Great Hunt: Völund

Upon catching wind of the monster spotted near Sommerang, Anjali left for the northern village immediately. After the attempt on Morgana’s life at the masquerade, the Sparkweaver had spent the weeks that followed absolutely restless. She stayed in Faline, despite feeling like the city was going to suffocate her. 

She stayed partially because she hoped the Foxfaced Assassin – as they were calling the culprit – was still lurking in the shadows and might be unlucky enough to cross Anjali’s path, and partially because the idea of returning to her observatory in the dead of winter still seemed like such a lonely idea. Though Jezebelle was busy with her own work for Sangre Marr, Anjali milked every second of alone time she got with the other woman.

Despite that, her restlessness persisted, and hunting after a corrupted mage seemed like a perfectly good outlet for that. And maybe, just maybe, she’d run into the assassin there. She tried not to get her hopes up too much, though. 

---

By the time she’d arrived in Sommerang, the Pyre had already passed by the little village. Thankfully, the fires hadn’t caused too much damage, and even the barn was probably salvageable. Strangely enough, the beast had apparently shown little interest in anything that wasn’t directly in its path. 

There were already plenty of other mages around to offer their support towards the recovery efforts, and so Anjali had gotten back on her horse and continued north, heading in the same direction as the monster. Given its size, it didn’t move very quickly, lumbering across the plains and leaving a blazing trail in its wake. Destructive though it was, at least it was easy to keep track of. 

Unfortunately, there was another village positioned directly in its path, and if the monster hadn’t veered off course yet, it didn’t seem likely that it would now. 

She pushed her horse as fast as the steed would carry her, and still worried that she may not make it in time. 

---

She did, but not by much.

The sun had already set when she passed through the village’s gates, and it seemed like evacuation efforts were already underway. The streets were shrouded in darkness, however, and there wasn’t a firelight not from the monster to be found. Apparently, the villagers were afraid of using torches to light their paths at the moment, which Anjali thought was fair, the situation at hand considered. 

It meant that she could put her magic to good use, though. She charged up an orb of light, and then split it into five separate, smaller orbs. They were sufficiently effective at illuminating a rather large radius around her, and the action was successful in drawing the attention of most of the villagers toward her. Naturally, the non-mages gravitated in the direction of her and her horse, like moths to a flame, though that seemed like a morbid comparison at the moment. 

With a fireless light to guide them, the panic rippling through the crowd eased a bit, though her horse still fed off of it, shuffling his hooves against the cobblestone and pinning his ears. 

Alongside a handful of other mages, Anjali lit a safe path away from the village, out of the monster’s path of destruction. Even if there was a small chance that the Pyre might miss the village, evacuation had been the far wiser choice. 

All that was left to do now was wait and see. 

She hated listening to the wails of distraught children and the quiet sobs of people who didn’t know if they were about to lose their entire livelihood. Not that she felt any particular variety of empathy, but because she had no idea how to be a comforting presence to them. She should probably say something, she thought, offering words of consolation or reassurance, but nothing came out of her mouth naturally, and she wasn’t about to force it. Instead, she sat stiffly atop her horse, watching the moving inferno in the distance. 

Oh, how she would rather be out there on the offensive, doing everything she could to wear away at the monster, slow it down or avert its course. 

Anjali knew that she was more important here this time around. Offering a literal light in the darkness to these people was a far more effective use of her time and magic, and she would grudgingly admit it, but only to herself.