The Dragon (Book Five in the Aerlinniel's Secret Series)

Chapter 12: What Have We Done?

Bilbo POV

"Bombur! Get those bellows working. Go!"

Bombur runs and leaps onto a chain next to a forge. The chain slides down with his weight, and he lands on the handle of a massive bellows. The bellows compress and blast air into the furnace, which exhumes bright blue flames.

"Bilbo! Up there, on my mark, pull that lever." Thorin tells me and points to a lever high up on the top of a staircase, and I run toward it.

"Balin, can you still make some flash-flame?" I hear Thorin ask Balin.

"Aye. It'll only take a jiffy. Come on!"

"We don't have a jiffy." Dwalin says.

The pillars finally give way and fall to the ground. Smaug storms into the furnace room as I reach the lever mounted high on a tower.

"Now!"

I jump into the air and try to grab the lever, but I can't reach it. Someone all of the sudden pulls on it. It is Mallory.

"Thanks." I tell her and she smiles at me.

Huge jets of water are bursting out of carved faces in the wall behind us and slam into Smaug, knocking him off balance and distinguishing the flames that he was beginning to blow at Thorin.

Smaug slides into the side of a furnace and roars in rage. He flaps into the air and begins thrashing about madly.

The jets of water cause a watermill to begin turning some gears, which causes the various rope conveyor belts to begin operating. Some of them are full of chunks of rock.

Smaug begins crawling toward Thorin again. As Mallory and I begin to climb down the stairs, Smaug starts to approach Thorin again. Suddenly, there is a flash of blue light on the side of his head.

Balin, Ori, Dori, and Imryll are throwing flash-flame bombs at Smaug. However, Smaug is not at all fazed by them and continues toward Thorin. Above Smaug, Gloin raises his axe and cuts the rope of the conveyor belt full of rocks below him, dropping tons of rocks on Smaug which makes him fall to the ground.

Smaug is tangled in the ropes of the conveyor belt and he thrashes and hits the rope of the conveyor belt Gloin and Bifur are in, breaking it and knocking it to the floor.

"Noo! Ahhh!" Gloin yells.

They miraculously land on the ground unhurt. Beneath Smaug, rivers of melted gold flow through the troughs on the floor. Thorin turns and begins running.

"Lead him to the Gallery of the Kings!" He shouts to us.

One of the metal buckets tangled on Smaug goes flying toward Malory and I. We both duck as I scream. Thankfully, the bucket misses us.

I look back over at Thorin. He is grabbing a wheelbarrow and runs while pushing it, dodging Smaug. Smaug's tail smashes into the base of the steps, cracking it which worries me.

Thorin throws the wheelbarrow into a stream of gold and leaps into the wheelbarrow. It floats on the gold. Seeing this, Smaug roars and whips his head around, finally getting rid of the ropes and buckets tangled around him. He stomps over to a small entrance.

Before he can get to Thorin, Thorin on his wheelbarrow floats through the entrance, just as where Mallory and I are standing collapses and we fall. Smaug sees us and snarls.

Thorin turns his head back and yells, "Keep going, Bilbo! Run!"

I take off running with Smaug following me and leap onto a large stone before he can get me. As I continue to run from Smaug, there is a doorway that I run through and into a massive hall with banners on the walls.

Just as I run in, the wall above the doorway explodes as Smaug jumps through it. I run frantically from the flying rocks, but I get caught beneath the cloth of a falling banner and get knocked to the floor.

Smaug leaps to the floor and shouts angrily, "You think you could deceive me, Barrel-rider? You have come from Laketown. There is- is some sort of scheme hatched between these filthy Dwarves and those miserable cup-trading Lakemen. Those sniveling cowards with their longbows and black arrows! Perhaps it is time I paid them a visit."

Smaug turns to go to Laketown, and I gasp.

"Oh, no." I scramble out from underneath the banner and yell at Smaug, "This isn't their fault! Wait! You cannot go to Laketown."

Smaug stops, then turns back towards me, as I is run after him.

"You care about them, do you? Good. Then you can watch them die." Smaug shouts and turns down the hall.

Suddenly, a voice sounds from one end of the hall, where there is a massive stone structure that looks roughly like a Dwarf. The voice is Thorin's. He is standing on top of the structure.

"Here, you witless worm!" Thorin says to Smaug.

Smaug stops in his track, snarling in anger. He then turns toward Thorin.

"You."

"I am taking back what you stole." Thorin says as Smaug slowly moves towards him.

"You would take nothing from me, Dwarf. I laid low your warriors of old. I instilled terror in the hearts of men. I am King under the Mountain."

"This is not your kingdom. These are Dwarf lands, this is Dwarf gold, and we will have our revenge."

Thorin then yells something that I don't understand. I hear loud noises coming from the statue. The stone structure falls and it is a massive statue of a Dwarf king, made entirely out of solid gold.

Suddenly, the gold explodes into liquid. The gold in the statue must have not yet fully become solid. Smaug roars in anger as the statue melts, and moves backward to escape the gold.

However, he cannot move fast enough and the gold hits him and knocks him over. As he roars, he is entirely smothered and drowned in the gold, which fills the entire hall.

The gold settles, and no sign of Smaug is seen. The Dwarves begin to smile in joy, but the surface of the golden lake explodes as Smaug leaps out. He is entirely covered in gold, and he screams in anger and pain.

"Ahh! Revenge?! Revenge! I will show you REVENGE!" Smaug booms angrily and runs down the hallway and takes off in flight.

I run out of the destroyed gates of Erebor and climb up some ruins. Looking after Smaug who is flying towards Laketown, I fall to my knees.

I hear Smaug say in the distance, "I am fire. I am...DEATH!"

"What have we done?"

~~~~~~

Omg, its the end of the Desolation of Smaug. But, don't worry, its not the end of the book! There will be somewhere in between 4 to 6 more chapters. Then it will be on to the 6th book! I've got big plans for it! :)

Love you my elves from the realm of llamas,

~Ellethwen <3