At first the tunnel was darker than pitch as he walked along, having to feel his way lest he run into the wall as it curved down into the earth. Soon though, a warm red light seemed to appear and with it came a pleasant heat. Perhaps the dragon had a fire going?
He continued through the red light and heat until the tunnel ended, opening on a stone floor. Of course, he couldn't see much of the floor as his eyes were drawn upwards to the piles of fine gold, jewels and artefacts that coated every surface. Bilbo gasped, he'd never seen such riches, the hills of wealth were higher than some of the trees from the Blue Mountains. Smiling to himself he grabbed a small golden cup from a nearby pile and placed it in his pocket to take back to the others.
A rumble shifted his eyes and the awe was quickly replaced with fear as the gold began to shift as something moved beneath it. Fumbling, Bilbo slipped on his magical ring just as the mountain of golden coins shifted to reveal the huge, red-gold body of a massive dragon. Bilbo had never seen something so giant! How on earth could they kill such a beast! Various mithril weapons thudded against it's hard scales as it moved, not even leaving a scratch. It was impossible that their weapons of iron would do any damage at all.
Smaug stretched, his long tail flicking as he wandered over to a new pile of gold and laid down upon it, looking particularly smug and comfortable.
"Who is it whose invaded my mountain." He rumbled, deep voice resonating around the cavern, "I cannot see you but I smell you strange thing, do not try and fool me."
Bilbo felt as if he'd been struck by thunder.
Be brave. Be brave! Thorin's counting on you!
"I could never fool you O Smaug!" Bilbo declared bravely, "I have no doubt you are much cleverer than I."
The dragon rumbled happily looking quite pleased. Just as Bilbo suspected he was quite arrogant after owning the treasure for so long, stroking his ego was the way to go.
"Evidently, you must be quite a stupid creature to wander your way in here." Smaug continued, "Where are you little thing, come out so I may see you."
"Oh I do not think I should." Bilbo replied nervously, moving closer to the huge dragon and trying to find a weak point, "I am so very tiny, you might squash me."
Smaug laughed at that.
"Your smell in unfamiliar to me." The dragon said finally, "So odd, like man, Dwarf and Elf all combined but more earthy. What are you?"
"I am..." Bilbo faltered slightly, "I am a barrel rider, ring-bearer, troll fighter and spider slayer!"
The dragon chuckled, liking his riddle. He lifted his nose high, trying to smell the Hobbit out but Bilbo swiftly moved amongst the gold to try and hide his scent.
"A riddler too I see." Smaug growled, "Why come here little riddler?"
"Do you think you can find my weakness and take my hoard from me?"
"Oh no!" Bilbo denied a little too quickly, "You are far too strong for me to take on O impenetrable one. Your scales shake of mithril without a scratch, I could never harm you...unless of course..."
"What?" Smaug challenged, "You really think you could beat me little riddler?"
"We'll, your scales are very impressive." Bilbo answered, climbing up over the pile of gold, he was almost close enough to touch the dragon now.
"But your belly, surely that has no scales."
It was true, all the tales he'd heard said that dragons had no scales on their bellies, they had only soft skin there. Up until now the dragon had been lazed across the huge pile of treasure, hiding his belly but now with a bark of laughter he raised himself slightly and Bilbo felt himself despair.
The beasts belly was encrusted with jewels and gold, firmly embedded in the skin after decades of laying upon the hoard. There was no skin left to pierce.
"Nobody can harm me!" Smaug declared, "Especially a somebody so small as you riddler, surely you must be tiny if my sharp eyes cannot glance you."
Bilbo bit his lip, what could he do?
Then he saw it. A small patch of bare, reddish leathery skin visible upon the dragons chest, near where his heart would surely be. No sword wielder could get close enough to stab the dragon there, but an arrow...
"You are right." Bilbo declared, doing his best to try and sound dejected rather than overjoyed.
"I must admit defeat." He declared dramatically, "I shall leave you now O mighty one."
"Oh do let me see you." The dragon grinned, "come now, or I shall have to breathe my fire all over the room and find your charred remains."
"Oh!"
That was all Bilbo had the chance to say before flames appeared between the dragons teeth and he dove behind the pile of gold just in time. The metal burned hot, stinging the Hobbits sensitive skin, he barely made it to the ground without serious burns. Without hesitating he ran across the stone floor, which was getting hotter by the second and into the tunnel.
He didn't stop running until he was halfway through the tunnel and the red glow was safely in the distance. His feet throbbed, but he kept walking until he saw daylight.
With a relieved sigh he emerged into the fresh air, happy to finally be outside and very surprised to see the sun rising. Had so much time really passed?
"Bilbo!"
"Thorin."
The Dwarf placed his hands on the young ones shoulder and smiled at him, his grin grew tenfold when Bilbo revealed the cup.
"It's beautiful!" Fili breathed.
"It all is." Bilbo smiled as Oin inspected his slightly burnt feet.
"And somewhere in there lies the Arkenstone..." Thorin sighed happily.
Bilbo revealed all that had happened within the mountain once the doctor announced his feet were fine. The dragons weak spot was especially exciting for Kili.
"So maybe if we distract him, Kili could shoot him." Dwalin suggested.
The older, more experienced Dwarfs talked excitably of battle plans while the others ate and rested, watching the sun rise.
But the sun wasn't all that was approaching.
"Um, father..." Bilbo cut in, "Somebody's coming..."
The company ran to the edge of their little camp on the mountain side, indeed there was a group coming across the empty plain now from the direction of Lake Town.
"Why are men coming here?" Fili asked.
"They are after the treasure."Thorin growled, "I should have known, many of those who fled from Dale would have descendants in Lake Town."
"Maybe we could share some of the treasure if they help us fight the dragon?" Bilbo suggested, Thorin looked as if he'd said something scandalous.
"What do we do then?" Balin asked.
"We wait." Thorin answered somewhat reluctantly, "We shall speak with them and tell them to leave our mountain be."
-oOo-
The large group of men stayed at the base of the mountain, making camp, Bilbo didn't like that they were outnumbered. One man, tall with brown hair hanging down his thin face, walked up to meet them.
"I am Bard." He introduced, "Descendant of the last leader of Dale before Smaug attacked."
"What of it?" Thorin asked with narrow eyes.
Bilbo couldn't help but feel a little nervous, Thorin was acting very harsh, after all the man had only introduced himself after all.
"We want to help slay the beast and restore Dale to it's former glory." Bard told him, Bilbo saw Thorin's hands curl into fists.
"And I suppose, you want some of Erebor's treasure to begin said rebuilding." Thorin replied.
"Yes, of course, we will offer our services in return by helping you slay the dragon." Bard replied.
"We can take care of Smaug ourselves." Thorin replied tersely.
"But-"
"We Dwarfs are made of sturdier stuff." Dwalin cut in, "If Thorin doesn't think we need you, we don't."
The Bard glared at them, clearly this was not the answer he'd been expecting. It was then Bilbo noticed the bow on his back. Usually it was an unspoken rule that when faced with conflict all speaking as to be left to Thorin and the other older Dwarfs, mainly Dwalin and Balin. The rest of the group was there for silent support, they never wasn't sure what made him speak, but he did.
"You shoot?" He asked, causing all eyes to swivel to him.
"Yes." Bard replied, "They call me Bowman."
"Because we need an arrow to piece the week spot on Smaug che-"
Bilbo never got to finish that sentence as Fili had noticed the anger growing in his uncles eyes and quickly lapped a hand over the Hobbit's mouth.
"Please excuse my little brother," he replied hurriedly, "This whole thing has him slightly excitable and he doesn't quite know when to shut his mouth."
"But we could use all the archer we can get." Bilbo argued.
Kili clamped his hand over Fili's.
"Maybe, we should go for a walk eh?"
-oOo-
"What were you thinking Bilbo?" Fili chided, "Interrupting Uncle like that and telling that Bard fellow about the dragons weak point?"
Bilbo's forehead knitted together in confusion and hurt.
"Why does it matter who kills the dragon?" He asked, "So long as somebody does? I saw the treasure Fili, there is enough there to fill the entire Blue Mountain city we grew up in. Surely we can spare enough to help the people rebuild Dale?"
"You don't understand." kili sighed, "That's our treasure, Uncle Thorin's treasure, that he is to inherit."
"But there is so much, and more to come from what we've been told about Erebor's mines." Bilbo argued, "The money it would take to rebuild Dale would hardly make a dent and Erebor needs somebody for trade and farming anyway. It's in our favor as well."
The two Dwarfs shared a look, like Bilbo was an ignorant child who was simply not old enough to understand. Bilbo felt his blood boil.
"Are you really so greedy?" he hissed, "I'm telling you there is more than enough treasure to share, several times over!"
"We know Bili." Fili sighed, "It's just...Uncles been fighting for this for so many years and I guess he just doesn't want to part with, what is considered, part of his kingdom as soon as it's returned to him."
Bilbo bit his lip, that did make a little sense. It wasn't logical, but he did understand, a little. Once they had the mountain back and Erebor's repairs were underway surely Thorin would give the Bard some money to rebuild the city, even if he didn't help fight Smaug. Yes, that made sense.
"Alright." Bilbo sighed, "I get it."
The two elder brothers grinned. They seemed ready to say more but quickly turned serious when Thorin walked over. At first Bilbo thought he was going to be scolded but instead Thorin said the last words he was expecting.
"Ready your weapons, we go after Smaug when the sun hits it's zenith."
Where is the Arkenstone you may be asking...wait and see..