It was very much an ordinary day in Farenze, a castle town in the northern regions of Chane. The herdsmen were driving their sheep and cattle out to pasture for the day – they never stayed out overnight for fear of the wolves. The miners were heading to the base of Rapuzia, the nearest peak in the neighboring mountain range, to continue their daily hunt for copper. Meanwhile, the streets of Farenze were filling up with buyers, sellers, beggars, and small urchins. It was a busy town, but for the most part a happy one.
That is, until the miners came back sooner than expected. They were all red-faced and puffing from their run back to town.
“What're you all doing back here?” asked one of the guards at the city gate. “It's not even lunchtime.”
“Dragon, sir!” said the mine's foreman, gasping for air. (He didn't work as hard as the others and was rather plump.) “We spotted a dragon halfway up the mountain! We high-tailed it out of there before he saw us – it's not that far from lunchtime!”
“Oh, dear,” said the guardsman. “We'd better sound the alarm before he notices the flocks out there.” He nudged his partner, a scrawny boy just big enough for the uniform. “Hurry up to the bell tower, lad.”
“Yessir!”
“And you,” the guard said, turning back to the foreman. “You'd better go tell Count Tregor, or he'll have his underwear in a bundle about the alarm being sounded without consulting him first.”
“Right-o. Come on, boys!” The miners hurried away to the castle.