I am so so sorry for being so late with this chapter. Just like with A Whole New World, I will be posting two chapters up to make up for it. I'm not sure if one will be going up at Christmas as I only have two fully written up. We'll have to see what happens.
Review response;
Guest Palacegirl – You're welcome, I'm glad you're enjoying it so much. Thank you for following this story, it means a lot xx and don't worry, Caladwen will be at the mountain with the others soon enough xx
Chapter 33
Thorin, Bilbo, and Balin run out onto a bridge.
"This way!" Thorin calls out.
A booming sound comes from nearby, and Smaug appears, causing the three of them to stop.
"Flee, flee! Run for your lives! There is nowhere to hide."
Smaug goes at the three, but he turns at another sound. Dori, Ori, and Bombur are running on another bridge and yelling to distract Smaug.
"Behind you! Worm!" Dori yells ot.
Smaug looks at them, then lunges toward them. The three of them turn and run.
"Come on!"
As Smaug chases the second group, Thorin, Bilbo, and Balin continue across the bridge. Suddenly, the third group, Dwalin and Nori, run across another bridge and yell to distract Smaug.
"Hey you! Here!" Dwalin shouts.
Smaug turns and jumps at them. They run off the bridge and into a tunnel just before Smaug's claw lands where they were. The fourth and last group, Gloin and Bifur, use this chance to run across a bridge and make it into a tunnel as well.
Angrily, Smaug blows fire after the both of them. He blows rapidly in an arc all around him, into all the tunnels. His fire causes the stones beneath Gloin and Bifur to glow in heat. They reach a cliff and leap into the air, landing in large troughs which they slide down. They land in the buckets of a large hanging conveyor belt system used in the past for mining.
Balin, Thorin, and Bilbo run through a large hallway. Balin turns into a side tunnel, but Thorin continues forward with Bilbo at his heels.
"It's this way! This way! Come on!" Balin calls out to them.
Bilbo stops by the tunnel, and calls out to Thorin, who is still ahead.
"Thorin!"
Thorin turns and begins to go back to Bilbo and Balin, but stops suddenly. They all see Smaug at the end of the hallway. Thorin yells at Bilbo.
"Follow Balin!"
Bilbo calls out for Thorin while backing up towards Balin.
"Come on!"
Balin pulls Bilbo into the side tunnel just as Smaug's chest glows orange and he unleashes his fire throughout the hall. Thorin cries out and runs the other way, leaping into the air, falling into a deep pit. He catches onto a chain with a bucket at the end of it, and it begins descending just as Smaug leaps into the pit as well. Smaug claws his way down the tunnel, snapping at Thorin on the chain. Dwalin runs up to the mouth of the pit.
"Thorin!"
Dwalin smashes his axe into the machinery holding the chain Thorin is holding on to, and the chain stops descending abruptly. Beside Dwalin, a heavy holding bucket on the other end of the same chain begins descending rapidly, causing Thorin's chain to fly upward as Dwalin yells out for him to hold on.
Thorin soars upward, narrowly missing Smaug's head. Smaug turns and manages to grab the end of Thorin's chain, stopping its movement. Smaug pulls down, at the machinery holding the chain at the top of the pit breaks free of its moorings and falls into the pit. Hit chain slack, Thorin falls and lands right on the tip of Smaug's closed mouth. He stands on Smaug's top lip as Smaug growls and opens his mouth; fire is visibly rising up his neck.
Just as Smaug snaps his mouth closed to eat Thorin, Thorin leaps to the side and grabs another chain. Smaug turns to bite him, but the falling machinery strikes him in the face. Nori, at the top of the pit, hits another machine, and its gears spin rapidly, pulling Thorin on his chain rapidly upward. Smaug roars and unleashes his fire straight towards Thorin. Looking up at hearing his name, he sees Nori hanging over with his hand out, which he grabs when he gets to the top. Nori pulls him onto the ledge just as the fire blares past.
"Go! Go!" Thorin yells pushing Nori on ahead.
Thorin and Nori run through narrow slits between tall, stone pillars and join the other dwarves and Bilbo, apart from Bifur and Gloin. They are standing in front of several massive dwarf furnaces, each at least ten yards high.
"The plan's not going to work. These furnaces are stone cold." Dwalin points out.
Balin nods. "He's right; there's no fire hot enough to set them ablaze."
The furnaces are all dark, with no sign of fire within. Thorin turns back toward the pit when he hears Smaug's growling.
"Have we not?" He walks over to the pillars, placing a hand on each. "I did not look to see you so easily outwitted!"
Smaug's claw emerges from the pit, his body following it. Thorin continues taunting him.
"You have grown slow and fat in your dotage."
Smaug snarls at Thorin in anger.
"Slug."
As Smaug snarls and advances, Thorin gets behind a pillar and yells to the others to do the same.
"Take cover. Go!"
They all rush behind pillars just as Smaug unleashes his flame at them. The fire goes past the pillars and reaches all the way to the furnaces. The dwarves and Bilbo, though not in the direct path of the fire, yell from the pain, heat, and pressure. As Smaug stops, fire suddenly comes out of the bottoms of the furnaces, and they begin glowing and working. Smaug growls in confusion and anger. The dwarves run from the pillars as Smaug begins battering at them with his head. They are immensely strong, like a latticework of metal, but they begin to bend under Smaug's tremendous strength.]
"Bombur! Get those bellows working. Go!"
"Alright!"
Bombur runs and leaps onto a chain next to a forge. The chain slides down with his weight, and he lands on the handle of a massive bellows. The bellows compress and blast air into the furnace, which exhumes bright blue flames. On top of the furnaces is a massive pile of unrefined gold, at least ten yards in diameter.
Thorin turns and sees the latticework continue to bend from Smaug's bashing.
"Bilbo! Up there, on my mark, pull that lever."
He points Bilbo toward a lever high up on a mound, and Bilbo runs toward it. The dwarves run toward the forges as the latticework begins to break. Thorin grabs Balin.
"Balin, can you still make some flash-flame?"
"Aye. It'll only take a jiffy."
Balin grabs some of the other dwarves to help him.
"Come on!"
As Balin runs off, Dwalin looks at the latticework, which is bending dangerously from Smaug's blows.
"We don't have a jiffy."
Under the force of Smaug's onslaught, the latticework finally gives way and falls to the ground. Smaug storms into the furnace room. He looks about, growling.
In a storage room nearby, Balin and some other dwarves frantically mix together various powders into jars to make flash-flame bombs.
"Where's the sulfur?" Balin asks as he collects things he needs.
Dori looks to him "You sure you know what you're doing?
Bilbo clambers up some steps and reaches the lever mounted high on a tower; Smaug begins walking toward him.
Balin chuckles as he pours a vial of powder into empty jars.
"Come on!" Dori yells out.
Smaug walks toward Bilbo.
Balin drops some small ball into each jar.
Smaug raises his head to look at Bilbo, then looks to the side and sees Thorin standing there. Smaug turns and snarls at Thorin, and Thorin yells to Bilbo.
"Now!"
Bilbo jumps into the air and pulls down on the lever just as Thorin lunges toward Thorin. Huge jets of water burst out of carved faces in the wall behind Bilbo and slam into Smaug, knocking him off balance and quenching the flames he was beginning to blow at Thorin. Smaug slides into the side of a furnace from the force of the water, and the glow in his chest disappears. Roaring in rage, Smaug flaps into the air and begins thrashing about madly. The jets of water cause a watermill to begin turning some gears, which causes the various rope conveyor belts to begin operating. Some of them are full of heavy chunks of rock and ore.
Bombur continues going up and down on his chain, pumping the bellows and turning the furnace fire blue. Atop the furnaces, the solid impure gold begins to glow and melt. Smaug begins crawling toward Thorin again. Above him, Gloin and Bifur have arrived in buckets on conveyor belt, looking over and watching the madness below.
As Smaug approaches Thorin, there is a flash of blue light on the side of his head. Balin, Ori, and Dori are throwing flash-flame bombs at Smaug. However, Smaug is not at all fazed by them and continues toward Thorin. Above Smaug, Gloin raises his axe and cuts the rope of the conveyor belt full of heavy rocks below him, dropping tons of rocks on Smaug and making him fall to the ground, roaring.
The gold atop the furnaces is completely melted now. Thorin runs over to a furnace and pulls on a chain, opening a gate which allows the molten gold to flow out of the furnaces and through troughs built into the ground.
Smaug, tangled in the ropes of the conveyor belt, thrashes about and hits the rope of the conveyor belt Gloin and Bifur are in, breaking it and knocking it to the floor.
"Noo! Ahhh!" Gloin yells as he and Bifur fall.
They miraculously land on the ground unhurt. Beneath Smaug, rivers of molten gold flow through the troughs on the floor. Thorin turns and begins running, shouting back at the dwarves.
"Lead him to the Gallery of the Kings!"
As Smaug thrashes about, one of the heavy metal buckets tangled on him goes flying toward Bilbo on top of the mound. Bilbo yells and ducks, and the bucket misses him but takes large chunks out of the wall.
Thorin grabs a wheelbarrow and runs while pushing it, dodging Smaug's thrashing limbs. Smaug's tail smashes into the base of the mound, cracking it and worrying Bilbo. Thorin throws the wheelbarrow into a channel of gold and leaps into the wheelbarrow; it floats on the gold and is carried along.
Seeing this, Smaug roars and whips his head around, finally getting rid of the ropes and buckets tangled around him. He stomps over to a small entrance at the base of the mound where all the troughs of liquid gold join and lead out of the room. Before he can get to Thorin, Thorin on his wheelbarrow floats through the entrance, just as the mound collapses and Bilbo falls. He manages to hit the ground rolling. Smaug sees Bilbo and snarls. Thorin turns his head back and yells.
"Keep going, Bilbo! Run!"
Bilbo takes off running with Smaug in pursuit; he leaps onto a large stone slide before Smaug can grab him, and Smaug slides after him, demolishing all the stone structures nearby with his wings.
The trough Thorin is floating in ends at a drop; as his wheelbarrow goes over the edge, Thorin leaps from it and grabs onto a chain. The molten gold drops into a large stone mould.
Bilbo, running from Smaug, runs through a doorway and into a massive hall adorned with banners hundreds of feet tall. Just as he runs in, the wall above the doorway explodes as Smaug jumps through it. Bilbo runs frantically from the flying rocks, but is caught beneath the cloth of a falling banner and knocked to the floor. Smaug leaps to the floor and shouts angrily.
"You think you could deceive me, Barrel-rider?"
Bilbo peaks out from the edge of the banner.
"You have come from Laketown. There is- is some sort of scheme hatched between these filthy dwarves and those miserable cup-trading Lakemen. Those sniveling cowards with their longbows and black arrows!"
Smaug is talking to himself, and his voice breaks in both anger and fear when he mentions the black arrows.
"Perhaps it is time I paid them a visit."
Smaug turns to go to Laketown, and Bilbo gasps as he thinks of those people, of Bard and the children and Fili, Kili, Bofur, Oin and hopefully Caladwen if she made it, they'll be defenceless!
"Oh, no."
He scrambles out from under the banner and yells at Smaug.
"This isn't their fault! Wait! You cannot go to Laketown."
Hearing this, Smaug stops for a moment, then turns toward Bilbo, who is running after him.
"You care about them, do you? Good. Then you can watch them die."
Smaug turns and strides off down the hall. Suddenly, a voice sounds from one end of the hall, where there is a massive stone structure that looks roughly like a dwarf. The voice is Thorin's; he is standing atop the structure.
"Here, you witless worm!"
Smaug stops in his track, snarling and squinting in anger. He then turns toward Thorin.
"You."
"I am taking back what you stole."
Smaug slowly stalks toward Thorin.
"You would take nothing from me, Dwarf. I laid low your warriors of old. I instilled terror in the hearts of men. I am King under the Mountain."
His head is level with Thorin now; Bilbo watches from an adjoining hall.
"This is not your kingdom. These are dwarf lands, this is dwarf gold, and we will have our revenge."
Unseen by Smaug, there are chains attached to various places on the back of the stone dwarf structure Thorin is standing on, and the ends of these chains are held by the other dwarves. As Thorin speaks, Smaug's chest and neck glow with fire, and Thorin slowly reaches up toward a rope above him. Just as Smaug opens his mouth, Thorin yells and order in Khuzdul. He then yanks on the rope, and a pin behind the stone falls out, releasing heavy wooden bands and chains that had been wrapped tightly around the stone.
Smaug rears his head in confusion. The other dwarves pull mightily on their chains, and more pins similar to the first are pulled out of the stone. The stone structure, which is now revealed to be the mold into which the liquid gold from earlier poured into, falls apart and reveals a massive statue of a dwarf king, made entirely out of solid gold. Thorin swings away on a rope to escape the falling rocks.
Smaug looks at the golden statue, which is even larger than him, in awe and desire. As he approaches it, his mouth opens slightly in greed. Suddenly, the gold around the statue's eyes warps and then explodes into liquid; the gold in the statue had not yet fully solidified, and the entire statue collapses and explodes into burning hot liquid. Smaug roars in anger as the statue melts, and scrabbles backward to escape the gold. However, he cannot move fast enough and the tidal wave of gold hits him and knocks him over. As he roars, he is entirely smothered and drowned in the gold, which fills the entire hall in a layer several feet deep.
The gold settles, and no sign of Smaug is seen. The dwarves begin to smile in joy, but suddenly, the surface of the golden lake explodes as Smaug leaps out. He is entirely covered in gold, and he screams in anger and pain.
"Ahh! Revenge?! Revenge! I will show you REVENGE!"
As the dwarves and Bilbo look on in shock, Smaug runs down the hallway and takes off in flight.
Outside the mountain, it is night; we see the great doors of Erebor closed and shut. Suddenly, the side of the mountain breaks as an enraged Smaug smashes his way out. He flaps his wings and lifts off into the sky, spinning and causing the remaining gold on him to fall off in a golden shimmer. He swoops off toward Laketown.
As the ground rumbles again and a roar heard through the night, I instantly know that Smaug is out and heading in our direction, especially when I hear the cries of people in the street. Hearing Tilda whimper in fear, I hold her close to give her some comfort.
Smaug soars through the air toward Laketown, talking to himself.
"I am fire. I am. . .DEATH!"
Bilbo having run out after the dragon, stands and watches helplessly as the dragon makes his way towards Lake Town.
"What have we done?"
There we go. the dwarves have reclaimed the mountain and Smaug is now on his way to Lake Town to seek his revenge. I hope you all enjoyed this and continue to the next chapter xx