Mr Norg gripped his greatsword/letter opener tightly and slowly lifted it in the air. He pointed the tip of his blade at the smokey dragon before him. The dragon let out a fierce roar, dipping its head lower to the ground and flailing its wings out.
“You will not harm the threads of fate that bind my charge,” Mr. Norg said, his voice low and intense. He raised his weapon above his head and charged at the dragon.
Smoke flowed around the beast as it surged forward and then ducked underneath the swinging blade. It scooped up a silvery thread that lay on the ground in its mouth and turned. Puffs of dark smoke came from its nostrils as it began galloping towards the doorway.
“No!” Mr. Norg bellowed as he tried to intercept the dragon. He swung his weapon again only for the beast to leap above the blade and continue its retreat! “Stop!”
The thread frayed and snapped. The dragon snarled as it flew past the doorway and disappeared, a strand of the cord trailing behind it into the darkness.
“No,” Mr. Norg repeated. “I have failed. I failed in my oath to protect. No.” Mr. Norg knelt down, his forehead coming to rest on the ground.
— — —
Morning came to the Eastvale Logging Camp. Birds began their songs to welcome the day as the nearby horses began to stir in their stalls. Cui-Fen left her bed room and started opening the curtains to the home, welcoming in the morning sunlight. The Pandaren stopped short. On the floor in front of the door was one of her daughter’s dolls, laying atop a letter opener, and beside it was what was left of a ball of yarn. The ball had been mostly unwound and trailed towards the front door.
“Tai, honey. Come get Mr. Norg, dear. I almost stepped on him. And do you know why my knitting yarn is out here?”
Mr. Norg stopped at the end of the house farthest from Tai’s room. With his great sword (letter opener) resting on his shoulder, he looked at each of the windows and confirmed that they were closed. Turning around, he began his patrol back to the other end of the house. He paused at the door to Cui-Fen’s room and glanced inside. He could hear soft breathing coming from the bed. Nodding to himself, he continued on through the house.
Finally, Mr. Norg reached the door to Tai’s room. He could hear the young pandaren turning over on the bed before settling in again. He scanned the room, looking from his little home at the one side to the window at the other side of the bed. And that’s when he saw it.
The window had been cracked for the night, letting a breeze in to cool the room during the summer night. Leaning through the window was the shadowy form of a tiny dragon. Its smokey form stopped and looked directly at the doll holding the silver letter opener. Then its claw reached down to the bench beneath the window. On the bench were several small stones piled together. The shadowy dragon reached into the pile and grabbed one of the stones.
“Its mine,” the shadowy dragon hissed, flexing its tiny wings.
“You may not have that!” the rag doll called out as he ran towards the bench. Holding onto his sword, Mr Norg pulled himself up onto the bench. The shadowy dragon began backing out of the window as the rag doll got closer. When he finally made it to the window sill, the dragon was already outside on the porch.
The rag doll pulled himself over the window sill and rolled out, falling from the window and landing on the porch as his sword clattered down beside him. Mr. Norg pushed himself up and shook his tiny head from side to side. Finding the letter opener on the ground, he picked it up and searched the porch. Moving to the edge of the wooden planks, the little shadowy dragon held the stone close to its chest and hissed.
“You will return the stone now,” Mr. Norg said, leveling his sword at the tiny dragon.
“The stone is mine,” the dragon whispered. “Its magic is for me,” it continued, flaring its wings out.
“If you will not return it, then I will have to take it from you.”
Mr. Norg ran forward with his weapon held low to his side. The little dragon reared up on its hind legs and held its wings out. Keeping the stone clutched close in one arm, it reached out with the other as the rag doll swung his sword around. The dragon pulled its arm back as the silver weapon whistled past without making contact. As Mr. Norg stopped next to the dragon, the shadowy beast battered its left wing around and smacked Mr. Norg in his shoulder, knocking the rag doll to the ground.
Mr. Norg rolled over just as the dragon pounced, whisps of darkness trailing it as it landed on the porch where the doll had been only a moment before. Rising to his knees, Mr. Norg swung his sword around and caught the dragon across the arm that held the stone. The shadowy dragon’s head reared back and it let out a tiny roar of pain as it dropped the stone to the ground.
The tiny dragon cradled its injured arm and inched away from Mr. Norg. Reaching the edge of the porch, it hopped backwards to the ground with its wings opened to slow its decent.
“I will be back,” the dragon said as it limped back into the shadows of the trees and faded into the darkness.
“I shall be waiting, dark one,” Mr. Norg answered, holding his sword up in a salute to where the dragon disappeared. The rag doll then walked over to the stone and picked it up. Looking it over, it appeared as nothing but a normal stone that one would find on the ground. Tucking it under his arm, he then turned back to the house. Looking up, he suddenly realized how high off the ground the open window was. With a quiet sigh, the rag doll’s shoulders slumped a little as it walked back to the front door. Sitting down with his back to the door, the rag doll set the stone on his lap and placed his silver letter opener on the ground beside him. Quietly he kept watch on the night.
The sun rose over the farmland in Eastvale. The farm animals began waking up, the birds started twittering in the trees. Then the peace of the morning was broken.
“Mr. Norg? Mr. Norg where are you? Heeeere Mr. Nooooorg!”
The young Pandaren stood on the steps of her home, her fists clenched tightly in front of her and a her face scrunched up into what she thought was the meanest look possible. At least as mean as a young Pandaren is capable of. For a moment, she considered growling, but then decided against it.
A few feet away from the steps was the enemy. It was the largest, most sparkly, rainbow-colored dust bunny that had ever existed. The dust bunny rolled around on the ground, kicking up dust clouds as it looked for an opening past the child and into the house.
“This is Mr. Norg’s home! He just cleaned it! Not allowed in!” Tai bellowed fiercely, as only an Earthpaw could. “Go away!”
The dust bunny growled and started rolling directly at the stairs. Tai bent her knees slightly and then leapt forward, kicking her foot out at the glittery monstrosity and yelling “For the spirits!“
Suddenly…
Mr Norg’s eyes opened and he looked around. Gripping his might weapon (that looked an awful lot like a letter opener), he scanned the area for battle. But there was none. The night air was cool and quiet. He was sitting on the front porch with his back against the house. There were no sounds in the night save the crickets and the horses stabled nearby.
“Fell asleep on duty. I’ll have to be reprimanded for this.”
Mr Norg got up to his feet, shouldered his weapon, and then began to march across the porch. “No more sitting down for me this watch.”
“That was a very brave thing you did today, my friend.”
Mr. Norg put his hand on the unicorn’s shoulder and gave it a firm pet. The unicorn stood stoically as it continued to watch the door to their house. Mr. Norg smiled when he realized what his friend was doing.
“Even when hurt, you can’t stop keeping guard.” Mr. Norg nodded as he stepped around the table and opened up the footlocker sitting on the ground beside. He pulled out a long strip of cloth and moved back towards his friend. “Don’t worry. I’ll have you patched up right away. In no time, we’ll be back on patrol. That fiend will think twice before trying to get in here again.”
Mr. Norg began wrapping the cloth around the unicorn’s chest. Pulling the binding close, Mr Norg then tied it off. Stepping back, he eyed his medical work critically before nodding in approval. He then sat on the ground and kept watch with his friend.
——
Morning broke on Eastvale Camp. Sunlight began peaking into the windows and people began to stir. Cui-Fen got up and started to get her household ready for another day. The Pandoran came out of her bedroom to the hallway. She did not seem the least bit surprised to find some of her daughter’s stuffed friends sitting on the floor facing the front door. But then she looked closer at one of the dolls, picking it up.
“Tai, dear. Why is one of my scarfs wrapped around your unicorn doll?”
The moon peaked in through the curtains of the bedroom and cast a pale light on the ground. As night slowly crept along, the door to the little playhouse opened up and a small rag doll in armor stepped through. The rag doll waited a moment and took in the surroundings of the bedroom. A few feet away was the small bed and atop it was the young Pandaren, deep in slumber.
Mr. Norg quietly shouldered his sword and stepped across the floor of the bedroom to the open door. Looking back and forth, the rag doll checked the hallway before heading off into the house. Passing from room to room, he looked at every door and window to make sure that they were secure. He walked into every corner to make sure there were no intruders. Stopping at the door to the other bedroom, Mr. Norg listened to the deep breaths of the adult sleeping inside. The rag doll dared not enter this room, but from the doorway he scanned the area to make sure that nothing was amiss.
“Everything is secure,” the little doll said to himself as he began marching back to the first bedroom. “Shouldn’t let my guard down, though. I know. I’ll make some coffee.”
The rag doll quietly wandered around the bedroom and collected wood for his campfire, carrying the pieces back out into the hallway so as to not disturb the young one’s sleep. After a few minutes, Mr. Norg had his pile set up and it glowed with yellows, oranges, and reds all peaking out of the pile. Satisfied with the quality of his campfire, the rag doll then went back to his little house and returned carrying his mug.
Mr. Norg sat down next to his campfire and placed his mug next to it so that the drink could warm up. The doll leaned back on his little arms and let out a contented sigh as he continued his nightly vigil.
Come morning, the sun began to poke through the gaps in the curtains and the house grew brighter with the oncoming day. Movement could be heard in the far bedroom as someone was waking and getting up. After a few minutes, the female Pandaren stepped out of her bedroom and started making her way towards her daughter’s room. After a few steps into the hallway, however, she suddenly stopped and looked down at the floor.
“Dear. Why is there a pile of crayons in the middle of the hallway? And why does Mr. Norg have one of my thimbles?”
The room had grown dark as the night had worn on. The breathing of the little Pandaren had become slow and steady as she fell into a deep sleep. From the side of the room, a scuffling sound came from a little doll house. After a minute, the door of the doll house opened and a small doll emerged wearing tiny armor. Hefting his tiny sword onto his shoulder, the rag doll looked up to the bed and listened to the child’s breathing. Satisfied, the doll turned and walked out of the room, his little armor clicking against the floor.
The doll walked through the small house, moving slowly from room to room. He stopped at each window, watching the curtains shifting in the slight nighttime breeze. Finding nothing wrong, he then moved on to the next window and the next room, marching his tiny patrol of the house.
Eventually, the doll found himself standing at the doorway to his charge’s mother. He did not enter, but quietly listened to the breathing from the bed room, turning its tiny head from side to side as he scanned the room. Finally, he turned and began to retrace the steps of his patrol.
As he came back to the front room, the doll stopped and stared at the window again. There was a quiet hiss coming from the outside. The doll watched the curtains, lowering his sword from his shoulder. After a few quiet moments, the curtains shifted and began to part. A shadowy snout poked through, separating the curtains. Two red, glowing eyes peered down into the room and settled on the rag doll. A slight growling sound came from the tiny beast.
“Norg…”
“This house is protected. You are not welcomed here.”
“Do you think you can stop me, Norg?”
“I did before.”
“I want the treasure.”
“I will stop you.”
The shadowy snout let out another hiss before withdrawing and allowing the curtains to close again. The rag doll raised his sword and settled it back on his shoulder as he stared at the window. When the shadowy beast did not return, the doll scanned the room one more time and then began his patrol again.
