Blessed 8

A/N: And now for the Dragon Chapter…I have so many ideas for this one. –evil cackling ensues- Nobody heard that.

Chapter 8 – The Dragon Smaug

Belle quickly slipped her ring on as the dragon's head began to lift out of the mound of gold, and it's tail moved behind her making her realize how massive the beast really was, as she ran full speed to duck between two pillars before all sound stopped. The dragon's deep rumbling voice was nowhere near as soothing as Thorin's was and she found herself shaking in fear.

"Well Thief…where are you? I can smell you…your fear. Come out now…don't be shy…step into the light."

Belle was by no means a fool and she was not about to fall for the cunning wyrm's sweet words. When it said the word precious she felt as if her head was going to split open, a dark voice screaming in her ears until she tore the thing off and shoved it back into her pocket…only to look up into the eye of the dragon.

"There you are…such a small thing…and female…how very unusual."

The dragon turned and took a deep breath of air around her and for some reason it made Belle feel rather violated somehow.

"Ah…a Blessed One…what a pleasant little surprise. What brings such a special and delicate thing into the lair of a dragon hmm? Perhaps the dwarves that wait for you outside?"

"Dwarves? I've no idea what you're talking about oh Smaug the magnificent."

Apparently flattery worked as well on dragons as it did on every other being in the world as the creature puffed up with pride and spread his wings to show off, nearly making Belle giggle which would have ended badly she was sure.

"Such nice manners, though I can smell them on you so lying would be pointless Blessed child. Now…tell me…what have you come to steal from me hmm?"

"I have not come to steal Oh Smaug the tyrannical…I merely wanted to see if the legends about you were true."

"Such a flattering little thing…do you think that will keep you alive?"

"No…not at all. I am merely speaking the truth as I see it…oh great one. I heard stories of the great dragon and his treasure hoard, and the shimmering arkenstone he kept…and I did not believe them."

"Do you believe them now Blessed Child?"

"Oh yes…though they fall utterly short of capturing your magnificent enormity."

The dragon seemed mollified enough at her praises to not try to kill her just yet, in fact Belle was tempted to say the creature was preening for her. The dragon moved one of his massive feet and rolled a brightly glowing round jewel to rest at her feet.

"Go ahead then…pick it up Blessed one. Feel the weight of the fabled arkenstone in your hands."

Belle hesitated until the dragon urged her once again and she gently picked up the large jewel, cradling it in her arms as she marveled at its beauty.

"Its beautiful…truly…it has no equal in this world…nor do you oh great dragon."

"Go little Blessed One…take the jewel back toy our dwarves and never return to this mountain. Go now child before I change my mind."

Belle thanked the Valar, for she was sure at least one of them had a hand in this whole thing, before fleeing the way she had come as quickly as her feet would carry her. She slipped the jewel into her pocket as she ran and soon ran into Thorin…literally running into his chest like hitting a wall. His arm wrapping around her waist kept her from falling onto her rear.

"Thorin…oh I am so happy to see you…we need to run now though."

"Did you find it?"

"What?"

"Did you find the Arkenstone?"

"I…no…I didn't see it. Thorin please…he's awake do you hear me?"

Thorin glanced behind her, his eyes widening in a way that had her turning around with a feeling of dread in her stomach. The dragon was heading towards them, his bellowing voice reaching her ears and already trying to worm its way into her mind and charm her.

"I changed my mind Blessed Child…I will not let you go…I wish to keep you and add you to my treasure hoard."

The dragon's words seemed to snap Thorin out of whatever had taken over his mind and he pulled Belle close as the rest of the company tumbled out of the passage behind him. Belle did the only thing she could think of and told them all they had to run…and so run they did. Eventually they reached a dead end, full of long deceased dwarves that had Belle fighting back tears.

"This is horrible…"

"Aye Lass…that it is."

Dwalin wasn't one to sugar-coat anything and Belle was surprisingly grateful to him for it. Thorin refused to stay in that room and wait for death, so he split the company into groups and they headed in different direction with the same destination in mind…the furnace room. Thorin got ahead of her and Balin, who told her the right way was down a different hallway. As she yelled Thorin's name he turned and saw the dragon closing in, knowing he'd never make it back to her in time he told Balin to take her and keep going while he distracted the dragon. Smaug went after him as Balin pulled a very distraught Belle behind him. When they reached the furnaces she started counting off the dwarves in her mind, finding all of them, save Thorin, had arrived. Thorin stumbled in and shut the massive gates just as the dragon reached them. Balin spoke up with a dismayed tone of voice.

"We haven't got a fire hot enough to light them all Thorin."

"Haven't we?"

Belle took one look at the mischievous glint in Thorin's eyes and groaned…now she knew where his nephews got it from.

"Oh I'm not going to like this am I?"

Dwalin gave her an amused look as he shook his head with a rumbling laugh.

"I doubt it Lass…I know that look…and it rarely ends well."

Thorin began taunting and insulting Smaug as Belle watched him with wide, horrified eyes. As the dragon's chest began to glow bright red he grabbed her to his chest and yelled for all of them to take cover, everyone ducking behind a massive pillar as the dragon-fire roared past them. Belle whimpered against Thorin's chest, the heat terrifying her because she knew that was a flame she'd never be able to control with her meager ability over fire. Thorin, for his part, clutched her tightly to his chest, pressing her back against the stone pillar and shielding her from the heat. The dragon began trying to rip the gates open and the dwarves wasted no time getting to work on Thorin's crazy plan…which in Belle's opinion was crazy enough to rival any of Gandalf's schemes. Belle took her position up high near a massive lever to wait for Thorin's signal. When the dragon broke through he started towards Thorin only to turn and head for her instead. She swallowed hard, feeling her heart leap into her throat as the lumbering beast drew closer. His deep tones trying to sooth and calm her as he tried to coax her to come to him. Thorin growled low in his throat and screamed at the dragon in rage, drawing the beast's attention off of Belle long enough for her to pull the lever. Just as the thing was getting ready to roast her dwarf a torrent of water poured out of the wall and doused his flame, upsetting and disorienting him badly enough that he began thrashing wildly. His tail knocked down the stone platform Belle was standing on and she braced herself to hit the stone, only to be wrapped in a pair of strong arms.

"Run Belle, do not stop, do not look back…just RUN!"

She did, she ran faster than she ever had in her life as the angry dragon followed her. As she ducked through a doorway the dragon broke through the wall above her and stone rained down around her, right before a large tapestry fell on her and covered her completely. Smaug could still smell her though and he turned to look outside for a moment before taunting her.

"I will give you one last choice Blessed Child. Choose to stay with me…for the rest of your precious little life…or I will burn Lake Town to ashes!"

She started to come out from under the tapestry when Thorin spoke, both Belle and the dragon turning to look at him. He was descending down a large chain to land on a small stone platform next to a large stone…something or other. He looked magnificent to her eyes as he traded barbs with the dragon before revealing an enormous gold statue as the chains gave way and removed the stone mold that had been around it. Belle didn't know much about that kind of thing but she was fairly certain molten metal had to cool and harden before removing the mold or it would just fall apart…and once again she was right. The statue began to bubble as Belle ran up a nearby set of steps and climbed onto the bottom of a pillar where she was told by Mahal's voice in her head that she would be safe from what was about to happen. The statue erupted and buried the dragon under a pool of molten gold that filled the floor of the chamber. Another voice whispered in Belle's head, Yavanna this time, telling her to drop the arkenstone into the molten gold and destroy it…Mahal agreed and told her it was the only way to save Thorin from the sickness of his family line. She took a steadying breath and rolled the stone into the gold while Thorin was distracted by checking on the other dwarves that were coming into the chamber, sighing in relief as the thing shattered and disintegrated from the heat. Then the peace was shattered by Smaug bursting out of the molten gold, screaming and cursing them all before taking off towards Lake Town. Belle ran to the hole he had made in the wall and fell onto a large piece of the stone, crying as she watched him head straight for the defenseless town.

"No! What have we done?"

"Belle? Are you hurt Little One?"

She turned to look at Thorin as he and the others came out to join her, tears streaming down her face as she thought of all those innocent people burning because they had angered the beast.

"It's all my fault…"

"No Little One…this is not your fault. Do not say such things."

"If I had agreed to what he wanted he'd have left them alone…"

"No Belle, he would still have destroyed them all for having helped us. There was nothing you could do to prevent this Lass."

Are you sure Balin?"

"Aye Lass…I'm sure."

Thorin pulled her close again as they watched the dragon burning the town. Belle cried into his chest when she could no longer stand to watch the horrible sight. She only looked up when Nori cried out in surprise and happiness.

"I think it's dead…the beast fell from the sky like a great stone and landed in the lake…he's not coming back up yet."

They all turned back to watch the surface of the lake, sighing in relief when the beast never again surfaced.

"It is truly over then. The mountain is ours once more."

The dwarves all cheered at that statement until Belle's soft voice stopped them all in their tracks, making them give her rather sheepish looks of guilt for being so happy.

"Those people are now homeless…They helped us when we needed it most and they are still your allies are they not?"

"They are Little One. What would you have us do Belle?"

"Help them. They will probably bring everything they own with them and come to ask for shelter in the morning. I say we set about finding any suitable bedding and food we can and, at the very least, allow the sick, injured, and the women and children take shelter in here with us. Winter will be here soon and they'll all freeze to death with no shelter."

Thorin sighed softly, reluctant to allow anyone into the mountain they'd only just reclaimed, but he knew she was right so he gave the orders to do whatever she told them to and allowed her to take charge. He knew she'd be better at it than he was anyway. Belle made short work of doling out tasks to each dwarf. Dori and Ori were sent to find bedding, dragging Nori with them to help carry things. Dwalin, Balin, Bombur, and Bifur were all sent to find whatever salvageable food they could. Oin and Gloin were sent to check on the healing rooms and see if they were safe and what supplies were still valid. Belle took Thorin, Fili, Kili, and Bofur with her to catalog how many rooms were stable enough to be used for families to sleep together in. All in all they had about three dozen safe rooms to keep families together, the healing rooms were all safe and most of the supplies were still good so the sick and wounded would be able to be tended to, and they had enough food to last at least a month if rationed carefully. Once everyone was back she had bedding stacked in piles to be handed out as people came in and Ori had been sat down to make a log to keep track of supplies and refugees. Thorin was happy to see her showing exactly what kind of Queen she would be to his people, and he vowed to never become his grandfather or, Mahal forbid, Thranduil. He still wondered what had happened to the Arkenstone and, when Belle finally paused for a breather, asked his Hobbit about it.

"Oh…I'm so sorry Thorin…I was so focused on everything that had happened it slipped my mind."

"Did you find it then?"

"No…sadly I didn't…well not really. I spotted it briefly…at least I think I did…bright glowing round thing right? Anyway…I saw it but Smaug saw me looking at it and swallowed it…"

Thorin gaped at her for a moment and then burst into a fit of laughter that had the entire company looking at him oddly.

"He ate it? I hope it gave him indigestion before he met his fate."

Belle's musical laughter soon joined his as the two clung to each other, the others soon joining them as well after Belle retold the tale. She silently vowed that none of them would ever know what really happened to the Arkenstone, though form the look Balin gave her she was sure he had seen what she'd done and approved of it. They all settled in to sleep, knowing that the coming days would be hectic and trying for all of them, and Belle was once again curled up against her King's chest as the sound of his heartbeat lulled her to sleep.

A/N: That's the last update for today folks. I still need to rewatch BOFA before I can continue…I have the extended version just need to find the time to watch it lol. Probably won't be until after the holidays are over, once I watch it I'll update this and Bejeweled.