Ashes Of Mirkwood

the Gallery of the Kings

No one's pov

Angrily, Smaug breathes fire in all directions. Thorin, the last one in the door, is pushed in by the force of the flames. He runs into the room at the other end of the tunnel with the back of his coat on fire, and he throws himself on the ground and rolls to extinguish the flames. He jumps back up. "Come on." He ordered, not seeming to be affected by it. With Smaug roaring in the background, they run.

The company emerge out of a tunnel and approach a stone bridge over a chasm. "Dwalin?.." ash asks, her lips blackened from whatever was leaking out of her mouth and slowly burning the dwarfs skin. "Yes las ?.." he asks. "If I die.. punch my brother in the face.." she says. "What? Why?" He asks me. "It'll make you feel better... he's the short blonde one that never smiles.." she replied. Dwalin held back a chuckle. Suddenly Thorin raises his hand and quiets the group.

They're near the foot of the bridge and Thorin peers around the edge of the tunnel, looking for any sign of Smaug. They all whisper. "We've given him the slip." Dori says. "No, he's too cunning for that." Dwalin comments as he helps ash to her feet as she pushes herself out of his arms. "So where to now?" Bilbo asks. "The western guardroom. There may be a way out." Thorin says, pointing in the direction of the area he was referring to. "It's too high. There's no chance that way." Balin says bluntly. "It's our only chance. We have to try." Thorin tells him.

Meanwhile ash tightens the leather garment around her waist and her swords sheath to keep her standing. She spits out a lot of the black liquid into her hand and wipes it off onto the wall.

Quietly, they tiptoe across the bridge, looking all about. Suddenly, a coin falls to the floor right in front of Bilbo and rings loudly. They all freeze and look at Bilbo, who frantically checks his jacket to see if some coin had been stuck in a fold. Hearing another coin fall, they look up and see Smaug crawling just above them, looking for them. He hasn't seen them. The coins that fell came from his chest and arms, where several coins and gems have embedded themselves after years of him sleeping on them. Thorin motions for them to keep moving.

They finally arrive in the western guardroom, thorin ordering them to "Stay close.".They all stop abruptly when they see that the guardroom is full of rotted, dust- and cobweb-covered corpses. Ash looks at her saddened friends and sighs. She could no longer lie to herself that everyone escaped..

"That's it, then. There's no way out." Balin said hopeless. It seems like a landslide or something has blocked the exit, trapping the dwarves in the past in the room to die. "The last of our kin. They must have come here, hoping beyond hope. We could try to reach the Mines. We might last a few days." Balin says. "No. I will not die like this. Cowering, clawing for breath. We make for the forges." Thorin said, a second blow of confidence entering his lungs. "He'll see us, sure as death." Dwalin told him bluntly. They could hear the click of claws in the distance. "Not if we split up." Thorin said. "I'm sorry but are you inside ?.." ash asked him. "Thorin, we'll never make it." Balin told him. "Some of us might. Lead him to the forges. We kill the dragon. If this is to end in fire, then we will all burn together." Thorin said. They group up and go their separate ways.

Thorin, Bilbo, ash and Balin run out onto the bridge from earlier. "This way!" Thorin yelled, making sure Smaug would hear him. A booming sound comes from nearby, and Smaug appears. "Flee, flee! Run for your lives! There is nowhere to hide." Smaug yelled. He goes at the four, but he turns at another sound. Dori, Ori, and Bombur are running on another bridge and yelling to distract Smaug. "Behind you!" Dori screams.  Smaug looks at them, then lunges toward them. They turn and run.

As Smaug chases the second group, the first group continue across the bridge. Suddenly, the third group, Dwalin and Nori, run across another bridge and yell to distract Smaug. "Hey you! Here!" Dwalin yells. Smaug turns and jumps at them. They run off the bridge and into a tunnel just before Smaug's claw lands where they were. The fourth group, Gloin and Bifur, use this chance to run across a bridge and make it into a tunnel as well. Angrily, Smaug blows fire after them. He blows rapidly in an arc all around him, into all the tunnels. His fire causes the stones beneath Gloin and Bifur to glow in heat. They reach a cliff and leap into the air, landing in large troughs which they slide down. They land in the buckets of a large hanging conveyor belt system used in the past for mining.