Nentarli [COMPLETE]

~ Twenty-five ~

The cold hit me the moment I walked outside, I quickly pulled the hood of my cloak up over my head. The little village had looked amazing at night but it was just as beautiful during the day. Everything was covered in a thick layer of snow, there was no sign of any footprints from our group or the other residents who lived here.

I was pondering on their whereabouts when a snowball passed within an inch of my face and hit the cabin wall behind me. I looked around for the culprit and saw Kayle looking shocked while Emy was laughing hysterically. I grinned deviously and reached down to scoop up my own just as Emy tried to find somewhere to hide. A short but extremely fun snowball fight ensued, only ending when Emy's last snowball hit Kayle and he just stood there.

"You're supposed to dodge it and throw one back!" I called over to him playfully.

He was frowning and looking between Emy and I, who were at opposing ends of the little street our cabin was on.

"Please don't tell me you've never had a snowball fight before?" Emy asked in disbelief as she walked over to stand in front of Kayle.

He crinkled his nose slightly at the look she gave him, "Remember the whole moving around and dangerous people lurking thing? We never used the snow for fun, only for cover and when it got really bad, for hibernation."

Emy and I looked at each other in surprise, "Well you need to have a little more fun. Life is always going to be dangerous in some way, you have to take the bad with the good, or whatever way you want to put it."

Emy grinned and scooped up another snowball, smushing it in Kayle's face and running off before he could recover.

It didn't take him long however, and then he got the hang of it pretty fast; I almost wished we hadn't asked him to join in, his aim was that good. We should have known from the way he handled his Slingers, he got us every single time and soon I was tapping out. I enjoyed the snow when it didn't come with bruises, Emy and Kayle however were too competitive, they had to keep going.

I walked a little further away and began to construct a snowman, because that's what you have to do when you get that much snow. Back home we were lucky to get an inch of snow in one whole winter, this place was like a dream come true and I got overly excited imagining it at Christmas time.

I just finished attaching the snowman's head when the inevitable happened, Emy and Kayle got into an argument. As I was about to go over to break it up, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I knew what it meant and I spun around to find Blaike watching me through the window. He looked away as soon as I noticed and I threw a snowball at the pane he'd been looking through.

For once it didn't bother me that he was watching because I knew he was doing it the keep us safe. As I turned to break Emy and Kayle up, I felt that same feeling again but Blaike wasn't at the window anymore. I turned on the spot but I couldn't see anyone else nearby.

I rushed over to Kayle, "Stop arguing, someone is watching us and I don't think they're friendly."

Kayle shut up immediately and began ushering us back to the cabin. "Get inside and stay hidden, tell the others."

We ran to the door but Merkell was already opening it, he pulled us inside and stepped out himself, locking the door behind him. Blaike gestured us into the middle of the room and we plonked down on the mattress. Kaleb was posted by the door, he seemed to be ready for anything.

At first we couldn't hear anything but the wind, then I heard voices shouting and it sounded like they were off in the distance. I couldn't make out what they were saying and there was another sound, a buzzing, but I couldn't figure out what was causing it.