The Reservation - Clifford D. Simak

“The goblins will take care of him,” said Carol. “And the trolls and fairies and all the rest of them. They will be proud of him. They will spoil him rotten.”

“And the humans, too?”

“And the humans, too,” she said.

They did not see him go. But he was no longer there. There was not even a dirty dishcloth flapping in the sky. The tree stood empty.

A pet, thought Maxwell. Not a god, but a simple pet. And yet, perhaps, not so simple as it sounded. When men had first made the bio-mechs, what had they created? Not other men, at least at first, not livestock, not freaks engineered to specific purposes. They had created pets.

Carol stirred against his arm. “What are you thinking, Pete?”

“About a date,” he said. “Yes, I guess I was thinking of a dinner date with you. We had one once, but it never quite came off. Would you like to try again?”

“At the Pig and Whistle?”

“If that is what you want.”

“Without Oop and Ghost. Without any troublemakers.”

“But with Sylvester, of course.”

“No,” she said. “Just the two of us. Sylvester stays at home. It is time he learned.” They got up from the boulder and started back toward the castle. Sylvester looked up at the dragon perching on the castle wall and snarled. The dragon lowered its head on its sinuous neck and looked him in the eye. It stuck out at him a long and forked tongue.