Incendio

Ch.3 All that glitters

Harry made great time. He had only been flying for a couple of days but already he had traveled a great distance. Just like predicted flying at night and finding a safe place to sleep during the day had him a great distance quickly on his journey. He only hoped that the dwarves were having a good trip as well. Harry missed Fili and Kili, and part of him still wished he had decided to go with them instead going off on his own.

On his fourth night his flight was disturbed. He'd been flying over a forest when the smell of smoke assaulted his senses. It wasn't long before he actually saw flames, and heard screams. Against his better judgment he flew towards the disturbance. In a small clearing there was house on fire with three large trolls carrying a small family of humans from the wreckage. Harry's sharp eyes could easily pick out struggling children in the arms of the thick-skinned creatures.

Of course he knew what he had to do. Harry couldn't just leave them to their fate especially with the trolls fighting over how they were planning to cook them. Harry dove towards the ground. He pulled up at the last minute, the harsh gusts from his wings flattening the three trolls on their backs, and keeping them from witnessing his landing.

"What was that?" cried one of the trolls, flailing on his back.

"Is there a storm coming?" wailed another.

"Grab the meat, and let's get back to the cave," snarled the largest, clambering to his feet. He held the still kicking and screaming patriarch of the family securely in his flabby arms.

"Drop the humans," Harry snarled.

All three trolls jumped, eyes instantly locked on Harry's form. His back came up to around the trolls' heads. His long neck and tail, and his wings added to his size, making him appear even larger. Harry made sure his crown of horns were sticking up to make himself look even fiercer. His fiery gold eyes were glowing like hot coals in the night. The trolls were appropriately horrified. Their faces were frozen in shocked disbelief.

"D-d-dra-DRAGON!" screamed one of the trolls.

The cry was all it took for them to completely panic. They started running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They started bumping into one another, and tripping over themselves. Harry was afraid they were going to crush the people before he even got the chance to get them away from the trolls.

"Stop!" Harry bellowed.

The trolls froze.

"Let the humans go, and I'll let you go," Harry explained slowly. From what he noticed of these troll's intelligence, they seemed to be only slightly smarter than the trolls of Earth. Harry was going to have to speak to them as if he were speaking to Dudley, which meant speaking slowly and using small words.

"Why should we go giving our hard earned supper to you, dragon?" one of the trolls spoke up, having finally gotten his wits about him. He seemed to be the leader of the trio.

"I'll burn you if you don't," Harry threatened. He wouldn't really because they were still carrying the family but the trolls didn't have to know that.

"That seems like a fair trade, don't it, Bill?" murmured another troll, glancing hopefully at the leader.

"Shut up, Bert, I'll handle this. I didn't think there were any more dragons left, at least not this far south of the Grey Mountains. Only old Smaug, and everyone figures he must be dead up there in the Lonely Mountain," the leader, Bill, said, glaring at Harry.

"Well, there are. So are you going to hand them over peacefully or are you going to make it hard on yourselves?" Harry demanded, staunchly ignoring the comment that Smaug might actually be dead.