The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The two live sheep, tied up, bleated, and no one could understand the despairing thoughts in their hearts before they saw the giant dragon fly over to barbecue them. The sheep thief retracted its wings and landed, spitting out flames. The fireball, as bright as a small sun, shot out of the dragon's mouth, dragging a long, golden-red tail of flame, a beautiful sight...

Lying on the ground, the one-eyed Dothraki felt the tremor of the ground when the dragon landed, and also felt the strong light and scorching heat of the dragon flame. He desperately rolled towards the roadside, rolling down the hillside...

The dragon flame engulfed the two goats, and also ignited the grass, bushes, and trees on both sides of the road. With crackling sounds, the flames burned. Whether it was wet grass or dry firewood, as long as it came into contact with the dragon flame, it would explode like kerosene...

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Mountain rushed towards the foot of the mountain, shouting, "Sheep thief, quiet, eat."

The Mountain's voice was excited, echoing in the valley.

The sheep thief turned its head and saw the Mountain rushing down the mountain. It let out a low dragon roar, then stretched out its long neck, opened its dragon mouth, and swallowed the two roasted whole sheep on the ground in a few bites.

"Quiet, eat!" The Mountain descended the mountain extremely quickly. The Westerlands were mountainous, and the Westerlanders were good at walking in the mountains since childhood.

The sheep thief raised its head high, overlooking the thousand-man team at the foot of the mountain. Did it recall its experience in military combat? Trained dragons were no strangers to legions.

The one-eyed Dothraki, rolling under the road, saw the trajectory of the two roasted whole sheep sliding down the dragon's neck through the firelight. The dragon consisted of a long neck, a long tail, a ferocious and huge dragon head, and a body covered with scales. Compared to the length of the neck and tail and the enormous wingspan, the dragon's body was relatively short. Because of this, some say that dragons have no body.

This time, the two goats were fatter than the two live sheep sacrificed by the Mountain.

Soon, the fire caused by the sheep thief's barbecue of the goats blazed up.

Fortunately, there was only a small forest here, extending out to rocks and low thorn bushes. Because the mountains in the deep mountains were extremely high, the temperature here was very low. Even at the foot of the Cloud Mist Mountain, it felt cold. On the mountainside, there was a clear snow line. And the summit was a expanse of white snow.

Dragons did not like the cold, but their cold resistance was naturally much stronger than that of humans. Dragons would react uncomfortably to extremely cold weather. The North and the Land of Eternal Winter were not places dragons liked to go. Extremely cold weather would weaken a dragon's combat power.

"Sheep thief, quiet," the Mountain shouted. He was worried that the sheep thief would kill people.

The sheep thief turned its head and stared at the approaching Mountain. With the Mountain's judgment of dragons, he could not see any emotional changes in the dragon's eyes, and he did not know how much restraint the dragon language commands had on the sheep thief. Before coming, the Mountain analyzed that the giant dragon sheep thief, who had not fought for 150 years, must have had its sharpness and warlike nature severely weakened.

But no matter what, it was the highest magical creature - a dragon!

"Quiet, eat," the Mountain said, making a gesture that there were more goats.

The Mountain was very sure that the sheep thief could understand the dragon language he spoke, but the gestures were not dragon gestures. It was his instinctive action in his anxiety. In his so-called anxiety, he gestured and gesticulated.

The sheep thief was once a wild dragon that was tamed. This kind of creature was easy to get along with once it became a friend, but if it felt uncomfortable, the group of his family, fanatics, and subordinates at the foot of the mountain might be killed by it!

The Scorched Men revered the sheep thief like a god. They cautiously believed in this son of the fire god and never established a true friendship with the sheep thief...

The Mountain hoped that the dragon language could bring peace to the sheep thief, and hoped that more goat sacrifices could please the sheep thief... But he was not sure what the effect would be, but one thing was certain, he was the Red Hand, he had the token, and he sang the hymn inherited from Ricimer. In terms of reason, the sheep thief would not be rough with him...

However, was it really not abrupt for him to rush down like this, telling the sheep thief to be quiet and that there would be more food for it to eat?

In his anxiety, the Mountain showed extraordinary courage and strong concern for his people... His dragon language, wizard robe, inherited axe, hymn, the two live sheep sacrificed, and his understanding and character analysis of the sheep thief were all his reliance...

However, things often happened suddenly and unexpectedly...

The sheep thief suddenly swept towards the Mountain, and the wind it brought caused the leaves to rustle. At the foot of the mountain, Jeyne cried out in surprise, Melisandre also changed color, and everyone else was shocked and dumbfounded...

The Mountain stopped abruptly. Did his actions anger the sheep thief? Did his dragon language fail to bring a sense of closeness? The sheep thief suddenly launched an attack on him. In front of the giant dragon sheep thief with a wingspan of hundreds of meters, even a real giant was just a small child...

The Mountain instinctively reached back to draw his sword. There was always a Valyrian steel sword, Ice, in that position, but he grabbed at air. He came to make a sacrifice, so naturally he did not bring any weapons... This action was not intentional, but a habit...

In the time it took for a heartbeat, the sheep thief pounced on him with a gust of wind, its huge mouth opened. The Mountain felt a chill in his heart. He saw an unfathomable black hole, two rows of fangs like scimitars and short swords, and a long tongue covered with sharp, pale purple barbs. Suddenly, everything went black, his shoulder hurt, and he was surrounded by scorching heat. Then, his body felt light, and he flew up into the clouds. The shadows of trees, rocks, bushes, and mountain peaks flashed rapidly before his eyes. Maybe it was a moment, maybe it was a hundred years. Then, he heard a loud bang, and the Mountain fell from the sky and landed on a patch of grass.

At the foot of the mountain, everyone was breathless at that moment!

The Mountain was huge, with thick skin and flesh. It was the first time he had experienced the irresistible power of 'others'. His height of nearly three meters, his giant-like body, was like a small bullet. The sheep thief stretched out its mouth, bit his shoulder, and flicked its dragon head, easily throwing him away... The Mountain's body crossed a fire zone ignited by the dragon flame and landed on the other side of the flame...

Lady Jeyne's heart stopped beating at that moment...

On the mountainside, the old Dothraki was also completely stunned in surprise, like a human-shaped stone... His mouth was wide open, his eyes fixed, like a fish dying of thirst...

The one-eyed Dothraki, who was rolling down the hillside to avoid the dragon flame, widened his single eye, forgetting where he was...

Alyn, Jeyne, Qyburn, Brienne, the Greatjon, Melisandre... all stopped breathing...

The sheep thief threw the Mountain away, spread its wings, flapped them slightly, and soared into the air. In the whistling wind, it landed in front of the black, shiny cave entrance on the mountainside... It turned around, raised its head, and its two dragon eyes emitted a hazy, golden-red dazzling light... just like the color of the flames it spat out...

The Mountain was not actually injured from the fall, but the shock in his heart grabbed him. He was thrown head over heels by the giant dragon sheep thief, which made him unbelievable. His heart was beating extremely fast, all the hot blood rushed to the top of his head, and every part of his body trembled slightly involuntarily due to excitement, tension, shock, and fear. When he stood up, his mind was still blank. Before his eyes was a golden red of flames...

Throughout history, he didn't know if he was the first human to be thrown head over heels by a giant dragon!

If the sheep thief was close to him, it shouldn't have thrown him away; if the sheep thief wasn't close to him, it should have killed him; dragon flame, dragon claws, dragon tail, or dragon teeth, any of them could have easily killed him in the situation just now...

But the sheep thief only threw him away, like a child throwing away his toy... This throw allowed the Mountain to cross the mountain fire ignited by the dragon flame...

Everyone stared blankly as the Mountain stood up, and everyone's expression was indescribable. The Mountain looked at his right shoulder, where there was a stinging pain. The dragon's teeth touched his shoulder, leaving shallow wounds, and fresh blood faintly moistened the skin.

"The dragon... threw Gregor over the fire zone..." Jeyne heard her voice murmuring softly. Was that her voice? Why did it seem like a dream, full of self-doubt?

Melisandre, who was beside Jeyne, was able to understand the dragon language spoken by the Mountain. The Mountain came down the mountain, saying the dragon language for 'quiet', hoping to calm the sheep thief, and he also kept repeating the words for eating. Melisandre clearly saw the sheep thief turn its head twice, both because of the Mountain's dragon language.

When the dragon language was spoken, the sheep thief had a relatively obvious reaction.

"Lady Jeyne, the Mountain came down the mountain hoping to tell the sheep thief that he had prepared more sheep for the sheep thief, and he was trying to appease the sheep thief's emotions so that it wouldn't hurt anyone."

"He... too... rash..."

"He has courage!" Melisandre corrected. Because the Mountain came down the mountain to try to appease the sheep thief with dragon language, and because the sheep thief only threw the Mountain a big somersault, this made Melisandre even more convinced that the Mountain was the reincarnation of Azor Ahai.

And the eating that the Mountain said naturally meant sacrificing sheep to the sheep thief. Melisandre knew that the sheep thief could understand the meaning of the Mountain's dragon language. Dragons are intelligent magical creatures!

"The dragon threw Gregor over the fire. Did it want the Mountain to bring it sheep to eat again?" Jeyne said in a low voice. She was still a little scared.

"I think so."

"But the sheep are outside Cloud Mist Mountain."

"The sheep thief has returned to the cave, but it hasn't entered the dragon's lair. Maybe it's waiting."

"Waiting for Gregor to bring it sheep again?"

"Judging from the situation just now, the sheep thief has no intention of killing people. It only likes to eat sheep," Melisandre said in a positive tone.

Jeyne chose to believe all of Melisandre's words. She let out a long breath and pressed her hand to her heart: "Well, the sheep thief is a dragon that has been tamed by a dragon knight and has lived with Ricimer for more than fifty years. It is different from wild dragons. I think it has developed the habit of accepting sacrificers."

"The sheep thief has been in constant contact with the Red Hands of the Scorched Men for 150 years, and it has never killed any Red Hand," Melisandre said.

Like the Mountain, Melisandre had also carefully studied all the possibilities of the sheep thief! The conclusion was that the sheep thief should be a dragon that was easy to get close to. Making it close to the Mountain and accept the Mountain should not be difficult in the case that the Mountain has mastered the dragon language!

*

The Mountain looked towards the mountainside across a sea of flames. He felt that the sheep thief was also looking at him there. He had emphasized the dragon language for eating to the sheep thief several times. He knew that he had to go outside Cloud Mist Mountain to get the more sheep that had been prepared long ago.

The Mountain had prepared many sheep, but the original plan was to sacrifice four sheep for the first time, and then sacrifice sheep every day, with more sheep being sacrificed each day and closer to the sheep thief's cave each day, until he could completely stand at the edge of the cave, allowing the sheep thief to completely adapt to his presence in the sheep thief's territory, and eventually the sheep thief could allow him to reach out and touch the scales and accept him as a friend.

This was the first goal set by the Mountain, Jeyne, and Melisandre.

The second goal was to have the sheep thief fly out of Cloud Mist Mountain, leave the cave, and soar into the sky. The dragon's territory should not be this mountain range, but the boundless sky. Dragons belong to the sky and to battle.

*

An hour later, six sheep were brought by the Mountain to the edge of the black area of the dragon's lair. This time, the Mountain stepped into the absolute territory of the sheep thief's black area with both feet, but only one step. Then, the Mountain threw out the first sheep. The sheep thief spat out dragon flame and swallowed the sheep in one bite; then, its eyes greedily stared at the Mountain, staring at the Mountain's other sheep.

This time, the old Dothraki retreated far away and stood on a rock to watch. From then on, the Mountain was the tribal Red Hand who was specifically responsible for sacrificing food to the sheep thief.

The transition of the old and new Red Hands was completed. The transition between the old Dothraki and the Mountain was the first thrilling event in 150 years!

The Mountain threw out the second sheep. This time, both sides had a tacit understanding. The sheep thief waited where the sheep fell. It raised its head and spat out flames. The raging dragon flame enveloped the sheep, and the roasted whole sheep was completed in an instant and landed accurately in the sheep thief's big mouth.

The cooperation between the two sides became more tacit with the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth sheep.

"Bow down!" The Mountain raised his hands high, raising his hands high to the sheep thief who was still staring at him! This sentence was also in dragon language.

In just one day, because of the unparalleled delicacies, the Mountain spoke the third sentence in dragon language.

Bow down is the command for a dragon knight to ride, and it is also an order for the dragon to rest.

Here, it was naturally the Mountain asking the sheep thief to rest.

For more than a hundred years, the sheep thief had eaten the sheep to its heart's content for the first time. After hearing the dragon language for bowing down, it let out a long-lasting dragon roar, and the metallic 'jiu' sound resounded through the sky of the Brightmoon Mountains... Far and near, countless birds and wild animals panicked and fled from the forest to the distance...

The long-lost high-pitched dragon roar was hearty and unconstrained!

The dragon roar was still echoing in the valley and the sky for a long time. The sheep thief had already entered the dragon's lair and reached the bottom of the cave.

The sheep thief was still wanting more, but it was still very satisfied. It entered the huge dragon's lair and returned to its independent snail-dwelling world. It truly bowed down, relaxed its body, stretched its neck, tail, and dragon claws, and the pair of dazzling dragon eyes gradually disappeared in brilliance and slowly closed... The dragon's breath was exhaled slower and slower... It was time to bow down properly...

Coco, coco, coco, a slight and rhythmic sound came into the bottom of the cave. The sheep thief's eyes suddenly opened, flashing a golden-red light. This sound was something it had never heard before...

It shot out of the cave, came to the entrance, but did not appear. It looked outside from the darkness of the cave. In the twilight outside, there was a figure busy with something outside its territory...

Though the distance was great, the Goat Thief could see clearly. The figure was the human who had fed him goats today. What was he doing? A scrutinizing light shone from the dragon's eyes as its massive, grotesque head tilted back and forth. In that moment, he was like an innocent, pure child, full of curiosity...

Accompanying the sacrificial human's movements, along with the rhythmic 'ko-ko-ko' sounds, was a hymn etched into the Goat Thief's very being. The song originated from the Dragon Knight Castor's legacy. When the Goat Thief heard the song, his eyes flickered, the dragon eyes dazzling...

Alone, outside the dragon's territory, as dusk gradually descended, Demon Mountain was building a house to live in!

Though today started with danger, it was actually quite good, giving him unprecedented confidence.

The Goat Thief, though an unparalleled dragon, was indeed as recorded in history: he had a fatal weakness. Goats were, to him, an unparalleled delicacy, irresistible!

Unbeknownst to Demon Mountain as he built his house, his every move was being watched with great curiosity by the dragon in the cave, its head cocked in the darkness, unblinking. His dragon eyes occasionally flickered, as if saying: 'That guy outside is so strange. What on earth is he doing?!'

Thanks to [zack170185] for the reward, thank you, handshake!