Sorry I'm late and this is a short one.

Chapter 32

As the molten gold ran beneath Smaug out of his sight as he struggled in the metal chains and buckets he was tangled in from trying to attack Gloin and Bifur. Thorin turns from the dragon and ran, shouting over his shoulder at the other dwarves, "Lead him to the Gallery of the Kings!"

Gavin pushed Bilbo down and threw himself on top of the hobbit as one of the heavy metal buckets sailed at them as Smaug thrashed in his entanglement. Keeping their heads covered as bits of the wall next to them shower down, they saw Thorin grab a wheelbarrow and dodged Smaug's claws before throwing the barrow into the river of gold and jump into it. The mound beneath the man and hobbit cracked as the fire-breather freed himself and stomped across the ground after Thorin. Both watched as Thorin sailed safely through a small entrance and Smaug stomped and roared, causing the mound to collapse underneath them. Tucking Bilbo against his body, Gavin rolled them away from the scattering debris and to their feet in time to see that they had captured the beast's attention. Gavin picked Bilbo up like a child at Smaug's snarl and took two steps backwards, trying to find the best escape route. But as he moved, Smaug started his pursuit and Thorin yelled at them from his wheelbarrow.

"Keep going! Run!"

Gavin turned and took off running with the dragon right behind him. Still holding Bilbo, he jumped onto a large stone slide with Smaug right behind him; demolishing stone structures as he slid after them. Thorin watched the dragon disappear before returning his attention to where the wheelbarrow was floating and saw the drop coming up. As the trough came to the edge, Thorin leapt from it and grabbed onto a chain that hung in the air, watching as the molten gold poured into a large stone mold below.

Bilbo was dropped to his feet and shoved ahead as they ran through a doorway and into a massive hall adorned with banners hundreds of feet tall. He continued to look behind him to see where Smaug was as he could hear the crashes of stone and rocks and constantly spotting Gavin running mostly backwards with his sword in his hand raised at his side. Not a hundred feet into the hall, the wall with the doorway exploded as Smaug crashed through, causing Bilbo and Gavin to run and duck frantically from the flying rocks. The banners fall from the walls and fell right onto the two fleeing from the dragon. Smaug reared back and stomped on the ground, roaring.

"You think you could deceive me, Barrel-rider?"

Gavin crawled over to Bilbo and pressed him to the ground as he peaked out from the edge of the banner.

"You have come from Laketown. There is-" his massive head swung back in forth as he spoke "-is some sort of scheme hatched between these filthy dwarves and those miserable cup-trading Lakemen. Those sniveling cowards with their longbows and black arrows!" Smaug was now talking more to himself, and his voice breaks in both anger and fear when he mentions the black arrows. "Perhaps it is time I paid them a visit."

As Smaug turned around, his tail lashing about and Bilbo moved the banner a little further, gasping. "Oh, no." He scrambled out from under the banner and Gavin's hand, yelling at Smaug. "This isn't their fault! Wait! You cannot go to Laketown."

Hearing the shouts, Smaug stopped, turning toward Bilbo who was running after him. "You care about them, do you? Good. Then you can watch them die." He turned once more and strode off down the hall. Suddenly, a voice sounded from one end of the hall, where there is a massive stone structure that looks roughly like a dwarf. "Here, you witless worm!"

Smaug stopped in his tracks. He turned towards Thorin, snarling and squinting in anger. "You."

From atop the stone structure Thorin glared down at the beast. "I am taking back what you stole."

Growling, Smaug slowly stalked towards Thorin. "You would take nothing from me, Dwarf. I laid low your warriors of old. I instilled terror in the hearts of men. I am King under the Mountain." His head was now level with Thorin; Bilbo and Gavin watched from the adjoining hall.

"This is not your kingdom. These are dwarf lands, this is dwarf gold, and we will have our revenge." Unseen by Smaug, there were chains attached to various places on the back of the stone dwarf structure Thorin is standing on, and the ends of these chains were held by the other dwarves. As Thorin spoke, Smaug's chest and neck glowed with fire, and Thorin slowly reached up towards a rope above him. Just as Smaug opened his mouth, Thorin yelled something in Khuzdul that Gavin nor Bilbo could make out. Thorin yanked on the rope and a pin behind the stone falls out, releasing heavy wooden bands and chains that had been wrapped tightly around the stone. Smaug reared his head in confusion and the other dwarves pull mightily on their chains, and more pins similar to the first are pulled out of the stone. The stone structure, which is now revealed to be the mold into which the liquid gold from earlier poured into, falls apart and reveals a massive statue of a dwarf king, made entirely out of solid gold. Thorin swung away on a rope to escape the falling rocks. Smaug looked at the golden statue, which is even larger than him, in awe and desire. As he approached it, his mouth opens slightly in greed.

Suddenly, the gold around the statue's eyes warps and then explodes into liquid; the gold in the statue had not yet fully solidified, and the entire statue collapsed and exploded into burning hot liquid. Smaug roared in anger as the statue melts and scrabbled backwards to escape the gold. Gavin pulled Bilbo to his feet and pulled him to the nearest alcove away from the incoming melted gold. However, the dragon couldn't move fast enough and the tidal wave of gold hit him and knocked him over. As he roared, Smaug was entirely smothered and drowned in the gold, which filled the entire hall in a layer several feet deep. When the gold settled, and no sign of Smaug was seen. The dwarves began to smile in joy, but suddenly the surface of the golden lake exploded as Smaug leapt out. He was entirely covered in gold, and he screamed in anger and pain.

"Ahh! Revenge?! Revenge! I will show you REVENGE!" As the dwarves, Gavin, and Bilbo look on in shock, Smaug ran down the hallway and took off in flight. Every other being in the dwarf kingdom staggered as the dragon smashed his way out of the front entrance of Erebor. Bilbo threw off Gavin's hand once again and ran through the halls outside and climbed up some of the ruins. Looking up to the sky at Smaug as the beast spun causing the remaining gold on him to fall off in a golden shimmer. He swooped off toward Laketown and Bilbo fell to his knees as Gavin came up behind him, out of breath as well.

As Smaug soared through the air towards Laketown, his voice rung through the air. "I am fire. I am...DEATH!"

Watching him fly away, Bilbo despairingly pants and looks on in shock. "What have we done?"

And I will have the next book up as soon as possible. Loves.