Golden Eyes

Chapter 24: Molten Gold

That little creature just would not stop. Even as she was threatening his very life, he still only thought off the stone. She did not use much for force to her opinion but she still sent the hobbit soaring through the air. She growled in anger letting go off her frustration and impatience. The hobbit might be as thick-headed as the dwarves. He obviously had not made any that he was listening to her. She began to think that more means was necessary to get rid of the hobbit and those disgusting dwarves outside. To make them leave. She had to make him understand who they were in fact dealing with. And she would enjoy it. She sneered, "My teeth are swords! My claws are spears! My wings are a hurricane!... and my breath... death!" She hammered her front claws into the broken stone pillars, making gold splash around like water and the ground shake. The hobbit had found his feet. He was looking at her with a mixture of fear and admiration. She stood in a ray of light when she heard him whisper, "...true...black arrow...found its mark" She locked eyes on the hobbit, "What did you say?!" He stammered, "Oh I was just saying your reputation precedes you o' Smaug the Tyrannical" What a fool, she thought. She knew full well the tales man and dwarf alike told about her. Imbiciles! Did they truly believe that a small trinket could damage her? No. No this scar was a far older than any of the tales of men. A memory of a time she tried to forget but not in any way a weakness. She leaned in on the hobbit as he continued rambling, " Truly you have no equal on this earth" Something caught his eye and she could tell, without looking, it was the Arkenstone on the floor. It shone brightly and the hobbit looked away from Smaug. She smirked, the stone was symbol of the dwarf king but who could have known it was also his undoing. The stone was tricky. It called upon the greed within the owner. Just like other items, she would rather see destroyed. She studied the hobbit wondering how he had come to possess such an item. She was getting frustrated and felt her inner fire boil. "I am almost tempted to let you take it" she said and got his attention, " If only to see Oakenshield suffer. Watch it destroy him. Watch it corrupt his heart and drrrive him mad!" The small shoulders tensed. He was sensing something was about to happen but not what. She took a step back, "But I think not. I think our little game ends here. So tell me...thief! How do you choose to die?!" She attacked him jaws wide open but without his knowledge not expecting to clamp them around anything but air. In a blink of an eye she saw him put something on his finger and when she looked at the spot he had been standing just a moment ago he was gone. Know she was sure. The item he had found. There was no point denying it! She felt rage boil through her veins. The filthy dwarves, the abominable lakesmen and now THIS! She released her fire. All thoughts off mercy gone and replaced with anger. She raged around the hall and knocked down pillars and melted stone and gold alike with her warm breath.

Bilbo fled the hall and ran to the stairs. He could feel the warmth from the fire on his back and did not stop until he was at the end of the staircase and about to enter a tunnel. Where it would lead him he did not know. It was surely not the one he had come from. He took off his ring. What a useful tool it had become. He heard falling stones from the hall and decided this was not an ideal spot for resting nor hiding for that matter. He ran to a small set of stairs leading to a tunnel. He slowed down and tried to think about what had actually transpired in the hall. He had realised that of of the very few he would call a friend had actually been the enemy the whole time and played tricks and filled him and the others with lies and deceit. He was dare he say angry and felt greatly betrayed. He took deep breath. Although she had deceived him she had also saved his life more than once. The dwarves had told him about the cruelty and bestiality og the dragon dread and he had without question believed them. How could such a creature be anything but ghastly, mindless and dangerous? His questions where many but he had a feeling he could not talk to Thorin about it. Knowing Thorin judgemental mind he would not listen and he did not think the others would. All in all the truth had to come from the one he once trusted the most but now dreaded to face again. Smaug. Not Fray but Smaug. His little hobbit heart felt heavy as he realised he had to do it before the dwarves intervened. They wanted to kill her. They had not spoken of much else regarding the dragon and neither had the people of Lake Town as he recalled. Smaug had absolutely no reason to pay any mind to his words nor trust him. He was trying to think of a plan when he heard footsteps not far away. He began to run again. If the dwarves and Smaug saw each other chaos was insured. Since the drake was already pissed.