Chapter 2
The reason why Bilbo knew it wasn't his door was obvious from the very design of the thing. Without fail, all of the doors in his home were round with the knob in the center. Most Hobbit doors were made in a similar way, and have been for untold time. The reader might find interesting a certain tale I've heard about how they might possibly have first came to be round; I shall need to be reminded at another time to relay that little story, regardless of whether or not it has any basis in fact. But we digress from our story; the point was the door that stood in front of Bilbo was decidedly not round, but more of a shape to which we are accustomed and with a knob to one side. Regardless of the design, Bilbo grabbed the knob and pulled the door ajar to peek out to the other side.
A dimly lit passageway greeted his eyes. He held his breath and strained to hear anything, but it was silent except for a dripping of water somewhere. He slipped through the door after looking both directions, and drew himself up to his full height. Along the walls the passage was lit every so often with a glowing crystal; not enough light to find a coin you may have dropped on the ground, but enough to keep from bumping into your family and friends should you be walking. Bilbo didn't want to bump into anyone, and was thankful for being alone for the moment. It gave him time to try and determine where he was. He reached behind him and felt the door handle, and was startled that it wasn't smooth at all but was in the shape of some animal. The door was also locked now and he couldn't find a way to open it again.
A normal Hobbit would have been in a state of panic at this juncture, being far from home and hearth. But Bilbo had been down this road before, albeit the fact he wasn't on a road at the moment. But even though he would have been the first to loudly proclaim that he'd had enough with adventuring, the actual truth was that there was an ember deep inside of him that sparked into flame at the thought of being elsewhere.
It was this spark that caused him, without conscience thought, to feel for his ring and his sword Sting. He regretted that no Sting was by his side; no doubt it was still safe on display above his fireplace at home. But he was reassured by the small lump he could feel in his special vest pocket. He still had his ring, and its mere presence gave him additional confidence that he had an escape route should things become to dangerous or simply undesirable.
As we are all caught up on his previous adventure, we know that Bilbo had a very special ring that caused him to disappear when he wore it. There was much more to the ring than that, but few alive at the time knew of its existence at all and even fewer knew just what it was. Even Bilbo sensed that there was more to the ring, and despite the temptation he seldom wore it, preferring rather to just keep it on his person. While you might think it would be great fun to have a ring that made you invisible, if it made you uncomfortable by the way it turned the rest of the world into shadows while you wore it then you would be hesitant too. Somehow, there was a small voice inside Bilbo that said he needed to stay out of that land of shadows and he usually obeyed it.
Unable to go back through the door he had just used, Bilbo kept to one side in the shadows as much as he could as he made his way down the passage while he listened carefully, using a Hobbit's natural ability to walk quietly. He tried another door as he passed and found it locked too. The light was a little brighter here, and he could see that the animal design on the knob was that of another large cat. There were no other doors to be found along the rough passage, which zig-zagged slightly until it disappeared around a bend to the left further ahead. Bilbo crept around the corner and saw that the passage widened. There was something in the middle of the floor, a pile of some sorts. Bilbo got closer, and stopped at the end of the pile that stretched down the passage for dozens of feet. He reached down and felt part of the pile; whatever the objects were, they were hard. He picked up one of the smaller object while his sensitive fingers felt along one of the edges of the object that had been on the ground, and he absentmindedly traced a jagged pattern with sharp points all in a row. Deep down his brain began to form an idea.
Just like a saw, he thought to himself. Or perhaps some extraordinary teeth.
Large teeth.
Very large teeth.
"DRAGON TEETH!" his mind screamed as he backed away. Not Smaug; he was dead, Bilbo thought quickly as he tripped and fell backward. Stumbling back up, he continued to back away in fear. Maybe Smaug had family. Maybe, somehow, he was in Misty Mountain again and there were other dragons here. Dragon brothers, dragon sisters and dragon cousins all wanting to even the score with a certain Hobbit. "Confound Gandalf, what has he done to me?" Bilbo muttered as he backed up against the wall of the passageway's bend. He felt another of the strange door handles behind him on a door that he must have missed before, and reached for it without taking his eyes off where the pile of bones lay. His fingers found the latch and he opened the door and slipped through.