Through the fog, Bard had been paddling his barge across the long, gigantic lake. While his job was bringing the elven barrels to deliver, his side-job was smuggling the Dwarves, Scoobies, and Bilbo Baggins. Winter was coming very soon, but the Durin's Day was tomorrow and summer was almost over. During the crossing, as the barge had been pushing ice floes, large stone ruins emerge out of the fog.
"Watch out!" Anya shouted when she saw the ruins. "Get out of the way!"
Bard managed to move the barge between the ancient ruins.
"What the bloody hell are you trying to do, drown us?" Spike asked sharply.
"I was born and bred on these waters." Bard began. "If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here."
"Is that insult?" Spike growled.
"Spike, will you just calm down and let it go." Buffy said, calming him down.
"Not a problem." Spike replied sarcastically.
"Oh I have enough of this lippy lakeman." Dwálin whispered angrily.
"Yeah me too." Tor whispered as well. "I have an idea. We can just throw overboard and we can take the barge to the mountain."
"Ohh, Bard, his name's Bard." Xander answered him, slightly angrily.
"How do you know?" Bofur asked.
"Uh, I asked him." Xander said.
"Well I don't care what he calls himself, I just don't trust him." Harmony said quietly.
"Harmony, we don't have to like him or trust him, what we need to do is pay him for this job." Cordelia said as she was counting the money.
"Come everyone, turn out your pockets." Angel ordered the Dwarves and Scoobies.
Buffy turned her face towards Bilbo. "Bilbo, do have any coins you like to pass?"
"No." Bilbo answered.
Buffy could tell that Bilbo had his hand in his pocket and suspected that he has something. She didn't sighs and turns her face away while the Dwarves and Scoobies were pulling out their money and valuables.
"Here's mine." Glóin said, passing his sack of coins to Cordelia.
"How do we know he won't betray us?" Dwálin whispered to Thórin.
"We don't." Thórin replied back to him in a whisper.
Bálin and Cordelia had been busy counting the money.
"There's, um, just a problem: we're ten coins short." Bálin informed.
"I already gave my coins up." Rhonda admitted.
"Me too." Scott said.
"Me three." Larry said, raising his hand.
Angel noticed that Anya had been hiding her coins in his pocket.
"Come on, Anya. Give us what you have." Angel ordered him.
"Don't look to me. I have been bled dry by this venture!" Anya argued. "And what have I seen for my investment? Naught but misery and grief and..."
Anya stopped talking when she realized that all the others have slowly stood up and are looking at something in the distance. As the fog began to thin, everyone saw Erebor, the Lonely Mountain.
"Okay, on second thought, take it." Anya changed her mind. "Take it all." She passed a sack of coins he had secretly withheld before.
"What made you change your mind?" Willow asked.
"There's gold in that mountain." Anya replied. "I just want to take a handful."
"I'm sure there's plenty of gold for all of us." Tara said.
Bilbo coughs and gestures his head toward Bard, who is approaching the dwarves on their end of the barge.
"The money, quick, give it to me." Bard insisted quickly.
"We'll pay you when we get our provisions, but not before." Thórin promised him.
"If you value your freedom, you'll do as I say." Bard informed him and the others. "There are guards ahead."
The Dwarves and Scoobies turn and see the rooftops of Esgaroth in the distance. Esgaroth was a very large port that the Dwarves and Scoobies had ever seen. The town was vast, but it looked very poor and ramshackle. There are many channels of water throughout the town, through which various boats float.
"This place kinda reminds me of Venice." Oz whispered in awe.
Meanwhile, Bard's barge is stopped at a dock just outside the city. As Bard hops off and speaks to a man, the Dwarves, Scoobies, and Bilbo are hidden in the barrels on the barge.
"I can't see a thing." Faith complained quietly. "What is he doing?"
"I can see." Jonathan said to her and the others while peeking through a hole.
"Jon, what's he doing?" Devon asked him quietly.
"He's talking to someone." Jonathan described on what Bard is doing. Then, he sees Bard point back at his barrels while talking to the man. "And he's...pointing right at us!"
"Now what?" Willow asked.
"Now they're shaking hands." Jonathan continued.
"What?" Larry exclaimed, hoping that no one heard him.
"That little sneak." Buffy hissed. "He's selling us out."
All the Dwarves and Scoobies in their individual barrels listen anxiously; suddenly, dead fish are poured into the barrels. They all splutter in surprise.
For almost an hour after the Scoobies and Dwarves were hidden in the barrels, Bard slowly moves his barge towards the front gates of the city. He stops the barge where his old friend Percy, working as the gatekeeper, comes over to inspect.
"Ah Bard!" Percy exclaimed happily. "It's good to see ya." He looks at the barrels filled with fish. "My jo, the people of Lake-town are going to be very pleased by this."
"Morning, Percy." Bard smiled.
"Anything to declare?" Percy asked proudly.
"Nothing, but that I am cold and tired, and ready for home." Bard said as he hands in his papers.
"You and me both." Percy added as he walked to his desk and stamped the papers. "Here we are. All in order."
Before Percy was about to give the papers back, that was when Alfrid, the Deputy of Esgaroth, suddenly steps out of the shadows and snatches the papers from Percy.
"Not so fast." Alfrid said as he read the paper. "Now let's see. Hmm... ah yes. Consignment of empty barrels from the Woodland Realm." He turns to look at the barrels. "Only... they're not empty... are they Bard?" He tosses Bard's papers to the wind and approaches him, with group of armed male and female soldiers behind him. "If I recall correctly, you're licensed as a bargeman, not..." He grabs a fish from a barrel and holds it up to Bard. "... a fisherman."
"That's none of your business... Alfrid." Bard glared at him.
"Wrong." Alfrid smirked. "It's the Master's business, which makes it my business. Bard... I know you have done well in making everything special for this city, but there are rules. Rules that must be obeyed. Those who break them, will suffer the consequences."
"Alfrid, these rules do not mean anything." Bard argued. "Look at this. Esgaroth is collasping and very soon, people will be starving." He turns his eyes towrds the soldiers. "Every folk in this town are struggling. I'm just trying to do a good deed for all of us to survive."
Alfrid sighs and throws the fish into Buffy's barrel.
"I admire your words, Bard. First, these fish are illegal." Alfrid stated. "Second... it's not my problem."
"Really?" Bard asked bravily. "And when the people hear the Master is dumping fish back in the lake, when the rioting starts, will it be your problem then?"
Bard and Alfrid stare at each other intensely for a few seconds.
"Fine." Alfrid hissed. "Have it your way Bard. You may be Esgaroth's champion. Protector of the common folk, but I must warn you bargeman... it won't last." He walks away.
"Raise the gate!" Percy shouted to a couple of guards.
The guards comply and raise the gate to allow Bard to move the barge into Esgaroth.
"The Master has his eye on you!" Alfrid shouted at him. "You'd do well to remember. We know where you live."