Alyssae tried to concentrate. Her knees burnt now she had fallen on the ground and she crawled under the table. Muddy boots walked past her and left traces on the wooden floor. She was so shocked by the sudden mood change she felt sick. She bent over and threw up. She felt bloody hot and wondered if she caught fever.
'Focus,' she whispered. 'Focus.'
However, her concentration seemed miles away. The smell of puke made her feel even worse and in the end she was only trying not to vomit again.
She was surrounded by voices. Unknown voices, in a language she did recognize but couldn't identify. Like everything else that was happening right now.
She pushed her fingers against her closed eyes, trying to force them to do their job again. Slowly she crept away from the table. It was dangerous, but she focused on one moving image and slowly realized it was an orc.
An orc.
Afraid she crawled back. Probably everyone had left the room to get their weapons, but Alyssae was still sitting under the table, while her sword was in the front room. It wouldn't take long before she was seen.
She groped in the pouches of her dress, hoping to find a forgotten weapon. The bone comb she had used to unravel her hair or even a fork, but there was nothing.
Or… Her fingers bumped upon a cold, round object. Clumsy she took it from her pocket, while a sigh left her lips. The ring. With that she could become invisible, right?
Bilbo had done it. Or had that been just a dream?
She pushed the jewel around her finger and suddenly her legs disappeared. In shock she got up and bumped with her head against the table.
'Auch,' she grunted.
It was stupid. Of course it was, but it was a while ago since Alyssae thought before she did or said something. A head appeared under the tablecloth; an awful orc, who had heard her without a doubt.
'He can't see me,' she whispered, hoping to maintain lead of the fear. 'He can't see me.'
The orc tilted his head and bared his rotting teeth.
Right, he could still hear her. She bit her dents on each other to prevent herself from saying more stupid things.
The eyes of the orc flashed from left to right, but the ring extracted her from view. Slowly she crawled back, but as soon as she had left the table, a giant orc stepped on her leg. She bit on her lip until she tasted blood. The pain wove through the nerves of her leg to the rest of her body. Black spots danced before her eyes, but she knew how to put her jaws together and the orc stepped forward. She however didn't dare to move again.