Glory of the Nephilim

Chapter 7

Nevin snarled as he shifted to his true form. He seemed even more imposing than he ever had in Laend. He silently seemed to tuck me in against him as he stared straight ahead. The idea that I may have no power here hit me like a wall and I could've thrown up my breakfast at the thought. Nevin would be all on his own in the fight.

A hiss broke through the silence as the trees groaned. A wisp of wind rushed past us, nearly knocking me away from him. He stepped a bit to the left to keep me within the protection of his body. He turned those black sockets toward the canopy and said something in a language I'd never heard before. He repeated it three times.

"Annysu," a serpentine voice said from the treetops. Barely a hiss on its own. "Ulric rez."

"Fla," my husband replied.

He scooped me up, while backing up a good five feet. Something jumped from the canopy and landed in front of us with little more than the sound of air behind them. It was a woman – a female. She had to be about six feet tall with skin that matched the lilac shadows that had played over the trees. Her eyes were nothing but pools of turquoise, encircled by blackness. Her ears were pointed and went up past the top of her head by about a foot. Her azure hair was tight against her head and complimented her eyebrows, which followed her ears past her head. Her clothing was torn in places, but where it was intact, it looked to be green, almost fashioned after the forest she protected. She wore armor over her shoulders that resembled thorns. A long dagger rested against her right hip as she gripped a matching one in her left hand. The stones on the hilts matched her eyes and seemed to glow from within.

Oh, we were not in Laend anymore.

"Shygria," Nevin said. He'd spoken softly, but it wasn't void of the snarl that had been there before.

"Ulric rez," she hissed again.

"Ulric rez," he repeated, standing a bit taller.

He continued to speak, but I couldn't understand or even keep up. She seemed to listen to him intently, cocking her head to the side occasionally. He said something that had her tighten her grip on her weapon.

'I shouldn't have made you come back here,' I told him. 'I'm so sorry.'

"Lor Essir," he said, moving to reveal me. 'Don't worry, angel. She remembers me.'

'And that's supposed to make me not worry?' He chuckled into my mind, warming me a bit. 'She seems sad.'

'There are threats from nearby territories. She's tired.'

'What does ulric rez mean?'

He took a deep breath. 'Son of Ulric,' he said proudly.

'She remembers you from when your father brought you here?'

'We also grew up together, but she probably just remembers me as one of the passersby. She has been in this forest for too long.' I looked up at him to find him looking at her, almost as if he mourned her. He shook off the expression when he found me watching him. 'Shygria will take us out of here.' I must have looked confused because he added, 'She's not the only thing in these woods. She'll give us safe passage through them and on our trek back.'

We walked in silence for a long while. Nevin kept contact with me in one way or another the whole time. When one of us became too anxious, he'd pull me close to him and bury his face against my neck. Every now and then, he'd take a little too long with his destressing and Shygria would give a bit of a huff or tap her long, sharp nails against her daggers. He'd simply give me a peck on the forehead or the cheek and continue the walk, wrapping his arm around me or lacing his fingers through mine.