Hymn of the Elder Gods

A Brief Rest

The song stretched on. Her fear had begun to subside, slightly, just enough that she could wrap her mind around what she needed to do next.

There wasn't much Eve still needed in the Toyota. Two bags - one for her tools, the other, her clothes. A third with some of the more valuable spell materials. Everything else could be replaced. She dragged them out, plastic rustling, leaving the remainder sitting in the trunk. Then she eyed the talismans. There were so many.

Why had she put so many of the blasted things on the car? She should have just thrown the lump of junk in the scrapyard at the first sign of engine failure.

Eve began with the most useful ones. First the four talismans that kept the wheels inflated. Then the one that kept the carburetor running. Then the one that kept the shell together. A clamoring sigh rose up above the music as the car sank down on its haunches, utterly useless.

"You," came a hostile voice, and anger sprang up inside of her again. One of the more heavy-set men - his burly, tear-stained face looming over her - slammed her back against the Yaris doors. The breath fled from her lungs. A punch landed on her stomach. Eve cried out anxiously, knowing that her control of the spell had faltered further at the pain when the other three attackers began to stir.

Then the immense weight of the man was yanked sideways by the collar. Samir pulled back with casual, confident strength, and slugged the man across the face.

"Get back in the car," Eve managed to say, voice high and panicked, stooping to grab the bags. Samir ignored her. Practiced, elegant movements, too smooth for how tall the man was. Two more hits across the face. One in the stomach - with more force than before. A sweep along the back of the knee, and the other man was on the floor. The blows continued without reprieve. "Samir," she said, flinching at a sound that was unmistakably something breaking. "Let's go."

Samir paused long enough to spit on the crumpled body, looking all at once just as calm and collected as before. Eve supposed it was somewhat cathartic to beat the shit out of someone that had wanted to kill you. His hands weren't even bruised as he took from Eve the bags she was holding and slunk back to the other car.

He was oddly quiet as she climbed in next to him. The final notes of the classical piece faded behind her as Eve shut the door.

"Box much?" Eve asked, craning her neck, peeling back out onto the road, much faster than before.

"Some," Samir nodded.

Behind them, the Toyota's headlight winked out for the final time and concealed the scene they'd left behind in total darkness.

-

She turned into some scrappy looking town once the storm caught up to them and it had begun to rain in earnest. Water sloshed over the roof of the car in thick rivulets that threatened to overwhelm the windshield wipers, and Eve took a moment to feel grateful they weren't in her old, beaten hunk of a vehicle. A gas station loomed ahead of them, red and orange amidst the dark.

"Pull over."

"What?" The sudden words had startled her, and she shot Samir a quick glance. He hadn't so much as turned to look in her direction for hours now.

"Pull over," Samir growled, and Eve made a soft affronted nose but did as he asked.

"I think a thank you is in order."

Samir shifted, turning to her with his palm out and his lips parted as though to retort, but after a moment, he only pressed his mouth together and sighed. "Phone."

"What?"

"You have a phone, I assume? I need to make a few calls." Eve gawked at him. Shameless. Still, she could only sigh, slapping the device - a plastic, sliding model - into his waiting hand, where it looked comically small.