"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it"
"Give me food and I will live; give me water and I will die. What am I?"
The dragon pondered quietly, his head hanging and finally settling on the ground not far from the smiling nymph that eyed him with interest. The fact that he would refuse to leave the forest just yet, claiming that he was still weakened and in need of rest had the woman keep an eye on him for almost two days now. After that night, the dragon kept sleeping while she continued to watch over. The villagers didn't react yet and his scent hadn't been felt by anyone else in this forest or out of it. In the end, the redhead ended up breaking the silence with riddles –to which he could not resist to show his superior intellect.
"Fire" he finally grunted and closed his eyes, hoping that she was done with him after correctly answering almost 10 of her riddles. A sigh, however, caught his attention and his now half lidded eyes glared at her, seeing that she had laid on her back in the bed of leaves. Autumn was here and the cold breeze could send chills during nights, it also meant that the rain season was close by along with thunderstorms and overflowing rivers.
"No sooner spoken than broken. What is it?" her murmur was loud enough for the reptile, and he growled while closing his eyes. "Silence…"
"Dragon, why are you still in my forest?" she suddenly asked him, sitting up and brushing a hand over her fiery locks, emeralds gazing at him with a twinkle of knowledge. Smaug finally looked at her, moving his head up to fix her with his scorching eyes. His nostrils flared and his tail twisted, feeling a blow at his pride with just the intonation that she used. She knew very well he was new to this, to all of this and he had no idea what to do –well, he did in a way, but even for an intelligent creature as him, putting everything in practice wasn't easy. As an almost mature male, he had to fly and find his treasures, collect his hoard, he had to take over lands and create himself a territory, to be known as mighty and powerful –yet he felt like those were too out of reach for him with a vulnerable body to carry around; it was a reason why so many foolish fire drakes never made it in this world, why the dragon kin didn't flourish much.
"I can guide you through everything you must know, I have always admired your kin" the offer sounded tempting and he felt a tinge of shame for agreeing to it almost immediately.
"Very well, I allow you, the nymph of this forest to be my guide until I become great and strong –I will have no need for you after" he arrogantly spoke, flaring his nostrils again as if it took his whole being to say those words.
The reason why she wanted to help this fool was simply out of admiration for the fire drakes, they were almost extinct! Especially ones as big as him and it would be a pity if he would end up dead in his first weeks of being out of the lair. "Fine by me, dragon" and she had to agree to 'his' decision of giving her the honor of helping him.
Minthe was not a stupid creature of this world, she knew it was better if she molded him into one of his ancestors, one of his great ancestors –one which she had the honor of meeting. It had been long ago, very long ago, when she was still young that she met her first dragon. Her territory wasn't as big, but he landed there, hurt, wounded enough that he could not continue. He had shifted his form as soon as he collided and she found him, tended to his injuries, brought him food like the naïve fool she was and came to love him only for him to be slain by dwarves that came looking for him at the indications of humans. It was that fateful day when she watched her beloved slain in front of her eyes that she started despising the race, that filthy race –selfish and ugly, with hearts that could be easily corrupted by envy, by hatred and wrath and most importantly : greed.
She looked away bitterly, her emeralds searching for another object of her attention as she stood up on her feet and turned her back to the beast, her finger tips brushing over the scar –the reminder of that day. Without her knowledge, he observed her intently, gathering information about her every second he saw a gesture from her –who knows? It might help in the future when he will want to destroy her mentally and physically; No one talked with such defiance to a dragon and she would meet her death in her dragon fire when he would grow. She was stupid to give him her name, her roots, then shelter –he might be thankful now, but he was going to end her later on when he had no need for her. A scowl somehow formed over his gigantic features, but he settled with sleeping, letting that vanish before she turned around.
In the silence of the night, a light rustle bothered the sleeping Smaug and he heard the delicate footsteps of the nymph stopping not far from him, as if she was watching if he was sleeping or not, before she continued on towards the commotion not far from their location.
"Lady Minthe…what is the meaning of this?" a hushed female voice was heard, his sharp hearing picking it up as if it were next to his ear.
"Do I have to give you, a youngling, explanations?" the sharp voice of Minthe had him wonder why she was acting so cold towards one of her kin, but more so, what was another doing on her domain?
"Lady Minthe! I beg for your forgiveness, but he sent for me to-"
"How did he find out?" the redhead interrupted "…Humans, my lady, they speak and he was near the village when he heard of the events…he didn't want to come, he is angered"
"For an elf he acts like a possessive dwarf" she hissed and then silence fell for a moment.
"Lady Minthe, he is worried that it will happen again….let go of the dragon, that is his plea"
The nymph took some time to answer that, but when she did, it was confident and authoritarian "No" and by the rustle that followed, he figured that the other younger nymph left. A satisfied smirk contorted itself on his maw and faded once she returned. The woman was no fool, she knew how to pick her allies it seemed and he was impressed by the way she stood her ground with such ferocity in her words. Perhaps he made the right choice in letting her stay by his side for now.
His dreams however, turned to that maiden that lured him in that village, her scent, the intoxicating scent that surrounded her and that golden locks, yes…those golden specks of hair that looked like gold shining in the sun rays. As moments passed of him thinking about her scent and her hair that resembled gold, the dragon realized he wanted to see that woman again –just for the hair and the scent.
The footsteps of the redhead made him stir from his dream state and come conscious again without moving or opening his eyes "I know you are awake, Smaug" how did she know everything? What kind of nymph was she? A low grunt left his throat as his double lids revealed slit pupils that regarded her with ignorance.
"Do you wish to go into the village?"
It was a soft spoken question, but it immediately caught his attention and he raised his head with curiosity and suspicion on his scaly features "Why would you want to go there?" was it because of the he? The elf that the other nymph spoke about? Was he her lover of some sort?
"You do wish to see your human girl, do you not?"
He felt his pride taking another hit when she muttered those words, but he stared down at her with interest "Well then, change your form, the last thing she would like to see would be a dragon confessing his love for her" . Mockery! She was mocking him and he growled loud as a warning to her frail figure, did she wish to get eaten? "Manners, my dear dragon…manners"
He was going to rip off her limbs and watch her bleed until her last breath…and then burn her and watch as she screams in agony, begging to be killed already! His nostrils flared and smoke came out, signaling his anger while his scorching glare followed her.
Using her magic, she managed to hide their real forms –her, looking like a normal peasant, with curly red hair, freckles and brown eyes while he was concealed as a male with short black hair and golden eyes, something that she could not get rid of easily by her simple magic.
With these appearances, they waltzed from the forest as simple merchants and ventured into the busy village. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small, being one of the villages that decorated the plains near Rohan. He was surprised to find an enormous bonfire in the middle of it and people dancing around it as if it was some type of festivity. The nymph that stood by him smiled, as if she knew what he was thinking "They are celebrating the coming of Autumn" and what odd way of celebrating such a season, by burning leaves and wood.
"The maidens come with their most precious jewelry, they throw it in the fire and when morning comes, if their chosen piece had withstood the destruction of it, it means they will be protected for the rest o the year as long as they wear it" she explained wisely. Well, it was expected of her to know their habits…it was the village closest to her territory.
"Control your temper, dragon" her cool whisper ran by his ear as she gracefully stepped away from him, choosing to go in her business while he looked for his beloved golden locks. His calmer eyes now scanned the lit up streets that led to the centre of the village, each full with stands of food, music played by mandolins as drunk songs floated in the air, bodies of human males and females dancing joyfully in the light of the bonfire. The dragon stood there, with a blank expression, until he caught glimpse of his object of infatuation : the blonde mignon that danced wildly, with moves so erotic that had her human opposites stare in awe.
They could stare all they wanted, she was his! Confident strides followed and stopped as another man came behind her and scooped her up in his arms, kissing her feverishly. Those were his lips! Lips that he kissed not many nights before and that was flesh that he touched! Fury and jealousy burned at his soul, but kept a steady pace until he touched that golden hair of hers –oh the dragon was furious! The nymph was nowhere in sight and he had to watch how they whispered sweet nothings in each other's ears. That harlot!
The two stepped away into darkened alleys discreetly as to not be spotted by anyone or followed, but he did, he saw them and he followed without any second thought. It wasn't long before an ear piercing scream was heard and all music stopped, joy left the festivity and villagers started heading to where the distressing sound was heard from.
And they were horrified with that they found.
The slaughtered forms of the two lovers, the girl with missing chunks of hair, their aces disfigured by what looked like claw marks and limbs burnt, making the finders sick to the stomach by the sight. Smaug, however, smirked satisfied as he watched from some distance away, the golden locks that he stole tucked in the palm of his hand –his first collecting of treasure! As if on cue, he was violently grabbed by the arm and shoved away by an angry nymph.
"What did you do!?" her eyes shone with anger and disbelief, confusion and what looked like disappointment "I told you to control your temper! That was the girl you were so attached to, wasn't she?" her urgent whispers made him look away indifferently "She was a harlot" and that was reason enough for her life to end. No one made Smaug jealous! No one touched what belonged to Smaug! He lost his temper, dragons always went through more powerful emotions than humans and their feelings could rarely be held down.
With a huff, the woman grabbed him and hurried away from the scene, away from the bonfire and on the path to the forest. He was a young dragon and she knew it was hard for him to control this, but she never expected him to end up doing such a thing! She was mostly ashamed of herself, guilt seeping through her veins and running through her boiling blood with every step. Even her little spell wore out, revealing their true forms the moment they stepped foot into the forest. She let go of his hand and stormed her way back to the location of the cave furiously –and it wasn't all Smaug's fault for her ruined mood, but rather the person she met in the village at the tavern.
Okay, so...I will clarify some things due to some private messages I got.
No, I am not going to use Sherlock Holmes as a model for Smaug's faceclaim...just no. I did see the tv show, I know he is the voice actor of Smaug, but I do not feel comfortable with doing that...it's really not how I would see Smaug, so if you are a fan of that thing and not the great character of Smaug, then please...feel free to read another fanfic.
The second issue was the idea of the whole story : this is happening in the past, waaaay before Smaug became that feared dragon, this is his way through, his journey to greatness! I saw that most stories about him run around the same 'maiden gets caught in his lair for her beauty/ voice/ talent and they fall in love and he turns into a mushy dragon' and I have nothing to say! It was original when it was first written, yes, and I admit I read one of those and I loved it! but I wanted to come up with something different so...I came up with this idea.
I would also love messages from you guys because I'm kind of hung on whether to continue or not, reviews and messages would help me get a view of where the reader would like this to be angled, what exactly they would like to see and how I could make that happen! I also love ideas because it's pure inspiration to me! Thank you and I'm waiting to see some opinions from you guys.