Alyssae dragged Fili to Thorin and she looked at him firmly, although she knew the fear in her eyes would escape nobody's attention.
'I'm not sober,' she whispered.
'Are you kidding?' he sniffed sarcastically.
'We're approaching Mirkwood. It's very dangerous there and if I can't use my senses for the full hundred percent, I will be dead before I can raise my sword.'
Her respiration faltered while she looked in his eyes. A strange feeling spread across her chest and she stepped back hastily, afraid to vomit again.
'What do you suggest I'll do?' he hissed, while he looked along her into the darkness. 'The wargs are near!'
Alyssae didn't know what evil was more dangerous. She wasn't sure about the creatures which were hidden in the forest, but alarming rumors had even slipped into her hometown and she felt the evil wasn't kept back during her captivity.
'Then go, but I'll stay here. I'll take my chances.' She squeezed her eyes because she felt dizzy again. 'I'm exhausted.'
'It's easier to shake off the orcs when we are in the dense forest,' Balin noticed.
Alyssae could barely mingle the discussion and she shook her head.
'If you weren't so damn tall, I would have carried you,' Dwalin growled.
In the distance the howling of wolves echoed and Thorin drew his sword. 'We can't wait, Alyssae!'
She looked at him in surprise. 'You called my name.'
'Let's worry about that later,' he grouched. 'We'll go on.'
He started to move again, but Alyssae persisted and let go of Fili's hand.
'I stay here. Hopefully they'll follow your trail until they passed me. I'll come after you tomorrow.'
Thorin turned and shook his head in anger, but again was distracted by the frightening howling of their approaching enemies.
'I stay with her,' Fili said.
'Me too,' Kili added immediately. 'Alyssae is right. She's an easy prey and she will slow down all of us. We'll come after you tomorrow and hopefully the wargs won't notice.'
'So be it,' Thorin decided while sighing deeply.
They looked at each other uneasy, but then Thorin turned around and ran for the trees.
Alyssae would have loved to hug them – all of them – for one last time, since she wasn't certain she would see them again, but there was no time to lose.
'Let's hide over there.' Kili pointed at a rockery not far away, which was full of bushes. Alyssae nodded and looked over her shoulder. There were no orcs, but she was afraid it won't take long before they would swarm across the hill. Hopefully they had enough time to hide.
Although Alyssae knew her legs couldn't take her much further, she tried to run. Hopefully she collapsed just when the rocks took her out of sight.
Her heart beated in her chest and echoed in her head when she dropped between the stones. She grazed her knee on a sharp edge of a rock and red blood dripped down her lower leg, but still she gazed in the distance where wargs could appear at any moment.
Fili stood up and walked away to prevent an attack in their backs and Kili was stationed next to her, with his arrow and bow in his hand.
Alyssae went down slowly, so she wasn't visible anymore. She reacted slower than she normally would do and she didn't want to give away their shelter.
'Give me a sign when you see them, okay?' she whispered.
Kili nodded without taking his eyes off the landscape. His brown hair fell before his face, so she couldn't see if he was just as tired as she was.
Alyssae closed her eyes, determined to escape from the chaos for just a moment. However, quickly the intense beating of her heart diminished and her breathing became calmer.