Undeniably, Smaug was determined to visit Narnia again. Like Susan when she visited Erebor, he was craving for the beauty and diversity that laid outside Cair Paravel's walls. He wanted to paint in his memory the wide forests and the apple garden he saw from that balcony. He tried, by the Valar, he did to the point that all he did was to sleep. There was no news of the dragon under the mountain nor of the gold that he stole. Nothing.
There was no visit from Susan either, and that made Smaug anxious and bored. All he knew was that he should have asked that she visit, well he did ask that she dream of him, knowing her though, she could play with his words to make any excuse. What if there was danger? A queen is as important, nay, even more important than the king. (Only if Middle Earth would allow the women to rule to their full capabilities, not as gems that are prizes to be flaunted and protected...even worse, to give away.) Was she already married to that pompous ass Rabadash? Or was there another suitor that was fighting for her hand? How was Peter? Did he find a wife and spawned an heir? Maybe he married that woman he was dancing with nonstop when he visited. How are Lucy and Edmund? That Cheetah, he didn't even got the chance to ask his name, or to talk to the centaurs, or meet those Narnians that Susan told him of.
(More than anything, he wanted to feel it again. The joy of being among beings that didn't scorn him. The acceptance and glee of social interaction. The suspicion of being a stranger. Being believed as 'a good dragon' just for the word of one person. To use his wits and charm to another, and to feel his mind race with thoughts and strategies to overcome a challenge.)
Imagine his surprise when he woke up from a fitful slumber by choking...drowning. Being doused with water was almost an impossible thing unless it is by rain and storm. Also, dragons of his kind do not just go swimming unless it is direly needed. To be surrounded by blue made him panic and struggle to break to the surface. He observed three things. One, he was a dragon. Two, he was sure that he was in Narnia. Three, there was a shadow of a ship and it was sailing too fast for leisure.
Air. Air. Air. He broke to the surface with a splash, the water going to all directions as he flapped his wings and took deep breaths. Air. Air. Air. Warmth. Warmth. Fire. His core, a fire, that defines him as dragon born was burning low. He roared, summoning flames and smoke in his wake.
"Dragon! Dragon! To arms! To arms!" Voices clamored with hurried footsteps against wood combining with the grate of steel against leather and metal. He felt the poke of an arrow on his wing, useless but recognized. He turned his attention to the ship. (A swan head as a prow and a magnificent red sail of a lion. The Lion.) He paused his retaliation when a man came marching out of the main cabin, eyes dark and death clinging to his every pore. Anger and Edmund are a rare pair that he considered a privilege to see. "Your Majesty!"
One look was all it took. Golden eyes and dark brown and recognition. (Analysis and deduction, Edmund would tell him later.) The king raised a hand, earning confused gazes from his subjects. One faun, came forward to his side, alarm clearly written on his face and hands twisting a red scarf. Edmund sheathed his sword and put down his hand, a wordless order to back down. Tension racked the air and everyone waited in bated breath.
"My sister spoke of a dragon who preferred talking than devouring her. Are you him?" Smaug couldn't help but raise a brow. What is this king playing? The anger and death that a few moments ago, suddenly gone.
"A long time since last, King Edmund."
"I request that you change to your human form old friend, we wouldn't want any beacon signaling our escape."
Confusion. He wasn't surprised though. Susan and Edmund were almost twins in a sense. "A towel or a robe for modesty."
"It will be done." A look to the faun and he was off to deliver his king's wishes.
(Susan would tell him later that his transformation was one of many amazing things Edmund had seen. She would tell him too, that she was envious that she never saw it.)
(He would tell her later that it was because of modesty and that even dragons have a sense of propriety. That would be a lie.)
Well, what a way to change a day for Narnians. The already tensed atmosphere was now close to erupting, if not for the relief that painted Edmund's face, he would be dead just by gazes. He was herded to the inner cabins of the ship as soon as he could stand without swaying. The faun was full of suspicion, but let his king handle the situation, sensitive as it already was.
"I think we have some of Peter's clothes that will fit you for the time being. I am glad that you came to visit, as poor as your timing is."
As soon as the door to the Kings' quarters shut, the grim atmosphere returned with a vengeance.
"Who are you fleeing from?"
There was no answer, but a tensing of the Faun who assisted Edmund in the search for suitable clothes. He leveled his stare to the Faun, thinking that he was the weaker one and that answers would come easier if he breaks first.
"I do not know you."
"You do not know anyone other than the four of us and a certain prince." Edmund intervened before Tumnus could make a reply.
"My point exactly."
"One of our advisers, Mr. Tumnus."
It took Smaug a few moments to process the statement and the picture in his head. "The Mr. Tumnus?"
"The one and only."
His piercing eyes turned to assess Mr. Tumnus once more. This time around it wasn't with a simple curiosity and just wanting answers, but of amusement and a hint of respect. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you. Susan speak of you with such fondness and love that only now do I understand."
"I must apologize for as much flattery you give me... I do not know you enough to return the sentiment.'
"I'm sorry Tumnus, Smaug came while you were in that damned place. A visit."
"I understand Your Majesty, but where, by the Mane, did Queen Susan meet a... Dragon? One who shows up from the bellies of the ocean and transforms to a human?"
Edmund collected the belt and breeches from Tumnus before placing it on the chair beside Smaug. He was by then completely dry. His inner fire enough to warm him. The Dragon nodded in thanks, gathering the garments and following Edmund's motion to the dressing screen on the corner of the small room. Edmund then sat on his bed with a sigh.
"My question is yet to be answered." Smaug mentioned before he disappeared behind the screen, the robe he was wrapped in falling to the floor with a swish. "I asked the question first didn't I? Let's have that answered before I answer Mr. Tumnus'."
Silence stretched longer as he dressed himself. He wondered if what he would receive was the truth, cold and harsh, or a toned down version, diluted like wine and water. He didn't worry though. He would know the whole truth sooner or later. Peter's clothes were a little snug, but thankfully they weren't itchy. The scales that stayed on his back and shoulder blades made no complaint with the soft cloth. "Susan spoke of you as a silver tongue Edmund, is this a matter of trust?"
"No. Not in whole."
"Tell me what I need to know to be of assistance Edmund Pevensie, or I would be forced to do so in more unsavory ways. Knowing that I am here, it would only mean it concerns Susan." He stepped out of the screen and placed the robe on the back of the closest chair.
Edmund heaved a heavy sigh, sneaking a glance to the faun's direction.
"I believe you have an idea of what Susan was planning to the Calormen Prince the first time you were here. Not a concrete idea, but at least something. Didn't you?" Edmund stayed seated, his hands clasped together and his elbows on his knees. Smaug chose to stand by the chair where he left the towel. Tumnus was still where he was, confusion clearly coloring his face. For a close adviser, Smaug was surprised that it would seem he had no idea of what Edmund was talking about.
"I have. A political game of bait. That much I can discern. How long since then?" He had expected that Susan would either have married the prince or dumped him immediately.
"A year." Edmund contained the grimace, but it leaked through just a bit. "Everything went perfectly as planned."
"Except one."
"Edmund, is this... Is this what Susan was talking about..?" Tumnus was confused, clear as day, and the broken strings that seem to lack the time to be connected when the destruction came forth now manifested. And it would seem that the middle of it all, the one who knew all, was Susan. Edmund's questioning gaze was enough a demand for the faun to talk. "She...said that she never planned to stay. Never planned to accept the proposal. She never told me why, but Edmund you could've prevented or at least cautioned her."
"There is no clarity in what you speak, and if you want my help, I really need it." Smaug commented with a slight roll of his eyes. "Or should I just ask her?"
He could smell the scent of lilies, and he was sure that he could follow it with minor difficulties, even with the salt in the air. The grave look that passed between the two irritated him. "Speak plainly or lead me to her. I prefer the latter, since it is clear that she's the only one who knows the whole circle of what there is."
"Spider." Edmund scoffed, pain and anger twisting his face. Smaug didn't understand the relation of the creature to Susan, not to the slightest. "If you can make her talk more than we both ever did, report to me."
"You aren't my king. I follow no kings."
He sneered at the boy. The stare that Edmund gave him was tired and serious. This was no laughing matter, nor would it be one to play with longer than it should've been.
"I do not order it as king, but as a brother who only wants to protect his kin."
"I will only tell what she wants me to."
Edmund nodded. "I can make do of that."
"Are you sure?" Tumnus intruded. He was wary for good reason, as Susan was someone he considered as his daughter. "I believe this wouldn't be a good time to make her talk sire. I... You do not know how she was before we left. She... She."
Silence.
"She broke. Not in the way you saw her, dancing me around in tears when I thought of the escape plan. It was worlds different and it was horrifying to see."
"That would be understandable. I would fear for her more if she didn't. With what she experienced..." Edmund shuddered, fury once again coloring his countenance. A few moments of silence and he stood. "Come. I hope she wouldn't be stubborn with seeing you here."
"At last. Some notable progress." Smaug drawled, masking the worry that weighed heavy in his belly.
Every step closer to her room made it more prominent that something was horribly wrong. Given, it was just a short trip, but the atmosphere itself was suffocating. His ears pounded and there was nothing in the air to him, but the scent of lilies, grief and pain, with a hint of murder. How did this one year treat Susan? One year of which his companionship might be needed. One year of which Erebor's desolate halls might have helped. What could've happened in a year in Narnia? Smaug asked himself if he was ready, remembering that Susan, in some way, prepared him of what to expect. Except now, when the one who would be preparing him was the one he was to expect. Not that Edmund couldn't do the same, but there was the advantage of familiarity.
"Susan?" Edmund's hesitation was clear. Tumnus' straighter stance was tensed. Another bout of silence. A period of which anger, hate, guilt and fierce love rolled like waves on Edmund's every twitch. The echo of movement in the cabin continued and it wasn't until the second batch of knocking that it paused.
"Come in Ed." A collective sigh of relief was heard but would never be addressed.
Smaug tensed at the smell of blood that assaulted him, and the sight of hair scattered on the wooden floor. He wasn't the only one. Tumnus was quick to go to her side, eyes wide in worry. Edmund was like him in reaction, just with the addition of his hand gripping his sword as a lifeline. A promise. A curse.
"Susan! What are you—?" Susan sat curled up in a chair, hand holding a dagger with ease and with every intent of chopping her waist long hair even shorter. She clearly didn't want it cut in desired length in one go. There was the explanation on why hair scattered, with it the scent of lilies. The blood was from a small wound on her palm, a miscalculation she told them with a smile. Nothing amiss, except for the very activity she was doing at the moment.
"Leave us." Smaug was taken aback with the sound of his own voice. Susan blinked, only then recognizing his presence. Surer, he repeated. "Leave us."
He held her gaze until the door clicked close and til she looked away, to carry on with chopping her hair shorter. He watched her, straight back and not an action misplaced and for some reason, he had an idea of what Tumnus meant when Susan broke.
"How are you, Smaug, dragon of Erebor?" Her voice was teasing, steady, and as curious as any question she asked him through the years. The smile on her face was a hint insane, and Smaug knew this. (Thror had the same smile as he watched from afar.)
And Smaug realized that history would never know that Susan Pevensie was breaking until she was irreparable. Never.
The world would only know her wrath, and it would still be for her gentleness. She would always be the gracious Queen, until the world see her claim the murders she did. (Narnia would know, always. The land would know all the sacrifices for her. All tears and blood shed would fall to the ground and would be known.)
"I am fine. Other than wishing that I came here through better ways than drowning." He stayed where he stood, watching her with keen eyes and taking inventory of information to prepare him of what to do next. Patience was a virtue dragons were born to live with. "Do you not have scissors? Or a lady that can cut your hair for you? I know Queens should have at least one."
"Scissors?" Her hand was steady when she paused. The other, running through the tresses and taming her waves. "I don't have one, and I do not want to ask."
He merely raised his brow, indication that he was waiting for the rest of his answers. Susan rolled her eyes and carried on cutting. "My ladies are all back home, if the reports I received were accurate. I sent them both away for trips before I went to Tashbaan."
He took a step forward and watched her reaction carefully. Not a twitch out of place. "I always thought your hair was too long. Must be quite a nuance in the morning."
"You must agree though that it was beautiful." He watched the descent of a luscious lock to the floor. He took note that by now, her hair was just above her waist, especially if his calculations were correct. He wondered how far Susan was willing to cut. It would seem that every inch off was a sign of how distressed she was with what just happened and how she was keeping it.
Almost unnecessarily in his opinion. He was sure Edmund would be more than willing to listen. Anger though can make people reckless. Pondering, Smaug realized that Susan would know best. He just need to be here to know the whole situation, and help the best he could.
A dragon? Helping someone?
You're a good dragon.
He moved closer, watching her reactions carefully. If Susan Pevensie would enforce her walls even against him, he would push and destroy. It was his specialty. Her hands froze for a few moments when he was an arm span away from her. With it came suspicion leaking from her gaze. Suspicion for him. Of him. An emotion he always imagined she wear, but was swept off his feet to see. It was cold, swift and sudden. He couldn't stop himself from wondering how she would look with rage and hatred. Of seeing her with the murder she tucked between her ribs, unleashed. He wondered how he would feel if it was directed at him. He softened his expression, adding a small smile for effect. He preferred her curiosity over suspicion. "Yes. It was beautiful. Why are you cutting it now if you liked it?"
"All things must come to an end." Another inch.
"Your liking?" A pause and a smirk from petal lips.
"The use." She shrugged. "And the liking, yes."
He moved closer once more, and she gave him a small flinch. He faltered. "What's the use? Using it as a rope to escape out a window? Or maybe to sneak someone in?"
A twitch and her expression became seeking, grasping a memory that was just beyond her grasp. (Smaug would ask of It later, but the answer would only come far in the future.)
"Why would you send them away?" A step forward, his hands still on his back and his face a mirror of hers. Calm. So damn calm that you wouldn't even know something was wrong unless you looked closer. That if they weren't speaking, no one would even know that he was asking her answers she didn't want to give. He would rather have the knowledge of her safety, even if that means that he needed to prod and push unnecessarily. He took comfort though, that she wasn't closing herself to him and being unresponsive. Susan being quiet, being distant, was beginning of the end, especially with how Smaug knew the woman.
Susan was a quiet child, but when she spoke, it was always interesting.
"To protect them." She shrugged. "Also with how close they are to me, I am sure that they would be more distractions than help."
"Distractions because they will protect you?"
"Distractions because I need to protect Narnia." She pointed out, nonchalant.
"By putting yourself in danger."
"I am always in danger."
"Doesn't mean that you should push it even more." He could feel anger curling in his belly, but he made every effort to make it stay that way. He didn't have any right to be angry at her. He wasn't her keeper. He was just her dream dragon. Just.
"I am alive, am I not?" With a sigh, she paused on her hair cutting. "What is done, is done. To speak of it now wishing it happened differently would do nothing." Then she carried on cutting closing the topic that he wasn't prepared to leave. "I do not need any more chastisements especially one who has no clue what happened."
"Isn't it why I am asking?"
Her hands dropped to her lap and she glared at him. "I am wasting my breath then, with the questions you asked."
How dare she? Did she not know that I can easily kill her and all the inhabitants of this ship? Were his first thoughts the moment anger flared and lit his face. He knew she saw it, yet she glared on and stood her ground. She knew, that she just offended him and she was unrepentant. To fight this much, especially against him and even her family, to hide an event and information would only mean that it is important. Incredibly important. He took a breath, curving the anger back in. He held out his hand and softened the expression of his face. "Let me cut your hair, please."
"Why?"
"An assurance that you wouldn't shave it all off." She scoffed and rolled her eyes, but she did pass him the blade. She gave him a small smile, her calm now back. In the few precious moments when she smiled then turned her back to him, he saw more than evasion. Fear screamed for freedom in her shaking hands. Anger in the slope of her shoulders. Relief in the sigh that she released. Fear. He ran his fingers through her hair and realized that it was the first time he touched it. Yes, they did dance and she did kiss his cheek, but this. This was something much more important. Something much more reverent. The blade met dark locks and for a few moments, silence reigned.
"Did something go wrong when you stole the mountain? Even one tiny thing?" It was a whisper, but in the silence, it echoed. He needed to pause when he ran his fingers through her hair, intent on getting any stray lock to straighten his next cut. He gave the back of her head a look of relief and carried on.
"Letting them live is a willing mistake." Cut. "I knew that they would want their inheritance back, and it's bad. I do crave their coming though. I want to disappoint them of thinking that they could do it."
"If you planned it and willed it, why would you call it a mistake?" He finished cutting her hair when it reached her waist, and stepped back to admire his handiwork.
"Because it will cost me in the future, even more than what it cost when I took Erebor." He left the blade on the nearest table and then took hold of a comb, to run through her tresses. "A small snowball down the hill."
Silence. He couldn't do anything else when her hair shimmered like stars in midnight, but to stop combing and tell her that it's done. "I would hide the blade if you intend to cut it shorter. I love it this way, just perfect. Practical yet beautiful."
"Who are you to order me?" No anger this time, only irritation. "I do not plan to cut it shorter anyway."
"Good."
Silence.
"How much can a man love?" She asked so sudden when he thought the silence stretched too long already.
He was so surprised he blurted out the first thought that came to his mind. "I am not a man, Susan."
She turned to face him just as quickly with an irritated pout and a raised brow. She was clearly not amused with his answer. "How much can someone love then? Have you ever loved Smaug?"
"Gold is on the list." Her face scrunched and he watched, raptured, at the expressions that finally blessed her placid mask. "There are different kinds of love, child."
"That's obsession. You labeled it yourself as a sickness."
"For the dwarves." Lie.
"Well you aren't so different then. Gold. Your greatest love is a prize, taken and stolen. A never ending cycle of wanting more and letting everyone know. If that is your love, then it's certainly is forever." She gave him a deadly smile to come with her innocent, sweet voice. She blinked, "Unless Middle Earth's gold suddenly runs out of stock, you will definitely have your happily ever after."
"Is this what you are fleeing from? Love? Too afraid to face what you are feeling to go through?" He sneered, baring fangs and even going so far to hissing. "Is this Prince Rabadash, not fit for the most beautiful queen? I'm surprised you realized it just now, little one."
She rolled her eyes. "I see now why you fit being the destroyer than a ruler. You wouldn't know a thing about politics."
"I find no need of it." He moved around the room. Anger demanding retribution and giving energy he didn't know how to release. He dropped down on a seat opposite hers and rested his chin on his knuckles. "Though I've seen a thousand of royal and arranged marriages. Let me see…"
Susan might've expected that he would allow her anger to destroy him. Oh, of course he knew. She would destroy and destroy and then remake. He followed no monarchy. "Thinking of finally settling down and have kids. Rabadash is one you can tolerate so you picked him. He got the face and the physique, and a little brain. What of him did you not like to come scurrying home? Snoring too loud?" He chuckled. "Did you expect someone so much better, because you are the most beautiful?"
The tone of his voice was enough to wipe every emotion on her face.
"Calormen had been planning on invading Narnia for four years." The chill in her tone, in return, was enough to paint a moment of shock in his features before they slipped back to arrogance. "They've been planning on turning the whole continent into their very own empire ever since the White Witch fell."
"I've been monitoring their movements and plans as close as I could. They are one big country, bigger than Narnia and even more ruthless." Not once did the mask of nothingness wavered. It was one of the history lessons that she gave him back in Erebor, when she was introducing Narnia to him. This, was worse. It was better to read a book than listen to her. "Of course, what better way than a possibility of an alliance? That would save them the time of going to war just to get some of the benefits of Narnia."
"Then why flee?"
"Because I don't want an alliance." His back tensed and his brows furrowed. He knew that Susan was capable of evil, the murder in her eyes back then was manifestation enough. He even saw and knew about the blood in her hands, but he thought it was for necessary and unavoidable causes, such as defending her country. He put her in an ideal pedestal only to realize that she was no statue, or portrait to be admired. "An alliance would only give them a chance to backstab us. They are determined to make an empire. Better now than when they are more prepared. It was helpful that the Prince was so passionate and obsessive. To have the Barbarian Queen as the ultimate trophy and bargaining chip."
Susan was practically screaming to him that she had waged war without actually saying it. She even went so far as to tell him, "Of course, Narnia is not one to openly start a war."
Vicious. He exhaled, imagining that with it was the shock of this new knowledge coming out like smoke or flame. "And what does this have to do with love?"
"You want to know what happened right?" She chuckled, as if seeing this experience as not hers. As if it was someone else and she was merely a storyteller. "It's a sad tale. He's too in love with the thought of glory and too afraid of the thought of losing that locked me up and threatened to kill my companions…my brother's head in a platter."
"How did you escape?"
"Tumnus thought of preparing for a celebration and thus let us gain access of the ship to escape."
"At what price did you reach this small victory?" His voice steady, yet his hands were clenched. He finally understood why Edmund was so angry. The contemplation was a cover to the crack that started on the mask. The mask he wanted to wrench away. Are you prepared of what is behind it?
"Edmund didn't tell you?" Another crack. Her hands resumed in shaking.
"I do not think it is his story to tell." Her emotions are fluctuating. A clear sign of distress, and the mask was changing to suit her needs to protect it. "Tell me Susan. Did he touch you?"
"Oh, of course." She blinked. Evasion. "He did try to do more though."
She wouldn't break. She's an actress. She would act her part perfectly, right on queue and undeniably believable.
And now, she's the strong Queen that would emerge victorious in the end of this arc.
"How far did he try?"
"Not that far."
A knock on the door and a young man's voice disturbed whatever demand Smaug was about to say. (He would never know of the bruises that marred her arms and waist, thighs. Never know that she forced herself to throw up any taste of the Calormen Prince in her mouth. Never, ever know of the bite marks on her shoulder and collarbone.)
"Susan." Corin's voice made her smile. "Archenland is in the horizon, may I invite you to the deck? May I come in? I am sure it would brighten your spirits!"
(Smaug would never know that she was already half naked and screaming when she was able to hit Rabadash with a small marble statue on the arm. That it was only a few moments after that Edmund came barging in after subduing the guards outside the door.)
(He would never know.)
"This isn't your fight, Smaug the Stupendous. I advise that you return to your mountain as soon as you could." She said before she stood to pass by him. She was stopped by a hand around her arm and talons barely digging on her skin. Shocked, she looked down to see his hand. A hand encased in scales and instead of nails, were the black talons that she was so familiar with. He was seething, taking in deep breaths and looking onward with fury clearly written on his face. Fury for Rabadash? Or for Susan and her evasion? Turning to the door, she lightened her tone. "Give me a few minutes Corin, I have a visitor. I will follow you up the deck."
"Oh, as you wish Your Majesty." She waited until the steps faded.
"I will live Smaug. No need to fuss. I have an army at my disposal enough to exact any vengeance." Which she would never do, never tell. Her sacrifices would never be written in full detail and she preferred it that way.
Five minutes before the scales and talons disappeared. Another minute before Smaug let go of her arm. A few seconds after for Susan to leave the room up the deck. Fifteen minutes after did he went up the deck and be introduced to more people than he cared about.
(He would never know. Not from her.)
AN:
Seven chapters down and only now did I write any author's note. Ahaha, apologies. Thank you for reading and for leaving reviews, putting this to your favorites and watching this. It is undeniably uplifting to check my email and see a message about a review, a favorite and a watch. They make me smile.
Now, I have a very important question because this would determine the next chapter.
Would (you like for) Smaug know about what happened to Susan?
It would change nothing with major events with how I planned the chapters, but it will definitely change Smaug's reactions and behavior. Smaug and Susan interactions too.