She desperately hoped that they would pass her hut by, but this hope was dampened as the marching grew louder. It wasn't long before she could see them approaching. She began wondering if they found her hut, should she let them ransack it and possibly burn it, or see if she could take them all on.

The answer seemed pretty obvious, but the hated the idea of them destroying her home. Still, logic told her to stay her arrow. She saw as they reached her clearing and flooded through. She remained as quiet as she could just short of not breathing. She saw them come to a halt as the orc at the front, which she assumed to be the leader, talked with the orc beside it.

They muttered something, gesturing to the hut before one of the smaller orcs crept up to it. It kicked in her door and jumped in. All was still for a time before it casually stepped out, seeming to gesture that nothing was there. Two others stepped in, and one came back out with her blanket. She felt a decided revulsion as these creatures pawed through her possessions.

She saw the one with her blanket gesture something, and they laughed harsh cackles. It threw the blanket away and they fell back into order. They all began marching save the leader, of whom stood pondering if he were so capable. After a moment, he gestured for them to stop again. She peered at them in confusion. Why stop again?

She then saw as the leader pointed to her smokehouse, which sent fresh smoke bellowing out. Oh damn, she'd forgotten it! Maybe they wouldn't think much about it. Then she saw as the leader moved his hand in a circular motion, and a number of orcs spread out across the clearing. Words likely unfit for the general public ran through her mind as the watched the orcs sniff the air and creep closer to her tree.

She readied her bow, preparing for any sign that she had been discovered. One stepped steadily closer, sniffing the wind like a hound. Close, too close. She didn't want to show here she was, but if she did nothing, they would know regardless. So, she aimed her bow on the orc as it reached the foot of her tree, and let go.

With a screech it fell to the dirt, alerting its nearby companions. She instantly reloaded her bow and loosed a shower of arrows down on their heads. She reached for another bow but gave a yelp as she was tugged to the ground by her foot. Her back slammed down, knocking the air out of her. The wretched creature started dragging her back to the others till she stabbed it in the neck with the arrow she held.

She rolled over, and tried to push herself up, but was pushed back down by the foot against her back. "Now where are you going?" murmured the creature that owned the limb. Thinking quickly, she kicked her foot back, knocking the creature forward, forcing her to roll out of the way. She sat up and reached for an arrow, but her quiver was empty, its contents in the grass.

She tried to reach for them but froze as she saw several orcs, training their arrows on her. "You been causing us some trouble for something so unimposing!" said the leader with a chuckle. "I've heard." she muttered as she counted the number of archers around her. "Seems such a shame to waste a bit of fun so quickly, but we're under orders. Shame." he said, earning the chuckles and unknown sounds of the orcs around him.

Thinking on how to give herself time, she said something that in retrospect, she probably shouldn't have. She wasn't certain what it meant, but she'd heard it said a couple of times under similar circumstances. Such a short word, but with quick responses. "Shnik lat!" Honestly, she wasn't clear what it meant, and it was a combination of words she had merely guessed at, but seeing their stunned expressions, she figured they understood her meaning.

The stunned expression of the leader changed to one of anger as he reached for his sword. Her plan worked too well!! She began crawling back, but obviously made little distance between them as he raised his sword. She barely had time to hear the confused chatter of the orcs behind their leader before she watched the head of the leader fall from his shoulders sending his body crumbling at her feet, and leaving a bloodied Uruk-Hai in his place.