Life is Precious

AN: And we're back to the normal stuff. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings.

Chapter Eleven:

The Mountains of Mirkwood were not his ideal place of residence, but they were better than that too-small valley south of Edoras. They ranged from west to east for a hundred miles, gradually growing larger the further east one traveled. The mountains were on the very southern edge of the Woodland Realm, but during his flyover, he'd seen no sign of any elves. There were no guard towers, no patrols, not even the faintest whiff of elf-scent.

What he saw and smelled instead was rather more troubling. Nests of spiders were visible even from the air, the webs stretching between the forest trees and mountain crags hard to miss. Likewise, the scent of orc was much fresher, especially in the western parts of the range. Still, he spied more than a few trolls and orcs in the eastern half, as well.

The whole place seemed to be overrun with the worst this forest had to offer. He would have to clean up some of the filth around whatever new den he chose for himself if only to make sure the girl was relatively safe whenever he left. And really, the elves should thank him for cleansing their forest, preferably with gold. Of course, the more likely response would be a hunting party, though he wasn't overly concerned. They may have everlasting life, but they were just as easy to kill as any man or dwarf.

Speaking of dead men, the girl had woken nearly an hour ago, yet she had not uttered a single syllable since. He glanced back to check on her occasionally, mostly to see if she was still there. So silent and unmoving was she that he barely felt her presence on his neck. Or perhaps he was simply getting used to her being there.

That was a worrying thought...

How much longer would it be until he was a fully domesticated beast, too stupid and dependent upon his owner to think for himself? The mere thought of it was enough to make his blood boil in rage, though...there was a small amount of fear that accompanied it, too. It was justified, of course. The thought of losing his independence forever, of being...tamed, was just unnatural for one such as him. Still, the fact he had reason to fear in the first place only made his blood boil that much hotter.

After flying most of the length of the mountains, he decided he would keep to the eastern portions of the range. He'd seen more promising places for a lair than further west, including some large valleys and the mouth of a cave. From the air, there was no way of knowing how big it was, but it was the most promising place by far. Overall, there seemed to be less spiders and orcs to deal with in the higher altitudes, too. More trolls, though. And potentially more goblins, as well. It was closer to the Elves' domain, but from the highest of these peaks, he could see his mountain on the horizon. Even now, flying lazily through the air, he couldn't take his eyes off of it. There mere sight caused him to snarl and narrow his gaze.

He could practically smell his gold. And the thought of those filthy dwarves taking it for themselves brought him to unspeakable levels of fury. "One day..." he hissed.

Surprisingly, he received a response to that little promise. "Is it wise to settle so close to the Lonely Mountain? Wouldn't the temptation drive you mad?"

"Temptation..." he parroted, mockingly. Her question did force him to look away from the distant mountain, though.

Below them were the mountains, rising up like a blemish from the vast green wilderness of the forest. Trees grew upon the roots of the mountains, but further up than that, they became quite scarce. The grey rock was bare in many places, though shrubs and other hardy vegetation grew where they could. None of the peaks were high enough for snow to be present, however.

"It was temptation that brought me to the Mountain the first time. The desire to claim such a massive hoard was...tantalizing. Once the possibility came to my mind, there was no resisting it." He trailed off and frowned. "But there is another force preventing me from taking it back, no matter how tempted I am to try..."

He was, of course, referring to the girl herself, and she recognized that instantly. "And a good thing, too..." His only response to that was a growl. Once he'd made his displeasure known, she spoke up again. "Will we be safe here?"

He snorted derisively at the term. She was accompanying a dragon to Mirkwood, and she was worried about safety? For her benefit, though, he gave her the answer she sought. "As long as you are with me, I will keep you safe." He glanced back at her. "Though that requires no small amount of trust on your part. Heed my word, and there will be less chance of an untimely demise."

"Seeing as how I have no idea how to survive in a place like this, I think I will be listening to you. But I'm not naïve to your scheming nature anymore. You won't be taking advantage of that again." He chuckled darkly at that.

"We shall see..." he rumbled. They were past the mountains at this point and still flying west. His gaze locked upon the Mountain again, and the temptation to try his luck rose to the surface again.

However, it was a pointless thought. "Head back to that cave we saw earlier." Just like that, without conscious thought and unable to resist, his wings angled to take them in a wide turn for the short trip back east.

It had been the most promising place they'd found, and it only took about ten minutes to get back to it. Once back to the appropriate area, he circled a few times—well out of arrow range, of course—to make sure the immediate area was relatively safe. There could be anything lurking within that cave or within the myriad crags and canyons in the area. Relying on smell alone told him much about the potential dangers, but there were just so many crisscrossing scents, both fresh and old, that it was impossible to know for certain.

As for the location itself, they were still within the eastern half of the range like he wanted, and it was almost in the exact middle of its width. Peaks rose on three of the four sides encompassing the 'valley', the north, east, and south. The west side ended in a sheer, hundred-foot-tall cliff and overlooked several more of the smaller peaks. The cave mouth was on the east side, but he still couldn't tell if it was large enough to comfortably fit him.

A few trees dotted the area outside of the cave, which was definitely large enough for him to fit comfortably. There also seemed to be a small stream coming out from the cave that fell down a small waterfall and fed into an equally small mountain lake a bit further down the mountain on the southern side.

"Why haven't you landed yet?" He glared at her in annoyance for a moment before going back to studying the area. The fact she phrased it as a question rather than an order was some small consolation, but apparently, she was too daft to figure out why he was being so cautious.

Trolls, spiders, goblins, and the like were of no concern to him, but all it took was one well-placed—or lucky—shot with an arrow to kill the girl. On his neck, she was too exposed, so she would need to move. "When I land, go to the center of my back, between my wings, and keep low until I drive whatever vermin dwells here out of their nest." After a short pause and an annoyed huff, he added to that. "You will be safer there than on my neck."

"Alright..." she hesitantly agreed, so he began to come around in preparation to land. When she began to ask another question, however, he stayed airborne with an annoyed growl. "Should we...try somewhere else? If these mountains aren't safe—"

"And where else would we go?" he snapped. "We already had this discussion before, did we not? There are precious few places a dragon can live undisturbed in Middle-Earth. Fewer still are the places where you will be able to survive, as well." When she didn't immediately respond, he glanced back at her again. She still seemed unsure, but he also saw an opportunity to perhaps gain some more control over her. And this time, his voice was gentler, more soothing. As gentle and soothing as a dragon's voice could be, at least. "Stay with me, Earyth. Do as I say, and you will be safe. I will protect you."

She seemed conflicted. Her remaining distrust and wariness of him conflicted with the knowledge that she did need to depend on him for safety and survival. Out here, she needed to give up her control of the situation to him simply because she had no experience with the outside world and its many dangers while he did. And that was precisely why he had wanted to leave Edoras as quickly as possible. Despite the fact she already knew she would have to leave eventually, she seemed completely reluctant to, so he'd...expedited the process.

"There are many reasons why I don't, and can't, trust you fully, Smaug," she began.

"As well you shouldn't," he agreed, grinning maliciously.

"Right... As I was saying, I don't trust you to do or not do a lot of things. But, for some reason I don't understand, I do trust you to keep me safe. I think it's long past the point where you'd simply kill me if I didn't mean something to you." His grin fell at her insinuation, but he didn't dare correct her for fear of her figuring out the truth. And the truth was that she meant nothing to him. The only reason he suffered her to live was simply because he had to.

Rather than answer, he simply shed altitude as he prepared to land. Sensing the end of the conversation, she didn't say anything more.

His wings stirred up dust and dirt as he came in, the sparse vegetation getting whipped about by the wind from each beat. His legs touched stone first before he dropped down heavily on all four limbs. As he'd commanded her, the girl walked to the center of his back, the sensation of which made him shiver and snarl in disgust.

No living things were immediately visible upon landing, and as he approached the cave, he saw that it was indeed big enough to fit him, though it might be a tight fit. The shadows prevented him from seeing too far inside, but he could hear movement inside and smell the stench of the cave's current inhabitants. They were trying to stay quiet in hopes he would move on. Unfortunately for them, he was not so easily fooled.

There was no way to know how deep the cave went or if there were paths deeper into the mountain within that vermin were crawling out of. Likewise, there was no way to know how big the interior was. The mouth may be big enough to fit him, but that didn't mean the inside would. Of course, there was one thing he could do that would solve both problems at once.

His fire stirred within him, the glow from his chest illuminating the rock directly beneath him. Panicked chitters came from within the cave, but it was too late for anything within. With a mighty roar, gouts of flame scoured the interior of the cave clean, the light so bright that his nictitating membranes closed to protect his eyes. Backblast from the flames licked at the mouth of the cave, the fire so hot that the very rock began to melt.

He heard the challenging roar of a troll just in time for a large boulder to smack into the left side of his face. The fire ceased as his head snapped to the right. Rage building, his tongue ran along the teeth along that side of his face and found two loose ones. He turned to look at the troll with a furious growl, taking delight in the sudden fear on its fat, ugly face.

It turned to run, but it only made it a single step before he lunged, clamping his teeth down hard upon its torso. Despite its size, he was much bigger, and he shook the foul being violently before throwing it upon the ground. It was already dead from the rough treatment, but he breathed fire upon the body just to sate his own desires.

He glanced into the cave again, and this time, the rocks were so hot that they were glowing, which lit up the shadows well enough for him to see. There was nothing alive left inside. The small stream had instantly turned to steam, but new water was starting to trickle in from wherever it came from. His intuition about there being another path leading further down into the mountain seemed to be correct, unfortunately. That would need to be blocked to prevent more from coming up. Even then, he'd need to check it every so often to make sure nothing was trying to clear the path.

"Is that everything?" the girl asked.

"For now..." he replied, eyeing the cave. The heat coming out of it was not unsubstantial. The girl would probably be cooked alive inside unless it cooled down. "Return to my neck, and I will let you off." She promptly did so, causing him to shiver at the sensation of her walking along his spine once more. Once she was to his neck, she carefully climbed down, and then he adjusted his position to block the entirety of the cave with his bulk. It would allow him to both block anything coming out of the cave and watch for anything approaching from the other side of this large clifftop.

He studied her as she sat down on the ground away from him. Every now and then, he noticed her shiver from the chill and glance at him. He snorted in amusement at the sight. She could make him do whatever she wanted, yet she was clearly waiting for permission to come closer. His natural warmth would ward off the minor chill easily enough. Mirkwood was further north, but winters in the forest were surprisingly temperate. The additional altitude did mean it was colder than it was within the trees, but it wasn't quite freezing. The lack of ice in the small stream and lake were indications of that.

As his attention returned to watching for any unwelcome visitors, he decided to ask, "Why do you not approach and warm yourself against my scales? I could not stop you if I wanted to."

"If I ordered you, sure. But I already told you that I would rather not force you to do anything." He studied her curiously at that. "And you roared at me last time I did, so..." She shrugged and then shivered again. "I could make do with a small fire." She looked around at the sparse vegetation. "There's probably enough stuff up here for one, right?"

"It might attract unwelcome attention," he informed her. "There will be no fires."

She blinked in utter confusion and pointed to the cave. "What would you call that?"

He regarded her with mild annoyance. "One day you will have to learn to think for yourself." The indignation on her face at his rebuke made him grin. "Dragons have no need for campfires. Should you make one, anyone nearby will know someone else is with me."

"Okay..." She seemed to understand that, but she also seemed ready to argue. "How am I supposed to cook food, then?" She looked around. "Actually, what am I supposed to eat around here?"

He huffed. He'd almost forgotten that humans needed to eat much more often than he did. "I will hunt for you once the cave is safe. You may make a small fire inside to cook." He glanced at the stream suspiciously. He had no idea if it was safe for her to drink, either. There's no telling what those trolls had thrown in it. "And boil the water," he added. "The last think I want to deal with is a sick human. You're already bad enough."

"Then why do you keep me around?" she demanded. He glared at her but did not answer, making her groan in exasperation. "You owe me that, at least! My family is dead, and I'm stuck living here with you. You think living with a human is bad!? How am I supposed to live with a dragon as my only company!?" When he still didn't answer, her voice took on a warning tone. "Smaug..."

"If you are about to threaten to force me to tell you, might I remind you what you said mere minutes ago?" She sighed in clear frustration but nodded, seeing his point. "I have my reasons," he finished vaguely.

"Then, tell me, please!" He glanced at her but had no compulsion to tell her the truth. Though it had been phrased as an order, the 'please' must have turned it into a request instead. It was another thing about this 'bond' of theirs he would keep in mind. "I know it's something to do with the bond. When I offered to send you away back in Edoras, you were afraid to leave without me. What's stopping you from leaving, Smaug? Why couldn't we both just go our separate ways!? I could've had a normal life, and you could've been free!"

She seemed to be on the verge of tears, a sight that had him curling his lip in disgust. "You will get no sympathy from me. I am more the victim than you." She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off with a growl. "If you wish to know so bad, then force me to tell you. Break the promise you swore to me twice over now." She continued to glare at him, but after several minutes of silence, he snorted in derision and went back to guard duty. "I thought not. My reasons are my own. "All you need know is that your life is just as important to me as my own. I would do anything to keep you safe, Earyth."

Not that he cared anything about her, of course. The only reason he kept her around and would do so much to keep her alive was because his own life was on the line. It was for necessity's sake and nothing else.

His declaration seemed to shock her greatly, her mouth moving up and down as she struggled to find words to respond to that. "Now, approach," he ordered. "Warm yourself next to me. There's no sense in you being cold when I am right here."

Slowly, hesitantly, she stood and approached before settling gingerly against his chest, though she remained more than an arm's length away from his missing scale. She sighed as the warmth radiated into her and looked up at him. "Thanks. I don't understand it...but thanks."

He regarded her for a moment before responding. "You're welcome." He adjusted his left wing to shield her from the rest of the world. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, and he remained on a watchful vigilance the entire time.

AN: There are a lot of conflicting signals coming from Smaug, aren't there? At some points it seems like he's warming up to Earyth while at others he's just as dismissive as ever. That's intended, though. Something tells me that dragon is more conflicted than he's letting on.

I'm thinking the next few chapters will follow Earyth and Smaug setting up their new life within the Mountains of Mirkwood, and then some more interesting things will happen. Maybe even a check-in on Erebor?

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22