AN: Thank you for the reviews! I'm glad that Nalene isn't coming across as a total brat, and I completely agree, what fun is a Smaug story without the dragon himself?
Chapter Three:
Nalene was loathe to speak to her captors, but she'd already put this off too long. The rough movements of the horse was only worsening it. Neither man had given any indication they intended to stop soon- they probably wanted to get as far from the city as they could. Her father had to have noticed her absence by now. People had to be looking for her.
Nonetheless, if they didn't stop she would be pee right in this man's lap, and with a threat like that she was sure she could persuade them to stop.
But how was she even supposed to address them? They hadn't given her any names, and it wasn't like she came into contact with scoundrels like this often. These people had stolen her from her home, intended to steal from her, and possibly kill her later… she refused to call them sir like she would with any other strangers.
She cleared her throat, arching her neck to look back at the rider. "Excuse me?"
The man blinked down at her, apparently surprised she'd spoken. She had been rather quiet since she'd woken on the horse. It became evident quickly that arguing or fighting was pointless. It would only anger them, and then who knew what violent or cruel things they'd do. Nalene shuddered. No, no sense in potentially making it worse. It wasn't as if she was capable of outrunning them all the way back to Dale.
Her plan had been to stay so quiet they would hopefully forget about her.
"Can we stop?" She gave her best smile, and she was impressed with herself for a moment. Last thing she wanted to do was smile at these men. But hearing her words the man's face hardened, and he looked ready to immediately refuse. She finished quickly, "I have to, you know…"
One brow arched.
"Pee," she supplied. "I have to pee, right now." Saying it outright made her flush. It was hardly proper to admit these things to stranger- but, she soured a little, thieves like these probably didn't care. No sense of decorum between these two.
She was met with a blank stare from the man, until finally he huffed, and the horse slowed to a more forgiving gait. "Rich!" he called in the other's direction, "We're stopping."
Without waiting for a response the rider lifted her off the saddle.
The landing was rough, jarring her knees, and Nalene was scowling at the ground when the man dismounted, snatching up his horse's reins. Those were probably stolen too.
"Well, get to it," he told her brusquely.
She gaped at him, shocked by his tone. He sneered. There was nothing else around for her to hide behind. They didn't really expect her to just relieve herself right in front of them, did they? She searched her surroundings, discomfort growing.
There! She let out a breath, relieved. Clunkily lifting her bound hands she gestured towards the distant boulder. "Is over there okay?"
"What's the hold up?" It was the other who'd spoken, Rich. He still sat in his saddle, impatiently looking between the two of them. "Are you an idiot, Cal? We need to keep moving. Get her back on the horse."
"Girl says she has to piss." Nalene received a suspicious once over, and she frowned. Who did they think she was? Some vagabond like them, who would lie and deceive without a conscious?
Faced with two angry men glaring at her, Nalene hunched her shoulders, shifting her legs again. "I do. It won't take long."
"I'm not getting peed on by some girl-" the one she rode with started.
"Fine," Rich snapped, jerking his horse back a few steps. He turned to Nalene. "You got two minutes, you hear?"
Nalene was used to fine tiles, sweet smelling soaps, and gentle cloths. Peeing in the wilderness was something she never wanted to do ever again. Having her hands tied together only made it worse. Feeling miserable, she trudged back towards her captors. They were a couple dozen paces away, and she could see the towers of Dale in the distance, jutting into the blue sky.
Making a run for it flashed through her mind, and she thought of all the adventure stories she'd read before. As she returned to the two, Rich still in his saddle, also watching Dale- his expression wary- she remembered all the hero's and heroine's from the stories.
She nodded stiffly at the rider, and with a grunt he lifted her into the saddle. If this was like the stories she would have been rescued by now. The man clamored into the saddle behind her, and she tried keeping her expression neutral at the invasion of her personal space.
Or she would have at least made a heroic escape attempt by now…
Was she going to die?
"Do you feel that?"
It was the one called Rich who spoke. She tried to place him from the night before. Which one had held her from behind and which had gone for the necklace?
"Feel what?"
But Nalene felt it, the sudden rolling wave of dry air and heat. Their horse sidestepped nervously, ears prickling.
"That," the other supplied vaguely, a concerned frown on his face.
"I don't feel anything," the one behind her shrugged.
"I don't like it."
Something about his expression drew her attention, and Nalene found herself inspecting her captor a little closer. She narrowed her eyes, something about him was familiar. As she watched him glance over both shoulders it hit her.
"You-" she breathed, catching the attention of both men. "You're that one from the market," she exclaimed. "You were eavesdropping! That's how you knew about my necklace!"
The men shared a look. "Partially," one admitted.
Nalene wanted to feel furious. She wanted to spit at them, make them shake in their boots. Instead this revelation only made her more dejected. She'd sensed something was wrong, but done nothing, like some idiot. To know that she could have prevented this and didn't had her flustered and disappointed. Now she just wanted to be alone, to wallow.
"Not very quick, are-"
The rest of his words were lost in a bone-shaking roar. There was a moment of complete stillness between the three of them, then Nalene snapped her head around to the noise, searching the area with baffled dread. Another roar echoed the first, followed by a heavy thumping in their air, like a giant beating out their laundry.
Then she saw it.
It was huge, even from a distance where only the biggest buildings of Dale were still visible. All three of them watched in mute horror as it soared closer and closer, circling over Dale like vulture. Nalene had never seen anything like it. Nobody had, not in years. But books and stories had kept the tales alive.
Then fire was lighting up in the sky, exploding down on the bustling, now burning, city.
"Those aren't supposed…" she trailed off, thunderstruck by the sight before her. Those aren't supposed to exist anymore. Nobody had seen one in centuries, not around here.
The sound of horse hooves pounding distracted her for a second as she watched dumbly as Rich forced his horse into a gallop, running from the fire, and not looking back for his partner.
"Shit!" the rider behind her cursed, yanking at his horse's reins. This horse couldn't keep up with the other rider's though, and within a minute they had fallen behind drastically. Her captor was swearing fluently, composing partial sentences made entirely of words her father would have fainted to hear her utter.
Nalene sympathized. There was nothing like a shared threat to make the captor and prisoner bond. She risked a glance behind her and what she saw was both horrific and stunning. She could nearly smell the ash. It was all fire, more fire than she'd ever seen.
The horse was huffing beneath them, forced into an instinctual gallop that put it's earlier pace to shame, but even Nalene could tell that her horse was going significantly slower than the other, who was so far away now that the horse and rider blurred into one dark, fleeing form.
Her captor wasn't swearing anymore, she realized.
His hands were on her waist then. She didn't have time to protest because they were gone as quickly as they appeared. She figured it was because she was already so overwhelmed that the sensation of falling didn't register. Then her skull slammed into the ground.
Dazed, she didn't make a sound besides initial grunt on impact.
She couldn't find her breath, something- everything- ached. The vibrations in the ground faded as the distance between her and the horse increased. She'd been pushed out of the saddle, she understood then- thrown off to lighten the load. Life took precedence over expensive necklaces apparently.
When she sat up and had the sense to look around Dale was still burning, and her eyes trailed behind the dark spot looming in the sky as it swept over Dale again and again.
She lost sight it after it's attacked Erebor, but it wasn't long before it appeared again, soaring in her direction. It flew right over her position sprawled in the grass and rock, spraying fire as it went. Nalene hardly even moved out of the way.
Nalene wasn't sure how much time passed after that. When the dragon had faded into a smaller splotch on the sky, chasing or circling who knew what, she pulled herself off the ground. The fire had missed her, mercifully, and the nearest patch of it was a safe distance away, a group of trees.
Her attention turned towards Dale. She could scarcely believe her luck. How easily she could have been inside that burning city. Instead she'd been saved by some thieves. Turns out her bad luck wasn't so bad after all.
But her father, her brothers, her friends… she felt like crying. They must all be dead now. Tears welled up in her eyes.
What was she supposed to do now?
The dragon's return was no surprise. It was just like the first time, the dry air, the bellows and roars, then she could actually see the massive form in the sky. She hadn't moved far since his first flight over here, she'd put some distance between her and the growing fire and settled down. She'd thought about running, but at the moment there was nowhere to go.
Back to Dale? Erebor?
She would wait for the fires to die. Then she would return to Dale, and see what- who- had survived. Her father and brother's traveled often for business, all the way to Gondor sometimes, but she had never been far from the city. She'd never wanted to leave, and she'd never had to.
So when the dragon came back she hunkered down and waited for it to pass. She silently willed it leave her be and return to it's wrung her hands in her lap, head ducked, trying to hide at least partially in a bush.
After a moment she looked up again- and gasped.
It was circling low over the bush. It was closer now, and she could clearly see the copper and rust colored scales, the claws and spikes. Oh Gods... she cringed. Nalene wasn't overly devout, her father had instilled on her that good things happened to those who worked hard, not to those who begged the gods for help, but now, with a dragon overhead, she was praying to every god she'd ever heard mentioned.
Gulping, she ran a hand over her dress. It was ruined now, torn and soiled and dirty. Her hand slid towards her chest, meant to comfort her. Instead her fingers bumped into her necklace. She blinked in surprise, peering down at the forgotten ornament. For the past month she'd dreamed of it. Now it felt the same as the rest of her jewelry.
A vibration through the ground made her look up, and she couldn't stop the scream that tore through her shock. There was an eye watching her from above the bush, just feet away.
"What have we here," a voice thundered, and Nalene watched in horror as the eye and it's body slunk back until it's massive form blocked out the sky above here. "A Gondorian? So far from it's walls and towers-" suddenly it's head was looming feet over the ground breathing smoke beneath it. "Come out from your bush, little Gondorian! Before I burn it!" the dragon bellowed, "I know what I see!"
She shrank back in terror, but there was no denying this dragon. She pulled herself to her feet, emerging from the bush.
Heat wafted down from the dragon, and it's head swept down until suddenly it was beside her. Nalene gasped, stumbling back at the sudden motion. Her heart pounded in her chest, afraid but too mesmerized by it's eyes to look away. They put any gem she'd ever seen to shame- a kaleidoscope of copper and red.
"Aldamacil's descendant then," it affirmed. A low growl rumbled out of it's throat, what she surmised might have been a satisfied hum.
The dragon was making no sense. Gondor? Aldamacil? Nalene didn't dare ask.
"You thought you could hide from me? I could smell your fear from miles away, hear your puny little heart racing…"
She was feeling a little faint.
"I'm surprised it hasn't burst already," it goaded cruelly. "Furiously pumping blood into your fragile little body." The dragon inspected her, as if waiting for her heart to burst right then. Nalene stood stock still, fingers twisted in the layers of her dress, knuckles white.
As if sensing that her heart would not give out quite yet it continued. "It would be easier to kill you," it confessed, "… but even Gondorian royalty has it's appeals." At her expression he chuckled, a deep, throaty grumble. "You thought I would not recognize your pendant?" it bragged, sounding both scornful and pleased. "My memory surpasses yours by thousands of years! Dragons do not forget. Not even mediocre jewelry coiled around little necks."
Her necklace? Her brows pushed together. Was it talking about...hadn't her father said the necklace was a Gondrian princess'? Then it hit her: the dragon was mistaking her another princess.
She didn't expect the choked laugh that escaped her throat. How ironic.
"You dare laugh at me?" It hissed, suddenly enraged, it's lips twisting into a snarl and eyes twitching over her small form in disbelief. It's chest started glowing a disconcerting hue of red, and Nalene paled considerably, her neck aching as she craned it to look up at him, seeking to backtrack- and quick.
"No!" she squeaked, finally finding her voice, even if it did quiver. "I wouldn't- there's nothing laughable about you, big dragon."
"Big?" Nalene released a ragged breath of relief when it sounded more amused than furious. "Big," it repeated, as it tasting the inadequate description. "I am not big. I am Smaug! Titan of the skies! I am more than big."
"Of course!" she sputtered with a fervent shake of her head. "I just meant to-" she searched for words desperately. "-to... show comparison between your mighty form and my frail one."
Smaug snorted, and with it came a burst of smoke. "I have heard better lies from rocks!" He eyed her contemplatively for a few thick moments. "Very well," he abruptly said, answering a question only he knew. "You are lucky that I'm curious."
She had no time to question him, not that she would have dared, not after his bout of anger moments before.
Then, in one swift movement, Smaug lunged, and claws enclosed around her.
