The Eastern Woman

Honor and promises

"... if you try to hurt me, I will torn you to so many pieces that the vultures will not be able to find you." growled Goneril.

The white Dragon in front of her did not seem intimidated by her threats. He was there, crouched on the ground, his wings folded behind his back, his snout pointed toward the horse. His eyes with pink irises scanned the human woman. They were the cold eyes of a reptile.

Goneril slowly dismounted from the animal, gripping the sword firmly in her right hand. She had to be careful: the monster in front of her could have easily stretched out his sinuous neck and tear off her face with a bite. And his tail was full of thorns: with a sudden blow he could have broken the ribs of the human woman in the blink of an eye.

The Dragon silently followed Goneril's movements. He seemed to study the situation.

The horse, despite having been blinded, sensed that there was some predator there. Perhaps it was the Dragon's heavy breathing, perhaps it was the smells that his scaly skin emanated, or perhaps it was simply his animalistic instinct. He started to get nervous again. Goneril pulled the bridle.

"You are the second mortal woman I meet." said the Beast. The sound of his voice was clear, it was not the cavernous timbre that one could have expected from a being of that size. "All unable to govern your horses."

At the sound of that voice, the steed became even more frightened and neighed.

"Let me help you, thief." said the Dragon. He opened his jaws wide, and at the same time the base of his neck began to swell, as if an air bubble was forming in his throat. Goneril guessed what could happen and jumped to the ground.

From the mouth of the monster a stream of icy air came out, it wrapped the horse with a gray cloud. Goneril was hit by that gust and immediately felt half of her body stiffen by the cold. She stood up quickly, before the ice formed on her skin.

When the icy mist dissolved, a statue of ice in the form of a horse appeared. The Dragon had literally frozen it.
The warrior was speechless, shocked. She had never seen anything like that. She turned to look at the Dragon, who seemed pleased with his work.

"Here. A true work of art." he said, grinding his teeth. His fangs were long, strong. "Where is the stone?" he asked.

Goneril did not answer immediately. She was still upset about what she had seen. There was no way to come out victorious from any confrontation with that creature. And even if she could get out of that situation, she had lost her horse at that point. She would have been left without transport on a path to the north, far from human villages and from the realm of Thranduil, completely lost. What would she do?

"The ruby. Where is it?" the Dragon insisted.

"Oropher." the woman finally answered.

The Dragon showed his teeth again in what was supposed to be a smile. "You know my name. You talked to Roswehn then. Maybe before you killed her to steal that stone. Or maybe this miserable fate happened to her son?"

"They are not dead. Neither of them. But how do you know I have the gem?" retorted Goneril.

"You know my name, but you don't know my race. You don't know that Dragons have the same instinct as the Elves, the same ability to read minds."
the Beast explained. "And that stone you kept in your pocket was mine. It was hidden in my scales, and it had been there for four hundred years, before I decided to give it to the woman of the lake. I heard its call, while I was flying in the air. I want to know now, why you have it. "

"If you can spy on my thoughts, you know the answer. Roswehn gave it to me in exchange for a promise." answered Goneril.

The Dragon stood up on his four legs. Goneril felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. The Beast was little larger than an ox, it was not as big as Smaug, yet his size was massive. A huge white snake with bat wings.