Smaug's Only Living Treasure

Chapter 9: Picking Sides

Smaug towers over me, and I stare up at him.

"Don't kill them.... please."

I beg at him. He seems unfazed by my remark, but takes quite a while to answer me.

"I don't know now. I'm scared that if I do, I'll lose you. And if I did, you'll go with them."

I try to hide any reaction to his words words I would have never expected when I first met him, but he's changed. I changed him, and there won't be any mistakes of that.

"I want to go far, far away. To a new land Smaug. I want..... to... to.. escape."

I croak out the last few words and quietly let the tears drop. The splatter from the salty liquid hits the floor beneath me, and I relish the quietness Smaug is giving me for the moment.

"Follow me."

He says, and slides down the corridors to the large hall. He gestures me onto his back, and I obey him silently. Once again on his scaly back. Quite nice too.

As soon as I am firmly on his scales, his body jerks towards the closed door and makes contact with the stone. For him, it must be like knocking over some wood blocks, but the force almost knocks me out of place, but I cling onto the rim of his scales and hold on tightly.

After a few steps, he jumps up into the air and drops, spreading his gigantic wings when only a few feet from the ground. The cold of the morning air hits me like bullets, but it's better than the unmoving air of the mountain. I glance over to the side and see the sun peeking out of some of the mountains of the west. I feel so light inside, and I take action in a way that surprises me, I laugh. I laugh so much that tears pool on my eyes. But I'm not sure what kind of tears they are.

"Emthe, look down."

Smaug whispers, and I look down onto the earth. A huge army of elves and dwarves and humans are aiming their arrows and cannons at us.

Then, I see an arrow I'm too familiar with, the Black Arrow.