Austen looked down the corridor as the group emerged out of a tunnel and walked on a stone bridge over a chasm. Thorin raises his hand and quiets the group.
"Shh. Shh." Thorin spoke,
"Quiet." Dori added, they near the foot of the bridge and Thorin peers around the edge of the tunnel, looking for any sign of Smaug. They all whisper.
"We've given him the slip." Dori whispered, "No, he's too cunning for that." Dwalin responded,
"So where to now?" Bilbo asked,
"The western guardroom. There may be a way out." Thorin answered as Austen went to speak but Aulton stopped him,
"It's too high. There's no chance that way. We also need to find Aurora… Smaug sounded like he hurt her." Balin spoke as Thorin looked at him,
"It's our only chance. We must try." Thorin ignored the comment about Aurora, Balin looked back at Austen with Bilbo, and they could see he was seething with rage.
Quietly, they tiptoe across the bridge, looking all about. Suddenly, a coin falls to the floor right in front of Bilbo and rings loudly. They all freeze and look at Bilbo, who frantically checks his jacket to see if some coin had been stuck in a fold. Hearing another coin fall, they look up and see Smaug crawling just above them, looking for them. He hasn't seen them. The coins that fell came from his chest and arms, where several coins and gems have embedded themselves after years of him sleeping on them. Thorin motions for them to keep moving.
In Erebor, the Company runs through a hall and emerge in the western guardroom.
"Stay close." Thorin spoke, everyone stops abruptly when they see that the guardroom is full of rotted, dust- and cobweb-covered corpses.
"That's it, then. There's no way out." Dwalin spoke, it seems like a landslide, or something has blocked the exit, trapping the dwarves in the past in the room to die.
"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 frowned,
"No. I will not die like this. Cowering, clawing for breath. We make for the forges." Thorin growled,
"He'll see us, sure as death." Dwalin added,
"Not if we split up." Thorin suggested,
"Thorin, we'll never make it." Balin jumped in.
"What about my sister? She's in pain!" Austen snapped, Thorin looked at him,
"How do you know she is? Your sister went against my wishes? I can't control her." Thorin snapped,
"My sister isn't someone you control! She's her own person who makes her own choices to protect her friends. The people she cares about! She risked her life for Bilbo then! I know she's in pain as I can sense her. She's barely moving right now." Austen yelled at Thorin.
"Let's go then. Lead him to the forges. We kill the dragon. If this is to end in fire, then we will all burn together." Thorin explained, Austen didn't trust Thorin anymore, what little trust he had for him was gone.
Thorin, Austen, Bilbo, and Balin run out onto the bridge from earlier.
"This way!" Thorin called, a booming sound comes from nearby, and Smaug appears.
"Flee, flee! Run for your lives! There is nowhere to hide." Smaug yelled, 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!" Dori yells, Smaug looks at them, then lunges toward them. They turn and run. "Come on!" Dori called. As Smaug chases the second group (Dori, Ori, and Bombur), the first group (Thorin, Austen, Bilbo, and Balin) continue across the bridge. Suddenly, the third group, Dwalin, Aulton and Nori, run across another bridge and yell to distract Smaug.
"Hey you! Here!" Dwalin yells out, 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 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 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.
I continued down the corridor as I was leaning on the wall as I move. I could hear Smaug roaring loudly as I limped forward, the others were obviously planning something.
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 called, Bilbo stops by the tunnel, and calls out to Thorin, who is still ahead.
"Thorin!" Bilbo yelled, 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!" Thorin called,
"Thorin!" Bilbo beckoned,
"Come on!" Balin called to Bilbo. Balin pulls Bilbo into the side tunnel just as Smaug's chest glows orange and he unleashes his fire throughout the hall.
Thorin runs the other way and leaps 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 called, 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. 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 closed his mouth 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 blows smoke straight up the pit after Thorin. Thorin manages to reach the top and throw himself on a ledge just as the fire erupts beside him. He stumbles over to Nori.
"Go! Go!" Thorin yelled.
Thorin and Nori run through narrow slits between tall, stone pillars and join the other dwarves and Bilbo. They are standing in front of several massive dwarf furnaces, each at least 10 yards high.
I walked into a large room, I could hear voices as I tripped and fell on the floor.
"The plan's not going to work. These furnaces are stone cold." Dwalin spoke, I looked up and saw the dwarves,
"He's right; there's no fire hot enough to set them ablaze." Balin explained, I looked around and saw we were in a furnace room. I leaned back and took a deep breath as I just sat in the distance behind them. I was just happy to see them. The furnaces are all dark, with no sign of fire within. Thorin turns back toward the pit.
"Have we not? I did not look to see you so easily outwitted!" Thorin yelled, I look to the pit and saw Smaug's claw emerge from the pit, his body following it. Thorin continues taunting him. "You have grown slow and fat in your dotage." Thorin taunted him as I moved as quickly as I could back into the corridor to stay out of site. The pain causing me to fall again on the floor. "Slug." Thorin taunted. As Smaug snarls and advances, Thorin gets behind a pillar and yells to the others to do the same. As Thorin stood behind the pillar he looked in my direction as I was on the floor.
I saw fear on his face for a moment,
"Take cover. Go!" Thorin yelled at the others, and he ran forward towards me.
Thorin skidded on the floor and reached me as I sat up,
"Aurora…" Thorin saw the burns on my arm and leg as he reached me,
"H-Hey…" I smiled weakly, "Sorry… I'm gonna be a bit useless till I get some water." I spoke as Thorin reached his hand to my face but gently turned my cheek and it was in that moment I realised my neck and ear had been burned as well.
I looked away from him as Thorin moved to my left side where there were no burn marks and went to lift me in his arms, I cried out and gripped onto Thorin as he moved further to the back of the furnace room.
Smaug finished blowing his fire around the room and fire suddenly comes out of the bottoms of the furnaces, and they begin glowing and working. Smaug growls in confusion and anger. The others 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!" Thorin yelled as he stayed with me,
"Alright!" Bombur answered,
"Aulton! Austen!" Thorin called, I could feel the heat from the furnaces on my skin as I heard footsteps coming over to us.
"Aurora!" Austen knelt by me and then saw my burns, I looked at Aulton and he pulled out a water sack. I shook my head,
"It would evaporate before I could even do anything." I spoke as Aulton knelt in front of me besides Thorin.
Thorin turns and sees the latticework continue to bend from Smaug's bashing.
"Bilbo! Up there, on my mark, pull that lever." Thorin moved to the side to view what was going on in the fight,
"Th-Thorin… Austen… they need you." I spoke as Thorin looked over me coldly and nodded, his emotions seemed all over the place. Probably because he was under pressure.
Thorin moves out as Aulton moved to try and put me on his back. I cry out in pain and Aulton moves with me away from the group.
Thorin 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?" Thorin asked,
"Aye. It'll only take a jiffy." Balin answered, 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." Dwalin explained, 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.
Bilbo clambers up some steps and reaches the lever mounted high on a tower; Smaug begins walking toward him.
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!" Thorin yelled, Bilbo jumps into the air and pulls down on the lever just as Smaug 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 on the bucket conveyor belt. As Bilbo begins to climb down the mound, Smaug approaches Thorin. Suddenly, 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.
Aulton had carried me to what looked like a gallery… the air was cooler in here and Aulton put me on the ground as I winced, and he pulled the water sack out and removed the lid. I moved my good arm and put the water over my burn marks. I closed my eyes as I felt my skin healing, I moved the water back into the sack not long after as I felt better. I would have to do another treatment later.
I lifted myself off the ground and stretched my legs and arm,
"How are you feeling?" Aulton asked,
"Better, we will repeat that later after the fight." I spoke as Aulton nodded.
We heard a rumbling in the distance I run back towards where we came, and Aulton tried to run after me as I changed into a bird again and flew through the corridors.
I fly back to where we left the dwarves and see Smaug was free and getting tangled in buckets on chains. I see Thorin grab a wheelbarrow and runs while pushing it, dodging Smaug's thrashing limbs. Smaug's tail smashes into the base of the mound, cracking it. I see Bilbo just hiding at the top, laying low.
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!" Thorin called as I go after Thorin. 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. I fly around Thorin as he sees me moving around. Thorin looked happy as he heard me squawk at him.
Bilbo, running from Smaug, runs through a doorway and into a massive hall adorned with banners hundreds of feet tall. I land on Thorin's shoulder as he moved onto the boulder.
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?" Smaug yelled, 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 snivelling 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 scrambles out from under the banner and yells at Smaug.
"This isn't their fault! Wait! You cannot go to Laketown." Bilbo called, 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 glared, he turns and strides off down the hall.
Thorin shouts out towards Smaug,
"Here, you witless worm!" Thorin taunted, Smaug stops in his track, snarling and squinting in anger. He then turns toward Thorin.
"You." Smaug snarled,
"I am taking back what you stole." Thorin shouted as I squawked loudly, 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." Smaug smirked, 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." Thorin glared.
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 something in Khuzdul.
Thorin 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 like the first are pulled out of the stone.
The stone structure, which is now revealed to be the mould 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!" Smaug roared, as we all look on in shock, Smaug runs down the hallway and takes off in flight.
We see Smaug break out of the mountain and take off into the sky. I fly through following Bilbo as we move to the gates of Erebor. Bilbo climbs up the ruins as I transform back to myself and stare in disbelief. Smaug roars in the distance,
"What have we done?" Bilbo spoke out loud as I hear him collapse next to me.
"The lord of silver fountains,
The king of carven stone,
The king beneath the mountain shall come into his own,
And the bells shall ring in gladness at the mountain king's return,
But all shall fail in sadness and the lake will shine and burn." I spoke.