The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 840: The Black Dragon Drogon

Deep within the Moon Mountains lies Cloudmist Mountain.

Despite its name, Cloudmist Mountain is not cold at its base, enjoying the mildness of autumn. From the foot to the mountainside, there's not a trace of mist. The dense, impenetrable fog gathers above the halfway point, while the summit remains perpetually covered in thick ice and snow, untouched by thaw for millennia.

Beneath the snow line, halfway up the mountain, lies a massive cave, the secluded dragon lair of Sheep Thief and her master, Clegane.

Outside the dragon's lair stretches a circular black zone, hundreds of meters wide, where colossal rocks have been rendered into a liquid state by dragonfire. This is the 'Dragon Domain' of the giant dragon Sheep Thief, and any life form entering this area is considered an intruder.

Dragons possess an intense sense of territoriality.

Even Qyburn, the Burning Men's elder chieftain who had been with Sheep Thief for over fifty years, didn't dare to casually enter her domain.

The autumn sun shone brightly, but the giant dragon Sheep Thief was nowhere to be seen in her territory, nor were her two young dragons.

At the edge of the dragon's domain, Red Hand Qyburn and the elders of the Moon Mountain tribes stood cautiously, not daring to step even half a foot into the dragon's territory.

The Burning Men are one of over forty indigenous tribes in the Moon Mountains. The current Red Hand of the Burning Men is the Mountain, who has become the King of Westeros, while the original elder chieftain Red Hand is the old man Qyburn before them. His son, One-Eye Qyburn, has become one of the three captains of the Mountain's personal guard.

On the slopes below, dozens of the Burning Men grazed cattle and sheep in vast pastures. In the forests, the remaining hunters of the Moon Mountain tribes hunted game. The giant dragon Sheep Thief loved to eat sheep, all kinds of sheep, but her two companions, in addition to sheep, also enjoyed other wild beasts. To please the two juvenile dragons that Sheep Thief had brought back, the Moon Mountain indigenous tribes sent tribal hunters to hunt beasts in the forests.

Sheep Thief had two homes: one that followed the Mountain, wherever the Mountain went, her home went; and the other, a fixed home, was this dragon's lair on Cloudmist Mountain, her old home. Whether in times of war or peace, Sheep Thief would return here whenever she had time, sometimes with the Mountain, sometimes alone. To foster Sheep Thief's strong dependence on unique delicacies and absolute indispensability, the Mountain had specially arranged to develop pastures here, sending the Burning Men to graze and live here, so that Sheep Thief could always enjoy her favorite roast sheep whenever she returned.

The Mountain was not Sheep Thief's dragon rider, but he captured Sheep Thief's stomach and thus captured her heart. After numerous battles fought together with Sheep Thief, aside from his inability to get Sheep Thief to submit and carry him on her back, the Mountain's factual relationship with Sheep Thief was that of a dragon rider and his dragon.

Even when Sheep Thief was not in the dragon's lair on Cloudmist Mountain, there were still over a hundred Burning Men and batches of old sheep, young sheep, and lambs living in the pastures and houses built on the slopes below.

The Mountain had exhausted every effort to raise a giant dragon, relying on food to completely conquer the giant dragon Sheep Thief.

*

"Qyburn, what should we do now?" the Painted Dog tribe elder asked cautiously.

"I'm going to go in and try putting the roast sheep at the entrance of the dragon's cave," Red Hand Qyburn said.

"Elder, the Mountain Red Hand is not here, and none of us can communicate with Sheep Thief through dragon language. The two dragons she brought back are still very wary of us, and the black dragon is especially volatile. I'm afraid you'll be in danger if you approach the dragon's cave... Perhaps... we can cut the roast sheep and throw it towards the entrance. Sheep Thief and her companions will smell the roast meat and come out to get it themselves," a Burning Men woman said. Her name was Tamara, and she was the female administrator ordered by the Mountain to be responsible for grilling food for Sheep Thief. She managed fifty female Burning Men.

"But the distance is too far," the Black Ear tribe elder said. The Black Ear tribe elder was an old woman whose daughter was a female general under the Mountain—Littlefinger named her Little Beauty Keira—who liked to cut off the ears of enemies and make them into necklaces to hang around her neck.

"Sheep Thief is a noble dragon, and throwing the delicious food on the ground is disrespectful to her. The food, stained with too much gravel and dust, might even anger her," Red Hand Qyburn said.

Since the giant dragon flew out of the dragon's lair and reappeared in this world to fight, it had become the supreme glory of the collective of over forty tribes in the Moon Mountains. When the Mountain became Red Hand of the Burning Men and brought most of the Moon Mountain warriors and people to the Westerlands to live a truly good life with land, the Mountain and the dragon became the highest glory of the remaining elders and tribal people in the Moon Mountains. In their hearts, nothing was higher than the status of the dragon and the Mountain, except for their worshipped gods.

When the giant dragon, carrying two juvenile dragons, roared and flew over the mountains, all the indigenous people of the mountain range knew that 'their dragon' had returned home, and they were very happy and excited. The supreme dragon and the brave and invincible king, they regarded the dragon and the king as their own people.

However, soon, bad news came from the Burning Men who were grazing sheep: the giant dragon Sheep Thief had entered the dragon's cave with two juvenile dragons and had not come out to feed on the first day, nor had she appeared on the second day, and still no dragon had come out of the dragon's lair on the third day.

The news quickly spread throughout the mountains, and the elders of the various indigenous tribes could not sit still. They came here with Red Hand Qyburn of the Burning Men, worried that something bad might have happened to the giant dragon.

And this time, the Mountain Red Hand did not arrive with the dragon either.

Of course, the elders were led by Red Hand Qyburn, who had been feeding Sheep Thief for over fifty years and knew how to deal with dragons. Although Tamara, who was responsible for providing food for the giant dragon, was anxious, she had only been able to wander around the outer edge of the dragon domain for several days, unable to enter the dragon's territory.

Without the Mountain Red Hand here, even Tamara, who had fed her, did not dare to step even half a step into the dragon's territory.

Behind Tamara, six strong Burning Men carried three roasted sheep. The aroma of the roast meat made the elders secretly swallow their saliva. This delicious food for the dragon was more advanced than the roast meat they usually ate. Snow salt and edible spices were valuable and coveted. Many advanced spices were transported from the distant eastern giant city of Qarth, and even nobles in the outside world could not easily obtain them.

"Qyburn, these three dragons have entered the dragon's cave and have not come out for several days? You have been with the giant dragon for over fifty years, don't you know why this is?" the Moon Men tribe elder said tremblingly.

Red Hand Qyburn said, "Sheep Thief has never stayed in the cave for several days without coming out to eat. She is very gluttonous. I have been feeding her for over fifty years, and she has no power to resist food. Give me the food," the old man said.

"Be careful!" the Painted Dog tribe elder said.

"You're going in alone? Can you carry this roast sheep?" the Black Ear tribe elder said.

Red Hand Qyburn had spent some effort to get up this mountainside, he was very old. But from an old man's perspective, he was still very strong.

"Cut it in half," Red Hand Qyburn said.

So, the smallest roast sheep was cut open, and Qyburn held the roast sheep in his arms, the hot oil wetting his clothes, but he didn't care at all.

The giant dragon and her two companions had not come out for several days, which was very disturbing.

The Mountain Red Hand was not here, and Qyburn Red Hand had to take on this responsibility.

The 'Burning' of the Burning Men meant not fearing flames. When the Burning Men were enemies with other tribes, what frightened them the most was that the Burning Men were brave warriors who dared to mutilate themselves. His son Qyburn, in his coming-of-age ceremony, dug out his left eye and threw it into the fire to prove his courage, and then he became One-Eye Qyburn, the youngest tribe Red Hand.

Once the old man Qyburn made a decision, he had no fear.

His several wives were still waiting anxiously in the tribe's stone houses for him to return safely.

As soon as he stepped into this inviolable black zone—this area was burned black by dragonfire, and all the giant rocks had become liquid—a sense of holiness rose in the old man Qyburn's heart, and he had no fear. Under the worried eyes of the crowd, he walked extremely steadily.

Behind him, many Burning Men women covered their mouths with their hands, while the men clenched their fists nervously, and the elders held their breath, almost stopping breathing.

Only the old man Qyburn became more and more proud as he walked, he even felt that being burned to death by dragonfire would be the most glorious death. He would be remembered by his tribesmen, and would surely become the pride of the high mountain clans of the Moon Mountains.

"Sheep Thief." When he reached halfway, the old man Qyburn finally stopped. The closer he got to the dark, giant cave, the more an invisible pressure prevented him from approaching. The old man had walked faster in his excitement, which also caused his physical strength to be consumed quickly. There were beads of sweat on his back, and the great sense of holiness was also an invisible pressure, putting great pressure on his mind and soul.

He called out Sheep Thief's name in dragon language.

The old man Qyburn had heard the Mountain mention simple dragon language, such as names and words for eating and flying, many times. Now it came in handy, and no one would have thought that one day he would personally communicate with Sheep Thief in dragon language. Moreover, he had entered the dragon's territory and was standing in the center of it.

There seemed to be a sound responding from the depths of the dragon's cave, which made the old man Qyburn even more nervous: "Eat!" he shouted this word in dragon language.

Outside the territory, a large circle of people, old men, young men, men and women, all stopped breathing, so nervous that they were tongue-tied. Dragons, the highest magical creatures, are sacred and inviolable, and no one but dragon riders can enter their territory.

Was the old man Red Hand Qyburn in danger?

Had the dragons encountered danger in the dragon's lair? Or some other unknown reason?

No one knew the result!

They could only hold their breath and wait.

They didn't know how long it had been, maybe hundreds of years, maybe just a heartbeat, when a sound came from inside the cave, and then, wind blew out of the cave, hot wind.

The hot wind lifted the old man Qyburn's clothes and hair, and his back arched involuntarily, which was an instinctive defense to the extreme tension, a spontaneous reaction of the body.

The hot wind became stronger, and in the next moment, a black and shiny, ferocious dragon head probed out from the cave entrance, and those dragon eyes, as dazzling as black gems, locked onto Red Hand Qyburn, and a very threatening dragon roar sounded, the sound was very soft, but full of murderous intent.

Someone had entered the territory of the eldest, Sheep Thief, which was intolerable to the volatile black dragon Drogon.

The black dragon was an extremely dangerous male dragon, with a volatile personality. The nature of dragons is to fight, and another nature is pride.

How could anyone but a dragon rider enter the eldest's absolute territory?!

A red light lit up on Drogon's neck, the red light shone through the skin, just like a torch behind a piece of thin paper.

The old man Qyburn was fixed as if by an invisible, huge force, he stared dumbfounded, watching the black dragon Drogon rush out of the cave, the ferocious dragon head was right in front of him, and the dragon eyes were full of flashing, dazzling light, just like the edge of a sharp sword, the dragon's mouth opened, and a black-red fireball was burning fiercely in his throat...

"Sheep Thief, eat!" The old man Qyburn heard a strange voice rise up in surprise. It was his own voice, but he didn't know it himself. Under extreme tension and bewilderment, the old man Qyburn uttered a cry. He had been with Sheep Thief for decades, feeding her, and he regarded her as his own child. Although the sense of holiness in entering the territory made the old man willing to die in dragonfire, he found that he did not want to die when dragonfire really came.

A dragon roar came from the dragon's cave, almost simultaneously with the old man's cry, it was a sonorous dragon roar with a high degree of recognition, it was Sheep Thief's dragon roar.

Boom!

The black dragon Drogon's fireball spewed out, brushed past the old man, and hit a liquid-like giant rock, the fireball exploded, and the flames swept across the giant rock like flowing water.

Pa!

With a soft sound, the roast sheep in the old man's arms fell to the ground.

At the moment of spewing out the fireball, the black dragon slightly swayed its head, and the fireball deviated from the target, allowing the old man Qyburn to escape a disaster.

Outside the dragon's territory, everyone was dumbfounded, and their breathing suffocated. Tamara's face was terribly pale, as if she had been seriously ill.

The black dragon's head shaking was very obvious, and it was very likely that it was affected by the sound of the dragon's roar in the dragon's cave.

Perhaps, the old man Qyburn was the only strange person who had ever stood in front of a volatile dragon and escaped a disaster.

Indeed, it was Sheep Thief in the dragon's cave who roared, ordering her younger brother not to kill the human who had fed her for fifty years.

Dragons are the highest magical creatures, they are more humane, and they also have high intelligence.

The black dragon turned its head and roared into the dragon's cave. In the dragon's cave, the roar also came out in time, this time in addition to the sonorous dragon roar just now, there was also another clear dragon roar.

The three dragon roars intertwined, causing the human races watching outside the dragon's territory to look at each other, completely incomprehensible.

The old man Qyburn stood on the spot, not knowing whether he should leave or what to do. He had long heard about the black dragon's volatility and difficulty in getting along with. Many of the Burning Men who made food for the dragon, even the Mountain himself, would be burned by the black dragon's hot dragon breath if they were not careful, or be slapped away by his dragon claws. Some unlucky people seemed to be small toys he used to have fun with. However, when the Mountain was there, the black dragon never killed anyone. The people he bullied were also slightly injured.

Amidst the echoing dragon roars that reverberated across the hillside, the black dragon turned and with a flick of its tail, struck Elder Tímei's body. As if yanked by an invisible rope from afar, Elder Tímei was sent flying, tracing a high arc as he plummeted towards the slopes on the outer fringes of the dragon's territory...

Thank you to 【淡阡陌】for the small reward, much appreciated, handshake!