Dragon Slayer

“I am Perth, the dragon slayer!” The young man announced as he strode up to the bar. “I require sustenance! For tonight, I slay a dragon!” The room fell silent. Friends and couples took a moment from their drinks and laughter to give Perth quizzical looks. Which he, in all fairness, completely deserved. For Perth was not dressed like the locals, or even the few tourists at the small pub, but was wearing what could only be described by the layman as a suit of armor. An expert might later describe it as modeled after a late 15th century piece, of a Gothic design. On the sword belt hung a rondel, opposite his perhaps early 15th century arming sword, which had outward curving hand guards and a sunburst for the pommel. 

Perth seemed aware of his awkward appearance and promised to make his disruption brief. The plate armor and chainmail under the steel made surprisingly little sound, other than some slight clanking, as the piece was made to fit and articulated with Perth’s movement as smoothly as a second layer of flesh. On arriving at the bar, Perth didn’t need to wait long to be served as patrons parted around the oak bar stools and matching wooden counter. 

“What will it be?” The bartender asked, reaching for a glass but keeping a steady eye on Perth. He had dealt with his fair share of crazies, but never one in armor before.

The helmet swiveled in the bartender’s direction, but the eyes peering from the visor studied the selection of liquor behind him. “I want something for the occasion. Something unique, given the quarry I seek…” Perth glanced from the bottles to the name tag pinned to the bartender’s shirt. “Scott,” the knight concluded.

Scott wasn’t sure how seriously to take this, but he didn’t get paid enough to care. “How ‘bout Crown Royal and ginger ale?” He also wasn’t keen to keep this conversation going longer than it needed to. 

Perth considered it for a moment. “Can you add a straw?”

“Sure,” Scott responded as he began to prepare the beverage. 

Once completed, the odd customer sipped down the drink, placing the empty glass and a fifty-dollar bill on the counter. “Keep the petty cash,” Perth announced as Scott quickly began making change. “As I said before, I am off to hunt a dragon so I will not need such meager coinage!” With that, Perth marched back out into the night, letting the door swing closed behind him.

The bar filled with noise and laughter again as Perth departed. The odd guest was quickly forgotten as drinks were purchased and more laughs were shared. Scott worked through the night, enjoying the lull as it became later and later, finally getting to last call. As the final patron shuffled from their bar stool and out into the cold, early morning, Scott went about cleaning up. He turned up the television for background noise as he went about the last of his work. During drinking hours he was told to keep it low but now that the place was empty, the voices on the television helped fill the silence. As Scott finished putting the bar stools up on the clean counter he changed the station over to the local news channel. He doubted there would be any traffic on his route home this early in the morning, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to check. No sooner had he placed the remote back on the counter, the breaking news was announced.

As the reporter described the events of the previous night, Scott’s work slowly ground to a halt until he was simply staring at the television. He swallowed, transfixed by the screen. His phone began to vibrate, beeping once, then twice, and repeating. Scott pulled the phone from his pocket and picked up.

“Dude, did you hear? That billionaire got killed! They say—”

“That he had multiple stab wounds, caused by what police assume is a sword,” Scott finished his roommate’s sentence. An awkward silence followed.

“So, you did see. Isn’t that crazy?” James responded, needing to burst the void that had enveloped them.

“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy,” Scott responded as he stared back out the door through which Perth, the Dragon slayer had left earlier that night. “Really crazy.”