Metal struck metal with piercing twangs that rang through the courtyard. I was breathing hard, and my silvery-blonde hair stuck to the back of my neck and sweat dripped and slid down my forehead.

I parried Dwalin's thrust with my sword and the sharp clang sent shivers up my arms. He had the advantage of brute strength and size, but I was small- much smaller- and faster.

Dwalin swung the sword at my head again and I ducked and spun around behind him and kicked the back of his knee.

He collapsed with a grunt to a kneeling position and I parried his next strike and twisted my blade around his and locked them and pulled, yanking the sword from his grasp and throwing it off to the side several feet.

For a split second, he did nothing, then spun for the sword.

I lunged and tackled him away from it, and we ended up rolling in a heap away from his fallen blade where we stopped a few feet away from it, my own knocked from my hand.

I landed on top of him and he merely smirked up at me and said,

"Excellent form, lass. Maybe one day you'll win a real fight."

I sighed heavily and got off of him and said with narrowed eyes and a sly smirk, "But I did knock you on your arse, though didn't I, Master Dwalin?"

He got to his feet and wiped the dust off of his hands on his pant legs and snatched a cloth from a chair nearby and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Indeed you did, Freya." Dwalin said and sat down on a stone bench and looked out at the trees in the distance. He always trained shirtless and I in a short-sleeved blouse. I had trained with him long enough to not be nearly as flustered at his bare chest and tattoos, battle scars standing out as testimony of the wars he fought in.

I tied my silver hair into a higher ponytail and twisted it in a bun to get it off of my neck and sat down on a bench across from him and took a sip from my water skin.

"You're getting better with every training session, Freya. You might even be a match with Fili some day. And he is my best pupil." He adds with a devious smirk.

I snorted and tucked a strand of hair behind my pointed ear and replied, "I hardly think I'll ever be that good."

"Well, the dwarvish side of you seems to say otherwise." He says snidely and I punch him in the arm. "Hey. I mean no offense, lass. You know I don't care about mixed blood."

"I know you don't see me as a freak, Dwalin. You, Fili, and Kili are perhaps the only ones. It's not my fault that my mother was a dwarf and father an elf. I couldn't help that. I apparently have his color hair, you know. Silver like the moonlight."

Dwalin shrugged a bit and stood to grab his shirt from a bench nearby. He pulled it over his head and tucked it into his trousers and grabbed his belt.

I turned to my own clothes and pulled on a jacket over the blouse and pulled my curly hair out of its bun to put it in a big braid until I got back to my chambers to braid it fully.

I also tied a sash on my head to cover my pointed ears, not that it did any good. I was the only female in all of Erebor with no facial hair. Women normally had slight hair showing at my age- ninety.

I was an outcast.

Regardless of the fact that I had mixed blood, it also made me leaner. Even though I was short like a dwarf, I was skinny and not stocky like Dwarves typically were. I had my curves, but they were not nearly as profound as the other dwarf women had.

I received glares and looks of disdain wherever I went. I think the only reason I have been alive these ninety years of my existence is because of the Durins.

Dis, daughter of King Thrain, was the one who took me in after my mother died giving birth to me. She had a small Fili at the age of four already, and by the time I was a year old, Dis had Kili.

The three of us were inseparable. We did everything together and were a force to be reckoned with. To this day, we are as close as ever and it's with them that I truly feel that I have a family.

Especially Kili.

With Dis I feel like I have a mother. The elf who helped bring me into this world wanted nothing to do with me. The man who supposedly loved my mother.

I secured the last button on my jacket and turned to Dwalin and said, "Thank you for today. I am going to go and change. See you for the dinner?" I smiled a little and he seemed to pause, a strange light in his dark eyes as he looked at me.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll see you at dinner, lass." He says with a decisive nod, the smallest of smiles gracing his lips. I noticed his eyes never left mine.

I nodded and turned away, a bit nervous, and picked up my sword and scabbard and sheathed the weapon and fastened it to my belt. I made my way through the halls, chin high, as I ignored the stares, wrinkled noses of disgust, and whispers in Khudzul about my mixed blood.

I entered my chambers which were situated on the edge of the mountain, a cliff face serving as a small balcony of sorts.

I drew water for a bath and got undressed, easing myself into the tub once it was filled. I scrubbed my skin with a sponge and soap and once I was clean, I stepped out and dried off.

I felt tired and sluggish, and all I wanted was to curl up on my bed and sleep.

I stared at my body in the mirror on my wall and dropped the towel to the floor. I clenched my jaw and wished I was just a dwarf- only dwarf. I wish I had a different color hair and that I hadn't inherited my father's color of this silvery blonde.

I sighed and turned to my wardrobe and pulled on fresh undergarments and tugged on a pair of slim leather trousers and laced it at the top where it rested on my waist. I pulled on a blue blouse and tucked the ends into my trousers, then put on my corset, lacing it up securely.

I slid leather cuffs that were black as night onto my wrists and tugged my sleeves through them, lacing those as well. I refused to dress properly as an elven lady would. Prissy bitches couldn't fight in dresses.
I would dress and act like a dwarf.

I renounced my elvish blood.

I pulled a gray sleeveless overcoat on and laced it at the front. I sat down on the edge of my bed and laced my boots up my calves and then buckled my belt around my waist where I fastened my sword once again.

I then pulled on the fur coat that was a trademark of all Dwarves here and I looked at myself in the mirror again. Satisfied, I got to work on my hair, then, pulling the sides into several small braids and then finally gathering it all up into a ponytail.

After securing the sash once again around my head to cover my ears, I made my way out of my room and went in search of Fili or Kili.

Luckily, I didn't have to look far because the brothers appeared for me.

They both were dressed like princes today and each had a ceremonial sword on their belts and gold circlets on their brows. I knew Kili would have preferred his bow and quiver.

"Freya. So good to see you. How was training? Dwalin didn't beat you too hard did he?" Fili teased.

"More like I beat him." I reply with a snide laugh.

Kili chuckled and said, "C'mon. Uncle will be upset if we aren't there relatively on time, at least." He offered me an arm and I smiled and took it as he lead me towards the throne room.

Guards opened the doors for us and Fili walked ahead.

Noblemen and women stared at me with distaste, and I clenched my jaw. Kili's hand came up to rest over my hand that rested on his arm.

He lead me up towards the head of the table and pulled out a chair for me and I sat down. Kili took the seat to my right and Fili to my left.

I looked across from me and Dwalin smiled a little at me.

Thorin, Fili and Kili's uncle, sat at the head of the table.

Just before the servants came forward to bring us our dinner, a gust of wind shook the trees outside. Normally, I would have ignored the wind, but the sound of cracking limbs and a thunderous crash made me jump and just catch a tree snapping as wind tore through the forest. It entered the throne room, disturbing loose strands of hair into my eyes.

Thorin stood slowly from his seat and so did his nephews.

I slowly got to my feet as well and made my way towards the balcony. Branches snapped off of the pines around the mountain and I watched as a red shape began to make its way towards us, faster than I could even fathom.

And down to the east, at the base of the mountain, Dale was up in flames.

The answer came to me almost immediately as fear flooded all of my senses and Thorin shouted,

"Dragon!"

Chaos erupted in the hall and I was grabbed suddenly by the arm by Fili and yanked towards a side exit with the other royals. Dis and Thorin were with us, and Kili right behind me.

Fear gripped me suddenly. "No. We have to get Dwalin. He's still in there!" I said, panicked.

"He'll be fine, Freya. We have-" Filk tried to reason with me, but I wrenched my arm free and ran back into the chaos.

He screamed my name gain, and I heard Kili shout at me too, but I ignored them.

The great doors of Erebor fell with a crash far away and a roar that vibrated my very bones tore through the mountain kingdom. Then, fire so bright and hot I could feel it through the stone even though the beast was far below me, illuminating the walls.

I didn't care. I ran until I found him. Found him trying to help a dwarf woman with her children escape.

"Dwalin!" I shouted.

He spun around and squinted. "Freya? What the hell are you doing here, lass?!" He exclaimed, hysteria in his voice. He caught me by the forearms. "We have to-"

His voice died in his throat as fire swept into the hall we were in. I tackled him to the ground behind a fallen rock beam and we held onto each other as the heat seared past us hotter than I had ever felt in my life. Hotter than even the forges.

Screams sounded from dying Dwarves around us- men, women, and children. The dragon roared and I just held onto Dwalin even tighter.

His arms were wrapped firmly around my shoulders as he held me against him and to the wall as much as he could get us.

I lifted my head to peer over his shoulder and saw blood dripping from the dragon's jaws and teeth that were sharper than swords. It's red scales glistened in the fires around us and it glared with hate-filled red and gold eyes.

The dragon stopped, sniffing the air.

And those eyes slowly landed on me.

I shifted and shoved Dwalin behind me, ignoring his gruff curses and attempts to move me behind him as the dragon turned its head to look directly at us.

Heart hammering in my chest, a strange feeling overcame me as it took in a deep breath, taking in my scent, those red eyes boring into me. A feeling that I couldn't shake.

That it waited for me to speak.

I couldn't explain it, but I knew I had to speak. And I had to say something. Now.

"No more. No more killing." I pleaded, my voice coming out sounding stronger than I felt at the moment.

The dragon seemed intrigued as it's head tilted to the side and tail swished from side to side and it merely replied, "Gold. Gold and I will let you escape."

"All of us will escape. No more killing. Take it. We'll get a new mountain. But no more. No more death. No more fire."

"Hm. I will grant your request, Dracari. Tell me. Lead me to it. And you may all go." The dragon replied, growling once and stamping a foot, black talons scraping the stone floor and red wings rising above it.

"Freya what the hell are you doing?! What are you saying to it?" Dwalin hissed in my ear.

I pushed off of him and looked at him and said, "Get everyone out."

"But-"

"Get out!" I yelled. I was shaking all over but I was serious. He knew I was stubborn. He knew he couldn't change my mind. I knew he understood by the look in his eyes.

With anguish written across his face, he moved and left, running out of the now empty hall.

The dragon shifted on its four legs to look at me more squarely, wings flaring slightly.

And that's when I noticed the bloody gash in its chest. The way it moved as if it was a struggle.

No one was in this wing anymore. No one saw me. Would see me. Would see us.

"What did you call me?" I asked, my fear melting slightly as I stepped out of the corner and in front of it.

"Dracari. You speak the dragon tongue, girl."

I clenched my jaw. Dragon tongue?

Before I could say anything, be interrupted, "You have questions. It has been centuries since I have spoken with someone in my own tongue. Answers will come in time. I believe we made a deal."

I glared up at it and snarled, "So we did." I moved a hand to grip the handle of my sword and I merely walked ahead of it and down towards the treasury.

The dragon followed me.

His claws clacked and scraped against the stone floor and every step shook the ground. But I lead him down. And with every step, I knew I was betraying them all.

I knew this was treason.

But I also knew this dragon intended to massacre us all. And there wouldn't be anyone to take it back if I didn't do this.

They'd understand.

I hoped.

And as that dragon leapt over me and crashed into a pile of gold, I knew that what I had done could never be forgiven.

*****

Hey! Welcome to my newest Hobbit Fanfiction!

A small disclaimer here before we begin: Smaug is a dragon, therefore has four legs and two wings on his back. The "dragon" in the movie adaptations is actually a wyvern. (Believe me this is a real thing lol, as a fantasy writer and avid reader of anything related to mythical creatures, I know there is definitely a difference)

Dragons have four legs, two wings, and breathe fire. Wyverns are dragon-like in appearance except have two legs and two larger wings that double as their forelegs and typically have barbed tails that are more often than not left out in the movies. These "dragons" are seen in Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and many other movies.

Tolkien described Smaug as a dragon, therefore he will have the four legs and look nothing like the movie Smaug, lol. 

Anyways, there's that lol. I might actually draw what I pictured Smaug to look like from the book and add it to a future chapter!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoy writing it!

Love always,
Cora Knight xoxo