The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The Mountain didn't shout "Dragonflame" again, just trying it out was enough, no need to rush things.

"I'm going to rebuild the cabin you knocked down," The Mountain said to the sheep thief, pointing to the place where the cabin had collapsed. "At noon, I'll bring you a few more sheep, but I won't give you any more today. You knocked down my cabin, you were wrong, I'm going to deduct a few sheep from you."

The sheep thief tilted his head in confusion.

Is he trying to understand me? The Mountain couldn't be sure!

But he had to express his attitude, to let the sheep thief know what was allowed and what was not. Language was no barrier; with time, humans and spiritual animals could understand each other through actions, expressions, tone, repetition, and interaction, eventually forming a tacit understanding.

The Mountain sacrificed three sheep to the sheep thief for breakfast, then strode back to the front of the collapsed cabin and began to rebuild it. The sheep thief's ferocious dragon head kept tilting as he watched The Mountain. When The Mountain erected several pillars of the cabin and built the basic structure, the sheep thief suddenly appeared behind The Mountain with a whoosh.

The light in front of The Mountain dimmed.

The sheep thief's body was too huge, like a moving mountain.

"I'm going to rebuild the cabin," The Mountain felt the surrounding air become warm. Wherever the sheep thief went, it would become warm. His body radiated a warm aura, like a mobile, enclosed fireplace.

While bringing warmth, the sheep thief also brought immense pressure. It was as if an invisible iron plate was slowly pressing down in the air.

"Sheep thief, you burned my back yesterday," The Mountain took off his clothes, pointing to the burn marks on his back for the sheep thief to see. "Today, you knocked down my cabin again," The Mountain said to the sheep thief, pointing to the mess of the cabin.

The sheep thief's eyes blinked, and the light in his pupils shone, as if there was a switch in his eyes that turned on a dazzling light when he blinked.

He blew a hot breath at The Mountain, who dodged to the side. The sheep thief's giant mouth opened, gently grabbed The Mountain's shoulder, and with a slight flick of his dragon head, threw The Mountain dozens of meters away, sending him rolling down the hillside.

Chirp!

The sheep thief chirped softly at The Mountain.

"You want to eat?" The Mountain spoke in a mixture of Common Tongue and Dragon Tongue, like learning English in his previous life, half in Chinese and half in English. The sheep thief's neck swayed gently, knocking down all the pillars of The Mountain's cabin, then he raised his head, looking down at The Mountain with arrogance, his neck held high, his dragon head ferocious, his dragon eyes iridescent.

"No, I have to build the cabin first," The Mountain pointed to the place where the cabin was. "I need to rebuild the cabin, then I'll bring you food. You have to be quiet first, then eat."

This Dragon Tongue mixed with Common Tongue moved the sheep thief. He was like a small mountain sliding down the hillside. The Mountain had just shouted "Quiet," when he was thrown away again by the sheep thief. This time, the distance was even greater. The Mountain was like a small ball, bouncing up again after landing, rolling, and finally stopping on the road down the mountain.

The sheep thief wanted The Mountain to go down the mountain to get sheep to eat. Otherwise, judging by his appearance, he wouldn't let The Mountain rebuild the cabin, nor would he let The Mountain have an easy time. He would throw The Mountain as punishment.

This was not a good sign.

The sheep thief was more assertive than The Mountain! Although he didn't kill The Mountain, regarding him as one of his own, he wouldn't let The Mountain command him, nor would he let The Mountain decide when to eat sheep.

The Mountain wanted to deduct the sheep thief's sheep because of his scalded back and the collapsed cabin—but the sheep thief's meaning was clear: Kid, go get the sheep, or I'll make you suffer!

"Quiet," The Mountain shouted. The Dragon Tongue was filled with the insufficient anger of a human leader.

The sheep thief responded with a small fireball, which landed on the grass, immediately setting it ablaze. The ground, the rocks that had been hit by the dragonflame, had turned into a liquid state.

This was the sheep thief's warning!

"Quiet, eat," The Mountain had to compromise.

Hearing the Dragon Tongue for "eat," the sheep thief glanced at The Mountain, flapped his wings, and returned to the cave entrance. The dragon achieved his goal and also made a compromise.

"Lie down, quiet, eat," The Mountain felt that he also needed to show his strength, and couldn't spoil this kid from the start. But the sheep thief immediately raised his head, and a dragon's roar filled with dissatisfaction immediately made The Mountain change his mind: "Quiet, eat." The Mountain canceled the "lie down" command.

The Mountain canceled the 'lie down' dragon command at the right time. After three days of getting along, the sheep thief was more cooperative with the "quiet" and "eat" commands, especially the "eat" command.

He couldn't be strong, he had to go along with his wishes slowly. Although he was an old sheep thief, he was a dragon.

The first time the man and dragon had conflicting opinions, the sheep thief won perfectly with his strength.

A warning fireball made The Mountain obediently go down the mountain to get sheep.

The Mountain walked down the mountain with complicated feelings. Dragons were indeed the highest magical creatures, unmatched and the best warriors, but their character was really too—barbaric and unreasonable—how could he threaten the red hand who made sacrifices to him by shooting out a small fireball?! If he developed the habit of threatening with small fireballs whenever he wasn't given sheep to eat, how could he command him?

Well, let's just bear with it for now, The Mountain consoled himself—he was just a gluttonous bad kid spoiled by Ricin and the Scorching Hand!

*

The Mountain came to the camp and told Jenny, Melisandre, and Old Man Timett about the dragon's warning and violent reaction. After a meeting and discussion, everyone formulated a new plan. Since the 'punitive hunger' therapy didn't seem to work very well, they would try the 'full feeding' strategy.

Goal: To try to get the sheep thief to execute the "lie down" Dragon Tongue command after eating his fill once.

This time, Melisandre also taught The Mountain a new High Valyrian word: "No!" "No" was not a Dragon Tongue command, and it didn't appear on the axe handle, but the word "no" belonged to the lost High Valyrian language.

As for whether the sheep thief could understand "no," Melisandre didn't know either. Everything was being tried out.

But The Mountain decided to turn the Valyrian word "no" into a new Dragon Tongue command for directing the sheep thief. With the dragon's intelligence, The Mountain believed that the sheep thief could learn this new word.

This time, The Mountain brought eleven fat sheep. He brought four tied-up sheep himself, while One-Eye Timett and the deathsworn brothers of the Scorching Hand brought seven.

This was a small sheep-delivery team!

*

The sheep thief waited quietly at the cave entrance. His days of decline and depletion were suddenly filled with hope—long-lost and rare delicacies filled his life, which was filled with the aura of death, with color and vitality. His torso was actually very thin, and the body under the dragon scale armor was just a huge and dry empty shell. His hundred-meter wingspan was actually very withered and shrunken, and he urgently needed to eat, and his body urgently needed nutrients.

It's just that—none of The Mountain and others had ever raised dragons. Whether a dragon was thin or strong, weak or powerful... they had no concept... The sheep thief's life was actually rapidly depleting. He was only two hundred and fifty years old this year, in his prime youth, but he had begun to walk on the road to death... Lack of food and loss of combat were the only two reasons for the rapid loss of the sheep thief's vitality...

The Mountain's arrival happened to save the sheep thief's increasingly depleted life. This was something that The Mountain and other newbies didn't know at all. No one had ever raised a dragon, and their understanding of dragons was only limited to superficial books. The historians who wrote the books had never really owned a dragon, and they didn't understand a real dragon...

As a spiritual and intelligent young dragon, the sheep thief understood that the arrival of the new bald-headed red hand injected vitality into his rapidly depleting life and body...

The surroundings of Cloud Mist Mountain were silent, and there wasn't even an insect in the grass. Small birds and beasts had long disappeared for more than a hundred years... Only trees, shrubs, and grass grew and died, withered and flourished year after year... And the life of a young dragon was rapidly declining, until the appearance of The Mountain, the new red hand of the Scorching Hand... However, a dragon was still a dragon, and even on the verge of life depletion, it was still powerful...

*

The Mountain brought four sheep up the mountain, and the remaining seven sheep were placed at the foot of the mountain. One-Eye Timett and others quickly left. In this dragon taming, The Mountain was the only protagonist, and everyone should try not to appear in the sheep thief's sight, so that he would have a unique sense of closeness to The Mountain as a human.

The Mountain, Jenny, Melisandre, and others were carefully planning and cautiously acting, but in fact, they were overthinking things... The sheep thief himself needed The Mountain even more...

The sheep thief saw the arrival of more sheep and the departure of One-Eye Timett and others. He raised his head high and remained quiet. Humans had been in his life for one hundred and fifty years, and he was no stranger to dealing with people—the sheep thief had long been different from other dragons, and even more different from himself before he was eighty years old.

Before he was eighty years old, the sheep thief was a wild dragon on the back mountain of Dragonstone Island, unruly and addicted to killing... The number of people he killed who went to tame and approach him was more than the total number of people killed by the other five wild dragons... Although his size was not the largest... He was also the only dragon in the world who came from a wild dragon, and the other five wild dragons, three were hunted and killed by warriors, and two were tamed... and eventually died in the Targaryen family's dragon knight infighting...

The Mountain came with four sheep, and he didn't waste any words this time. The man and the dragon had tested each other—this was actually a kind of mutual adaptation—The Mountain threw out two live sheep at a time. He watched the sheep thief eat them, and then threw out two more... The Mountain had no dragon language or nagging... After throwing down four sheep, The Mountain turned back down the mountain. This time, he brought up seven sheep together. He entered the black area four steps and threw all seven sheep at his feet, then threw them to the sheep thief one by one. The man and the dragon cooperated tacitly. The man didn't waste words, and the dragon didn't roar. In a little while, the sheep thief ate all seven sheep clean.

The Mountain didn't retreat from the black area. He looked at the sheep thief, who was standing up straight, and said in a deep voice, "Lie down!"

The Mountain had said the Dragon Tongue for "lie down" many times, but the sheep thief never obeyed. This time, according to the sheep thief's appetite, The Mountain fed him eleven fat sheep in one go. At the moment when the sheep thief was 'drunk and full,' he said this Dragon Tongue command.

The Mountain was very expectant in his heart, he was looking forward to...

The sheep thief's ferocious dragon head slowly lowered in The Mountain's direction. He suddenly spewed out a small flame, then turned around and slowly slid into the bottom of the cave, lying down and resting comfortably. His life was actually very weak, and after eating his fill, he needed rest and sleep more than anything else, but the foolish human outside wouldn't know...

"Lie down" was the Dragon Tongue for when a dragon knight wanted to ride a dragon, and it was also the language for when a dragon knight wanted a dragon to rest, similar to people saying good morning, good afternoon, or good night to each other...

The Mountain didn't know whether the sheep thief had obeyed his "lie down" command and entered the cave to rest, or whether it was because the dragon himself was full and wanted to lie down... His intention was for the sheep thief to lie down at the entrance of the cave and obey the Dragon Tongue command, but he didn't see it...

The sheep thief woke up from a deep afternoon dream, and he heard that clucking sound again. This time, his dragon eyes didn't open, and even his dragon head was too lazy to move. He knew that his sacrificial person was rebuilding the cabin he had knocked down, and he didn't care about it...

Three days later, the man and the dragon were even more familiar, and The Mountain could walk six big steps into the sheep thief's black area. This was an amazing miracle, and compared to Ricin's progress in taming the sheep thief at that time, this was dozens of times more efficient.

One morning, the sheep thief, who ate and drank his fill every day, was awakened from his sleep by a shouting sound. This sound was very strange. The sheep thief became curious, and in the blink of an eye, he had already appeared at the cave entrance. His speed and reaction were several times faster than before. The spring of his depleted life was bubbling with clear springs again, and it was endless, with strong stamina...

The Mountain, in addition to feeding him his favorite sheep, also ordered more than five hundred deathsworn to go to the forests of the Brightmoon Mountains to hunt and catch other wolves, insects, tigers, and leopards to feed the sheep thief...

The sheep thief rushed out of the cave and saw his sacrificial person flashing and moving on the open space in front of the cabin, with a small sword in his hand shining coldly. That sword was Ice, the ancestral sword of the Stark family in the North, more than two meters long. It was the Stark family's ceremonial sword, because it was too heavy and large, it could not be used to kill enemies on the battlefield, but The Mountain used it as a weapon, which was just right, handy and sharp. This was the most magnificent two-handed greatsword on the continent of Westeros, which The Mountain used casually with one hand, and no one could get close to him.

The Mountain was practicing his sword in the morning sunlight, the sword light roared, and the figure moved, unmatched. The sheep thief looked at his sacrificial person, tilting his head, and his dragon eyes reflected The Mountain's vigorous figure... In the sheep thief's memory, he had seen many people practice swordsmanship, and he had also seen legion training and battles. The Mountain's smooth swordsmanship practice, exquisite footwork, made the sheep thief watch motionless.

In front of The Mountain, two human-shaped signs were erected. One sign was a White Walker: frost-colored hands and feet and face, blue eyes, a light blue coat, and a narrow sword made of ice; the other human-shaped sign was a black wight. The Mountain's greatsword slashed left and right, the sword light was like a training of silk, and when it reached the extreme, he shouted, "Attack." The greatsword hit the White Walker's neck, the White Walker's head fell, and with a spin, the greatsword slashed vertically, accompanied by the shout 'Attack,' splitting the wight in half.

Attack is not Common Tongue, but Dragon Tongue, a Dragon Tongue command issued in Valyrian.

The Sheep Thief showed a very obvious reaction to the Dragon Tongue attack. His dragon eyes shimmered with a radiant light, something that Demon Mountain had never seen before. He could feel a certain excited will within the Sheep Thief, a primal reaction of his fighting instincts.

Recently, the Sheep Thief had shown greater agility in both speed and reaction. Even his dragon's roar had become sharper and higher-pitched, with a stronger metallic texture.

The Sheep Thief's scales also seemed to be evolving, with a brighter reflection than when he was first encountered.

Demon Mountain thought it was time for a further attempt.

To try a clear combat command: Dragon Tongue Attack!

He sheathed the Ice Sword and carried two humanoid cloth targets out of the hut, one representing a White Walker and the other a Wight. He placed the two humanoid cloth targets at the edge of the Sheep Thief's black zone, controlled his excitedly thumping heart, and said in a deep voice, "Attack!"

Would it succeed this time?!

Demon Mountain was expectant, excited, and apprehensive—because the Dragon Tongue command for 'Crouch' had failed. Demon Mountain had tried many times without success; the Sheep Thief refused to crouch. Every time the command to crouch was issued, he would raise his head high, and the resistance felt increasingly strong. But the three commands of 'Quiet,' 'Eat,' and 'Dragon Flame' were always obeyed.

Why would the Sheep Thief refuse the 'Crouch' command?

Then would he obey the 'Attack' command?

The answer was revealed immediately:

The Sheep Thief glided from the cave entrance, his dragon claws extended. The pale golden dragon claws were like swords, flowing smoothly as they slashed through the White Walker and Wight cloth targets.

*

ps: Seeing the requests for more updates, I'll add an extra chapter tomorrow, and by the way, ask for some subscriptions. Subscriptions are the driving force for updates. There are still eleven subscriptions needed to reach the minimum goal of 1000 average subscriptions. One classmate subscribed to everything and found that his ranking reached forty-fifth place; very few classmates subscribe to everything. With subscriptions, there will be more updates.

Thank you for Chau534's reward, thank you, handshake.)