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

Chapter 83: Laketown Burning.

Outside of the Lonely Mountain:

Thorin and the company members had left Erebor making their outside the mountain and were now, watching from one of the towers as Smaug burnt the town on the lake. The sight in front of them was truly horrendous. It was one of the worse things Taryn had ever seen and heard. The only thing that could have been possibly worse would have been the day Smaug attacked Dale and Erebor.

The screams of the people down in Laketown was echoing loudly out into the night's sky. So loud that even the Dwarves and Bilbo could hear a tiny bit of it. As an Elf Taryn could hear it all perfectly, as if she was right there down in Laketown. With her Elven vision she could see the sight perfectly, as Smaug swooped in and burned all of buildings and burnt most of the people alive.

The smells of people being burnt alive, the sounds of screams coming from the lake, and the sight of it all right in front of her was just too much for her to handle. Feeling her pale blue eyes welling up with tears, Taryn let out a sad sigh as she looked down and away from the burning coming from the lake. It was so unbearably sad and she felt an huge amount of guilt. This was of course, all their fault. They brought this on and now there was nothing they could do about it. Except for watch on in horror.

Taking in a deep breath, Taryn wiped away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks and covered her face with her hands as she slumped back against the stone wall. "This is our fault. We doomed them all." She whispered with a sigh, as she slowly slid down to the ground. They all had angered the dragon to the point, that he was now unleashing his wrath on the poor innocent people of Laketown. Plus, Fíli, Kíli, Bofur, and Óin were all still down, facing the wrath of Smaug. She couldn't even stand to think about the possibilities of them being killed.

Sadness and fear filled the eyes of the Dwarves and Bilbo, as most of them turned around to look away from the horrific sight in front of them. Guilt was eating most of them up right now. Hardly any of them could stomach continuing to watch and listen to the constant screams. Taryn couldn't even imagine how what it really was like to be down there. Having to run for your lives with no ways of escaping, as you tried to protect your family.

Wrapping her arms around her pregnant belly, Taryn exhaled a deep sigh as she sat up and blinked the tears out of her pale blue eyes a few times. She so badly wished that they could help them. That they could go down there, but it was pointless. They'd all just ended up killed also and with her pregnancy she wouldn't be able to help much. Plus she knew that Thorin would never let them go, especially her.

"Poor souls." Balin muttered, as he looked down as he knew there was no real hope for any of those people in Laketown. There was no chance of winning against a fire-drake dragon. He was just trying his best not to think of his cousin down there, along with Fíli, Kíli, and Bofur.

Looking down again, Taryn along with the Dwarves and Bilbo remained silent. No one spoke a word, as they prayed that the rest of the company members who were their friends and family didn't stuffer a painful death and somehow stayed safe down there. Taryn didn't want to give up hope that her nephews and friends were now dead.

Standing up fully again with the help of Dwalin, Taryn furrowed her eyebrows as she looked around. She noticed there was one Dwarf missing, Thorin was no where to be seen. She wondered where her husband was at the moment. He was usually always by her side, and would especially be the one to help her up when needed. Turning around, Taryn took a few steps towards the stairs and let a worried look as she saw Thorin standing on a lower platform starring off at Erebor.

Letting out a soft sigh she looked over at the mountain and then back down at her husband. Turning her head to see Bilbo looking back at Thorin as well, Taryn give him a worried look before she looked back at Thorin. She was pretty sure that Bilbo was thinking the same thing about Thorin as she was, and that they both were worried about him.