Treebeard came through the trees, his stride was that of one who had seen everything and as a result took his time in getting to places, for it could not have been any different than all the times before. Treebeard, as a result of his age, was never surprised at anything, until the day that he saw Smaug.

Gandalf, upon seeing Treebeard, raised a hand in greeting and smiled, causing Treebeard to do the same.

"Treebeard old friend" Gandalf began, "It's been awhile."

Treebeard nodded in agreement, "When are you ever going to die Gandalf?" he asked jokingly, "You've lived through my time...I guess it's true what he says then, magic knows no bounds."

Gandalf gave a slight laugh and gestured towards the company. Talfaux and Esmeralda had just come back from a hunting trip, on their backs they were carrying a large elk, in addition to this Esmeralda was dragging a sled full of various animals, mostly deer, but a few beaver and a fish somehow had gotten into the mix. Parthex was busy sharpening his sword and checking his bow string for frays when Treebeard took notice of them.

"Orcs and their axes have made it difficult for the Ents" Treebeard declared, causing Parthex to look in his direction, "What makes them so different Gandalf?"

Gandalf shrugged and gave the best answer he could.

"Perhaps nothing, perhaps something...if it's any consolation their village was destroyed by Sauron's forces. They owe no allegiance to anyone but themselves."

Smaug huffed, for he begged to differ, for the moment however the dragon kept his opinions to himself.

Treebeard cautiously turned towards Bilbo, for he had never seen a creature of his kind before.

"And what are you?" Treebeard asked curiously, trying to figure out if Bilbo was an Orc in disguise, a medium sized dwarf or a small man.

Bilbo nervously answered him, he looked in Gandalf's direction trying to find encouragement, he found none, for Gandalf was leaving Bilbo on his own for this confrontation, Smaug would not be so unforgiving.

"Just relax Bilbo" Smaug said encouragingly, penetrating the hobbit's mind, "Treebeard is a friend of Gandalf's, he can be trusted."

"You don't know that" Bilbo answered, thinking aloud in his head, "For all he know he could be playing the niceties to get to me, he'll find the Shire and then what? I will not have that, no sir!"

Smaug smiled warmly, admiring Bilbo for his protective of his homeland; as a result Smaug gave Treebeard his answer.

"This is Bilbo" Smaug began turning towards the Ent, "He is of no harm to you Treebeard. Leave him be. I command you."

Treebeard laughed, he was obviously insulted by the remark, "And who are you to tell me what I can and I cannot do, dragon? You are worse than the Orcs! You have pillaged and enslaved, brought ruin to this land. Your kind are nothing, nothing but a group of barbarians and savages!"

Smaug growled, he was getting tired of being told what he was.

"See here Ent" Smaug exclaimed, "I will not be subject to this kind of treatment. You barely know me and you're already making accusations, accusations that are so false they might as well be straight up lies...It is true I did my fair share, but no longer. The deeds of one do not account for the entire race. That is just insulting and ludicrous."

At that moment a loud roar could be heard in the distance, this was followed by the flapping of wings. Looking up the company saw the unbelievable.

The dragon came down upon the group with ferocious speed, stopping just above Smaug, hovering gently above the ground causing the grass to sway in the breeze. The dragon had a kind face, it closely resembled that of a lizard, most of its teeth it kept inside of its mouth, save for a few unruly few. The wings were of medium size, not as big as Smaug's were but still formidable. The company noticed the scales of the dragon, which were a dark blue, reflected the sun at times making it appear as if it was on fire.

"Sire" the dragon exclaimed turning towards Smaug, "Thank the Gods I've finally found you!"

Smaug shook his head in confusion, for he had no idea on what the dragon was talking about.

"I'm sorry" Smaug began, trying to make sense of things, "Do I know you?"

The dragon landed as softly as he could next to Treebeard, it let out an equally soft laugh that was riddled with sincerity and friendliness unseen.

"You're kidding" the dragon continued, "Sauron must have done more than I anticipated. After all how could you forget your Master?"

"Master?" Smaug pressed, "What are you talking about?"

The dragon shook its head in disbelief; he stared at Gandalf, recognizing him almost immediately.

"Friend of Dragons" he said desperately, "Tell him who I am, so that he may remember."

Gandalf shook his head, denying the request, he was done playing interpreter and figured it was time for people to fight their own battles and explain themselves in their own way. The dragon caught this and rolled his eyes, scowling in the process.

"My name is Darius; I am the Master of Dragons, leader of the Council that dictates the laws of dragon-kind."

Smaug nodded in partial understanding, for he had heard of the Council, acting as something of a Congress, in short Darius was the second in command. Beyond that, Smaug was just as clueless as the others.

"Why are you telling me this?" Smaug asked, curiosity overtaking all other reasoning.

Darius shook his head, to Bilbo the dragon seemed annoyed as if this was either the last thing that he wanted to say or was so painfully obvious that it was insulting that Smaug didn't comprehend the situation. Still the dragon found himself bowing, lifting his right hand towards Smaug in submission.

"Your Majesty" Darius declared, "I kneel at your feet."

Smaug, at the response of being a King, began laughing uncontrollably as if it was the funniest joke he had ever heard. Talfaux, Parthex, Esmeralda and the other Orcs joined him, refusing to believe that Smaug was of any type of royalty.

"You're serious!" Smaug began as he wiped away tears due to his laughter, "You actually believe that I am a King! Oh this is too much...Who paid you to tell me this outrageous lie? Was it Thorin? I bet he would do something like that...or perhaps it was Gandalf-"

Smaug turned towards Gandalf and playfully nudged him.

"This was your work wasn't it?" Smaug continued, "Summoning up a long dead dragon to tell me that I am the King of something that doesn't exist. How cute! It's almost...painfully cute."

Gandalf shook his head, claiming his innocence but otherwise kept his silence. Smaug turned to Bilbo to ask a similar question but got the same response.

"I am serious" Darius began once again, "Don't you remember anything? We were brothers once...we would fly above the clouds and on clear nights we even reached the stars themselves. We dared to dream, we hoped that one day our lives would have meaning, that we would find people who cared as much for us as we did for each other."

Smaug stared intently at Darius, trying to read his face. He was slowly putting the pieces together. Darius continued without hesitation.

"We loved and wanted to be loved. We shared things only two people that understand each other share. The air we breathed, the thoughts we had...they were one and the same."

Smaug smiled, for he had heard these words before, it seemed like a lifetime ago. Smaug knew in his heart, which was normally devoid of such feelings, that this was his childhood friend.

"When you became King there was only one choice you could make. I stood by your side through thick and thin, through times good and bad as I will continue to do until my last breath."

Gandalf turned towards Bilbo, his eyes stern and ready.

"We leave for the Northern Mountains" Gandalf commanded, "They will not be far behind."

Bilbo looked around, seeing no one but the Orcs, who at this point were too busy working to pay attention to the dragons.

"Whose they?" Bilbo asked curiously

"Idiot" Gandalf scolded, "Sauron's forces. There are those who are still loyal to the Dark Lord. We must hurry if we want to make it out of here alive."

A war horn could be heard in the distance, causing Parthex and the other Orcs to look up in preparation.

"Talfaux" Parthex ordered, "Round up the fighters, rally them to me."

Talfaux was about to point out that most of the fighting men they had were slaughtered in the village attack but before he could Parthex had already drawn his sword, breaking out into a full run just as a small war party appeared on the other side of the field.

"That's it" Gandalf exclaimed as he looked on, readied himself, "I am surrounded by idiots!"

Smaug rolled his eyes and let out a deafening roar, Darius quickly followed it with one of his own. Talfaux, Esmeralda and Bojurd, the marksman of the group, readied what weapons were available and rushed into the fray. Bilbo, displaying a hobbit's unique ability of courage in the face of adversity, also drew his weapon, but he did not run towards the approaching, instead he ran towards Smaug.

"Smaug!" Bilbo cried, "I have an idea, lower your head."

Smaug shrugged and did as he was told, Bilbo, once again on the dragon's back, lunged his sword in the forward direction, Smaug laughed and shook his head in disbelief.

"Come on man" Bilbo urged, "You're a King aren't you?"

Smaug nodded, "That is up for debate Bilbo, besides, I think you're forgetting something. I recently lost my scales, the only protective armor I have. I can't just go barging into a field of Orcs with swords and axes looking to gut me open!"

Bilbo rolled his eyes, "You're a dragon for Valar's sake!" he berated, "Fly up high and rain fire from the sky like you're supposed to!"

Smaug shook his head, "They have bows Bilbo. I'll still be killed."

Bilbo huffed, "What was all that nonsense about the Black Arrow?"

Smaug laughed, "Sure but who wants to be shot at? Name me one person who wants to be shot and I'll do it."

"I do" Bilbo declared, "Now get your hide moving or I will denounce my oath and friendship to you-"

Bilbo leaned in, his voice almost threatening in nature

"That is a promise."

Smaug turned towards Darius only to find that the dragon was already in the middle of the battle eating as many Orcs as he could.

"You've got me this far Bilbo" Smaug exclaimed, his confidence slowly returning, "You trusted me with your life. I think it's time I trust you with mine."

With this Smaug flew into battle, fire spewed from his throat, it was extremely painful for he was still recovering from his wounds in Mordor but it got the job done. Smaug dipped down low enough for Bilbo to hack off a few heads before returning to the sky and relative safety.

Gandalf meanwhile was standing on a hill working on diversions. Using the magic that he normally reserved for parlor tricks in Hobbiton, Gandalf scattered the area with various fireworks and smoke screens, which allowed Parthex, Bilbo, Darius and Smaug to finish them off.

Treebeard, who stood out of the fight for moral reasons, walked up to Smaug and Darius. Bilbo was holding the head of one of the Orcs he had managed to cut down, he threw this off to the side where a pile was slowly being built of the dead. Out of the company only three had fallen, compared to the enemy which suffered fifty-three casualties and in no small part to the dragons.

"You seek the Kingdom of the Dragons to the North" Treebeard said sorrowfully as he looked upon the dead, "You say you bring peace and yet you have brought violence. Orc against Orc, it is unnatural, immoral...Ents would never such a thing, unless it would mean the continuation of our existence."

"It was" Parthex answered, "We are traitors to Sauron and his cause. We will be hunted down until we are all but dead, nothing. We must make haste."

Talfaux looked down worriedly, "But where can we go? We can't keep running forever!"

Bilbo immediately had an idea, "To Arendale" he suggested, "The land of Dragons and Orcs."

Smaug huffed, "How can we go to a place that doesn't exist? It's hopeless Bilbo. They are on their own."

Darius shook his head, "Sire" he began, "Where do you think I came from? The Northern Mountains, Arendale. The same thing. Your palace is the safest place in all of Middle Earth. Let them in, I beg you."

"Who said I was King of anything?" Smaug asked somewhat coldly, "You? We're friends sure, but that doesn't make me a King just because you say so. How do I know that you're not lying or simply delusional?"

Darius huffed, "You are a King, the King. I don't know what has become of you Smaug, but I can say this, I will get you back to your rightful place, my honor demands it."

Bilbo, the thought of Smaug being King officially settling in, seconded Darius' promise.

"Count me in" the hobbit declared, "I will not rest until you are on the throne."

Smaug said nothing, still trying to process the new information. Darius, recognizing this, left him alone for the moment as Bilbo dismounted and began gathering what materials he could for the upcoming journey.