Outside, the fire exploded into a massive, burning inferno, engulfing all that came within its reach. Grabbing the little girl, Elsa leapt away from the window and onto the floor, the two of them landing on the headless body of a dead orc as fire and smoke billowed through the opening, setting the curtains and parts of the ceiling alight with their heat. The resulting flames began to spread quickly to the rest of the house, devouring away the wood that made up the building.
"Out! Everybody out!" Tauriel shouted.
Helping the child onto her feet, Elsa took her hand (lightly) and headed to the nearest exit, right behind Tauriel who led the way, and Kili and Bofur who carried Fili between them. Heading down the stairs, they entered not the cold of the night, but instead the searing heat of firelight. Elsa stared in horror at the scene around them; it had barely been a few minutes, but already it seemed that hell reigned supreme as the fire consumed the houses around them, bathing them in horrible red and yellow light and sending smoke high into the air, blackening the sky above them. The screams of humans and animals alike pierced the night, and she could see men people running in panic and terror; some of them were being burned alive, jumping into the icy water to put out the flames.
She turned to see that the others were climbing into a longboat, ready to flee the destruction—all except the boy, who was arguing with Óin.
"I can't" the boy protested, "I have to go find Da!"
"Don't be a fool, lad," the dwarf argued, "Wherever he is, there's nothing you can do!"
"You don't understand, he's the only one who can kill the beast!" the boy said, "He hid his last black arrow nearby; I have to find it and get it to him!"
"You don't even know where your father is!"
"Yes I do, and I'm going to save him!" Before Óin or anyone else could say anything to sway him, the boy took off, sprinting past Elsa and into the burning town.
There was another sound that she could hear, though faintly over the roar of the inferno; in another house, she could hear a child crying, calling out for her mother. Through the window of the burning house, she could see dark human shapes huddled together, trapped within their very own home by the ravenous fire…
Her own heart burned within her, and tears came to her eyes.
"Elsa!" Bofur called out from inside the boat, "Come on! What're you waiting for?"
It was a perfectly good question.
To the other's surprise, Elsa ran over to the other side and jumped off the deck; the water instantaneously turned to ice beneath her feet, allowing her to cross over effortlessly. The closer to the house she got, however, the heat increased tenfold, forcing her to raise her arms as a shield. Summoning the strength within her, she unleashed a blast of arctic wind and ice, relieving her of the baking heat before her and dousing the fire, allowing her to climb onto the deck and kick the door open. She was greeted again by baking heat; she greeted it with a blast of frost, extinguishing the flames within her path as she entered the house. Her eyes and throat stung at the heavy smoke, nearly blinding her; regardless, she cast her frost and snow around her, reducing the smog in her way. Eventually it cleared, and she could see a mother and her two small children huddled together, staring up at her in awe of her magic.
"Come on!" she cried, "Get out of here!" Her voice shook them out of their stupor, and they obeyed; they didn't speak a word to her as they followed her out the door and ran for the nearest boat, but gratitude showed itself in their gaze as they went.
There was a terrifying roar above in the sky; Elsa looked up to see a massive shadow glide over her, its wings sending a powerful gust of wind to fan the flames. It descended slightly, and a long scaly tail smashed through several houses, shattering them into pieces before the owner ascended back upwards, accompanied by the screaming and wailing of countless Lakemen.
But all Elsa could focus on were the human lives being extinguished around her, and she could not bear to let any more be lost, not on this night.
She ran like she hadn't run before through the town, braving the heat, pushing through and dodging herds of panicked men and women, and casting ice and frost everywhere she went, as much as was needed to fight the fire and save the dwellings from collapsing in on themselves. After some time she came up to a large house, smothered in fire and smoke, where the cries of a hundred people could be heard; to free them, she directed massive icy winds that smothered the flames with cold and snow. There was a moment of silence, but then the inhabitants began to pile out once they acknowledged the fact that death would not claim them. But Elsa was far from finished; she ran on to the neighboring houses, doing them a similar service.
As she went, a platoon of guards with bows and arrows marched past her, looking up towards the sky for some sign of the dragon in the smog; it came, and immediately they loosed several arrows at the creature. But the shadow passed on, continuing to spread destruction as if nothing happened. They ran on after it, shouting and cursing, and briefly looking at Elsa's work with no small amount of surprise.
Elsa herself moved on, continuing to spread ice and snow wherever she went. She found a section of the walkway where parts of it had been smashed or burned away, trapping a large family against a wall of fire. Without hesitation, Elsa raised a bridge of ice out of the water, allowing the family to escape. She moved on, and used a blizzard wind to destroy the flaming barrier…exposing the shape of the dragon coming straight toward her in the air. From its maw, a firestorm erupted; instinctively, Elsa shielded herself, and the waters of the lake moved in tandem, rising upward and freezing into a cocoon of ice all around her. The inferno came to meet it, and even within her shell, Elsa could feel the agonizing heat as it ate away at her wall; in response, she continued to push more ice against it, until the fire and smoke had passed. Even with her strengthening it, the ice had been severely reduced; it was a miracle that the dragon fire hadn't broken through. It had done a good job of incinerating everything else around her. Briefly she turned to see the shadow glide over the lake. Casting more and more ice, Elsa went on her way, giving thanks that her life had been spared then.
On and on she fought the fire, but the more flames she put out, it seemed there was plenty more to take their place. Sweat ran down her body in torrents, and her joints ached at the effort she put forth; was there no end to this war? Would the dragon's wrath never run out? In spite of these thoughts, she willed herself to keep moving.
Then, she got an idea; perhaps she needed to expand her horizons.
Finding the tallest house she could find, she rushed inside, dousing the flames in her way and leaping over and around furniture destroyed in the panic of whoever had been living here last. She climbed up the stairs and entered a dark attic where there stood only one window. Kicking it open, she crawled through and created a ladder of icicles jutting out from the side of the house, onto which she grabbed on and crawled up the side until she stood upon the very roof of the house.
Here, the whole panorama of a flaming town was put into her view, the burning glow of the flames cast against the billowing clouds of stinging smoke. Far below, people struggled to hide from the scorching heat, either jumping into the water or huddling into boats or any untouched corner. But the dragon itself was nowhere to be seen…
Gathering her courage, she flung wide blasts of icy winds and snow across the town. She saw, to her satisfaction, that her efforts were rewarded; the snow blanketed the fires in their path and greatly reduced their strength. She turned to the other side so as to spread more snow, and to her relief, she could see flotillas of laden boats moving over the water, away from the town and toward the shore. At least her work hadn't been for naught.
Elsa felt a hot wind brushing her from behind, and saw the faces of the men and women in the boats look up in terror. She turned, and too late she saw the massive form of the dragon come swooping towards her, its broad wings spread out and its clawed feet opened and stretched towards her. As the dragon came over, it clutched the two ends of the roof in its talons, and with a beat of its wings, Elsa found herself and the wood beneath her feet lifted high into the air. Reaching down and clinging on for dear life, she looked down and saw the blazing town shrinking and shrinking, until she could see the entirety of it as the wind roared in her ears. The dragon then began to fly away from the town, moving towards the center of the lake.
It was there that the dragon loosened his grip, and Elsa felt gravity take hold again. The water came towards her with increased speed, and she found herself flying off of her perch. It hit the surface first, throwing up white columns of water in a tremendous splash; with barely any thought as to why, Elsa threw out her hands and turned the spray into fresh powder, and the magic spread to the lake, turning it into solid ice and providing a surface for her and the new snow to land on. She rolled out of the snow, and the water immediately below her began to freeze more and more, until it spread across the lake.
Elsa struggled to catch her breath; her whole body felt weak, overwhelmed by the sensation of her experience. With much exertion, she managed to climb back onto her feet, and take a look around; here, the moon shone bright, allowing her to see everything around her clearly. Behind her, Laketown seemed far and away, but the glow of the fire consuming it lit up the sky and smoke above it. Before her, the mountain stood silent and imposing, careless, it seemed, as to what happened to those who dwelled in its shadow.
Then the perpetrator arrived; he glided in from above, and landed gracefully upon the solid ice, nevertheless causing the surface to shudder with his impact.
Elsa got at last a good full look at the enemy, and her heart beat faster and grew colder with fear and awe at the sight; he was unbelievably massive, yet he moved with uncanny litheness and grace upon powerful limbs, slowly waving a long, barbed tail back and forth. Unfolded, his wings, tipped with long sharp claws, cast a massive shadow across the ice, while the light from behind illuminated an almost dazzling and terrifying display of reds, golds, oranges and browns. Red and gold scales that glimmered like rubies in the cold moonlight covered his skin, and pieces of diamonds and jewels embedded and encrusted his underbelly. His horned head was perched upon a long, serpentine neck, teeth like curved swords lined his almost crocodilian jaws, and his eyes…those terrible, fearsome eyes…they literally glowed a burning yellow in the dark like bright lamps, as if they could penetrate into her very soul.
So this was Smaug the Terrible. What she had heard of him hardly matched what she saw of him; he was far more astonishing than what she had been led to believe.
"At last!" the dragon said in his fearsome voice, "How long have I waited for a worthy opponent to face me in battle, and it comes in the form of a sorceress of winter itself! It will be a great pleasure to destroy you."
The dragon moved forward. Elsa raised a huge wall of ice between her and the beast, giving her time to put some distance between her and him. She ran hard and fast, but he let loose a huge burst of flame, melting a hole in the wall. "Impressive magic, indeed," he remarked, poking his head through the steam and crawling through the rest of the way, "But you will have to come up with better tricks than that."
In response, Elsa summoned legions of icicle spears, pointed towards Smaug. But he charged right through, the points failing to pierce his hide.
"You are allied with those miserable dwarves, aren't you?" Smaug demanded as he crawled through, "I can smell it on you; you came with them to steal what is mine, along with their little thief in the shadows! And now you dare to impede judgment upon these pathetic Lakemen!"
"They don't deserve this," she shouted, "Leave them alone!"
"They would dare to conspire with those dwarves and steal my treasure," the dragon countered, "And now they will pay the price. But first I must kill you, for coming to their aid with your magic."
As the dragon came toward her, a flood of fire escaped his jaws; Elsa summoned a gust of icy wind, deflecting the flames away from her, and then a huge pillar of ice from below. She caused it to lean over above the dragon, and with a thought shattered it into pieces. The great chunks rained upon the dragon like an avalanche, pinning him to the ground. But even though he struggled underneath the weight, he seemed undeterred by this, his eyes still glowing with defiance and anger.
"Do you truly believe this will hold me forever?" he sneered.
"No," she answered. All she needed was time. "It doesn't have to be like this," she pleaded, "No one should have to die this night. Please, leave this town, leave this kingdom, and leave in peace."
"And abandon the spoils of my conquest to thieves and robbers? I have guarded that treasure for far longer than you have drawn breath, and I will not give it up at the request of a foolish young human."
He suddenly burst out of the ice, reached out and pinned her underneath his massive hands. She could feel the very heat radiating from his skin as it pressed against her body and coming very close to baking it.
The dragon arched his neck and looked down at her with those terrible yellow eyes. Cracks in his belly glowed red like lava within the crust of the earth, his jaws opened, and she could see the light of fire from within his gullet…but then he paused for a moment, a thought passing through those eyes.
"Then again, perhaps I should," he growled, "Perhaps I should take my leave of this place, and go far, far, far away, and let Oakenshield take his kingdom and fulfil his quest. Then you can watch as that Arkenstone of his warps his mind, blackens his heart, and leads him to break whatever promises he has made. Then you can watch as the men of the Lake go to war with their so-called allies, spilling blood and breaking oaths, all in the name of prosperity and lucre, and I can feast on whatever is left alive of them."
His words filled her with fear and despair. "You—you liar!" she cried out, "He wouldn't…"
"Oh? I think he would," he replied, reveling in her pain, "I've seen the darkness growing within him, twisting and corrupting whatever good was in him before…much as I've seen it in his little burglar."
"What are you talking about?"
"Should I tell? Perhaps not…but perhaps you NEED to hear this," the dragon mused, lowering his head so he could look her in the eye "He fancies you, you know," he hissed, "I looked into his mind, and I could see you there. Oh yes, he thinks so dearly about you. Much more than you can imagine. But sadly, you are second in the Thief's priorities, for you see, he carries something with him. Something made of gold, but it gives him power… clearly it means far more to him than you do. Perhaps I can kill the rest and let the two of you live, so you can see it destroy him as well, so you can see if he still thinks you as much as he does his…precious."
Elsa didn't want to believe him then, and she refused to…but then her thoughts turned back to that night in Beorn's house, when she had seen him awake in the night, playing with something she could not see…
"Or, even better, I can leave this land entirely, and establish a new domain elsewhere," Smaug suggested, "So many places to choose from…but I do seem to recall one land in particular. I believe the people there would welcome some heat, seeing how their land is trapped in an Eternal Winter...of course you would know all about that, wouldn't you, your Highness?"
No. It couldn't be, she thought. How could he know? "I—I don't know what you're talking about," she said.
"Don't bother denying it," the dragon hissed, "I guessed your identity the moment I saw your powers, Queen Elsa. And I have seen your kingdom, your entire world myself."
"How?"
Smaug bared his hooked teeth and quietly laughed, "You have no idea how much the Star Gems can alleviate boredom between stretches of hibernation, my dear. It's pitiful, the state your kingdom is in; it seems that the moment you left, you left a curse upon your precious Arendelle, and left its people hungry and cold, with no one to lead them or to save them. How ironic; here you are trying to save one kingdom, while leaving your own to suffer and die! I could very well relieve them of the hell they are enduring; and who knows? I have never bothered to use the Silvan elf king's star gems as a portal, never believing such a purpose could be achieved, but now that you're here…perhaps I can use this opportunity to become the wealthiest dragon not just in Middle-Earth, but everywhere."
What he had said about Arendelle stuck with Elsa the most. No matter how she wanted to think otherwise, she could not resist the truth anymore; not only had she abandoned her kingdom, but she had abandoned it to die at her own hand. "What have I done?" she whispered.
The dragon continued, "But perhaps not. I rather like what I have going on for me here and now. Besides, if I were to leave, who would protect these people from their own avarice? Who would guard them from their own lusts? I am the only thing standing between them and war. I instill terror into their hearts and preserve the peace, thereby. I rule this land; I AM KING UNDER THE MOUNTAIN. And you have dared to disturb that peace. For that, you must be duly punished. You, the dwarves, and your dearest burglar, will all suffer my wrath!"
In that moment, Elsa noticed something about the dragon's left chest; it was small, but from here, she could see a dark patch, as if a scale was missing right above his heart…
Somewhere in the back of her mind, an old familiar voice that she had heard long ago in her past whispered, You are lucky that it wasn't her heart…the heart cannot be so easily changed…
With that, Elsa realized that she still had a chance to live.
Firelight appeared in the dragon's maw, but Elsa was not about to die tonight. Filled with a fire of her own, she shouted and raised a multitude more ice spears from below the dragon, forcing him to lift into the air, and freeing her from his grasp.
She stood back up onto her feet, and the wind began to swirl around her, laden with snow.
"You are no king," she declared with force, "Out of all of us, YOU are the thief. And your reign of terror ends tonight."
The huge reptile roared and charged straight towards her, but she countered the attack by lifting up the ice below him, knocking him off of his feet. She then sent a wave of ice towards him, but he dodged the attack, and exhaled a firestorm from his maw. She raised a column of ice beneath her feet and lifted herself high into the air, escaping the fire, and raised several more for her to jump onto as the base of the original melted in the heat.
"Fool!" the dragon roared, "Thinking you can defeat me! Entire armies have fallen before me." He then began to scale the columns after her, climbing with incredible speed. But before he could snap her up, she jumped, and summoned a slide of snow to land on. As she sped, she twisted around and directed a blast of cold air and frost at Smaug, but all this did was slightly unbalance him. He leapt off of his perch and rammed the bottom of the slide, forcing Elsa to jump off onto the ice. In her hands, she created a snowball and made it bigger and bigger before launching it at the dragon's face, blinding him with snow. As he growled at the pain, she took the opportunity and ran straight towards him, sliding underneath him. She saw the patch in his chest, and took her chance; she cast pure ice magic, as much as she could in the brief span of time, straight into the heart before sliding out again.
Getting herself to a safe distance, Elsa watched as the dragon roared in terrible pain at the frigid cold in his chest. She wasn't entirely sure what would happen, but if all went right…
The dragon writhed around, hissing and screaming, and Elsa saw ice spreading from where she had hit her mark. It was working; whatever it was, it was working….
But then the dragon stood still, and began heaving in and out, in and out. A reddish colored glow appeared in cracks throughout his underbelly like magma within the earth, and to her shock, the ice began to melt from his heart, pouring out from the patch in great torrents of water. He turned his head towards her, and she saw fierce rage and hatred burning within his eyes, lighting them in a blinding yellow.
"Clever girl," he hissed, "But that won't save you."
Smaug then flapped his wings, blowing a huge gust of heated wind in her direction that sent her flying off of her feet and rolling onto the ice. He then let loose more fire, but Elsa used her powers to propel herself away as the flame ate away at the ice, and caused it to break into chunks and pieces and sending up clouds of steam. She found herself adrift on a large piece of ice, and watched as the dragon jumped and flew into the air, each beat of his wings lifting him higher and higher. Elsa took this opportunity to send a hurricane wind in his direction, trying to knock him off course, but the dragon only flapped harder and harder against the current. She could see, however, that he slowly grew more and more exhausted; she then sent forth a massive blast in his direction, striking him and sending the dragon back again.
But then she found herself becoming exhausted; she collapsed onto her knees, her whole body becoming weak and her breathing becoming laborious. In her state she looked up, and saw the dragon banking around and coming towards her, the yellow glow visible between his teeth. Her spirit willed it, but she could barely lift up her arm to defend herself.
"You may be the Master of Winter," Smaug roared, "But I am Fire itself! And the fire will never stop burning until it has consumed all!"
So this is how it all ends, she thought. I'm so sorry, Bilbo, Thorin…Anna. I've failed you all…
Smaug came closer and closer with every wing-beat. He let loose a terrible roar as he drew near, and Elsa braced herself for death by fire…
But it never came. Instead, she heard something whistle above her, and a thud, followed closely by the dragon letting out a sharp scream of pain and agony. She looked up, and saw him spasm in the air; she could see in his chest the shaft of a black arrow, buried deep within the flesh of the animal and letting out a fountain of blood.
Smaug rose up into the air in his death rattle, his glowing eyes wide at the shock and pain, and then faded forever, along with the red glow of his whole body. He then began to fall, and as she watched Elsa noticed a longboat floating in the water, laden with glinting gold, with a familiar red-headed man amongst its crew….directly in the path of the falling dragon.
Too late, the dragon's corpse fell on through, sending up huge waves and billowing clouds of steam, never to rise again.
It had all happened so quickly. Elsa struggled to turn to see who had fired the arrow, and saw in the distance the silhouette of a man and a boy standing atop a tall tower at the edge of the burning town, aiming a large windlass, set against the light of the moon. Suddenly, everything went dark, and she fell into unconsciousness…