Chp. 49 A little magic trick

"Master of Laketown, you have failed in your duties as the appointed leader of this Town and declare you unfit for duty in witness of Fili of the house of Durin and Legolas Greenleaf prince of the woodland realms. Therefore you are relieved of Duty effective immediately or else you shall be branded as an enemy of mankind." Paul suddenly went on bullsh*t-no-jutsu to its fullest making the others surprised at is sudden declaration.

"B-b-but…" the Master of Laketown was about to refute while looking around asking for help but the others were scared of the dragon Paul was standing on and Alfrid was already unconscious while standing up as his pants was wet with piss.

"But but what? There is nothing more to discuss from a tyrannical corrupted despot like you. You also guard captain! You are hereby demoted to Lieutenant! You shall answer to Bard from now on as he will be appointed as Warden of Esgaroth!" Paul acted like he owns the place as he walked down from the snout of the Dragon followed by Legoals, Bard and Fili behind him.

"Is he allowed to do that?" Fili whispered to Bard who was also confused at the moment.

"I don't know, but whoever someone is as long as he is riding a dragon then I am sure people will listen." Bard and Kili looked at the silent dragon behind them then at each other.

"Just like he said to us earlier, walk like you own the place." Legolas whispered to the two as he looked at the sacred guards.

"You there! Place these two in chains and put them in jail! Then you, bring the ledger of this town as soon as possible or I'll have you fed to my mount. And you go call everybody in town here! I want all ears and eyes present here by the end of the hour or else I'll have you all minced as dragon feed!" Paul's intimidating build as well as his large sword and dragon mount made things easier as the guards scrambled for their lives to follow his orders.

"Bard, come here." Paul then looked behind him to Bard who straightened his back along with Fili. "You know everybody here so you'll be in charge of their safety, have everyone prepare everything they need before the strike of midnight. But have them leave their lights on so if the dragon does go for the Town he will not suspect no one is at home."

"Where do you plan to hide all these people?" Legolas asked as he knew that Smaug could still smell the people from far away.

"By the bank of the Lake far from the town, the dragon will notice their absence after he comes here but that will be all I need to capture him. If he proves to be too hard to capture then I will have go for drastic measures and people away is better than them being here when the fighting starts." Paul walked forward as he watched the guards detain Alfrid and the Master in fear of him and his dragon.

"Come here? Why would Smaug come here if it was the dwarves that will awaken it?" Bard asked as he looked at Paul but his mind wandered on the prophecy that circulated.

"The Dragon will think you helped them get inside the Mountain, it is still a great Dragon and its intelligence will deduce that somehow the people of Laketown would have assisted the dwarves in their journey." Paul looked to the distance as he felt the darkness in Dol Guldur more clearly.

"Then why have you brought me here then?" Fili asked while Legolas was also confused.

"Bolg is arriving with his orc pack, gather the rest of the guards and face them outside of town. This will also help Bard solidify his new position as at least it will show that he is protecting the people." Paul said making Fili and the others look at each other.

"Braga, gather the others. And orc pack approaches and they are here to hurt people." Bard turned and called for his old enemy who seemed disgruntled but seeing the dragon and hearing about orcs he calmed himself.

"Aye sir." Bragga still nodded as he was still a soldier.

"You go hide yourself." Paul said making the dragon nod and slowly submerge his body in the lake.

While Paul stood there watching the others prepare, Bard and Legolas took up high places in the lake's entrance hiding while the guards also found cover in the shadows waiting along with Fili.

The two patrols in front exchanged with straw men wearing armor and the lights were dimmed so the orcs would not notice.

The guards positioned themselves not too far from the road and soon saw the wargs and orcs coming towards the town in a hurry.

Paul on the other hand climbed on top of the tower that held the Windlance and inspected it then took a small sample of its material.

There he turned the windlance towards the direction of Dol Guldur and raised his hand above him as light started gathering in his hand to form an arrow made of moonlight.

He can see Gandalf already escaping with Thrain in tow and felt that it was time to give timely assistance. After a minute the arrow was complete and Paul loaded it in the Windlance and casted a technique to better his aim and hasten the arrow shot.

Loading the arrow he aimed and focused as he looked towards Dol Guldur, he knew that the shot was at least the speed of light as this was the latest self-made technique he created using the Elvish magic of using moonlight to carve runes on weaponry as well as the technique Thousand Leagues Arrow that he had mastered recently with a clone of his.

Focusing his eyes he saw that Gandalf was now carrying Thrain in tow as he left Azog and the orcs blinded. Seeing that the villain of the hour about to appear Paul adjusted his aim.

Then there it was, the black glob of darkness stopping Gandalf and Thrain. Just as it was about to reach out to the dwarven King Paul released the arrow making it vanish instantly.

Paul could see it as the arrow flew in a split second and arrived just in time to hit the black gas tentacle that grabbed Thrain making Sauron shriek in surprise at the arrow of moonlight exploding in front of him and Gandalf, blinding them.

Sauron was hurt as the light burned the evil he emitted and he did not notice Thrain disappearing at all. He just thought whatever that explosion was it took the dwarven King with it, Gandalf too thought so as well as he raised a shield to prevent Sauron who was pissed at the sudden flash bang.

Thrain on the other hand fell in front of Radagast who had just arrived in front of Lady Galadriel about to report Gandalf's actions. This surprised the wizards and the others as they stared at the stunned Thrain who still was receiving flashes of his life before his eyes.

"Thrain, son of Thror. You are alive?" Galadriel said recognizing who the one in front of her is.

"King Thrain!" Elrond walked towards Thrain who was still silent but hearing the elven lord's voice he sobered up a bit.

"He's here! He's here! He has returned!! It is too late!!" Thrain trashed as soon as he realized he was still alive.

"Who is here? Who has returned? And why is it too late?"Radagast panicked with the Dwarven King as he fluttered about forgetting why he was here.

"Calm down the both of you, especially you Radagast!" Saruman said as his presence made the two quiet.

"Now Radagast why have you called us over so we can deal at this sudden appearance of the dwarven King." Saruman looked at Thrain in confusion as well as the others.

"Right, well…. Ah it's Gandalf he is in danger!!" Radagast started but Thrain continued.

"Yes Ganfalf! He's alone in Dol Guldur with Sauron!! Sauron has returned!" Thrain said as he remembered Gandalf was still there.

"Yes, and he has raised an army already. Gandalf calls for aid Lady Galadriel!" Radagast was in tune with Thrain as they both panicked and flittered about in front of the others.

"Mithrandir…" Elrond stood up in alarm as he looked towards Saruman and Galadriel.

"Let us make haste then!" Saruman stood up as he did not speak a word anymore as he and the others left to go to Dol Guldur.

Paul on the other hand smiled as he saw this and still looked over Dol Guldur in alert in case Sauron would kill Gandalf in anger. Meanwhile Bard, Fili and Legolas was killing orcs by the droves as they were ebign assisted by the guards of Laketown.

Bolg was surprised at first when he passed by the small bridge after shooting the two 'patrolmen' down to the lake, then passing through he was met with a sudden ambush that caught the orcs off guard while Bard and Legolas shot the wargs off one by one.

This caused the battle to be short lived after Legolas and Bolg had a brief fight but in the end the large Orc was still able to run away.

Legolas was about to give chase but Paul called for him making him stop in his tracks.

The guards cheered having won the battle but Bard and Fili were looking at each other as the land shook suddenly. Both looked at the mountain at the grace of the sound.

"Smaug, so they have awakened him." Bard said as he looked towards Fili.

"Don't worry, the Iron Lord had promised that he'll handle the dragon." Fili said unsurely as he looked around seeing the people awaken from the tremors.

"Iron Lord, I was about to give chase to the orc." Legolas asked as he had seen something that alerted him.

"Do not waste your time, they were orcs of Gundabad. Bolg will soon meet up with Azog who leads the army of Sauron, I'm pretty sure he'll also have the orcs of Gundabad rally and march towards Erebor as precaution due to your presence here." Paul said as he looked to the mountains.

"I see, then I must tell my father of this." Legolas said but as he was about to turn around he saw Tauriel walking with Kili, Bofur and Oin.

"Your Father will come once he hears of the Dragon's capture, your mother's mementos are still in Erebor. You are needed here to distract the dragon from pointing his flames towards the people, as well as Bard and the others here." Paul looked at Kili looking better.

Legolas was silent as he just nodded as he too found it logical for him to stay. But he still felt uneasy about the whole plan.

"Will you be able to tame the Dragon once you capture him?" Legolas looked at the water where he can see the horns of the mount of Paul can be seen.

"It'll be hard, since Smaug is a Great Dragon and all but it is worth a try. What's important is that he is not on the side of the enemy, if he proves hard to tame then I will just finish him myself." Paul said as he felt the tremors more frequently.

"You're the Iron Lord of Ettenmoors, it is an honor sir to be able to meet you." Tauriel walked towards Paul and was shy as she looked like she saw an Idol of hers.

"You've heard of me?" Paul's brows raised as he looked at the sylvan elf.

"Of course, we elves still hear much from outside the woodland realm and tales of your adventures has reached many elven ears." Tauriel looked at Kili then at Paul like a fan girl with her parent besides her.

"I see, it seems you have healed our young friend here already. You can go to Legolas or Fili and ask them what the plan is after the dragon gets annoyed by Thorin in the mountains." Paul smiled as he looked around showing them the people hurrying in their steps trying to pack to leave the town.

"Da!" the kids of Bard ran towards their dad who was now armored and looked like a proper lord leading the people of Laketown in their evacuation.

"Kids, have you packed yet?" Bard looked at his children and asked.

"Yes, da. We already got everything, Bain didn't help though. He's been looking at his sword all the time and we had to pack his stuff for him." The Eldest girl said as she looked at her brother not letting go if the pommel of his sword.

"I helped, a bit…" Bain said as he looked at his father's reproachful look.

*THUD!*

Then a tremor was felt making the people hasten in their step as they feared for the dragon to come down on them and rain fire.

"We'll talk about that later, but now help the people pack their stuff and follow the dwarves to cross the Lake. Remember no one lights any lamp and cause any noise on the way." Bard said remembering Paul's instructions, he looked at the tower where the windlance is seeing Legolas and Paul talking.

"You seem to be a bit discontent your highness." Paul looked at Legolas beside him frowning and looking over the direction of Tauriel.

"It's nothing of importance Iron Lord." Legolas said as he looked towards the mountain feeling the tremor become more frequent.

"I see you have feelings for the Silvan Elf, you know it yourself your father would not condone for such relations. She is better off with the young dwarf as she seems happier…" Paul's words made Legolas frown even more as the notion of a dwarf and an elf being together irked him a bit.

"…she is a free soul Greenleaf, her place is not within a forest that closes itself from the world. Besides, dwarf and elf relations have been existing ever since but no one just knows about it since those that do keep quiet of their lives…" Paul focused his mind and saw that Bilbo was running away from Smaug after picking up the Arkenstone.

"…love between other race tend to exist in many forms and such feelings are not meant to be curbed and hidden. You on the other hand need to understand that the attraction you feel for her is not equivalent to love. You've lived your life in peace and being treated as the prince of your realm and Tauriel treating you as a friend made you feel something different but it is not love…" Paul was going on nonsense mode as he talked just to kill time.

"…it is but a protective feeling you have for a friend, you have a few of such your highness so do not lose it just for misunderstanding a feeling you have no knowledge of yet. Besides she'll be fated to be banished anyways after her actions of leaving your lands against the orders of your father…"

"Banished?" Legolas took notice of that word but Paul went on with his speech.

"…You on the other hand are safe since you are your father's son." Paul walked down the tower with Legolas following behind him.

"You seem to know a great deal of my life Iron Lord, but I do not seem to recall meeting you or being acquainted in that matter." Legolas looked at Paul thoughtful as to how this man in front of him knew him so much.

"I just know your highness, that's what I do." Paul said as he walked down and started leaving small stones around the almost abandoned town.

"What are the stones for?" Bofur asked as he was on the side watching the evacuation happen and saw Paul as well as Legolas coming out of the Town Hall.

"Preparation for a small magic trick." Paul said as he saw the town almost empty and all boats are loaded up then brought to the banks of the Lake away from the Town.

"I see, well I am here about something…" Bofur looked at Paul shyly as he looked at Kili, Fili, and Oin behind them.

"I know Bofur, you want to leave and go for your prince but that will be after I get the dragon. Smaug will smell you on his way here and might burn you to ashes before you could even see Thorin." Paul said as he calculated his steps walking around with Legolas and Bofur in tow.

"Ah, I see. We'll stay then." Bofur said feeling scared what Paul said might come true as he turned and talked to the other dwarves.

"I guess you are using Lake town as bait then." Legolas pointed this out as he looked around the town.

"That is indeed the plan, Smaug is arrogant and wants to see people scream and fear him as he burns down a town but that will be enough as it will give me a chance to pin down the beast. I do not want him flying around and causing a bit of a hassle in catching." Paul looked for his next point then walked there.

"Those orcs…" Legolas seemed to be bothered about the fact that the orcs with Bolg were from Gundabad.

"Yes, they are where you think they come from Greenleaf. Whatever Sauron is planning he intends to use the dragon for it and wants to hold Erebor in his hands due to its strategic position. That is why I am here and I intend to put dirt in Sauron's eyes or eye if circumstances permit…" Legolas was not able to understand the last part for now but he listened to Paul as he followed behind him.

"… but it all boils down to the fact that the fate of Middle Earth is now in the balance depending on the few days after this evening." Paul then placed the last stone on a hidden place and walked towards the plaza where some people were still asking Bard about why must the town be bait.

"I have too many items to bring!"

"Bard why Lake Town? We did nothing to the dragon!"

"Why are we even following the orders of a stranger?"

"Why can't we just push the dwarves out? They are the ones the dragon wants… so why must we leave?"

"And how do you know what the dragons wants?"