Alyssae barely noticed the weight upon her disappeared. She was rolled on her side. Someone hit her between her shoulder-blades and she retched. She spit out the blood she had swallowed. She felt terrible while she kept throwing up waves of blood.
The more warg blood left her body, the more noises she heard. The sound of steel clashing on steel still echoed between the mountain sides, but was now mingled with some kind of roaring she couldn't identify. Slowly she rose. Thorin was sitting on the ground and it seemed like he could lose his conscience any moment. His face was bleak, like death already started to take him to his realm. His long hair was covered with blood and he stared with glazed eyes into the distance.
Azog fought with three dwarves whose names Alyssae did not know. It rained fire bombs around her. She knew it could only be the work of the wizard. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw him and some others still sitting in the trees, compelled by snarling wargs and shrieking orcs.
Where was Bilbo? Wobbling she got on her feet again and stumbled across the terrain. She held her sword in her hand, but the wedge dragged uselessly over the floor. She stroked her eye on a large spot of blood, coming from an unknown source. With the little energy that was left she hurried to the place. She knelt down on her knees on the bloody ground. Soft moans reached her ears.
'Bilbo?' Her hands reached forward and she felt the fabric of his clothes. He was lying on the ground. She followed the forms of his body, until she found his face. She bowed to it. His lips were moving and he repeated just one word.
Ring.
Ring?
Alyssae didn't know if she understood him well. Why would Bilbo talk about a ring? Suddenly she felt a hand on her knee, but it was so heavy and lifeless it could be her imagination as well. She groped for it and felt his stiff fingers. They were swollen. Quickly she slit with her fingers over his hand, until she indeed stumbled across the ring. She pulled it from his finger and all of a sudden Bilbo appeared in front of her.
He seemed so lost she immediately forgot the power of the ring and she shoved the object in her pocket. His other arm was almost separated from his torso and he had wounds everywhere. She wouldn't be able to cure him.
Alyssae talked at a stretch: that Mithrandir would come to help him soon. It was a lie. The wizard was held captive in a tree and had his hands full protecting the dwarves around him.
There was no way he could help them. Therefore Alyssae told him other things. She spoke of her birthplace and even about her fiancé. There would be a big wedding party and of course Bilbo would be a special guest. Also this was not true. Such as things were now, there would never be a wedding and after she finished her talking, Bilbo had closed his eyes and he was not breathing anymore.
Somewhere beyond her reach he would indeed have a great feast, but it was certainly not her wedding party. He went to the place in which the hobbits believed – she had no idea what that was – and there he would get to know the enjoyments he missed on earth.
Alyssae withdrew and tears filled her eyes. Of all the people around her Bilbo was the one she liked the most. Because he was different. Because he didn't belong to the group, just like her. His sudden departure frightened her. Would she be the next one?
The answer came immediately when something heavy grasped her shoulders. The ground disappeared beneath her feet and she got the feeling she was racked to the next world in one movement.
The body of Bilbo became smaller and smaller, until he became invisible in the end, between the trees and stones.