“You recorded the interior of the van?”
“Knowing those thieves were parked right up the gully? Of course, I did.”
I gave him a quick look, wondering if it was “thieves” he’d hoped to catch footage of. Maybe he’d thought the monster would be out here and that the riders had been heading out to deal with it. And maybe his recording had less to do with getting me a language sample and more to do with catching that thing on video.
Simon plopped into the passenger seat without meeting my gaze and brought up the webcam software.
Temi looked at the woods, then climbed in and shut the door. “Can you drive, Delia?”
“Yes, if someone didn’t lose the keys in the river.” I poked Simon in the shoulder.
He was fast-forwarding through footage of the van’s interior. Without taking his focus from the screen, he fished the keys out of his pocket and handed them to me.
I didn’t get further than plugging the right one into the ignition when he said, “Ah ha!”
My curiosity got the best of me again, and I leaned over to watch. One figure in a black leather jacket hopped into the van, then the other followed. Jakatra carried the bundle Temi had mentioned. That did look like a sword hilt sticking out of the fabric wrapping. The camera had recorded the sound of them speaking, though it was hard to make out because they hadn’t been anywhere near the built-in microphone. But maybe with enough enhancement…
“What language is that?” Temi drew closer, tilting an ear toward the laptop.
“I haven’t figured it out yet,” I said, “but Simon’s going to save that video for me. With an mp3 of the audio, I bet I can find some language identification program out there to run it through.”
“Will do,” he said, his eyes still riveted to the playback.
The riders had gone directly to our storage cabinets, as if they knew exactly what they wanted. They must have taken the full tour on their previous visit. Eleriss pulled out a jug from under the sink.
“That’s my rust remover,” I said. “What do they think our van is? Their private dispensary of field supplies?”
“Well, we are following them around,” Temi said.
While Eleriss read the directions on the back of the bottle, Jakatra unwrapped his bundle. Temi’s guess had been right. It was a sword in an ornamental scabbard. Huh. I’d been expecting a much more advanced weapon for monster slaying, something more like whatever they’d used to burn that hole in the rock. I leaned closer, trying to make out some of the runes trailing down the side, but the scabbard must have been buried for a long time. Rust coated it, and age had worn down the etchings. Even if it were in pristine condition, I doubted I could have made out much at that distance.
Eleriss found a rag and applied some of the rust remover to the lip of the scabbard. It must have fused to the sword. A couple of minutes passed while they worked on the weapon. Eleriss glanced toward the camera-no, out the windshield behind it-a few times.
“That must be why they burned your rope,” Temi said. “They were worried we’d catch them here.”
I thought of the easy way Eleriss and Jakatra had kept us from escaping their hotel room. “I doubt they’re all that worried about us. Maybe they were concerned about something else out there, lurking in the trees. What do you think, Simon?”
His face didn’t give away anything, but there was a smirk in his tone when he said, “You never know.”
“Why would it be out here?” Temi asked, no hint of smirks or pleasure of any sort in her tone. Rather, it seemed to silently add, “And why would we be out here if we thought it would be?”
“Those two guys are linked to it somehow,” I said. “They can track it… and maybe it can track them.” I glanced at the closed windows-we hadn’t seen the riders roll them up, but that had to be coming. I wagered something more than mosquitos has prompted it. “Eleriss said they were looking for a way to kill the creature. What if that sword is it? And what if the monster knows and doesn’t want them to have it?”
“A sword?” Temi asked. “When police with rifles haven’t harmed it? And didn’t you shoot it with an arrow?”
“I shot at it. I’m still not sure I connected with it.” I wondered if Autumn had received my mail yet. Flagstaff was only a two-hour drive, so the post office should have delivered it in one night.
“Look.” Simon pointed at the screen.
Eleriss had lifted a hand, his head cocked. He rushed into the front seats, almost knocking the MacBook off the dashboard. He rolled up the windows. His comrade said something. As usual, the words meant nothing to me, but they sounded sarcastic.
They redoubled their efforts on the sword. Finally, they were able to pull it free.
“Whoa,” Simon mumbled when it came out of its scabbard.
Not only was the blade inside free of rust, but it was glowing silver.
“That’s… not normal,” Temi said.
“Uh, no,” I said. “Simon, got a Star Trek episode for this?”
“For glowing swords?” He shook his head. “I think we’ve moved out of science fiction and into RealmSaga.”
The silver illumination didn’t surprise Eleriss and Jakatra. They held the blade between them, touching and pointing and discussing. The sword was too far from the camera to make out any symbols or runes that might be running down its side-and the glow further obscured the details-but it was a long curving blade similar to a scimitar. But nothing about the design reminded me of the middle east where that type of sword had been popular with horse troops. Nothing about the design reminded me of anything. The back side of the blade had a handful of serrated teeth near the tip, not large enough that they should affect the balance of the blade, but they’d do some damage sinking into one’s flesh.
I groped for an explanation for glowing metal and couldn’t come up with anything besides radioactivity. Given that the sword had been in our van, I hoped that wasn’t the case.
“Just like that giant coin in their hotel room,” Simon said.
The disk had been glowing gold instead of silver, but maybe both items came from the same culture. Whatever that was. I’d never read about anything like this in my archaeology books. This was either brand new technology to go along with our genetically engineered or otherwise enhanced friends or… I rubbed the side of my head, not ready to accept the notion of aliens and alien technology on Earth. Eleriss wiped off the rust remover jug and returned it to the cupboard. At least he was a conscientious alien.
“There’s no such thing as magic, right?” Temi asked.
Simon cupped his chin and said, “Hm,” neither agreeing nor refuting.
“Enh,” I said, finding my new-technology and genetic engineering theories more plausible than magical swords. I didn’t follow the metallurgy world; for all I knew, there was a way to create luminescent alloys.
On the video playback, a shadow moved across the back window, and I jumped a foot.
The riders spun toward it. They barked a few words at each other, then Eleriss thrust the sword into Jakatra’s hands and pointed at the door. That surprised me, because I’d taken the sterner of the pair as the leader. The stream of vitriolic words that flowed from Jakatra’s mouth needed no translation, but he opened the door and jumped outside regardless.
A dark hulking form darted past a side window, moving with alarming speed for something so large. Though daylight remained outside the van, it had blurred by too quickly to distinguish details, and I had no better idea of what the monster looked like than I’d had before.
Thrashing noises came from one side of the video pickup. Even though this had happened a half hour ago, I found myself leaning forward, my fingernails curling into my palms, as if I expected to help somehow. I didn’t know if it was concern for the riders or concern over the notion that the creature had been right here, practically in our vehicle, but my heart was racing.