Ilonthreta practice blurb
"Dad...what did they do?" Ariah traced the scars on her father's arms, anger burning fiercely in her chest. She turned to the guard holding her father up and lunged at him, wrapping her hands around his throat, shaking him.
"What did you do to him you bastard?! Answer me!" She growled, tightening her grip on the man’s throat, her other hand inching towards the dagger in her boot. Red tinted her vision as she focused on the cowering form in front of her-
"Ariah-" she felt her father pull at her arms-" Ariah enough. Please,” her father rasped out, slowly dragging himself closer to his daughter. He couldn’t exactly hold himself up at the moment, the guard about to be strangled by his daughter was the only thing keeping him up. Syd tugged a little harder at his daughter's arms, shaking his head and tsking in disapproval at the knife halfway out of Ariah’s boot. He felt her arms relax a bit, but Ariah still maintained her grip on the guard's throat.
“Dad-”
“He-” Syd fell into a coughing fit, his throat still bruised from the long nights of screaming prior to his daughter's rescue. Immediately, Ariah shoved the guard aside and rushed over to her father, rolling him onto his side in an attempt to ease a bit of his discomfort. More irritation towards the guard swelled in Ariah’s chest seeing the sorry state her father’s in. Her attention returned to the guard who, for some odd reason, didn’t run or flee or anything. Hell, she wouldn’t be surprised if when she turned around there'd be a dagger at her throat. But no, the guard just stood there, dumbly staring at the father-daughter duo. Ariah snarled at him, raising her upper lip like an angered animal.
“And what exactly are you still doing here?” She asked above her fathers wheezing coughs. The guard shivered, but boldly approached her, arms raised in surrender.
“He’s badly wounded. There’s a town nearby that can care for him.”
Ariah narrowed her eyes at him.
“And why should I believe a damn word that comes out of your mouth?”
“Ariah-,” a wheeze, several painful coughs, deep breath-” he’s the one who...got me out.”
“Really?!” Ariah’s voice jumped up an octave, her facial expression transforming from hostility to surprise. Her eyes danced between her father, to the guard then back to her father. She huffed and crossed her arms.
“Fine, but only cause you’re all I got to work with.”
“I won’t disappoint miss.”
“You better not, I’m trusting my dad's life in your hands. Anything goes wrong-” Ariah pulled the knife out of her boot, twirled it, then aimed it between the guard’s eyes-” you’re done for. Get the picture?
“Yes, Ma’am!”
“Good, now help me carry my old man.”