there and back again

15

A/N: the Battle of Five Armies will be starting shortly after Smaug dies... 😅🤗

Raine ran after the dragon as he leapt into the sky, practically rolling down the mountain in her hurry to get to Laketown.

Once there, buildings were already burning, so she made her way to the watch tower where she knew a black arrow was hidden.

She slid beneath a falling deck just as it was about to crash into the lake.

Raine grinned when she found herself in front of the watch tower. Running up the steps, she found a boy holding the arrow.

He was clearly terrified.

She crouched down and looked at him. "I want to kill the dragon and save your people," she said. "But I'm going to need that arrow."

He nodded quickly.

"Go to your father and get to safety," Raine ordered him gently.

She took the arrow as the boy ran and climbed onto the roof of the watch. She snapped the arrow and shoved each half into her sleeves.

They fit perfectly.

She turned to where Smaug was rounding for another sweep over the village. "Hey!" she shouted, voice rising over the terrified shrieks of people. "You there!"

Smaug glared at her, landing on the floating town. He growled in the back of his throat.

"Are your abilities limited to burning innocent people?" Raine shouted. "I expected more finesse from a great dragon such as yourself. Then again you are only a measly little earthworm with pigeon wings!"

Smoke rose from the beasts nostrils.

"You dare disgrace my name?" he roared. "I will show you what it means to be Smaug."

He launched himself at her, claws outstretched, and Raine allowed herself to be lifted into the air, no matter how afraid she might have been of heights.

The dragon unwisely held her close to his glittering golden scales, close enough for her to see the gap in his armour.

"How do you prefer to die, Guardian-scum?" he growled.

"Being stabbed by a black arrow sounds rather nice, don't you think?" Raine pulled the arrow-head hald of the arrow from her sleeve and thrust it into the dragon, shoving it in as far as she could.

"I wish it didn't have to end like this, Smaug," she whispered.

The woman untangled her from the casrcass' grasp and clambere into his back as he fell.

She looked down at the clearing near the lake and gaped.

Thousands of beings were charging each other, oblivious to the dragon about to crash into them.

Raine scouted desperately for a familiar group of dwarves between the chaos of the Five Armies. She found said groupd of dwarves on a frozen lake above the rest of the fight.

Using her Guardian strength, she steered the dragon into the mountain, sliding to his tail just in time to be catapulted into the run down building near the frozen lake.

She looked up when someone caught her from falling down the mountain.

"Legolas?"

"Aye," he grinned. "You have a few dwarves to save."