After explaining his plan to the company, Thorin was the first to run out of the room, followed by Balin, Bilbo, and Agarwaen. They ran through the massive halls and back out into the open over the great mine beneath the mountain, hearing Smaug taunt them.

"Flee, flee! Run for your lives!" The dragon's voice bounced from wall to wall as he slithered down from his perch above them. "There is nowhere to hide." He said as he stalked toward the four. Another group of dwarves yelled at the dragon from the other side of the chamber, causing the wyvern to turn his attention to them. Before he could take a bite out of Bombur however, Dwalin shouted from yet another part of the cavern. Thorin's plan was working.

The four then took off again, Agarwaen having to remind herself to slow her pace. She refused to run at her full speed and leave her companions behind. The sudden warmth behind them meant that Smaug had grown tired of chasing and resorted to trying to cook them all. They could only hope that everyone had been fast enough to escape.

Balin stopped before a doorway with Bilbo and Agarwaen, but Thorin kept running, forgetting which way the forge was.

"It's this way! Come on!"

"Thorin!" Bilbo yelled, and the king finally turned around. Smaug rounded a corner a ways behind them, his eyes set on Thorin.

"Follow Balin!" He called.

"Thorin!" Agarwaen yelled back as a plume of fire was hurled their way and Balin pulled them both into the tunnel. They pressed their backs to the wall as a surge of heat flew past, and Agarwaen did her best to shield Bilbo from it. It was gone as quickly as it had come, and smoke then filled the tunnel, followed by a massive gust of wind from Smaug flying past, toward where Thorin was.

Agarwaen coughed from the smoke, and ran back out, just in time to see the dragon dive down a mining shaft. Dwalin and Nori were there too, yelling down to where Thorin no doubt had fallen before the dragon.

"We have to keep going!" Balin called to her as Bifur and Gloin also ran for the forge. She looked back at where Dwalin had knocked a contraption over the edge, and reluctantly ran back to follow the others. The hallway led directly to the cavernous forge with the largest smelters she'd ever seen.

"How does he expect us to light these in time? They're huge!" She asked Balin.

"I don't know."

"Valar help us." She muttered before sighing in relief when Nori ran in through the giant barred doorway with a very much alive Thorin.

"Our plan's not going to work." Dwalin said. "These furnaces are stone cold."

"He's right. We've no fire hot enough to set them ablaze." Balin spoke.

"Have we not?" Thorin asked.

"We're all going to die." Agarwaen muttered next to Bilbo. "Isn't it fun?"

"Well, I...no! But slightly yes." Bilbo said before making a confused face at himself, causing Agarwaen to smile.

"I did not look to see you so easily outwitted!" Thorin called out into the mine as Smaug clawed his way back up the shaft. "You've grown slow and fat in your dotage. Slug." He turned the company with a hint of a grin. "Take cover." Everyone wasted no time in running to the giant metal pillars which made up the gate, pressing themselves up against it to escape the oncoming fire. By the time Agarwaen had run to the gate however, the nearest empty pillar was seven dwarves down. Noticing her predicament, Thorin yanked her by the coat and pressed her between himself and the pillar, sheltering her as much as he could with his arms wrapped around her waist and their fronts squished together. The contact sent a shiver up her spine, and she was suddenly hyper-aware of his hands on her back and his head by at her chest which ended up pressing on her broken rib, making her grit her teeth. Her attention, however, was quickly diverted to the flames that flew on either side of them. She cursed her elven skin for the second time that week as the fire scorched her exposed hands, neck, and cheeks.

As soon as the fire had gone, the furnaces ignited, burning hot with dragonfire. Thorin stepped away from Agarwaen, looking up at her to make sure she was okay. She stared back at him, breathing heavily as she followed him away from the gate.

"Bombur, get those bellows working! Bilbo, up there, on my mark pull that lever." Thorin shouted out orders, as everyone did their part.

Smaug attacked the gate, bending the metal toward them with every shove as he tried to get through. Those who were left without instructions stood behind Thorin as he ushered them back further into the forge.

"Balin, can you still make some flash flame?"

"Aye, it will only take a jiffy. Come on!" He took Ori, Dori, and Agarwaen with him into another small room. By the time the group began gathering what they needed, the banging of metal had stopped, meaning Smaug had broken through.

"We're making bombs." Balin explained to the three as he set out several jars. "You'll need sulfur, fire powder, some of this, and five of these per jar." He laid all the components on the table and filled one to show them. "Alright?"

"Got it." Agarwaen responded before taking over on that table while he and the others went on to get more containers and powders. She filled all eight exactly as Balin showed her, and soon they had quite a few full jars.

"Stand in a line, Ori, you're throwing!" Balin called, and they began passing down the bombs to Ori, who threw them with all his might at the dragon. Each jar exploded in a white light as it hit Smaug's head, but it did little to phase him.

"It's not working!" Agarwaen called back to Balin. It was then that the moving carts above the forge that carried gold ore were cut down, falling atop Smaug, the rope that carried the carts wrapping around his wings and feet.

"Watch out!" Agarwaen knocked Ori out of the way as the dragon's thrashing tail swung over the ground towards them. Smaug spun in circles, flapping his wings and banging into anything in his way.

"Lead him to the gallery of kings!" They heard Thorin shout from somewhere in the forge.

"Come on!" Balin called to the three as he ran out and across the giant room. Agarwaen followed, and they were soon joined by Bifur and Gloin. Smaug saw them, and finally managed to shake off the ropes, coming after them, enraged. Balin led them through another small hallway where Smaug could not reach them, and they kept running across the stone floor until they turned and entered in the back of another massive room. Smaug was already there in another section of the gigantic room, having busted down the stone wall leading to the forge. Great tapestries fell to the ground, as the wyvern slithered in.

"You think you could deceive me, barrel rider?" He asked. Bilbo must be in here somewhere too.

"Come, on, this way!" Balin whispered as he led them around the back of the room. The rest of the dwarves soon caught up to them, and they all made their way to a giant stone mold, which Thorin stood atop the shoulder of as molten gold poured into the top from the forge. He nodded when he saw them, and they continued around to the back of the structure, and began climbing up wooden scaffolding.

Agarwaen heard Smaug say something about Laketown, and her head snapped up. No. He couldn't leave the mountain, the prophecy be damned. Not only were the people of Esgaroth in danger, but Fili, Kili, Oin, and Bofur were down there too.

"This isn't their fault!" Bilbo yelled. "Wait! You cannot go to Laketown!"

"You care about them, do you?" Smaug's voice was sly and smug. "Good. Then you can watch them die." Unable to see what was happening as she grabbed hold of a chain with links as thick as her wrist, Agarwaen could only hope that Thorin would be able to stop the dragon.

"Here!" The king's voice boomed. "You witless wyrm!"

"You." Smaug snarled.

"I am taking back what you stole."

"You will take nothing from me, dwarf. I laid low your warriors of old. I instill terror in the hearts of men. I am king under the mountain."

"This is not your kingdom, these are dwarf lands. This is dwarf gold, and we will have our revenge. Imrid amrad ursul!" Taking that as the signal, the dwarves and Agarwaen pulled with all their might on the chains connected to the mold, breaking off the supports and causing the stone to fall away from the gold statue inside. Thorin grabbed a hold of a chain and hung from it in the air above the scaffolding. The statue stood for only a few seconds before it began to melt from the inside, not having dried and hardened yet. As it all came flooding down, splatters of the melted gold splashed everywhere, and took Smaug down in a scalding tidal wave. Agarwaen managed to dodge most of the drops of gold, but hissed in pain when one drop landed on her hand. She shook it off and tried to ignore the burn.

The gold now coated the ground with Smaug sunken beneath it. They'd done it. Even if the gold didn't kill him, it should at least trap him as it hardens, giving the company a chance to get up close and kill the beast once and for all. Agarwaen drew her sword and was ready to start climbing back down the wooden ladders, when Smaug suddenly erupted from the gold, completely coated in the substance.

"It burns!" He cried repeatedly as he stumbled away from the quickly drying pool of gold. "I will show you revenge!" He crashed through the front of the mountain and flew away.

"No!" Agarwaen cried, sheathing her sword and running clumsily down the scaffolding, ending up falling quite a ways to the ground below. She pushed through the pain in her chest and stood up, limping as fast as she could to where Smaug had left the mountain. Bilbo was already ahead of her. "Iluvatar, spare their lives." She pleaded.

Imrid amrad ursul-Die a death of dragon fire

PLEASE READ:

Now that we are finally crossing into Battle of Five Armies, I have a question for everyone:

I have two things planned after this, one is a short thriller story of an adventure Agarwaen has right after taking Bilbo home (No more than 10 chapters I'm pretty sure), and the other is the sequel to this story which will obviously be about the happily (not entirely happy, but you get the picture) ever after she gets with Thorin in Erebor. I will be writing both at the same time, but which do you guys want to see first and foremost?