Sweat ran down her back and between her breasts when Alyssae cleared a way to Thorin while she didn't stop fighting. The arrows of Kili helped her to free her way, although she didn't know if he was helping her on purpose. There was no way he could know what she was up to, unless a strange, invisible hobbit whispered secrets to him.
She picked up an orc sword from the ground and put Thorin's dagger behind her belt. She hurt herself a few times since the blade wasn't put into a scabbard, but she swallowed the pain. The muscles in her arms burnt because she swung the heavy sword, which weighted much more than a weapon made by elves.
She was seized with alarm when she saw Thorin was hit to the ground by Azog. He was lying on a bunch of rocks and was barely moving, although she saw his fingers scratching at the sword which was clashed out of his hands. The pale orc stood vigorously in front of him. With a nasal voice he spit out disdainful words. He raised his arm and Alyssae saw the tarnished metal of his sword sparkle in the sunlight.
Alyssae had no idea what made her throw herself into the breach for the stubborn dwarf, who didn't even like her, but she jumped between them. With a raised sword she turned away Thorin's death blow.
When their swords banged against each other, Alyssae felt like her arm was breaking. Her sword dropped out of her hands, but Azog – who didn't expect intervention – lost his weapon too. They glanced into each other's eyes for a long time. She didn't know if he was surprised to see an elf, but he didn't show anything. All of a sudden he screamed angrily and he turned his mighty head around, while he snarled at something or someone she couldn't see. Without taking her eyes of her enemy, she bent her knees to grab her sword. At the moment her finger tips touched the cold steel, a dark shadow slit across the sky. Terrified she lifted up her head, but she was too late.
Two enormous claws pushed her against the ground. One of them dug deep into her shoulder and Alyssae screamed loudly. Her head slammed against a stone while she fell. Blue and green flashes cut through her eye-range, while explosions of pain seemed to push her into an abyss. The pain in her shoulder and head seemed to compete, both eager to become fatal.
A different sound mingled with her screams. A smelling substance came over her face and streamed into her mouth and nostrils, so that Alyssae feared to drown. She tried to catch breath and wanted to raise her arm to protect herself, but something heavy pushed her limb down again.
Alyssae coughed, spitted, retched and tried to get on her side to escape the suffocating fluid, but every move she made seemed to hasten her asphyxiation. Panic grasped her like an iron fist and it blemished her mind, so she wasn't able to think any more. Not knowing the source of this evil made her panic even worse.
Far away from her a voice sounded, but it barely dawned on her and she had no idea if the words were meant for her. Tatters of memories danced before her closed eyes and chased away the flashes which attacked her since her fall. She saw the valleys filled with flowers in which she was raised, in which children played in the river bed and adults were sitting on stones, creating their melodies and rhyming words. She saw the sunset, which spread a colorful carpet across the world. A blanket, which became darker and whose darkness would overwhelm her in the end…