LOTR: Shire Dragons - Pippin Took FF

Chapter 34

Samwise knew something was not right. His surroundings made him uneasy. The earth beneath his feet was so baron, it made his mouth and throat feel dry. Not a single plant grew. This evil presence they were headed towards must have tainted the very soil beneath them. His inner thoughts were interrupted by Mallyra coughing loudly, and holding her hand over her mouth. With every step, the air grew denser and hotter, defying all sense of normality, and further confusing the hobbits. Every member of the party was now visibly on edge. All except Aiwendil. The golden haired elf still held himself proudly, not letting the impending battle ahead lower his spirits.

"Do you think we're close to Vaskua's location?" Frodo said, peering up at Aiwendil. The elf look up at the dragon striding beside him, and then back down to the hobbit. 

"There is no way of telling Master Baggins. Vasuka is cunning, and more than likely to use his hidden location to his advantage. We must use our own intelligence as our weapon now, as it's the only one we have that will serve any use at this moment." He said sternly, before shifting his gaze out onto the oncoming landscape. Frodo peered across at Mallyra, who simply lifted one eyebrow,

"Just as helpful as ever, I suppose," she sighed, causing Pippin to stifle a giggle into his hand. Pippin hadn't noticed, but for the last 10 minutes, he and Mallyra had their fingers interlocked gently. It wasn't until he lifted his hand to laugh that he had realised, causing his cheeks to burn furiously. Mallyra simply smiled up at him, her own cheeks flushing a light pink in colour, before she quickly put her hands down by her side. An awkward silence fell over them, which Merry quickly noticed,

"So what do you think you're going to do when we get home Mallyra?" he asked unexpectedly, and watched as her mass of wavy hair whipped round as she faced him.

"I hadn't really thought about that Merry.. I guess the first thing would be to see my parents again. I can't wait to see my mother and father. It feels like so long ago that we left, I'm finding it a little hard to remember the small details of their faces." She said thoughtfully, rubbing the chin with her thumb. Merry shrugged a little,

"It was quite a long time ago.. But I'm sure they will be glad to see y-" He was interrupted by Uryte coming to an abrupt halt in front of him, causing Merry to walk into her hind leg. "What the?" he stumbled over his words as he stepped away from the dragon's side. The large silver head of the beast reared a little higher, before she looked around at the hobbits behind her.

"There appears to be one of your kin on the road ahead," Uryte said, a confused tone in her voice. All five of the hobbits peered around at one another, their brows furrowed. "It is a woman, her hair is black, and-" the dragon had barely finished her sentence before Mallyra began to run to the front of the party, straining her eyes to see the supposed hobbit in their path.

"Mother?" she whispered to herself. Pippin stepped forward,

"Mallyra no, it can't be her.." he said slowly, holding his hands out to her,

"It is.. I know it is!" Mallyra snapped back at him, as she herself continued to walk forwards. With every step her pace quickened, tears in her eyes. "Mother!" she cried out. 

"Mallyra, NO!" Uryte bellowed, "IT'S A TRAP." 

Had Mallyra not heard those words, it would have been too late. As the hobbit turned to look at the dragon, a large black figure peeled itself away from a nearby rock face not three meters in front of where she was. If she had been but two paces quicker, she would have run straight into a pair of gaping black jaws. Startled, Mallyra bolted back to the silver dragon's side.

"He is here." The words slipped from Aiwendil's lips. All of the hobbits held their breath, and watched as the black mass began to further peel itself from mountain side.

Pippin's mouth involuntarily fell open. His green eyes became fixed upon a long, abnormally slender body which as almost as black as night. The figure could easily have been mistaken for a skeleton, had it not been for the black, leathery skin that clung to its body. It's face, Pippin thought, would haunt him for the rest of his life. From the end of its neck, stuck out a long, thin face, it's beady red eyes so sunken into it's head that it looked like a skull. Two small horns protruded from it's cheeks and curled forward, and two more larger horns, that looked like the horns or a ram, curled outwards from the top of it's head. A green tinted frill ran from the nape of its neck to the very tip of it's spindly tail, and two large, tattered wings hunched from it's torso.

The dragon held itself a bit like a vulture. Rightly so, thought the hobbit, as to him, there could be no better representation of death itself than the beast in front of him.

A moment of silence passed, as the dragon steadied itself. The whole time, he did not remove his gaze from Mallyra. She shuddered, an acid taste growing at the back of her throat. Before she could react, two more large figures appeared from either side of the black dragon. The emerald green scales on Glasin caught in the setting sun, until Elurka's hulking body overshadowed him. Each stood several paces behind the black dragon. 

Finally, it spoke.

"I assume that you must be the halfling they call Mallyra?" a deep, rasping voice bellowed. "I owe you my thanks for allowing my soul to inhabit your mother whilst I grew in strength" He sneered. Pippin grasped Mallyra's hand tightly, gritting his teeth as he looked at Vasuka. Mallyra stood completely still, not even glancing at Pippin once. Her whole body had frozen with fear. The dragon before her was the stuff of nightmares. Pippin went to speak to her, but was interrupted by the dragon continuing to talk at the party. 

"I cannot believe you are actually here. I thought you would have at least fallen to the power of Elurka, but you have proven me wrong. I have waited so long for this," the dragon began to pace in a circle, "To face you once again. The taste of defeat has sat on my tongue for centuries, rotting away my mouth with anguish and desire to rip your heart from you chest. You even brought you snivelling silver dragon. Tell me Uryte, how long has it been since you lay with the human that you love? You're more man than dragon now. You are a disgrace to our kind. Now here you stand before me" He stopped right in front of Aiwendil, who stood completely still. The elf simply looked the black dragon in the eye as it lowered it's head toward him. The dragon's lips parted into a grin, as he spotted Mallyra cowering behind Uryte's leg. 

"Look at your hero now." Vasuka raised his head to look at Mallyra. "I have a little bargain if you will, for you, halfling." He followed this by jerking his head to signal Elurka and Glasin, whom both uncurled their talons simultaneously.

To Mallyra's horror, she saw both of her parents before her eyes. She hadn't been seeing things. Her mother was still slightly lifeless, and rested against Glasin's thumb, where as her Father was desperately trying to escape Elurka's grasp. Mallyra could hear him screaming her name over and over.

Mallyra felt something awaken inside of her. Flames of bravery rose in the pit of her stomach, and she felt her hand clasp at the hilt of her sword. Pippin looked up at her, his green eyes wide, watching her reaction to her parents presence. Frodo stepped forward in an attempt to say something, but was interrupted by Mallyra throwing her cloak off her shoulders, and holding her satchel out to Pippin.

"Hold this. I'm going to kill a dragon."