Don't panic! I am still alive. Haven't had a day off in over two weeks so yeah, I'm a little tired and have literally been trying to finish this chapter for a week in between jobs. I will reiterate a previous point: I will never abandon or put this story on hiatus. If it should happen that a next chapter isn't posted, I'm either dead or in the hospital without use of my hands for a period of time. In which I would post a note somehow. This story shall be finished! It is my mission. So anywho, enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 29 O Smaug the Stupendous

Balin walked with Bilbo further into the tunnel leading to the interior of the mountain.

"You want me to find a jewel?" Incredulity took over Bilbo's face and Balin sighed.

"A large white jewel, yes."

"That's it? Only," the hobbit paused and shuffled his feet. "I imagine there's quite a few down there."

"There is only one Arkenstone. You'll know it when you see it."

"Alright."

Balin nodded once and began to walk back down the tunnel where the secret entrance was, pausing not far from Bilbo. "In truth, lad, I do not know what you will find down there. You needn't go if you don't want to, there's no dishonor in turning back."

Bilbo smiled at the dwarf. "No Balin, I promised I would do this and I think I must try."

He looked at Bilbo and then chuckled appreciatively. "It never ceases to amaze me."

"What's that?"

"The courage of Hobbits. Go now with as much luck as you can muster."

That brought a wane smile to Bilbo's face and they nodded at each other, Bilbo proceeding down the tunnel while Balin turns back towards the door. However, the dwarf stopped again and called out to the hobbit.

"Oh, and Bilbo...if there is, in fact, a live dragon down there, don't waken it."

Worry took over his expression and Bilbo nodded again. He walked a few more steps, then turned back to ask a question but Balin had already disappeared around the corner. Taking a deep breath, Bilbo silently crept toward Smaug's lair. He didn't know how long or far he had walked, his feet carrying him in and over tunnels and bridges that crisscrossed the enormous dwarf kingdom. Finally Bilbo stepped through a large doorway and found himself in another massive hall, the difference with this one was the soft gold glow that seemed to light up the darkness.

"Hello?"

He knocked quietly on the wall beside him, the sound intensifying loudly as it echoes and Bilbo jumped pressing himself against the wall in shock. When there was no reaction to the noise, he took another step out onto the elevated walkway.

"You're not at home. Not at home. Good. Good, good, good."

Bilbo kept walking down the stairs and came to an abrupt halt with his mouth hanging open in shock. Set before him in the cavern below were mountains of gold, jewels, weapons, cups, and all sorts of treasure piled dozens of feet high all throughout the immensely massive hall. He stood there staring for who knew how long trying to process the amount of treasure that looked like rolling gold hills and how he was supposed to look through it all. Carefully, Bilbo climbed down the stairs and tried to walk atop the treasure without making the metal clink. However, and not for the lack of trying, the coins and jewels beneath his feet shifted and the noise resonated throughout the hall.

Heaving a sigh, Bilbo began his search at a nearby pile. He shifted through gold coins and chests of trinkets looking for the Arkenstone. Picking up a large white jewel, he examined it turning it over in his hands and holding it up in the dim light. Deciding it wasn't the stone, he carelessly threw it aside and immediately jumped at the loud clatter when it landed on the river of gold. Bilbo looked around him, feelings of hopelessness and frustration taking hold of his mind.

"Arkenstone, Arkenstone...a large, white jewel. Very helpful."

He was surrounded by so much treasure that it would be impossible for him to find one particular jewel out of all of it. Apparently, such a fact had slipped the minds of the dwarves when they had recruited him for this task. Turning to his left, Bilbo started to climb up a mountain of gold. A few feet up, he picked up a golden cup and his action started a small avalanche of coins. Bilbo looked up at the waterfall of coins and watched as they fell away, revealing Smaug's closed, sleeping eye. Bilbo scrambled away and jumped behind a nearby stone pillar in fright. He didn't move and barely breathed in his fear that he had woke up the great sky wyrm. However, all was silent and it seemed like Smaug was still asleep. Bilbo released a sigh and suddenly a loud snort echoed making the treasure around the dragon's nose to fall away revealing the large snout. His breathing quickened to panting as Bilbo slowly tried to make his way down the pile of gold, but stopped short when he realized that buried in a large circle, exactly where he was standing, was Smaug's body and he watched as all the gold along the enormous body began to ripple as the dragon woke.

Taking a few steps back, Bilbo paused and went to one knee as Smaug rose his head, eyes still closed. He began to slowly take steps away from the great head and the moment Bilbo saw the lid begin to crack open he dove behind a pile of gold. Lying flat on the mountain of coins, Bilbo was just able to see the yellow eye looking around at its surroundings. Had anyone been watching Bilbo at that exact moment, they would've seen the look of realization and then resignation with his following actions.

The hobbit reached into the folds of the borrowed coat and drew out the ring that was entwined with the golden flower Helena had insisted he keep on him. Pulling the two apart, he examined the darkening blossom. The gold was no longer bright as the sun but a tarnished yellow and the flowers were wilting with the stem almost completely grey. Bilbo carefully placed the fragile looking flower back into the coat and stared at the gold ring he held in his hands for several seconds. Behind him, he heard more coins trickle and looked up to see Smaug raising his head completely from his hiding spot. By the time the dragon had partially risen his snout, Bilbo had hastily put on the ring and disappeared from sight.

Now invisible, Bilbo stood up carefully as his vision was slight affect by the ring. He watched Smaug sniff the air and then growl.

"Well, thief, I smell you. I hear your breath. I feel your air. Where are you?"

As Smaug said this, he moved his head back and forth around the place where Bilbo was standing hidden from sight. The great beast had taken a few steps forward when it had spoken and Bilbo had to duck to avoid being knocked over and discovered. He stood back up and watched as the long, scaled tail whipped around a pillar and Smaug turned his head back to where he was.

"Where are you?"

Taking a few unsteady, deep breathes Bilbo tried to keep his calm and failed miserably. Panic overtook him and he ran down the side of treasure created mountain, leaving a trail in his invisible path as the coins are dislodged from his sliding run away from dragon. Smaug growled again and gave chase to the hobbit, sliding on his belly rapidly following him the coins flinging and splashing off his hide like water. Bilbo slid behind an emerald green stone pillar just as Smaug rose from the coins fluidly and speaking in a hissing, rumbling voice.

"Come now, don't be shy. Step into the light." From where he was hidden, Bilbo watched Smaug look in the opposite direction before his eyes landing exactly where he was standing. The dragon smoothly moved over the gold and around the pillar where Bilbo was pressed into an enclave. As it went around, Bilbo took two tentative steps to peer around the corner and nearly yelled in surprise at the ancient voice at his back. "Mmm, there is something about you, something you carry. Something made of gold, but far more...PRECIOUSSSSS." Smaug said this with his head right in front of Bilbo's hiding place as he tried to back over and away but hit the stone once again. When the word "Precious" was spoken and drug out in a deliberate way, it reverberate in Bilbo's head over and over and he tried to shake away the gripping feeling of control when an eye on fire lit up his mind causing him to be in mental pain. The ring was ripped off subconsciously right in front of Smaug's eye and Bilbo stared at the ring first in horror, gasping, then staring wide eyed at the beast directly in his face.

"There you are, thief in the shadows."

Struggling to level his breathing, Bilbo nodded and then shook his head, his mind trying to think of something to say to the beast whose teeth were the same size as himself. "I did not come to steal from you, O Smaug the Unassessably Wealthy. I merely wanted to gaze upon your magnificence, to see if you really were as great as the old tales say." He hunched over slightly and whimpered at the released growl, moving back slightly when Smaug shift backwards. "I did not believe them."

With a rumble, Smaug retreated around the pillar; his body shifting the gold as he stomped and glided several yards away from Bilbo who had taken a few steps away from his hiding spot to look upon the great dragon. Great wings were spread back, claws digging into the coins below; his neck and tail were stretched to show off their serpentine appearance and Bilbo craned his neck up to stare at the yellow eyes glaring down at him.

"And, do you now?!"

Bilbo gulped and nodded slightly. "Truly, the tales and songs fall utterly short of your enormity, O Smaug the Stupendous." His words stutter slightly as Smaug lowered his head.

"Do you think flattery will keep you alive?" The sentences was a whisper compared to the exclamation before.

"No- no, no."

"No, indeed." Smaug dropped to a crouch and lowly prowled towards the hobbit. "You seem familiar with my name, but I don't remember smelling your kind before. Who are you, and where do you come from, may I ask?"

He was now a few short yards from Bilbo who opened his mouth to answer but turned to his right when a glitter of light caught his eye. Forgetting to answer the dragon for a moment, he realized what he was looking at was the Arkenstone. A small, white gem glowing with an unnatural light, buried under one layer of coins peeking out through the gold.

Trying to drag his eyes away Bilbo stuttered out an answer. "I- I come from under the hill," his eyes finally dragging away from the king's jewel.

"Underhill?" The massive head swerved closer in question.

Bilbo nodded rapidly, sneaking a peek at the Arkenstone trying to gauge the distance from where he stood. "And under hills and over hills my path has led. And, and, through the air. I am he who walks unseen."

Smaug walked away briefly when he spoke and craned his neck back around. "Impressive. What else do you claim to be?" His head snaked forward until his teeth were inches from Bilbo's face, hissing and exhaling at him.

"I am...luck-wearer." He fanned a hand to try and rid of the smell from Smaug's breath. "Riddle-maker." Bilbo's shoulders relaxed slightly as the dragon back away.

"Lovely titles; go on."

"Barrel-rider."

Once again, the razor sharp teeth were at his face. "Barrels? Now that is interesting." Smaug clawed his way backwards and around the pillars and gold. Bilbo moved to follow his path. "And what about your little dwarf friends? Where are they hiding?"

Putting on his best befuddled expression, Bilbo leaned forward to answer the hissed questions. "Dw- Dwarves? No, no, no dwarves here. You've got that all wrong."

"Oh, I don't think so, barrel-rider. They sent you in here to do their dirty work while they skulk about outside."

Seeing the beast turn his attention to one of the many doorways, Bilbo crept over to where the Arkenstone was laying. He stopped feet short of where it was when Smaug's attention returned to him. "Truly, you are mistaken, O Smaug, Chiefest and Greatest of calamities."

"You have nice manners...for a thief and a liar!" His head jabbed forward from the shadows that haunted the hall and Bilbo froze completely. "I know the smell and taste of dwarf. No one better. It is the gold! They are drawn to treasure like flies to dead flesh."

While Smaug talked, Bilbo inched his way over to the stone and just as he was near enough to grab it, Smaug stomped forward and his claws knocked the Arkenstone away. His head jerked as it bounced down the mountain of gold and Bilbo ran after it with Smaug hot on his heels.

"Did you think I did not know this day would come, when a pack of canting dwarves would come crawling back to the mountain?!" His enormous body slammed into one of the mammoth stone pillars as Bilbo tripped and rolled down the coins, landing over an edge and became buried in gold. The pillar fell and when it landed to the ground, it caused reverberations throughout the mountain and across the lands to Laketown.


The company of dwarves awaiting at the entrance stumbled and stood at the ground shaking beneath their feet. Gavin looked directly at the entrance.

Dori's eyes followed the man's before looking to Balin. "Was that an earthquake?"

Balin had been looking over the land when the question was asked. "That, my lad" he paused and looked behind him to the others. "...was a dragon."

Thorin looked around worried before he met the eyes of Balin and as one, everyone watched the entrance for some time afterwards for their burglar to reappear.


The vibration traveled across the water and shook all of the buildings in Laketown. Everyone in Bard's home looked to the ceiling before looking to one another as dust fell from above their heads.

Sigrid stepped away from the counter where she was with Tilda. "Da?"

Bain looked out of a window from where he stood. "It's coming from the mountain."

Fili left Kili and Helena's company to approach Bard. "You should leave us. Take your children; get out of here." Tauriel stood near them and watched silently.

Bard looked at the dwarf, his face showing frightened trepidation at the mere thought. "And go where? There is nowhere to go."

"Are we going to die, Da?"

"No, darling." Bard looked down at his youngest daughter who was biting her lip in fright.

"The dragon, it's going to kill us." Her child's voice held such certainty it sent a shiver through more than one person in the house.

He looked at his children worriedly for a moment and then reaches up and pulls down a rod that hung from the ceiling in the kitchen which held various herbs. It was a black arrow, the last one. Fili's eyes widen as he cast his eyes at the man. It was the last of the three that Girion had in Dale and here it was, hidden as a drying rack for plants. Bard's children looked at the arrow in shock. "Not if I kill it first." The man looked to Helena and then Fili, "Can I trust you?"

"Yes."

The simple, confident assurance was all he needed and Bard beckoned Bain to follow him, Tauriel holding the two girls back as their father and brother left the house.

Bard and Bain snuck through the streets of Laketown, Bard holding the arrow and checking around corners for any of the town guards. He beckoned his son forward, "Alright" and they stuck close to the walls as they continued through the town.

"A black arrow? Why did you never tell me?"

"Because you did not need to know." He didn't need to look behind him to see the hurt that came across the youth's face. He pulled Bain down behind a low wall as soldiers pass by and Bard puts his arm on Bain's shoulder and indicates the tower with the dwarvish wind-lance on top. "Listen to me carefully: I need you to distract the guards. Once I'm at the top of the tower, I'll set the arrow to the bow."

He was interrupted when Braga and the other soldiers spotted the two of them. "There he is! Bard! After him!"

"Quickly! Down there! Go!" Bard pulled at the arm of his son and they ran from the soldiers.

"Stop him!"

Bard and Bain ran through shops and docks, knocking over various items that were in their way. The soldiers continued to follow yelling "Stop him". The shopkeepers yelled angrily at both parties as they rushed through. When they put some distance in front of the guards, Bard stopped Bain and handed him the black arrow and grabbed him by the shoulders to hold his attention.

"Bain! Bain. Keep it safe. Don't let anyone find it. I'll deal with them."

The teen held the arrow close, "I won't leave you!"

"Go!" Bard shoved his son away and Bain ran off. As he turned back around, Bard stood face to face with Braga who had just caught up to him. "Braga."

"You are under arrest."

"On what charge?"

A smirk came over the Captain, "Any charge the Master chooses."

Bard turns and looked around him. Seeing that he was surrounded, Bard then turned back and smiled at Braga. Suddenly and without warning, he punched the soldier in the face and ducked when another came at him. He fought his way through a few more of the soldiers before turning completely around and running back through the shops and alleys. Unbeknownst to him, Bain saw the soldiers chase his father from a few docks away and jumps into a boat, hiding the arrow beneath some ropes and fishing gear and climbing back out before running off.

As the bargeman ran through the town; he leapt across a channel using boats as stepping stones. He used his momentum to push the last boat sliding several feet across the water until he could step onto the opposite bank. One of the soldiers tried to follow him and slipped, falling out of a boat into the icy water. Bard ran down an alley and a foot was suddenly stuck out of a doorway and Bard tripped over it, not noticing the appendage and falling into a pile of wood. As he sat up trying to clear his head, Alfrid stepped forward followed by the Master. While Bard struggled to get up, the Master lifted a wooden pole and slammed the rod against the side of Bard's head, effectively knocking him out.


A roar was heard through the tunnels and echoed out into the clearing where part of the company stood waiting. The dwarves began to whisper amongst themselves, Ori's young voice reaching above the others.

"What about Bilbo?"

Thorin turned away, "Give him more time."

Gavin's eyes flashed and Balin stepped in front of him towards Thorin. "Trying to do what? To be killed?"

The dark-haired dwarf spun around. "You're afraid."

Balin paused for a moment, looking back at Gavin and then stepped up to Thorin. "Yes, I'm afraid. I fear for YOU. A sickness lies upon that treasure hoard, a sickness that drove your grandfather mad."

"I am not my grandfather." The growl was heard in his tone along with something unidentifiable and dark eyes were narrowed at the dwarf.

"You're not yourself." Balin drew himself up as Thorin advanced on him. "The Thorin I know would not hesitate to go in there-"

"I will not risk this quest for the life of one burglar."

"Bilbo. His name is Bilbo." The look of disgust was evident in Balin's features.

Thorin didn't reply, only turned to look out into the night only to be stopped by a sword nearly resting on his neck. Gavin stood with his feet braced apart and a dark glower upon his face. "I told Helena that I would watch over you but as of right now, I feel the need to break that promise as you are no longer that person. At this moment, there is someone else who needs my attention far more than you since he is the one risking his life to retrieve your birthright."

Without another word, he dropped the sword and pushed passed the others to the secret doorway. None made a move to stop him as Gavin ducked through the short entrance and disappeared into the dim tunnel. All eyes returned to Thorin who barely looked after the man for a second and then stared out into the darkness of the night.


So the next chapter is probably going to be a seriously long one unless I decide to split it in half. I'll decide when I finish it. But until then, I hope everyone had a nice read and a good day.