The girls stayed where they were outside the hidden door but now could still hear the loud thundering of Smaug stomping or moving around in the treasure. They were all soon overcome with worry as their hair began blew in the wind as the snowstorm was almost upon them with snow falling heavily from above.
"What about Brianna?" Ottilie inquired, wringing her hands.
"Yeah!" Beate said in agreement "What'll we do? We can't just leave her there!"
"Give her more time." Traude replied with her back turned to everyone but Barbara who stood at her side "It shouldn't take her this long."
"Time to do what?" Barbara demanded suddenly "To be killed? Burned to a crisp?"
Traude looked to Barbara with a look of surprise on her face while Barbara had a stern but concerned look on her face.
"You're afraid." Traude said.
"Alright, yes, I am afraid." Barbara replied "I fear for you. There's a sickness on that gold. A sickness which drove your poor grandfather mad!"
"I'm not my grandfather." Traude responded "I never was."
"Well, you're most definitely not yourself!" Barbara said.
"What do you mean by that?" Traude asked in irritation.
"The Traude I know would not hesitate to go in there and rescue Brianna!" Barbara pointed out "And yet here you keep us doing nothing!"
"I'm not risking this quest for…" Traude angrily replied hesitantly "…for one burglar."
Everyone was perplexed by Traude's behavior. She'd been acting slightly more aggressive than normal lately but they'd dismissed it as possible stress from the journey. But now she didn't even seem to bat an eye over the fact that Brianna was down there trying to get the Arkenstone.
"Brianna." Barbara said "Her name is Brianna."
Traude turned away from Barbara and looked out at the prairie landscape before her, while her head was unknowingly aligned with the profile of the statue of her aforementioned grandfather.
/
Brianna was safely hidden underneath the platform at the treasure room's end. The Arkenstone didn't seem to be anywhere but she was more concerned with not getting spotted by Smaug who was slithering towards the side of the platform while Brianna hid behind one of the platforms pillars which held it up.
"It's Oakenshield. It's the only explanation. That filthy, dwarvish usurper!" Smaug snarled "She was the one who sent you in here for the Arkenstone, didn't she little one?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Brianna barked while she never moved away from the pillar.
"Don't bother denying it! I guessed her part in your little escapade some time ago." Smaug replied as his left wing claws grasped the pillar just fifteen feet away from Brianna "But it matters not. Her quest will fail. This gold is mine and mine alone."
The whole time, Smaug was hoping to coax her out of hiding and so carefully kept around the pillar. And he had thought up the perfect way to do so and hurt her at the same time. He laughed except his laugh sounded like an earthquake happening underwater.
"You are being used, thief in the shadows." he said with a sadistic smile across his face "Don't you see? You were only ever a means to an end. The coward Oakenshield has weighed the value of your life and found it worth nothing."
The words crushed Brianna and stung more than she thought they would. She just couldn't believe it. Traude would never do something like that. She was her friend. But deep down she was wondering: was Traude lying to her the whole time? Was she just a way for her to live out a revenge-driven, twisted fantasy?
"You're lying!" Brianna called out from her hiding place "She'd never do that!"
"Don't play with me, underling." Smaug gloated "I can sense the doubt in your voice. The fear you no doubt feel." he briefly stopped as Brianna began quietly creeping towards an escape route "What did she promise you? A share of the treasure? As if it was hers to give? I will not part with a single coin! Not one fucking piece of it!"
He then quickly spotted Brianna as she exited the platform. Having buried his tail right next to where Brianna was running, he drew his tail out of the gold, causing a small wave of gold to be flung in it's path. It engulfed Brianna and she was sent tumbling forwards onto the floor though some of the gold broke her fall.
"You really think you can stop me?!" Smaug bellowed as he stomped in front of Brianna, each step causing the room to shake and small bats to flutter out of their hiding places "My teeth are swords! My claws are spears! My wings are a hurricane!"
As Brianna looked up at Smaug (she was sitting up at the moment), he then lifted his chest up and a shaft of light glistened off some gold pieces which had become stuck between his scales on his chest and belly. All except one area. Near where his heart was, there was a scale missing, exposing the softer flesh underneath. Brianna then remembered what Beth had said about Girion and how he'd 'loosened the scale under the left wing.' It clicked in Brianna's brain like a light switch.
"So it is true." she said to herself "The Black Arrow found it's mark."
Unfortunately, Smaug heard her for she did say it rather loudly.
"What did you say?!" Smaug demanded.
Oh crap! she thought "I-I was just saying how your reputation precedes you…" Brianna lied as she stood up with Smaug leaning his head and body towards her "…Oh Smaug the Tyrannical! You have no equal on this earth!"
Brianna briefly glanced behind her only to see there was nowhere to run since now there was just a rock wall fifty feet away from her. She was just about to say something else to distract Smaug when she just happened to turn to her right and there was just fifteen feet away: the Arkenstone. Just within reach. However, Smaug noticed it too.
"I'm almost tempted to let you take it." Smaug said smiling "If only to see Oakenshield. Watch it destroy her. Watch it corrupt her heart and drive her mad."
Brianna began to fear not for herself but for Traude. She'd heard about the 'dragon-sickness' as the girls called it but she didn't understand what it was. But from what Smaug was saying, this Arkenstone seemed to have something to do with it. Smaug, meanwhile, backed away slightly but didn't tear his gaze away from Brianna.
"But I think not. I think our little game ends here." he said "So tell me, thief, how do you choose to die?"
He then zoomed his head towards her with his mouth wide open displaying his gigantic teeth. But with lightning fast reflexes, Brianna pulled the ring out of her pocket and slipped on her finger. The second she turned invisible she ran towards the Arkenstone, grabbed it and stuffed it into her bag just as Smaug's jaws clamped shut where she had previously been. Since Smaug couldn't see her, he decided on a more efficient method. He backed away a little then raised his head up. As he did so, his chest suddenly began glowing a reddish-orange. It didn't take long for Brianna to figure out what that was leading up to. She then scrambled to get out of the way when Smaug opened his mouth and an ocean of fire spewed out of his mouth, barely missing the very tip of Brianna's gown.
She fell to the ground as Smaug's eyes darted everywhere searching for her. Ignoring the burnt cloth at the tip of her gown, she looked to her left and there she saw it: a set of steps and at the top was an entrance to a tunnel. Without hesitation, she ran for the entrance as Smaug breathed another plume of fire behind her. As she entered the tunnel, she leaned against the wall and panted with exhaustion. She took the ring off her finger and became visible, her body and face illuminated by the glow of the fire. She put the ring in her pocket and disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel as Smaug roared in anger while throwing loose rocks and stone at the rock wall and severing another pillar then turned round and breathed fire in the same place he had earlier.