Yeah, that's a defensive willingness to hack one of them up. Neither party can back away without presenting vulnerability. It gets her heart beating faster. Not looking back, Lashan sends thoughts to her younger Sisters.
:Marda, forget your sword and ready your sling. Pack mud.: The girl still flinches when closing with live steel. :Ilse, can you do anything with these birds?: "Yes, Sister," Ilse says from in back, having to raise her voice to be heard. The crows are making a racket as the girl contacts them with her animal-gift.
Lashan can't let any of her Sisters become a target, so to keep the young man's attention she spits on the ground, which is theater; both an obscenity and proof that her mouth hasn't dried in fear. Then, tension in her neck, she takes a risk - she turns her longsword and plants the point in the ground, almost in a dead man's armpit. Her hand stays on the hilt. It's not as clear a statement as sheathing it, she can get it back up and in play faster than if she'd done that.
"We're not here to slit throats or find slaves," she says. "If you want to play nice we can get that arrow out and stop the bleeding. If you don't then go away, or we'll see who outlives who."
no subject
:Marda, forget your sword and ready your sling. Pack mud.: The girl still flinches when closing with live steel. :Ilse, can you do anything with these birds?: "Yes, Sister," Ilse says from in back, having to raise her voice to be heard. The crows are making a racket as the girl contacts them with her animal-gift.
Lashan can't let any of her Sisters become a target, so to keep the young man's attention she spits on the ground, which is theater; both an obscenity and proof that her mouth hasn't dried in fear. Then, tension in her neck, she takes a risk - she turns her longsword and plants the point in the ground, almost in a dead man's armpit. Her hand stays on the hilt. It's not as clear a statement as sheathing it, she can get it back up and in play faster than if she'd done that.
"We're not here to slit throats or find slaves," she says. "If you want to play nice we can get that arrow out and stop the bleeding. If you don't then go away, or we'll see who outlives who."