Predator or Prey | The Hobbit

TWENTY-EIGHT

Her dragon.

***

The dwarves on the mountain, watched from afar as the city of LakeTown engulfed in flames and heavy, black smoke.

Smaug was angry with the dwarves who tried to kill him, and now he was taking it out on LakeTown.

"Poor souls." Balin said with a long face.

The dwarves behind him had the same looks, feeling sorry for the people of LakeTown.

Nori placed his hand on Ori's shoulder, who sighed heavily.

At the sound of a second dragon's roar, the dwarves felt a chill run down their spine. They all perked up, watching as a tremendous, black shape of a dragon fly up above LakeTown.

It was too dark and too big to be Smaug, and they all knew right away who it was.

"Selene." Bilbo said, astonished at the sight of her.

A small smile crept onto his face and he bit down on his lip to hide it. Even though, he felt guilty for what he and the others had done. He now felt a little better.

Selene was there to protect them from Smaug and she was fulfilling Gandalf's words.

"I hope she gives that worm a taste of his own medicine." Dwalin stated, standing at Bilbo's side.

Bilbo nodded silently, before saying, "You can do it, Selene."

***

At Selene's deafening roar, Smaug sharply turned his head toward her, stopping him in his tracks just before he could burn a family of five, running for their lives.

Her cold, gold eyes bore into him with anger. She flapped her wings and let out another roar as she flew at him with incredible speed. She opened her mouth and crunched down on Smaug's neck, pushing him as far away from the burning town as far as she could. Smaug cried out in pain at the impact, and tried to fly up but it only made Selene bite down harder.

She let out a low growl in satisfaction when she felt her teeth break off a few of his scales, but that feeling was short-lived when Smaug spewed his fire onto her, which made her release her hold on him. She backed away, making sure to keep a good distance away from him to let her body heal the burn he gave her.

"You..." Smaug spat out angrily. "Who are you?!" He bared his teeth when she didn't respond. "Answer me!" He roared. "No? Then, I'll have to kill you along with the rest of this worthless town." He flew up into the sky and lunged for her.

Selene reacted quickly, dodging his attack and spun around, her tail smacking him in the face, causing him to lose his balance. Her chest began to glow brightly, signifying the fire that was charging up to spew at Smaug.

She was caught off-guard when Smaug slammed into her with a screech. His bottom feet clenched around her waist, while his hands clawed at her shoulders. His tail winded up with hers, as he bit down on her snout. Hard.

She bellowed in pain, squirming in his hold as he bit down, again and again. Blood dripped down onto her face, then down onto her neck.

The sound of arrows being released reached both of the dragon's ears, pausing their battle momentarily.

Selene watched as an arrow whizzed passed her and poke Smaug's right eye, making him wince and pull away from her.

"Selene, go!" Bard's voice shouted at her. He continued to shoot more arrows, letting Selene escape from Smaug to recover from his attack.