Chapter Text
Durin’s Day was upon the Company as approached the hidden door on the side of the Lonely Mountain. All of their wandering had been leading up for this moment; the moment where they could use the key to enter Erebor and reclaim their kingdom and treasure. It was now up to Bilbo for this was the job he had signed a contract for. He was their burglar after all. But Bilbo felt the courage he had days ago against the Pale Orc drain slowly from his body as the key fitted inside the keyhole. This was no orc he was going to go up against, and he wasn’t sure if the magic of his golden ring would save him now. His only consol was the notion that Smaug had never smelled a hobbit before.
His eyes looked about at the dwarven Company that parted as he walked towards the small door. They tried to give him encouragement as he passed by, but his spirits didn’t seem to lift. Thorin was the last dwarf standing beside the door.
“You alright little burglar?” Thorin asked as he placed his hands on the hobbit’s shoulder for support. “You just need to get inside the treasure room and take a piece back for us.”
Just a piece? Yeah that would be easy, Bilbo thought bitterly to himself and placed his hands over the king’s. “I’m alright. Just going into a room with a huge dragon…nothing wrong with that situation.”
Thorin only smiled sympathetically to the burglar and gripped his shoulders tighter.
“With that trick you pulled with the elves, I think you of all people can trick a dragon.” That touched Bilbo and he smiled fondly at Thorin before pulling away from him and took a deep breath.
Bilbo entered the small door and would not turn back to lock eyes on the Company who were watching his decent down into the cave. The darkness was the first thing that hit him, before the heat did. His eyes tried to adjust to the darkness around him, but no matter how hard he strained his eyes he could not see where he was going. Further the hobbit walked, the hotter the cave became. Bilbo’s skin was wet with sweat and his cotton tunic clung to his chest and back. It was even hard to breath.
“Goodness how could one live in such a way,” Bilbo whimpered, “I guess this is nothing to a dragon but if I don’t get-“
The ground suddenly vanished from under and Bilbo fell through the hole that he could not see before him. Even if he knew he should be quiet, the Halfling could not stop the scream from his mouth. His body was thrown against the wall electing cries of pain from Bilbo as he fell until he landed on a pile of golden coins. One would think a pile of gold would be a soft thing to land fall on top of, but really it wasn’t a pleasant landing for the burglar. He moved about like a fish on dry land and slid down when the coins gave under his weight.
“Well this wasn’t very graceful,” Bilbo muttered obviously to himself and slowly stood up, “And these coins are very warm…”
It was true, the gold was warm. The hobbit’s fingers brushed over the coins in wonder feeling the heat coming from the treasure. It was like it had life of its own. It must have been because of the dragon’s magic or something of that nature.
The dragon. Bilbo had almost forgotten what was sleeping in this room of vast wealth. His head turned up and looked around to spy of any sign of Smaug in the chamber, but there was no dragon lying upon the gold that he could see. Was Smaug even there? Laketown had told them tales of the red drake and there were reminisce of his destruction about the ruins of the town where they could not rebuild. The tall tale of stone melted by dragon fire littered the outskirts of the settlement of Men.
But there was no dragon to be found in these caverns. The hobbit wondered if the dragon had died or if he found a greater treasure in another far away land. He needed to still be careful and keep his eyes sharp for anything odd.
As Bilbo slowly walked about the treasure room trying to find a way out, the dragon lay in wait for him. Smaug made sure he did not let a growl slip past his lips as he watched the odd creature walk about his treasure. Many burglars had fallen to his fire to try to reclaim pieces of his gold, but there was something odd about this one. This burglar was a creature of the gentle nature and something he had never seen or smelled before. There was also something about this thief that stirred something inside the drake, something he hadn’t felt in centuries.
Maybe it was time to show this burglar his powers.
The red drake’s form started to shift and change. His red and golden scales started to fall away and his body started to shrink into that of a human man. The red gave way to pale skin, and the golden feline slits were soon drowning in blue. Smaug’s black hair curled about his face leaving two horns curled around his head from his temples. The clothing on his slender and tall body was robes made of the finest silk of midnight blue and black. After all he enjoyed his treasures and gold and silver were not the only substance of wealth to a dragon.
The hobbit heard the rustling and looked about wildly for the dragon to appear only to lock eyes with a tall handsome man standing in the shadows. His blue eyes were bright even in the darkness which cased Bilbo’s breath to be caught in his chest. Had this man been standing there all this time? Was he another burglar like him?
“Hello,” The Halfling called out to the stranger and stepped closer, “How did you get in here?”
Smaug only smiled at him crookedly and tilted his head to the side. This thief sounded cute and only restrained him from revealing more of his profile.
“I’ve been here,” His voice was deep and it only made Bilbo tremble, “The better question is how did you get in here and why?”
Bilbo stopped in his tracks and debated to explain his task to the stranger or keep it a secret from him. True this was a man before him, but he could not fight against someone twice his size. Who knows what this stranger was doing here or why he was standing as if a dragon was not laying about maybe hidden in the gold.
“Is the dragon here?” The hobbit decided to ask, ignoring the question.
“Dragon? He may or may not be here. It is hard to tell sometimes as the years roll by. He may have grown bored with this place and is in search of something entertaining.”
“So that means the dragon Smaug is gone?” That was a relief. “So I’m guessing we are the only ones here then.”
Smaug’s human form would not stop smirking and he gave a small shrug. Playing with this small creature was providing to be very entertaining. He wanted to see how long this odd thief would chase away his boredom until he burned him alive.
“You are an odd creature,” Smaug mused as he walked about in the shadows making sure he wasn’t seen by Bilbo, “What is your name and where do you hail from?”
“I am Bilbo Baggins of the Shire,” The hobbit said seeing no harm in telling a little about himself to the tall man, “I am a hobbit. Some people call me a Halfling.”
“Halfling.” That sounded tasty.
“Yes,” Bilbo gulped a bit hearing an odd tone in the stranger’s voice, “Anyways if that is all, I have to um be going now.”
“Wait.” Smaug let out a growl and stepped out a little more so the hobbit could see him a little more in the light.
If Bilbo thought Thorin, Fili and Kili were handsome, than there was something unnaturally beautiful about this man that could not be reached by them all together. Hobbits tend to rarely have anyone of real beauty so when the hobbit’s eyes trailed up the man’s skinny form in wealthy robes, he couldn’t help but blush.
“I would really like to know what you are doing here,” The stranger smiled showing off his charm this time to ease the hobbit’s concerns.
Was there really harm in telling this man why he was here? He had a Company of dwarves outside and a ring if there was any trouble from him.
“Well I came here with a company of dwarves. This place was known as Erebor and their king Thorin Oakenshield has come back to reclaim his home and treasure from the dragon Smaug,” Bilbo put his hands on his hips a bit proudly, “I am their burglar.”
Ah, Smaug’s chest rumbled as he held back his laughter, so the dwarves are back for his gold, are they? They would find that stealing from a dragon would be a fatal mistake.
“So you have come to steal from me?” His voice grew deeper as he stepped out into the light; his red horns glittered against the torches about the cavern. “You and your so called king have come to take my treasure?”
The hobbit’s eyes widen and realized his mistake; this man was Smaug. He had been so worried about looking out for a dragon that he did not think that the cunning red drake would have a trick to protect himself. He stepped back as the dragon made his way towards him until he tripped on a small pile of golden coins sending him to the ground. Seeing his prey fall, Smaug swooped in and grabbed the small creature pulling him against his warm body. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before Bilbo came back to reality.
“Let me go!” Bilbo yelled struggling in his strong arms, but the dragon only held him tighter.
“It has been a long time when something so pretty has walked into my domain,” He purred softly and leaned in closer, “I shall keep you here as my treasure until I grow bored of you. The men of Laketown and your beloved dwarves will not be so lucky.”
No, no, Bilbo started to panic inside knowing that everything was going wrong very quickly and his friends were in danger, even more so then from a band of orcs. He had to think of something to think of something to keep the dragon from going after the Company. He had to think of something now.
“WAIT!” Bilbo yelled and clutched onto the dragon’s shirt tightly. This was startling for Smaug and he stared down at the hobbit stunned. His cold blue eyes stared down at him for a second before allowing the small creature to speak his words.
“I-I am a treasure like you said,” Bilbo’s words just tumbled out of his lips not knowing where this would lead, “But I do belong to Thorin. Um yes! I am his personal treasure. Why fly out now and kill them when you can demoralize them by taking me from them?” What in the world was he saying? “I mean if you take me from Thorin, he would be so heartbroken he would leave your treasure alone and never return again.”
This was the worst plan Bilbo had ever thought of but there was something in the dragon’s eyes that listened to it. Smaug mulled over this suggestion in his head. It would be easy to just kill everyone and lock up this hobbit up in a cage, but demoralizing sounded a bit more fun. The look on Thorin’s face had stayed with him since he had taken this kingdom a long time ago, but to see it again would bring a smile to his face.
“Hm so you are the king’s treasure?” Smaug brushed his fingers against the golden curls of Bilbo’s hair as he moved closer to him. “I guess I shall have to present you to them as my new favorite treasure and if they do not leave my mountain then you shall watch your company burn before your lovely eyes.”
This wasn’t good. Bilbo gulped a little staring back into the cold eyes of the dragon that had now laid claim to him.