Battle scene! Hope you guys are happy with it - it was actually a lot easier to write than I expected, but some parts were still really hard.

Alana waited for Smaug to arrive.

She was nervous. Exactly how powerful was this draghonar? She had serious worries about the upcoming fight – could she take on both Smaug and the power of the Standubh? But she had to, there was no one else. Glancing down at the gold bracelet that adorned her wrist, Alana took a deep breath and gathered her courage. She was the heir of Amator. Honestly, that was her only hope.

The brown dragon roared questioningly when he caught her scent. He wanted to know who was waiting in the village below, and whether she was draghonar or Amator. She raised her head and stared at the approaching fiend. Although her whole body shuddered at what she was about to do, she deliberately connected her mind to his.

"Smaug."

He didn't reply at first, but she felt his confusion. Draghonar had lost the ability to connect to others' minds, and it seemed that they had also lost the memory of ever being able to do so at all.

"Who speaks in my mind?"

"One to whom you must answer for your crimes."

Again he did not immediately respond, but when he did his voice was a low growl.

"Amator."

"Draghonar." She retaliated. "Many lives are owing at your hands, Smaug."

"There is none that can defeat me."

"You bear the power of Rajani, you are his heir. The Standubh lies in your keeping." It was not a question. "But there is one who may hope to defeat you yet, Smaug. The heir of Amator."

"And I suppose you think that you are the heir?"

"I am the heir. Fight me, draghonar, if you dare. Let us see who is stronger – the guardian or the destroyer. The protector or the predator. Let us fight, Smaug, and end this."

The brown dragon roared in challenge, still looking for the Amator down below. He couldn't understand where she was and why he couldn't see her.

Had he been seeking a human female instead of something more his own shape, he would have found her before she slammed into him. As it was, he completely overlooked the insignificant woman below.

When he was just passing over her, Alana suddenly took second-form and launched herself straight at the draghonar. She hit him full force, and almost knocked him from the air. He beat his wings hard to stay aloft and she pressed in, using her brief advantage to keep him off-balance for as long as possible while she tried to score an early injury. He quickly righted himself, however, and beat her off. Wheeling away, Smaug circled around her, looking for a weakness as she circled with him to keep him always in her sight.

They each had a different advantage. Male draghonar and Amator were physically stronger, much like human males. Smaug had a great advantage there – if the fight became a close combat his superior weight and strength would aid him greatly. However, although female draghonar and Amator were smaller, they were also much faster. Alana could maneuver much more quickly and easily than Smaug could with his great weight. If she could keep the dragon always in motion and not allow him to draw her into a close fight, she had a chance.

When they had sized each other up carefully, Smaug made his move. With a bellow, he drove himself at her. Alana quickly wheeled aside, avoiding his charge. As he passed, she whipped her head about and snapped his neck with her teeth. His scales were strong, and she did not reach his flesh – but her bite was also strong and two pieces of his armor tore off. Now he had a weakness.

Smaug felt his scales break and fall away. The loss of a scale was not very painful to any creature of that form, but it did give a small twinge. From the loss of the scales and the tiny pain – a sense the mighty dragon had never felt before – Smaug felt his temper rise. Draghonar had lost the ability to regrow scales, a trait that he knew his Amator cousins had not lost; Smaug would have a weakness his whole life because of this puny Amator. He was Smaug the Mighty, the Undefeatable! He should never have a weakness; he was greater than all other beings! He was actually angry now – and he would crush this little opposition. Before, he might have taken her as his mate after he had defeated her, but now he would simply kill the upstart and find a mate elsewhere.

With another roar he dove at her again, feinting left and going right. Alana called his bluff, but instead of dodging away to the right and protecting her flank, she dove under her enemy. Flipping in midair as she dove, she met his talons with her own and drove her teeth into his left hind leg. She flipped again as she continued down, dragging him with her, and tore her teeth from his leg with a snap that would leave him partially crippled the rest of his life. The main tendon had been torn.

Smaug roared again in pain. He had never felt such agony. Never had he been so harmed – but then, he had never fought one of his own shape before. His anguish was nothing compared to his anger.

Alana tucked her wings to quicken her fall and get herself out of harm's way before her enemy could catch her with his talons. He banked sharply and dove to catch her, reaching out to grab her and tear her wings. She heard him coming, and knew her danger.

As his talons touched her wings, she flicked her tail to offset her balance. It sent her a completely different direction, and he barreled past her once again. As he moved, out of control, above her, she flicked her tail again to right herself. If it happened to catch several scales on his stomach, was that her fault?

However, ripping the scales from his stomach once more set her off-balance. They were now both free-falling – from a great height – and Smaug's superior weight aided him in steadying himself. He quickly did so and beat his wings hard once, speeding his fall. As Alana was still trying to control her fall, he grabbed her back legs with his front talons. He was angry, and was not at all gentle. Alana gasped as his claws sunk into her legs, and she stifled a cry as he tore them back out. She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he hurt her.

He growled at her stubborn courage and was about to tear her again, but they were fast approaching the land. He held her there, helpless in his grip, until they were about to impact. Then he quickly let go and broke away, hoping she would crash and hurt herself severely.

Alana glanced down and knew her predicament the moment he held her tighter. When he let go, she was ready. She knew she did not have time to prevent crashing, but she could choose where she crashed. The moment Smaug released her; she threw her wings wide to slow herself and lashed her tail sharply. The movement sent her into a spin that redirected her away from the shore and into the relatively shallow water at the edge of the lake.

It saved her. She would have survived the fall, of course – she was Amator. But she would have been too crippled to fight, and Smaug would have quickly finished her off.

When he saw that his hope had failed, Smaug drove down on the female in the water. He hated water himself, and avoided it if he could, as it put out his fire. That was a trait unique to individuals – water affected each draghonar and Amator differently. Some would die altogether, if they touched water while in dragon form. That, however, was extreme. Most it hardly affected, and Alana was one of these. Smaug, however, would be cold and have his fire briefly doused and, in his ignorant arrogance, he had no idea that she would not be similarly affected.

He dove straight into the water, sending a great wave gliding across the lake and a plume of water flying into the sky. Alana saw him coming and dove down deeper before bearing hard to the side. Both fighters could barely see in the murky depths, and, what was more, their senses of smell were sorely hampered as well. Alana hoped that she could lose him until she was airborne again, and could use her speed and agility to her advantage.

When she thought she was far enough away from Smaug, Alana beat her wings hard and shot up out of the water. It seemed that the disturbance at the surface, however, caught his attention. The draghonar emerged from the lake not long after. By that time, Alana was airborne – much to her relief, and the relief of her friends watching from the shore she had nearly landed on.

Smaug screamed in fury when he saw her flying again. He drove in hard at her, angrier than ever. He would maim her so that she couldn't fight him, and then kill her slowly and painfully. Exactly how he would do this, he wasn't sure. She was a far better fighter than he had expected; she clearly had a great more experience fighting with others of her form than he did. Still, he was Smaug! She could not defeat him. It simply wasn't possible.

Brute force clearly wasn't going to get Smaug the victory he so desired; the two were fairly evenly matched, so he turned to magic. He knew that this upstart had no chance against him there; he had the magic of the Standubh on his side. The power of Rajani was unstoppable. It would destroy the Amator.

Alana readied herself for another attack. Instead, however, Smaug banked to the side and began flying lazy circles around her. She turned with him, to keep him always in front of her. What was he doing? The next moment she felt an attack on her mind, greater than she had ever felt before. Her own magic bristled to protect her, and she knew instantly that it was draghonar magic that tried to break her – the magic of the Standubh.

Smaug was staring at her as he circled, and throwing at her every spell he knew. Well, she would just have to do something about that. With a soft growl she drew magic from the heir's bracelet to strengthen her. Unlike the draghonar, she didn't use all her magic at once. Alana built strong defenses around her mind with her magic, just strong enough to ward off the spells he was sending her way. Then she prepared her own spells for use and waited for her chance.

Smaug was still circling her lazily. The lack of return spells gave him confidence that his enemy was weak in the magic department and was barely being able to hold him off. He was absolutely unprepared for the spells when they did come.

The barrage of magic that she sent his way almost completely unnerved the brown dragon. He shook his head wildly as if to rid himself of the magic that attacked his mind. A moment later he sent a stream of fire at Alana, hoping to break her focus.

Alana faced the fire head-on, closing her eyes. When her eyes were closed, she was impervious to fire. She was fire. The only part of her that fire could damage was her eyes.

Unfortunately, when her eyes were closed it was much harder to focus her spells on their target. Smaug broke away from her hold on his mind.

"Are you so smug now?" He roared, loud enough for all the world to hear. "You are wounded, and cannot stand against the force of my magic! Are you so sure now that you will win this fight?"

Alana watched him carefully, but appeared to be unconcerned. "I am sure of nothing, Smaug – save that if you do win, it will be a costly victory for you. Already you have lost scales, which you cannot regrow, and you will never again walk properly. You have great power, and so do I. We shall see whether evil or good is stronger."

With that, she dove at the brown dragon.

Her onslaught was furious, but not reckless. She darted about him, using his weight and anger to her advantage. He couldn't move as quickly as she, and his being furious did not help him do so.

Alana prepared herself for a final attempt to destroy her enemy with her magic. Suddenly she realized that she was going about this the wrong way. It wasn't Smaug she needed to control and destroy, it was the Standubh. Without the power of the Standubh backing him, Smaug wouldn't be too much trouble to destroy, considering that he was already wounded.

Based on this realization, Alana changed her tactics slightly. Outwardly, she appeared to do the exact same thing – constantly dive at and dodge away from Smaug – while internally she once again searched for the connection that would allow her to enter his mind. Only this time, she wasn't going to stay on the outside and speak to him. She was going to go all the way in. The idea repulsed her, but she knew it was the only way.

Leaving a tiny fraction of her consciousness in her own mind so that she could continue to dodge the other dragon, Alana carefully slipped into Smaug's mind. Instantly she was aware of the presence and power of the Standubh, as surely as she was aware of her own magic. She hadn't expected quite what she found, and guessed that in his greed Smaug had actually swallowed the stone. No matter, it made no difference to her.

Her dragon form dove and whirled to avoid Smaug's talons, then sent a burst of fire at his face to distract him.

Alana mustered all her strength. The moment the fire reached the brown dragon, she attacked the Standubh. Smaug was distracted and did not feel her attack immediately, just like she had hoped. By the time he did realize what she was doing, she had substantially weakened the dark magic he possessed.

Smaug roared in absolute fury. He wasn't sure how this Amator was in his mind and still in total control of her own body, but it didn't matter. She was in his mind, and was trying to take his power from him.

Those on the ground and lake watched in wonder and fear as the two dragons above them dove, whirled, banked, twisted, and dodged, as if in some kind of fantastical dance. On the mountain, the company of dwarves watched with equal wonder, but a great deal more confusion. The dwarves had not yet figured out where the new red dragon had come from. Bilbo knew, of course, because he had seen her in her Amator form, but he said nothing.

Alana felt Smaug's attack on her consciousness, and redoubled her efforts. She could only remain in his mind for so long once he started trying to force her out. She would make the most of that time.

Her hold in his mind was slipping, and they both knew it. With a final desperate attempt, Alana finally managed to temporarily cut Smaug off from the power of the stone he carried. It would be enough.

She abruptly withdrew from his mind, and found herself fully in her own body again. The red dragon shook her head wildly for a moment, trying to rid herself from the lingering feel of the evil that had been so overwhelming in Smaug's mind, and drove in hard on the brown dragon.

Smaug felt the flow of power from the Standubh cease, and roared again – this time in fear. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew that without that power he was no match for his enemy.

Alana heard him, and heard the difference in tone. Her enemy was afraid. That was definitely a good thing! Those watching, however, did not hear the new tone and would not have known what it meant if they had.

Alana circled around, beating her wings hard to stay in one place as she faced him. "Are you smug now, draghonar? Your power fails you, and you fear! The mighty Smaug, the greatest of all draghonar, at last knows fear!"

Her ringing cry carried far out over the countryside, heartening the listeners.

Smaug was given no opportunity to cry out in defiance. Alana dove at him and sent a raging stream of fire at his face. The attack took him by surprise, and he did not fully close his eyes in time. Unbearable pain filled his world, and he let an agonized scream escape. His eyes were badly burned, and he was left blinded and helpless.

She drove in with her magic, taking advantage of his pain. His magical barriers crumbled under the double onslaught, and her own magic crushed the Standubh before it could rally its own power. Smaug was left entirely alone, already defeated though he still lived, and completely unable to see. He was careening about in the sky, using the pull of gravity and the sound of his enemy's wingbeats to keep himself more or less upright.

Alana roared in victory.

Smaug made a sound deep in his throat, the dragon form of a whimper.

"Spare my life, Amator, do not kill me!" His voice grew a little stronger, and the whimper turned into a loud cry. "Your people are a people of mercy, are you not? You love all creatures. I am vanquished and helpless. Surely you cannot kill a helpless creature. Surely you will not kill me!"

Alana waited a moment before she answered. She hated draghonar, this one above all, but did his claim to life have any merit? If there was even the slightest reason she ought to spare him; Smaug was right. If there was even the slightest reason to spare him, she must do so.

And yet there was no reason. She nodded sharply, making up her mind. She always considered carefully at this point in a fight, and always came to the conclusion that every Amator came to. The draghonar must die.

"You are wrong, Smaug. You are a creature of the darkness. Yet if it is helpless and throws itself on our mercy we may spare even a creature of darkness – if it has ever shown mercy to those helpless before it. Have you shown mercy, Smaug? Has there ever in your life been a time when you could have ended a helpless life and did not?"

Smaug did not answer. He knew that he could not lie to her; she would see right through it.

Alana waited a moment for his reply before saying, "I thought not."

She dove at him suddenly, talons extended toward his throat. In a moment, it was over. The great dragon was falling toward the lake. He was dead long before he sank into the quiet depths of the water.

Alana remained airborne. She watched her foe fall with pity, but no remorse. When the lake had swallowed his form, she turned toward the mountain and roared. There were no words in the roar, but all listeners heard the worry in the call.

Although she was in a great deal of pain now that the adrenaline of the battle was wearing off, Alan beat her wings and soared up to catch the fastest wind under her wings. She sped toward the Lonely Mountain.

Ok, so the next update might not be for a while. I have a major decision to make... I wrote a whole bunch of stuff that has to do with Bard and Darnell's children, and can't decide whether to include it or not. It's kind of a little bit mystical, and a huge tangent... What do you guys think? Should I put it in?