I reforged the glory of the magic ring in Middle-earth

Chapter 96 The Dragon Awakens Early
The sarcastic expression on Thorin's face froze instantly after he heard the dragon's message. His pupils contracted violently, and he took two steps back and bumped into the stone pillar behind him before he could barely stand firm.

His trembling fingers dug into the veins of the stone pillar, and the whitening sound of his knuckles was clearly audible: "This is impossible! Smaug has been silent in the Lonely Mountain for sixty years! How could he awaken at this time!?"

Thranduil watched the dwarf prince lose his composure, tapping his fingertips lightly on the armrest of the throne, enjoying the cold sweat oozing from his forehead. "Why is it impossible? Just like you suddenly tried to retake Lonely Mountain, why can't the dragon suddenly open its golden eyes?"

He deliberately dragged out the last word: "After all, it fell asleep of its own accord. No one could force it to close its eyes with a sword."

Tanes raised his hand to hold Thorin's shaking shoulder and asked with a serious expression, "King Thranduil, please explain the current situation of Lonely Mountain in detail."

"These are just a few words brought by the refugees from Riverdale." Thranduil caressed the handle of the antler throne nonchalantly, "But one thing is certain - when you were hiding in the tree holes in the dense forest, some uninvited guests awakened the dragon in a way you could not imagine!"

Then he looked at Thorin and said, "But it is certain that the awakening of the dragon must be related to your expedition. At least, in a place you can't see, someone or some creature directly entered the Lonely Mountain and awakened the dragon."

Thorin still shook his head with an impassive look on his face. "No, that's impossible. We've already blocked the main entrance to the Lonely Mountain. The collapsed stone walls and falling rocks have blocked all possible entrances. Unless the dragon wants out, no one can enter."

“Maybe someone discovered your little secret?”

Thranduil suddenly stepped down from the throne, leaned forward, his silver hair cascading down like a waterfall, and whispered in Thorin's ear, "For example, the secret passage that even birds don't know about?"

Thorin immediately retorted angrily, "That's even more impossible! Only my people know that secret passage!"

Thranduil laughed after hearing Thorin's roar. "So you really have mastered a secret passage to the Lonely Mountain, and you intend to take back the crown of your dwarf king from the hands of the evil dragon."

Thorin's roar stopped abruptly, his expression darkened, and he growled, "Are you kidding me?"

Thranduil put away his smile, took a few steps back and sneered at Thorin, "Tricking you? Didn't you say that yourself? I'm just confirming my guess based on what you said, or is your head as rigid as the stone of Lonely Mountain, unable to even think the most basic things?"

Tanes suddenly stepped between the two men, folded his hands in front of his chest in a gesture of mediation, and sighed softly: "You two, continuing to let the chains of hatred wrap around your necks will only suffocate you."

After comforting Thorin with a few words, he asked Thranduil, "King Thranduil, I joined Thorin's army to repay him for helping me when I was most desperate. I swore in the name of the golden tree to help him get rid of the dragon. Please tell me all the information about the dragon after it awakened."

Thranduil now sat back on the antler throne and replied, "You can ask the people of Lake Town who came to my territory to seek my protection, but I can't guarantee they can provide you with more useful information. On the night of the lunar eclipse three days ago, seventeen people from Lake Town crawled out of their burrows like scalded moles. They dragged their lungs, burned by sulfur, and said they saw black dragon wings flying across the lake—just like the night that burned Riverdale a hundred years ago."

Tanes took a half step forward and placed his right hand on his chest in an elven gesture, which he imitated from what he had observed the elven warriors doing to Legolas when they entered the palace.

He continued, "Where are these innocent humans now? Their words may help my friends and I discover the patterns and weaknesses of the dragon's actions."

Thranduil replied, "They are being treated by my people in my palace, Legolas. You will lead our distinguished guests to the area where the humans are."

Legolas said nothing, but nodded slightly in agreement.

Thranduil paused and reminded Tanis, "Tannis, I must remind you that the dragon's flames not only burn the body, but also the souls of those people. Are you sure you want to listen to the madman's ravings?"

"Thank you for your kind reminder, King Thranduil. But the truth is often hidden in broken lenses, and I am very good at peeling off the key information from fragmented language to get the answers I want." Tanes said.

He looked at Thorin and the dwarves behind him, then turned and folded his hands before him, once again giving the standard elven salute to the throne. "I also beg Your Majesty to arrange a secluded residence for us in the Woodland Kingdom. We will not intrude too much."

Thranduil's silver-gray eyes swept over the dwarves, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his lips. "As long as your dwarf friends aren't as noisy as tits in heat, there are plenty of rooms in my palace that can accommodate mutes."

Thorin sneered and retorted, "Only the stone lizards hiding in the moss would be afraid of the sound. After all, any miner's pick can shake down their mud nests."

Why do you two like to quarrel so much?

Before Thranduil could speak again, Tanes said "I'm sorry" to the Elf King and suddenly grabbed Thorin's wrist: "Follow me! Balin! Bring the others along!"

He almost dragged Thorin backwards down the steps of the throne, and the light cast messy silver spots on the armor of the White Wolf War Ghost.

Thranduil signaled Legolas to follow them with his eyes, and then he found Thorin's posture a little funny, so his laughter caught up with Thorin and the others: "Run slower, dwarves, don't let your beards trip you -"

"Shut up, old dryad! Tanes, let me go! I'm going to leave a few wounds on his pretty face!" Thorin's roar exploded between the pillars. He struggled to confront Thranduil again, but there was no way to break free from Tanes's restraints.

When the dwarves were settled, Tanes leaned against the cold marble wall and rubbed his throbbing temples.

Inside the room, the dwarves' arguing rippled through the heavy oak door, hacking at his nerves like twelve blunt axes. When Tanes tried to take a deep breath, even the air he inhaled seemed to carry the dwarves' symphony of anvil and furnace.

Millicent noticed the expression on Tanis's face. She gently placed her fingers on his wrist armor and asked with concern, her voice like mint-infused spring water flowing over the scorched earth, "Are you okay? Your heart is beating as fast as a frightened elk."

Tanis gave a forced smile. "It's okay, just a headache, not a big problem. I just miss the days when Gandalf was around. Now I understand why Gandalf always wore a pointed hat - perhaps to isolate the roars of the dwarves from the wool lining."

Tanes looked around and found that two familiar figures were missing, and his brows frowned slightly.

"Where are Bernal and Egon?" he asked, turning to Millicent.

Millicent gently smoothed her crimson hair, which had been ruffled by the night wind, and replied softly, "While you were busy comforting Thorin and the others, Legolas had already taken them to the refugee rest area in Lake Town."

She paused and added, "It was Aegon who said he wanted to go check on the refugees burned by the dragon's flames, perhaps he could help. They came this way, and the elf told me that if I just followed the road, I would find the humans from Long Lake Town."

Millicent raised her hand as she spoke. Tanis followed her finger and found a path through the woods. He then stood up and left the marble wall he was leaning against. "Indeed, as a dragon warrior of Aegon, he is all too familiar with the wounds caused by dragon flames. And perhaps he can see some clues about Smaug from the burn marks on those wounds. Let's go and take a look."

Tanis followed the path indicated by Legolas, and suddenly a bonfire appeared at the end of the ancient road entangled with vines.

When he pushed aside the fallen silver fern leaves, he saw Egon kneeling on one knee examining the injured man's charred arm, with Bernard standing beside him.

More than twenty refugees from Long Lake Town huddled in the houses provided by the elves, sulfur burns still remaining on their exposed skin.

Tanes glanced around the house. Three elven archers were hiding among the tangled roots of the ancient trees, secretly protecting and monitoring these humans.

Thranduil was quite kind to these humans, at least he didn't target them like he did the dwarves.

Tanes dared to guarantee that if he had not followed Thorin and the others this time, Thranduil would probably have thrown these dwarves directly into prison.

Legolas was also there, and with the assurance of the elven prince, Aegon was able to quickly gain the trust of the residents of Lake Town and have them present their wounds caused by dragon flames to Aegon for observation.

"If anyone volunteers, I might be able to try to heal the burns you've received."

Egon took out a dark green oval jade bottle from his backpack. When he opened it, there was a very obvious herbal fragrance, and then the green paste inside was revealed.

Legolas noticed Aegon's actions and reminded him, "Archer, we have already applied herbs to these humans to heal their burns."

Without even looking up, Egon waved to a young man who had stepped forward. He was severely burned and had almost his entire face wrapped in white bandages.

Then he explained to Legolas, "Of course I smell it. The herbal odor here is so strong that it almost pickled my nose. But I just examined several people who were burned by dragon flames. Their wounds are similar to the injuries I suffered before, so I thought I would try using my ointment. It is more effective."

If that doesn't work, there's still the prayers for the recovery of the golden trees in Tanes.

"Wait, Bain."

The boy's father came over anxiously. He had just been taking care of other residents of Long Lake Town who were more seriously injured and did not notice that his son ran in front of Egon.

Under his father's worried gaze, the boy bravely untied the bandage on his face, revealing the horrific and hideous burned and pitted skin underneath.

He was almost disfigured. If it weren't for the elves' herbs and spells, this level of injury would have been enough to kill the boy from infection.

But even so, the boy's face still suffered slight ulceration.

Egon glanced at the boy's father and laughed hoarsely: "Don't worry, this is a good thing I have been using. It will definitely heal your son's face."

Tanes then approached and addressed the father, saying, "Egon is the best warrior I know at healing dragon flame wounds. I am Tanes, and I am also a wizard. I promise you that even if Egon's ointment doesn't work, I can still save your son's life and return him to you intact."

The father still frowned, and his son looked at him with longing eyes with his severely burned face, which made the father nod.

He leaned over, hugged his son, and said, "Bain, I'm always by your side."

Egon grinned, took out a piece of ointment from the jade bottle, and gently applied it to the boy's face.

The father hugged his son tightly, his eyes fixed on the place where the herbs had been applied. He breathed a sigh of relief after finding that Bain did not cry out in pain or have any other adverse reactions.

Egon skillfully smeared the ointment all over the boy's face and grinned, "Don't worry, this ointment will relieve the pain. Does your face feel cooler and no longer burning?"

Although Bain couldn't speak, judging from the frequency of his nodding, Egon was right.

"Don't bandage him anymore. Just wash his face in about half a day, and your son's handsome face will be back." Egon looked at his father who brought a piece of clean bandage and waved his hand.

Legolas narrowed his eyes and looked curiously at the jade bottle that Aegon placed on the ground.

The wounds caused by dragon flames can be healed in half a day. The territory of this golden tree is full of magical things that he has never seen in his long life.

After hearing what Aegon said, the boy's father immediately said to Tanes and the others anxiously, "Could you please help my other compatriots heal their burns? Some of them are so badly burned that they are unconscious. Even if the elves treat them, they can only barely keep their lives."

After he finished speaking, he realized that his words seemed greedy and showed an apologetic look.

Tanes smiled, motioning for the other party to relax, and then said to Egon, "Egon, go and help. Bernard, you also help cast the recovery-type Golden Tree Prayer."

"Thank you, thank you." The boy's father kept thanking him.

Tanes said, "Don't be so quick to thank me, because I have some questions for you. Your answers will be the cost of treating their burns."

The man showed a look of relief, as it should have been. "Without you and your friends, I really don't know what I would have done. Answering your questions is my responsibility. I'm very sorry that I haven't told you my name yet. My name is Bud, and I'm a member of the Long Lake Town Guard."

　PS: Happy New Year’s Eve to all readers! May you have great fortune in the new year! ! ! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)