Taming the Wolf (A Hobbit Fanfic)

Chapter 26

Frêllian watched to where the great fire drake had flown off to, towards the small town. It wouldn't be long now, before he would take the poor people of Esgaroth by surprise. The sky was already darkening. Another advantage of Smaug, so he could hide in the darkness before attacking all those innocent people.
And then there was a flash of light as the serpent breathed his deadly flames. People were now running for their lives as the fire surrounded them. Innocent people dieing a horrible dead as the flames locked their skins. Others could be crushed by flying debris. Even if she could not see them, their screams echoed through the air and carried over the wind like a haunting lament.
How could they have let this happen? How could she have made this happen! Why didn't she try and stop it!
She was an alpha! A leader! She needed to protect others in need! And even if the humans were not her people, there had been kind people down at Esgaroth to have helped them out. And by doing so, they had signed their own death sentence.
No, she would not allow that to happen! She needed to help them. She had to help them! But how?
What good would it do to run off towards the lake? It had taken them five days to reach the mountain. And even if she were to go alone, she would still be too late. By the time she would reach Lake Town, the people would have perished by the dragon fire.
'It's an awful feeling, isn't it?' Frêllian turned her head to her left to see Fíli standing next to her. His eyes on the horizon, to where Lake Town lied. 'Feeling so helpless.'
'Yes, it is,' she admitted softly. 'And I hate it. I hate feeling helpless. How can I ever dream of becoming a leader to my people, if I can't even protect the ones dear to me?'
'You've protected the hobbit thus far.'
She let out a dry laugh at this. Stating Bilbo did not seek out danger. So protecting him wasn't that hard. But Fíli disagreed. Telling her about how she protected the hobbit from Smaug.
'But,' he continued, 'you've also protected Kíli. You saved him multiple times and he does seek out danger. But most importantly, you look out for our company. You look out for each and every one of us. And that, Frey, is what a good leader does.'
This time, he did look at her. His hand on her hand as he said this.
'You are a good leader. You just have to believe in yourself.'
Speechless, the ferian stared at him. Wondering if he truly meant what he had just said. But as soon as she looked the dwarf-prince in the eye, all she could see was sincerity.
'I'm not even a ferian and I would follow you to the pits of Mordor and back.'
It took her a moment to process that someone other than Bilbo believed in her. But then she smiled. A soft 'thank you' leaving her lips as she looked at him.
Suddenly a thunderous roar echoed through the air. A roar that send a chill down her spine as her eyes immediately returned to the small town in the distance. There, she could barely make out the dark form of Smaug as he flew up in the night sky. The only thing betraying the dragon's whereabouts, was the orange glow penetrating from his chest, like it had done before when he was about to breathe fire.
But something was off. Why was he flying upwards, instead of towards the burning town at the lake? And what of that pained roar? What had happened?
She watched in anxiety as the fire drake stopped flapping his wings and stretched his long neck towards the moon. Then he fell to the ground.
'What was that,' Oin asked, jumping up from the thunderous sound echoing through the land. 'What happened?'
'It fell,' Bilbo exclaimed, his voice shaking in excitement. 'I saw it. It fell!'
'Bilbo's right. Smaug is dead.'
Heads turned to the ferian, before looking down to where Esgaroth lied. The town now laying in ruins in the early light of the sun. Then there where cheers of joy from the dwarves. And Balin told them word would spead across all of Middle earth. The dragon was dead!
In their excitement, the dwarves failed to see their leader hastened away from them. Towards his long lost home. But Frêllian did. Though she was happy for them, glad the dragon was dead. But the way the dwarf had moved bothered her.
She feared something had changed in the dwarven prince. She had seen the look in his eyes grow darker with every passing day. She had noticed his behaviour change the closer they got to Erebor and the greedy look in his eyes when he had set his eyes upon the gold that lied beneath the mountain.
But most of all, she had noticed the worried glances, both her father and uncle would give their leader. She knew of the dragon-spell and the way it even fell over the treasure it guarded. A deep and powerful greed would fall upon the original owner and was Thorin not the rightful owner now?
And as she watched Thorin approach the gates of Erebor, only one thing came to mind as the ferian sighed in sadness. It was indeed dragon sickness.
But that worried her even more. She's heard stories of the effect of dragon-spells and the mistrust, greed and animosity that would posses the dragon's treasure hoard and the feuds and battles that followed after the dragon was slain. And there was greed already growing inside the new king under the mountain. So did that mean that a battle would follow soon after?
Her eyes shifted up towards the starfilled sky and she prayed with all her might that she was wrong. That there was no curse and Thorin was just overcome with emotion if having reclaimed his homeland at last.