5 Lines Tag Game - Tumblr Posts
5 lines tag game!
I was tagged by @cowboybrunch for this one, (here) thanks for the tag! I'll go with my WIP "Of Starlight and Beasts" for this one.
Your lines are: a line about fear, an adorable line, a line about taste, a line with an argument and a sarcastic/funny line.
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A line about clothes: (context: Nimwen's scarf helps her keep herself grounded after she and Corah are trapped in a cave after some misguided decisions, and they know next to nothing about each other . At this point in the story, Nim still thought they were enemies - and due to her less than ideal past experiences with knights, she was terrified, despite Corah trying to convince her otherwise.)
Silence seemed to eat at her, closing in the trapped, suffocating space of the small cave even more, but she still refused to answer, or even make eye contact with the other girl - Corah, she reminded herself, as an afterthought. A knight 'trying to help', she scoffed. What a stupid notion.
Nimwen's fingers numbly fiddled with the fraying edges of her soft red scarf, twisting and twirling the material, as if in an effort to focus on something else other than a swirl of emotions she was faced with right now. They'd be out of here soon - and that would be the end of it, surely.
This one knight seemed well-meaning, Nim figured. Trusting would be a risk that could pay off. Still, her thoughts could not help but wander years away, to sights of the executioner's blade, the sickening squelch of iron against bone, blood splashed at her feet and gown drenching the fine cloth as she was dragged away into the muted crowd, armored figures - the same radiant symbol on their chest plates - clanking to remove his headless body from the square. She closed her eyes and breathed.
The scarf. Her hand wrapped around it. She was still alive, she was still here - and the past was in the past. Scarlet would be here soon, and all they had to do was wait. And hope all knights were not like the ones in the square.
A funny line
"If that thing ate us, do you think we'd have a slow and painful death digested by the acids in its stomach as our skin melts off and our brains become jelly or would we just get torn apart limb from limb by its teeth first? I bet it's the first one." Masen tilts his head sideways, peeking beyond the rock at the giant, slithering serpent in the snowy chasm below.
The group turns their heads to him in unison, with a varied mix of equally uncomfortable expressions. Corah broke the silence, still whispering.
"I have a better question. Why are you like this?"
Before Masen could answer, his twin piped up, deadpan voice dripping sarcasm "Now you all know what I had to deal with. But can we get off this rocky death trap before the snake decides to turn brother dearest's daydreams into a reality?"
A line with fighting (Argument, not physical)
Eidan's hand trembled, and he closed it into a fist to hide it. His eyes pierced the nobleman's, seeing a mockery he knew all too well. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh yeah, enlighten me then, 'little hero'." The man sneered, looking around the crowded room as if expecting applause or confirmation, as the others erupted into whispers. "Or should I say, disgraceful nephew of a traitor?"
Eidan opened his mouth, then closed it. There it was, he noticed, the familiar burn of humiliation threatening to silence him, again. He knew this guy knew this too, if his seemingly victorious smirk was anything to go by.
There were laughs, and loud, barely hushed gasps. He urged to silence him, to scream and rage at the slight to his honorable family's name, but couldn't find the words to speak. His uncle was really a traitor - a drunken, shameful wretch who left behind nothing but sorrow in his wake. Eidan wished he could say differently, but the what little honor his name had was lost alongside the Duke and his family. His heart wanted to claw its way out of his chest and stop right there.
But finally, the last second, from the corner of his eye, he met Maryon's eyes amidst the crowd. He remembered their conversation, if barely, and managed to mumble out an answer.
"Trust me, I would." He started, at first shaky but slowly gaining confidence. "But not like this. You're not entitled to my past. Plus, now that I think of it, I guess your head is far too deep up your own arse to understand anything either way, you craven excuse for a lord."
"You impudent wretch -!"
The man moved to strike him, and Eidan didn't back away. Thankuly the great hall doors swung open, and a familiar figure clad in golden robes strode in. "You will stop, Lord Berwyl, if you value your neck." She ordered, and half of her personal guards already had their spears turned to the nobleman, who lowered his hand, albeit begrudgingly.
A line I'm proud of
"What is this place?" Corah looked around, brows furrowed. Her hand still rested idly at the handle of her sword - she'd never seen a city like this in any of their travels. It seemed at the same time lively and homely but also ghostly, like something lost in time, never to be found again.
Maryon turned towards her as she started to speak, but continued walking. "This is the underworld of a dead city that is fighting to be revived." She said, plainly. And that was a very accurate description.
All around them, the city - carved into the ground below what once was a beautiful sunlit kingdom - held traces of a past long since gone, but never quite buried or forgotten. Vast statues whose fine details had long since been brushed off by time peeked through makeshift buildings built out of old driftwood. Cramped marketplaces stood in what once was a city square. To the side, she could see the outline of an old temple repurposed as improvised and crowded house of healing. The past and the present, old and new, something of what was forgotten but never quite left.
Corah felt torn - at the same time, this was the hopeful reminder of what simple folk could accomplish by just working together, despite all hardships, but it was also a testament to the wounds her kingdom had accidentally inflicted on others through its inaction in the past. When Idraven fell into the curse and wars, her kingdom stood and watched - and the thought filled her with an anger she never thought she'd feel towards her kingdom's own royalty.
"If we want to venture further into the Crimson Queen's domain this is only the beginning. We need to find whoever runs this place, and quickly" Kyran spoke, suddenly standing at her side. Corah blinked.
She was about to say something in agreement, when Arammys' voice piped up from somewhere behind them. Corah realized that, in this underground's bustling maze, they hadn't paid enough attention as to where they were going.
"...I have a feeling it won't take much longer. Um, guys?"
When she whirled around, she understood what he meant. They didn't need to find the one in charge, because she had already found them. And whoever this young woman was, she didn't seem too happy to find out trespassers from another land had just discovered the hidden entrance to her city. Neither did the five heavily armed guards standing beside this woman, with crossbows aimed at Corah and the others, ready to shoot at a moments notice.
Corah looked at her friends, all frozen in place - their lives hanging in the balance of a stranger's decision. As Corah raised up her hands, in what she hoped was a placating gesture, the young woman stepped forward, though her soldiers remained at the ready.
"I believe there explanations in order, wouldn't you agree?" The young woman spoke. Now that she was closer, Corah could see that she wasn't much older than any of them, though her eyes look as icy as the storms of the Frosts, and her presence was as imposing as that of any battle worn general. Corah maintained her gaze. "You will follow me to my fortress, and there we shall decide your fate. Choose your words carefully - for they might weigh on whether or not I decide to kill any of you. It's a mercy I haven't already."
With that, she turned away and gestured for her soldiers, who moved in unison towards the gathered group, not so gently urging them to start walking in the chosen direction.
"Name's Leora Tallin, and no one gets into my city without my explicit permission. Consider yourselves 'unwelcome', for the time being. Shall we?"
Tagging (gently, no pressure): @agirlandherquill, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @littleladymab, @little-peril-stories, @illarian-rambling, @elshells, @winterandwords, @writernopal, @moonandris, @eccaiia, @i-can-even-burn-salad, @clairelsonao3, @thepeculiarbird, @steh-lar-uh-nuhs, @ybotter, @aalinaaaaaa, @autumnalwalker, @oh-no-another-idea, @cowboybrunch and OPEN TAG