Beware, low flying dragons

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Indeed they could usually only be seen with a decent pair of binoculars as they soared and dived high above. If they wanted to eat or sleep the villagers thought they probably went to a different village. They hoped they weren't the next village to be chosen if one of the dragons got peckish.

Rumours that the village elders had a list of who would be put forward to be sacrificed was always denied, sometimes in a way that was believable. The rumour mill said by pure coincidence and totally not on purpose the elders weren't anywhere near the top of the list. Strangely neither were their immediate family or friends.

If questioned they simply said "Don't worry, theirs no list and any way the dragons don't come here" .Even when the local newspaper said " I f that's true, what are those big scaly things with flames coming out of their noses?"

"Only babies, no danger, waffle waffle, don't panic" and a few other pieces of useless soundbites followed and most of the villagers were too confused to know whether to panic or not. The ones that always believed the elders tended to think they wouldn't be lied too, the ones that thought the elders were basically a self serving cartel started to worry. The liberals just wanted everyone to be happy, including the dragons.

After careful consideration it was decided to send out a scouting party to see what was happening in the next door village. Usually the villages avoided each other, this was decided to be important enough to have a quick look. The village was quite small, nobody really ever left the valley but for some reason there was a small army.

They met often , rehearsed what they would do if someone actually attacked and above all tried to look brave. This illusion was quite easy as not only did none of the villagers go far, neither did villagers from other valleys. So while everybody stayed in their own area and the dragons stayed high up all was fine.

Somehow the soldiers still managed to have medals and copious stories of daring deeds. The more dodgy alcohol that became involved, the more daring the deeds. The fact was apart from some very scary scare crows and a lost baby dragon many years ago there weren't any real stories of bravery to tell.

The ones who had told the best stories were the ones to were chosen to go on the scouting parties. Strangely the moment they were told they might actually face some danger they tried to say they weren't quite that brave really. The problem was they had told their stories so much not even their colleagues could always remember what was true and what wasn't.

Not surprisingly the army stores were full, equipment that was well researched and tested. Of course never tested on a real enemy, the snipers had shot some wild animals for food and that was about it.

It was decided that just to not antagonise their neighbours that the soldiers would try and keep as far away as possible but within visual range. The chief decided that the 3 soldiers tasked with the mission , should climb the valley to the top. Then aim the binoculars at the nearby village to see what was happening. Were they thriving or simply dragon food.

The shell shocked soldiers were so panicked to be doing an actual mission it took them a while to see a slight problem. The bravest, or one with the bravest stories spoke up.

" Can I check something please sir?. We are going to check on the next village because of the dragons flying lower over our valley and we are worried they might attack us?"

The senior officer nodded, not seeming to see the potential problem.

" Then you are sending us up higher because the dragons are getting lower?"

The senior still looked non plussed.

"You are sending us up to where the dragons are. The possibly hungry dragons are. You are sending us up to be eaten and we wont get anywhere near the other village" The soldier thought he should spell out the whole problem to save time and to get through to the senior officer.

While the senior officer tried to think of a suitable response , a similarly ranked officer had the same question going through his mind. This officer was standing before a small group of untested and unprepared soldiers, ones who hadn't faced anything more challenging then an annoyed wildebeest .

In this village the dragons had also been coming lower and closer, the villagers and elders were also getting worried. The same idea was hatched to check on the next village next door.

So after some complaining, begging, bribery and more begging 2 sets of soldiers set off. Their task being to check on each others village and report back. Mean while the dragons decided that was enough diving and climbing, time to head off to bed.