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THE KING'S ORDERS TO KEEP THE KINGDOM CLOSED HAD SPREAD FAST AND RHANEYRA HAD BEEN STOPPED BY A PAIR OF GUARDS WHEN SHE TRIED TO LEAVE. The elves who tried to stop her from leaving Mirkwood wore harsh faces but after Rhaenyra let out a venomous hiss and a curse in High Valyrian their bravado faltered but their loyalty to their King remained strong enough for them to continue to deny her. The gates remained closed and were not going to be opened any time soon. Thinking back Rhaenyra could have used Narya to help her, to intimidate the guards so they would let her pass, but decided against in the last minute minute, knowing that she didn't yet know how to fully control Narya's different powers and wouldn't like to accidentally destroy parts of the palace and forest.
She had heard a few people talking about Drogon, how the dragon appeared agitated and had been flying in low circles above the mountain Mirkwood was built inside most of the day and every time he had spotted an elf on the ground Drogon had swooped down with a roar, scaring them back inside the palace.
Rhaenyra wanted to go outside, she didn't want to stay couped up inside and she knew that she couldn't stay much longer. The early evening hours started to roll on, bringing with them a shift in the sky's colors, pale blue slowly but surely shifting into orange shades. How long would it take for the dwarves to reach Erebor and find the entrance? Rhaenyra shuddered as the thought of Smaug the Terrible entered her mind.
Narya's ruby had been constantly glowing since her heated exchange with Thranduil, sending out waves of heat each time Drogon roared particularly loud. The Dragon Queen paced the walkways closest to her chambers, angrily muttering all curses she knew in High Valyrian, mentioning Thranduil's name a few times in connection to them. Though her concentration broke when screams were heard and all guards in close vicinity to her ran past her in the direction of where the noise had come from.
A shriek followed, not the shriek of an elf or human but the one of a dragon. Rhaenyra shook her head to rid herself of her irritated thoughts and followed the running guards through the palace, heading to the largest gates where a large gathering of elves could be seen.
Drogon's displeased growls were clearer now and Rhaenyra saw how something on the other side of the giant wooden doors was pushing against them, trying to get inside. She knew it was Drogon trying to find her and was momentarily impressed with his composure of only carefully pushing his head against the door and not blasting them down with dragonflame.
Rhaenyra pushed past the guards, using as much force as she could to twist herself out of the grip of one of them who had managed to almost detain her fully. With a hard stomp on his foot Rhaenyra was free and could swiftly slink through the doors where Drogon was waiting for her, happy now when he could see her.
Still, Rhaenyra had never seen Drogon this stressed and angry before in her life. His head went from sniffing her in greeting to reaching high up in the air, letting out a deep rumble before flapping his giant wings in agitation. He sunk down to her level when Rhaenyra reached up with a hand towards him.
"What's happening, sweetling?"
Drogon again reached up to nervously sniff the air, grumbling in agitation. He came down to Rhaenyra and used his head to push her body against his lowered wing. Rhaenyra didn't dare question Drogon's nervousness and agitation and took hold of the small spikes covering his entire back and used them to climb up his body.
"Lady Targaryen! The King gave explicit orders that no one would leave!" One brave guard called out to her when she was halfway up Drogon's back.
She turned her head around with fury in her eyes, being reminded of Thranduil's idiotic order that he tried to force on her made both her and Drogon growl. She rolled her eyes and ignored the guard, continuing to climb the rest of the way. Since coming to Middle Earth Drogon had grown tremendously and faster than usual and the climb up his back was becoming longer each year.
Sitting comfortable on his back between his wings dressed in black and red Rhaenyra glanced down at the now small looking elf down by the gates, "I'm no Lady," She said with a cocky sideway smile, "And tell your King that he can't command the Dragon Queen."
With a shout of joyous glee inside her mind and a happy roar from Drogon, the black dragon leapt up into the air with his wings spread, taking off into the air above Mirkwood, leaving the palace and forest underneath his shadow.
Night had come but Rhaneyra had a strong suspicion the sky would soon be lit up with dragonflame. She shuddered at the thought.
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THE BLACK DRAGON'S ROAR HAD SUBSIDED AND THRANDUIL HAD CAUGHT A GLIMPSE OF THE BEAST FLYING AWAY OVER THE FOREST. Though his true fear wasn't confirmed until Elros, a guard, had come running at full speed to his chambers and hurried inside without knocking, his face and hair completely windblown from running at high speed.
"Tauriel has gone into the forest armed with only her bow and arrow, Prince Legolas followed."
Thranduil's hand clenched into a fist, looking down on a glass goblet filled with dark red wine on the table where he was sitting. The King took a deep breath, fighting off the angry sneer that was sure to appear on his lips if he didn't stop it. Thranduil took a deep breath and turned his head to face Elros, eerily calm. He was well aware that his son was close to Tauriel, but would her companionship be worth leaving his own father behind?
"I see."
Elros sighed, looking troubled.
Thranduil cocked an eyebrow in confusion and rose from his chair, "What more is there?"
It looked like Elros would rather be anywhere else than in Thranduil's quarters telling him what he was about to tell. Elros fiddled with a modest silver ring on his finger, "Rhaenyra Targaryen just left on her dragon as well."
A tightness came over Thranduil's chest and he looked away from Elros, clenching both his hands before unclenching, doing his best to remain calm and collected. His head had started spinning so Thranduil fell back in his chair, looking anywhere but at Elros.
"I see." Thranduil repeated his previous words, his low voice monotone, "Leave me."
After Elros had left, closing the door ssoftly behind him, Thranduil shook his head with his eyes tightly closed, as if he was trying to shake his emotions off and when he opened his eyes both Rhaenyra would be in Mirkwood, where they would be safe.
His own flesh and blood, his own son Legolas had left him to follow Tauriel. It would be a lie to say that they had not been growing apart during later years, but they were still father and son, a bond that would never and could never fade. But apparently that bond was not as strong as Thranduil had hoped.
Then there was Rhaenyra Targaryen. At the thought of only her name Thranduil felt his heart clench and tears gather in his eyes. Why couldn't she understand that he was doing this for her? He was doing it because he needed to keep his people safe from the oncoming storm, that is why he ordered the gates to his kingdom closed. Her stubbornness and fierceness is what Thranduil admires about her, but in times he rather she wasn't so stubborn. He was sure her dragon would protect her well, it wasn't hard to believe that after seeing that her dragon was capable of swallow an entire horse without trouble, but Thranduil couldn't help but to imagine the worst... Rhaenyra laying broken, bloodied and dying in the middle of a battlefield. If she had stayed behind, stayed with him, she would have been safe.
Thranduil felt a stinging feeling on the left side of his face that started around his eye and spread downward. With a deep breath he glanced up to see himself in the floor length mirror in his chambers. His pale blond hair hung free over his shoulders and framed his face, the sight to some might have been haunting.
The left side of his face looked like it had been burnt away, the skin had vanished and the bones underneath his sharp cheeks were showing and his left eye had gone completely milky white. The scar from his battles with the fire-drakes so long ago stretched over the left side of his face. The scar had a habit of manifesting itself every time Thranduil was feeling emotional unwell. A pair of tears trailed down his cheeks, stinging a little on his left side.
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DROGON'S ENTIRE BODY, THE MUSCLES ON HIS WINGS ESPECIALLY, HAD NEVER WORKED THIS HARD BEFORE. He was flying faster than the wind, something was drawing him north just as it did Rhaenyra. She was fearing that something had gone completely wrong and that Smaug had woken in a rage, burning whatever was in his way. Drogon let out a concerned wail, feeling his rider's worry and did his best to flap his wings harder and fly faster.
The night was mostly cloudless, the sky above her jet black and filled with shining white dots. Though for those looking up from the ground would have a hard time spotting Drogon since his black scales almost melted into the sky above, he would only briefly block the stars before vanishing off into the darkness again.
When coming face to face with a large lake after the forest had ended Rhaenyra let out a frightened shout. What she was fearing had come true.
In the distance, in the middle of the lake, she could see a bright light and the faint outlines of smoke rising. Then she heard a roar. Smaug was no longer resting underneath the mountain, he was awake and out for blood.
Rhaenyra urged Drogon to fly higher to which he complied, hoping that he would quell the angry roar she was sure he was about to let out, instead opting for a sneak attack against the other dragon. The closer they came the clearer picture Rhaenyra got of Smaug, thankfully the other dragon was too occupied with burning and destroying the small village built of wood in the lake to take notice of who else was in his vicinity.
The two dragons could rival each other in size, that much Rhaenyra could guess by just looking, but she also knew that the dragons of Middle Earth are vastly different to the ones she grew up knowing. Gandalf had said that many dragons in Middle Earth were capable of human speech and Smaug was one of those dragons. A dragon with a mind of malice and impenetrable scales harder than iron.
As Drogon nudged himself into a dive towards Smaug, Rhaenyra felt fear grip her entire being. The wind whipped hard against her face she came back to reality and a hardened, determined expression took over her and Drogon roared so loudly it echoed far over the entire lake.
Smaug wasn't expecting the sound of another dragon, not in the slightest, and turned his head in the air in time for Drogon to almost crash into him, the Black Dragon's strong jaws closing over Smaug's long throat.
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So Rhaenyra has left Mirkwood to keep her promise to Gandalf and the dwarves and battle Smaug with Drogon and we also see Thranduil dealing with the fact that both Legolas and Rhaenyra left at almost the same time.