Chapter 12

Terrico led the group to Silvian's cave. They found the dragon munching happily on the remnants of another goblin. Silvian recognized Terrico. "Greetings Terrico! I am glad to see you again. Who are the others?" Silvian moved the rest of the goblin into the hole he laid in front of. He was obviously not the kind of dragon that shared easily. "This is Gandalf the wizard, Frodo the hobbit, Legolas the elf, and Aragorn, who is a King. We have come to talk to you, and some of the other dragons if possible." Silvian nodded. He could tell that the group was quite serious. He let out a loud bugle, and a few other dragons appeared from deeper in the woods. "You probably know that there are more goblins than normal here." Gandalf addressed the dragons with a polite bow, "We know of a huge army in the foothills of the mountains in the south. They have a leader that threatens all of us with their plan. Terrico is threatened the most. We would like to make an alliance with you, I think that it will be beneficial to all." The dragons listened carefully to Gandalf's plan, his explanation of the partnership, and the gains for both dragon and hobbit. "We will see. If we agree, I will come to the village. For now, please leave us in peace to discuss this matter." The group bowed to the dragons and headed back to the Shire. In the meantime, Gimli was explaining to the hobbits, whom had all gathered for a meeting in the party field, about the alliance and what they would get out of it. Most of the hobbits agreed. Those that didn't tried to change the minds of those that agreed, but failed. Gimli assured them that the alliance was completely voluntary. "If you don't want to be a part of this, you don't have to be, but we won't protect you. You can still donate food or services, and then gain protection." Gimli looked over the crowd. He had a good three-quarters of the hobbits agreeing with him. That meant that they had plenty of riders for the dragons. He looked forward to going once again into battle. He'd sharpened his axe and couldn't wait until they'd formed their army and went to defeat the goblins. He wondered about the mage Gandalf had spoke of. Was he powerful? How could he take over minds? What would happen if he got Terrico? Gimli shuddered at the thought of Terrico obeying a goblin. He knew that they were ruthless killers and that they were fond of torture. He wondered if the gathering armies in the mountains included orcs. He knew them well from battle. They were fierce, sometimes very strong, stupid, and ugly. He smiled when he saw the group return. "Do the hobbits agree?" Gandalf asked him. "Most of them. I told the rest that they don't have to agree, but we won't protect them. I told them that not everyone in the alliance will become riders." Gandalf nodded. "Now we only have to wait for Silvian." Terrico said as she scanned the edge of the woods. No dragon appeared. The group sat at the edge of the town near the woods, but not close enough for anything or anyone to launch a sneak attack. Terrico and Gandalf talked about how she could be protected from Driikk. Legolas sat beside Terrico, letting her know that he was worried about her. He talked with Gimli about battle strategies. Aragorn listened to both conversations as much as he could. Frodo sat next to Gandalf, but had fallen asleep. By the time Silvian came to them, it had been decided that the riders, if any, would be at the front, using fog and camouflage spells to hide the main fighting units. It was also decided that Terrico should go to Greenhorn secretly. She was to try to gain the status of Sorceress and receive a charm that would prevent mind control. Silvian told them that the dragons agreed and would be coming later that evening to Aragorn's camp. Terrico told Silvian that she would not be staying, and that she would try to bring reinforcements in the form of Redrock dragons. Sealeaf, who had been sleeping while all this was going on, woke up and approached Silvian. He did not hiss like he normally did at a strange creature, but instead began to talk. It was all in Draconic, but it surprised everyone. Sealeaf's growth now made him a few feet taller than Aragorn's horses. Terrico told everyone that since Sealeaf had reached full height, his intelligence and magic would now begin growing. She admitted that he grew faster than any other dragon, but she said that his speech indicated that he would be able to serve in the army within a few days. "Don't be surprised if he begins to learn common and elvish from us. Most dragons learn from listening. They can pick up the meaning of words from facial expressions and gestures. All dragons know Draconic in their species' dialect from birth." As she finished, Sealeaf turned to her. He spoke in Draconic mixed with a bit of common and elvish. He told her that Silvian was going to teach him to fly. Terrico smiled. "You're growing up very quickly, Sealeaf. Don't be surprised if we still treat you like a baby. You're only a few weeks old." He nodded that he understood, and told her that he knew that he didn't have the wisdom of other dragons because of his young age. Terrico translated for the others, then began to get up. "If I am to go, I should go now. Gandalf and I shall go to my homeland, and we will return as soon as we can. Legolas, take good care of Sealeaf and yourself. I don't want to have to spend half my magic restoring you because you got careless." Gandalf chuckled. "I doubt any of our friends here will be so careless." Terrico turned to leave, and Legolas got up. "Be careful, Terrico. I want you to meet Thranduil after all this is over." She knew he meant that he wanted to introduce her as his future wife. They had talked about it at night, after everyone had gone to sleep. "I would like to as well." She replied, gently touching his cheek. She gave him a quick kiss before going over to Gandalf, who stood waiting on the path. Gandalf smiled, thinking to himself that he was glad the elves were happy together, despite the dangers. They headed off down the path, and Legolas watched them until he could not see them. They moved quickly, obviously hoping to return before the battle. Aragorn watched them as well. Gimli glanced at Legolas with the corner of his eye. "Is she your vine-rose, Legolas?" Legolas turned to his friend and laughed, remembering his words before they'd left Mirkwood. "Yes, Gimli, she's my rose. I just wish that same rose wasn't a sign of evil." Aragorn nodded and walked off, heading for the village. He planned to teach the hobbits about how to handle a sword, and thanked intuition that told him to pack extra swords. All of his men carried three. They'd seen battles where many men died because their swords broke, became stuck in something, or were knocked away by an enemy. They willingly gave their third swords to the hobbits. Most of the swords were short swords designed for close combat. They were still a bit big for the hobbits, but most were strong enough to train with them. The local blacksmith cut down many so that they were easier to handle. Days passed, and the dragons came. Soon Aragorn and Legolas were training hobbit-ridden dragons how to fight with riders and they taught the hobbits how to ride and fight from the backs of the dragons. The dragons learned how to keep hidden without rolling over and the hobbits learned to slash at opponents without hitting the dragons. The last thing the hobbits learned was how to shoot a bow and arrow, which would be their weapons if the dragons needed to take flight. Within a week, they had a formidable army of dragon-riding hobbits. They posted sentries deep in the woods to watch for the siege. A few days passed without incident.