Heavy silence fell upon them while they stared into the darkness, uncertain what they should do next.
"Thorin? What shall we do now?" Dori asked quietly.
Thorin was unable to speak, he was like frozen. 'This is the entrance', he thought to himself and still couldn't really believe it. Mona took his hand and his gaze drifted to her.
"I guess—," he began and turned to look at his Company. "I guess it might be the time for our burglar to show us his ability to sneak and steal."
"Wait, what?" Bilbo said completely shocked, his heart raced in his chest.
"Well, you signed the contract—," Balin added thoughtfully.
"But—I have no idea where this tunnel is leading me. And it's dark!" the hobbit kept on protesting.
Mona watched him and finally said, "I will accompany you."
"Mona—," Thorin started but she turned to face him and said, "I have to, Thorin. If this tunnel leads us to Smaug—I have to see him. It is important!"
Their eyes kept locked for several moments until he slowly nodded in defeat. "Fine, but please, please be careful. And Bilbo—use that ring if necessary! And listen to Mona whatever she says!"
Bilbo nodded silently and Thorin pulled her into a tight embrace, kissed her deeply and whispered, "Be careful, my love."
"Don't worry. I'll be back soon," she replied and kissed him once again.
Suddenly Balin stepped forward. "I will go with you. Just half the way, so if you need help I can call the others. Is that alright?"
Mona nodded and the three of them stepped carefully into the darkness. Bilbo followed Mona and Balin was the last to enter. Soon they were completely consumed by the darkness but the tunnel was not like the tunnels in Goblin Town. This was a tunnel created by dwarves and it was smooth and without any holes in the ground even after all this time.
After a while Balin whispered, "Now, I will stay here. I can barely see the entrance and please be careful! If you need help, just call."
"Thank you, Balin," she whispered. Before she and Bilbo could move on Balin added, "Mona—be careful!"
She frowned. "Yes, I will try," and with that she and Bilbo moved further down into the darkness.
"Bilbo, put your ring on," she whispered as they could see a lot of fume in front of them. They reached the end of the tunnel and stopped dead in their tracks as they heard a loud purring sound. To Bilbo it sounded like a big, massive cat. They crawled forwards, Bilbo invisible but still right behind Mona.
"What is that?" he whispered.
"It's Smaug. He's sleeping," she whispered and finally they could see him. Smaug, the red-golden dragon, deeply asleep on a massive pile of gold.
Mona could feel her heart leaping in her chest; her inner dragon seemed to be awakened.
"Look at all those treasures," Bilbo whispered in awe. Now she was aware of all the gold. Bilbo seemed to be awestruck by all that gold but Mona's eyes were once again locked on the sleeping dragon. He lay on his side and revealed his belly.
"Mona, I think I should take one of these golden treasures. Just to proof Thorin that it's still in here."
"No!" she hissed. "He will believe us without evidence. If we steal just once piece, Smaug will know about it. As soon as he awakes he will smell that one of his golden treasures is missing and he will be very angry. And we're not ready to fight. We have seen him now. Bilbo, we have to go back!"
They turned and entered the tunnel again, walked back in silence. They reached Balin who asked immediately, "Could you see anything?"
She nodded. "Tons of gold and Smaug is asleep. We have to go back now."
The trio returned to the Company. As soon as they reached the entrance they could hear the voices of their friends.
"They're coming back!" Kili said.
"Could you see anything?" Fili asked.
"Is he still in there? What about the gold?" Nori wanted to know.
The three of them stepped out of the tunnel and Thorin was more than relieved to see them again.
"He's in there," Mona finally said once they all sat around a fire and added, "He is asleep on tons of gold."
She fell silent for a while and nobody dared to say anything until Barbas approached her. "It is time, right?"
She watched him and nodded slowly.
"What?" Thorin asked curiously.
"It is time," she replied and got up.
"You will call now?" Thorin asked and added, "Won't he wake up by this?"
"Let's pray he won't," she simply said with a weak smile and stepped out of the basin and stopped at the cliff overlooking the landscape.
"I have no idea what will happen now," she said facing the Company and led her gaze back up to the sky. She took a deep breath and shouted,
"HUN KAAL ZUUR!"
There was no bang, there was nothing but that three words waving through the air. Silence fell upon them again and still nothing happened.
She lowered her gaze to the ground, sighed and turned around to look at her friends again. "I really thought that would help. The Call of Valor was the only Thu'um I could imagine would help."
Thorin got up and approached her, embraced her tightly. Suddenly they could hear a humming sound somewhere in the distance. Mona turned around and the Company rose up to their feet.
"Mona, what is that?" they asked concerned and stepped all towards the cliff to look down into the valley.
The sound grew louder and voices echoed through the air. Many voices of many people approaching the mountain.
They all stood completely awestruck. The Company climbed down the stairway down into the valley and the whole crowd knelt down as they saw Mona approaching them.
"Mahal!" Kili and Fili said in unison. Even Thorin was stunned by all those people, dead or alive, hailing her like a Queen. He watched her and could see that she was more than impressed, emotionally touched by that scene.
She stepped forward and Thorin finally could see a man, wearing a fur coat, dark trousers and heavy boots. He had dark-blonde long hair and a beard cut just like his own. He was more than surprised for that man really could be a twin of himself. 'Ulfric' he thought to himself.
Mona approached him slowly, tears of happiness dwelling in her eyes. She stopped in front of him. "You really came," she breathed.
"Of course! I promised you I would," Ulfric said and embraced her though he was only a spectral form. As they pulled apart Mona cast a glance towards the group of people behind him. She could see Gormlaith Golden-Hill, Felldir the Old and Hakon One-Eye, the three Nord heroes who had defeated Alduin once and hid him in the time wound which Mona had to find via the Elder Scroll. They stepped forward and tilted their heads as Hakon said,
"Dovahkiin, it's an honor to see you again. Today we will fight with you side by side!"
Mona smiled and nodded thankfully and scanned the rest of the crowd. There was the war-dog Vigilance with his owner Banning.
She could see Madanach the King in Rags and leader of the Forsworn Rebellion. She was surprised that also Galmar Stone-Fist stood behind Ulfric. She never thought he would help her for she was the one who had killed him.
There were Delphine and Esbern, the two members of the Blades order. She saw Brynjolf, head of the Thieves Guild of Rifton. There was Lydia, her very best friend whom she embraced happily.
A barking sound could be heard and she saw Bran and Sceolag, the two armored huskies. And Meeko, the stray dog she had adopted once after she found him next to his dead owner in a cabin in the woods.
She saw Farkas and Vilkas, the twins and members of the honorable Companions Circle. Ralof was there, the young Stormcloak soldier she escaped with from Helgen on the day Alduin had attacked them first.
Hundreds of people she had never seen before and she assumed that must be citizens from all over Skyrim who worshipped her.
"Thorin, please come here," she said and gestured him to come closer. He walked towards her and she said,
"Thorin, this is Ulfric Stormcloak. Ulfric, this is Thorin Oakenshield."
They watched each other for a moment and Mona bit back a smile. Both looked so very majestic.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Thorin," Ulfric finally said and Thorin nodded with the hint of a smile.
Now the rest of the Company approached them and Ulfric's gaze drifted to Barbas with a smile.
"Now what's the plan?" Bilbo suddenly spoke up.
"We have to go back inside, Bilbo. You will steal something and then we'll go back and wait. Smaug will wake up and once he's aware of the missing piece he will come out of the mountain. And we'll be waiting for him," Mona explained.
"May I have a talk with you?" Ulfric asked and Mona nodded. They walked a bit apart until he finally said, "There is just one question that circles in my mind. What did Tullius tell you?"
"He—he told me that you would use me for your own benefit. That you just kept me close at hand because I'm the Dragonborn."
He nodded slowly. "That might have been true, but it was not the only reason. I was always fascinated by you."
"Ulfric—your last sentence before you died—how would it have ended?"
He lowered his gaze to the ground, then back to Thorin and replied, "You love him. I can see that."
She smiled. "Yes. He's my life."
"So why do you want to know the ending of my last sentence I breathed before I died?"
She frowned and shrugged. "I'm just curious."
He started to walk back to the others without answering her question.
"Alright, are we ready?" Mona called.
"Huzzah!" the army from Skyrim called loudly and the Company cheered.
Mona turned to look at her Company. "I want you to stay down here with them. Bilbo and I will go back into the mountain."
As soon as they entered the treasury again they could see that Smaug was still asleep.
"Alright, Bilbo. Grab anything you can get but just one piece! Put your ring on and hurry, but be careful!" she whispered and watched Smaug to make sure that he was really sleeping.
Bilbo nodded, disappeared and Mona's heart was beating fast in her chest. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see a little golden goblet being lifted into the air and approaching her.
"Perfect," she whispered and they headed back out of the mountain, climbed down into the valley and Bilbo handed the goblet to Thorin.
"Isn't it beautiful?" the dwarves breathed and handed the goblet to one another.
Suddenly a loud roar rang through the air coming from deep inside the mountain. The dwarves looked scared and Bilbo was nearly going to faint but Mona, Thorin and Ulfric called in unison,
"To the arms!"
Everyone was ready to fight and all they could do now was waiting. They could feel the ground shaking and knew it would be just a matter of time until Smaug would break out of the mountain. A couple of moments later he broke out of the main gate, spread his huge wings and lifted up into the sky.
He was huge, not as huge as Alduin, but Mona knew that might be a hard fight nevertheless. A stream of fire burned some of the trees down until Smaug spotted them.
"Who are you?!" he growled and let another stream of fire rain down on them. They reacted quickly and the fire missed them.
'That's not working! They cannot help me!' Mona thought.
"Thorin! Go! Bring them into the tunnel!" she called and he turned to look at her in shock.
"I won't leave you behind!"
"Thorin, go! Please! Trust me, you won't survive this! I have my army here, they cannot die! They are already dead!"
That was hard but the truth though not all of them were dead. Another stream of fire rained down and burned Kili's hair a bit.
"Aaah!" he cried out and Mona lost her temper as she shouted,
"Thorin, go!"
He hesitated for a second until the Company turned around, ran up the stairway and into the tunnel. Mona stood her ground, Ulfric and the army behind her.
"Talk to me!" Smaug growled and stood in the sky waving his huge wings.
The Company in the tunnel could still hear what happened outside. Thorin's heart was racing, he was afraid, afraid that he might lose her.
"Who are you?" Smaug yelled once again, his gaze fixed on Mona.
"Zofaas Zoor!" Mona called out. [The fearless legend!]
She heard a loud chuckled, a dark rumbling sound in the sky. "Hio Tinvaak Dovah?" [You speak the language of the dragons?]
"Geh! Ahrk Nii Kos Hin Oblaan!" [Yes! And this is your end!]
She could see he was going to burn her down jumped out of the way right before the fire hit the ground.
"You won't destroy me!" he growled.
"Mona, we have to attack him now!" Ulfric called behind her and she gave him a sign. He turned to his army and called, "Arrows! Now!"
Hundreds of arrows flew through the air and hit the dragon. He roared furiously, lifted higher and let his fire rain down on them again. Mona could feel the heat but was able to get herself out of the way again. Smaug flew away, and with horror she realized where he might be heading to.
"Oh no, he's going to attack Laketown!" she called but there was nothing they could do. The city was too far away.
"Are you injured?" Ulfric asked while he examined her.
"N—no, I'm fine, I guess," she said and he helped her to get up.
"You're bleeding," he said concerned and pointed at her arm.
"That's just a little burning," she said with a smile and added, "Have been through worse, as you may know."
"Aye, but he will come back. We need a plan!"
"I'll try to talk to him one more time once he's back. I'm not certain how to destroy him and it would make no sense to use the Dragonrend without knowledge of his weak point," she replied. Suddenly she felt dizzy again, the ground was turning and she dropped on her knees.
"Mona!" she could hear the voices of her old friends from Skyrim.
"It's fine—it's just—I'm fine—," she mumbled.
They could hear the sound of Smaug's huge wings cutting through the air again. "He's coming back!" Erik, one of her best friends, called.
"Now back to you, Zofaas Zoor!" she could hear the dragon roar down at her.
Mona got up again, still a bit weak in her knees but was on her feet and faced the dragon determined.
"You are the so called Dovahkiin!" the dragon spat and Mona was surprised that he knew about the legend.
"You look surprised but you know that dragons are tight bonded creatures and we know the legends from all the worlds. Hio Krii Alduin!" [You killed Alduin!]
Mona nodded but kept silent. Smaug laughed once more and hissed,
"It is a pleasure to meet you! And now I will destroy you and your Kiir!"
Mona froze, her heart nearly stopped beating. What did he just say?
'Oh my god', she thought and stumbled backwards. His words rang in her ears. 'Destroy you and your Kiir.'
The sickness, the mood changes—she looked up to face Smaug again and it was as if he was grinning at her.
Her mind was racing but she jumped away as his fire rained down again. She was still a bit shocked but now it was not only her life she was protecting. She was protecting the life of her child.
Thorin's child.