He'd heard the cry, a battlecry if he'd ever heard one, and that torn from the throat of a woman too. He'd been walking the perimeter, thinking on the troublesome mare that was only beginning to trust him, and did not take kindly to Cuthbert at all when he heard it, swiftly followed by the roaring of one of those thrice damned giant lizards. He was running toward the sound before he'd even fully thought to do so, guns in his hands instantly. On this part of the island, they were never far from him.
As he came on, he saw her, the dinosaur, and the cat, taking in the corpse and the two remaining in at a glance. She was whole, bloody, but whole, and unless she was good at hiding it, not hurt herself. He walked the next ten paces to stand near her, eying the cat warily. He looked again at the dinosaur, throat still spilling blood onto the ground. "Your kill?" he asked, although it wasn't really a question.
Ygritte looked up at him, the blood still warm on her face, and grinned. "Aye, it is. Fresh, too." As her hand dropped to the side, the blood trickling off her fingers, the small tiger crept forward to lick at them.
"Don't worry," she advised him. "There's still aplenty out there if you want them."
If the blood bothered him, he didn't show it, although he still eyed the tiger warily. It had been Lloyd, he thought, who had told him the phrase tiger by the tail and shown him what they looked like. Rock cats he'd seen, but not anything like this until now.
"Well, thankiee sai," he said with a slightly mocking tone and bow. In truth, Cuthbert and he had played with the idea, thought they hadn't yet put it to use. Some day when they were bored of their usual activities and looking to take out their aggression through something more satisfying than sparring or shooting practice, they would. "Do you make a habit hunting game bigger than you can haul? Or did this one get in your way?" he asked, eyebrows raised, clearly impressed either way.
"A bit of a long story," Ygritte admitted, sheathing her knife. "But more o'the second than the first. I wouldn't usually care t'kill such a creature. It seemed... important, at the moment."
She walked over to the cooling corpse. "I suppose I ought t'skin it or do something useful." Without a village to support, these thoughts didn't come so easily anymore.
"Are there folk here who would tan the hide of such a beast?" he asked. He knew very little about them except what seemed immediately important while they were still walking about, teeth and claws, but mostly teeth. A sensible part of him wondered if they were good to eat. If this one was a predator as he suspected though, most likely not. "Even with you and I, sai, it would take a long time to make any work of it."
"Aye," said Ygritte, and some of the tension in her eased. "Better t'leave it for the others, I reckon. They'll be along soon enough, when they smell the blood."
She tossed her hair, an almost girlish movement against the violence of the scene around her. "Best t'get moving, friend."
"Aye, we best both if we mean not to join him. Scavengers won't wait long, especially bigger than you and I." He gestures to the cat, "Coming with you, is it?"
"O'course it is. I rescued it," Ygritte said. "That would be why I downed the other." She began to move, and the cat followed, apparently having imprinted enough.
"You went through a great deal of trouble for it then," he observed and moved off with her, keeping pace. A strange sort of girl she was, and no mistake. She clearly did not need his aide and yet he was curious. She reminded him Aileen but she was a different sort of woman than even that. "I don't think I caught your name, sai, the last we spoke. I'm Alain Johns," he offered.
"I am Ygritte," she told him. "From Beyond the Wall, in the Great North o'Westeros." Her eyes slid to the side, assessing him for something. "You've a curious way o'speaking, Alain Johns."
"I should say the same of thee, Ygritte," he said, stumbling only a little over her name. It wasn't the strangest word he'd come upon, but it didn't come easy. The first phrase she'd used reminded him of something, but he couldn't say what. "I don't know it. Westeros," he said clarifying.
"Not much t'know," Ygritte said, and then begrudgingly added, "I've given it up for dead, a bit. Not because the world stops or anything, but because its people see fit to wipe away the wildlings."
The world moves on. "Is that what you are in your when and where? A wildling?" he asked, not knowing much of the meaning behind it other than what she'd already said, and the obvious. Wild was a good word for her if he judged right.
"Aye, it is what they call my people. We more often call ourselves the Free Folk, for that is what we fight for," Ygritte said. "So much of the Southern people fight to be in power o'er one another."
It sounded familiar to Alain in a way. A fight for power versus freedom. It was a tricky thing that folk died over. "The Free Folk," he mused. "Did you win your freedom?" he asked curiously.
As he came on, he saw her, the dinosaur, and the cat, taking in the corpse and the two remaining in at a glance. She was whole, bloody, but whole, and unless she was good at hiding it, not hurt herself. He walked the next ten paces to stand near her, eying the cat warily. He looked again at the dinosaur, throat still spilling blood onto the ground. "Your kill?" he asked, although it wasn't really a question.
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"Don't worry," she advised him. "There's still aplenty out there if you want them."
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"Well, thankiee sai," he said with a slightly mocking tone and bow. In truth, Cuthbert and he had played with the idea, thought they hadn't yet put it to use. Some day when they were bored of their usual activities and looking to take out their aggression through something more satisfying than sparring or shooting practice, they would. "Do you make a habit hunting game bigger than you can haul? Or did this one get in your way?" he asked, eyebrows raised, clearly impressed either way.
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She walked over to the cooling corpse. "I suppose I ought t'skin it or do something useful." Without a village to support, these thoughts didn't come so easily anymore.
Reply
"Are there folk here who would tan the hide of such a beast?" he asked. He knew very little about them except what seemed immediately important while they were still walking about, teeth and claws, but mostly teeth. A sensible part of him wondered if they were good to eat. If this one was a predator as he suspected though, most likely not. "Even with you and I, sai, it would take a long time to make any work of it."
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She tossed her hair, an almost girlish movement against the violence of the scene around her. "Best t'get moving, friend."
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