Author's Note: I own nothing.

29 Underhill

Bella stood in the doorway to the trove and frowned. Somehow she'd never imagined this much treasure in her life. She shook her head and began to slowly make her way down the stairs. The end of the stairs were buried in treasure. She could only guess that it had not looked like this when Thorin had lived here. As messy as her dwarves could be she could not imagine this level of disorganization from them, especially when it came to treasure. She paused at the first pile of trinkets.

A fallen star, a glowing white jewel that was somewhere in this mess, that was her goal. She let out a breath, wrinkling her nose as she did. The smell of the dragon was much stronger here than it had been in the tunnel on her way down from the door. Treading carefully she took her first step onto the treasure. One hand remained in her pocket ready to slip on the ring at the first sign of life. But there was nothing here except glimmering treasure. Bella picked her way over the mass of gold eyes darting around searching for anything that wasn't gold. Here and there she spotted gems and jewels she had no names for. One was the color of the new leaves, another like the bluest summer sky. She shook her head. If she'd realized just how ridiculously impossible this task was even without the dragon breathing down her neck she might have listened to Dwalin and chosen to go back. But something in her knew she wouldn't have been able to face the others without at least trying. She shook her head again and trekked on through the piles of gold.

After what must have been an hour, maybe longer Bella wasn't exactly sure, she sat down and let out another long breath. Thinking about this logically the stone she was looking for wasn't likely to be lying on top of a pile, that would just be too easy. Tentatively she reached out a hand and moved aside a golden cup, beneath it lay more gold but she must have disturbed the pile just a bit too much. Coins spilled down the mountain of treasure and Bella froze as something dull and red appeared under the gold. It was the color of old rust and blood. Her heart hammered in her chest as she dodged down behind a pile of treasure as more coins shifted falling from what she now realized must be the dragon's eye, closed though it remained. Bella took a deep breath and glanced around only for her heart to sink. She hadn't noticed before but the hills of treasure around her were not random at all. In fact if she were to try she would bet all the gold on which she stood that she could pick out the exact curve of the dragon's spine down to the tip of its tail.

Panic welling in her heart she risked a glance over her shoulder at the uncovered eye only for her heart to stop cold. The eye was blinking open. It was a glimmering gold like the treasure around her and seemed to gleam with malice and greed. Blood hammered in her ears for a moment and her hands tightened into fists. It was in that moment that her panicked mind remembered the ring. Slipping it on she let out a low slow breath worried now that even her breathing would disturb the dragon.

Maybe she was right too, because the dragon did not close its now uncovered eye. Instead its whole head began to rise out of the treasure, sending trinkets and coins spilling over its scales. If Bella had not been so frightened that she could barely breathe she would have been astounded. No one living had ever gotten this close to a dragon. She was practically sitting on the beast, and still she was unnoticed. Or at least she thought she had gone unnoticed. This did not appear to be the case though as the beast's snout emerged breathing a puff of foul smoke into the air. A rumbling growl filled the cavernous room.

"Thief." Bella froze, only the comforting weight of the ring on her finger still assuring her that she remained unseen. The dragon's voice was a rumbling growl as it inhaled deeply and exhaled another plume of smoke. "I smell you. I hear your breath." Bella slapped a hand over her mouth. "I feel your air. Where are you?" The dragon sounded almost curious but there was an edge of anger to his voice as he rose fully from where he'd slept under the treasure shaking off his golden blanket. Bella ducked as he moved over her, carefully moving through his horde as though worried some hurt had come to his stolen treasures. The gold under his great claws shifted and began to slide down the piles upon piles of wealth. Bella took her chance sliding down the hill with it, praying her presence would remain unnoticed. As the treasure began to slow its decent Bella grabbed hold of a pillar to stop her own slide. Pulling herself to her feet she pressed her back against the cool rock fighting the panic that roared through her mind.

"Come now, don't be shy." He said drawing in another breath. "Step into the light, Thief in the shadows." Bella held her breath hoping the dragon would slip past her. It hissed out another breath. "You are being quite rude, little thief. Come along there is plenty here to spare." Maybe the echo that cast Smaug's voice echoing around the room that made Bella brave, knowing her own voice would echo too, she spoke.

"You are too generous Smaug the Tremendous. But I did not come to steal from you." Bella had to think fast, her voice did echo as she'd hoped but if she did not manage to somehow slip away from the dragon which was again drawing close she would be found by smell alone. The treasure at the base of the pillar Bella was clinging to began to shift and she allowed herself to be swept off in the cascade as Smaug drew closer. She came to a halt this time on a somehow clear stair and inched along it. "I simply came to see if you were truly as grand as the tales say. I did not believe them." A claw landed in front of her and she scrambled back nearly bumping into the second claw as it landed too. A rolling rumbling laugh echoed from the dragon's chest.

"Do you now?" He roared the treasure trembling, sending several of the piles falling. Bella skidded down another pile winding up beneath an outcrop that might have once been an overhang, maybe, Bella didn't have time to figure it out right at that moment as she slipped under it, trying to catch her breath.

"Truly the tales and songs fall utterly short of your majesty, Smaug Greatest and Chiefest Calamities of our time." Bella called. Silently she was thankful she had spent as much time in Rivendell's library as she had. Several of the legends she'd read on dragons spoke of them being boastful and vain. At the moment that was probably the only thing keeping Smaug from roasting the room until he found her. The dragon laughed again.

"You have nice manners for a thief and a liar." His roar now was angry and the ground under Bella shook. She flinched as a mighty crash sounded through the room. Peering out of her hiding spot she saw that Smaug had knocked over one of the pillars with his tail. Had that been the one she'd been hiding behind earlier? She wasn't sure. He hissed slithering over the treasure, his wings twitching. "You seem familiar with my name but I've never smelled your kind before. Where do you come from Thief in the Shadows?"

"I come from under hill." She knew as long as he was still looking for her she had a chance to find a way out of here, the Arkenstone all but forgotten. That was until she spotted a glow in a pile of treasure not three feet from her hiding spot. It really did look like some great hand had plucked a star from the sky and buried it here under the mountain. Her goal was within reach and she was too frozen with fear to take it.