The Stag and The Frog - (GendryxMeera GOT fanfic) Part 3: Apart

11: The One That Got Away

Author's Note: I apologize for this dumb chapter. I'm easily amused :)

The movement rattled the murky waters, but the lack of visibility didn't matter. Chompy could smell her prey regardless. And this was the tastiest treat of them all: human flesh. Not that she'd ever tasted it, but she'd heard the rumors through the crocodile grapevine.

Chompy was a big crocodile now, not a little sardine like the first time she tried to get a taste of a boot containing such a delicacy. She was almost as long as her favorite branch to bask on and her teeth were sharp and long as the leaves that fell on the murky surface she hid under. Perfect to bite through the leather of shoe ware and chomp all the way to the bone on a human leg.

Chomping was after all her favorite thing to do, which was of course how she'd acquired her name. Although it sounded different in the smattering language of the crocodiles than in the confusing human tongue. Humans were such a loud species, especially when crocodiles were around.

"GAAAAHHH!"

As Chompy's teeth grazed the shell containing the delicious human foot, a war cry permeated the air. It sounded oddly like the scream she'd heard the first time she tried to get a taste of such a treat when she was just a wee crocodile child. The cadence, pitch, and panic were all the same.

In confusion, she halted her biting motion, pondering if the foot could really belong to the same man. Perhaps her nostrils had become particularly adapted to his delicious scent. The pants above the boot were just as dark and the fur coat that dangled dangerously close to the water line, making Chompy hungry for wolf, appeared very similar. That man's features still haunted her dreams as she lounged by the warm shoreline.

He was the one that got away.

Her moment of hesitation was enough for the prey to sneak out of her hands. A taller human with hair that was tangled like hanging moss pulled the owner of the delicious feet away from the shallow pool of water that Chompy called her home. He looked as tasty as the first human. Although perhaps he was a bit too skinny to truly dig her teeth into.

In frustration, she peaked her googly eyes above the waterline, hoping perhaps the men would stumble as they escaped her jaws. She had no such luck. Once again, it wasn't her day.

Then, just as the two humans, who appeared to be accompanied by a larger group of their own species--all men and all dressed in black--disappeared into the brush, something landed next to Chompy in the water. Something that smelled deliciously. The taller of the two scared men must have dropped it as they made their escape.

After a cautious sniff, Chompy chomped on the item. Because that's what she did. It tasted delicious as well. Like the birds she caught sometimes, when they landed on a log or rock, but with a deeper more salty taste. It tasted like she imagined human flesh would.

One day, she would get a taste of such a treat.

***

The unkempt hair and nonchalant swagger gave away the identity of the visitor right away. Balon Swann had suffered the antics of Devan Seaworth--rolling on tables, sliding down railings, emptying food stores--for way too long to not instinctively give out a sigh at the sight of the menace of Storm's End. That was what the guards called the immature boy behind his back at least, and Ser Swann had to admit he'd used the moniker himself once or twice.

The young man looked skinnier and slightly older than the last time Ser Swann saw him, no longer to be mistaken for a mere boy, but the mischief remained in his eyes despite everything he must have been through, having been banished to Castle Black. In a way, it was a relief. Because Ser Swann didn't want to experience the day when Devan Seaworth had lost his lust for life. That day, the kingdom would be truly doomed.