Her heartbeat sped up at the gentle brush of his hand. “T-they tell all who look upon me what magics I have in my mastery. Around my eyes for that my senses may be enhanced. The feathers of a bird for that my magic is that of the deep forest and the wild lands.” Sigyn tried to breathe, closing her eyes against his touch. “And the colour of dusk for that my magic is also that of the shadows and the soft night.”
“Fascinating…” he whispered gently under his breath. He put his hand under her chin and softly lifted her head until she was looking at him. “They are beautiful, Sigyn… I have never seen anything like it…” He gave a warm smile that crumpled into a concerned frown when he heard the crashing noise coming from behind them.
He pushed himself up, careful to set Sigyn on her feet, and drew out his daggers. He placed himself between the line of trees and Sigyn and every muscle tensed as the bilgesnipe came plowing through the underbrush.
A hot flush of energy ran through Sigyn’s limbs. Instinctively, she snapped out a hand and called her bow, moon-bright with silver inlay and already strung taut. A swift glance told her that Loki had only daggers, with which he would have to approach far too close for safety.
“‘Ware, my lord!” she cried. She summoned an arrow and fired in one breath; the shot whirred past the bilgesnipe’s head.
Loki was shocked seeing the arrow fly at the animal’s head, he quickly recovered and threw both daggers. One pierced the beast’s eye and the other bounced off an antler. He cursed and summoned a ball of energy and whipped it with all his strength at the still advancing creature.
Sigyn summoned and fired at speed, two and then three arrows in the air at once. She hadn’t practised since she left Alfheim, but panic brought her old skill back, and the arrows marched down the beast’s flank, heading for its heart.
Still it came on, though, apparently unfazed. Casting her bow aside, Sigyn clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and called out to the forest around her. Vines slid down from the trees, grasses entangled the bilgesnipe’s hooves, and finally, finally the beast slowed.