Let Bygones Be Bygones (2 of 3)

We sit and stand around in silence waiting for Bilbo to return with the Arkenstone. I don't like the fact that he is in there on his own with a dragon, I just hope beyond hope that he's going to be alright and that the Smaug does not awaken. He's been in the mountain a long time, he has to search an entire gold hoard for one white gem. It's not an easy task, despite how it sounds.

It's been a long time since Bilbo went to look for the Arkenstone and he is still not back. Suddenly there's a tremor reverberating through the mountain and the ground and a loud rumbling follows it that can no doubt be heard if not felt from Lake-Town. I stand up and look towards the doorway and others stand up too.
“Was that an earthquake?” Dori asks hoping it wasn't what it was.
“That, my lad...was a dragon.” Balin states, I look over to Balin worried for Bilbo.
Thorin looks worried.
We all gather around the door hoping that Bilbo will come out at any moment.
“We have got to go in there, we can't just stand around and do nothing” I say looking directly at Thorin who is the only one looking away.
“No, we stay here” Thorin says without looking around.
“What about Bilbo?” Ori asks
“Give him more time.” Thorin replies stubbornly.
“Time to do what? To be killed?” Balin asks
Thorin turns around to look at Balin who has moved closer to him
“You’re afraid.” Thorin accuses.
Balin pauses for a moment at Thorin's change in attitude.
“Yes, I’m afraid. I fear for you. A sickness lies upon that treasure hoard, a sickness that drove your grandfather mad.”
“I am not my grandfather.” he says staring off into the night, the large stone statue, which is actually a statue of his grandfather, directly behind him.
“You’re not yourself. The Thorin I know would not hesitate to go in there-” Balin starts.
“I will not risk this quest for the life of one burglar.”
Balin looks at Thorin disgustedly.
“Bilbo. His name is Bilbo.”
There's more rumbling and this time more that one tremor followed by the distinct sound of a dragon's roar.

I wait for a moment to see what he decides but he seems set on his decision.
“I've waited enough. Bilbo would risk his life for you without a second thought, he has proved that. Anyone here would risk their lives for you. Yet still you would risk his life for the sake of a quest. It makes someone wonder whether you would do the same for us” I say irritated by his stubbornness “Have you no honour?” I say simply as I turn around and head into the tunnel. As I turn I notice that he turns to look at me.

I enter the tunnel there's a few tunnels off to the sides and I turn down one of them, once I get to the end I hear my name being called by Thorin. I turn around and simply say his name, confused.
“You're going the wrong way” he says before running down the main tunnel. I jog back to where he was and see the rest of the dwarves running past in the same direction. I assume Balin probably had another word with him. I follow the dwarves who are following Thorin. I've never been in this part of Erebor. I was usually in Dale or at home. Whenever I wasn't in Dale I would just be in the upper levels of Erebor. Never this far down..

We all exit the tunnel where Thorin and Bilbo are and when we look around we see there is a sea of gold. And the dragon. Smaug looks at us and roars before rushing at us; his chest and neck glow orange. As soon as I see the dragon I curse in kuzdul and the other dwarves yell.
“You will burn!”
We all turn around and jump off the stairwell. We roll down a pile of coins and run through a doorway, just missing out on being turned into ash.
“Come on, Bilbo!” Dori says as they both run through the tunnel, everyone else following.
Thorin, the last through the tunnel, just gets caught in yet more fire. He rolls on the floor but dragon fire won't go out that easily. As he rolls he takes his coat off and stands up in one movement.
“Come on.” Thorin says as he starts to walk as if nothing happened. We all then start running through various other halls towards the upper levels to what we hope is an exit. We've been fine so far, hidden in the tunnels, but now we're coming closer to the surface and there are bridges that we need to cross.
Thorin raises his hand and quiets the group.
“Shh. Shh.”
He walks closer to foot of the bridge and Thorin peers around the edge of the tunnel, looking for any sign of Smaug.
“We’ve given him the slip.” Dori says, hopefully.
“No, he’s too cunning for that.” Dwalin states shaking his head
“So where to now?” Bilbo asks what we're all thinking.
“The western guardroom. There may be a way out.” Thorin answers.
“It’s too high. There’s no chance that way.” Balin says unsure if it's a good idea.
“It’s our only chance. We have to try.” Thorin says
“We could always go back the way we came? I doubt Smaug would even think we would do that?” I suggest.
“Are you mad?” Dwalin asks giving me a 'You have got to be kidding' look.
“Possibly” I say smiling a little.
“come on” Thorin says motioning for us to follow, slowly.
Quietly, we tiptoe across the bridge, looking all about. Suddenly, a cling sounds from behind me and we all freeze and turn around to look to the source of the sound, to see Bilbo looking down. I look to the floor and see a coin in front of him, before looking back to him. The hobbit is checking his jacket in case it was him who dropped it if it accidentally got stuck in a fold in his clothing. We see movement above and another coin falls for Smaug's belly as he passes overhead as if he has not seen us. Or is he toying with us? More clinking is heard from coins falling from his scales where gold and gems have gotten stuck between his scales from lying on them all these years.

Once out of immediate danger we run through the halls until we get to the Western guardroom.
“Stay close.” Thorin says as he turns a corner but stops abruptly once we see corpses covered in dust and blocked doorway we all just look at the unfortunate souls who were not able to escape..
“That’s it, then. There’s no way out.” Dwalin say defeated
There's a bit of wood in the rocks as if they had tried to pry out some of the rubble. Among those trapped was a woman still holding her babe in her arms... Children cuddling up to their parents...
“The last of our kin. They must have come here, hoping beyond hope. We could try to reach the Mines. We might last a few days.” Balin suggests.
“No. I will not die like this. Cowering, clawing for breath. We make for the forges.” Thorin says
“He’ll see us, sure as death.” Dwalin states
“Not if we split up.” Thorin says
“Thorin, we’ll never make it.” Balin says unsure.
“Some of us might.” he says, seeming like he has a plan “Lead him to the forges. We kill the dragon.”
“How are we going to kill a dragon, we have no black arrows” I state
“We trap him in a tomb of the gold he covets so much. We light the great forges of our people and lead him to the hall of Kings, there is where we kill him.” Thorin explains
“And what if it doesn't work?” I ask
“If this is to end in fire, then we will all burn together.” Is all he says.
I think for a moment, before nodding, it's a better plan than none.
We do a little more planning and decide to distract the dragon while the others get across the bridges safely.
“This way!” Thorin, Bilbo and Balin run across one bridge
“Flee, flee! Run for your lives! There is nowhere to hide.”
Smaug heads towards the trio but he turns at the sound of Dori, Ori, and Bombur who are running over another bridge and yelling to distract Smaug.
“Behind you!” Dori shouts
Smaug looks at them, then starts chasing them as they turn and run. He roars at them as he follows.
Thorin, Bilbo, and Balin get across the bridge and Dwalin, Nori and myself start running across a third bridge, getting the dragon's attention.
“Hey you! Here!” Dwalin yells at Smaug, once he has his attention he taps Nori and we start running. One of the beast's claws land just behind us, missing us, causing him to growl in irritation.
I hope the others are alright.

We make our way towards the forges and see Smaug breath fire at Thorin who jumps into a large mining pit. Dwalin runs up to the mouth of the pit. And looks down before calling Thorin's name before hitting a large piece of machinery with his weapon. I rush over to a different side with Nori and look down to see Thorin on his way back up closely followed by Smaug.
“Hold on!” Dwalin calls down.
The dragon grabs onto a part of the chair that Thorin is holding onto stopping his ascent and breaking the mechanism causing Thorin to land on Smaug's nose. I notice a large metal container falling towards Thorin and the dragon and look back to them just as The Dwarf prince jumps to another chair. Seeing this Nori hits another mechanism to bring Thorin back up as the metal container and all it's contents land on Smaug who snapped at the dwarf, trying to eat him.
Smaug roars and blows fire straight up the pit.
Nori calls down to Thorin as we look over the side, Nori holds out his hand and Thorin grabs it and he is pulled out of the way of the fire.
We look back for a moment but Thorin urges us to move “Go! Go!”
We run into through large metal pillars and into the furnace room noticing that all but Gloin and Bifur are here.
“The plan’s not going to work. These furnaces are stone cold.” Dwalin says
“He’s right; there’s no fire hot enough to set them ablaze.” Balin adds to Dwalin's comment
The dragon grumbles down in the pit and Thorin slowly turns with an idea in mind
“Have we not?” He asks before going back over to the large metal pillars. “I did not look to see you so easily outwitted!”
“Oh no...” I say feeling like this is a very bad idea.
Smaug’s claw emerges from the pit, and the rest of the dragon following, he turns to face Thorin.
“You have grown slow and fat in your dotage.” Thorin taunts
“You're taunting a dragon..?” I say thinking he's mad
Smaug snarls at Thorin in anger.
“Slug.” He says then turns around grinning. “Take cover.” He says before doing so himself. “Go!” he shouts noticing no one has moved. Everyone rushes to the closest pillar. Both next to Thorin are quickly occupied so Thorin grabs me arm and pulls me behind the same one as he. Just before Smaug unleashes his fiery fury. The heat is intense and I have my back to the pillar which is rapidly heating up, and Thorin facing me protecting me from the fire. If a dragon wasn't trying to roast us alive I would probably be blushing a deep shade of beetroot right about now.

As Smaug stops breathing fire the furnaces burst into life. Smaug, annoyed and confused growls.

Thorin looks at me and pulls me away from the pillar as the rest of the Dwarves and Bilbo move away. He quickly gets to telling people what to do when Smaug starts ramming the pillars.
“Bombur! Get those bellows working. Go!”

With the bellows now in motion the flames starts to glow blue as oxygen is blown towards the fires, creating a much hotter flame in order to refine the gold ore in the furnaces.
“Bilbo! Up there, on my mark, pull that lever.” Thorin says pointing to the water wheel controls on top of a staircase. Bilbo automatically runs towards it as the rest of us just stare at the very angry dragon who's making shot work of the metal pillars.
We all move away from the furnaces and head towards an alchemy room “Balin, can you still make some flash-flame?”
“Aye. It’ll only take a jiffy.” the old dwarf replies
Balin gets some of the other dwarves to help him.
“Come on!” he says leading them into the room.
“We don’t have a jiffy.” Dwalin states as the dragon breaks through the large bars. Looking around and growling.

Bilbo quickly makes his way up the steps and reaches the lever mounted high on a tower. Meanwhile Smaug is looking around for us, when he suddenly stops and turns to look at Thorin having not doubt smelled us.
“Now!” Thorin shouts, signalling Bilbo. The dragon growls and his chest and throat start glowing as he is about to breath fire. Suddenly water bursts out hitting Smaug and stopping him from breathing fire. The heat from the dragon's chest and what little fire he has started to breath causes a lot of the water to turn into steam. We turn away from the hot vapour a little bit but try and keep our eyes on the beast who slams his head against one of the forges. He roars furiously and as the water stops spraying on him he flies away from it. The water causes some water wear to move the gears for the overhear ore containers.

The furious dragon advances back towards us and Dori and Ori start throwing flash-flame jars at Smaug, only halting him for the slightest moment. Suddenly a cable and all the ore containers and their contents fall down on top of Smaug. I look up and high up in other ore containers I see Bifur and Gloin I'm relieved to see they're alive.

I hear chains rattling behind me and turn around to see Thorin opening the forge gate to let the smelter gold out. It runs down channels in the floor as Smaug stomps around trying to get untangled from the ropes. In his thrashing he dislodges another rope, the one that Bifur and Gloin are in. They get thrown around inside the metal buckets a little bit but end up on the ground with nothing more serious than a few bruises.

“Lead him to the Gallery of the Kings!”Thorin says as he grabs a wheelbarrow and begins running, dodging the dragon's feet as Smaug flails around
Bilbo's tower gets damaged from the thrashing dragon's tail and it starts to crumble
Thorin uses the wheelbarrow as a boat to ride the gold-flow through the main channel.

We all start heading to where we need to go but I can't help but stop and look back to make sure my hobbit friend is going to be safe.

Bilbo falls on the floor as the tower is reduced to rubble and as Smaug gets free of his entanglements. As soon as Smaug sees Bilbo his gaze is fixed on the Hobbit.

“Keep going, Bilbo! Run!” I hear Thorin shout to the Hobbit who doesn't hesitate to do so.
Balin calls me and I look back to him and start to run after the other dwarves. I just hope Bilbo doesn't become a snack for the large ill tempered lizard.

“-these filthy dwarves and those miserable cup-trading Lakemen. Those sniveling cowards with their longbows and black arrows! Perhaps it is time I paid them a visit.” We enter the Hall of kings and climb the scaffolding and take out positions behind the stone mould. I start to climb to my position and once I get there I look over towards where I can hear Smaug talking. And then I hear Blibo's voice as the lizard is turning the corner towards the main gate.
“This isn’t their fault! Wait! You cannot go to Laketown.”
The dragon turns back around the corner.
“You care about them, do you? Good. Then you can watch them die.”
I feel my heart stop for a moment at the thought that Smaug will destroy Laketown and kill innocents. We can't let that happen we have to stop him. My thoughts go straight to Bard and his family. And Fili, Kili, Oin and Bofur. I can only hope they left the town just in case we fail.
I look back at the wyrm and grab the chain tightly for when Thorin gives the signal.

Smaug turns and strides off down the hall. I look up to Thorin who is on the top of the mould
“Here, you witless worm!” He calls to the proud dragon who will not stand being insulted. Or so it would seem since he takes the bait.
Smaug stops in his track, snarling and turns towards Thorin.
“You.” He says as if he's about to say 'how dare you?'
“I am taking back what you stole.” Thorin says as the grumpy lizard slowly walks towards us all.
“You would take nothing from me, Dwarf. I laid low your warriors of old. I instilled terror in the hearts of men. I am King under the Mountain.” Smaug says coming face to face with Thorin.
I spot Bilbo off to the side, he looks unharmed thankfully.
“This is not your kingdom. These are dwarf lands, this is dwarf gold, and we will have our revenge.”

The pins in the stone mould are pulled out and the stone starts falling away. I pull on my chain and make sure Thorin is high enough away from the gold.
Smaug rears his head in confusion and looks as the golden statue, which is even larger than him, is revealed. He stares in awe, completely mesmerised. As he approaches it, his mouth opens slightly in amazement. Suddenly, the gold around the statue’s eyes bubbles and pops. The gold statue had not yet solidified, and the entire statue splashes over Smaug who roars in anger and scrabbles backward to escape.
He is unable to get away from the flowing gold and falls over landing in the gold which is now pooling between the pillars. The dragon is submerged and as the gold starts to settle there is no sign of Smaug emerging from within.
Have we done it? I wonder as I lower Thorin to the nearest ledge. But suddenly, the surface of the golden lake explodes as Smaug leaps out. He is entirely covered in gold, and he screams in anger and pain.
“Ahh! Revenge?! Revenge! I will show you REVENGE!” He yells as he storms off towards the gate, he breaks through it as though it was nothing.
I run towards the gates quickly, seeing Bilbo ahead of me. I follow him to some ruins where we look as Smaug glides towards Lake-town. Bilbo kneels down as he looks at Laketown and the approaching Dragon. I look over towards Ravenhill and begin to run towards it. I take the steps two by two and take a few short-cuts by climbing a tower to get to the top quicker where I look over to Laketown. From here I can see people running around, no doubt after hearing what's coming. I close my eyes and fall to my knees. I hang my head in shame, we have condemned hundreds to their deaths.