Constructive criticism would be very much appreciated, and thanks to Cat, who reviews constantly :) enjoy again
She was the smallest, and therefore she was the one sent out to watch the new visitors. She'd been given strict instructions not to attack by her mother, who though crippled with age and weakening by the day still knew how the humans worked, and what their habits would be.
Except these humans weren't like the ones she'd been told about. They carried metal poles that would spurt fire and thunder, but they didn't seem as tense.
It agitated her… made her feel as if she were on edge. They did what she did, and watching carefully she could see that the way she moved only differed slightly. Daenerys moved like a Balverine; quickly, gracefully, happily… they moved like… them. They loped about and kept laughing. She knew that sound; it wasn't too different to the way her Balverine brothers would laugh.
Then something small and furry caught her eye. It was one of the cubs, darting about trying to catch a butterfly that was fluttering further and further towards the group of men.
Whimpering, she watched helplessly as the cub tottered out and into the sight of the man with golden hair, who lifted the pole and aimed at the cub. She crouched on her back legs, readying herself to dart out and grab the cub, when there was a sickening howl and three of the stronger members of the pack leapt out at the men, tearing down two on the right side of the man, and circling to distract them while she got the cub.
Danny ran out, her hair flying behind her in a wild tangled mess, her heart pounding in her chest as she grabbed the cub with her right arm, then there was a crack like thunder, and her left arm started searing in pain.
Instantly she dropped the cub, which ran off crying back to its mother who was probably waiting anxiously for her young. She let out a howl of pain, before tossing her head to the side and looking into the eyes of the man who had hurt her. He looked shocked, then regained his composure and wrestled one of her pack off his men, blasting the Balverine in the leg.
Ignoring the pain in her arm she whistled through her teeth, signalling for the others to leave the broken men and get back to the thicket.
She turned on her heel and pelted away after them, ignoring the shouts from the men, and the cold blue gaze she could feel burning into the back of her head.
"Then this naked girl ran in and-"
"She wasn't naked Jammy!" Ben roared above the chaos, trying to shut the idiot up before he turned this story into something pornographic.
The villagers seemed more upset about the appearance of this mystery girl than Ben would have thought they would be, and something was unsettling in the way they kept whispering and looking to one shell shocked woman who had to be helped to a seat.
There was silence, and all you could hear in the village was the woman take a deep shuddering breath.
"What did she look like?"
The silence seemed to ring, and all heads slowly turned in Bens' direction. He pursed his lips, and ran a hand through his hair, brushing out some of the dried up mud and twigs.
"She… she was about yay high" he said, gesturing to some height around his chest, a rough estimation, as she was crouching or hunched when he saw her. "She was… thin. And she had, um… had brownish blond hair and really green eyes."
People started muttering, but Ben only had eyes for the woman who choked slightly and uttered a loud sob, her head dropping into her hands and her shoulders shaking as she cried.
Joseph shouted for silence, and the people slowly made their way back to their homes, shooting nervous glances at the obviously distressed woman, while he himself helped her up and let her cling to him, supporting her slight frame as they walked slowly to her home.
Ben felt more than troubled, and turned to Swift who was looking over the men who were injured, and the one man that had died while they tried to get him back to town. A young boy, Kieran, only seventeen… still a child, and barely old enough to hold a gun, let alone know how to use it. It was a real shame to lose him, but he knew there were risks, and unfortunately, this was one of them.
There was a sadness lingering over the camp that night, and Ben could only comfort himself with grabbing a shovel, and venturing barely outside the walls of the village to dig a grave for his fallen comrade.