The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter: Quiet · Feeding · Dragonflame

The Sheep Thief watched for a good while, perhaps finally feeling bored, or perhaps accepting the 'harassment' of Mountain's voice. The hymns Mountain sang while working were unpleasant and hard to bear for most, but they held a special intimacy for the Sheep Thief. The light in the Sheep Thief's draconic eyes gradually faded, and after a while, his curiosity about Coco's drumming also waned. As Mountain lit a torch and continued his work in the night, the Sheep Thief quietly returned to the bottom of the cave, lowered himself, and lay down comfortably.

Today's delicious feast made him very happy, and he felt a natural sense of intimacy towards Mountain. Mountain was the first Red Hand in over a hundred years to speak to him in the intimate dragon tongue: Sheep Thief, quiet, feeding, lie down. He was also the first Red Hand to feed him plump sheep to his fill. Since the death of his master, Ricca the Fire Witch, it was rare for the Sheep Thief to let out such a hearty and unrestrained dragon roar.

In fact, Ricca the Fire Witch became the faith witch of the Scorched Men for two main reasons. The first was that she needed living supplies; she needed to survive. When she was last discovered by the royal army in a cave in the Mountains of the Moon, Ricca was already ragged and living like a beggar. In that final encounter, she and the Sheep Thief killed or wounded more than seventy soldiers and successfully escaped.

The second reason was that she knew human lifespan was short, while dragons lived long lives. Since she needed to live in seclusion and could not break her vows, Ricca thought most about what would happen to the Sheep Thief after her death.

Would he continue to be a wild dragon? Or would he rashly go out and be killed by the Targaryen dragon riders as an enemy?

In a sense, it was not the Scorched Men who needed the fire god faith, the fire witch, and the Sheep Thief, but rather the fire witch and her dragon who needed the Scorched Men. However, under the light of faith, the dragon and dragon rider's need for the Scorched Men, to evade pursuit, was completely obscured.

Mountain himself could have ordered his five hundred-plus sworn swords to quickly build a house, but he did not do so. To conquer a dragon, one needed sincerity, and everything had to be done personally. Melisandre had taught him Dragon Tongue, but Melisandre herself had set the rules: she would never say a single word of Dragon Tongue in front of the Sheep Thief, and there could not be any actions that distracted the Sheep Thief in the slightest. Everything had to revolve around Mountain.

The next morning, the Sheep Thief woke up and heard a strange noise. His draconic eyes opened, a golden light flashed, and with a gust of wind, the Sheep Thief had already rushed out of the cave. At the edge of his black domain, a live sheep was tied to a wooden stake, and Mountain was standing next to the stake.

Compared to yesterday, Mountain had taken a small step forward in the dragon's absolute core domain.

A small step forward, a giant leap in conquest.

"Sheep Thief..." Mountain said amiably. He was about to say the Dragon Tongue words for quiet feeding, but he saw a light shining through the Sheep Thief's neck, a precursor to a burst of dragonflame. Mountain was shocked and quickly ducked and rolled away, just in time to see the Sheep Thief's huge mouth open and a golden-red fireball erupt, engulfing the sheep on the stake...

Although Mountain moved very quickly, his back was still scorched by the heatwave. Instantly, it felt as if he had been stung by many poisonous bees, the pain was unforgettable, and he broke out in a cold sweat from fear.

Planting a wooden stake, tying a sheep to it, and standing next to the stake, while preparing to say good morning or some other nonsense to the Sheep Thief, was undoubtedly a very stupid and foolish thing to do.

Clearly, Ricca had not taught the Sheep Thief to be gentle and polite while eating.

In the moment his back was scorched, Mountain worried that his flesh might be cooked.

When the flames disappeared, the sheep was swallowed by the Sheep Thief, and the wooden stake was reduced to ashes. Mountain rolled over and stood up, already outside the black zone. His back was burning with pain. It was not an injury caused by the dragonflame itself, but merely the heatwave from the dragonflame that had scorched Mountain's back.

Mountain was in unbearable pain. This was a completely new experience. Being burned by the heat of dragonflame was a kind of pain that others could not comprehend. On the surface, there were no burn marks on his clothes, but they stuck to his skin, feeling like a red-hot iron.

Being burned by high temperature would cause blisters later. If not treated properly, it would cause serious damage to the skin. However, Mountain was not too worried about this. The Scorched Men had unique techniques and special herbs for treating burns, and Janei and Melisandre also had medical skills in this area. On the surface, Janei, Melisandre, One-Eye Tyme, and others were not here, but in fact, they were all on standby on the other side of this forest.

Mountain was not fighting alone in conquering the Sheep Thief.

"Quiet, Sheep Thief," Mountain said, enduring the pain.

The Sheep Thief did not seem apologetic for Mountain's burn. His glittering dragon eyes stared at Mountain, his nostrils exhaling scalding breath, his head tilted back and forth, and he let out a soft dragon roar. His dragon claws restlessly scratched marks on the black stones on the ground, making Mountain feel uneasy.

Those dragon claws were as sharp as knives. If they were to strike Mountain, he could only fall to the ground and admit defeat.

"Feeding?" Mountain asked.

The Sheep Thief's dragon eyes immediately flashed with a pale golden light.

As expected, he really was just a gluttonous fellow!

"Quiet!" Mountain said slowly, drawing out the words. "Quiet, feeding." He pointed to the foot of the mountain.

The Sheep Thief did not smell the scent of sheep at the foot of the mountain, nor did he hear the bleating of sheep. To prevent the Sheep Thief from gorging himself after discovering the flock, Mountain kept the sheep far away, with people specially guarding them. Only a small number of sheep were brought by the guards, ready for Mountain to cross the forest and bring them up at any time.

Mountain had the financial resources, manpower, material resources, and power to easily feed the Sheep Thief thousands of sheep, but he had to slowly tame the Sheep Thief again through daily feeding.

The Sheep Thief stretched his neck and looked down the mountain, where there was nothing but the huge black area burned by his dragonflame yesterday.

But the Sheep Thief had the experience of yesterday. Yesterday, Mountain told him to feed, and later brought him more sheep.

The Sheep Thief gave a soft cry, flapped his wings, and returned to the cave entrance.

"Lie down, quiet, feeding," Mountain issued the dragon command to the Sheep Thief.

However, the Sheep Thief did not lie down. He stood tall, his scrutinizing eyes fixed on Mountain. He remained quiet, waiting for Mountain to bring as many sheep as yesterday for him to feed on.

He had eaten sheep for breakfast for the first time in over a hundred years, but only one fat sheep was naturally not enough to satisfy him.

Mountain stared intently at the Sheep Thief, trying to repeat the command, softening his tone: "Lie down, quiet, feeding."

The Sheep Thief reacted to the Dragon Tongue, his dragon eyes glittering, the golden-red light flowing as if it were a priceless rare gem emitting a hazy light.

Mountain could see that the Sheep Thief was unwilling to lie down, but was willing to remain quiet for the arrival of food.

Mountain turned around and strode down the mountain.

It was only the second day. It was already good enough that the Sheep Thief was willing to listen to the Dragon Tongue command of quiet and wait for feeding. If the little guy was unwilling to lie down, then let him be for now.

Mountain deliberately brought only one sheep for breakfast. Since the Sheep Thief still wanted to feed, he would let the Sheep Thief see him go down the mountain to fetch that unparalleled delicacy. These little actions were deliberately designed for the Sheep Thief to see.

To become familiar with the Sheep Thief as soon as possible, he had to do more things in front of him and increase the opportunities for contact and communication. Would the dragon understand the hard work Mountain put in for his food? Mountain was not very confident, but Melisandre had analyzed it and believed that Mountain's every move would have an impact on the Sheep Thief. Perhaps one act or word was insignificant, but over time, hundreds, thousands, or thousands of times, it would create a miracle, just like Ricca.

Mountain strode swiftly. Half an hour later, Mountain brought two sheep from the forest camp on the other side of the mountain. The first thing he saw when he appeared on the small path of Cloud Mist Mountain was the Sheep Thief 'intruding' into his domain, looking around curiously next to the small house he had built. The house was empty, without the Mountain he hoped to see.

"Sheep Thief!" Mountain shouted, his voice echoing in the valley for a long time.

The Sheep Thief raised his head and looked towards the sound. This was a normal action, but his huge, ferocious dragon head was a burden. A series of light sounds were heard, and the dragon head bumped the small house that Mountain had been busy with half the night, knocking it askew.

"Quiet, quiet," Mountain quickly issued the Dragon Tongue command.

The Sheep Thief tilted his head and looked at the askew house, his dragon eyes glittering, the light flowing, as if he realized something was wrong. The dragon head gently bumped it again, perhaps he wanted to restore the askew house. The position he bumped was also the skewed part of the house. With a crash, the entire house collapsed.

"Quiet!" Mountain shouted. "Quiet, feeding!"

Quiet first, then food.

The Sheep Thief looked at the collapsed house, looked at Mountain quickly approaching, and let out a melodious and lingering dragon roar. Then he took a step back, his huge and terrifying dragon head lowered to touch the mess on the ground, perhaps he wanted to help it up, perhaps it was just a subconscious action with no special meaning. Then he raised his head, chirped a few times, suddenly flapped his wings, and returned to the cave entrance.

Mountain cursed in the Common Tongue: "Sheep Thief, you scorched my back with heat yesterday, and you knocked down my house today. You've eaten more than twenty of my sheep. You need to have some manners."

The Sheep Thief blinked his dragon eyes, the golden-red light overflowing. His dragon head was raised high, watching Mountain's moving figure.

Soon, Mountain arrived, bringing two fat, rolling live sheep for the Sheep Thief. This time, he boldly strode three steps into the black zone, and then threw the two live sheep to the Sheep Thief, who had remained quiet at the same time.

The Sheep Thief spat out dragonflame. This time, the dragonflame was not a fireball, but a fan-shaped cloud of flames, like a golden-red fire cloud.

The directions in which the two sheep landed were different, and the Sheep Thief's dragonflame had also changed from a fireball to a cloud of flames, roasting both sheep at the same time.

Mountain was overjoyed!

The Sheep Thief could even do this! He had thought that the dragon could only spew fireballs one at a time.

The Sheep Thief's dragon head swayed from left to right, spewing out a cloud of flames. Golden-red and translucent, beautiful and dreamlike, making Mountain admire him.

A fireball was a pinpoint shot, while a cloud of flames was a large-area attack.

"Dragonflame!" In his surprise and excitement, Mountain said another Dragon Tongue word that he had never said but had always wanted to try. The command for directing the dragon in battle: dragonflame.

The Sheep Thief looked at Mountain. Mountain suddenly felt a burst of fear. Was this foolish thing going to spew dragonflame at him and roast him? He was his generous and unparalleled sheep provider! Mountain quickly retreated from the black zone and quickly pointed in another direction: "Dragonflame!"

The first Dragon Tongue words that Quentyn Martell, Victarion, and Daario, the three generals under Daenerys who dreamed of becoming dragon riders, learned were dragonflame.

Whoosh!

With a loud bang, the Sheep Thief spewed out dragonflame. The dragonflame dragged out a long flame tail, and the fireball crashed into a black rock, the fire wave like flowing water, instantly erupting and engulfing the rock.

The location of this rock perfectly matched the direction Mountain had just casually pointed.

The Magic Mountain came back to his senses, his heart filled with surprise and joy. Was that dragonfire spewed out by the Sheep Thief in response to his dragonflame command?

Dragonflame was a combat command, containing a more powerful magical force. Any dragon that heard the dragonflame command would breathe fire, but whether that fire was directed at the issuer of the command or someone else was uncertain.

The Magic Mountain steadied himself and retreated further. 'Red God R'hllor, for the sake of the dozens of sheep this Magic Mountain has sacrificed, let the Sheep Thief obey the dragonflame command.' He pointed to a rock not far in front of the Sheep Thief and said, "Dragonflame!"

A fireball shot out, hitting the rock squarely!

The Magic Mountain was immediately seized by immense excitement. On only the third day, the Sheep Thief had obeyed his dragonflame command. This was too shocking and delightful for him. Could it be that he was truly Azor Ahai reborn? Haha! Hahaha!

The Magic Mountain did not laugh out loud; that laughter remained in his heart.

In the presence of the dragon, the Magic Mountain restrained his extreme excitement and joy!