The White Rider (Thorin Oakenshield)

Chapter Twelve: Fire-Breathing Toad

The smoke was thick, and the screams were loud.

The black night was red with flames, and ash was fluttering down from the skies like dead snow, the remnants of houses nothing but burning black dust that made your nose burn if you got too close. Not like anyone could help it, though. The stuff was everywhere.

Adelaide's once shiny black leather boots were dull from the ash, and kicked up soot as she ran between burning houses, towards the wind lance. Her white cloak was almost black from the soot, her blonde hair streaked with black.

She had stopped Bain—Bard's son—from hiding the Black Arrow in the lake, and was now on her way to the watch tower that held the wind lance.

She only has one shot at this. One shot.

If she fails, Laketown-and its people-are doomed.

No biggie.

But, god, if Thorin knew what she was attempting to do, he would chain her up. In a dungeon. Below Mordor.

So, pretty much the same as what would happen if she dies.

If she dies.

That hadn't occurred to her until now.

The heat suddenly increased, and Adelaide glanced over her shoulder, back the way she came.

The red glow of Smaug's Fire was getting brighter, and panic built up inside of Adelaide as she realized that Smaug was heading her way.

She dived into the water, jolting as the extremely cold temperature cooled her overheating body.

Smaug's silhouette passed over her, and she broke the surface, gulping down oxygen.

"Stupid fire-breathing toad," she muttered to herself as she climbed onto the dock.

Hey, at least the soot had washed out of her clothes and hair, right?

Ahem.

Not the time.

Adelaide was feet away from the wind lance when something snagged her cloak, and she was lifted into the air.

She gasped, squirming around, trying to get whatever was holding her to drop her.

She was spun around, and her blue eyes widened in absolute fear.

Smaug was holding her in his claws.

"Hmmm...it seems you have a Black Arrow, Little One. What might you be planning to do with it?" His voice seemed to vibrate the air, and his great golden eye was larger than half of her body.

"Um...n-nothing, O great Smaug the Terrible!"

The fire-drake seemed not to believe her. She wouldn't either.

"One doesn't simply do nothing with a Black Arrow. Are you going to cooperate, or am I going to have to fry you?"

Adelaide gulped. "Uh...is there a third option, perhaps?"

A deep chuckle shook the ground, and the great claw holding her quaked back and forth. "You are quite the comedian, aren't you?"

Adelaide shrugged. "I dapple."

Smaug snorted hot air at her, and she winced. His eyes narrowed. "You...you smell of dwarf, yet elf at the same time. What are you?"

Rude.

"I'm half-elf, half-dwarf."

"You also smell of The King Under The Mountain. Tell me, Little One. How do you know him?"