The Gathering Storm. The Hobbit fanfic. A Thorin Oakenshield love story.

Chapter 82: Time to Kill a Dragon.

Inside the mountain:

Leaving the western guardroom, Taryn, Thorin, Balin, and Bilbo run through the same tunnels they had just ran through a little while ago. Thorin has a tight hold on Taryn's hand, as he makes sure she stayed close behind him. He did not want them to get separated.

"This way!" Thorin yelled out at them, as he turned his head to look back at them.

All four of them run out onto the same bridge from earlier. Suddenly a booming sound comes from nearby them. Turning her head to the side, Taryn let out a soft gasp as she sees Smaug appear a bit in the distance but still close to them.

"Flee, flee! Run for your lives! There is nowhere to hide." Smaug yelled out at them, as he crawls over the sides of the mountain.

This causes the four of them to stop dead in their tracks on the bridge and they all let out soft gasps. Smaug begins to go at the four of them, but suddenly he stopped and turned around at another sound. Dori, Ori, and Bombur are running on another bridge and yelling to distract Smaug.

"Behind you!" Dori yelled at Smaug to distract him. Smaug looks at them in an angered manner, he then lunges toward them.

"Come on!" Dori yelled, as they turn and run across their bridge.

As Smaug began to chase the second group which is made up of Dori, Ori, and Bombur, the first group (Thorin, Taryn, Bilbo, and Balin) continued to run across their bridge behind them in the distance. Suddenly, a third group of the Dwarves appear, Dwalin and Nori, run across another bridge behind Smaug.

"Hey you! Here!" Dwalin yelled at Smaug to distract him, as himself and Nori stop on their bridge.

Hearing a new set of Dwarves, Smaug turned his head towards them and jumped at them. Dwalin and Nori run off of the bridge and into a tunnel nearby just before Smaug's claws lands where they were. A fourth group of the Dwarves made up of Glóin and Bifur appeared and use this chance to run across a different bridge and made it into a tunnel as well.

Angrily Smaug gets down to their level and began to blow fire into the tunnel and after them. He blows his fire rapidly in an arc around him, into all of the tunnels. The fire causes the stones beneath Glóin and Bifur to glow in the heat. The two of them reach a cliff and leap into the air, landing in large troughs which they slide down. They land in the buckets of a large hanging conveyor belt system used in the past for mining.

Running through a large hallway with Thorin, Balin, and Bilbo; Taryn kept her little hand in Thorin's big hand as she stayed close behind him.

"It's this way!" Balin said as he turned towards a side tunnel. "This way!" He yelled, as he stopped and looked and Taryn and Bilbo. "Come on!" He yelled, as he motioned with his hand for the She-Elf and the Hobbit to follow him.

Bilbo stopped running and let out a confused look, as he saw Thorin and Taryn continuing forward. "Thorin! Taryn!" He called out to the two of them, as their still ahead.

Thorin and Taryn suddenly stopped running, and they both turned and looked back towards Bilbo and Balin. Thorin began to step forward with his hand in his wife's hand, but then they all hear the loud stomps of Smaug off in the distance behind them. Taryn let out a gasp and their eyes all widened, as they turned their heads and looked down at Smaug who was at the end of the hallway.

Letting go of his wife's hand, Thorin took in a deep breath as he looked down at her for a moment. Cupping her cheeks he quickly leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead and white blonde hair.

"Follow Balin!" He said to both her and Bilbo.

"What no! You have to come with us." Taryn cried out, as she shook her head. "I don't want to be separated from you again."