Gordon the Barbarian

Martin Kelly, a cynical middle aged Ranger and grandson of Ned Kelly, carries the burden of his famous ancestor with a grudge. He hires a young ineffectual Ranger called Gordon and together they travel north to capture a Dragon. They are then shanghaied into a mission they cannot refuse, by the shadowy Imperial Marines. The job is to take Tirane, an exiled Elven Princess; and her mysterious bodyguard Gelf, from a New Years Eve Party in Melbourne, northwards and across the Murray River to her tribal valley, deep in the mountains West of Sydney. There she plans to challenge her sister, the Overqueen of the Elves, who plans a war of extermination of European humans in Australia. After a deadly ambush, Martin realises that there are forces that want them stopped, forces that will hire mercenaries to kill them. Joined by Alison another young, though more intelligent Ranger- they fight and often by more luck than judgement, avoid a more permanent fate. Finally succeeding, Martin realises even though the Empire is safe from annihilation, the Secret police will execute the party for the unwritten crime of "knowing too much". Saved by Gelf, the now Overking of the Elves, who turns out not only to be a dragon but also has the mind of a Machiavelli. The three humans return to Melbourne to renew the Treaty between Elves and the Empire, which had originally been signed by his great grandfather, Ned Kelly. A alternate history/fantasy novel about thr trials, tribulations and battles of a ranger as he tries to save his world.