Unwanted Attractions

Chapter 32

  Rosa looks around not seeing Bilbo then notched that Smug had spotted her  "Ah, there's one where's the other?"
  She doesn't answer standing too scared to move or speak as Smaug looks around  "Well,other  thief, I know you're here, I can smell you. I hear your breath. I feel your air. Where are you?"
   Smaug continues searching "Come now, don't be shy. Step into the light. Mmm, there is something about you, something you carry. Something made of gold, but far more...PRECIOUSSSSS."
  Rosa jumps as suddenly Bilbo becomes visible "There you are, thief in the shadows."
  "We did not come to steal from you, O Smaug the Unassessably Wealthy. My sister and I merely wanted to gaze upon your magnificence, to see if you really were as great as the old tales say." Bilbo nervously laughs "We did not believe them."
  At this, Smaug stomps several yards away and draws himself up so his entire body is visible to Bilbo. "And, do you now?!!!"
  "Truly, the tales and songs fall utterly short of your enormity, O Smaug the Stupendous."
  "Do you think flattery will keep you alive?"
  "No- no, no." Bilbo shakes his head going to stand with Rosa
  "No, indeed. You seem familiar with my name, but I don't remember smelling your kind before. Who are you, and where do you come from, may I ask?" Smaug snakes his head closer to Bilbo as he asks this. 

  Bilbo opens his mouth to speak but then suddenly sees something off to the side. It's a small, white gem glowing with an unnatural light, buried under one layer of coins. "W- We come from under the hill."
  "Underhill?"
  Bilbo nods and sneaks a peek at the stone believing it to be the Arkenstone. It is not far away from them. "And under hills and over hills our path has led. And, and, through the air. I am he who walks unseen."
  "Impressive. What else do you claim to be?" Smaug snakes his head forward until his teeth are inches from Bilbo's face. As Smaug exhales, Bilbo grimaces at his breath.
  "I am...Riddle-maker." Bilbo says then motions to Rosa and himself "We're luck-wearers."
  "Lovely titles; go on."
  "Barrel-riders."
  "Barrels? Now that is interesting. And what about your little dwarf friends? Where are they hiding?" Smaug asks looking about
  "Dw- Dwarves? No, no, no dwarves here. You've got that all wrong." Bilbo looks to Rosa 
  She nods finally finding her voice "Right we've never even seen dwarves."
  "Oh, I don't think so, barrel-riders. They sent you in here to do their dirty work while they skulk about outside."
  "Truly, you are mistaken, O Smaug, Chiefest and Greatest of calamities."
  "You have nice manners...for a bunch of thieves and liars! I know the smell and taste of dwarf. No one better. It is the gold! They are drawn to treasure like flies to dead flesh."
  As Smaug stomps about, his claws knock the Arkenstone away from where it had been, and Bilbo gasps. The Arkenstone bounces down the mountain of gold, and Bilbo grabs Rosa's hand and runs after it.
  "Did you think I did not know this day would come when a pack of canting dwarves would come crawling back to the mountain?!" Smaug shouts following the two, knocking over a massive stone pillar in his rage.

  While they run Bilbo trips and the two hobbits slide down the gold.
  "The King under the mountain is dead. I took his throne." Smaug says looking around for Bilbo and Rosa, and they burst out of a pile of gold beneath Smaug's claw. The hobbits run down a staircase and leap off the side as Smaug's head swings at them. "I ate his people like a wolf among sheep."
  As the Arkenstone bounces rapidly down the mountain of gold, Bilbo pulls Rosa and they slide rapidly after it with Smaug in pursuit.
  "I kill where I wish when I wish. My armor is iron." Smaug opens his wings and glides down to land atop the structure. "No blade can pierce me!" Smaug says as he searches for Bilbo and Rosa, who is hiding under the stone structure. "It's Oakenshield. That filthy dwarvish usurper! He sent you in here for the Arkenstone, didn't he?" Smaug circles around the structure; The two, are still hiding beneath it, Bilbo sees the Arkenstone at the other end of the structure.
  "No, no, no. we don't know what you're talking about. It's just the two of us." Rosa Shoots watching as Bilbo starts to sneak over to the Arkenstone, but is forced to hide behind a pillar as Smaug looks beneath the structure "Don't bother denying it. I guessed his foul purpose some time ago. But it matters not. Oakenshield's quest will fail. The darkness is coming, it will spread to every corner of the land. You have been used, thief in the shadows. You two were only ever a means to an end. The coward Oakenshield has weighed the value of your lives and found it worth nothing."
  "No. No. No, you're lying!" Bilbo shouts to him, Rosa and him still hiding behind the pillar 
  "What did he promise you? A share of the treasure? As if it was his to give. I will not part with a single coin. Not one piece of it."

  Bilbo, hearing that Smaug is on top of the structure, sees the Arkenstone lying a few feet away from the structure and makes a run for it Rosa follows after him. Smaug sees them and whips his tail, sending the two, the Arkenstone, and gold flying. Bilbo tumbles and lands against a pillar Rosa next to him.
 "My teeth are swords! My claws are spears! My wings are a hurricane!" Smaug roars rising his wings up. As Smaug displays his wings, Bilbo notices a scale missing on the left side of Smaug's chest.
  "So it is true. The black arrow found its mark."  He whispers
  Rosa looks up and notices it as Smaug growls at him "What did you say??"
  "Uh, uh, I was just saying your reputation precedes you, oh Smaug the tyrannical. Truly, you have no equal on this earth."  Bilbo says, as he and Rosa slowly back up. He is standing in a bare, open spot, and Smaug faces them. As he finishes speaking, Bilbo looks down and sees the Arkenstone lying just a few feet from him, and he gazes at it. "I am almost tempted to let you take it if only to see Oakenshield suffer, watch it destroy him, watch it corrupt his heart and drive him mad." Bilbo and Smaug face off; Bilbo pants. Then Smaug begins to rear his head. "But I think not. I think our little game ends here. So tell me, thief, how do you choose to die?"
  Smaug's chest glows with a light from inside, and Smaug's head streaks forward, jaws open, to eat the two Hobbits. However,  Rosa grabs Bilbo running just as, and Smaug's jaws close on missing them.  Angrily, he raises his head again, and the glow from his chest travels up his neck; roaring, Smaug bellows out a massive wall of flames over the area in which Bilbo had been standing. because of his rage, he had not seen, Rosa and Bilbo as they made it to the stairs running up some. Reaching a hallway, Bilbo and Rosa exhaustedly look at each Rosa smiles with a nod and they continue running. Smaug rages about, blowing fire and destroying pillars. His roars echo in the distance.