Seeing Samuel approach her, Arialla screamed again and danced back. "Don't -- I -- "
She'd spent her life in a small town where almost the entire population had grown up together, where a stranger could barely get two feet down the main street without the entire town hearing about it -- unless they came with ill purpose and actively tried to hide their arrival. Thus, meeting a man she'd never seen before instantly put Arialla on edge. Her mind did an automatic inventory of her valuables: her necklace, a talisman of Apollo, was the big one -- that and the young, healthy woman herself.
"Don't come any closer!" she managed, holding up a hand. "I'll have you know that I am personally blessed by Apollo, and harming me will bring his wrath upon you!"
It was a stupid thing to say, she realized even as she said it. She sounded desperate and scared and, worse, like a liar, even though it was true. Well -- the "personally blessed" part was true. She didn't know if Apollo would actually lift a finger to defend her. Gods were often more inclined to avenge their priests than to help them while they lived.
She'd spent her life in a small town where almost the entire population had grown up together, where a stranger could barely get two feet down the main street without the entire town hearing about it -- unless they came with ill purpose and actively tried to hide their arrival. Thus, meeting a man she'd never seen before instantly put Arialla on edge. Her mind did an automatic inventory of her valuables: her necklace, a talisman of Apollo, was the big one -- that and the young, healthy woman herself.
"Don't come any closer!" she managed, holding up a hand. "I'll have you know that I am personally blessed by Apollo, and harming me will bring his wrath upon you!"
It was a stupid thing to say, she realized even as she said it. She sounded desperate and scared and, worse, like a liar, even though it was true. Well -- the "personally blessed" part was true. She didn't know if Apollo would actually lift a finger to defend her. Gods were often more inclined to avenge their priests than to help them while they lived.
