A Fairy's Tale

Chapter Seven

Smaug burned Lake-town.

Frerin watched in horror. Bilba was completely still in his arms. They'd gone to the Spires to see what was happening and, as soon as they had, she'd tried to rush toward the town.

He'd caught her around the waist and pulled her back. Currently he had both arms wrapped around her and was holding her wrists, lightly but in such a way that he could tighten his grip if she tried to dart forward again.

"Frerin?" She was shaking and crying, her voice wavering. She tried to take a step but he pulled her back gently, putting his face alongside hers so his mouth was by her ear.

"No, Sweetheart. Even if you were a full fairy you wouldn't stand a chance."

"But they didn't know!" she cried. "They didn't even know we were here and now the dragon is killing them! Why? Why is he doing it?"

"I don't know," Frerin said. "Perhaps he thinks they aided us somehow."

The dragon made another pass, flame belching out to blanket the already burning town. At first they'd heard a dim clanging of a bell, warning people, but it had long since stopped. Frerin caught sight of a few black shapes on the waters outside the town and pointed them out to Bilba. "See, there? There are survivors. People are escaping."

"He'll probably just burn them after he's done with the town," Bilba said dully.

Frerin released her wrists to wrap his arms more completely around her, resting his chin on the top of her head. He'd tried to turn her away from the town a few times but she'd resisted and he'd relented, unwilling to manhandle her more than he'd already been forced to.

Suddenly a distant shriek rang out. Frerin straightened and saw the dragon shoot straight up in the air, spiraling.

And then it fell, striking the surface of the water with a noise audible even to them, and sinking below it.

For a few seconds they both stared, blankly.

"What was that?" Bilba asked in disbelief. "What happened?"

"I think," Frerin said slowly, "that someone in Lake-town just earned themselves the title of Dragonslayer."

He took her hand and pulled her away, back toward Erebor. "Come on, let's go see if we can find the others."

The fact no one had come out to see where the dragon had gone gnawed at him, leaving a hollow, sinking feeling in his gut.

Bilba came with him but half turned, looking back. "But what about them?"

"Erebor owes much to the Men of Lake-town," Frerin agreed. "We can best serve them by securing the mountain and the Treasury. We have no food supplies to give them but we can certainly give them enough funds to rebuild. Come on, we need to find Thorin and the others."

He knew he sounded cold, callous even, but he'd been raised to act in spite of his emotions. His heart raged against the wanton death visited upon Lake-town but there was nothing he could currently do about it.

She nodded, using one hand to wipe the tears off her face. Frerin stopped and put his hands on her face, using his thumbs to wipe the tears off for her. He bent his head and kissed her and then said. "We'll take care of them, Bilba. I swear it. It would take us days to get there and the others in the Mountain may need our help as well and they're practically at our feet. Not to mention Thranduil is probably already on his way with his army and will want to know the status of his son. One thing at a time, alright? I swear we'll take care of them all but it can't all be done at the same time. There's only two of us."