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Chapter 26 – A Glimpse of Death

"Aella!" Kili shouted joining in with his brother who was already stood and looking around the pebbled beach and through the other people thankful for their lives. "Aella!"

Oin joined the two craning their necks to get a better overview of the shore lined with bodies alive or dead, they couldn't tell. More and more people were dragging themselves from the water and collapsing on the floor, breathing heavily; others were handing out blankets to those in need and had already started on building a 'refugee' camp. The fire was slowly dying in the town but some flames lingered until every inch of wood had been turned to ash and drained of life.

Their clothes were dripping wet and hanging low from the waist down since they had waded to the shore from the boat, carrying Sigrid and Tilda so they didn't get wet and cold. Tauriel had led them away and they were currently screaming for their father who had gone missing in the escape and they were hoping, praying that he was alive and unhurt.

"Why me!?" The slimy greasy man screeched as he clawed at the pebbles half in the lapping waters half out. Kili glanced at him for a moment repulsed to find that he was still alive, if anyone should've died in the dragon fire it should've been Alfrid. But he pushed that dark thought down and rolled his eyes at the man continuing to demand help which no one would give him, and continued his own search for Aella.

The world slowed down. The orange warm glow merging with the black void of the lake and the white orbs that scattered the sky. Aella knew what was going to happen, she knew the risks and she knew she could possibly die. Over the course of the journey she had felt her power growing stronger along with her need to protect the company. An indication of this was the warm feeling she felt inside her and the glow of her hair grew brighter daily.

But now her strength had left her and the sky was slowly falling away from her and the flames were coming closer towards her peripheral vision. Her eyes had closed long ago as her heart quickened to a point where it wasn't beating but instead was simply one pulse. She didn't even feel the water rushing around her, comforting her body, softening the blow and wrapping around her in a tight embrace. Now all was black, and surprisingly warm bearing in mind the harsh weather conditions the Lake endured having only one season: cold.

A bright light, as white and inviting as the stars, faded over the darkness pulling her closer. Aella reached out to it with her last source of energy looking to the comfort from the secret pain ringing through her entire body. However a jolt ran through her and the white light drifted further away like it was being pulled from her despite its best efforts to reach her.

Suddenly everything changed, the darkness dispersed and she was met with bright orange flames flickering around her and the air was hot with only a bite of cold left. A tight arm was wrapped around her middle and using a cold and wet hand he less than gently hit her round the face to wake her fully from faint death.

"Aella. Aella can you hear me?" he said his voice clearly concerned but strong willed and he shook her lightly whilst kicking the waters depths to stay afloat.

"Is she alright?" Another voice joined the first, his much higher in pitch but just as worried. His voice was innocent but the pureness had been damaged with the bloodshed and horror he had all to recently experienced.

"She'll be fine if she wakes up. She's still alive." The original voice said calmly and sternly. "Aella!"

This time his plea worked and the lifeless body in his arms shook violently and her green eyes snapped open whilst her arms lashed out as she gasped for air. Screams rung through the air along with the menacing crackling of the fire but other than that the world seemed quiet, in shock, as if it was waiting for something to happen, for her to wake up.

Aella's eyes widened but she didn't shy away from the man whose face she recognized and his son to not be of any danger and she was glad they were alive.

"Bard." She breathed out and if they were not submerged she would've hugged him.

"What was that?" He asked clearly shaken about what she had done, or more precisely turned into.

"Save the questions for later we need to get to shore." Bain said surprising them both of his sudden rational leadership and prioritizing the right things.

With a little help from Bard, Aella joined them in swimming away from the burning town crumbling in on itself only to cause more steam and smoke to haze the air. When they reached the pebbled beach Aella practically crashed to the ground relishing in relaxing on the stones and not having to hold herself up or stop herself from drowning.

Turning her head slightly she saw the flames still burning into the night, but dawn was on the rise and soon the destruction would end its short but unforgettable reign.

The three of them decided to rest until sunrise before joining the other survivors and spent the time awake questioning Aella on her species and talking about the dragon's death and how they hoped the others were okay.

After Bard had shot the arrow and Smaug was busy creating a dramatic and drawn out death for himself the fire had reached the top of the bell tower. With nowhere else to go, Bard and his son were forced to jump from the building luckily hitting the water and missing the area where the dragon's body fell. However they were close to where the small body of Aella was limply plummeting from the sky, her hairs golden glow dying, nearly diminishing as it hit the water.

Now she was curled in a ball of soggy clothes keeping her nice and cold whilst her hair sat in a tangled and broken halo around her head, gradually brightening with every second she slept. Bard waited for a while after the girl and his son had fallen asleep, he was quietly mulling over what Aella was but in the end he too gave in to the welcome arms of dreams.

The next morning the three set off further along the shore to where a large congregation of people was bustling about frantically in between screams of grief and pleas for help. They walked through the crowd silently assessing the situation and all looking for the people they wished were alive.

A woman from Lake Town was handing out blankets and passed by them swiftly handing one to Aella which she took with welcome arms but not without some surprise. "These are dry, you'll need one." Aella mumbled a thank you to the woman who gave her a double take and nodded slightly to her although the fear in her eyes was evident.

"Oi! Give me one of them. I'll take my death in this cold!" the slimy man charged forward, pushing people out of the way in an attempt to reach the blanket woman. However she only acknowledged him by slightly turning her head to look at him whilst passing out more blankets.

"Oh, find your own! You're not in charge now, Alfrid Lickspittle." She almost spat his name and there was a clear hatred for the con man.

"That is where you are wrong. In the absence of the Master the powers seethes to his deputy, which in this instance is my good self. Now give me that blanket!" he grabbed the end of the blanket and tried to take it from the woman by force but she snatched it back away from his greasy hands and sneered back at him.

"Master's Deputy? Don't make me laugh. You're a sneak thief, more like. I'll be dead before I answer to the likes of you." Aella, Bard, and Bain watched the showdown with raised eyebrows also aware of a crowd beginning to form around the scene.

"Maybe that can be arranged." Just as Alfrid moved to strike the woman Bard grabbed his shoulders and spun him round whilst Bain stuck his leg out underneath the teetering man causing him to fall flat on his back.

"I wouldn't go turning on your own, Alfrid. Not now." Aella stifled a giggle at the man looking bewildered and then enraged at the way he was being treated. The rest of the crowd laughed along with the humiliation of Alfrid, some even cheered a little, even more so when they realized it was Bard's doing.

"Da!" two young voices called in unison and they rushed through the crowd and into the small circle. The voices belonged to Bard's daughters who immediately leapt into their father's tight embrace, small tears threatening to fall with joy. He whispered some words of reassurance to them both and the crowd seemed to watch the reunion with small smiles, glad that somebody had no losses.

"It was Bard! He killed the dragons! I saw it with me own eyes. He brought both beasts down. Struck them dead with Black Arrows!" A man called from the gathering followed by a ripple of cheers from the others.

"You've saved us all, bless you." The blanket woman placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and he looked around at them all modestly, ducking his head slightly in embarrassment at the attention. Aella had slowly sunk behind him hoping that none of them had realized that she was in fact the second dragon and had misunderstood her side of the fight and would therefore tried to kill her. But unluckily for her one particular man had noticed her actions and grabbed her arm roughly pulling her into the center of the circle.

"All hail King Bard! All hail the dragon slayer!" Alfrid shouted holding Aella's wrist in one hand and raising Bard's in another. But his sarcastic and angry tone silenced everyone and Bard snatched his hand back to himself. "But you are forgetting, there were two dragons in the sky."

At this everyone began murmuring and almost agreeing with Alfrid's statement despite not wanting too. They watched on to see what would happen next and to see what it had to do with the mysterious girl they had all seen as part of the Dwarvish company that bought the dragon upon them in the first place. However one man already knew.

"I saw it! He shouted stepping to the front of the ring and pointing towards Aella with a fat finger. "I saw her on the roof talking to the dragon! I then saw her turn into a dragon herself and help burn the town down!" He proclaimed and there came a lot of angry shouts and agreement along with backup evidence and other witnesses that claimed to have seen the same thing.

"What- no!" Aella said her head whipping around frantically as more people were verbally abusing her and threatening her. "I didn't- I was trying to kill Smaug!"

But despite her best efforts to reason with the people and explain what actually happened they didn't seem to notice or care about what she had to say. They only cared for what they 'saw' and wanted her dead.

"Monster! Abomination! Beast! Freak!" Where only a couple of names that were shouted in her direction and she struggled against Alfrid's grip which grew ever tighter around her wrist. But even if she managed to slip away from him she was surrounded by angry people that would kill or beat her if she came anywhere near them, some even had pitchforks ready.

"Stop this nonsense right now!" Bard shouted over the rabble and the crowd instantly fell silent and their eyes fixed on him but their outraged frowns and scowls stayed where they were. "What she says is true! Do not let Alfrid put thoughts into your mind! If it weren't for her I wouldn't have been able to shoot Smaug down! She is the real savior not me!"

At Bards proclamations Aella's wide eyes went from fearful to disbelief. Yes he was potentially saving her from being run-through with a garden tool but he was placing glory on her and a title she did not want or in her eyes even deserve. This was when the blanket woman stepped forward revealing that what she had seen was the truth and that Aella had saved the town and its people from more possible destruction.

"If anyone's the monster here it's you Alfrid!" She shouted turning on him and helping Aella out if his grasp, he looked at her scared and tried to sprout more nonsense that Aella was a danger to them all, which she could be if he carried on the way he was, but no one was believing him anymore.

"To King Bard and Queen Aella!" One haggard man said and despite their efforts to deny the fact that they weren't together and that neither of them wanted to be King or Queen of anything they weren't heard over the cheers for them and the insults thrown at Alfrid as he was pushed out of the circle completely.

Aella smiled though as Tilda thanked her for saving them all and as the crowd dispersed she saw the three dwarves looking at her with exhausted grins, sighing in relief that their companion was alive despite the risk she took. They ran over and embraced in a big group hug all smiling that they had all made it.

They were just about to leave and whilst Kili was saying his farewells to Tauriel, Aella noticed Alfrid slumped down on his own and from a distance it almost looked like he was crying. She shook her head and rolled her eyes but walked over to his sorry form anyway and cleared her throat to gain his attention.

"What do you want?" he snapped glaring at her but she stayed unfazed and calm by his clear aggression towards her.

"I just wanted to say sorry," She shrugged looking down at him softly. "about how they treat you, it isn't fair." His frown disappeared and he actually smiled thinking that someone maybe cared about his wellbeing.

"I'm the Masters councilor, I deserve to be treated with respect not like some peasant equal with them." He spat and she nodded her head sympathetically.

"You're right there. Once you've accepted your flaws Alfrid, no one can use them against me." She said kindly and he looked back at her slightly confused by what she said as its metaphor was above his level of intelligence.

"But what are my flaws?" he inquired and she just smirked back at him, answering and then turning around without a word to leave him to his own rage that he had been outwitted and insulted by a monster.

"Oh you have so many - but your main flaw is the fact that you're a dirty little shit."

In response to the reviews:

GoddessNefertari18: I'm looking forward to that moment as well! I'm glad you liked it a I find fight scenes really hard to write!

ggghhhaaarrr67: I'm glad you enjoyed it!

So next update will be them going to Erebor and seeing Thorin in all his Gold-Sickness glory! Sorry this one was a bit of a filler but hey ho! And yes that was a Game of Thrones quote at the end, I feel no shame. :D Also sorry that that one was a bit shorter!

Thank you for reading and sticking with this!

xx