Anythingdrabble Challenge 84 - Alone and armed

[m_findlow]

Title: Alone and armed
Fandom: Game of Thrones
Characters/Pairings: Brienne, OC
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 84 - Fearsome at anythingdrabble
Summary: Brienne has to tread her path alone.

'Hoy there!' shouted a young lad. Brienne stopped dead in the middle of the courtyard, her tourney sword still gripped tightly in both fists.

She hadn't been expecting anyone to come out here whilst she was training with her sword. 'Are you lost?' she called out.

The boy scratched his head and looked sheepish. He looked like he was a runner for one of her father's many craftsmen, perhaps two of three years younger than her. 'No, but I heard a sword being swung and wondered who it was.  I thought all the boys were supposed to train down behind the armory.'

'I'm not a boy,' she replied, 'and I train alone.'

Her hair had been done in a tight braid which hung in a long thick rope at her back. Every time she parried her sword and spun, it came from the opposite side and flicked her in the face like some unexpected assailant, so she'd taken to tucking it inside the back of her shirt. From the front, her blonde fringe stuck to her forehead, sticky with sweat from her efforts, and she was flat chested without any discernable curves. At fourteen she towered over all the girls at court who tried to be friends with her at her father's insistence, but had none of their blossoming grace. In plain leathers and boots she was as far from the frilly dresses of her peers as was possible. Small wonder the lad mistook her for a boy.

'But girls can't use swords,' the boy exclaimed.

'Why not?'

'Because,' he replied, but never actually giving a reason. 'Who ever heard of a lady knight?'

After the debacle of the feast where all the boys had sniggered and called her ugly, she'd sunk in on herself. The only enjoyment she had was when she played with swords in the yard. Since she refused to give it up, her father had at least decided to have someone teach her to use it properly. He was a hedge knight of no particular repute, but she took his advice and teachings to heart, practicing as often as she could.

'I can be as good as any boy,' she declared.

'Oh yeah? Prove it.' The lad rushed at her, unarmed but determined. Brienne steadied herself, feeling that same anger fill her as it had the night those boys had thought it amusing to humiliate her. She held her arm up in a blocking motion and before he knew what had happened, she had him flat on his back in the dirt, the point of her sword pressed to his throat.

'Yield! I yield!' he whimpered. 'Please don't hurt me!'

Brienne looked down at him and felt sorry for him, offering him a hand up from the dirt. She was about to ask him if he knew much about swords and if he'd like to practice with her, but as soon as she withdrew her sword, he spun and ran away as fast as he could.