your aid, for our village is bein set upon by an awful band of dragoons.

Notes:

it's fine everything's fine, gal took care of it and the village is going to be okay

there was a lot of yelling involved later though