Whispered Spells and Elvish Steel - an Anthology of Fantasy SD Shorts

Part 2 - A Familiar Feeling

It took a moment or two for Nuxana to lead them through the dense jungle and away from the waterfall to where she had a small camp set up in a clearing.  Modest and unimposing, it consisted of a couple of plain canvas tents, a single fire and a pile of supplies and belongings kept together by some sort of heavy netting.

Seeing Echo looking at the supplies and the netting in curiosity, the woman explained.

"We're quite a distance from any major European settlement here," she said.  "So I had to make sure I had enough supplies to last through my preparations to summon you and any effort we make afterwards.  So when the dirigible dropped me off, I had them also lower down supplies in a cargo net, to keep us stocked."

"Dirigible," he repeated, the unfamiliar word feeling awkward in his mouth.

"Ah, yes," she said with an apologetic smile.  "You're so real that sometimes I forget I summoned you from a long distant past."  She paused to put a thick book on top of the supply pile.  "The year is 1897 and Queen Victoria is monarch in the United Kingdom, my home.  She has overseen a good part of the empire's expansion, although there's unrest in South Africa and East India at the moment.  But I'm sure she'll sort that out shortly.  Science and industry has pushed aside much of our old foolishness, allowing us to see rapid advancements in many different fields, including natural science and steam technology.

Just then it began to rain and, closing his eyes along with his ears, Echo turned his face upward to let the warm drops splash against his face.  To feel rain on his face after a millennia of torment was ecstasy itself.  It was by that rain pouring out of the heavy, overcast sky and soaking him to the skin that Echo discovered that he wore simple clothing, homespun tunic and breeches, with sturdy boots on his feet.  The kind of clothing a farmer wore, not a warrior.

Still, the rain felt incredibly good on his skin, homespuns or not.  And he was going to enjoy it while he could, just in case this was just another torment about to turn terrible.

Nuxana, on the other hand, had obviously had enough of the rain.  Grumbling about how it made her hair frizzy and brought out the bugs, she quickly pulled up her cloak's hood and threw some oiled cloth over the book on the pile of supplies.

Echo continued to ignore her, soaking in the sensations brought by the rain instead.  That is, until he felt two additional presences enter the camp.

"Ah, Pedro, Rodrigez," Nuxana greeted the newcomers with a smile even as Echo opened his eyes to catch sight of them.  They were two rather compact fellows with swarthy skin and dark features.  They were carrying what appeared to be weapons of some sort, slung over the shoulders of their rain-soaked clothing as they stepped out of the encroaching jungle.

"Please tell me you got us something for supper!" Nuxana continued and the two, unshaven and somewhat belligerent as they stared at him, pulled their eyes off Echo to give the woman a quick look.

"Si, senora," the one said in the way of reply, his accented voice low and gravelly.  He then held up a pair of what looked like oversized rabbits without ears, tied together at the feet.

"A pair of young capybara.  Very good eating."

"Most excellent!" Nuxana declared with a smile.  It was then that she seemed to notice Echo standing a few feet away once again.

"Oh, where are my manners?  Echo Bardson, this is Pedro Guiterrez and Rodrigez Alba, my two guides.  And, incidentally enough, my bodyguards as well.  Pedro, Rodrigez, this is Echo.  He is the reason I'm in this godforsaken jungle!" She indicated the puzzled Viking with a gesture and a two pairs of dark eyes swung back onto him, measuring and calculating.

Bodyguards?  These two filthy little rats?  Why, he could cut through them without a moment's thought or hesitation!  So unless those things they carried on their shoulders were more powerful than they looked, they wouldn't be guarding anything.  Especially against a supernatural force set free from Alfheim.

Still, they were confidantes of his new patron, the Lady Nuxana.  And so Echo pasted a quick smile onto his face.

"Friends," he said with a nod of his head in the way of greeting.

"Senor," was his curt reply, both men continuing to look suspiciously at him.

"Well, well, what is this?" a soft voice said in a whisper that a quick look at Nuxana and the two bodyguards revealed was only in his ears.  "One of the old blood, a Yngling far from home.  So nice to see one of the old blood.  Pity you'll be dying here, in this damp, green place, Yngling."

Despite himself and the terrible things he had witnessed with his own eyes, Echo felt a chill slip sinuously up his spine.  It was a familiar feeling, one he had experienced many times on the battle field when looking upon a host far greater than his own.  And he let his hands ball into fists as very old habits began to assert themselves and adrenaline began pounding through his body in a cold wash of sensation.

"But of course you don't fear death, having experienced it once already.  You were a warrior, a champion in battle.  You long ago conquered your fear of the dark reaper.  But can you say the same for your new comrades, Echo Bardson?"

The one Nuxana named Rodrigez abruptly grunted, his eyes glazing as blood issued without warning from his mouth and nostrils.  Then he was toppling limply onto the ground, leaving his comrade staring in horror at him, the man dead without a mark on him.

"Matre Dios!" Pedro managed to stammer, making a cross sign over his breast.  Then Nuxana was pushing past him to fall to her knees beside the fallen man.  She reached out to press her fingers to his throat.  And just as quickly she grimaced and pulled them back.

"Dead," she said, looking up at Echo.  "Without a mark.  Just like the others."

"I'd say whatever haunts your bloodline has followed you here, Lady Nuxana," was Echo's blunt assessment even as he looked with narrowed eyes at the jungle that surrounded them.  "And it's willing to take more life, if this attack is any indication."

Pedro unslung the weapon from his shoulder and immediately twisted in a tight half circle with it pointed at the jungle.  His eyes were wide with fear.

"Where...where is it?" the man stammered, looking this way and that in the hopes of catching sight of the enemy.  And Echo frowned as he heard wild laughter echoing in his ears.

"Wherever it chooses to be, Pedro," he said grimly before looking over at Nuxana.  "This is a supernatural enemy, my lady.  If what Pedro holds in his hands is a weapon of some sort, I doubt very much it'll hurt whatever haunts you.  Do you have any other items from the barrow your husband opened?  Something that was laying close to the keystone, perhaps?"

Her face troubled, Nuxana nodded as she stood, leaving Pedro to deal with his dead comrade.  She quickly stepped to her pile of supplies and pulled out a number of cases.  Including one that was as long as Echo's arm, if not a bit longer, flat and rectangular.  That one Echo kept his eyes on, getting the feeling from it that it contained something that would be ultimately useful.

Sure enough, while the others contained various trinkets and items from the barrow that had some personal significance to their former owner, the long box contained an item that in Echo's opinion, was just what he had hoped for.

It was a sword.