there and back again

14

A/N: Kili didn't get hurt😄 and he went up the Mountain with his brother

"Did you sleep well, Smaug?" she asked.

Raine pulled Bilbo back just as gold cascaded down on them, shielding the hobbit with her body.

"Don't loose the stone," she whispered.

"Run!! Warn the others!!"

He did so, darting up the way they came. Raine distracted the dragon by tapping her staff against the ground.

It instantly caught his attention.

"Those tricks don't work on me anymore, little Guardian. Don't waste your breath."

She pulled out her sword, Smaug following her movements. "If my breath is being set against you, it is not wasted."

The dragon laughed deeply. "Your attempts at distraction are feeble, little Guardian."

She growled at him, lunging with her sword.

He laughed, harder this time, lifting his body out of the gold and sweeping Raine off her feet.

"Not so fast," Smaug said, lifting the woman with his tail. "I have waited for your return."

"I bet I won't get a warm welcome?" she bit back.

"Not welcome," the dragon nodded, "but warm indeed..."

He opened his large mouth, red hot heat boiling in the back of his throat when a small arrow bounced off his snout.

The dragon growled, his attention shifting to the dwarf. Kili glared back valiantly. "Let her go."

The dragon allowed her to fall with a thud, snarling dangerously.

"Come, Kili!" Thorin shouted.

"No, uncle!" The dwarf prince swirled on his king. "It is clear that you love her and she you so why do you let this happen?"

Thorin closed his mouth, gaze turning to where Raine was struggling to her her feet and stumbling towards them. "Talk later," she heaved. "Run now!"

The Company ran through the passages of Erebor, dodging the dragon's fire every now and again.

"You cannot run," Smaug rumbled, his voice bouncing around the chambers. "You cannot hide. I will find you... and feast on your flesh!"

Raine groaned. "Shut up, you lizard!"

She saw several dwarves give her odd looks, but ignored them, quickly running into one of the chambers where they used to mine.

"In!" she urged, listening as the dwarves started acting out a plan.

She prodded her ribs and winced before looking at the hobbit. "Do you have it?" she asked. He nodded grimly. "Good. Keep it. Don't let Thorin see it." She looked to where Thorin was working. "Dragon sickness is already starting to consume him."

•••

A few minutes later, Thorin had loured the dragon into a ballroom.

When the dragon charged him, he tore the covering off a massive gold statue, causing Smaug to stumble to a stop.

Raine watched from the shadows above as the gold statue melted and washed over the lizard, dragging him down beneath a blanket of metal.

She shook her head at Thorin's victorious smile.

Then the dragon erupted from the bed of gold, spraying the liquid as he went.

"My armour is like tenfold shields," he rumbled. "My teeth are swords, my claws are spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane."

He burst out of Erebor.

"And my breath...

...is death."