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MARISTELA OPENED HER EYES SLOWLY, HER HEAD WAS NO LONGER HEAVY with pressure nor was her body burning in pain. She swallowed carefully before squeezing the hand that held her own, Fíli lifted his head and smiled seeing her beautiful deep brown eyes. "Mari..." Fíli breathed out before leaning down and capturing her lips with his own, his fears of losing her had faded as her lips moved against his own. "Alright, alright, love doves. We get it!" Kìli teased causing the two to pull away from each other, Maristela smiled at her best friend and shook her head.
"Good to see you too, Ki," Maristela told him before moving to sit up, Fíli helped her as Bofur handed her a cup of water that instantly soothed her throat. "That's better," Maristela spoke before she looked down at her binding, "I'm guessing I didn't hallucinate the Elf Prince?" Bofur chuckled at that, "No, you didn't. Though Fíli didn't seem to like how close he got to you." Fíli glared at Bofur but Maristela simply ran her fingers down his arm and interlocked their fingers while she spoke, "Hey, he healed me. That's what matters. Now we need to prepare the town for the threat of a dragon." They all shared a look as a loud crash followed by a roar echoed through the sky.
Meanwhile, Legolas has caught up to Bolg and his Orcs, he whips out Orcrist, holding it in both hands as he advances towards Bolg. As they walk toward each other, the other two Orcs appear out of hiding spots on either side of the alley and attack Legolas while Tauriel is distracted with other Orcs a distance away from them. Legolas knocks the two of them down just in time to deflect a blow from Bolg. Legolas fights all three Orcs at once, and when he has knocked down the two again, he stabs Bolg's stomach, but Bolg drops his weapon and catches Legolas' sword between his arms and ribs. He pulls Legolas closer to him using the sword and then throws him against the wooden pillar.
Legolas drops the sword and before he can get back up, Bolg grabs him and throws him again, this time into a wall. Bolg strides over and kicks at Legolas, but Legolas manages to grab Bolg's leg and knock him off balance and into the wall behind him. Legolas leaps into the air and delivers a flying punch to Bolg's face. He grabs Bolg and smashes his head repeatedly into the wooden post. He throws Bolg against the wall, but Bolg rebound from the wall and grabs Legolas in a crushing embrace against his chest. He squeezes Legolas causing him to strain in pain before Legolas jerks his head back into Bolg's face, forcing him to release him.
Legolas manages to pull out a knife and slice Bolg lightly on the stomach, but Bolg grabs him and throws him toward the other two Orcs, who have gotten back up. As Legolas fights the two of them with his knife, Bolg strides away, limping. Legolas dispatches the two Orcs and runs over to where Orcrist is lying on the ground and he picks it up. As he stands, he falls back against the wall in pain, breathing heavily. His eyes open wide in shock and he raises his hand to his nose. It comes away with blood leaving him shocked. He looks to the side and sees Bolg on a Warg, heading out of town. Bolg rides across the bridge on his Warg; close behind him is Legolas on a white horse.
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In the meantime, Bilbo had faced the mighty Smaug before rushing away alongside Thorin and the others, a plan forming. Balin, Thorin, and Bilbo run through a large hallway, Balin turns into a side tunnel with Bilbo following him, Thorin having to keep running from Smaug. Balin pulls Bilbo into the side tunnel just as Smaug's chest glows orange and he unleashes his fire throughout the hall. Thorin runs the other way and leaps into the air, falling into a deep pit. He catches onto a chain with a bucket at the end of it, and it begins descending just as Smaug leaps into the pit as well. Smaug claws his way down the tunnel, snapping at Thorin on the chain.
"Thorin!" Dwalin called out before smashing his axe into the machinery holding the chain Thorin on to, and the chain stops descending abruptly. Beside Dwalin, a heavy holding bucket on the other end of the same chain begins descending rapidly, causing Thorin's chain to fly upward, narrowly missing Smaug's head. Smaug turns and manages to grab at the end of Thorin's chain, stopping its movement; Smaug pulls dow , the machinery holding the chain at the top of the pit breaks free to its moorings and falls into the pit; Thorin falls and lands right on the tip of Smaug's closed mouth. He stands on Smaug's top lip as Smaug growls and opens his mouth; fire is visibly rising up his neck.
The Dwarves working together manage to save Thorin from the large Firedrake, Thorin taunting the beast to use its fire to light the furnaces for their plan. They all hide behind pillars just as Smaug unleashes his flame at them, the fire goes past the pillars and reaches all the way to the furnaces. The Dwarves and Bilbo, though not in the direct path of fire, yell from the pain, heat, and pressure. As Smaug stops, fire suddenly comes out of the bottoms of the furnaces, and they begin glowing and working. With the furnaces lit, the Dwarves work to get the bellows working and smelting gold for Thorin's plan to rid Erebor of Smaug.
Bilbo, as instructed, jumps into the air and pulls down the lever causing huge jets of water to burst out of carved faces in the wall behind Bilbo and slam into Smaug, knocking him off balance and quenching the flames he was beginning to blow at Thorin. Smaug slides into the side of a furnace from the force of the water, and the glow in his chest disappears. Roaring in rage, Smaug flaps into the air and begins thrashing about madly. The jets of the 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 heavy chunks of rock and ore.
"Lead him to the Gallery of the Kings!" Thorin orders them, he grabs a wheelbarrow and runs while pushing it, dodging Smaug's thrashing limbs. Smaug's tail smashes into the base of the mound, cracking it and worrying Bilbo. Thorin throws the wheelbarrow into a channel of gold and leaps into the wheelbarrow; it floats on the gold and is carried along. Seeing this, Smaug roars and whips his head around, finally getting rid of the ropes and buckets that had been tangled around him thanks to the Dwarves. He stomps over to a small entrance at the base of the mound where all the troughs of liquid gold join and lead out of the room.
Before he can get to Thorin, Thorin on his wheelbarrow floats through the entrance, just as the mound collapses and Bilbo falls. He manages to hit the ground rolling, Smaug sees Bilbo and snarls. "Keep going, Bilbo! Run!" Thorin yelled out the Hobbit. Bilbo takes off running with Smaug in pursuit; he leaps onto a large stone slide before Smaug can grab him, and Smaug slides after him, demolishing all the stone structures nearby with his wings. It was in this very moment that Bilbo wished Maristela was there, he had heard her stories about the dragon she had faced many years ago, he believed she could defeated this dragon already.
The trough Thorin is floating in ends at a drop; as his wheelbarrow goes over the edge, Thorin leaps from it and grabs onto a chain and the molten gold drops into a large stone mold. Bilbo, running from Smaug, runs through a doorway and into a massive hall adorned with banners hundreds of feet tall. Just as he runs in, the wall above the doorway explodes as Smaug jumps through it. Bilbo runs frantically from the flying rocks, but it caught beneath the cloth of a falling banner and knocked to the floor. Smaug leaps to the floor and shouts angrily, "You think you could deceive me, Barrel-rider?"
Bilbo peeks out from the edge of the banner as Smaug continues, "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!" Smaug is talking to himself, and his voice breaks in both anger and fear when he mentions the black arrows. "Perhaps it is time I paid them a visit," Smaug taunted as he turned in the direction of Laketown, Bilbo's eyes went wide at the dragon's comment. "This isn't their fault! Wait! You cannot go to Laketown!" Bilbo exclaimed after scrambling from under the banner.
"You care about them, do you? Good. Then you can watch them die!" Smaug told him while Bilbo worried for the people of Laketown and the remaining Company that where resting there. Smaug turns and strides off down the hall when a voice stops him, "Here, you witless worm!" Smaug stops in his track, snarling and squinting in anger as he spots Thorin standing atop a structure. "You," Smaug sneers at the Dwarven King. "I am taking back what you stole!" Thorin shouted to the dragon that stalked 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," Smaug growled.
"This is not your kingdom. These are Dwarf lands, this is Dwarf gold, and we will have our revenge," Thorin sneered at the dragon who was currently level with Thorin. Unseen by Smaug, there are chains attached to various places on the back of the stone Dwarf structure Thorin is standing on, and the ends of these chains are held by the other Dwarves. Smaug's chest and neck glow with fire, and Thorin slowly reaches up toward a rope above him. Just as Smaug opens his mouth, Thorin yells something in Khuzdul before yanking on the rope, a pin behind the stone falls out releasing heavy bands and chains.
Smaug rears his head in confusion as the other Dwarves pull mightily on their chains, and more pins similar to the first are pulled out of the stone. The stone structure, which is now revealed to be the mold into which the liquid gold from earlier poured into, falls apart and reveals a massive statue of a Dwarf King, made entirely out of solid gold. Thorin swings away on a rope to escape the falling rocks while Smaug eyes the golden statue, which is larger than him, in awe and desire. As he approaches it, his mouth opens slightly in greed, the gold calling to him like a siren to a sailor.
However, the gold around the statue's eyes warps and then explodes into liquid; the gold in the statue had not yet fully solidified, and the entire statue collapses and explodes into burning hot liquid. Smaug roars in anger as the statue melts, and scrabbles backward to escape the gold. But he cannot move fast enough and the tidal wave of gold hits him and knocks him over. As he roars, he is entirely smothered and drowned in the gold, which fills the entire hall in a layer several feet deep. The gold settles, and no sign of Smaug is seen and the Dwarves begin to smile in joy. Suddenly, 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 shrieked, running down the hallway before taking off in flight with the Dwarves and Bilbo watching him in shock. Smaug smashes his way through the great doors of Erebor, he flaps his wings and lifts off into the sky, spinning and causing the remaining gold on him to fall off in a golden shimmer; He swoops off toward Laketown with a glare upon his face. Bilbo rushes out of the destroyed gates of Erebor and climbs up some ruins, looking after the flying Smaug, he falls to his knees. Smaug soars through the air towards Laketown, "I am fire! I am... DEATH!" Watching him fly away, Bilbo despairingly pants and looks on in shock, "What have we done?"
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「 ✦ 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 ✦ 」
Oh misty eye of the mountain below~
And so that is the end of Act Two, Desolation of Smaug. The final Hobbit movie comes and I don't believe I am prepared for what is to come.
Thoughts on this Act/Movie?
Thoughts on Maristela's character?
Thoughts on what may happen next?
Theories? Suggestions? Predictions?
See you in the next Act!