Dragon-Bound

Chapter 6 - Similarities

Chapter 6 – Similarities

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Eating the strangest creatures that Smaug could drag up from the depths of the mountain, Saphira was slowly regaining her strength, bringing herself back to full health. When all she did all day was doze on her perch, groom herself to keep herself in top shape, and eat whatever Smaug brought her, it only took about three days for Saphira to get back to full strength. But she thought she would soon die of BOREDOM. Smaug tried to talk with her and at least be civil with her, but she was still incredibly bitter with him, and honestly didn't find a single thing in common with him, she didn't want to give him the time of day, but when she tried to ignore him, he threw a tantrum and began to smash a column or two and breathe fire in his rage. It just made Saphira's life easier to just speak in blunt and snappy answers, he soon gave up and did his usual laziness.

But still Saphira felt a restlessness in her bones that she couldn't quite disperse, and it was slowly driving her mad. She wanted to fly, to hunt, but both were impossible seeing as Smaug wouldn't let her leave the mountain. The only other option to sate her restlessness, was to fight. Saphira loved to fight, and if she could fight her captor then she would have been more than happy. But alas, common sense was not in agreement with that thought.

So, one morning, in an attempt to quell her restless mind, she had wondered if she could contact Glaedr or even any of the other Eldunari from the Vault of Souls. They may have all been dead and their bodies reduced to dust, but their minds had been placed in that of their heart-of-hearts, and so could be contacted via a mental link. Saphira spent the best part of a morning reaching out with her mind, stretching as far as she could, passing the minds of many dumb animals and even those of humans and some bands of dwarves. But she only made it until the ocean, when her mind was seemingly crying out from the pain of stretching herself so, her physical body was shaking and she felt as if she would snap. With a snarl of frustration and pain, she gave up and withdrew back into her mind. Sulking now as she felt the sting of her failure, realising what she should have known; that any help she sought was very far away.

She only then became aware of Smaug picking his claws through a certain mound of his vast treasure, looking through a particular spot, as if he was looking for something very specific. With a single long talon of one of his two fingers, he flicked aside jewels, coins, cups and trinkets as he searched and searched. Finally, with a self-satisfied sigh, Smaug retrieved a belt that Saphira supposed once belonged to a very large and round mortal, and he turned to find her watching him; a smug smirk spreading across his muzzle as he locked eye with her. Saphira snorted at him, lifting her head and arching her neck to look down on him with disdain. Holding the belt in the claws of one hand, Smaug made his way towards her, climbing the wide steps to her perch until he was at the top but not on her level. Saphira turned to face him, seemingly relaxed and unbothered by him as she peered down her nose at him, though her tail was curled around her talons and the muscles in her legs were ready encase he tried something like last time. But instead, Smaug just looked at her, his bright eyes roaming her body as he took in every scale, ever feather, drinking in her beauty. Saphira felt her pride swell slightly, even though her irritation and caution only grew.

'Is there something you need?' she snapped at him impatiently.

"In all my years," Smaug purred, and it was not a pleasant sound. "I have never encountered a dragon who was not immediately taken by the mere thought of treasure. Do you tell me, Saphira, truly: you do not find even a single coin to be utterly dazzling?" he gestured out to his hoard with a flick of a finger.

'I have told you before.' She grumbled in his mind. 'Your trinkets are pretty, but have no practical use,'

"I can find one," he murmured, eyeing her. Saphira raised a scaly brow at him as she regarded him with one eye, curious but also growing suspicious.