LOTR: Shire Dragons - Pippin Took FF

Chapter 23

Khandriu coiled his body tighter around the party, his senses alert and his eyes scanning the perimeter as quickly as they could. Lothiri looked nervously across at Aiwendil, her heart beating loudly in her chest. Elurka was a blue dragon, the second most powerful dragon out of all the chromatic dragons. She was loyal, which was terrifying to the elf, as Lothiri knew more than most  that this meant she wouldn't stop until she had what she wanted. The elf cast one last glance down at Mallyra before drawing her bow and nodding across at Aiwendil. Both knew what they had to do.

The ground then began to shake profoundly beneath their feet, causing Frodo and Sam to fall to the ground. Mallyra had drawn her own dragon bone sword, and was holding Pippin's hand tightly. She, as Lothiri knew a lot about the biology of the Blue dragon, as she'd now read the book her father had given her front to back at least 5 times now. She also knew that it was there for her and her alone.

"I will lay down my life for the halfling, her quest and her party." Khandriu spoke proudly. "I fell it is my purpose."  

Hearing a dragon say those words made Mallyra's heart sink. The beautiful creature which she had befriended was willing to die for her and her quest. So many would die on this quest, Mallyra knew that, but she didn't want to accept it. 

"Please, Khan, don't be too hasty as to-" she started, but stopped when an almighty crack echoed through the valley of mountains. All attention was drawn to a huge cliff face to the left of them, which now had a sharp jagged line running through it. Not a second later, there was another ear shattering noise, as a huge blue light poured out of the crack and then shattered the rock face. The early morning sun poured into the hole in the cliff face, illuminating the creature that stood in it. Sam swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked up at the monster before him. Glasin was seemed like a calm night terror compared to this. 

His brown eyes met the sight of a huge thick skull, with one large horn protruding from it's nose, and small, navy coloured eyes set deep inside it's skull. Large frilled ears stuck out from the side of it's head, which attached to a thick rigid neck. It's wings were more pronounced than both Glasin's and Khandriu's, it's wingspan almost three times the length of it's body. The dragons body was thick like it's features, it's legs consisting of pure muscle.The dragon's tail was huge, thick and covered in rigid scales. It almost resembled a caterpillar in some sense. After running his gaze over the dragon's body, Sam looked back up at it's face. The dragon stood at least 24ft tall, and was appearing to smirk down at the party. 

"Silver soul, how nice to see you again. What's it been? 500 years since I killed your brother?" a surprising soft female voice left the dragon's mouth. There was a slight sarcastic tone in her voice, as she smiled down at the elf. Lothiri appeared to snarl up at the dragon.

"Shut your filthy mouth Elurka." She cursed, causing the hobbits to all stare at her in shock. They'd never heard the elf speak in such a tone in the good few months they had known her. The dragon sneered, before her eyes caught sight of Mallyra, who still stood brandishing her small sword. 

"So you're the halfling who removed Glasin's tongue?" She laughed, lowering her head so she could get a better look at her. No sooner had Elurka moved forward, Khandriu had pulled the hobbit closer to his body and was crouched low to the ground and hissed, almost like a cat would if it felt threatened. Elurka shot backwards, lifting her lip as she snarled back at him. "Calm yourself fire breather. I wasn't going to harm her.. just yet." Elurka then turned to Mallyra. "We're very thankful for what you did, well, all of us apart from Glasin." The dragon chuckled to herself. Mallyra frowned in confusion and then took a step forward, letting go of Pippin's hand. He looked up at her, a concerned look on his face.

"What do you want from me, Elurka? To kill me? To take me to that shrivelled thing you call a master?" She said bravely. Elurka bared her teeth in anger, revealing jaws full of huge serrated daggers. Mallyra shuddered a little, but still stood firm. Where had this new found bravery come from? 

"How dare you." Elurka boomed. "My master is the mighty Vasuka. His presence enough would be enough to make you obey him. I was sparing, halfling, I could've killed you straight away. But I shall not postpone your death any further." she continued, as she then began to circle them. Khandriu stood guard, using his tail to move the party behind the cover of his wing.

The dragon's circled each other like cats down an ally fighting over territory for a good five minutes, before Elurka furiously spat a bolt of lightning as the brass dragon. Khandriu shot sideways to avoid the attack, and almost hit the side of the cliff. Khandriu retaliated by using his speed to his advantage. He spang forward, clenching his jaws around Elurka's throat. The huge dragon's mass made her a formidable enemy, but slowed her down. However, she managed to pull Khandriu from her, and dug her talons deep into him in the process. Khandriu gave a piercing shreak in pain, causing Mallyra's eyes to grow cloudy with tears.The party was now hidden behind a large bolder, with Aiwendil and lothiri both keeping an eye on the dragon's battle. Mallyra could only sit by and listen as Khandriu was speared by Elurka's huge talons. With one final act of defiance, Khandriu free himself from Elurka's death grip, and once again used his flexible body to his advantage. Khandriu bounded around the surrounding mountains. Elurka couldn't keep up, and soon became weary of chasing him with her bolts of lightning. In a flash, Khandriu disappeared from her sight completely. In a rage, Elurka began to thrash about, smashing everything around her. From where he was hidden, Khandriu saw that she was about to discover where the hobbit was hidden. instinct took hold of him, and drove him from the ledge he was hidden on. Mallyra saw him straight away, her heart beating loudly in her chest.

There was a flash oh heat of Khandriu let loose his hottest line of fire. There was deafening cry from Elurka, as Khandriu's flame melted the scales all down the right side of her face and neck. Again the dragon thrashed around, the full force of her huge mass hitting the bolder which the party had hidden behind. Khandriu saw this out of the corner of his eye, and turned for one second. However in that second, Elurka used her one good eye to focus on her target. With one last swipe of her foreleg, Elurka drove her talons deep into Khandriu's chest. Mallyra stepped out into the open, tears streaming as she watched Khandriu become impaled on Elurka's ebony talons, which now ran red with rivers of blood.

"Khan!" Mallyra cried, guilt hitting her like a huge body of water. With the last bit of strength the brass dragon had, he used his tail to push Mallyra out of the way. However, in his dying moments, Khandriu wasn't very accurate with his aiming. To Lothiri's horror, she watched as the hobbit was knocked into the cavern which Elurka had emerged from.

"Mallyra!" She breathed, running towards her as fast as she could. Pippin's head shot upwards when he heard her name. Aiwendil held him back as the hobbit tried to follow. Tears streamed down Pippin's cheeks as both Mallyra and Lothiri fell deep into darkness. Merry saw Pippin's distress, fastened his bag straps and turned to his friend.

"I promise I won't let anything happen to her." he said quietly, causing Pippin to stop struggling.

"Merry?!" Pippin blinked, followed by a chorus of shouts from Aiwendil, Frodo and Sam. With that, Merry rushed after the hobbit and the elf, ignoring the two dragon's to his left, and jumping into the darkness. The darkness swallowed him, and within seconds, Merry felt the floor disappear beneath him. His stomach lurched, his eyes watered and his hair was whipping around furiously as he fell deeper and deeper into the darkness.