Grognard's Gift (One-Shot)

BANG BANG BANG. Saturday morning starts with a mailed fist beating on the front door. The attack of sound jars Alden awake. His sleepy kickstarted mind reaches instinctively for the dagger in his mattress before he even realizes what’s going on. Lin’s slower on the draw than he is, her coldblooded claws hugging him tightly as her webbed reptilian ears unfold. “Five more minutes dear, then I’ll get breakfast started.”

BANG BANG BANG. The whole house trembles. The bastard might knock the whole door off its hinges. Lin’s golden eyes open wide at the sound. Then she recognizes the chink and clank of steel and she groans and rolls her eyes.

Her husband ties on his robe, stuffs the big knife in the belt and brushes his fingers through the soft red bedhead mop of lizardgirl hair. “I’ll take care of it.” Alden promises as he gets up. Closing the door to the master bedroom behind him, he hustles down the chilly tile hallway. Halfway there a side door opens and a small green shape pops out. He nearly trips over a little tail in armor-pattern pj’s, stumbles and almost stabs himself in the thigh with his dagger. His startled daughter looks up at him with perfect mirrors of his own vibrant green eyes. She holds her toy wooden sword in her claws.

“Stay here.” He tells her as another round of booming knocks rattle the house. He’s on the balls of his feet now, unconsciously tensing for a fight. The tiny clicks of small lizardgirl feet following him only ramps up the tension.

The door is right ahead, the armored visitor silhouetted through the lead glass pane by the morning light. Hand on his blade, the ex-paladin in a robe throws back the lock and opens the door. The visitor stands in the doorway in full custom plate polished to a mirror shine. Alden can feel the eyes behind the slits judging him, the slight nod of approval at the knife at his side.

“Well, are you going to invite me in or aren’t you?” The old man bellows. “Surely even wallowing in sin as a filthy heretic, you haven’t fallen so far as to forget how to treat guests.”

Alden runs his hand over the new dents in his nice front door then waves the cantankerous old soldier inside with a frown. “Dad, I told you to send word first if you were coming for a visit.”

The holy paladin clanks into the living room while his son makes his way into the kitchen to boil some water for coffee. The elderly man hides his gray and wrinkles under steel as he stares at the family portrait on the wall. His son returns and sits quietly in a chair, waiting for the inevitable verbal fencing match. His father is too proud to ever forgo it, testing his mettle and resolve. Alden’s old armor and commendations in the corner eventually draw the old man’s eye. “Twelve generations of paladins, nearly three hundred years of service to the light. They were all great men, heroes.” He looks back at the man going soft in a robe. “Even you, before you passed sentence on our line.” It’s not even anger or accusation anymore, just bitter disappointment.

Alden toys with the knife in his hand, tracing the holy runes. “Dad, do we really have to do this again? You always talk about family, well I chose family, and I’ve stuck by mine.”

The elder paladin removes his helmet, looks at his only son with his piercing green eyes, sharpened by the years. “You abandoned one for another. You had a duty, a responsibility, and you threw it all away for your own happiness with no regard for anyone…”

“GRANDPA!” A tiny voice squeaks as claws clatter across the floor before a short scaly thing leaps into the holy knight’s arms.

“LIZZIE!” The old man’s face melts into a warm smile as he grabs his granddaughter into a big bear hug. “My favorite little warrior is growing so big and strong. You’ll crush this old paladin if you get any bigger.”

Alden waits for the hugs and kisses to die down before he speaks up. “So tell me why you came, Dad. There’s always a reason.”

The elder bounces the small lizardgirl in knight pajamas on his knee. “I know it’s somebody’s birthday tomorrow.”

“Mine!” Lizzie beams, stumpy green tail wagging, red hair sticking everywhere. “I’m gonna to be eight.”

“Well that’s practically a grown up.” He nods seriously. “That deserves an extra special present. It’s outside.”

The little reptile’s eyes widen like dinner plates as she looks at her father. “Can I open it now?”

“On your birthday.” The senior paladin pulls around her nose with an armored finger. “Trust me, it’s worth the wait.”

The young reptile can’t stand it. She jumps off his lap to bolt out the front door in her jammies to discover the big crate wrapped in a giant pink bow.

Alden’s father leans over once he’s sure she’s out of earshot and whispers to his son. “It’s your first training set of armor. I had it reworked to fit her. Not like there will ever be another boy to wear it.” The paladin’s bones creak as much as his armor as he stands to leave.

The kettle had barely begun to boil and the old man is already slinking away. Alden flips the blade in his hand. “I know you love Lizzie more than if she was your own daughter. Why do you have to be this way?”

“Because my son, none of this is her fault or her mother’s, it’s yours. I can’t let you forget that. Always remember what you destroyed for them.” He crushes his son in a hug. “Make it worth it, or I’ll curse you even from my grave.”

Alden shakes his head at the stubborn old grouch. “I love you too Dad.” He returns the hug with a manly squeeze. “You’re always welcome in our home. But give us some notice next time, okay?”

“I’ll try to remember. Tell Lin I said hello.” He flashes a small holy flame with one finger in a respectful farewell and his son replies in kind as the armored relic walks out the front door.

The grognard pries his granddaughter from dragging her present inside and gives her a big grandpa kiss goodbye before returning to his horse and cart tied to the mailbox and riding off down the dirt road to the forest.

Heavy claws click up behind Alden as he watches his dad leave. “A visit from your father without a sword fight or a hole in the wall, that’s new.” Lin wraps her scaly hands around his hips and pulls him close.

Alden chuckles and snakes his arm over his wife’s shoulder. “I think he just got Lizzie to do it for him from now on.”