PLEASE READ BELOW! VERY IMPORTANT! DON'T SKIP BOLDED AUTHOR'S NOTE!
A/n: Remember first chapter when I said it's supposed to be like a blog post, where Aurora might cut in and out of the story. Here you go for that example. If it's large chunks of story that is italicized, she's cutting into the story. Basically, any point that is italicized is her cutting into the story. Like pulling a Kuzco from the Emperor's New Groove.
END OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION. YOU MAY READ THE NEW CHAPTER NOW.
I'm going to die!
We're going to die!
I'm going to die!
We're going to die!
I'm going to die!
We're going to die!
I'm going to die!
We're going to die!
I'm going to die!
We're going to die!
I'm going to die!
We're going to die!
We spirited out of there as fast as we could, running up the steps of a corridor, while Smaug grew angry that he couldn't kill us. We somehow made it back to the overhang we entered the hall in. There Thorin stood, with a sword in hand, staring down at the gold. "You're alive!" He said when he heard our footsteps as we both ran side by side up the stairs.
"Not for much longer!" I yelled out, turning to the entrance of the tunnel when Thorin stepped in front of me, blocking the door. "Did you find the Arkenstone?" He demanded.
"The dragon's coming!" Bilbo argued.
"The Arkenstone!" Thorin yelled back at us.
The three of us stared at each other. Bilbo and I tried to catch our breath as Thorin continued to block the doorway. "Did you find it?" he questioned, his voice lowering. "Now is really not the time for this, boys." I huffed, glancing between the two of them.
"No. We have to get out." Bilbo answered, heading for the tunnel when Thorin swung his sword across it, blocking the entrance. He pressed his blade against Bilbo, who stumbled back. He placed the tip of his sword against Bilbo's chest.
"Thorin." I cautioned, trying to snap him out of whatever trance he was in. Bilbo yelled out his name, his eyes full of fear while he stared at Thorin. Thorin's face was steel and blank of emotion, as if he was in trance. Thorin inched Bilbo away from the door, pushing him closer to the edge of the overhang. "Thorin! Leave him alone!" I yelled at him, trying to grab his arm and pull him away from Bilbo.
Suddenly we heard growling. The three of us turned to see, Smaug approaching us over the mountain of treasure. He looked very upset at seeing that we were alive and that Thorin was here. Thorin turned to face Smaug, when suddenly the remaining dwarves ran out of the tunnel, their weapons ready to face Smaug.
"You will burn!" Smaug growled at us, charging towards us, breathing fire in all directions. Just as the fire reached us, we all turned and tumbled down the pile of treasure behind us, landing near the entrance to another tunnel, which we all ran into.
Thorin was the last one to run into the room, his coat on fire. He threw himself onto the ground to extinguish the flames before jumping back up. "Come on." He said, leading the way.
We approached a stone bridge over a chasm. Thorin raised his hand to quiet the group. Thorin neared the foot of the bridge, looking for any sign of Smaug before turning back to the group.
"We've given him the slip." Dori whispered.
"No, he's too cunning for that." Dwalin argued.
Wait did you guys know he was a dragon? I'm confused.
"So, where to now?" Bilbo asked.
"The western guardroom. There may be a way out." Thorin answered.
Balin shook his head, not liking that idea. "It's too high. There's no chance that way."
"It's our only chance. We have to try." Thorin said. Quietly, we began to walk across the stone bridge, hoping Smaug didn't spot us. Suddenly, a coin from nowhere falls to the floor and rings loudly. Everyone froze and looked at Bilbo, who began to frantically check and make sure no other coins were on him. Then everyone looked at me, and I did the same. I even ran my fingers through my hair to make sure nothing was hiding in it. Then another coin fell. We looked up to see Smaug crawling just above us, looking for us. Luckily, he hadn't spotted us. The coins had fallen from him.
Thorin motioned for us to keep moving.
More quietly, might I add.
As soon as we had safely disappeared from Smaug, we ran through the halls. Thorin turned and headed into a room, which must have been the western guardroom. "Stay close."
The dwarves stopped abruptly when they all saw what was in the guardroom.
I surveyed the hall one last time, before entering, not knowing everyone had stopped and I ended up running straight into Thorin. Throughout the room lay rotted, dust and cobweb covered corpses, at least thirty. The other side of the room had been demolished, offering no escape for the poor souls who had perished.
"That's it then. There's no way out." Dwalin said, staring at the blocked-up exit.
"The last of our kin. They must have come here, hoping beyond hope. We could try to reach the Mines. We might last a few days." Balin spoke up. I whispered a small Elvish prayer against my breath, hoping that the souls of the dead had made it to the Hall of Mandos. As Balin spoke and while I whispered the prayer to myself, Thorin slipped his hand in mine. I glanced up at him, his eyes glistening, before giving him a reassuring squeeze.
Thorin let go of my hand and stepped towards the bodies. "No. I will not die like this. Cowering, clawing for breath. We make for the forges." He told everyone.
"He'll see us, sure as death." Dwalin said.
Way to be hopeful Dwalin.
"Not if we split up."
Balin stepped over to Thorin. "Thorin, we'll never make it."
Why is everyone being so gloomy? You see some dead bodies and you give up?
"Some of us might. Lead him to the forges. We kill the dragon. If this is to end in fire, then we will all burn together."
Yeah! Someone who wants us to…. wait WHAT?
Thorin chose Balin, Bilbo and me to be in a team. Dori, Ori, and Bombur were on a team. Dwalin and Nori were in a group. And, finally, Gloin and Bifur were in a team.
Thorin decided for us to run across the way that we had come from, hoping that Smaug was still over there. He was. We heard at first a booming sound and then we heard his voice. "Flee, flee! Run for your lives! There is nowhere to hide!"
Smaug came towards us until Dori started yelling and diverting the dragon's attention to that group. Smaug went to attack them, turning Dori's group to run away. My group then ran across the bridge.
Dwalin then yelled to divert the attention to him and Nori. They ran away successfully, just barely getting away from Smaug's claw. Gloin and Bifur ran off, causing commotion to distract the dragon. Smaug followed them, blowing fire at them into all the tunnels.
Meanwhile, Balin, Thorin, Bilbo, and I ran down a large hallway. Balin turned to a side tunnel while the three of us continued. "It's this way! This way! Com'on!" Balin yelled at us. I stopped running along with Bilbo to follow Balin, except Thorin didn't. Bilbo called out to Thorin who turned and began to come back to us. Suddenly he stopped and the echoing of large footsteps could be heard. "Shit." I said against my breath as we all turned to see Smaug coming from around the corner at the end of the large hallway.
When I say large hallway, I mean huge hallway.
Bilbo looked back at Thorin. "Follow Balin!" He yelled as Bilbo grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the elder dwarf.
"Thorin." I called out, motioning with my head to come on. Balin yelled at me to hurry as he and Bilbo both grabbed my arm as flames went past me. If they hadn't have grabbed me, I'd be one flame roasted Aurora. Thorin ran, while the fires chased after him, leaping into the air and falling into a pit.
Balin lead us to the forges, where everyone else had made it. There were massive dwarf furnaces around us, each at least 30 feet high. The furnaces were all dark, with no sign of fire within. Clearly, they hadn't been lit in a long time.
Even I knew they wouldn't work, and I've never used a dwarf furnace.
"The plan's not going to work. These furnaces are stone cold." Dwalin said as he, Thorin, and Nori walked in.
"He's right; there's no fire hot enough to set them ablaze." Balin added. Thorin turned to gaze from where they had come through, an idea forming in his head. "Have we not?" he asked the group before marching to the stone pillars. "I did not look to see you so easily outwitted!" He yelled out, taunting Smaug. My eyes went big as I watched Smaug's claw emerge from the pit, his body following it.
"You have grown slow and fat in your dotage! Slug."
We're going to die.
Smaug snarled at Thorin in anger. As Smaug began to inch towards the pillars, Thorin turned and stood behind a pillar. "Take cover! Go!" He yelled out. Everyone ran towards the closest thing, which happened to be the pillars. Luckily, by the time everyone had made it to a pillar, Smaug unleashed his fury. The fire went past the pillars, hitting all the furnaces.
The fire was so hot, it felt like I was melting. "I hate you!" I screamed to Thorin, even though he probably couldn't hear what I said.
Smaug stopped his flames of fury. The plan worked. Flames and light came out from the bottom of the furnaces. Everyone began to run off to a furnace while Smaug began to batter the pillars.
"Bombur! Get those bellows working! Go!" Thorin barked at Bombur who nodded and ran off. Whatever Bombur did must have worked because the furnace fires turned bright blue.
"Bilbo! Up there, on my mark, pull that lever!" Thorin pointed to a lever high up on a mound and Bilbo runs towards it. The latticework pillars were beginning to break.
"Balin, can you still make some flash-flame?" Thorin asked as we ran over to where Balin stood. "Aye. It'll only take a jiffy." Balin said as he motioned for Ori, Dori, Nori, Dwalin, and me to follow him. I turned back to watch the latticework begin to bend dangerously from Smaug's blows. "We don't have a jiffy." Dwalin said. Under the force of Smaug's blows, the pillars finally give way and fall to the ground.
Balin led us to a storage room nearby. Barking orders to everyone to grab certain supplies. He told me to begin mixing various chemicals and powders into jars to make the flash-flame.
"Where's the sulfur!" Balin called out.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" Dori asked.
YOU ASK THIS NOW?
Ori began to out some blue powder into bottles, followed by Balin dropping a small ball into each jar.
Balin ran around, making sure everyone was doing everything right. Somehow this dwarf managed to keep a cool head in this situation.
Suddenly we heard Thorin yell, "Now!" So much commotion began to happen outside of the storage room. Somebody ticked off the dragon and my money was on Thorin.
Balin told us to make a line, starting with Balin in the back, tossing bags to Ori, who tossed them to me. I tossed the bags to Dori who threw them to hit Smaug. Flashes of blue lights and powder went off every time a bag hit Smaug, except he wasn't affected by them.
"It's not working!" I yelled back to Balin as we continued tossing bags back and forth.
Somewhere from above, a conveyor belt full of rocks drops on Smaug's neck, making him to fall to the ground. Smaug, tangled in ropes and buckets from the conveyor belt, thrashes around, breaking everything that was in his path. Thorin started yelling to some dwarves who had motioned for us to follow. We ran out from our spot, trying to avoid the onslaught of debris and rubble that was raining down because of Smaug.
Smaug followed after Thorin who was in a wheelbarrow on the river of gold. He yelled something to Bilbo who was on the ground, after Smaug had destroyed his spot. I ran over to him to help him up, when Smaug came after the two of us. We took off running with Smaug in pursuit of us. Bilbo lead the way, leaping onto a large stone slide with me on his tail before Smaug can grab us, sliding after us.
You know if I wasn't fearing for my life right now. This would be funny. Talk about an amusement ride.
Coming soon to a dwarf kingdom near you:
Smaug's slide!
For only 3 feet and up
We ran through a doorway into a massive hall adorned with banners hundreds of feet tall. Just as we ran in, the wall above the doorway exploded as Smaug jumped through it. I ran across to the side, sliding to avoid rumble while Bilbo frantically ran forward but was caught underneath a large banner and was knocked to the floor. Smaug leaped to the floor. "You think you could deceive me Barrel-rider?" Smaug growled.
"You have come from Laketown. There 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. Perhaps it is time I paid them a visit."
My heart froze at the thought of Smaug destroying Laketown. Bard and his children and all those innocent people destroyed because of us. I scrambled out from where I was hiding. "This isn't their fault! Wait! You cannot go to Laketown!" I pleaded running after Smaug.
The crimson dragon turned to me. "You care about them, do you? Good. Then you can watch them die." He answered, turning, and striding off down the hall. My eyes widened with disbelief. I was going to be the reason Laketown would be destroyed.
"Here! You witless worm!" Thorin's voice yelled. Smaug stopped in his tracks and turned to face the other side of the hall. "You."
"I am taking back what you stole!" Thorin yelled at the dragon. Smaug slowly stalked toward Thorin who stood atop a large stone statue.
"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." The dragon said, leveling his head to the height at which Thorin was at. Bilbo had made it over to where I was, as we both watched the two.
"This is not your kingdom. These are dwarf lands, this is dwarf gold, and we will have our revenge." Thorin said.
Smaug's chest began to glow. Thorin yelled something in Dwarvish and the stone structure began to crumble, revealing a bright golden stature underneath.
Suddenly the stature exploded into hot burning liquid. The entire statue began to collapse, liquid gold falling onto Smaug. Smaug roared in anger as the statue melted, scrabbling backwards to escape the gold. However, he could not move fast enough, and the tidal wave of melted gold hit him and knocked him over. As Smaug roared, he was entirely ingulfed in gold, which filled the hall.
It was as if Smaug had disappeared underneath the gold.
Except the surface exploded and Smaug leaps out, covered in gold, screaming. "Ahh! Revenge?! Revenge! I will show you revenge!"
We all looked in shocked as Smaug ran off down the hallway, taking off in flight. The realization hit me where he was going and I bolted, running after him through the destroyed gates of Erebor. I watched as he flew away, just a dark black spot against the moonlight sky.
"What have I done?" I said to myself in shock.
