The Conversation Continues...

Bilbo was doing a good enough job keeping himself alive. But the conversation kept going on and on.

"Very well, O Barrel-rider! Perhaps your pony was named Barrel and perhaps not. But I did eat six ponies last night and they were nice and fat. You may walk unseen but you certainly did not walk all the way here. In return for my delicious meal I will give you a piece of advice: do not bother making friends with those dwarves!" Smaug said.

"Dwarves?!" Bilbo asked in pretended surprise.

"Don't assume that I am clueless! I know very well the taste and smell of dwarf. If you think I can eat a dwarf-ridden pony and not know it, you are terribly wrong! You'll end up in a bad place if you are with such friends, Thief Barrel-rider! And I don't mind if you can go and tell them so for me either," the dragon huffed. He was too proud to tell Bilbo but I knew at that moment that he didn't recognize hobbit smell. And was I glad!

"I am guessing that you received a great price for the cup you took last night? Nothing? Well, that's dwarves for you! And I suppose they are huddled outside while you are doing the dangerous work. And they told you you will get a fair share? You will be lucky enough to leave here alive for one matter," he continued. Now Smaug had brought up a valid point. Bilbo was doing the most dangerous and risking part of this adventure. And he was getting a reward for his help. I began to feel that we had gotten ourselves somewhere we did not belong.

"Come on, Fawnabelle! This isn't like you! You have faith in Bilbo and you're here right now for a reason. You can't be afraid and have faith at the same time. So, what are you going to choose?" I asked myself.

"Faith! Come on, Bilbo. You can do it!" I muttered.

"You don't know everything, O Smaug the Mighty! Gold alone did not bring us here," Bilbo said bravely.

"Ha! You have admitted the 'us'! Why not simply say 'us fourteen' and be over with, Mister Lucky Number? Well, I'm glad you are not wasting all of your time for my gold. I don't know if you had thought of this yet but, even if you could take my gold bit by bit, you could not get it very far. It isn't much use in the forest or the mountainside,is it? Had you never taken another thought on the catch? A fourteenth share in the treasure or something like that? Those were the terms, were they not? Oh! But what about delivery? Cartage? What about armed guards and tolls?" Smaug laughed. 

"I tell you, O Smaug! Gold was only the afterthought! We came over hill and under hill to this mountain for revenge. Surely, O Smaug the excessively wealthy, your success has made you some terrible enemies," spoke Bilbo. Smaug laughed evilly and loudly. It was a scarier sound than the looks of a Mirkwood spider! I closed my eyes and felt something unusual, like dizziness and walking backwards with my eyes closed. I sat down and rested but a blinding light appeared. Then I realized I wasn't in the tunnel anymore!