Disclaimer: Not mine

Chapter 12

Smaug blasted them again and again Hari's shield held. Bilbo clung to his legs, eyes wide with terror. "This is my mountain!" The creature snarled.

"No it isn't." Hari answered softly but he was still heard perfectly. He pressed the dragon back and glanced down at Bilbo. "I will deal with him, find the Arkenstone. It is over there somewhere, look for a gem that literally glows."

"I…."

"You can do this Bilbo; I believe in you." Hari smiled and Bilbo straightened up, letting go of him. Hari attacked with a blast of magic and Bilbo scurried away.

Thorin dashed out of the tunnel, sword drawn and froze in shock and awe at the sight before him. Smaug had ripped their armies apart as if they were ants and yet here was a single wizard pushing the beast back. He glanced around, where was Bilbo? He looked around wildly for the hobbit and then saw him searching through the treasure. He jumped into the piles of gold and moved to Bilbo's side, grasping his shoulder and making the hobbit start. "Bilbo."

"Thorin!" Bilbo yanked him down as the two powerful beings continued to battle above them. "Get back in the tunnel."

"No. I will not abandon you." The exiled King snarled, crouching over the hobbit even as Bilbo shook his head but went back to work. He glanced down and saw Bilbo's hand wrap around a familiar stone.

"Got it."

"Quickly." He pulled Bilbo up and they dashed for the tunnel just as the other's began to move towards them. "Back!" He yelled and they fell back to safety even as they made it to the tunnel. Seconds later Hari darted in and a shield went up just inside the opening.

"Anyone hurt?" the wizard asked as he brought his breathing back under control.

"The dragon?" Thorin asked and Hari shook his head.

"Smaug has left the mountain and I fear where he is headed."

"Lake town." Balin whispered.

"Fili and Kili! And Dori." Bilbo paled in fear for their friends.

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"Da?" Sigrid whispered as the house shook slightly around them.

"It's coming from the mountain." Bain choked out, eyes wide with fear.

"You should leave us. Take your children; get out of here." Fili murmured to the bargeman.

"And go where? There is nowhere to go."

"Are we going to die, Da?" Tilda clung to her sister as Dori moved to the window, looking out at the now red glowing mountain, afraid for his brothers.

"No, darling."

"The dragon, it's going to kill us."

Bard looked at his children worriedly for a moment, then reached up and pulled a black arrow, the last of the three that Girion had in Dale, from where it had been hidden as a drying rack for plants. His children looked at the arrow in shock. "Not if I kill it first." He grabbed his coat and Bain, leaving the house quickly even as Fili watched them go before turning back to his brother. Kili wasn't ready for a long trip yet but it looked like they may have no other choice.

"Pack whatever necessities you have, just in case." Fili told Sigrid who swallowed but then nodded and began packing clothes, blankets, food and medical supplies.

Bard and Bain snuck through the town, Bard holding the arrow. Bard looked around a corner to check whether all was clear. "Alright."

"A black arrow? Why did you never tell me?"

"Because you did not need to know." They ducked behind a wall as soldiers passed by. Bard puts his arm on Bain's shoulder and indicated the tower with the dwarvish wind-lance on top. "Listen to me carefully: I need you to distract the guards. Once I'm at the top of the tower, I'll set the arrow to the bow." Just then, Braga and the other soldiers, who had been sent to find Bard, saw him.

"There he is! Bard! After him!"

"Quickly! Down there! Go!" Bard and Bain ran from the soldiers.

"Stop him!"

Bard and Bain ran through shop and docks, knocking over various items in their way. The soldiers followed, yelling "Stop him!" The shopkeepers yelled angrily at both parties. When they had put some distance in front of the guards, Bard stopped Bain and handed him the black arrow. "Bain! Bain. Keep it safe. Don't let anyone find it. I'll deal with them."

"I won't leave you!" Bain argued, gripping the massive arrow tightly.

"Go!" As Bain ran off, Bard turned and faced Braga, who had just caught up to him. "Braga."

"You are under arrest."

"On what charge?"

"Any charge the Master chooses."

Bard turned and saw that he was surrounded. He then turned back and suddenly punched Braga in the face, then fought his way through the soldiers and ran with the soldiers in pursuit. Bain, seeing the soldiers chase his father, jumped into a boat and hid the arrow beneath some ropes and fishing gear.

Bard ran through the town; leaping across a channel using boats as stepping stones. He used his momentum to cause the last boat to slide several feet across the water until he could step onto the opposite bank. A soldier trying to follow him slipped and fell out of a boat into the water. Bard ran down an alley, but a foot was suddenly stuck out of a doorway and Bard tripped over it, falling into a pile of wood. As he sat up, dazed, Alfrid stepped forward, followed by the Master. As Bard struggled to get up, the Master lifted a wooden pole and hit Bard in the head with it, knocking him out.

Smaug soared through the air toward Laketown, talking to himself. "I am fire. I am... DEATH!"

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"You found it, well done Master Burglar." Thorin praised as he stared at the stone in Bilbo's hand. He didn't notice Hari and Balin watching him very closely.

"Now what?" the hobbit asked, still shaking slightly from adrenaline.

"We secure the mountain." Thorin answered.

"What about the others?" Bofur asked nervously, ringing his hat in his hands.

They looked to the wizard who leant tiredly on his staff and shook his head sadly. "There is nothing more I can do for the moment, magic has its limits and I am at mine." He admitted. Two fights back to back like that plus the considerable apparition jump had left him more drained than he had felt in years. "Gandalf is coming but I do not know by what route or how close he is."

"Then there is nothing more we can do. We must secure the gates." Thorin ordered. "The Arkenstone." He held his hand out and Bilbo passed it to him. They then followed Thorin to the Throne room and watched as he placed it above the Throne where it had stayed during his Grandfather's reign. The stone lit the area with a gold white light and Bilbo shivered slightly, even as Hari rested a comforting hand on his shoulder.

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Bells rang through the town as people frantically loaded their possessions into boats. In his house, the Master of Laketown was overseeing his soldiers and servants carrying boxes containing his gold and valuables. "I warned you. Did I not warn you what would come of dealing with dwarves?! Now they've done it! They've woken the dragon. They brought the apocalypse upon our heads! Come on! Quickly! Quickly!" The Master pulled a candlestick in the wall sideways; it turned out to be a secret lever, and a nearby bookshelf fell backward to reveal a hidden staircase and boat landing with the Master's boat waiting. "Faster now! I'm trying to evacuate myself here! Careful, men. Never mind the books! Get on, get the rest of it!"

"But Sire, should we not try to save the town?"

"The town is lost! Save the gold!" The Master yelled at the guard.

"You heard him." Another guard pushed him on.

The men loaded all the gold and other valuables onto the Master's boat.

The townspeople frantically paddled their loaded boats through the canals. Dori watched the sky as Fili helped Kili up and then a shadow fell over the town, Smaug had arrived. "We have no time. We must leave!" Dori yelled, quickly moving to help the boy with a bag of food.

"Come on, brother." Fili urged and Kili winced as they moved to the stairs.

"I'm fine - I can walk."

"We're not leaving. Not without our father." Bain argued as they moved downstairs.

"If you stay here, your sisters will die. Is that what your father would want?" Fili asked and Bain hesitated but then got in the boat with the girls. Dori and Fili grasped the oars as Bain pushed them clear of the dock.

Bard was alone in the prison. all the men guarding him had fled without a thought for him. He clutched the cell bars and shouted. "Open the door! Do you hear me!" He stopped as he saw Smaug flying high above the town, then frantically tried to break the lock. When it didn't break, he rushed to the other side of his jail cell, which was on an arch of a building overhanging a canal.

Smaug swooped low overhead, and the townspeople screamed in terror as the town began to burn. Smaug soared high above and away from the town, then turned and dived steeply toward the town, building up fire in his chest. As he came over the town, he unleashed his flames, and breathed his fire in a line all the way across the town. People screamed as the inferno consumed them. Tilda cried in fear and Sigrid held her close, covering her eyes so that she wouldn't see the horror of the dragons' rampage.

The Master, his men, and Alfrid poled their boat loaded with treasure through the water, with Smaug setting things to fire around them. "Come on! Come on! Faster! FASTER! If only we could take more of these poor people with us, but they are hardly-"

"-worth it. I quite agree." Alfrid agreed as a man tried to climb onto the boat, but Alfrid kicked him in the face and back into the water.

Bard tore his blanket into strips. People were trampling each other in their efforts to escape the dragon and the fire.

"Look out!" Bain yelled as the Master's boat collided with theirs, upsetting everyone. They managed to push their boats apart, but some of the Master's treasure fell into the water.

"Move it! Move it! Come on, faster!"

"My gold, my GOLD!"

"We're carrying too much weight. We need to dump something!" While Alfrid looked at the pile of treasure, trying to decide what to throw overboard, the Master looked at him greedily.

"You're quite right, Alfrid." The Master pushed Alfrid overboard, just as a cloth loops fell from above and caught around the Master's throat. It was the rope Bard made from his blanket; he had tied one end to his cell bars and let the other end, the loop, out of the window and over the canal, where it had conveniently caught the Master.

Braga, at the front of the boat, didn't notice. "Faster! Faster!"

As the boat pulled ahead, the rope loops pulled the Master back, but then he got stuck in front of the boat's rear post. As the rope tightened around him, he gagged and choked. Eventually, the pressure was so much that the entire side of Bard's prison broke, and Bard escaped. The Master frantically pulled the rope away from his throat, gasping air greedily.

As Smaug flew overhead, still blowing flames, Bard grabbed his bow and quiver, testing his bowstring. He pushed out some of the shingles in the upper story and clambered out onto the roof, where he had a good vantage point. He ducked low as Smaug flew by almost overhead. Bard ran across the rooftops, heading toward the bell tower, the tallest building in the town. Bard continues leaping roof to roof. Fili stopped the boat under an overhang until he saw that it was safe to go on. Bard climbed rapidly up the winding steps of the bell tower. Once at the top, he pulled all the arrows out of his quiver and looked out at the sky. As Smaug soared by, Bard shot an arrow at him; however, the arrow merely bounced off Smaug's scales and fell to the ground. Bard, standing directly below the ringing bell, begin getting nauseated by the booming sound, so he pulled out his dagger and cut the bell's rope, silencing it. He shot another arrow at Smaug, but this, like the first bounced harmlessly off.

In the canals below, Bain, on the boat with his family and the dwarves, notices his father at the top of the tower. "Da!"

"DA!" Tilda screamed when she saw where Bain was looking. As they watched, Bard shot yet another arrow, harmlessly hitting the dragon.

"He hit it! He hit the dragon!" Kili yelled, his own sharp archers' eyes following the route of the arrow.

"No..." Dori shook his head.

"He did! He hit his mark, I saw!" Kili argued with the older dwarf.

"His arrows cannot pierce its hide; I fear nothing will." Dori admitted sadly, how many arrows had their own people wasted on the beasts hide during the original attack?

Bain looked down disconsolately, then suddenly looked up and notices the statue of the Master of Laketown, and below it, the boat in which he'd hidden the Black Arrow his father had asked him to keep safe. Bain's face turned to a determined look and as their boat passed under a hanging hook, Bain leapt up and grabbed it, swinging clear of the boat. The others grabbed at him and missed, and they yelled after him.

"What are you doing?!" Dori yelled after the reckless boy.

"Come back! Bain, come back!" Fili screamed, not wanting to see the boy killed.

Bain used the hook and the crane it was attached to, to swing to the dock, from where he ran toward the boat with the Black Arrow.

"Bain!" Tilda screamed even as Sigrid watched in silent shock, her arms locked around her younger sister to keep her in the boar.

At the top of the tower, Bard reached for his arrows, only to find one left. He hesitated in fear, then grabbed it and shot Smaug. This time, Smaug passed so close to the tower that the wind knocked Bard over. Smaug howled, feeling the arrow, although it didn't hurt him. Suddenly, Bain appeared at the top of the bell tower, shocking Bard. "Dad!"

"Bain?! What are you doing?! Why didn't you leave?! You were supposed to leave!"

"I came to help you."

"No! Nothing can stop him now!"

"This might." Bain held up the Black Arrow. His father gratefully looked at it, then stroked Bain's face.

"Bain - you go back. You get out of here now!"

Looking beyond Bard, Bain saw Smaug approaching the tower rapidly, Smaug having determined where the arrows were coming from. "DAD!"

Smaug smashed through the top part of the bell tower. Bard found himself lying down on the remaining top of the tower. "BAIN!"

Bain was hanging by one arm to the remains of the tower; he had the Black Arrow in the other. Bard grabbed Bain's arm and hauled him back up. Meanwhile, Smaug landed close by in the town, crushing buildings underneath him. He was directly in the way of the Master's boat.

"Stop! Stop! Halt! Halt!" The Master cried in terror.

Bard pulled the Black Arrow out of the hands of the petrified Bain and stood up, facing Smaug.

Smaug looked at him. "Who are you that would stand against me?!"

Bard grabbed his bow, only to find that it was broken in half when Smaug smashed into the tower earlier.

"Now that is a pity. What will you do now, Bowman? You are forsaken. No help will come."

Bard looked around frantically, but there was nothing to help him. Smaug began walking toward him, crushing the buildings beneath him.

The Master saw his chance and yelled to his oarsmen. "Now's our chance! Go! Go! Into the open water!"

Looking at the tower, Smaug growled and licked his lips. "Is that your child? You cannot save him from the fire. He will BURN!"

As Smaug continued to approach, Bard fixed the two broken halves of his bow into the walls of the belltower, with the bowstring taut between them. He fixed the Black Arrow to the bowstring, and lay the front end of the Black Arrow on the shoulder of Bain, who was standing in between the fixed pieces of the bow and facing Bard. Bain panted in fear since he could hear Smaug approaching from behind him, but couldn't see him. "Stay still, son. Stay still."

"Tell me, wretch - How now shall you challenge me?!"

Bard noticed a missing scale on Smaug's chest, the scale that was broken by Girion, Lord of Dale. A small smile crossed Bard's face.

"You have nothing left, but your DEATH!" Smaug howled, approaching more rapidly.

Bain looked over his shoulder at the dragon, but Bard called him back. "Bain! Look at me. You look at me." Bard strained with the effort of holding the Black Arrow taut. "A little to your left." Bain shifted a little to his left, moving the tip of the arrow to the right, toward the spot where Bard noticed the missing scale on Smaug. "That's it."

Bard released the Black Arrow and it flew off at high speed from Bain's shoulder. It hurtled through the air and sank all the way to the feathers, almost 6-7 feet, into Smaug's chest through the spot without a scale. As Smaug leapt forward in pain and fear, Bard grabbed Bain, just as Smaug careened into the tower. Bard and Bain fell with the tower into the water as Smaug rolled and slid through the town, destroying everything. He struggled to fly into the sky. With massive effort, he managed to flap a few hundred feet up, screaming and wheezing in pain, then gasped for breath. His eyes lost their light, and he fell back down upon the city, dead, with the end of the arrow sticking out of his heart. He landed directly upon the Master's boat, crushing it and presumably killing everyone on board.

TBC…