The room glows orange with fiery light and everyone grows silent huddled together in fear. Our moment of silence is like the deep breath before the plunge and suddenly our ears are attacked with the horrifying noises of outside. Roars and crackling flames mix with the screams of the townspeople and crying children; worst of all is the deep, booming voice above the ruckus – Smaug's voice.
"Burn!" The voice cries out, cackling to itself and Tilda begins to cry. "This feeble town is no match for me for I am Smaug the tyrannical! All shall suffer me, for I am fire, I am death and all will burn."
We all meet each other's eyes, holding our breath in fear before Fili makes a sudden dash for the door, his sword in hand.
"Fili! What are you doing?" Kili cries out but Fili merely replies –
"Putting the plan into the action!" I take after him, with Legolas and Kili in tow while Bard sneaks out the back door with his black arrow hidden beneath his jacket.
Outside the streets are manic, people run for cover unsure of where to go, parts of buildings have come down and the air that was so cold only hours ago is uncomfortably hot. The whole place seems to glow red and orange. That's when I see him; Smaug. Larger than I'd even imagined, filling the sky with his great frame. His claws reach down every now and then to tear the roof off a building while he stops to incinerate a whole alley. My heart thumps in my chest.
"Where does Bard need us?" Fili calls back to us and Legolas points in the direction of a tall tower with a device on top that I do not know the name of, I only know it is used for firing the black arrow.
"Wait!" Kili yells and pushes me back against a wall as the dragon swoops close overhead. Suddenly he rushes out, an arrow strung in his bow.
"What are you doing?!" I try to grab him but he darts out of my reach and lets the arrow fly. It hits Smaug's underbelly, it doesn't dent his thick armour but it certainly fixes his attention on us. I see now Kili's intent. Great yellow orbs of eyes widen at the side of the strange group huddled in the alleyway.
"Who dare try to fight me?" The voice bellows and his stomach begins to glow, signalling a fiery death.
"Now!" I exclaim and we rush down another path as a thick jet of flame hits the place we'd just been. Smaug roars in fury and continues to fly over us, sometimes dropping down and placing his dagger- like claws dangerously close to us.
"Smaug!" Fili's voice rings out as he turns to face the dragon, "You are not so mighty as they say!" He taunts the dragon whose eyes shrink into angry slits. "Are you no match for me? The heir of Durin!" I hold my breath at Fili's daring words but I know that they are working, Smaug's attention is fixed on him and we are not far from our destination.
"Heir of Durin you say? There is no King under the mountain, and nor will there ever be, except I! I destroyed your uncle in smoke and flame and I shall do the same to you, dwarf!" He spits the last word in disgust and I push Fili onwards as the dragon pursues us. My heart beats in my mouth as he fast approaches; I try to focus only on the mane of golden hair in front of me, guiding where to go. We are so close. I hope you are there Bard, you're our only chance. What a foolish, simple minded plan it seems now, with so many flaws, but what other options did we have? Maybe there were others, but none that we had time to think about. I hear a scream from behind me as Smaug drops to the street, his heavy wings demolishing buildings as he does so. I hope there was no one inside. Please let there be no one inside. The scream came from Kili, he and Legolas are trapped behind Smaug, only able to watch as he advances on Fili and I, his great tail flicking menacingly as he bares his huge teeth at us.
"Heir of Durin," he hisses, "And an elf! All shall die at my hand, all shall burn!" His scales brighten and Fili and I rush to the side out of his range – only just. My flesh tingles at such close proximity to the heat. He bears down on us once more, snarling and blowing dark pillars of smoke from his nostrils. His breath smells like rotting meat.
Smaug lets out a cry of fury as another of Kili's arrows flies at his side. In his rage he pushes off from the ground and launches back into the air. As he does so his tail causes the house we were sheltering under to fall. Time seems to slow and yet speed up all at once. The pieces of brick and wood fill the air around me while dust enters my throat. There is only one ending, Fili and I will be crushed. I do the only reasonable thing I can think of and I shove Fili away from me with as much force as I can muster but I don't see what happens to him before the debris collapses onto my body and the air is pushed from my lungs. Everything is black.