Welcome back!
I want to say hello to all my new readers. There are so many of you now. I am so excited to have all of you here and I am glad that you are enjoying the story. It seems with Covid ever looming that I have more readers now than ever. Whatever the reason you may have found this story, welcome welcome and thrice welcome!
Sorry this update is late this week. No excuse really except me just forgetting the days of the week. Colelge has been keeping me ever busy with projects and assignments. It gets crazy, but I am constantly writing new chapters for this story and editing more so I can upload them.
So without further ado, please enjoy!
Mels xoxo
Third Person POV
Laketown
Bells rang in warning throughout the city of Laketown as people frantically loaded their possessions into boats, yelling and shouting in fear as in the distance, fire glowed from within Erebor. The Master of Laketown stood outside of his house, overseeing his soldiers and servants who were carrying boxes containing his gold and valuables as the Master himself panicked.
"I warned you. Did I not warn you what would come of dealing with Dwarves?! Now they've done it! They've woken the dragon. They brought the apocalypse upon our heads! Come on! Quickly! Quickly!" The Master shouted in fear as he rushed everyone about and he pulled a candlestick that was built into the wall sideways and a nearby bookshelf fell backward to reveal a hidden staircase where there was a boat landing with the Master's boat waiting.
"Faster now! I'm trying to evacuate myself here!" The Master shouted ushering the guards who were carrying the boxes ladened with his gold and valuables down the hidden stairs. " Careful, men. Never mind the books! Get on, get the rest of it!" The Master ordered as the guards headed down the stairs and started to throw the gold into the Master's boat.
"But Sire, should we not try to save the town?"Alfrid asked the Master, the only one to keep his head in this situation and surprising himself with his bold statement.
"The town is lost! Save the gold!" The Master shouted back to his manservant.
"You heard him. Get a move on," Captain Braga told his men and his soldiers loaded all of the gold and other valuables onto the Master's boat.
The townspeople frantically paddled their loaded boats through the canals while others huddled together in fear. Tauriel and Lyssaria watched the skies from the door of Bard's house, their expressions grim and with their Elven hearing they could hear the rumbling in the distance as Smaug approached, roaring. Suddenly, a huge shadow swooped overhead as Smaug arrived over Laketown and Tauriel and Lyssaria reentered Bard's house together to prepare the Dwarves and Bard's family to leave.
"We have no time. We must leave!" Tauriel said as she reentered the house and she picked up a coat and brought it over to Bard's youngest daughter Tilda who had been clinging to Lyssaria before.
"Get him up," Bofur said as he and Fili rushed to help Kili up, Kili now sitting in a chair and awake.
"Come on, brother," Fili said as he managed to get his brother on his feet, Bofur rushing towards them with a coat.
"Come on, come on! Let's go," Bofur said as Kili tried to shake off his brother's help.
"I'm fine - I can walk," Kili said in irritation as he shrugged off his brother's arm and Fili looked him over for a moment before letting him limp about on his own.
"As fast as you can," Tauriel told Sigrid and Tilda as she helped the younger girl bundle up to ward off the cold.
"We're not leaving. Not without our father," Bain told Tauriel stubbornly as Lyssaria took a leather bag and began to hurriedly stuff it with food and whatever could be used for medicine.
"If you stay here, your sisters will die. Is that what your father would want?" Tauriel told the boy bluntly, turning back to him as the Dwarves put on their coats.
"We cannot stop Smaug now," Lyssaria said and all eyes turned to her and she walked up to the boy. "What we can do is get you and your sisters to safety. You must trust that your father will take care of himself," She told the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder before she looked up at Sigrid. "Get your coat," She told the older girl who nodded and rushed to get it.
Across town, Bard was still locked within his cell and all of the men who had been guarding him were gone, called by the Master to remove the gold from his mansion. Bard clutched at his cell bars, anger filling him as he heard the bells ringing, signalling the approach of the dragon. His children were depending upon him. Smaug was coming and he had no way to reach them.
"Open the door! Do you hear me!" Bard shouted as he shook the bars of his cell and he felt fear fill his heart as he stopped shouting and saw Smaug high above the town through the small window in his cell, gliding out of the low hanging clouds. He then began to try to frantically break the lock. When it didn't break, he rushed to the other side of his jail cell, which was on an arch of a building overhanging a canal.
Tauriel, Lyssaria, the Dwarves, and Bard's children got into a boat at the back of the house, Bofur and Fili stepping down into it first with Lyssaria sinking herself down into the bow of the boat and wobbling slightly. How she ended up in Laketown with a dragon attacking was beyond her. She had only meant to go on her Wandering and possibly come back with an interesting story or two for her adad, but now she was involved in more than one dangerous fight .
"Give me your hand," Fili told Sigrid as he helped Bard's eldest daughter into the boat.
"Come on, we gotta go!" Bofur told the others, Tauriel stepping into the boat as Tilda and Oin hurried towards it.
"Quickly now! Hurry!" Tauriel told them all as she and Lyssaria heard a rumbling noise once more coming from the dragon.
"Kili, come on!" Fili shouted to his brother who was lagging a bit behind as he limped down the stairs and towards the boat and Kili at last made it and Fili helped him into the boat. They set off down the canal, Fili and Bofur poling the boat through the floating chunks of ice as people shouted around them in desperation to escape. Smaug swooped very low over their heads, and the townspeople screamed.
Fili looked up at the dragon, getting his first look at Smaug and his heart sank low. All the stories Thorin had told him had been true. Smaug truly was a monstrous beast. If the dragon was attacking Laketown, had any of the others survived at the mountain? Oin bent low over the children who huddled down in the bottom of the boat in fear, protecting the bairns and Kili looked up thinking the same as his brother. Tauriel looked up and for once she felt fear gripping at her heart. What could she do against a dragon? Her arrows would be nothing but flies buzzing about Smaug. A dragon's hide was thick armor. These people would surely die and she could not save them.
Lyssaria swore in Khuzdul as Smaug soared high above them and away from the town. Her adad had of course told her the stories about Erebor and of Smaug, but one could never quite imagine how big a dragon was. Now she was seeing him. If her adad knew where she was right now he would be tanning her hide. How was it that she had gotten herself caught up in such a mess?
Smaug turned high up in the air and began to dive steeply back towards Laketown, his chest glowing a bright orange as fire built up in his chest. As he got over the town, he unleashed his flames, bellowing his fire in a line all the way across the town. People screamed in terror, caught up in the inferno and were burnt to death, the heat of the flames felt all around the town. Many people jumped into the icy water to escape the flames, but not all were lucky, many people losing their lives.
Bard began to smash at his cell's bars with a pail, but to no avail as Smaug breathed fire over another section of the town. A man, on fire, fell out of his house and into the water as those who were poling their boats on the canal screamed in fear as the inferno grew closer to them. The Master, his men, and Alfrid poled their boat loaded with treasure through the water, with Smaug setting things on fire all around them.
"Come on! Come on! Faster! FASTER!" The Master shouted at the soldiers, his boat taking up the entire canal and people in their boats and on the docs reached out towards him, screaming in fear. "If only we could take more of these poor people with us, but they are hardly-" The Master said, shaking his head as the dragon breathed a line of flame behind them, blocking any escape from that way if they needed to go back.
"-worth it. I quite agree," Alfrid finished for the Master, now no longer caring about anyone else save for himself since he had seen the true ruin the dragon had brought. A man tried to climb onto the boat then to pull himself out of the water, but Alfrid turned and kicked him in the face sending the man back into the freezing water of the canal.
Across town, Bard tore his blanket into strips as people trampled each other in their efforts to escape the dragon. Everything had turned to chaos and all anyone could think about was saving themselves. Smaug continued to rain fire down upon the town, the heat blistering and stifling.
"Look out!" Bofur shouted as the Master's boat suddenly collided with theirs, upsetting everyone. Sigrid and Tilda screamed in fear and Oin grabbed on tighter to the two girls as Fili dropped his pole and almost went into the icy water as the boat listed to one side. Tauriel held onto the girls as Lyssaria managed to grab onto the Master's boat and Fili picked up his pole.
"Piss off!" Lyssaria shouted at the Master as she shoved their boat to the side, Fili and Bofur poling the two boats apart as some of the Master's treasure fell into the water.
"Move it! Move it! Come on, faster!" The Master shouted as his boat continued on down the main canal before he saw his gold falling into the water. Lyssaria grabbed a golden cup that bobbed on top of the water before it could sink into the canal and held it up before shooting a rather rude hand gesture towards the Master's retreating back. "My gold, my GOLD!" The Master shouted in dismay as more and more gold fell off his boat.
"We're carrying too much weight. We need to dump something!" Alfrid told the Master and while Alfrid looked at the pile of treasure, trying to decide what to throw overboard, the Master looked at him greedily.
"You're quite right, Alfrid," The Master told his manservant and the Master pushed Alfrid overboard, just as a cloth loop fell from above and caught around the Master's throat. It was the rope which Bard had made from his blanket and, having tied it to one end to his cell bars he had let the other end, the loop, out of the window of his cell and over the canal, where it had conveniently caught the Master.
"Faster! Faster!" Braga urged on his soldiers, the Captain at the front of the Master's boat having not seen what had happened to the Master behind him.
As the boat pulled ahead, the rope loop pulled the Master back, but he got stuck in front of the boat's rear post before he could be pulled off of his boat. As the rope tightened around his neck, he gagged and choked his eyes bulging wide in his head. Eventually, the pressure became too great and the entire side of Bard's prison broke open, the wood and bars pulling away and Bard escaped, staring out at the Master in satisfaction as he fell down into the bottom of his boat and frantically pulled the rope away from his throat while coughing and gasping for air.
As Smaug flew overhead, still bellowing flames down upon the town, Bard broke through the guardroom window with his feet, the glass shattering and raining down upon the floor as he vaulted himself inside. He looked around before grabbing a longbow and a quiver full of arrows. He tested his bowstring, running his fingers along it. It could not fail him now. He knew that a bow was no match against a dragon. A dragon's scales were tough armor, but perhaps he could fend the dragon off, distract him so the people could escape, give them more time. He had to do something. It wasn't just about being Girion's descendant. That dragon had done enough damage, killed enough people.
People screamed and shouted from below as they ran across the footpaths of the canals, trying to find a way out, the buildings around them engulfed in flames. They were trapped and the dragon kept circling the town intent on taking as many lives as he could. Bard pushed out some of the shingles in the upper story of the guardroom and as he looked out the bell was tolling the town engulfed in flame all around him.
He could see the Dwarven windlance ahead of him, but he did not have the black arrow, without it, he could do nothing. Bard clambered out onto the roof where he had a good vantage point and he was forced to duck low as Smaug flew by almost overhead. Bard stared after the dragon, his eyes wide before he began to run across the rooftops, heading toward the bell tower, the tallest building in the town as the tolling continued.
Third Person POV
Erebor
Back at the Lonely Mountain, Thorin and the Company watched the town burning in the distance from one of Erebor's overlooks, able to hear the tolling of the bells in the distance. Adaria was on her knees, her hands pressed tightly together and her eyes closed and she was hurriedly speaking under her breath. For Bifur and Bombur and Gloin it was the hardest knowing their brother or cousin was in the town which was on fire.
"Poor souls," Balin said in almost a whisper, standing behind Adaira and the Dwarves stared at each other in sadness and fear and Nori clasped his brother Ori on the back, the younger Dwarf unable to look at what was happening.
Bilbo looked back then and saw that Thorin was staring back at the halls of Erebor, not at Laketown, standing apart from them face filled with worry, but he didn't have long to contemplate the matter as Adaira suddenly began singing almost mournfully.
"Oh, misty eye of the mountain below," Adaira sang, her voice very soft and wavering slightly and the Dwarves turned to her, their eyes widening slightly and Bilbo's head turned towards her as she raised her head and looked out at the town burning on the Lake. "Keep careful watch of my brothers' souls," Adaira sang, her voice growing steadier as it got louder and she raised her eyes skyward and Bilbo saw tears welling up in her eyes. "And should the sky be filled with fire and smoke," She sang her voice wavering for only a moment more as she closed her eyes, tears escaping from them and falling down her cheeks. "Keep watching over Durin's folk," Adaira sang, her eyes opening as she exhaled shakily, sending a silent prayer up to Mahal to protect Fili and Kili along with Bofur and Oin.
"If this is to end in fire then we should all burn together, watch the flames climb high into the night, calling out Father oh, stand by and we will watch the flames burn on and on the mountain side," Adaira sang as Dwalin put a hand on his wife's shoulder and Adaira got to her feet, letting her husband wrap his arms around her as she drew on his strength.
"And if we should die tonight, then we should all die together, raise a glass of wine for the last time, calling out Father oh, prepare as we will watch the flames burn on and on the mountain side desolation comes upon the sky," Adaira sang shaking her head as more tears slipped down her cheeks.
"Now I see fire, inside the mountain, I see fire, burning the trees, and I see fire, hollowing souls and I see fire, blood in the breeze, and I hope that you'll remember me," Adaira sang and Bilbo was caught up in the haunting melody as she sang of Smaug laying waste to Laketown.
"Oh, should my people fall then surely I'll do the same, confined in mountain halls we got too close to the flame, calling out Father oh, hold fast and we will watch the flames burn on and on the mountain side desolation comes upon the sky," Adaira sang mournfully as several of the other Dwarves let tears fall themselves.
"Now I see fire, inside the mountain, I see fire, burning the trees, and I see fire, hollowing souls and I see fire, blood in the breeze, and I hope that you'll remember me," Adaira sang and she was sobbing now as she sang, the image of Laketown on fire emblazoned in her mind.
"And if the night is burning, I will cover my eyes for if the dark returns then my brothers will die. And as the sky's falling down it crashed into this lonely town and with that shadow upon the ground I hear my people screaming out," Adaira sang her husband holding her tightly as she continued to sob.
"Now I see fire, inside the mountain, I see fire, burning the trees, and I see fire, hollowing souls and I see fire, blood in the breeze. I see fire, oh you know I saw a city burning. And I see fire, feel the heat upon my skin. And I see fire. And I see fire burn on and on the mountain side," Adaira sang before she sank in her husband arms, unable to hold herself up any longer and Dwalin supported her before bending down and picking her up, cradling her to his chest as she sobbed and pressed her face into his chest her heart breaking for all those in Laketown and filled with fear for her brothers and friends.
Third Person POV
Laketown
Bard slid down a roof top before jumping to the next, carefully balancing along the wooden beam of the peak of the roof and crossing it as quickly as he could. Smaug, who was flying over the town, turned his head then and growled as he saw Bard leaping from roof to roof. He turned mid flight, now making his way towards Bard, flying low over the rooftops and Bard cried out as he jumped off of the roof he was on, flying over the canal to the rooftop across from it. Bard just made the jump and Smaug's claws tore into the roof he had just been on, destroying the top of the roof which caved in on itself.
Bard fell, slipping on the shingles as fire flew up in his face from a hole in the roof and he slid toward the edge. He would have fallen off of the roof and down into the canal if he had not reached back quickly and pulled an arrow from his quiver which he drove into the roof, stopping his fall. Bard groaned and cried out as he hung from one arm over the edge of the building which was on fire. Smaug, thinking he had killed him, returned to breathing fire down upon the town, buildings and bridges falling as the wood gave way.
Tauriel hid their boat under an overhang as Smaug rained fire down around them and she looked back at Kili and Bard's children. Kili's expression was grave while the look on the children's faces was nothing but fear as they saw their town they had grown up in reduced to ashes. Lyssaria looked back from the other end of the boat and she nodded to Tauriel feeling the same trepidation as the other Elf. As Tilda whimpered in fear, Lyssaria reached out a hand to the young girl and grabbed onto her tightly, bending low in the boat.
Across town, Bard finally made it to the bell tower, the bell still tolling across Laketown and he rapidly climbed up the winding steps of the bell tower. Once at the top, Bard pulled his quiver off of his back and pulled the arrows free from it and looked out at the sky which was alight with fire. Below him, the entire town was engulfed in flames, nothing having been saved from Smaug's inferno.
As Smaug soared by after bellowing flames down upon the town once more Bard, notched an arrow and launched it at the dragon, but it merely bounced off Smaug's scales and fell to the ground below. Bard, standing directly below the ringing bell, got nauseated by the booming sound, so he pulled out his dagger and cut the bell's rope, silencing it before coming up and shooting another arrow at Smaug, but this arrow, like the first, bounced harmlessly off of Smaug's armoured hide. In the canals below, Bain, on the boat with his family, the Dwarves, and the Elves, noticed his father at the top of the tower as he searched about for him.
"Da!" Bain called out in relief at having finally found his father before he noticed that his father was standing at the top of the bell tower, trying to take on the dragon alone.
"DA!" Tilda shouted in desperation and fear and as they watched, Bard shot yet another arrow, harmlessly hitting the dragon.
"He hit it! He hit the dragon!" Kili exclaimed as he looked back at Tauriel who watched the human archer take on the dragon alone.
"No…," Tauriel said, as the dragon rained down fire around the bell tower, knowing that no matter how many arrows the human shot at the dragon he would not bring it down.
"He did! He hit his mark, I saw!" Kili insisted and Tauriel shook her head, not wanting Kili to have hope.
"His arrows cannot pierce its hide; I fear nothing will," Tauriel told Kili, her heart sinking as she watched the death and destruction all around her. Today the evil was stronger than her and she could not stop it. She was defenseless against a dragon, they all were.
Bain looked down disconsolately at Tauriel's words but then he looked up and noticed the statue of the Master of Laketown, and below it, the boat in which he had hidden the Black Arrow his father had asked him to keep safe. Bain's face turned up into a look of determination and as their boat passed under a hanging hook, Bain leapt up and grabbed it, swinging clear of the boat. The others tried to grab at him but missed.
"What are you doing?!" Bofur shouted as Bain swung clear of the boat and he tried to catch him to pull him back.
"Come back! Bain, come back!" Fili insisted as Bain used the hook and the crane it was attached to to swing to the dock from where he began to run toward the boat with the Black Arrow.
"Leave him! We cannot go back!" Tauriel told the others as Tilda flung herself partially out of the boat, reaching for her brother, Oin and Fili drawing her back into the boat.
"Bain!" Tilda shouted in pain and grief and Lyssaria looked at the girl and then at the boy before rising from where she was sitting in the boat and as they passed by another boat in the canal she jumped into it and out of their boat.
"Lyssaria!" Tauriel shouted after the Dwelf who looked over her shoulder only once before she turned her head forward and quickly scouted out a pathway across the canal. "We cannot come back!" Tauriel shouted and Lyssaria turned back as she made it to the dock.
"I do not expect you to. Go! I will get him," Lyssaria shouted and Tauriel nodded as the Dwelf turned back to rush after Bain, grumbling under her breath about how there was always someone who had to be a hero.
Lyssaria jumped over a boat that was on fire and skipped across a ruined dock as she ran after Bain. She put her head down, sprinting through the fire engulfed town, swearing under her breath as she did so, bobbing and weaving. Her ears perked up, her Elven hearing picking up on the sound of the dragon coming in for another dive bomb and she put on an extra rush of speed and grabbed Bain who was just ahead of her, pulling him out of the way and tucking him against her as the dragon bellowed out flame right where Bain would have just run into.
"You cannot just run off like that!" Lyssaria scolded the boy angrily after the fire storm ceased, the boy looking up at her in shock.
"I have to get this to Da," Bain told her and he held up the black arrow and Lyssaria looked down at it, her eyes widening in shock.
"A Black Arrow?" She said in surprise before she turned her head and looked up at the bell tower in the distance. "Stay close to me," Lyssaria told Bain, grabbing his hand and the two of them began to run through Laketown, dodging the fire.
At the top of the tower, Bard reached for his arrows, only to find one left. He hesitated in fear, exhaling sharply and then he grabbed it, notching the arrow in his bow and pulling back the bowstring as far as it would go before shooting it at Smaug. This time, Smaug passed so close to the bell tower that the wind knocked Bard over. Smaug howled, feeling the arrow, although it didn't hurt him. Lying on the floor of the bell tower, Bard breathed heavily as he watched Smaug swoop away. He heard footsteps then and suddenly Bain's head popped up at the top of the ladder in the bell tower, shocking Bard.
"Dad!" Bain shouted his expression a mixture of worry and grief as he looked about quickly, having seen the dragon pass by so closely. Bard rolled over onto his side, still breathing heavily as he looked at his eldest child.
"Bain?! What are you doing?! Why didn't you leave?! You were supposed to leave!" Bard shouted at his son in confusion and shock wondering what his son was still doing, why his son was still here when he was in so much danger.
"I came to help you," Bain answered his father earnestly.
"No! Nothing can stop him now!" Bard told his son, looking over his shoulder at the dragon and the town in flames.
"This might," Bain told his father and he held up the Black Arrow.
"Bain - you go back," Bard told his son, grasping the Black Arrow as he looked at it gratefully, his son's eyes filling with tears. "You get out of here now!" He told his son, stroking his son's face. Bard heard a woman shout then from below Bain, Lyssaria hearing Smaug snarl and both she and Bain saw Smaug approaching the tower rapidly, Smaug having determined where the arrows were coming from.
"DAD!" Bain shouted in warning just before Smaug smashed through the top part of the bell tower. Bard found himself lying down on the remaining top of the tower a moment later and once the shock of the moment wore off his first thoughts were of his son.
"BAIN!" Bard shouted immediately and he rolled over to the edge of the bell tower and saw his son who was hanging by one arm to the remains of the bell tower, a woman hanging on to the side just beneath him.
Bain still had the Black Arrow gripped tightly in his hand and the woman gritted her teeth as she let go of the bell tower with one hand and grabbed onto the Black Arrow as it slipped a little in Bain's grasp, the inferno that ranged beneath them making his hands sweaty. Bard had no idea who the woman was, but as she lifted her head to look at him he saw her pointy ears that proved her to be an Elf.
Bard did not know why this Elf was with his son, but he was grateful for it now. He grabbed onto his son's arm and hauled him back up onto the top of the bell tower, his son lying down as Bard reached back over the edge to give a hand to the Elf. She put her slender hand into his and Bard hauled her up into the top of the bell tower which swayed under their combined weight. Lyssaria breathed heavily as she once again got to safety as Bard checked on his son and she pulled her bow free from her back and notched an arrow into it, hoping to tag herself a dragon. Even if she was nothing more than the buzzing of flies, it might give them enough time to figure out a plan.
Meanwhile, Smaug landed close by in the town, crushing buildings underneath his weight. He landed directly in the way of the Master's boat and the Master upon seeing the dragon landing in front of him began frantically calling for his soldiers to stop propelling him towards the massive beast.
"Stop! Stop! Halt! Halt!" The Master ordered as Bard pulled the Black Arrow out of the hands of his petrified son and he stood up, facing Smaug, Lyssaria placing a hand on Bain's forehead.
"Sîdh," (Peace) Lyssaria told the boy in a calm voice, imbuing what little Elven power she had into the word.
Unlike Tauriel who could use her Fae, her grace given to her as one of the Eldar to heal or to use Elven magic, Lyssaria did not possess this. She still possessed some Elven magic, and could heal a minor wound with it if the need was great, but she was only half Elven and thus her skills were limited. The power to calm others was her greatest gift and came in handy amongst her Dwarven kin. Lyssaria stood up then, standing beside Bard, balancing on the rickety tower, her bow pointed downwards as Smaug turned to face them from quite a bit of distance away.
"Who are you that would stand against me?!" Smaug demanded of Bard who grabbed his bow only to find that it had been broken in half when Smaug had smashed into the tower.
"Now that is a pity. What will you do now, Bowman?" Smaug asked as Bard stared at the dragon in fear. Lyssaria handed Bard her bow and Bard inspected it, but the dainty Elven bow was not going to be powerful enough to shoot an arrow of the Black Arrow's size.
"You are forsaken. No help will come," Smaug taunted as Lyssaria and Bard looked around frantically, finding nothing to help them as Smaug began to walk towards them, crushing the buildings beneath him.
"Now's our chance! Go! Go! Head for the open water!" The Master yelled to his oarsmen, seeing his chance to flee while the dragon was distracted by Bard, ever the champion of the people.
"Is that your child?" Smaug asked with a chuckle as he looked at the tower and growled, licking his lips, Bain sitting up near Lyssaria's feet and staring at the dragon in sheer terror. "You cannot save him from the fire. He will BURN!" Smaug roared, crushing buildings under his wings and as he continued to approach and Bard affixed the two broken halves of his bow into the walls of the bell tower before restringing the bowstring taunt between them.
Bard got his son to his feet then and had his son stand as he notched the Black Arrow into his makeshift bow, laying the front end of the Black Arrow on the shoulder of his son, who was standing in between the fixed pieces of the bow and facing him. Bain panted in fear, hearing Smaug approaching from behind him, but unable to see the dragon.
"Stay still, son. Stay still," Bard told his son, standing with Lyssaria behind him, and he looked over his shoulder at her. "Reach around me, pull back on the bowstring," He ordered the Elf, knowing that he needed to pull the bowstring back as much as it could go and the Elf reached around his waist, her chest pressed to his back and she pulled back hard on the bowstring by several more inches.
"Tell me, wretch - How now shall you challenge me?!" Smaug demanded, his chest beginning to glow bright orange as fire built up in his chest. It was then that Bard noticed a missing scale on Smaug's chest, the scale that was broken by Girion, Lord of Dale and a small smile crossed Bard's face as he realized that one shot was all he needed.
"You have nothing left, but your DEATH!" Smaug roared, howling in rage and he began to approach more rapidly. Bain looked over his shoulder at the dragon, but Bard called him back.
"Bain! Look at me. You look at me," Bard told his son as Smaug roared behind them, getting even closer and Lyssaria grimaced her hands beginning to go numb as she pulled back on the bowstring, clinging to Bard as there was barely any room for them all atop the bell tower.
Bard strained with the effort of holding the Black Arrow taut himself and grunted and Bain, no longer afraid, trusting his father now had calmed down and was no longer panting. Bard aimed the Black Arrow, aiming for the place where Smaug was missing a scale. He had but this one shot. It had to be perfect.
"A little to your left," Bard told his son and Bain shifted a little to his left, moving the tip of the arrow to the right, toward the spot where Bard noticed the missing scale on Smaug. "That's it," Bard told his son and both he and Lyssaria strained to hold the bowstring taunt for a few seconds more, waiting for Smaug to get just a bit closer. "Now!" Bard shouted and Lyssaria let go of the bowstring at the same moment as Bard and the Black Arrow flew off of Bain's shoulder at a high speed.
Bard caught Lyssaria quickly as she stumbled and pulled the shorter woman in front of him and they watched as the Black Arrow hurtled through the air and sunk all the way to the feathers, almost six or seven feet, into Smaug's chest through the spot without a scale. As Smaug leapt forward in pain and fear, Lyssaria grabbed onto Bain who was in front of her, pulling him fast against her chest and shielding him with her body and Bard grabbed onto her, shielding the both of them, just as Smaug careened into the tower.
Bard, Lyssaria, and Bain fell with the tower which crashed down into the water below as Smaug rolled and slid through the town, destroying everything in his path, crushing buildings and tearing them apart. He struggled to fly into the sky, groaning and with massive effort, he managed to flap a few hundred feet up into the air, screaming and wheezing in pain before he gasped for breath. His throat and his chest around where the arrow had sunken in deep glowed bright orange briefly but soon, his eyes lost their light, and he fell back down upon the city, dead at last, with the end of the arrow sticking out of his heart.
The Master looked up, hearing a loud whistling noise coming from above him and he only had a moment for his face to express his terror before the dead dragon landed directly upon the Master's boat, crushing it and killing everyone on board. The sound of Smaug hitting the water echoed out into the night which had grown silent, the screams of those caught up in the fire storm silent now.
Adaira's POV
I was no longer able to cry, feeling hollow inside as Dwalin held me tightly, sitting on a rock as we waited, waited to see what would happen. No doubt once Smaug was done destroying Laketown he would come back to finish us off. All those people. Their deaths were on our hands. We woke the dragon. This was our fault. And Fili and Kili, they were in Laketown. We had sentenced them to death by our actions. My brothers and Thorin...Thorin was not himself and he didn't even pretend to act like he cared about them or Bofur and Oin.
I had seen the change in Thorin not just when he wouldn't go in to save Bilbo, but on the overlook in the treasury when he had threatened Bilbo. I had seen his face, his expression. He was so cold and uncaring, so very much unlike himself. He was...it had to be the Goldsickness. I hadn't even thought about it, hadn't given it much thought at all when I stepped in and stopped Thorin before he could harm Bilbo.
The look my Uncle gave me...it was because in his eyes I had issued a challenge to his authority. If that noise from the mountain or Smaug hadn't had interrupted us, I wondered now how far Thorin would have gone with our fight. Until one of us was beaten or until one of us was killed? He stood now apart from us all, not looking down upon Laketown and the destruction we had wrought, but at Erebor. All he could think about now was the gold. It was starting to consume him already. Smaug knew of it. He said he wanted to see Thorin driven mad by the Arkenstone and the gold.
I knew as sure as I knew my own name that something was wrong with Thorin, that he was no longer himself and I feared for him and what that might mean. I raised my head, looking out into the night sorrowfully. Reclaiming our homeland was a beautiful dream, a dream we all shared, but maybe it was a dream better left alone. I saw Smaug rushing forward though the town then and he reared back as if struck by something. He seemed to struggle then to climb back up into the sky and then suddenly as he was only a few hundred feet in the air he began to plummet back towards the town.
Strangely he didn't open his wings, in fact he didn't move at all and I hurriedly stood up from my husband's arms and rushed to look out over the overlook as a large crash echoed off of the mountain and throughout the landscape. I frowned as the others got to their feet and I searched the town for signs of Smuag, but came up with nothing. Had I just seen what I thought I had?
"What was that? What happened?" Ori asked as he stood up, the others trying to figure out what had happened. I could see the flames still rising high into the night, painting the sky red, but no signs of Smaug.
"It fell. I saw it," Bilbo said as he rushed forward to my side, all of us peering out at the town in the early morning light, the sun just starting to rise above the mountains in the distance. "It's dead. Smaug is dead!" Bilbo exclaimed and I laughed with nervous energy and clapped a hand over my mouth as I sighed in relief and Dwalin put a hand on my back before drawing me back into his chest.
"By my beard! I think he's right!" Gloin said as I saw my Uncle over my husband's shoulder. Thorin was still staring at the Lonely Mountain rather than Laketown, and a strange expression of happiness crossed over his face at the news of the dragon's demise. "Look there! The ravens of Erebor are returning to the mountain!" Gloin announced and I pulled back from Dwalin to look as several birds swooped in towards the mountain, cawing and croaking.
"Aye - Word will spread. Before long every soul in Middle-earth will know - The dragon is dead!" Balin announced and the others began to laugh and cheer in glee. I allowed myself to smile a little as Dwalin cheered along with the rest of them, knocking his brother on the forehead before the sound began to muffle in my ears and I felt a little dizzy.
I turned back to look at the smouldering ruins of the town, unable to believe it. Dead? Could Smaug really be dead after all of that? I felt tears well up in my eyes once more as I thought of what was down there, the dead that no doubt floated in the water or had been dragged down into the lake. Their swollen, bloated bodies, eyes wide in fear. Or worse, no bodies to speak of, their flesh blistered or turned to ash in the inferno.
I turned back to look at my Uncle and he was gone. I hurried towards the edge of the lookout point away from the others and saw that he was hurrying away down towards the gates of Erebor. Before I could make a decision as to what to do about him a wave of dizziness came over me making me stumble slightly and I shook my head. I reached up and rubbed the side of my head, blinking as I felt nauseous before bone numbing exhaustion took over my body and my knees buckled.
I heard Bilbo call out for me and felt my body falling without my consent and before I could hit my head on the rocks, Dwalin turned around and caught me. He stared down into my eyes, and I could tell he was scared as black spots danced over my vision. I didn't know what it was, but I felt weak, sick, and like I was going to faint. My hearing was still muffled and from behind Dwalin's head I could see the others, their faces filled with worry and concern as they called out for me and that was when I gave into the void, blacking out.
Khuzdul:
Adad- Father
