A Dragon's Treasure

Chapter 2

Sparing the child's life had mixed results. Smaug was surprisingly content with her presence on most days, her idle chatter and story telling were entertaining, but some days he wished to roast her like a pig on a spike.

Yesterday she had buried herself in his gold and gotten herself stuck.

Before that she had wanted to explore the mountain and gotten lost, when she made it back to the dungeon she was covered head to toe in soot and tracked the power substance across his treasure

And the time before that she had talked for hours on end, asking questions and irritating the great beast.

Her constant presence stopped him from sleeping as much as he had before; the hundred years he had spent in the mountain had mostly been spent sleeping beneath the gold, now he seamed to be constantly awoken by her presence

.

Smaug decided to get ride of the meddlesome human child, deeming her more trouble then her worth.

Hearing her coming closer he wondered if human children tasted better or worst then adult humans.

Madeline entered the dungeon unaware of the dragons intentions, but her presence was different. Normally Smaug could hear her long before she ever approached the door. She would skip loudly down the steps taking them two at a time as she hummed an unknown melody, and she would appear in the threshold with her arms spread wide like a bird and a bright smile on her face. This time however she walked more slowly, almost dragging her feet down the steeps. Her brown eyes were closed with her head dropped to the floor, not looking at him as she entered.

"Madeline?" Smaug questioned, momentarily forgetting his plan to scorch the girl in dragons fire, causing her to glance up at him.

That's when he seen something that made him freeze in shock. There were tears in her eyes.

"You're upset, child." Smaug continued when she did not speak. It was such a strange sensation, the cold feeling that swept over him when he saw those tears. His heart became heavy in his chest, while a lump formed in his throat, never in his life had Smaug felt concern for any other living creature other then himself.

"What has upset you?" He questioned not allowing his voice to betray his concerns, as he moved swiftly to her side.

She did not answer, instead leaned against the warm scales of his chest. "Speak child." He demanded with a harsh growl.

"Todays the day mommy and daddy left." Madeline whispered in a shaky voice. "They went away for work, they used to travel and buy and sell lots of things. They used to take Madeline with them, but then one day they left without Madeline and never came back." Her voice caught In her throat as she remembered that day, with their ship sailing off into the distance and fading into the horizon. "Madeline went to the village to see if they came back yet but-"

"But what?" Smaug questioned as he listened intensely while simultaneously cursing himself for allowing his voice to become as tender as it had.

"The towns people were very mean to Madeline. They don't want me." She whispered sadly. "No one wants Madeline." She added as the tears finally fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

"Come now child, you will always have a place here." Smaug said as he lowered his head down to her.

"Promise?" She asked whipping her runny noise with the back of her hand.

"Yes little on." Smaug nodded as he swore to himself no matter how annoying he found her at times he would never let thoughts of disposing her enter his mind again. Because she was not a nuisance, she was not an ordinary mortal child who the townsmen dismissed as worthless.

She was his special little treasure, his to guard and protect, and he would protect her as he would every last gold coin in his possession.

...

A human's life was fragile and fleeting. It seemed before Smaug had realized the mortal child had doubled in height. Before he's eyes she had grown into an adult, and soon her visits became more sparse.

Madeline had become a traveling merchant, as her parents had been. Often she brought back different treasures for him to see, statue and paintings the occasional foreign jewels that he would keep for himself.

It had been three months since her last visit, a mere blink of the eye in the lifespan of a dragon, yet Smaug seemed aware of how painfully long it had felt. In fact he had not been able to feel truly at rest until she returned mere hours ago.

She would be gone one day and he would be left alone with his gold. A low growl vibrated through his chest at the thought- the sound did not go unnoticed.

"Is something wrong?" Madeline asked as she sat with him among his mountain of gold.

"No." He answered flatly. Because the great Smaug the Golden, Smaug the Impenetrable, Smaug the Magnificent… would never lower himself to admit he would miss the mortal child when she was gone.