After supper the three were sitting in the old man’s cave, chatting, discussing the events of the day, Cabbage was still not showing signs of enthusiasm for his new home, more like resigned to the idea. Then the old man opened up a completely different subject and one that surprised both Olly and Cabbage.

“I’ve been thinking,” he started. “Connis Loop is a growing town, much bigger than when I arrived here and it’s not renowned for its peace loving nature. In fact it has begun to get a lot more difficult to control. I’ve managed so far with a little help from one or two locals but I fear that, as willing as they are, they aren’t ready for what I fear is coming.”

“What’s coming?” Asked the owl.

The old man then began to explain the visions he’d been having lately and though he wasn’t one for being ‘spooked’ easily he did think that this was serious. He talked about the trouble that the Peeps had in the far north and also those in the south west.

“What kind of trouble?” Said owl.

“The worst kind, I’m afraid.”

At this point Cabbage was looking closely at the old man and clearly listening intently.

“There’s a great evil abroad, spreading over the land, it’s already made its presence known in the places I mentioned and I very much fear it’ll be heading our way before too long. I want to be prepared and I think you two, if you are willing, can be a huge help.” 

Nobody spoke for a good two minutes. The silence was broken by Cabbage.

“What can we do?”

“Yeah,” said Olly, a little half heartedly.

“Good. I’m concerned about the town at present and how it is becoming wilder, lawless even. My friends, the towners, are willing, as I say but they need something else, something I think you two can give them. Now they may baulk at first when I suggest employing a dragon but I think I can talk then round. I can be quite persuasive when I want to be.”

“But what is it we can give to them?” Asked the Owl.

“Confidence, for one thing.” Said Cabbage. 

“When this evil arrives I believe it will begin by infiltration, gathering adherents, these will be Peeps who are easily led, on the edges of law and order, prone to ignoring the needs and wants of others so that they can gain as much as they can.”

“You’re talking about greed and lack of morality, aren‘t you?” Said Olly.

“The lowest standards are the ones this evil seeks out and uses. By itself it cannot act but what it does, the damage, the carnage and deaths it achieves are achieved by those it collects and collects is what it does. The ‘collected’ are lost once they agree to follow.”

“So how do we go about recognising these ‘collected ones’, how do we tell who is who and what?”

“Oh, you’ll know alright, Cabbage, because they exude evil in a way you cannot miss. I have a couple of special friends, one up in the north and the other in the south west and they have given me enough information to give me a good idea what to expect. We need to be on the alert and also give our other volunteers some special training and, I have some ideas about some new equipment they might find useful. If we can manage this before anything happens we should be okay. Now, I need to return to town and do some organising, in the meantime I suggest that you two do a bit of familiarisation, get to know the layout of Connis Loop and the surrounding area but don’t wander too far afield, not yet anyways.

“I’ll see he behaves, Lumus.” Said Olly.

“Just because you’re an owl doesn’t mean you know everything and can boss anyone around.” Retorted Cabbage, a touch of indignation  in his voice.

“Now, now, you two. If you’re going to start arguing I cannot leave you alone and that would jeopardise everything.”

“Oh, we’ll be fine, won’t we, big guy?”

“We’ll be fine, Go, organise everyone.”

  The old man needed to get in touch with his ‘helpers’, the brave citizens who helped him keep some sort of order about the place and he knew exactly where to go to find his prime contact. The bar of the town’s most popular inn, ‘The LoopHole,’ was packed as usual. He remembered that what all these individuals did when they weren’t here was committing some crime or other elsewhere. This was the place where they all congregated, every villain of every kind. Whatever you wanted done you would find a willing exponent of whatever dark art it involved right here. It was actually an effective way of keeping an eye on all the unsavoury types and he knew he’d find the man he was looking for here doing just that.

 Leo was sitting quietly in the corner of the one large smoke filled room that was The LoopHole. The old man walked over to him, wending his way between tables of raucous drinkers, all laughing and talking at once, he wondered how anyone heard anything. 

“Leo, my friend, how’s things?”

Leo, a stockily built individual with short cropped hair and a very distinctive misshapen nose, the result of a flying frying pan, so the story goes, indicated acknowledgement to the old man but never took his eyes off what he was looking at. 

“Lumus, good to see you. As to how things are, quiet, I’d say.”

“Certainly noisy enough.”

“Oh this is normal, although …” Then Leo stopped briefly before continuing with, “It’s a little different today, There seems to be some excitement around and personally I think that’s not a good sign. Not with this lot.”

“You think there’s something brewing, is that it?”

“Not sure, it’s just a feeling I have.”

“You could well be right, my friend and with that in mind I’d like you to gather together the rest of the lads as I have something of vital importance to tell you all.”

“Right you are then, squire, we’ll be in the usual place by tea time. Will that do yuh?”

“Sooner if possible.”

Leo suddenly wore a look of concern, sensing something seriously unpleasant.

“Big trouble, Lumus?”

“Big trouble, Leo.”

“Give me ten.”

“Good man, meet you all back at my shack in ten.”

In the old man’s hut on the edge of town they gathered, the defenders of right and fighters of wrong in Connis Loop. Leo, who gathered up the rest from around town. He was the one they turned to for muscle power if things got rough as they often did, of late. Then there was Todd, as sharp as a fox from which his name was derived. He was your average Peeps’ height of just a tad over three feet tall, wiry but strong. Then Wyatt, whose name means ‘little warrior’ and he was, always faced the fight head on. Then last but by no means least there was Norris. He was as northern as anyone from the north could be and served for a spell with Max Temper’s Wardens up in Windy Ho. He left because it was too dull for him at that time. It was to these the old man set out his strategy for the coming troubled time. A strategy that included working alongside a dragon. Much to his surprise this detail wasn’t a stumbling block. What was, however, was the fact that they were going to be wearing uniforms. Well, a dragon is one thing but getting dressed up is quite another. This was a step too far towards conformity. As they were they were virtually free agents and, most importantly, could mingle with the riff raff almost unnoticed. And, though the old man agreed with most of what they said he did stress that what they were likely to be going up against would not give a two penny fig for what they looked like so long as that was dead. That state looked the same however dressed. He had a point.

The next unwelcomed detail came in the form of training. By this time some were having second thoughts on being involved in this pantomime. The old man worked all night to persuade his lads and got them to agree, which they did but for the uniform. They would wear any armour protection afforded them but no uniform. And so ‘The Connis Loop Rangers’ were formed.