AN: This is a very choppy chapter and very short! I'm so deeply sorry, and especially because it took so long for something so unsatisfactory. My word docs weren't working so i had to take my computer in to get fixed. Don't worry though, the next chapter is well on its way and should be up tomorrow and it will be longer! Sorry, and thanks for you patience with me!

Chapter 13: Into the Dragon's Keep

For a long time the dwarves and the hobbit stood in the dark before the door and debated, until at last Bella spoke:

"This is my purpose; the whole reason I was called by Gandalf to go on this adventure. I have gotten you all out of a few messes already, and this will be one more to add to the list. I will go and have a peep at once and get it over."

Objections immediately came from a fair few of the dwarves, Fili, Kili, and Thorin being the loudest. "Nonsense! We cannot send you down there to face the dragon on your own!" Fili shouted, moving to stand between her and the door.

"He'll swallow you whole the moment he lays an eye on you!" Kili stated, moving to stand behind his brother.

"It is simply out of the question," Thorin said firmly, protectiveness shining in his icy blue orbs. "I refuse to allow you to enter that mountain while the dragon inhabits it."

"Now Thorin," Bella started, reaching forward and gently wrapping her hand around his. "You mustn't be so stubborn! I have a ring that can make me invisible, and I am the quietest one out of all of the company. I am the only one who can, and the only one who is going to go down. Please let me help you by doing this."

After much debate, the dwarves finally conceded to allow Bella to enter the mountain, but they were only giving her until sunrise before they came in after her.

OOOOOOOOOO

The stars were coming out behind her in a pale sky barred with black when the hobbit crept through the enchanted door and stole into the Mountain. It was far easier going that she expected. This was no goblin entrance, or rough wood-elves' cave. It was a passage made by dwarves, at the height of their wealth and skill: straight as a ruler, smooth-floored and smooth-sided, going with a gentle never-varying slope direct – to some distant end in the blackness below.

After a while she slipped on her ring and slipped noiselessly down, down into the dark. She couldn't help the slight tremble of fear that ran through her, but then she moved her thoughts to Thorin and the purpose of which she was doing this dangerous act. With her little face set and grim, she loosed her dagger in its sheath, tightened her belt, and went on.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Now you are in for it at last, Bella Baggins," she thought to herself. The Tookish part of her loved the idea of this grand adventure that lay ahead of her, but the small bit of her that was Baggins was nervous about the dragon that was no doubt waiting for her deeper in the Mountain.

After a fair while of walking, she thought it was beginning to feel warm. "Is that a kind of glow I seem to see coming right ahead down there?" she thought.

It was. As she went forward it grew and grew, till there was no doubt about it. It was a red light steadily getting redder and redder. Also it was now undoubtedly hot in the tunnel. Wisps of vapor floated up and past her and she began to sweat. A sound, too, began to throb in her ears, a sort of bubbling like noise of a large pot galloping on the fire, mixed with a rumble as of a gigantic tom-cat purring. This grew to the unmistakable gurgling noise of some vast animal snoring in its sleep down there in the red glow in front of her.

It was at this point that Bella stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing she ever did (well, perhaps just slightly more brave than willingly getting chased by a pack of Wargs to save her comrades). After a while she came to the end of the tunnel, an opening of much the same size and shape as the doors above. Through it peeped the hobbit's little head. Before her lied the great bottommost cellar or dungeon-hall of the ancient dwarves right at the Mountain's root. It was almost dark so that its vastness could only be dimly guessed, but rising from the near side of the rocky floor there was a great glow. The glow of Smaug!

There he lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep; a thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but his fires were low in slumber. Beneath him, under all his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red-stained in the ruddy light.

Smaug lay, with wings folded like an immeasurable bat, turned partly on one side, so that the hobbit could see his long pale belly crusted with gems and fragments of gold from his long lying on his costly bed. Behind him where the walls were nearest could dimly be seen coats of mail, helms and axes, swords and spears hanging; and there in rows stood great jars and vessels filled with a wealth that could not be guessed.

To say that Bella's breath was taken away is no description at all. She had heard tell and sing of the dragon-hoards before, but the splendor, the lust, the glory of such treasure had never yet come home to her. But her heart found no pleasure in the wealth of the Mountain, and felt worried about what Thorin would be like when he claimed back Erebor. She was also worried about the tremendous monster that lay sleeping before her.

OOOOOOOOOO

She gazed for what seemed an age, before drawn almost against her will; she stole from the shadow of the doorway, across the floor to the nearest edge of the mounds of treasure. Above her the sleeping dragon laid, a dire menace even in his sleep. She took a closer look at the dragon, but jumped when he stirred a wing, opened a claw, and the rumble of his snoring changed a note.

Then Bella fled. But the dragon did not wake, but shifted into other dreams of greed and violence, lying there in the stolen hall while the little hobbit toiled up the long tunnel. Her heart was beating and a more fevered shaking was in her legs. The dragon's size alone was enough to strike fear into the heart of any hobbit, but it was not what had left her in such a stricken state. No; just by being down there she could feel the pull of the gold, and knew that Thorin was going to feel that pull a thousand times stronger. Fear for her dwarf shot through her with every pulse, filling every fiber of her being. Somehow, she had to make sure Thorin did not fall victim to the dragon-sickness.

OOOOOOOOOOO

It was not long before Bella emerged through the door and out into the open air. It was midnight and clouds had covered the stars, but Bella immediately hit the ground hard with her knees when she was through the opening, the adrenaline leaving her system. Her limbs felt like they were filled with lead, holding her down in this position as she inhaled the crisp fresh air. Vaguely, she was aware of the excited dwarves surrounding her, and Thorin who was kneeling next to her with a hand on her face. The dwarves praised her for her efforts as she retold what she saw with a shaky voice. The fear in her began to die down a little as Thorin kept her pressed up against him as she spoke. That was; until instead of asking her how she was faring or thanking her for venturing into the mountain, Thorin said: "Tell me more about the gold."

An icy cold dagger struck her heart then, and she suddenly felt as if she were drowning. The dragon-sickness was already starting.