While Gandalf hurriedly left Lake-town to summon the thrushes, Arthur also found Thorin, who was meeting with Bard, and told him his speculation.
This made Thorin completely unable to sit still, causing the dwarf Prince to growl, "My father is also in danger? Damn Azog! Why isn't he killed by fire and steel?!"
Bard also looked at Arthur with a serious expression and asked, "What should we do about Lord Thráin? The people of Lake-town cannot support them while also receiving Dain. And furthermore, Lord Thráin is too far away from us; by the time we arrive, the battle might already be over."
Arthur first gestured to Bard not to worry, then glanced at the impatient Thorin, and soothed him, "Gandalf has gone to the King of Eagles for help. Those Great Eagles live in the Misty Mountains and should be able to reach the battlefield in time."
Thorin's thoughts were a bit chaotic at this moment, and he could only nod, "Perhaps."
Bard could also see that Thorin was somewhat confused at this time due to the news brought by Arthur and needed to be alone.
Therefore, he left Thorin alone in the room, gesturing with his eyes for Arthur to follow him out of the Long Lake Town Guards Captain's room.
After Arthur came out, Bard spoke directly, "The war has begun. Azog did not, as Thorin and I imagined, deploy troops at the Lonely Mountain to await our attack. Instead, he took the initiative to strike at Dain, King of the Iron Hills, and the returning dwarf King Thráin."
Arthur narrowed his eyes, looking towards the distant snow-capped Lonely Mountain: "Azog may not necessarily have not deployed troops at the Lonely Mountain… I have dealt with orcs a few times, and the number of orcs this time is very unusual. They want to firmly establish their territory here at the Lonely Mountain. If you are suggesting that Thorin and I continue with the crusade against Smaug, then my answer is no."
Bard's expression froze; he had indeed just thought that.
He asked in confusion, "Why? We should take advantage of Azog not being at the Lonely Mountain to kill Smaug. I have also given you the Black Arrow. If you think I would cowardly hide in Lake-town waiting for your battle report, then I am willing to go with you and face Smaug's flames directly."
Arthur patted Bard's shoulder and said gently, "I am not doubting your courage, Bard. But that is Smaug, a flying, fire-breathing, invulnerable Dragon, not a beast that bleeds when shot by an arrow. Even though I have defeated many Dragons before, each time was full of danger. What's more, with Azog's intelligence, he wouldn't fail to think of this. Although I am not clear about the specific situation of the alliance between the orcs and the Dragon, Azog certainly would not allow Smaug to be alone in the Lonely Mountain; he must have arranged an orc army to hide on the Lonely Mountain."
Bard's Adam's apple bobbed a few times, and he said weakly, "If it's by infiltrating the Lonely Mountain, with your and your companions' strength, are you still unable to deal with that Dragon in the Lonely Mountain now?"
Arthur sighed, staring at the still-unwilling human archer and said, "What about the orcs on the Lonely Mountain? If we don't kill Smaug and let it fly out of the Lonely Mountain, what if it retaliates against the people of Lake-town? Or have you already prepared the citizens of Lake-town to be burned to death by fire?"
"I…" Bard opened his mouth, unable to answer.
Gandalf's voice came from behind the two of them: "The premise for being able to infiltrate the Lonely Mountain is that the Dragon is still asleep, not awake as it is now, my dear Mayor Bard. If you and Arthur enter the Lonely Mountain now, it will be useless except to add another human skeleton to the dwarf palace. An awakened Dragon can perceive any movement within the palace; let alone infiltration, even if the position of a single gold coin changes, it will immediately notice."
Finally, Gandalf walked to Arthur's side and showed Bard a regretful expression: "Therefore, the plan to infiltrate the Lonely Mountain failed the moment Smaug woke up."
Bard mustered his courage and said to the two in front of him, "Then what should I do now? What should the people of Lake-town do? Should we just watch Azog carry out his schemes and do nothing?"
Gandalf instinctively raised his staff wanting to tap Bard's forehead, but in the end, he just said exasperatedly, "Watch your words, Bard. What do you mean by 'do nothing'? Arthur, for your better reception of Dain's remnants, sent out one of his strongest warriors, Bernal. Thorin also abandoned his dwarf pride to ask for your help, requesting you to send the Long Lake Town Guards to assist in the reception."
Then the old wizard paused and said with a chuckle, "As for me? I just sent birds to notify my old friends; they will help Thráin."
Thorin, hearing Gandalf's words at this moment, also ran out of the room, his expression slightly softened. He said to Gandalf, "Thank you for your help, Gandalf."
Bard said in a low voice at this moment, "I just feel that we cannot sit idly by. Since Azog is really as cunning as you say, we cannot passively respond to the schemes he sets for us."
"Perhaps Azog is not as formidable as we imagine." Bernal held up a piece of black animal hide in his hand and shook it.
Arthur was a little surprised: "Bernal? Why are you here? What's that in your hand?"
Gandalf narrowed his eyes; he saw the text written in Black Speech on the animal hide and asked uncertainly, "A letter?"
Bernal nodded, handed the black animal hide in his hand to Gandalf, and then explained, "Yes, just before you left, a foul-smelling bird landed in front of the Mayor and covered his face with this. I saw it had a piece of animal hide tied to its leg, so I caught it. I compared them; the Black Speech on the two animal hides is different. The one I just gave to Gandalf is the one that landed on the Mayor's face. The other one is still on me, here."
As he spoke, he took out another animal hide from his waist, which was noticeably larger than the one in Gandalf's hand.
Gandalf took it and quickly read the Black Speech written on both animal hides. He looked up, his expression strange: "This is a letter from Azog to the Mayor. He demands that the Mayor cooperate with Bolg, who is disguised and infiltrated Lake-town, to feign receiving Dain's remnants, and then cooperate with the pursuing orc army to eliminate Dain and his forces. And this larger one is a letter he wrote to his son Bolg, telling him that after eliminating Dain, he should take the orc army pursuing Dain and seize Lake-town."
"Bolg? That name sounds familiar…" Arthur recalled the name from his mind, "Isn't that the name of the orc I killed at the Mayor's house back then?"
Then he, like Gandalf, had a strange expression.
Thorin asked anxiously, "What on earth have you two thought of? Why aren't you speaking?"
Arthur said to Gandalf with some hesitation, "This, this shouldn't be possible… Azog doesn't know his son is already dead? Smaug must know about this. Isn't he Azog's ally?"
Gandalf cleared his throat, then looked towards the Lonely Mountain and smiled: "Ally? Perhaps that is only what Azog unilaterally believes. Smaug's true ally is the fellow who escaped from Dol Guldur. It's quite clear that the Dragon in the Lonely Mountain treats the orcs as beings even lower than servants."
At this moment, Smaug in the Lonely Mountain yawned, changed to a more comfortable position, and continued to lie in the small mountain of gold coins and jewels.
As for the orc killed by that human, Smaug truly didn't care about that ugly and smelly thing.
In Smaug's mind, orcs were even worse than humans; at least humans tasted good when eaten, and their dying screams were quite pleasant to hear.