Hello, world!
I hope these two chapters have been interesting to you.
By the way, I'm sorry if this chapter is shorter than the others.
As always to give special thanks to Celridel for her help in improving the drafting.
I hope you enjoy it and here we go:
Chapter 3: A Guardian Dragon
Lenore and her dragon looked at each other in surprise.
Of all the comments, that was the least expected.
"Excuse me?" She asked uncertainly.
"You truly see the future. You explained many things that are happening in now." Gandalf replied in astonishment.
"Not to mention that you truly share a heart with this dragon." added Gimli.
"Mmm ... well, that's obvious. Didn't you hear me talking to him?" she said casually
"Not for those of us who are not wizards." Boromir retorted.
"Did you see her eyes?" asked Gimli.
"Indeed." Relied the man of Gondor. "They were near identical to those of the dragon."
Lenore and the Black Dragon looked at each other.
There was nothing new about this. It was an unmistakable sign that they shared a heart.
And not only did Lenore's eyes change in her narrowing iris, but in the eyes of the Black Dragon there was an almost human light that brightened his gaze.
"Yes, well ..." said Lenore uncomfortably "Now that you know the song and have listened to it, can we go?"
"I'm afraid not," Gandalf replied.
"What?! That was the deal! We showed you the song and you let us go! "
"We never made a deal."
Lenore was about to reply, but the wizard was right. They had not made any deal.
She rolled her eys and looked at her dragon, who, like her, was annoyed.
"God, give me patience." she murmured.
"Gandalf is right. We need both so we can find some light in this dark web." said Lord Elrond.
"Bth?! I think we need only the woman. Cursw that dragon!" said the dwarf, gripping his axe.
"Hey!" Lenore tried to intervene, but Gimli interrupted her.
"It is a dragon, and a black one at that! What if he turns on us! We will be dinner."
"You're wrong!" Yelled Lenore. The dragon growled.
But no one paid any attention to them.
"With the plight we are in now, we can risk nothing. We must trust both." said Strider calmly.
"At last someone with common sense!" Lenore snapped.
"You know nothing, Ranger." retorted Boromir. "Not yet a a fortnight ago, one of our outposts were attacked by dragons. One man only survived to bring the news. Tell me if we can trust such beasts?"
He paused, his lip curled.
"But then, what will you know, Strider? You are simply a Ranger! "
Strider said nothing, staring Boromir in the eye.
The blond elf stood abruptly.
"Be careful with your words, ymam!" he said angrily. "Have you forgotten old lore! Do you know from who the Rangers are descended? And yet this is the chief of the Dunedain, King of-"
"Legolas, calm yourself." Interrupted Lord Elrond.
The blond elf sat down again, but in his blue eyes one could still read indignation.
"So ... this is the future king of Gondor?" said Boromir mockingly.
"Enough. We have come together for one reason. Squabbling like fools is the Enemy's chief tool. "said Lord Elrond "Frodo, show us the Ring"
The short man rose hesitantly, and slowly put a ring of gold on a small column that was in the middle of the circle formed by the chairs.
At first glance, this gold ring could be considered as a simple gold band, certainly beautiful and well forged, but that "simple" ring was in fact the most powerful weapon that ever existed in Middle-Earth.
It had belonged to the Dark Lord of Mordor, Sauron, and in that Ring was all his black magic and power; but after his defeat, his "spirit" had taken refuge and lived in that Ring.
By many and varied different circumstances, for a thousand years it had been hidden, but now that it had been found by Gandalf in the hands of his friend Bilbo Baggins, the disaster had begun.
The Dark Lord had felt the presence of his Ring and wanted it back so as to finish what he had long ago begun: conquering all Middle-Earth bringing chaos, destruction and pain.
He had allied himself with Sauraman, or rather Saruman had allied with him and knowing that the dragons were very powerful beings, used them as terrible weapons,.
That was why the wizard believed that if that woman, the one shared heart with that dragon, especially a black one, helped them, they might stand some chance.
She would know all about the dragons better than anyone else and maybe, maybe she could find some way to free or stop them or, at worst, kill them.
It was a pity, then, that neither the woman nor the Black Dragon were willing to help them.
When the Ring was placed on the column, there was a heavy silence. The story of the One Ring and the Dark Lord was well known.
Lenore and her dragon, who had not moved from the center of the circle that formed the chairs and who had seen the discussion of the other members of the Council, turned and saw the column.
"Holy cow!" exclaimed the woman in terror as she took several steps back and the dragon, also backing away, showed his teeth.
"What's the matter, Lenore?" Gandalf asked worriedly.
Usually the One Ring "called" to all that looked at it, causing that it had a mad desire to have it and to use it, but Lenore and her dragon had shown contempt and even fear which was very interesting and, above all, useful because none of them would be attracted by its power.
"That devilish thing!" she exclaimed, pale as a dead man and her green eyes riveted on the Ring.
Her breathing was harsh and she was shaking as the Black Dragon had crouched to protect her, a fireball was starting to form in his jaws.
"Do you know what this is?" Gandalf asked.
"Of course, I know it! I saw something similar in my dream! "
She swallowed hard in terror.
"The Dark Lord rides in force tonight ... Side by side we wait the Might, the Darkest of the all ... The Ringwraiths ride in black ... Sunlight blinds his Eye" she said, quoting her song.
Gandalf looked at Lord Elrond, who nodded.
"Get this damn Ring out of here! We will leave unless someone at least covers it! "
Frodo hastily got up, and snatched it up.
Lenore and her dragon calmed down.
"We need to decide what to do with the One Ring." Lord Elrond said after a few moments of silence.
"It is a tool. Give it to Gondor , and it will be well used." said Boromir eagerly.
"The One Ring obeys no one but its owner," Gandalf replied.
"Then, we have to destroy it!" said Gimli , rising from his seat with his axe ready.
Before anyone could even try to stop him, the dwarf smashed his axe upon it, but the only thing that happened was that his weapon was destroyed in thousands of pieces, as if it had been a fragile crystal, while its owner was thrown to the ground.
Aragorn and Boromir helped him up.
"The One Ring could only be destroyed where it was forged. " said Lord Elrond with a sigh.
"Which was where...?" asked an embarrassed and angry Gimli
"At Mordor, on Mount Doom." answered Gandalf.
There was silence.
A trip to Mordor was a suicide, no one could ever leave there alive. Not to mention getting there alive.
"Give it to me. I will take it to Mordor and I will destroy it "said Legolas determinedly.
Frodo glared at the Woodland Prince.
"And let an elf make the journey on which the future of Middle-Earth depends? Not a chance!" Grosled Gimli.
"Do you have a problem with that, dwarf? Or is it simply your silly pride that makes you think that?"
Gimli paled and stood up just like Legolas.
Aragorn stood in the middle of the dwarf and the elf, trying to stop them and reason with the elf.
Meanwhile, Boromir suggested that the race of men should have the honor of having the Ring because they would make good use of it while Gandalf argued with the envelope about such a crazy idea and Lord Elrond tried to stop them all.
"Wonderful! They can't even agree on something" Lenore told the Black Dragon as she leaned on him. "This Middle-Earth is already destined to perish if they continue to fight like dogs and cats."
The Black Dragon softly roared.
"You're right ... as the old saying goes: divide and conquer."
For a few minutes, the Black Dragon and Lenore watched the Council members argue loudly, all but Frodo who looked frightened.
"Poor guy, being close to all of them surely can't be nice."
She paused.
"This is very interesting, I did not know that elves and dwarves would hate each other. Jeez! So many secrets revealed here! You know? We could do with this a trend topic on Twitter or reveal it in some of those cheap magazines that only talk about the private life of Hollywood stars. "
The Black Dragon snorted amused, and softly roared.
"Oh, that's decidedly a great idea! We could make money with those bets. Besides we could sell the portraits of the participants ... Can you imagine how much the girls would give for a portrait of Legolas boy?"
The dragon snorted, this time almost laughing like Lenore who covered her mouth, trying to hide the laughter.
Unfortunately, the elf had heard everything, especially the last remark, and when he saw that they were both almost laughing, he realized they were making fun of him.
Legolas shot them a dark glare like daggers before continuing to argue with Gimli.
"Man! The guy has good hearing, w have be more careful."
The Black Dragon shrugged.
"Yes, yes, yes, you're right, but we cannot make enemies in a place where we are already the ugly ducklings."
Suddenly a voice was heard over the others.
"I'll take it!"
Everyone, including the Black Dragon and Lenore turned to Frodo.
"I'll take it" he repeated "But ... I do not know how to get there." He added timidly
Gandalf sighed.
"Young one, you have chosen to carry a big burden. But I will helpmypu as I can."
Aragorn knelt before Frodo and told him:
"You can count on my sword."
"And with my bow" added Legolas.
"You have my axe, too." Gimli said.
The elf looked at him in disgust, but the dwarf ignored him.
"If this is going to be the way Middle-Earth will be saved, Gondor will see to it that everything goes well," said Boromir
"Mister Baggins is not going anywhere without me!"
They all turned and saw a chubby man coming out of his hiding place, about Frodo's stature, short, blond curly hair, blue eyes, and like Frodo, he wore no shoe but only his bare hary feet.
"Sam ?!" Exclaimed Frodo.
"We're going too!" said a pair of cheerful voices
They all turned and saw two young men who looked very like Frodo and Sam, with the only difference that one had curly brown hair and the other curly reddish and his eyes were brown.
"Merry? Pippin? "said Frodo in astonishment.
Lord Elrond chuckled.
"I was wondering when you would appear," he said. "It seems like all of you cannot be far from Frodo."
"I will never leave Mister Baggins" said Sam.
Frodo smiled, but then turned to the woman and the Black Dragon, who had just watched them.
His eyes begged them to go with them.
The Black Dragon turned to see Lenore
"Oh no! It is their quest, we have ours that is to find a way to return home "
The Black Dragon softly roared.
"That's not our problem. C'mon! We should not even be here! We showed them what they wanted to know, and yet they forced us to stay!"
The Black Dragon snarled.
"But…"
Before Lenore could say anything, the Black Dragon approached her and rested his forehead over hers and closed his eyes, and after a few moments Lenore closed her eyes, slowing her breathing to match his.
Finally, Lenore sighed and approached Frodo followed by the Black Dragon
"Well ... considering that you have to go to that place they call Mordor and considering that you are most likely to have dragons on the way... well ... we think maybe having a dragon as a guardian is not such a bad idea. So ... what do you think?"
Frodo smiled.
"Thank you, Lady Lenore," he said, "And your dragon too," he added.
The Black Dragon nodded as Lenore smiled.
"Do not call me my lady" she said. "That you call me by my name is enough."
So now the adventure begins.
How will Lenore and her dragon go in a land they do not know and where they all see them as a threat?
We wish them luck that they can be of help and get others to accept them.
Your reviews are always welcome.