THE DAY THE DRAGON CAME
The children will remember the day the sky blackened out with a wingspan that could wrap around the whole world. The air vibrated with these deep growls coming from within the distance. It was a sound so horrendous that it made the townspeople stop what they were doing to look to the sky. They could hardly see anything aside from a shadowy mass disappearing above the cloudline, creating a strong air pressure from the power of his wings.
Bard could begin to hear the hysteria outside his prison cell. He looked through the barred window and saw the townspeople running from their homes, either carrying their loved ones or carrying their possessions. He could even begin to feel the air heat up and become scorching hot like an intense summer day. He was shaking with anticipation for what was about to be brought down upon the town and its innocent people.
He braced his hands against the door and pushed against it, banging it with his fists to try and free himself but to no avail. He was unable to move, trapped within the walls of his prison with a fire dragon right outside. "Open this door! Do you hear me?!" he shouted, nothing but the low growls of the dragon answering him back. He was sure that everyone had abandoned him, and that the prison was empty aside from himself.
The dragon continued to glide across the dark azure sky with a glassy white moon at his back, shinning pale light upon his scales that made them glimmer but also darkening out his silhouette. His belly was the only thing that was glowing within the night, burning molten gold with fire itching in the back of his throat. Smaug angled his wings low and turned sharply in the air, flying towards the town in a deadly swoop. He unhinged his jaw and opened his mouth wide, spewing out scarlet flames that struck the town hard, setting the buildings ablaze that went up like a tinderbox.
The cries of despair turned to morbid screams of pain as everyone fled into the night of smoldering air. Men were on fire, women were crying, and the kids were lost in the confusion and still couldn't understand what was happening. They all could hear the awful sound of the dragon's wings though and his mighty screech that pierced the air and made the lake tremble.
The Master of Laketown was also trying to make his escape on a large boat, but the only thing it was carrying was all the town's gold, piled high and weighing him down. He wasn't even letting the scared civilians on and was using his guards to keep them off, even going so far as to push them into the water.
The repulsive man paid no mind to the fretful cries of his people and only seemed to worry about the gold. He wasn't even aware when he accidentally rammed into a smaller boat that carried Bard's kids, the other Dwarves, and Tauriel on it. He quickly noticed though that some of his gold was cascading into the water. "My gold! My gold!" he cried.
"We're carrying too much weight. We need to dump something," Alfrid said.
A look dawned on the Master's face. "Quite right, Alfrid." He suddenly turned around and shoved him into the water to try and lessen the weight of the boat.
Smaug gently flew around the town when something odd caught his eyes, a small-framed woman with scorching red hair. The strands flapped wildly in the air and resembled a crown of fire upon her head, matching perfectly with her golden eyes when she looked up at him. It was Jeanne, walking calmly through the burning town with her staff out in front of her. With every step she took, the end of it glowed brighter and hotter until it was emitting a strange sort of magic. The dragon knew in an instant that she was up to something.
Smaug growled deeply with flare dripping from his cracked lips. "Fireborn!" He roared so loudly that it caused some of the burning buildings to collapse in on themselves.
He opened his mouth up wide that was married with sharp teeth with flames bubbling up from the back of his throat. Jeanne stood her ground though and raised her staff in the air just as Smaug blew hellfire down at her, and with all her might, she stabbed the end into the ground. The rose carving at the top swiftly bloomed out like a genuine flower and released a burst of red energy that dissolved Smaug's fire upon impact.
The mighty dragon stopped his assault at that moment and hovered there in the air, flapping his wings and just quietly observing what that crafty woman had just done. He could see it now, a transparent red dome slowly encasing all of Laketown. It was a protective barrier, a method Jeanne was using to stop his attack.
"You think you can save them!?" Smaug roared and landed on top of the barrier. "Do you think something like this will hold me back, you empty vessel!?" He struck his claws against the surface to try and break it open. It was beginning to crack but didn't shatter completely despite all his weight being placed on it. He had to admit that it was impressive, harder then he anticipated. "You appalling woman..."
Jeanne let out a quivering breath and slowly pulled her hand away from the staff. She narrowed her eyes when she noticed that a line of cracks already started to appear in the wood. It was because of Smaug's fire and claws that it happened. If the dome is damaged any further then her staff would break and the barrier would disappear. She had no time to think of a better countermeasure. Jeanne was sure she didn't even have 30 minutes.
Smaug watched as the woman ran through the town like she was searching for something. He initially thought that the burst of energy was an attack, but that definitely wasn't the case since the only thing she seemed to be doing was defending the townspeople. She had to have another plan. Not knowing what it was though was beginning to make him nervous.
Bard looked out the window when he heard the sound of the dragon in distress. He saw a dome of red light curling around the city with Smaug sitting on top of it, striking it with his claws. He was shocked that it was actually keeping him out. "What is this magic?"
"It's mine." Jeanne's soft and exhausted voice came from behind him.
Bard snapped his head around and saw the small-framed woman standing on the other side of the door with a solemn look attached to her features. She was breathing heavily and had become deadly pale with sweat rolling down the side of her face. It looked like she had been running for hours and only just now stopped to take a breath.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, surprised to see her standing before him.
"I was looking for you. You were shouting up till now, so it was relatively easy," she said and looked down at the lock hanging from the door. She frowned and inspected it closely, briefly looking around to find something to unlock it.
"You need a key to open it." Bard braced himself against the door and started to become anxious with the sound of an enraged dragon overhead. "What did you do? What is this?" he referred to the strange transparent dome.
Jeanne kneeled in front of the door and grabbed the lock tightly. "It's a protective dome that I cast over the town. It won't keep him out for long but hopefully, it will buy me some time. That's all I need."
She waited a moment with the lock in her hand when it suddenly began to heat up, turning a bright shade of yellow, orange, then white. She was holding a red hot chunk of metal but there wasn't even a sizzling sound or a sign of it burning her. With a hard yank, she broke it right off the door and freed Bard from his imprisonment.
He busted open the door the second he could and suddenly grabbed Jeanne by the front of her dress, shoving her against the wall. His face was flushed with anger and he hissed at her through his teeth. Jeanne was so surprised by his actions that she just let him talk. "This is all your fault! If you hadn't awakened the dragon then this wouldn't have happened! All these people...their lives will be gone because of you!" His words were so toxic and scolding that it actually made her flinch a bit.
Jeanne was stunned into silence and just stared up at him, breathless and mouth agape. Never had she seen a man so angry before. His emotions flowed into her because of his raw words. The grief, pain, sorrow, and fear. She could feel everything he was feeling at the moment, even his intense anger towards her that was rising off him like a heatwave.
She sucked in a deep and rough breath as her eyes began to water, but it wasn't because of the dense smoke in the air. She couldn't help but cry, speaking to him in this quivering voice that sounded so very genuine and real. "I know I am to blame, and there is no apology in the world that will be enough. I'm sorry though. So...very, very sorry." She suddenly shot her hands up and grasped his shoulders tightly. She was a lot stronger than him so it shoved him back a bit. "I need your help though. I can still make things right. I can still kill the dragon. So please...where is the black arrow?" she said with a broken voice.
Bard now just looked perplexed while all his anger and strength fell away from him. He released Jeanne's shoulders and searched through her blue eyes to find some kind of deceit or ill intent in them. There was nothing though. Her severe shaking and tearful eyes were proof of her sincerity and how much she actually did blame herself but wanted to make things better.
Jeanne bit down on her lips when Bard remained quiet, though he still looked shocked by her outburst. She gently pulled her hands away and looked down. "If you don't want to tell me...then that's fine. I can find another way," she said in a low whisper, turning away to leave until Bard suddenly decided to speak.
"I told my son to hide it. He said the arrow's hidden inside a boat beside the town's statue," he explained in a short breath and brushed past her towards the door. He glanced outside towards the town that was still encased in the protective dome. He could see that the cracking was getting worse though. He would say that she only had minutes to find it. "That's all I can do for you. I need to find my family." He looked back at her and saw that Jeanne was smiling softly.
She tilted her head to the side and nodded. "Thank you and...good luck."
Bard tightened his jaw when he felt his heart get pulled. He knew this woman wasn't normal but she still looked young, young like his own daughters. "If you want redemption...then kill the dragon," he said before jogging outside, passing behind the decrepit buildings that were still smoldering.
The thin and burning air was making it hard to breathe and Jeanne could feel the back of her throat drying up from the heat. Her lungs were aching from how much she was panicking while running through the town. She finally came to a halt though to look up at the sky, seeing flakes of burning ash slowly fall into her line of sight. They were mixed in with fragments of the red barrier that was starting to break off. The strength of Smaug's claws were strong and tore into the dome until it was covered in a spiderweb-like design of cracks.
She immediately snapped her attention to her staff that was right across the docks, still in place but worse from when she left it. It was shaking intensely and the cracks in the wood were starting to glow white like power was draining out of it.
Jeanne was surprised that it managed to hold him off for as long as it did. She can estimate though that she probably had less than 10 minutes to go until the barrier completely broke. There was no time to spare and she continued to search through the town to find the statue, a means that can finally put the long night to an end. The dragon can be slain and the innocent people can be spared from his tyranny.
Jeanne continued to fight back her tears that only worsened by the hot air and the ash falling into her eyes. She rubbed them away with the back of her sleeve before scanning the area one more time. She was standing in an opening that looked to be the center of the town with much nicer buildings. Off in the distance though...she could see a statue standing taller than her.
She sucked in the hot air and smiled hopefully. "Oh, thank the gods."
There was a boat floating right below the statue that was covered in heavy blankets and fishnet. Jeanne was careful when crossing over the boat and hunched down. She shuffled through the mess and began to panic with every second she couldn't feel anything, hearing the dragon's disastrous roar right overhead.
"Please, please, please..." she begged under her breath.
She patted everything down till her hand felt something hard underneath. Her fingers wrapped around the cold metal and she pulled it out. It was a large black arrow with a head that curled at the end.
Jeanne's eyes gleamed with astonishment as her words fell from her mouth, slow and in aw. "The...black arrow?"
She heard the sound of intense cracking once again that made her freeze. Jeanne turned her head very slowly over to her staff that was wobbling back and forth in the ground. It was vibrating and the glowing white cracks etched further around the wooden handle until her staff finally shattered into a million pieces. A shock wave of energy burst out and was strong enough to flip the boat over and cast Jeanne into the lake.
Water rushed into her lungs the moment she opened her mouth to take a breath but not quick enough. Her eyes snapped wide open as terror and panic set in. Jeanne tried to move but couldn't. Her body was restrained from the blanket and netting that fell off the boat when she did. It wrapped around her tightly and began to pull her down into the darkened waters.
She saw through her downwards spiral that there was an explosion of fire right at the surface. The water around her slowly began to heat up and bubble. She gasped sharply and took in more water by accident. It was scolding hot and burned her insides and caused her skin to turn red, making a hollow and pained scream rip out from her throat.
Smaug was trying to boil her alive in an attempt to kill her.
Author's Note:
Boy, I spend that whole freaking day working on this! I didn't want to wait and worry about it so I decided to post it a day early. Hope you don't mind.
