Author's Note: Well…this isn't really exactly like the movie. The whole Smaug/molten gold sequence was so chaotic and confusing that I couldn't even figure out where Karra would have been in it, so I decided to write my own thing—for the most part. Some of it is from the movie. But some of it isn't. And this is a rather long-winded author's note. ;)

Chapter 29-Smaug the Golden

Karra stared nervously into the darkness that was the tunnel leading into Erebor. She heard or saw no sign of the hobbit. Tapping her fingers restlessly on the floor, she glanced around at the other dwarves. Didn't they care? Bilbo had been in there for fifteen minutes now. They had sent him in to confront a dragon that was capable of destroying an entire kingdom, and they were supposed to just wait?

"So…what exactly are we doing?" she asked, and her voice seemed to echo down the tunnel. "Are we just…sitting here and waiting until something happens? Or what?"

A couple of the dwarves looked at her silently, and she turned away. Why didn't anyone seem to care? Slowly, some of the dwarves began to filter out onto the little platform. Karra had to bite her lip to keep from saying something sarcastic. So now we have to sit outside. We can't even be inside the mountain even a little bit. With a sigh, she followed the last dwarf out of the mountain and sat down with her back against the wall. It was dark now, and barely any lingering twilight was left.

"Guys?" Karra said after what seemed like an eternity. "Can't we do something?"

"Well," Dwalin growled, "what do you want to do?"

Karra glanced around at the faces of the other dwarves and sighed. Was she really the only one who was nervous? "Nothing, I guess," she mumbled, slumping back against the wall. After a moment, she got to her feet and began to pace, and not looking where she was going, she found herself disconcertingly close to the edge. And then the mountain began to shake.

She was thrown to her knees and found herself staring straight over the edge to the ground hundreds of feet below. She let out a little scream and rolled backwards, gasping. "What was that?" she managed to squeak out, still breathing hard from the shock. Clenching her fists, she tried to calm her rising panic. She was fine. She hadn't gotten thrown over the edge. Everything was fine. She slowly began to work her way towards the wall, on her guard lest the mountain begin to shake again.

"Was that an earthquake?" Ori asked, a little quaver in his voice. Karra glanced at him. So someone else was nervous.

"That," said Balin slowly, "was a dragon."

"So…so Smaug's awake now?" Karra stuttered. "I mean, I guess I knew that, but…" But I now I know it. "Guys…we have to do something." Anything.

"Not yet," said Thorin sternly, not looking her in the face. "We will wait."

"Wait!" Karra exploded. "That's what we've been doing for the last half-hour! What are we waiting for? We're waiting of Bilbo to get killed, that's what we're waiting for!" She stopped suddenly, realizing what she had just said. "I mean…" she began, then stopped. "Well, I mean…I don't think…" She stopped again. Thorin was staring at her with a look of something like contained rage on his face. She backed away slightly and dropped her gaze. He turned and walked to the edge of the cliff, staring out into the night. Karra sighed with relief. Why was she suddenly so afraid of Thorin?

For a while, it was silent, save for a few scattered conversations among the dwarves. The ground shook again once, lightly this time. Karra absently began to play with a strand of her now-short hair, tugging on it so hard it hurt. She winced and got to her feet.

She couldn't take this any longer. She had to do something.

She began to tiptoe towards the door, not quite sure why she felt like she had to sneak, only that she did.

The ground shook again.

Karra bit her lip and stepped into the opening. Once inside, every step she took seemed to echo. As silently as she could, she tiptoed down the passageway and turned a corner. Her heart was beating very hard now. She didn't even know what she was doing, but at least she wasn't just sitting there waiting.

"Karra!" She heard the command barked from outside. She jumped and turned back, peeking nervously around the corner and out into the night. "I said we wait," Thorin said darkly.

Karra flushed and ran back down the corridor, feeling irritation rising in her chest. "I was just looking," she snapped, stepping out onto the platform. "Is that so bad?" Seeing the rest of the dwarves standing there doing nothing, she felt the last of her patience run out. "So we can't even take a peek in the hallway while Bilbo is in there possibly getting eaten by a dragon?" she cried. "You can send Bilbo in, but noooooo, none of us are allowed to go in!" Throwing all respect for their leader to the winds, she put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot. "I guess you just want to make sure Bilbo gets your precious Arkenstone without any of us interfering, huh? I guess—"

"Karra!" Thorin snapped, and his voice had a hard edge to it. "Be silent!" He turned towards the door, and almost without warning, drew his sword.

"We enter," he said, his voice quiet and intense.

"Well, at least I finally managed to get through to him," Karra muttered to Balin as they followed their leader into the tunnel. He gave her a warning look and she closed her mouth and kept it closed.

Karra drew her sword and clenched her hand around it so hard it hurt. She suddenly felt dreadfully inadequate. She had convinced Thorin to enter, and now she was starting to wonder what had made her go and do something like that. If she hadn't lashed out at him like she had, maybe they wouldn't be about to face a dragon right now—maybe they would all be peacefully sitting on the platform, out of harm's way. But no. Bilbo. She would still be worrying about Bilbo.

The mountain shook again and there was a burst of orange light. The entire company began to run. There was another orange flash, and Bilbo suddenly came careening around a corner, breathing hard.

"You're alive!" cried Thorin.

"Not for long," panted Bilbo.

"Did you find the Arkenstone?" Thorin asked, putting a heavy hand on the hobbit's shoulder.

"The dragon's coming!" Bilbo cried.

"Did you find it?" Thorin asked again, and this time Karra thought his voice held a tinge of desperation.

"Who cares about the Arkenstone!" Karra blurted out breathlessly. "We have a dragon to deal with!"

Thorin turned towards her, his face once again cold and hard. "You!" he ordered. "You will stop this now!" Karra drew back, shaking a little. What would Thorin do to her for questioning his authority so many times this evening?

"We have to get out of here," panted Bilbo. He turned to leave, but Thorin planted the flat edge of his sword on his shoulder. Bilbo stared up at him for a moment, as if unable to believe Thorin would do this to him, and then his head turned and Karra followed his gaze. And what she saw nearly gave her a heart attack.

A dragon. A huge, frighteningly angry dragon.

Karra's mind slowed to a standstill and she clutched her sword still harder. Her breath came in short little gasps and she wanted nothing more than to turn and run, run away out of the passage, away from this terrible, terrifying beast that was now approaching them. But she couldn't, and stood petrified, unable to move as it came closer, closer.

And then the dragon let out a roar and Karra jumped and nearly dropped her sword. A stream of fire shot from its mouth towards the dwarves. Karra threw herself backwards and found herself falling as the searing heat passed over her and around her. She gasped for air and landed with a hard plop on a pile of gold coins. She rolled backwards, unable to stop herself. She finally hit solid floor, breathing hard.

"Run!" yelled Thorin, and they ran. Karra jumped to her feet and tried not to trip over the piles of gold coins as they fled. She ran into a wall and nearly fell over, and realized they must have entered another tunnel. Someone grabbed her by the hand and pulled her forward. She wasn't sure how long they ran, only that she absolutely couldn't run any further. She turned a corner and found herself in another tunnel—gosh, she really needed a map of this place. She turned to ask the nearest dwarf where they were…only, there weren't any other dwarves.

She was alone.

What had happened, she asked herself as she leaned against the wall, breathing hard. How had she gotten separated from the dwarves? And where was she? Unable to think, unable to move, she slid to the ground, breathing hard, trying to calm herself. She had faced trolls. She had faced goblins. She had faced spiders. Surely she could face a dragon without panicking like that. As her frenzied heartbeat began to slow and her breathing returned to normal, she got to her feet and looked around, still clenching the hilt of her sword. The hall was empty. She was still alone.

She tiptoed forward, trying not to panic every time her footsteps echoed off the walls. I'm fine, she told herself. It's fine. Everything's fine. She jumped as she unexpectedly turned a corner and emerged into a large, open room. After a examining every corner of the room as carefully as she could, she stepped out of the hallway. The room was empty. No dwarves—but no dragon, either, so that was a plus.

A little shiver went up the back of her neck. She stopped.

What was that?

It didn't sound like a dwarf.

Her heart beating wildly again, she dropped to the ground and ducked behind a pile of gold. There it was again—that noise. Slowly, she raised her head and peeked around the edge of the pile. And what she saw nearly made her stop breathing.

The dragon stalked forward into the room, wrath and fire in its eyes. Karra jerked her head back just as Smaug's eye swept over her. The dragon's voice echoed around the room. "Do not try to hide!" it hissed.

Karra jumped. Smaug could talk? Why had no one told her this? Why had no one told her that dragons could talk? Now she would probably have to have a conversation with it! Oh no. No, no, no. She couldn't. She just couldn't.

She felt panic rising in her chest as the dragon's eye swept the room once again…moved away…and moved back. She looked up. And Smaug's eye met hers.

There was no hiding. The dragon had seen her, and the only thing she could do was run. Except…there was nowhere to run. She slowly got to her feet, her heart pounding. What could she do now?

"So there you are," it growled, darting its giant head forward to within nearly ten feet of Karra. She jumped and nearly fell over backwards. Goblins, trolls, spiders…she thought. I faced goblins, trolls, and spiders. I'm fine. Slowly, she began to work her way around the back wall of the room, trying to steady her breathing and calm her rising panic. She was fine. Everything was fine.

No. It really wasn't. She had a dragon looking at her. Everything was not fine.

"You do not smell like a dwarf, nor do you smell like a man," the dragon said, its head following her and its eye trained on her. "Do tell me, what are you?"

"I…I'm a dwarf!" Karra cried. "I…I guess I…I just smell funny!" Putting her hands on her hips, she tried her best to stare up at the dragon defiantly. She felt her resolve crumbling as it stared back, examining her as if it were confused. Its eyes narrowed and its head drew back.

"So the dwarves have brought a woman with them," it hissed. "I see, I see. They planned to use you as bait, perhaps? The princess for the dragon, hmm?" As it spoke, it circled the room, always keeping its eyes trained on Karra. It let out a long laugh, slowly growing until it echoed deafeningly around the chamber. "So what are you meant to distract me from, princess?" it asked, the echoes of the laugh still bouncing off the walls. It darted its head forward and Karra was suddenly angry.

"Yes, I'm a woman!" she shouted at the dragon's face, feeling a sudden surge of courage—or maybe it was recklessness. But whatever it was, she couldn't stop now. "Why is that so strange? I'm one of the company, they accepted me from the beginning! I don't care what you say, they would never use me as bait! I'm a dwarf, and I can handle dragons just as well as any of them!" She ducked just in time. A stream of fire shot from the dragon's mouth and Karra ducked, rolled over, jumped to her feet, and ran. The dragon followed her, fire still streaming from its jaws. She gasped in the choking heat and dropped to the ground, hiding once again behind a pile of gold. She crawled for a bit, jumped to her feet, and ran again. The dragon opened its jaws again and Karra ducked into the tunnel, leaving the room just as another blast of flame followed her. She ran down the corridor with her back to the flames, eventually just falling to her knees in exhaustion. Now she had gone and made Smaug mad! What had she done that for? What had gotten into her?

She just sat there for a moment, breathing hard, trying to collect her wits. She heard a noise into the hallway and jumped. Turning, she recognized the silhouette of the hobbit coming around the corner. "Bilbo!" she cried, getting to her feet. "Oh, thank goodness! I thought I was completely lost."

"Karra!" he exclaimed, breaking into a run. "We thought we lost you!"

"What's going on?" she asked as Bilbo reached her and stopped, panting. "I mean, where is everybody?"

"I don't know," Bilbo replied in a low voice. "We've split up. Thorin has some sort of plan. We're to meet at the forges."

"And where are the forges?"

"I don't know."

Karra closed her eyes momentarily and her shoulders slumped.

"But come on!" Bilbo cried, grabbing her hand. They ran together down the hallway, sending occasional cautious glances behind them. Rounding a corner, they nearly ran right into two dwarves. Both groups stopped and stared at each other for a moment. There was a crash behind them.

"Watch out!" cried Ori. "The dragon…it's coming closer!"

"Go on," Karra said in a low voice, that reckless courage of a moment earlier returning. "We'll distract him." Bilbo raised a hand and opened his mouth to say something, but Karra cut him off and pulled him forward as the dwarves ran the other direction. Bilbo and Karra ran out of the hallway and into another large room just as the dragon landed on a pile of gold in front of them.

"So," it growled, "the thief and the princess."

Karra bit her lip. "Stop calling me princess," she said under her breath. "Like I'm some kind of helpless maiden."

And orange glow rose in the dragon's chest. Oh no. It heard me. "So you come to distract me," Smaug hissed. "What did I tell you, princess? You are bait!" The dragon opened its giant jaws and the orange glow grew brighter.

"Wait!" Bilbo shouted.

The dragon bit back the stream of fire that was about to come from its jaws.

"You know," Bilbo said, "I…I wouldn't do that if I were you. You might make someone very angry if you burned us to ashes."

Karra thought wildly for something to say. "Yeah," she blurted out. "We have people behind us that you wouldn't want to make angry. We have allies, dragon." She stopped, momentarily satisfied with how good that had sounded. "Allies that can kill dragons like you." She put her hands on her hips and tried to look Smaug in the eye. Maybe she hadn't convinced him, but at least the dwarves had gotten away. She noticed Bilbo staring at her. She couldn't tell whether he was admiring her for her cleverness or wondering what the heck she had just said, but whichever it was, she never found out. Smaug's face contorted in rage.

"So," he said with a low growl. "I was right. You come from Laketown!" It was Karra's turn to look at Bilbo. Then the full implications of what the dragon had just said hit her rather suddenly and she let out a little gasp.

"Oh, no, no, no!" she cried. "It's not Laketown! Oh no, I really doubt they could kill you." She glanced at Bilbo as if pleading for him to cut in and say something clever.

Bilbo held up his hand and started to speak, then stopped. "Uh…" he began. "Our….our allies are much more powerful than that little town. You…you would be right to fear them." He stepped back as if expecting an outflow of the dragon's wrath. The orange glow rose in its chest again.

Bilbo grabbed Karra's hand and pulled her backwards just in time. Fire flew from the dragon's mouth as they rolled down a pile of gold. Heat surrounded Karra. She felt a searing pain in her right arm and let out a little scream. The dragon stalked forward and both Karra and Bilbo jumped to their feet and ran. Karra's arm throbbed and she bent over, breathing hard. Bilbo pulled her around a corner and they stopped, leaning against a wall. Karra closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. "My arm…" she managed to say.

Bilbo let go of her hand, a look of concern on his face. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I…don't…know…" Karra gasped. "I think….he….Smaug…burned my arm…pretty bad…" Opening her eyes again, she stared at her arm. Half her sleeve hung in burned tatters and the burn on her arm was beginning to blister already. Karra bit her lip and looked away.

There was a crash behind them.

"Come on!" cried Bilbo, grabbing her by her left arm and pulling her forward. She followed him through a huge stone doorway and into another room, willing herself not to trip or something. They stopped short as Smaug landed just opposite them.

"So!" he shouted, his voice filled with wrath. "You try to deceive me! You tell me you have allies! You tell me you did not come from Laketown! Liars! All of you!" He stalked forward, and Bilbo and Karra ducked behind a pillar. "There is some plan," muttered the dragon. "Some scheme being cooked up between you and your miserable little Laketowners." Its eyes narrowed as if it were thinking. "Perhaps," it hissed, "perhaps it's time I pay them a visit." It began to stalk towards the door of the chamber, its eyes glowing fire.

Karra eyes widened and she jumped forward, not even thinking of what the dragon would do to her. "No!" she cried. She felt a presence beside her and turned to see Bilbo.

"No! Wait!" yelled the hobbit. "This isn't their fault! You cannot go to Laketown!"

Smaug stopped, turned back, and a look of cunning came over his face. "You care about them?" he said, a slight smile forming around the corners of his mouth. "Good! Then you can watch them die!" And with that, he turned back towards the door.

A voice resounded over the chamber and Smaug turned once again. Thorin stood on a platform above the room. "You witless worm!" he shouted, and his voice held a triumphant edge. The dragon narrowed his eyes and growled deep in his throat. The entire company of dwarves emerged standing behind Thorin on the platform. "I am taking back what you stole!" Thorin cried. Bilbo pulled Karra behind a pillar and they huddled together watching the confrontation.

"You will take nothing from me, dwarf scum," Smaug growled, stalking towards Thorin. "I laid low your warriors of old." His voice rose. "I instilled terror in the hearts of men. I am king under the mountain!" he bellowed.

"This is not your kingdom," Thorin said, his voice just loud enough to be heard over the hall. "These are dwarf lands, and this is dwarf gold. We will have our revenge!" He shouted and order and there was a giant crack. Smaug arched his neck in surprise.

To the left of Thorin, pieces of stone began to fall. Karra watched in surprise and confusion as the stones broke, cracked, fell away, and smashed to the floor, revealing in their place a giant golden statue.

Okay, now this officially made no sense anymore. Karra blinked and looked back at the dwarves. "What in the world?" she muttered under her breath. She tapped Bilbo gently. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" she whispered. Bilbo shook his head, staring up at the statue, clearly just as confused as Karra was.

Smaug evidently thought the same, for he stopped in his tracks and stared. Turning his head this way and that, he examined it thoroughly. A strange, greedy light came into his eyes and he seemed to nod, as if saying, I approve. Karra looked back and forth between the statue, the dragon, and the dwarves, totally and completely confused. So this was their plan? This made no sense. Like, no sense at all.

For a moment everything was silent. In his greedy fascination with the golden statue, the dragon seemed to have forgotten that anything else existed. Karra began to think that now would be a good time for them all to sneak away and leave Smaug to his raptures. But no, they all just stood there, watching. And so Karra watched too, her confusion growing by the minute.

And then the statue began to collapse. A stream of molten gold splurted out of its eye, and Karra jumped. The statue seemed to melt, its entire head collapsing into a golden pool. Karra stared, still confused but strangely mesmerized. The dragon stepped backward, arching his neck in surprise once again. The statue collapsed and melted, engulfing the dragon in a pool of molten gold. Letting out a scream of agony that echoed off the walls and the high ceiling, he tried to flee, thrashing lashing his tail as the gold surrounded him. Karra jumped as a drop of molten gold flew towards her and landed at her feet. She stared at it, strangely fascinated.

There was silence. Karra looked up. The dragon was nowhere to be seen, and in the middle of the room was a huge, flat, pool of gold. Suddenly Karra understood. They had just drowned the dragon in liquid gold. That had been the plan all along.

Hesitantly, she stepped forward, staring in disbelief. Could this really have worked? Nothing moved, and it seemed…

The gold barely had time to settle. The surface broke, and Smaug burst forth, bellowing in rage. Oh great. It hadn't worked, and they had only made the dragon angrier. Karra jumped back behind her pillar.

"Revenge?" screamed Smaug. "I will show you revenge!" He hurtled towards the door, throwing off drops of molten gold in all directions. Karra had to jump out of the way to keep from getting hit by one.

The dragon crashed through the wall, smashing stones and pillars as he went. Not even sure what she was doing anymore, Karra drew her sword and ran forward. Bilbo was at her side, his own short sword drawn. The dwarves rushed forward, weapons in hand. They charged through the opening the dragon had made and followed the sounds of his flight. There was an even larger crash ahead of them and then there was silence. They ran forward and found themselves looking out of the wall and into the night. In the distance, Karra saw the silhouette of the dragon, winging its way towards Laketown.

There was a moment of silence. They had failed, and they had made the dragon very angry. The terrible finality of it seemed to settle over all of them as they stared gloomily out into the darkness. Karra slumped against what was left of the gate and slid to the ground, putting her head in her hands. The people of Laketown were going to die in fire and flames—and it was all their fault. And….the thought hit her so hard she let out a little gasp that slowly turned into a sob.

"Fili," she said softly. "Fili's in Laketown."

Well, I'm sorry to say this, but this is where I'm going to have to leave you for a while. As you know, this is the end of the Desolation of Smaug. I've seen the Battle of Five Armies twice now, but I still need time to get all my thoughts together about the next section of this story (and get a transcript of BOFA), and then I have to actually plan everything out, and then I have to write it, and rewrite it, and get it to a point where I'm satisfied with it. And all that might take a couple of months or more. If it's any comfort, I'll leave you with the promise that I will never abandon this story completely (unless something bad happens, but you know… :P). I might take long breaks on it, but I will finish this thing—even if it takes me a while. So even if you don't get another chapter for a couple of months, I have not abandoned this story. I'm just getting everything written up really good for you all. :)