Third POV
The house shook violently then stopped. Miranda looked up at Bard from the book of herbs.
"Da?" Tilda, Bard's daughter asked.
"It's coming from the mountain," Bain said.
Kili was breathing is short painful breaths. Miranda glanced at him and looked back at her book. There had to be a healing spell in here somewhere!
"You should leave us," Fili said, making his way over to the family. "Take your children and go. Get out of here."
"And go where?" Bard asked. "There is nowhere to go."
Tilda gained nearly everyone's attention when she said, "Are we going to die, da?"
Bard's face filled with worry and determination as he said, "No, darling."
"The dragon," her little voice was breaking. "It's going to kill us." Miranda looked down. She felt guilty; she had had a chance to change this future. She felt she had failed all of these people, because she believed that the dwarves would not stop until they had reclaimed not just The Arkenstone, but their home as well.
Bard looked at his daughter and then reached a hand up, grasping something hanging from the ceiling. "Not if I kill it first." There was so much emotion in his voice. He knew the cost of failure.
"A black arrow," Miranda whispered.
Bard looked at her and requested, "Look after my children."
"As you wish. Be careful," Miranda replied, as if she knew something that he didn't.
~*~
Smaug was circling Bilbo, displacing coins with every movement. "The King Under the Mountain is dead. I took his throne." Smaug bellowed. Bilbo was running both away from Smaug and towards the Arkenstone. "I ate his people like a wolf among sheep." His breath rattled. He followed the hobbit nearly smooshing him with his enormous claws. His face brushed past Bilbo knocking him over as he snarled, "I kill where I wish, when I wish. My armor is iron." He glided towards the fleeing hobbit. "No blade can pierce me!" He shouted as he landed gaining a foothold where his daughter used to keep her things.
"It's Oakenshield!" Smaug growled, his eyes alight with insanity. "That filthy dwarvish usurper. He sent you in here for the Arkenstone, didn't he?" His eyes lingered on his most prized possession.
"No, no." Bilbo denied. "I don't know what you are talking about." Bilbo was walking towards the said stone, his eyes almost never leaving it.
"Don't bother denying it," Smaug ordered. "I was warned of his foul purpose some time ago. But it matters not. Oakenshield's quest will fail." The words dripped from his tongue like poison, a whispered warning lingering in the air. "A darkness is coming. It will spread to every corner of the land."
Bilbo was hiding under an area that Smaug could not reach so he was circling him. A smile spread across Smaug's features as he thought of something. "You are being used, thief in the shadows. You were only ever a means to an end. The coward Oakenshield as weighed the value of your life and found it worth nothing."
"No," Bilbo said shaking his head, a smile rested on his face. "No. No. You're lying."
A breath escaped Smaug in a sighed growl as he asked, "What did he promise you? A share of the treasure?" Smaug climbed on top of the stone slab Bilbo was hiding under and continued. "As if it was his to give? I will not part with a single coin. Not one piece of it."
At that moment, Bilbo ran out from his hiding place towards the Arkenstone. Smaug slammed his tail down causing gold, jewels, gems, and of course the Arkenstone to go flying. Bilbo rolled down until he hit a stone pillar.
Smaug began to walk towards him threat and promise falling from his lips in a deadly proclamation. "My teeth are swords. My claws are spears. My wings are a hurricane!" He rose to a terrifying height, but as he did, a hole in his armor became noticeable in the dim lighting. A missing scale, close to his heart.
"So it is true," Bilbo breathed, his voice barely audible. "The black arrow found its mark."
Smaug rounded on him, "What did you say?" His rage was barely disguised.
Bilbo's eyes widened and he stood up quickly, realizing is mistake, he began to back away. "I-I was just saying your reputation precedes you, O Smaug the Tyrannical. Truly. You have no equal on this earth." He looked to the side and he saw the Arkenstone. He sighed.
"I am almost tempted to let you take it." Smaug growled, following his gaze. "If only to see Oakenshield suffer. Watch it destroy him. Watch it corrupt his heart and drive him mad." His yellow eyes were staring at Bilbo, his tail swishing behind him, like a cat preparing to pounce. A darkness covered his eyes as he pulled his head back. "But I think not. I think our little game ends here. So tell me, thief, how do you choose to die?"
Smaug's body coiled like a snake and his lungs filled with fire. Right when he brought his head back, Bilbo slipped on the golden ring and disappeared from Smaug's eyes. Smaug's mouth closed around air, he reared back his head and shot fire out in a large arc.
Bilbo ran, breathing heavily, back the way he had come. Smaug's roars filled the mountain. As he spun in circles angrily breathing fire.