First I have a really urgent question... what means 'the life' of your chapters in the doc manager? Some chapters have a little more than ten days, so I start to worry... can anybody explain it? (:
Alyssae woke up when she heard a sniffing sound. Hastily she got up, while she looked around disorientated. A startled hare slipped into some bushes and she breathed relieved.
The sky was grey, although the day already had begun. She thanked the heavens for their good care, since she expected she couldn't bear sunlight at the moment.
She still felt sick and her head seemed to burst. The memories of the day before were disjointed and strange and she permitted her brain a few moments to order the events.
In the end she concluded she had some quarrels with Thorin yesterday, with a result she couldn't call bad, and that they had a party after dinner which was disturbed by orcs. Since then her memories showed more gaps, although she did remember a hasty, tiring journey which seemed to have stopped here.
Alyssae spotted Kili, who leaned against a rock and had closed his eyes. She called the name of the dwarf and when he looked up he set himself straight quickly.
'You're the best sentry I've ever seen,' she chuckled.
He gave her a crooked smile. 'The wargs passed by hours ago.'
'Where are the others? My memory isn't working very well.'
'The others went into the forest. We were hunted by orcs and you didn't want to enter the woods.'
'I still do not,' she murmured. 'Couldn't I convince Thorin to take another way?'
She was disappointed in herself. The last thing she wanted was entering that cursed wood – and the dwarves were in greater danger than she would ever be!
'He didn't have a choice. You couldn't stand on your feet any longer and you wanted him to leave. We stayed with you.'
'He left me behind,' she understood, wondering why. Didn't he care about her? She knew it wasn't true, for he went back to save her yesterday. Or did he regret his rescue? You never knew with him…
Or did he think she could defy the wargs? An illogical assumption, since she supposedly couldn't stand straight anymore.
'It was your plan,' Kili said while hesitating. 'He trusted you.'
Although those words should make her proud, she couldn't escape the hollow feeling inside. Still she didn't know if that was caused by Thorin's decision or the fear that teased her since she had seen Mirkwood.
'What did I say about the forest?' she wanted to know. 'Yesterday?'
'Nothing, except that it was very dangerous. There was no time to talk.'
Alyssae massaged her temples and cursed herself. Hadn't she even warned them to stay on the road? Although she knew she couldn't have foreseen the orc attack, she felt quilty. She was probably the only one who knew what was waiting for them and even she didn't know any details.
'Where is Fili?'
She could remember he was with her yesterday.
'I think he fell asleep a little ahead.'
Alyssae nodded shortly, after which they decided to look for the young dwarf.
'There's no trace of him,' Kili sighed when they had canvassed the whole rockery. 'I don't get it.'
Alyssae smoothed her hair with her hand nervously and walked to the edge of the forest. She couldn't imagine he went inside on his own but nothing was impossible here. There dark creatures lived most people hadn't even heard of and maybe there was something that had attracted his attention.
With a sigh she turned back to Kili. She knew he would never go after the others as long as his brother was missing, but their decision was urgent.
Every minute they hesitated, Thorin and the others moved further away from them and Alyssae feared it wouldn't take long before they ended up in the hands of something evil – if that had not happened already.