As the dragon had never given his name, the townsfolk had unofficially named him, "Nightmare." A joke based on the fact that he was a symbol of grief and turmoil to those who encountered him. However it was fitting for a different reason, his scales were a black night and his wingbeats silent until he was right on top of you, but at that point you were as good as dead.
It was midday when Nightmare came to Northspear. Even before he spoke people started pouring out of their houses and into clear view. At this point it's just a standard routine. Every time the dragon messenger rotates Nightmare comes and sees if they're telling the truth. There was only one time when a dragon messenger lied and no one will talk about what happened to them afterwards.
A few moments after the wingbeats were heard, Owen Headspear rushed into the middle of the town square. The past four years had taken its toll on the chief, with his hair slowly becoming more gray and a stressed look constantly on his face, everyone was worried for his mental health.
As Nightmare descended in the south and was just over the rooftops of the highest buildings, Owen tiredly shouted at him, "WHAT DO YOU WANT THIS TIME."
"Just checking on this town's population again." Nightmare responded and became silent and began to quickly scour the town, and Noah assumend, mentally counting the villagers.
Even though these population checks had been happening for the last four years, Noah was still extremely scared when the checks do happen. This time was no different. Every time it happened Noah silently hoped it would be over quickly, and he was sure that he was not the only one that hoped that same thing.
"There are more people here than what was reported." The dragon said after what felt like minutes, glaring at Owen.
"It is trade season, we have traders here." Owen calmly responded.
"Oh? Do they have a license?" The dragon said, somewhat smugly and causing Owen to sigh.
"YES WE DO." Blake said, walking to Owen's side, obviously very annoyed at this whole situation.
"If you do then show me." Nightmare calmly responded.
"I'd expect nothing less than that." Blake said, anger clearly showing on his face. He then began to walk towards Nightmare, muttering about how this was slowing down the trade.
Nobody dared to move because if they did it might get their town destroyed. Noah's consciousness was telling him to run, but he forced his body still, and he was sure that other people were doing the same. Come on please just leave already. Noah thought.
After what felt like hours, Nightmare finally said, "My apologies it seems like you're telling the truth, and your group numbers match the number of extra people. I'll take my leave now." With that Nightmare turned around head back to Spearhead, which along with the dragon, had adopted a new name by the townsfolk, Dragon's Spear. Which had been named that because Nightmare made his home in Spearhead.
A few moments after Nightmare left, the town breathed a sigh of relief. The trade picked back up but this time was different. Even after that terrifying experience, there was a much more cheerful air. Must be because we survived and had no problems as well, glad it ended that way as well. Noah thought with a smile on his face.
"Glad that's over, you alright Noah?" Sean asked.
"Uh, yeah. I'm alright." Noah responded, shaken out of his own thoughts. He was confused because when watching Nightmare fly away, he was sure that he saw Nightmare's tail flick almost angrily. I'll make a note of that. Maybe then I can control my fear. He thought.
"Noah!" His father's stern voice snapped Noah back into reality. He looked around and realized his father continued the patrol. Noah quickly ran back to his side.
"I know that we just survived Nightmare but we still have a job to do." Sean said.
"I know, I know." Noah responded.
* * *
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful after that. It was heading towards evening when people finished leaving the square. Noah began to look around the shops to see if he wanted anything. Nothing caught his eye and he sighed sadly. He would have to see if there was anything left tomorrow that he wanted.
Noah looked around after he was done with the shops. He noticed a group of guards with his father at the east side in it so he headed over there. There were five guards and the other two apprentices were there as well.
"I could really use a drink." One of the guards said and the others quickly agreed.
"I'll go get them. What do you all want." Noah heard his father say. The other guards quickly placed their orders. The apprentices didn't place any as they're too young to drink and having an apprentice pick up or buy alcohol for their master is seen as very irresponsible.
Noah noticed that one of the apprentices was quite angry. Noah remembered that his name was William Shield. His father, Karl Shield, was quite close to taking Noah's father's job as Captain of the guard, except he died in the first encounter with Nightmare. William had a very stock build, dirty blond hair and blue eyes. The other apprentice was Jacob Arrow, a smaller boy compared to William, but that size difference was made up for in his speed, he had brown hair and brown eyes to match.
When Noah's father came back with the drinks the guards started clapping and Sean responded with a smile on his face, "No need to thank me boys, It's not like I slayed Nightmare or anything." Which caused the other guards to laugh. Noah glanced at William and saw him a bit more angry. Probably because of the alcohol. He thought, not too concerned because even though his father liked to drink, he never got drunk and always took care of his drunk companions and apprentices around them.
The guards took their drinks from Sean and began to drink and talk. The apprentices were just standing there awkwardly until William stormed to the other side of the square. Jacob looked at Noah with an "I don't know what his problem is" look, causing Noah to mentally sigh. I guessed that the drinks were what was making him angry, but I didn't know it made him that angry. Noah then looked at Jacob a bit more closely to see if he was uncomfortable with the drinks at all.
Noah kept a mental bank of the majority of the people he met to see what their personality is like. He does this because he tries to work as well as he can with people and as a guard apprentice you don't know who you'll end up with in a chase or battle. He also tries to be a nice person and knowing the other person's personality helps with that, but he does value honesty over being nice.
Noah didn't notice anything out of the ordinary with Jacob. He seemed timid but Noah remembered that Jacob was quite shy and didn't talk to anyone but his master very much. Despite being shy, Jacob still tried to talk to people because it's a good skill to have and having connections with people is really important, especially for a guard.
Noah sighed, despite his experience reading people and guessing their emotions, he could never really read Jacob. He went to a nearby bench and sat down. After a day of patrolling, his feet and legs hurt a whole lot so when he sat down that relieved the pain quite a bit, but not all of it. He took off his helmet, set it down next to him, and ran his fingers through his sweat-drenched hair. Helmets could double as an oven. He joked to himself, smiling.
* * *
Noah was watching the traders clean up their shops and get new goods out when the guards stopped drinking. He shivered as the cool night air touched his sweat drenched body. He decided that he was taking a bath when he got back home.
"Come on let's go home." Noah's father said, shocking Noah a little, but a feeling of relief swept over him. He then got up and began to walk with his father.
"They're not too terribly drunk, they can get home on their own." Noah's father said to him.
"That's good." Noah said back.
"Anyways, do you want the first bath." Sean suddenly said.
"You're the master, you get to decide." Noah responded to that, causing his father to laugh.
"I guess you're going first then, I can wait." He said to Noah's relief. He didn't really care if he went first or second, but by going he gets more sleep.
* * *
When Noah and his father finally got home, Noah headed straight behind the house and headed to the bathhouse. The bathhouse was five meters by five meters. The bathtub itself was two and a half meters long and one and a half meters wide, and on the back wall with a slot in the front to put hot coals in to heat the water and a rag on its side to scrub off pieces of dirt. A furnace sat right next to the door to heat up the coals. A rack sat opposite from the furnace with the top self holding rags to dry off and the bottom shelf empty to put clothes on.
Noah saw that the tub was already full of water. I have to give mother my thanks. He thought, smiling. He placed his hand into the water to test the temperature. Perfect temperature, wow mother really does think of everything. He once again thought and then took off his armor and clothes and stepped into the bathtub. He sat down and began to go after the dirt on his feet.
* * *
After Noah was done scrubbing all the dirt off his body, he relaxed in the tub for a small while. Until he got in the tub he didn't realize just how much his muscles hurt. Eventually he forced himself out, much to his body's dismay. He grabbed a rag off the rack and began to dry himself off. When he was done with that, he reached into the tub and pulled a plug that would cause the water to flow outside. He then dried his arm off again, scolding himself for being an idiot and put his clothes back on. He scraped hot coals into a tray and put it into the slot in the bathtub for his father. He also grabbed a bucket and began to make rounds to the nearby stream in the backyard to fill the bathtub again.
Once he was done with that, he grabbed his armor and headed back inside. When he got in the house, he saw his father in the living room and sitting on the couch.
"I'm done." Noah said to his father.
"Alright," His father said standing up, "Go get some sleep, tomorrow shouldn't be as eventful as today but you can never be sure, even if this town was normal."
Noah sighed, he knew his father was extremely angry at Nightmare. Whether it be the extra stress from having to worry about robbers and raids more or the loss of guards from Nightmare's unreasonable attacks, Noah figured it was probably both. It also didn't help that each raid or robbery was going to be blamed on his father anyways for being the captain of the guard.
"Alright." Noah said and headed upstairs to his room as his father went outside to the bathhouse
* * *
As Noah was going to sleep he was thinking about the day. He wasn't thinking about the hours spent patrolling for the traders themselves, he was thinking about Nightmare's tail seemingly thrashing angrily. Every time Nightmare came to the town he had always been in complete control of his emotions, even if one showed it had always been confidence. If he feels anger that means it is very likely for him to feel other emotions and make mistakes, that means that Nightmare can be beat. He thought happily. However there was one problem that quickly changed his attitude, he didn't know anything about dragon anatomy.