Chapter 26

*****Bold - Elvish*****

Tauriel moved to the door, while Annelise tried to calm Tilda.

She watched the elf stand silently as if listening for something and realised that she could likely hear if the dragon was indeed making his way toward the Lake.

When she came back inside quickly, Annelise knew they were in trouble.

"We have no time. We must leave," she spoke, grabbing supplies quickly.

Everyone in the house began moving around in haste.

"Help him up!"

"Come on, brother."

"Come on, come on. Let's go."

"I'm fine. I can walk," Kili said, pulling away from Fili and Annelise moved toward Sigrid with Tilda.

"Fast as you can," Tauriel spoke to Bain, motioning for him to help his sisters and get supplies.

"We're not leaving," he protested. "Not without our father."

"If you stay here, your sisters will die," Tauriel shot back bluntly, helping Tilda put on a cloak.

"Is that what your father would want?," she continued, turning back to face the boy.

Annelise saw in his eyes that he was still reluctant to leave, but watched as he moved to grab his own cloak and lead the others down the back stairs to their boat.

Fili and Bofur quickly jumped into the boat and reached for Sigrid and Tilda to help them down.

"Give me your hand," Fili said.

"Come on. We gotta go," Bofur shouted up to the others. Annelise began handing Fili some of their supplies and tossed her bag into the boat.

"Quickly now," Tauriel said to Bain and he climbed into the boat. "Hurry."

"Kili come on," Fili said reaching toward his brother.

Annelise and Tauriel assisted Oin into the boat and then Tauriel jumped into the front with the girls.

Fili reached out to Annelise and pulled her into the boat. She settled in front of Fili as he rowed with Kili resting against her side.

At the sight of the large dragon passing overhead, Annelise gasped in fear.

She soon heard a loud crash followed by screams and knew the dragon had starting its attack on the town.

Suddenly a wave of heat passed by them as the dragon started breathing fire onto the defenseless town. Not long after, Smaug passed over them leaving a line of fire blocking the river behind them. Bofur and Fili began rowing faster, trying to get away from the spreading flames.

"Look out!," Bofur suddenly yelled and then their boat collided with another. Annelise saw that the other boat was loaded down with gold and treasure and couldn't help but feel disgust for the few men that were occupying the large boat.

The large man atop the boat yelled for the guards to keep moving past them, nearly tipping the boat holding Annelise and the others.

"Move it! Move it! Come on, faster!," he yelled.

Their boat was able to stay afloat and, after making sure everyone was alright, they began moving again.

After awhile, the dragon began to circle around and came back toward them. Tauriel signalled for the dwarves to stop rowing and they stayed underneath a bridge that was not damaged until Smaug passed over.

Suddenly the loud bell that had been constantly ringing through the night stopped, and Annelise looked up toward the bell tower in time to see a man standing there with a bow.

"Da," she heard Bain say from his seat at her feet and she realised the man must be Bard, the children's father.

"Da!," Tilda screamed as they watched him pull back and release another arrow.

"He hit it!," Kili screamed. "He hit the dragon!"

"No," Tauriel said quickly.

"He did. He hit his mark. I saw!"

"His arrows cannot pierce its hide," Tauriel said back. "I fear nothing will."

Soon after the elleth spoke, Bain suddenly stood up and grabbed onto a hook hanging over the water.

"Bain, no!," Annelise screamed.

"What are you doing?," Bofur yelled reaching to try and stop the boy.

"Come back! Bain! Bain!," Fili yelled reaching out as well.

The boy swung over to one of the floating walkways and ran off, ignoring the cries from the others in the boat.

"Leave him," Tauriel spoke sadly. "We cannot go back."

"Bain!," Tilda cried and Sigrid hugged her close to try and comfort her.

They continued rowing and finally were able to make it to the outer lying buildings of the town.

"The dragon has landed," Taurel said suddenly and Fili and Bofur stopped rowing, looking back into the town.

Annelise was able to make out the bell tower, and saw that it had been severely damaged. However, she could still make out two forms standing on it and knew that Bain had gotten to his father.

A chill ran down Annelise's back when the dragon began to speak.

"Who are you that would stand against me?"

If Bard responded, he was too far away for Annelise to hear but she did see him move to grab something.

"His bow is broken," Tauriel spoke quietly so the two young girls in the boat would not hear.

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

"Ah, is that your child?," the dragon continued and Annelise signalled for her cousin to start rowing once more, not wanting the girls to hear anymore of the dragon's words.

They made it out into the open water and started making for the shore, as the few other boats that had escaped were also doing.

"Wait, look!," Fili suddenly yelled and they stopped paddling once more.

They turned to see the dragon flying straight up into the air once more.

"Something's wrong," Annelise whispered, seeing how strangely the dragon was moving.

Suddenly, Smaug let out a loud roar that tapered off into silence before swiftly dropping from the sky.

All was quiet for a moment as the occupants in the boat waited for the beast to reemerge.

But he never did.

"He killed it," Tauriel said in disbelief.

"Smaug is dead," Annelise said in the same shocked tone, looking at her cousins' faces.

As the sun began to rise, the group managed to reach the shore of the lake. There they were met with chaos, as the people who had managed to survive the ordeal where either screaming for family members or screaming in pain from burns and injuries.

The dwarves moved to help pull people from the water while Annelise and Tauriel stayed with Sigrid and Tilda as they yelled for their father and brother.

The dwarves then moved to prepare a boat to take across the lake to see what had become of the rest of the Company.

As Kili approached Tauriel, Annelise moved toward the girls to make sure they were alright and to say goodbye to them.

"Stay with Tauriel. She will make sure you are safe until you find your father and brother."

She hugged Tilda tightly and placed a hand firmly on SIgrid's shoulder, then straightened up when she saw Legolas approaching from behind Tauriel.

She knew the female elf heard him also as she suddenly tensed.

"Hir nin, Legolas."

"Take your leave of the dwarf. You are needed elsewhere," Legolas ordered and Annelise moved over to him to give the two time to say goodbye.

At seeing her approach, the elf prince was distracted for a moment.

"Are you alright?," he asked, looking her over for any injuries.

"I am well, Legolas. What happened to you?"

"I followed the orcs north. I believe I know where they were heading. I came back to make sure you and Tauriel were safe."

"We are. I must go with my companions to see if my father and the others survived the dragon," she said, looking down sadly at her last few words.

Legolas lifted her head up before pulling her into a tight hug, knowing that the journey before her could be difficult.

"Promise me you will be careful," he spoke, releasing her after a moment.

"Of course, 'Ego," she smiled sadly, before moving away to join the others as Kili turned from Tauriel as well.

She and Kili quickly jumped into the boat with the others and began making their way across the lake. Annelise looked back to see Legolas glaring at the back of Kili's head, but his expression changed to a sad grin when he locked eyes with her. She raised her hand slightly in farewell and he lifted his in return.

She then turned and looked ahead at the mountain that was looming before them in apprehension.

Fili saw the look on her face and reached over to grab her hand.

"Don't worry," he tried to reassure. "I'm sure everyone is alright."

"I pray you are right," she replied, squeezing his hand tightly between her own.

They soon reached the shore and began making the long trek up to the mountain entrance. Annelise knew the journey would take a few days to complete, as they were taking their time to prevent Kili's injury from getting worse.

On the morning of the third day after leaving the Lakemen, Annelise felt tears spring to her eyes as they reached the top of a hill overlooking the ruins of Dale.

"Such destruction," she whispered under her breath. Oin, who was walking past her when she spoke, reached out and patted her arm before continuing after the others.

They reached the front gate late that afternoon and Annelise gasped as she saw the condition of it. Smaug must have simply burst through it on his way to attack Laketown.

She did not have much time to think over it though, as the dwarves ahead of her began running into the mountain.

"Hello! Bombur? Bifur? Anybody?," Bofur yelled hoping that any of the other members of the Company might answer.

They continued walking further into the mountain, when they received no reply.

Annelise began to lose hope when finally there was a call.

"Wait!," the voice called. "Wait!"

"Bilbo!," Annelise yelled, overjoyed at hearing his voice.

"It's Bilbo!"

"He's alive!"

They quickly began running down a staircase in the direction of his voice and then he suddenly appeared through an opening ahead of them.

"Stop! Stop, stop. You need to leave. We all need to leave," he said hurriedly once he had stopped before them.

"We only just got here," Bofur protested.

"I've tried talking to him, but he won't listen."

"Who?," Annelise asked, confused by the Hobbit's words.

"What do you mean, laddie?," Oin asked over her as the others all began speaking at once.

"Thorin!," Bilbo interrupted. "Thorin. He's been down there for days. He doesn't sleep. He barely eats. He's not been himself. Not at all."

As Bilbo was speaking, Annelise began getting more and more worried. She saw Fili looking past Bilbo into the opening that the Hobbit had come through curiously.

"It's this-it's this place," Bilbo continued clearing his throat. "I think a sickness lies on it."

"Sickness?," Kili asked and Annelise's attention was once more drawn by his brother as he walked passed Bilbo, not paying attention to what was happening around him. "What kind of sickness?"

They then watched as Fili moved away from them and started running down the stairs to the left of them.

"Fili," Bilbo yelled running after him, the others following closely behind the Hobbit. "Fili!"

Annelise then realised exactly where her cousin was running to as there was a golden glow coming from down below them. She was absolutely astonished when they rounded a corner and suddenly before her stretched gold as far as she could see throughout the open cavern. She had known there was treasure within the mountain, but never could have imagined that there would be so much.

She was pulled from her awe by the sound of coins being moved and looked down into the open space. There she saw her father walking among the treasure.

"Gold," she heard him say, and felt apprehension build in her stomach at the tone of his voice. "Gold beyond measure. Beyond sorrow and grief."

He suddenly looked up, noticing the six figures standing on the platform looking down on him.

"Behold, the great treasure hoard of Thror," he spoke before throwing something toward them. Fili quickly caught it and Annelise saw that it was a large ruby.

"Welcome, my daughter and sister-sons, to the kingdom of Erebor."