Well, the votes are in. It was 7-3 with the meeting Eragon, Brom, and Saphira option winning. So, Smaug will be getting involved into the story a lot earlier than expected. Also, I hope anyone has ideas on how Smaug can fall for Saphira while keeping his usual attitude.
An OOC Smaug doesn't really suit him. Perhaps he could try and hide it while giving a Smaug excuse. Like, he gets Saphira food and lies by saying it would savetkme being wasted when actually it's his instincts coming out.
Anyway, let's begin.
Through day and night Smaug flew through the air until he was sure he had left Middle-Earth. Nowhere would be safe for him to his de and heal, with him escaping and the darkness coming to spread over Middle-Earth, Smaug had to leave his homeland, heal his wound and regain his strength before returning to retake what belongs to him.
He had made it into the sister land of Middle-Earth, Alagaësia. Smaug has never been there so he doesn't know anything that much about the land. Though he did hear rumors from fellow dragons, when they were around, that dragons also lived here. Smaug was the kind of dragon that LOVED discovering new lands and stuff, hoping that he could find gold since dragons covert gold with a dark and fierce desire. The only large hoard of gold was Thror's in Erebor.
Grunting in pain, Smaug gave the loose scale wound a glare. The sooner he got that black arrow out, the better. He saw a mountain area along with large woods and trees, perfect for now. He swooped down and landed on his feet, growling at the wound. He looked around and smelled the air and his great nose picked up the scent of humans. Growling again, the red dragon made sure to not go in the area of a human settlement. He didn't know what Alagaësia's inhabitants had for weapons.
Raising a claw up to try and pick the arrow out, he growled again in pain and anger when his claw lightly nudged it further. "Curse those pathetic little vermin." Smaug growled with his eyes blazing at his anger. He tried using his teeth to gently pull it out but it must be sticking through a bit of flesh inside. Growling again in anger, his tail lashed out and took down some trees. He didn't lie about his tail being like a thunderbolt or a whip once.
Sighing in irritation, Smaug spread his wings again and took off into the air. He needed to find a large cave deep within a mountain so he could he hide away and rip those damn arrow out! It would hurt and make him roar, which would alert any nearby human settlement and he didn't want to deal with those vermin... for now anyway.
Once he was sure he was far away, his wings flapped through the air more slowly as his mind went to other things, like the dwarves retaking their mountain and enjoying HIS gold. He hoped the Arkenstone drove Oakenshield mad, corrupted his heart, and leads him to his death. Like he had told the little thief, he wanted to watch it happen if he gave the Arkenstone to the dwarves.
Suddenly, the wound flared up in pain and Smaug let out a roar at the sudden pain, alerting a certain trio nearby.
That trio was none other than Eragon, his dragon Saphira, and an old man named Brom. They had just left Yazuac and were resting for the night when they heard the roar, Saphira's head snapped up and Eragon felt shock coming from her as she sniffed the air. "What was that?" Eragon askedz looking at Brom.
Before they could say anything, a shadow flew over them and they looked up to see a large, red dragon fly over them, clearly in pain with how it's roars were sounding. Brom stood up as they heard a crash nearby, meaning that the dragon had crashed into the tress nearby.
"One of the eggs Galbatorix has is red..." Brom said with a wary tone before looking at Eragon and Saphira. "Judging by the size, this one has been around for a while. I'd recommend not fighting it, it may be more stronger than you, Saphira." Saphira snorted in response by heeded his words. Brom lead the way with Eragon and Saphira behind him.
They came to where the dragon crashed and saw it had knocked a motor trees down and made a clearing. It was groaning and growling, then...it spoke!
"Curse those vermin!" It spoke in a male voice, a voice filled with anger, rage, and slight pain. The trio took this time to look the dragon over. He was bigger than Saphira, his wingspan was large, his tail like a whip, he had four legs and from what they could see, orange eyes like fire itself. He was nibbling at something on his chest, growling at it.
Eragon stepped on a twig and the dragon stopped before lifting his large head and turned to look at them, his eyes narrowed before widening slightly in surprise at seeing Saphira. It was silent for a few moments before the dragon growled and began carefully standing up, hissing at his wound which the trio saw was a loose scale with a black arrow inside.
"Who are you to dare approach me?" The dragon hissed before laying down as pain flared up in his chest again. His tail slammed into the ground in agitation before he glared at the trio. "Speak before I burn you all!"
Brom took a deep breath before he stepped forward. "There will be no need for that." He said calmly despite the glare he was receiving, a look of superiority in this strange dragon's eyes. "We just saw you fly overhead and crash."
The dragon scoffed. "And you come to gawk? To laugh? To KILL?!" He chuckled darkly. "It will be a grave mistake if you chose the last one, human. Wounded as I may be, I am still able to kill any threats to me."
"We are not threats. All I want to know is if you are working for the king." Brom said.
The dragon's scaly brows frowned. "Who? What king? As if I would lower myself to serve some pathetic, insect such as a human king. I would BURN anyone who dared try to make me serve them." He growled at them. "Now, who are you may I ask?"
"I am Brom, this is Eragon and Saphira." Brom said, gesturing to his other two companions. The red dragon's eyes stayed on Saphira with a narrowed gaze as she looked at him with shock, awe, and...was that hope? "And what is your name, great dragon?"
"You are not familiar with my name?" The dragon chuckled, as if expecting this and had the chance to gloat about it. "I am SMAUG! King under the Mountain! I kill where I wish, WHEN I wish! Does that satisfy your curiosity, human?"
"It does. May I ask, great Smaug, where did you come from and why you are here?" Brom asked. Smaug was a dragon he had NEVER seen before, one that can talk through his mouth was unheard of. Plus, Smaug seemed to have something against humans or perhaps that was because he was a wild dragon.
Smaug scoffed. "A land you may not know, it is called Middle-Earth. To answer your second question, I am here because of THIS!" He gestured to his wound before reaching a claw up to try and pull it out but growled in pain as he moved it. "A human fired this into me! ME!"
"Do you need help?" Eragon suddenly asked and all eyes snapped to him, Smaug's looking so repulsed at the idea.
"I do not NEED help, little human." Smaug growled, his pride refused to accept that. He looked at the arrow and closed hisbeyes before biting down innit and pulled it right out with a roar escaping his mouth but he made sure it wasn't a very loud one. He refused to show such weakness in front of these three before him. Yeah, he showed pain but to roar at it...no.
He laid his head down with a sigh before licking at some blood that came out of the wound. He glanced at the trio still standing there and sighed again. He could either just burn them and have them for dinner, or let them live to get information about this land out of them...plus s curious about the sapphire dragoness standing so close to the human boy, Smaug noticed it was protectiveness.
Why would a dragon need to PROTECT a human?
Once he was done licking the blood up, he made sure his wound was fine before getting to all fours and looked at the trio, his eyes going to Saphira and he tilted his head. "You are a curious one, blue one." He said blankly, not showing what his thoughts were on her. "I have not seen another dragon, especially a female, in such a long time."
"And why is that?" Brom asked carefully.
"Because they were all wiped out over time... Leaving me the last." Smaug said with a growl before shaking his head. "I think this little game of questions and answers ends here, so tell me, old man, what do you intend to do now that you've seen mW? Attacking me will only lead to your deaths."
Brom was silent and Smaug felt a mental probe in his mind so he quickly threw his mental barriers up, barriers which no human could pass. The only one powerful enough would probably have been Sauron or Morgoth himself.
"I am not attacking you. I am showing you something." Brom said. Smaug's eyes narrowed yet he smelled truth in the man's worlds so he allowed him inside and Brom showed him Alagaësia and it's history, everything about it including the...
"Dragon Riders?!" Smaug hissed vehemently. "Did the dragons here forget themselves and become steeds for what is beneath them?!" The thought of a human or anything, elf, Orc, dwarf, riding a dragon made Smaug almost vomit in disgust. "Is that what you are wanting?! To try and make me submit so you could ride ME?!"
"NO!" Brom said quickly before calming down. "I see that you would NEVER allow that. All I am asking... is your help." Smaug narrowed his eyes again. "If Galbatorix finds out about you, he will destroy your mind and twist it until you are his dark puppet to use as a weapon."
Smaug hissed at the thought.
"What is in it for me?" Smaug growled as he looked at the three of them. "I could just burn you, destroy this Galbatorix and his empire."
"He also has a dragon that is his puppet." Brom said. "I am not asking you to help for the freedom of the peoples of Alagaësia, I am asking you to help avenge the dragons murdered and slaughtered by Galbatorix."
"You make it sound like I should care about those weaklings." Smaug growled before he actually began thinking it over. He growled at himself for even thinking of considering it..yet it could pass the time for him to regain his strength. And also, he was curious about the one called Saphira. Growling in irritation at what he was about to do, he looked at them and nodded.
"Very well."
I tried giving a good enough reason for Smaug to join then trio bit with his attitude at anyone else he thinks are lower than him...that's a bit hard. Don't flame me for trying to give Smaug a reason to not kill the three and ruin the story. I'm trying my best whennit comes to a dragon who doesn't really like anything except gold.