A collective gasp rippled through the crowd, several beastmen taking an instinctual step backward away from the terrifying shadow of the ridge.
"If any of you speak without facts, aren't you just seeing a tree shaking in the dark and calling it a monster of the night?" Hana barked, her voice echoing sharply off the stone walls and slicing through the freezing morning air. "Frightening yourself over whispers without checking the truth. You're all animals. Stupid, brainless animals who can't even think for themselves. That is exactly what your little rumors have made me believe after everything I've seen so far."
"Hey! Don't insult us!" a bold hyena beastman yelled out from the middle of the crowd, his ears pinned back aggressively as he tried to rally the trembling crowd. "We have a right to fear the dragon gods!"
