A/N: Welcome to the last movie. The Battle of the Five Armies. Pretty dark stuff where we left off. Aurora is going to deal with some dark stuff in this part of the book. She blames herself for unleashing Smaug onto Laketown (really, she gave him the idea). We will see how she takes to the dragon sickness affecting Thorin and how it will affect her.
I'm excited so I hope you are too! So welcome to The Battle of the Five Armies!
It would be my fault.
My fault.
Their blood would be on my hands.
I doomed Laketown.
I watched from the ground as Smaug, the terrifying dragon, flew down to Laketown.
It was my fault.
The poor town didn't even know why they were being attacked. I did.
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.
"I can make it. If I run now, I can make it. I can help them." I told myself, hopping off the stone rubble I was on and taking off in a sprint to get to Laketown. "Aurora!" Bilbo yelled after me as he chased me. I stopped running and turned to face him. "It's my fault. They're all going to die, because of me! I must do something! I can't just stand here!" I yelled at him, tears welling in my eyes.
Bilbo walked over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. "You can't make it in time." I turned my head away from him and bit my lip, tears spilling down my cheeks. "It's both of our faults. We cannot fix that." He said, trying to comfort me. I glanced up at the mountain. "I don't care. I'm not going to sit idle by and watch them die. I'm going. And not one of you can stop me." I said glancing behind Bilbo to everyone in the Company who had made it outside. They were all planning to go up to Raven Hill to assess the damage of Laketown. I moved away from Bilbo and turned to walk away before taking off in a slight jog.
I hadn't even made it ten minutes into my decent when I watched Smaug light the city on fire. Flames erupted from everywhere. The whole city was on fire. I stiffened at the sight of it. I shook my head, not even giving myself a chance to cry before continuing to run down the mountain. If I had to run all night, I would. If I had to crawl, I would. I would not leave Laketown to suffer. It was my fault and I was willing to suffer with them.
…
Meanwhile, the Company watched from atop Raven Hill at the damage. Everyone wore grim faces, staring at each other in sadness. They knew it was their fault this had occurred. "Poor souls," Balin said against his breath as he watched the city burn.
Bilbo watched silently. He knew Aurora would never make it in time, but her determination was enough to make him want him to follow her. He had never seen her like that during this entire journey. She was always cracking jokes with everyone and telling stories and being well… Aurora. But now, she blamed herself for the destruction of Laketown. She changed in a matter of minutes when the realization hit her. Bilbo wanted to argue with her and tell Aurora it wasn't her fault, it was the Company's, but she wouldn't hear it. She left, bound and determined to help in any way necessary.
Bilbo turned away from the carnage on the Lake. He glanced around at all the solemn faces. But there was one face that wasn't among them. Thorin. He stood away from everyone, staring intently at Erebor. Bilbo raised a brow as he watched his friend. Maybe he was in shock at everything that had transpired over the night? Maybe he was upset Aurora had left. As much as Bilbo knew the two didn't want to admit it, there was a connection between Aurora and Thorin. Something Bilbo had noticed the night everyone first met in Bag End. He knew how Thorin felt, Thorin was practically head over heels for Aurora and he managed to hide it from everyone in the company, except Bilbo. Aurora, on the other hand, was much harder to read. Bilbo could sense something was there for Aurora, but he could not tell how much. He really hoped she would survive this and come back.
…
About an hour into my journey, I felt the earth shake. It felt like a great thud had happened. Which would have meant only one thing: the dragon was dead. How that had happened, I had no idea. The sun was hitting the peaks, creating a light purple and pink sky against the clouds and smoke. It was a beautiful sight. But it didn't make me feel better.
I could vaguely see little boats in the water from where I was. People escaped. There were survivors.
I guessed by where I was, I would make it in at least two hours or less to where the boats were heading. So I took in a sprint down the side of the mountain, with a little more hope.
By the time I reached the bottom of the mountain, the sun was already in the sky and Laketown had been extinguished. It looked as if nothing, but the outer shells of buildings were left.
There were screams. Screams of agony. Screams of pain. People yelling out names to try and locate family members. Debris riddled the shores. Bodies lay face down in the water.
I pushed through everyone, attempting to locate faces that I knew. That's when I saw Bard, standing in the middle of a crowd where people were chanting his name and calling him the dragon-slayer. I smirked; that man was the one who killed the dragon. I watched as Bard stared at the crowd before yelling "where is he!" at the top of his lungs over and over.
"Halfway down the Anduin, with all our coin, I don't doubt." A woman said before turning the Master's lackey Alfrid. "You would know! You helped him empty the treasury!" Everyone began to circle Alfrid.
"No. I tried to stop him." Alfrid pleaded with the people, running behind Bard for protection. "I pleaded. I pleaded. I said, 'Master -NO'!" he ran and grabbed Tilda, holding her in front of him. "Think of the children. Will no one think of the children?!" Tilda angrily stomped on his foot, forcing Alfrid to let him go. The men in the group grabbed ahold of Alfrid, preparing to hang him.
I walked toward the group and began to yell. "Enough!" Bard and I yelled in unison. He perked up at hearing another voice. He turned to see me stepping into the middle of the crowd. I watched as Bard's eyes lite up. "Your Master's dead." I pointed to Alfrid, "it's the only reason he's here. His body and your gold are underwater." I nodded my head to Bard, to get him to speak.
"Look around you!" he spoke, "have you not had your fill of death?" Alfrid popped up from being flung on the ground to answer. Bard pushed him back down. "Winter is upon us; we must look to our own, to the sick and the helpless. Those who can stand tend to the wounded. And those who have strength left- follow me. We must salvage what we can!" Bard turned and walked through the crowd to the shoreline.
"What then? What do we do then?" a woman asked, turning to me. "You find shelter." I answered, squinting my eyes to view the burnt remains of Laketown.
The crowd began to disperse, following Bard's orders. The women mostly tended to the wounded while the men began to salvage what they could. It was obvious they barely had any food as I looked around. They wouldn't be able to survive long. Tilda and Sigrid took it upon themselves to help the women with the wounded. While Bain, under his father's orders, helped the men but mostly babysat Alfrid.
Bard became a leader to the people of Laketown. He became someone they could look to for guidance and hope. As much as he hated the attention, he knew he couldn't fight it. He was all they had. And after a rally calling him a hero, I was pretty sure he would be leading them for the rest of his days.
I helped where I could. Sigrid tried to stop me, saying the journey I had taken to reach them was too much for my body and I needed to rest. I argued, of course. But I will admit I was tired, but this is what I signed up for the moment I left Erebor. And I was bound and determined to help. I knew Sigrid and Tilda would fight with me if I tried to help the wounded, even know I argued that after living with Elves most of my life I knew the Elvish healing methods, so I went to help the men. Alfrid began to whine saying a woman didn't need to help, and if Bain wasn't near him, I would have slit the worm's throat. Bain didn't argue about me helping but merely suggested I try to lift not so heavy objects. So I was rendered useless and figured I would go find Bard, at least I knew he wouldn't turn me away.
I found him surveying some piles of salvage items. The piles were mostly blankets and jackets (most likely from the dead), but there was a pile of wood for fires and a small pile of food that had been found.
Before I could make it to him, I was stopped by a tall fair elf. "You come from the mountain?" He questioned, his crystal eyes staring down at me. I glanced down at my clothes which were covered in soot. "Yes." I said, giving him a once over. He was dressed in clothing from the Woodland Realm. Thranduil's kingdom. "News of the death of Smaug will have spread through the lands." He stated, staring up at the mountain in the distance. I turned to glance at the mountain. "You're right." I answered, turning back to the elf.
"Others will now look to the mountain- for its wealth or its position." He added. I went stiff at what he spoke of. My mind flashed back over being at Dol Guldur.
"You know something of that." He began before I nodded and walked away. (FYI it is very offensive to turn from an elf when they're speaking, depending on their rank in society. But I'm pretty sure this elf is just an archer.)
"I did not expect to see you here." Bard said, his back to me as I came up behind him. I smiled softly to myself at his comment.
"I surprised even myself." I teased, dropping down to pick up a rock before tossing it into the water. Bard turned to face me. "I suppose it was your dwarvish friends that caused this? Did the others who you left behind know?" I suddenly remember that we had left some of the company behind. Oops. With that realization, I scanned the people around us looking for any sign of them. "Speaking of them, where are they?" I raised a brow at Bard. His expression answered my question. They had left, bound for the mountain.
I spun on my heel to head back, when I felt Bard take hold of my arm. "You choose to go back? Why come only to turn back?"
"I only wanted to make a wrong I caused right. It would be wise for you to camp out at Dale. Hopefully, you will make it there by nightfall. I'll return when I see you have made it to Dale." I told the bowman, pulling my arm out of his grasp and walking away. Except Bard followed me. "What do you mean 'a wrong'? Why can't you stay? We need your guidance. I need your guidance."
I stopped abruptly. "I caused this! You don't need me! If you didn't need me, you would still be in your tiny house atop the lake. But because of me- you have nothing but false hope in a girl. I cannot provide you guidance. My charge is to Thorin Oakinshield, who needs to be told of the dangers that come to his reclaimed home." I dropped my head and turned away from Bard. Suddenly I felt a hand slip into mine. Bard tilted my chin up so I could look at him. "You did not cause this, Aurora. The dragon did. If you choose to leave, you must promise to come to Dale when we get there. Promise?" He asked.
I gazed up at him, my eyes scanning his features. I really wanna kiss you right now. Instead I nodded my head, watching as he kissed the top of my hand before letting go.
I began to make my decent back up the mountain. Chuckling to myself, I realized that if Thorin saw what Bard was up to, Bard would be dead.
A/n: and I gotta end it on a good funny note.
Tell me in the comments who the elf was….
