Chapter 11: The Furnace

The keyhole appeared Thorin acted quickly and opened the door. Cartel and Legolas told their plan to Thorin "All dragons have a weak point in their armor we just have to find it." Legolas explained. Cartel finished "When we do find it. Either me or Legolas will lure that worm outside to fly and then Legolas will shoot him right out of the sky. And when he is dead I'll peel off one scale per dwarf he killed." Thorin was surprised with her aggressiveness but was hesitant he just told her that she was his home. But Thorin allowed it. Against his instincts to protect the the thing he loved most and right now that was Cartel.

When Cartel and Legolas went into the cave Thorin was scared not just for Cartel but also for himself and his sanity. Cartel looked around the cave when they came upon a glowing, sleeping dragon. There she saw a missing scale on the left side of his chest right over the heart. Smaug awoke looked around, sniffed the air and spoke in a deep menacing voice "Come out elves, I will not harm you." "Why should we come out when you are so magnificent at a distance?" replied Legolas.

Smaug just looked around again flattered, but said, "If I look magnificent at a distance why not get a closer look?" Cartel answered "Because you are not in flight we heard stories that you could cut down an entire forest with one swipe of your wing. We came to see if it was true." Smaug now extremely flattered but said "It is day and you may be blinded by my perfect armor shining brightly in the sun." "Your armor is already very bright Smaug the Tremendous." Legolas answered with awe (which was faked of course). Smaug enjoyed the elf's praise and took flight.

When Smaug was over a forest Legolas aimed his swiftest of arrows, the one that Cartel had made for him, and released. There was a pained agonizing roar that came from Smaug as he was shot down. Cartel raced down the side of the mountain to where the dragon lay, took her sword and cut into where the arrow was. Once the arrow removed she peeled off about 2 thousand scales and placed them in her pack. Thorin would soon have new armor stronger than mithreal.