Chapter Twenty Five: Dragon Fire

Notes: I hope you enjoyed Lydia's little confession in the last chapter, even if she didn't hahaha. Not only is this the last chapter of the week, but this is also the halfway mark! Enjoy friends!

I kept my head low as I climbed up the stairs, especially when I could be in view of Smaug. He seemed distracted by his own anger though, not giving my direction even a look as he destroyed everything he saw and breathed fire through random tunnels.

Who knows how long it would be before he comes for all of us.

"I really fucked up," I muttered to myself, terrified down to my bones. "Lydia Barclay, what did you do?"

I looked up and saw that I was close to getting to one of the tunnels and a little wave of relief hit me. A larger wave of relief washed over me when I saw Thorin come out of the tunnel with his sword drawn.

His gaze landed on me. "Lydia! You're alive!"

"Not for long." I rushed into him and hugged him, looking for support. "I awoke the dragon, Thorin. We need to get out of here!"

"Did you find the Arkenstone?" he asked me, leaning me back and looking me over for any pronounced injuries.

"We don't have time-!"

"Lydia. The Arkenstone," he said sternly, his frame blocking the archway.

I looked up into his face confused. There was something different in his eyes…something that made him seem not like himself. Something darker, something not familiar. I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

"No, I didn't find it. Now unless you have a death wish we need to get out of here." I grabbed the end of his sleeve. "Come on you stubborn dwarf, we will look for it when we're not about to get our asses turned to ashes."

His expression changed slightly but then his eyes traveled away from me. He looked off to the left and I followed his gaze until it landed on Smaug, whose amber eyes were fixed on us. I backed away from Thorin as the loud snarl of the dragon filled the cavern. Out of the archway behind Thorin came the rest of the company with their weapons drawn and shouting, ready for battle.

Smaug charged at us, fire filling his chest. "You will burn!"

Thorin ordered, "Jump! Get out of the way and hurry!"

We all leapt off the ledge and slid down a hill of gold towards another tunnel as fire rained down upon us. A small entrance laid at the bottom and we all filed in as quickly as we could as the entire cavern seemed to fill with fire.

The heat was unbearable, like we were roasting in a big oven, but it was Thorin who took the brunt of it as the last one through the archway. He shouted in pain and I grabbed him and pulled him the rest of the way into the room.

"Put him out!" Oin shouted.

Thorin hit the ground, smothering out the fire on his back. He didn't do so gently either, so I knew he was mostly unhurt. Dwalin took off his cape and threw it on top of his as well, to make sure it went out completely. He was quick to get onto his feet though and ordered everyone to keep moving. We certainly were not safe there so we needed to go.

The other dwarves knew their way around Erebor like it was the back of their hands. I saw it as a maze of hallways and stairs and tall ceilings, but they seemed to know exactly where to go to avoid the furious dragon.

Nori said, "I think we might have shook him off our trail."

Dwalin whispered back, "It can't be that easy. The monster only wishes to make us think we've given him the slip."

"Where do we go now?" I asked, peaking off the edge to see if I could spot Smaug. Even though Erebor seemed like a huge place, it seemed impossible to find a corner where the great dragon couldn't incinerate us.

"The Western Guardroom, there may be a way out," Thorin responded.

Balin intervened and said, "It's too high, there's no chance if we go that way."

"It's our only chance, we have to try," he whispered back.

The dwarves were the quietest I had ever seen them as we pushed forward, going across the cat walks. All of our heads were on a swivel, keeping an keen eye out for the beast with murderous intent. As we made our way across, fully exposed on all sides, the sound of a coin hit the stone floor. I looked down and saw it at my feet, so everyone shot hard glares at me. I patted down my clothes in a panic and didn't find any other coins.

I looked up and my body froze. Everyone else looked as well and stifled any noises as Smaug crawled over us. Coins and jewels fell from his underbelly as he moved from one column to another, searching for us. He growled and we took advantage of the slight noise to hurry the rest of the way across the walkway and into another hall.

We took stairs higher and higher into Erebor trying to avoid the dragon to the best of our ability. Apparently the Westguard Room was one of the smaller entrances, so there was a possibility that Smaug didn't even know it existed. It made sense why we weren't just going to try the front entrance. It would have been impossible to not be burned to a crisp in that open of an area. I still didn't like all the open catwalks we had to take across to make it to more stairs that wound up to the top of the mountain, but as Thorin said, this was our only real chance.

"It's up ahead," Balin whispered, pointing up to the room down the hall.

I noticed that the room didn't seem very light, but I was hoping that was because it was still night outside…

We all rushed in and then stopped in our tracks. I covered my mouth in shock, seeing the crowd of dwarf remains huddled around in the closed off room. Dust and cobwebs covered the bodies of the young and old. At the other end of the room, the exit had been caved in.

Dwalin muttered, "That's it then…we have no way out of the mountain."

We stood in the room looking around and taking in tragedy around us.

Balin said, "The last of our kin. They must have come here, hoping beyond hope to find a way out as we have…" He closed his eyes for a moment. "We could try to reach the mines, we might last a few days…"

My breath shook at the thought that we would be joining these sad figures, a reminder to whoever comes across our bodies of their own doom.

Thorin shook his head. "No. No, I will not die like our people. Cowering, clawing for breath. I will not allow that to happen to us." He turned to us with determination in his face. "We make for the forges."

Dwalin said, "He'll see us and our fate will be no different."

"Not if we split up. "

Balin piped in as well. "Thorin, we'll never make it."

"Some of us might. Lead him to the forges. We kill the dragon or we die trying." He looked among us. "If this is to end in fire, then we will all burn together!"

"Keep up, this way!" Thorin waved to Balin and I. We were all in a group together while the others were also paired off.

We ran through the main chasm of Erebor, being a lot less quiet than before. Since our intention was to lure Smaug, we had the horrible job of intentionally trying to get his attention. We were quite effective at it, because it seemed like no time before we heard the slithering and growling coming from too close for comfort.

His large head appeared and started crawling towards the three of us. "Flee, flee! Run for your lives. There is nowhere to hide in my mountain!"

When Smaug got too close to us, then Dori, Ori, and Bombur appeared and brought his attention away from us long enough for us to get through the archway. We knew that Bifur and Gloin would do the same for them and then Nori and Dwalin would do the same for them.

The three of us made it to one of the main hallways, it was huge and connected to a ton of other tunnels. I hated this area as we ran, it would be too wide open and too easy for something as big as Smaug to catch up to us quickly.

Balin stopped at one of the tunnels and shouted to us, "This way you two, it's quicker! Come, come!"

Thorin kept running ahead so I shouted after him. He turned to join back up with us again, but his gaze went behind us. We both turned and Smaug was stamping into the corridor. He spotted us immediately.

"Lydia, go with Balin!" Thorin ordered, backing away from us. "Stay safe!"

Balin grabbed my arm and yanked me into the tunnel just in time before dragon fire blasted its way down the hallway. I winced and fell back, shouting, "Thorin!"

Smaug paid us no mind and rushed after Thorin. I didn't have a chance to see where either of them went, I just knew that by the time I looked they were both gone. Balin just led me in the right direction, reassuring me that he was going to be fine, we just needed to get to the forges. I nodded, knowing the best thing I could do to help everyone was just to follow the plan at this point, even if I didn't really know what the plan was.

The roaring and sound of fire from behind us didn't make me feel any better about parting from Thorin.

"Don't worry Lass, he'll be fine and make his way over to the forges," Balin reassured me, leading me down the hallway.

I nodded and moved quickly after him. "Of course he will."

Balin led me to the meeting place and we were the first ones there. I kept an eye out while he inspected the area. He made displeased noises at the different machines. I could not even begin to guess what they were.

Dwalin and Nori were the next to show up and Balin demanded that they come and help him take a look at the furnaces. I stood at the ledge, between the stone columns trying to see if I could spot the other dwarves, including Thorin, or the dragon coming after us. All I could see were flashes of light from fire and sounds of shouting and growling.

All of the other dwarves showed up except for Thorin and joined the others in checking the forages for signs that they could work again. I was starting to get really nervous about the well being of our king. While the other clamored amongst themselves, I fiddled with my bow and paced impatiently. I would have loved to have some arrows, even if they weren't going to be effective against something like Smaug. Having more weapons would have made me feel better.

Dwalin shouted, "Thorin! The plan's not going to work." I turned and saw Thorin rush in suddenly. I took a deep breath. " These furnaces are stone cold!"

Balin said, "He's right, we've no fire hot enough to set them ablaze."

"Don't we?" He strode over to me and smiled confidently. "Watch this Lydia, this will be quite fun."

I tilted my head in confusion as he stood at the edge and shouted down into the mine shafts without any hesitation.

He shouted and his voice echoed through Erebor. "I did not look to see you so easily outwitted!" Smaug appeared, pulling himself out of the depths of Erebor and I looked to Thorin in fear. "What a sad sight you have become!"

"Oh," I whispered to myself, catching onto the game. I then raised my voice and shouted as well, "You'll only be remembered as a dumb, slow, snake!"

Thorin laughed, "Even worse, a disgusting slug! You've grown slow and fat in your dotage, Smaug!" Smaug's eyes flashed in pure hatred and leapt at us, only to be held back by the metal grate that separated us. Fire was already seeping out of his mouth. "Take cover!"

We all dove behind the columns and the fire erupted on both sides of us. The heat burned at my bare skin and I wasn't the only one to shout out while we were being roasted alive. Once the fire subsided, I checked myself to make sure my clothes or hair weren't on fire. I hadn't caught any of the flames, but the furnaces did.

Each of them burst to life, fire erupting at the bottom and starting to heat the gold that was inside of them. Smaug grabbed onto the metal grate with his claws and rattled against it. He started to smash his body against it, trying to get inside.

Thorin ordered, "The bellows, go!"

They got to work like it was a choreographed dance, heating the furnaces until the flames started to turn blue.

Thorin turned to me next. "Lydia, see that lever?" I looked in the direction he pointed and nodded when I spotted it, up a bunch of stairs near some huge dwarf statues. "I need you to throw that lever on my mark, do you understand?"

"Yes, on your mark." We nodded to each other then I took off to get to the lever as soon as possible.

Smaug started to bend the metal grate as he continued to smash his way through it, ripping at the metal with his claws. The dwarves scattered, some disappearing into some back room area, some stuck around with their weapons drawn.

The sound of the dragon roars and ripping of metal made my feet fly across the stone floors. No time to think, only time to do.

As I flew up the steps I heard the metal grate collapse and Smaug stomped his way inside, into the forages. He slithered in and his amber eyes searched for the dwarves amongst the smoke of the furnaces. I looked around in a panic, trying to spot the dwarves as well.

I made it up to the large lever and scanned for them. I spotted Thorin the same time the dragon did. Smaug rose his head up and growled at Thorin, fire building in his chest.

"NOW!" Thorin shouted.