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XII. Thieves

Bilbo reacted quickly, grabbing onto Athena's arm and pulling the both of them to hide behind a pillar. She pressed herself up against the stone with the Hobbit beside her, the both of them turning their heads to see more gold tumble down the slope after Smaug exhaled sharply, his nostrils now being revealed to them as they stood there with their heart rates steadily climbing. She gently nudged Bilbo's arm and gestured her head to the other side before they slowly made their way in the opposite direction of where they had been, but their movements were stopped when even more gold revealed the tail end of Smaug. She had almost forgotten how large the dragon truly was. They were completely surrounded by him and were at a loss on where they could go to escape him if he were to awaken.

They decided to take a step forward in the hopes of being able to make it to the exit, but that plan was soon buried when once again, gold came sliding down the slope, but this time it was due to Smaug moving his head. Bilbo crouched to the ground in brief acceptance of his fate.

"Okay," Athena whispered to herself as she stood completely still, afraid to move or even turn around.

She only had the courage to face Smaug when Bilbo stood up once more, him grabbing onto her hand as the two of them began to walk backwards very slowly and very carefully so not to rouse the dragon further, but he had already been roused enough to rise from his slumber. Panic filled her heart when she saw the eyelid open, the fiery eye of the dragon reflecting the heaps of gold that he lay in. Bilbo launched himself down and behind a pile of gold to hide himself out of immediate sight, Athena being dragged along with him as they flattened their bodies against the hoard, Bilbo on his back with Athena on her stomach. They did the one thing that they were not supposed to do — wake the dragon.

She turned to the side to look over at Bilbo, her eyes darting down to the ring that he held in his fingers as he contemplated whether to use it or not, the only thing that was holding him back was his friend that lay beside them. Only one of them could use it and he was not willing to part with it for her sake, but he was also not willing to abandon her.

"Use it," she whispered to him, his eyes shooting up to meet hers that stared at him in desperation. If there was a way for Bilbo to get out of this disaster then she would not ask him to not use that method, in fact she cared more for the Hobbit than she cared about herself. But still he seemed hesitant, and also shocked that he had allowed her to see it so freely, and that she now knew his secret (that he had done a rather poor job of keeping secret). "I don't care what it is, just put it on! I'll manage on my own, I promise."

And before he had a chance to resist, she was gone. As soon as she had seen Smaug blink she had hurried over back to the pillar and hid herself against the stone as the dragon rose it's head from the confines of the treasure he had been resting in. Bilbo slipped the ring on his finger, and he was no longer visible to any that looked his way.

"Well, thieves. I smell you," his booming voice sent shivers down Athena's spine. His words echoed through his lair and there was a certain rasp to his tone that made him sound all the more unkind.

He was slowly making his way around the pillar and she was stepping away each time he got closer. She could scarcely hear if she was making a sound from the blood that pounded in her ears, trying her hardest to keep her breathing quiet and steady so not to attract any more attention to herself. At least the attention was divided between her and Bilbo which gave them a better chance at remaining hidden.

"I hear your breath. I feel your air. Where are you?" He spoke as he continued to search for the two thieves that had eluded him, his head was dangerously close to where Athena was that if he turned just a little more to the left she would be exposed.

Her palms had grown sweaty from being balled up into fists the entire time. Throughout the entire quest she had been intent on getting revenge on Smaug, but now that she stood before him she was only filled with a fear that overshadowed the fear she had felt in Dale. The dragon's attention was entirely focused on Bilbo when he decided to run away from him, the only indication of him was the clinking of coins that he left with each footstep and the gems that rolled away from the impact of his strides.