Snippet #2183739

Hima

Hima sits finishing off the last piece of meat she found in the village and ponders what sort of people could do this to a whole village. If the slaughter of every man, woman and child in the village was really over the map she placed in her pouch then it is a map well worth protecting; not just for it's potential value in finding and selling the scroll to some wizard or noble, but also in keeping it out of the hands of whoever did this. If they're willing to torture and murder a village to get this map then they're not good people and definitely shouldn't have this map under any circumstances.

Her concentration is disrupted by something going on around her. She hasn't heard anything specific, but she is sure that someone or something is nearby. She sits listening for several seconds, but nothing, "Must be the night and the village." she reasons. Then from behind her a sudden loud and threatening sound bellows as if an explosion or a herd of angry elephants were nearby.

Hima rolls over from sitting position onto her hands and knees. Her eyes widen, her mouth hangs agape, the color drains from her face as her heart begins pounding in fear, "A...a...a dragon?!" Hima has heard tales of dragons, but always considered them to be fantasy stories used to scare little children into behaving. She has never for one second considered the stories true. But there one stands, at least she it matches the descriptions she's seen in paintings and what people have said they look like; the giant black creature with the purple spine and green eyes is testimony to the stories truth. Now it all makes perfect sense, the realization of what has happened to the village and its inhabitants now makes perfect sense. This black creature with a purple spine roaring and making threatening gestures killed all these people and then burned the village.
Hima reaches around grasping her bag in one hand and her rapier in the other. Her sword will never be a match for this giant creature and she has no intention of trying to prove herself wrong. She will only use the sword if forced to, which she is hoping is never. She slides her body backward, resting on her heels, raising her hand to signal to the dragon not to attack her, "S...suh...suh...steady..." she stammers trying to give the dragon no fear, no cause to attack her. She has heard that dragons, many dragons, understand human tongue and some even can use it and she's hoping those stories are true and this dragon is one of them. "Steady there. Look...uh..look. I'm... I'm not even... even from the village." she says slowly rising and moving backward, again trying to avoid making any unnecessary movements. "I... I don't know what they did to make... you know... make you angry." she slowly steps backward, "But, look. I'm not one of them and I'm sure whatever they did... you know... you... you were justified in being angry."

She glances left and right out of the corners of her eyes. There is no woodlands, no high grass, no fields that she can dash into for protection. Her options are limited to two things; 1. She could dart behind one of the burned out buildings and hope that he doesn't torch the place and her with it; or 2. Try and reason with it in hopes that it doesn't slaughter her for fun. She has decided one thing, she's not giving him the map he's looking for, these people died protecting it and she owes the old woman that.

Hima slowly lowers her sword and drops her bag. If he attacks, she will run and try to get a stag to the gut or throat, if she can get that close or that high. "Look... whatever happened here... whatever they did to you... I'm... I'm not part of. I'm ju... just... you know, uh... passing through. And I uh... you know... Don't kill me, please. I won't tell anyone about you. I promise."