Darkness lay heavy across the land by the time Lotte reached the crossroads, in full possession of wit and will, and with every intention of succeeding this night. The only light for miles around was the bright rays of the moon, dipping their fingers into the sparse, dried grasses, threading through the shadows of crooked fence posts that separated the roads from the wilds. She'd brought with her a long wooden staff, mostly useless for the task at hand except for the sigils she placed at each corner of the crossroad.
The idea had come to her earlier that evening, when she'd considered the logistics of pulling Alastor away from the procession and off of a moving beast. Nothing she could craft would have much hope of tricking the Queen of Hell or a demon of Alastor's ilk, but tricking a beast was a simpler task. The sigils were simple in design, just illusion really, and she had utilized them before to catch game on the rare occasions it wandered close to her little shack. The magic's only trick was to confuse the object's sense of direction, making them feel as though they'd been turned around. In the case of her hare's, attempting to correct the spell meant they usually ran directly into a waiting trap.
When she saw Alastor, she would activate it, and with any luck whatever creature he rode would pause long enough to try and correct its direction, giving her an opportunity to grab hold of it. She'd considered, instead, startling the whole procession, but it ran the risk of alarming the queen and having them all run off. This... this was her best bet. Unsophisticated magic that wouldn't even affect a creature more complex than a horse, unlikely to be noticed by anyone.
Once the sigils had been drawn, off the road, hidden from plain sight, all that was left to wait.
And wait she did, the desire in her burning hot and bright enough that she almost missed the chill that settled in the air as the temperature dropped.
The darkness seemed darker, the quiet of the night quieter, before finally there came the soft dusting of hooves against the dirt road.
Lotte peeked out from her hiding place, behind a mangled patch of tumbleweed caught onto several half bent fence posts. She'd chosen her dress wisely, once a pretty marigold color, it had been sun-drenched and so washed out by dust that it blended into the pale sand and dirt.
Her fingers, already tinged black from the magic rippling through her along with her own adrenaline, sunk into the dirt, readying herself for the moment the procession came into view.
The prickling at her neck told her well enough that she was witnessing something humans were not meant to see, but it didn't take much lingering to find Alastor, not quite at the Queen's side but lingering just behind. He was dressed in all black, but it did nothing to disguise the subtle, ruddy glow that always seemed to cling to his form. Seeing him again, more solid and present in this world than she ever had, steeled her nerve and when the moment came, and the large, spectral horse he rode stepped into the crossroads, she activated the sigils.
As expected, it balked, whipping its massive head around as it tried to regain its bearings. Lotte sprung from her little den and as the horse righted itself, and grabbed hold of the reins. She yanked its head down with all her strength, eyes meeting Alastor's over its mane only a moment before she reached up and grasped his arm. He came unseated easily, though she couldn't be sure if it was his own subtle assistance or if the horse had made him unstable, but it mattered not. She made enough of a show of grabbing his arm, and then his other wrist and dragging him from the horse so fiercely that they both toppled into the dirt harder than even she'd expected.
But never once did she release him from her grasp, as she scrambled up to kneel on the road, fingers clamped as tightly as she could manage around Alastor's wrists, she peered up at the Queen, who had turned to them now, and sucked in a breath before asserting her claim.
"Your majesty, I have come to claim Alastor for my own." She exhaled, pushing her shoulders back and sticking her chin up. "I will not leave these crossroads without him."
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Darkness lay heavy across the land by the time Lotte reached the crossroads, in full possession of wit and will, and with every intention of succeeding this night. The only light for miles around was the bright rays of the moon, dipping their fingers into the sparse, dried grasses, threading through the shadows of crooked fence posts that separated the roads from the wilds. She'd brought with her a long wooden staff, mostly useless for the task at hand except for the sigils she placed at each corner of the crossroad.
The idea had come to her earlier that evening, when she'd considered the logistics of pulling Alastor away from the procession and off of a moving beast. Nothing she could craft would have much hope of tricking the Queen of Hell or a demon of Alastor's ilk, but tricking a beast was a simpler task. The sigils were simple in design, just illusion really, and she had utilized them before to catch game on the rare occasions it wandered close to her little shack. The magic's only trick was to confuse the object's sense of direction, making them feel as though they'd been turned around. In the case of her hare's, attempting to correct the spell meant they usually ran directly into a waiting trap.
When she saw Alastor, she would activate it, and with any luck whatever creature he rode would pause long enough to try and correct its direction, giving her an opportunity to grab hold of it. She'd considered, instead, startling the whole procession, but it ran the risk of alarming the queen and having them all run off. This... this was her best bet. Unsophisticated magic that wouldn't even affect a creature more complex than a horse, unlikely to be noticed by anyone.
Once the sigils had been drawn, off the road, hidden from plain sight, all that was left to wait.
And wait she did, the desire in her burning hot and bright enough that she almost missed the chill that settled in the air as the temperature dropped.
The darkness seemed darker, the quiet of the night quieter, before finally there came the soft dusting of hooves against the dirt road.
Lotte peeked out from her hiding place, behind a mangled patch of tumbleweed caught onto several half bent fence posts. She'd chosen her dress wisely, once a pretty marigold color, it had been sun-drenched and so washed out by dust that it blended into the pale sand and dirt.
Her fingers, already tinged black from the magic rippling through her along with her own adrenaline, sunk into the dirt, readying herself for the moment the procession came into view.
The prickling at her neck told her well enough that she was witnessing something humans were not meant to see, but it didn't take much lingering to find Alastor, not quite at the Queen's side but lingering just behind. He was dressed in all black, but it did nothing to disguise the subtle, ruddy glow that always seemed to cling to his form. Seeing him again, more solid and present in this world than she ever had, steeled her nerve and when the moment came, and the large, spectral horse he rode stepped into the crossroads, she activated the sigils.
As expected, it balked, whipping its massive head around as it tried to regain its bearings. Lotte sprung from her little den and as the horse righted itself, and grabbed hold of the reins. She yanked its head down with all her strength, eyes meeting Alastor's over its mane only a moment before she reached up and grasped his arm. He came unseated easily, though she couldn't be sure if it was his own subtle assistance or if the horse had made him unstable, but it mattered not. She made enough of a show of grabbing his arm, and then his other wrist and dragging him from the horse so fiercely that they both toppled into the dirt harder than even she'd expected.
But never once did she release him from her grasp, as she scrambled up to kneel on the road, fingers clamped as tightly as she could manage around Alastor's wrists, she peered up at the Queen, who had turned to them now, and sucked in a breath before asserting her claim.
"Your majesty, I have come to claim Alastor for my own." She exhaled, pushing her shoulders back and sticking her chin up. "I will not leave these crossroads without him."