Month: February 2013

Avalon 2.4: One Side of the Coin

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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            Roughly 5715 years in the past and 97 time zones from home, the travelers try to avoid interaction with the locals, and especially violence that might leave a mark on the future, but when two young girls invade their camp and ask for help against the “bad men,” what can they do?

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            Roland moved out into the dark.  He had the speed, eyes and ears, but was willing to admit in this situation he would not have minded Captain Decker’s help.  Fortunately, they were far enough from the Black Sea to not have the air filled with salt and sea breezes.  He had no dwarf’s nose.  He had to get clear of the cooking fire to pick up anything at all, even anything as smelly as unwashed human males.

            It turned out the men, a dozen, were not hard to find, and not far away.  They had seen the fire in the distance and stopped only to argue about whose fire it might be.  They feared it belonged to what they called the women, and Roland understood they were not talking about the girls in the camp.

            “That blind one gives me the creeps,” one man said.

            “We should kill it,” another suggested.

            “No,” a third protested.  “It may be useful, if properly broken, like a good horse.”

            Roland left them to argue, but he knew they would be along soon enough.  He went back and told the others and they set something of a trap.  The horses were moved to the other side of the clearing in which they camped.  The men backed away from the fire so they would be hidden by the dark.  Boston, Katie and the girls stayed by the fire and talked.  They were the bait. 

            Boston fingered her Beretta.  Katie had her pistol and her army knife just in case.  An escape route had also been planned in case they had to run.  It was where they could get to safety without running across anyone’s line of fire.  And so they waited.

            Lockhart whispered to Lincoln.  “It’s damn cold out here.  After the last time zone I thought I might never say that again.”  Lincoln said nothing, and Lockhart guessed he was still thinking about Alexis

            “It is chilly,” Roland answered for them all as he moved closer to the Gott-Druk to give his arrows the widest possible angle.  Lockhart looked at Elder Stow, but then Lincoln did say something.

            “He has on a space suit.  Even the vacuum of space would not feel cold to him.”

            “Oh,” Lockhart responded before he fell silent.

            It seemed an eternity, but it was less than fifteen minutes before the men came to the clearing.  Only four walked into the light at first, but Lockhart could make out the outline of the others fairly well.  They were clearly not soldiers.

            “You might as well all step into the light.” Katie, who was a Marine, faced the men and spoke before the men could speak.  The men were too busy trying to look intimidating.  “We were beginning to think you would not get here.”

            “Amazon,” the front man, a big, ugly bald headed man spoke up.  “Give us the girls and we will leave in peace.”

            “Why?”  Boston stood beside Katie which hid Amira and Chloe behind her.  She fingered her Beretta while Katie had her pistol still holstered.

            The man looked like he felt he should not have to explain himself.  “Because, they belong to us and to our village.”

            “All people belong to themselves,” Katie countered.  “Maybe they quit your village.”

            The man looked flummoxed.  “You can’t quit your village.”

            “Maybe they just don’t like you,” Boston suggested.

            “Maybe we will just take them,” the man countered.  “You are two.  We are ten.”

            “Do you think we are the only two here?  Count our tents.  You can count?” Katie asked.

            “Roland.”  Boston called and an arrow sped through the dark and landed perfectly between the man’s feet.  He jumped back, and several others at the edge of the firelight stepped back as well.

            “We are more than two,” Katie took a step forward.  “Chloe and Amira will stay with us.  You would be wise to leave now while you can.”

            The men thought about it, looked at each other and jumped for the girls.  One grabbed Chloe’s hand while she was getting up to escort Amira to safety.  Boston took Amira.  Katie kicked that man in the gut hard enough to bowl over the two behind him, and Chloe was free.  A second man swung a club at Katie’s face, but she ducked, pulled her knife and cut that man across his cheek.  Her bullet discouraged another as she grabbed for Chloe and the guns started to go off around her.

            Chloe just stood there and watched, mesmerized.  As a man tried to grab her, she kicked as Katie had.  That man also flew back to knock over several others.  Then Katie caught Chloe and they were swallowed up by the dark.  A few men fell to the gunfire, but most of them turned and ran when they saw the blood pouring from their comrades and neighbors.

            “I thought you said they were afraid of the women?”  Boston was not exactly yelling at Roland, but she was certainly expressing her fear.

            “It was a calculated risk,” Lockhart said as he stepped into the light to check on the fallen men.  “Double watch tonight.  Roland and Boston first.  I’ll wait while Roland sweeps the area.  I want to be sure they are gone.  Katie and I will take the dark of the night.  Lincoln, do you mind watching with Elder Stow?”

            Lincoln glanced at the Gott-Druk.  “That would be fine,” he said.  He was not getting adjusted to working with the Neanderthal, he confessed privately.  He would just rather see it coming when the Gott-Druk turned on them.

            “And I should watch?”  Elder Stow sounded surprised.

            “Of course,” Lockhart said.  “It is your life too, if they come back.”

            “Thank you,” Elder Stow said, and no one wanted to ask why he should be grateful.

            Meanwhile, there were three dead men around the fire and two wounded. One man caught a bullet in the shoulder, but it went clean through.  They patched him.  They also bandaged the one who had a bullet crease his thigh.  They could walk, well one limped with help.  Lockhart only told them one thing.

            “Don’t come back.”

            When Roland returned and reported that the rest of the men were still running, He, Lockhart and Lincoln dragged the dead a good distance from the camp where they might be found by the fleeing men.  If those men came back, the sight of their dead might deter them.  Then again, it was only right they should be able to bury their own dead.

            All this time, Chloe hung on Katie’s elbow.  “Would you teach me to fight?  That is a magic knife.  What kind of weapons were those you were using.”  Katie expected the words awesome and wicked to escape the girl’s mouth any minute.  Finally, she sat the girl down beside Boston who cried because of the dead.  Then she spoke.

            “Every human life is precious.  Where would you be if your parents decided to kill Amira when she was born simply because she was born blind?  We protected you because your lives are precious.  So far, that has cost three lives and wounded two others.  Are you worth that?  Are your two lives worth the lives of three others?  Think about that.”  She went to finish setting up Decker’s tent which they decided would do for the girls in the night.  Chloe did think about it, and listened when Elder Stow spoke to Boston.

            “Did you cry like that when you killed my children?”

            “Actually, yes, a little.” Boston answered.  It was impossible to tell what the Gott-Druk thought about that answer, but then Roland, Lockhart and Lincoln came back, and Amira, who had been exceptionally quiet all that time spoke up.

            “I shall sleep very well tonight,” she said.  “And thank you very much for saving us.”

            “Yes, thanks.” Chloe echoed.  She was still thinking about her price.  The village men might have sold her for a cow.  Now three of them were dead instead.

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Avalon 2.4:  The Other Side of the Coin … Next Time

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Avalon 2.4: Amazon

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

 

After 3735 BC near the Black Sea.  Kairos: Zoe, the Amazon Queen

 

Recording… 

            “Chloe, over here.  This way is safe.”  The nine-year-old tugged on her twelve-year-old sister’s hand.

            “Amira, hush.  They will hear you,” Chloe said, but she followed in Amira’s intended direction though Amira was blind.

            “Chloe, what do you see?”

            “Nothing.  It is only dark night.”

            “Not see with your eyes, silly.  I mean what do you feel?”

            Chloe wrinkled her nose at her sister.  Amira asked questions like that knowing full well that Chloe had no such gift.  Only Amira could see things in the dark as easily as the light.  Only Amira had the eyes to see inside people to know their true heart, though she had no eyes to see at all.  Only Amira felt things like that, sometimes even glimpses of the future.  Chloe was just an ordinary girl with ordinary eyes, but Amira asked anyway.

            “I feel fear,” Chloe said.  “We lost the men in the dark, but they have not given up.  We must not stop.  We have to keep moving.”

            “Not behind, silly.  What do you feel ahead of us?”

            Chloe looked back before she made an effort to look ahead.  She saw or felt nothing in particular but more forest and treacherous little ridges like the one they were on.  They were ridges that would surely injure them in the dark if Chloe was not careful.

            “I’m sorry.  I see only dark, now can we move?”

            “Oh, Chloe.  You hardly try,” Amira scolded her big sister.  “I feel a warm fire and good people who will help us against the dark and the bad men.  I can smell the deer cooking and a treat of grain, elf grown grain made delicious.”

            “By magic, I am sure.”  Chloe looked back once more and strained her ears.

            “They are true people of power.  We must go to them.  They will protect us,” Amira said, and Chloe caught her blind sister before she stepped off the ridge and tumbled and fell twenty feet to the forest floor.  There was an easier way down if Chloe was careful.

            It was not long before Chloe caught a glimpse of the camp fire through the trees, and not much longer before she smelled the roasting meat.  Her stomach grumbled, but it only made Amira laugh.  “But can we trust these people?”  Chloe had to ask.

            “We must,” Amira answered with a knowing smile, and in the end she was the one who dragged her sister into the camp without so much as a “Hello, may we join you?”

            The travelers were surprised, but hardly knew what to do as the two young women walked right into their midst.  The young one had her older sister by the hand and pulled her right up to Katie Harper where she made the introductions.

            “Chloe, this is the second elected one in all the world, and now you are the third.  You must listen to what she says in the short time you have.  Listen to her and her man, for they are wise beyond our years.  Sit.” And the younger one made a reluctant Chloe sit beside Katie.  “My name is Amira, and we are very hungry.”

            Roland, Lincoln and Elder Stow all leapt for the deer to cut pieces to share.  Boston went for the girl and found a place for her to sit.  As she did, she looked close, waved her hand to be sure and then turned to Lockhart with a surprising pronouncement.  “She is blind.”

            “She has always been blind,” Chloe said quickly.  “But she sees better and more than most.”

            “My name is Katie and this is Robert,” Katie said.

            “Lockhart,” he said of himself.

            Chloe nodded, but looked suddenly shy and was glad when Lincoln handed her a piece of meat and some bread.  Chloe touched the bread.  She sniffed it.  “Grain of the elves,” she named it.

            “Yes,” Katie responded.  “How did you know?”

            “Amira told me before we even found your fire.”  She looked at her sister and ate hungrily.  Amira was right about that, too.  They were starving.

            Amira also ate, but more slowly.  It was like she was too busy sensing other things to eat too quickly.  She spoke between bites.  “Elder and elf, please do not frighten my sister.”  She shook her finger at the two before she took another bite, but that only brought something else to mind.

            “Elder Stow and Roland,” Boston managed to say.  “I am Boston and the other man is Lincoln.”

            “Lincoln!” Amira spoke too loud before she turned again toward the elf.  “No, Roland, your sister is remembering, I think.  She disguised herself like an elf the way you disguised yourself like a person.  No one will bother her or her father.”

            “Are they near?”  Lincoln jumped into the conversation.

            “I do not know,” Amira said as she thought about it.  “I cannot judge near and far well at all.  Everything I see seems near to me.”

            Boston turned to face the girl.  “You are what, eleven?  Twelve?”

            “I’m twelve,” Chloe said.  She was beginning to fill up and so inclined to relax a little.  “Amira is only nine.”

            “I bet I can guess how old you are,” Amira said.

            “Don’t bet,” Chloe said.  “Amira only says that when she already knows the answer.”

            Amira stuck out her tongue  in her sister’s direction and lifted her hand to touch Boston on the face.  She touched.  Looked worried.  Touched again.  “Stop it,” she yelled.  “Your age won’t keep still.  I don’t understand.”  The poor girl got upset.

            “That is because I was twenty-five, and then about twenty two or so and then I got very old just recently, only now I get to be young again.  I don’t even know how old I am.”

            “Nineteen?” Lincoln guessed.

            “I would guess closer to eighteen,” Roland countered.  Boston just shrugged.

            “Oh, I see,” Amira started to say something, but then all she could do was say, “I see, oh I see.”  She got really upset and Chloe stood, but Boston hugged the girl and said it would be alright and hush, so Chloe sat down again.  “Angel,” Amira said and cried.  Boston handled it well, almost as well as Alexis might have handled it.

            “So what did she mean, elected?”  Katie asked.

            Chloe shrugged and did not give her full attention until she knew Amira was going to be alright.

            “Better question,” Lockhart interrupted.  “Why were you two girls out in the woods at night alone?”

            “We were running away,” Chloe spoke with some surprise.  “I thought you would know.”

            Katie and Lockhart shook their heads and the others perked up their ears. 

            “Yes.  Mother was killed and the bad men want to sell us, except Amira they might keep or just kill because of her eyes, you know.”

            No one needed to hear anymore.  Lockhart got his shotgun, Katie her rifle.  Lincoln had Decker’s rifle near and checked his pistol.  Boston had her hands full, but Roland eyed his stock of arrows before he checked his blades.  Elder Stow pulled out his sonic device and shrugged.  It was not much on flesh, but it might do in a pinch.

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Avalon 2.4:  One Side of the Coin … Next Time

 

Storyteller About: A New Beginning.

M G Kizzia 2 Comments

            I tasted death.  A series of mini-strokes on December 30, 2012, four days in the hospital, buckets of cost later and I am not the same.  We only have so much time, and I have so much to do.

            I was born a storyteller.  By the time I was six and beginning to read and write, my imagination overflowed with other worlds and other times.  I discovered the greatest story ever told and it captured my heart.  Story became my way of expressing myself and to both explore and understand the world.  If I had been born in a tribal society I would have had an honored seat at the campfire, but by 1960 my world had already lost the time, patience and interest in tales of the imagination.  Movies were spewing out stories with an overabundance of romance or for the special effects and a chance to blow things up.  Nothing was to be gained by those.

            By the time I reached sixth grade, I was scribbling ideas, notes and drawings, tales of the imagination, and found I was drawn to adventures such as boys used to love.  Verne, Wells, Haggard, Stevenson, yes Dickens and Twain.  Of course I loved Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams and really all of the Inklings.  I searched the deep past and found Homer, Virgil, Beowulf, Bunyan and Swift and discovered that Oz, Never Land, Wonderland and The Back of the North Wind were never far away.  I found the writers of the Golden age of Science Fiction, E. E. Doc Smith and the rest, and writers of my own early age from Addams to Zelazny – too many to count.  These sustained me in the wilderness, and the wilderness is where I went after high school.

            I had boxes, files and an entire desk full of ideas, with some stories, some book beginnings and a play or two.  I was the boy, ready to start my adventure.  If just one person believed in me and my stories, the whole universe might have turned in a different direction.  But no.  The enormous pressure to do college, to find work, to have a family and then die was upon me, and I did not have the backbone to follow my heart.  I spent most of the last 40 years in some position or other where I could tell stories and express my tales of truth and glory, but my time belonged to others, to the grind that ate life and to the silent tears that cried out, “This is not what I am supposed to be doing with my life.”  If I say I wasted the last 40 years in the wilderness I would not be lying.

            Then I tasted death.  I am near 60 and on more medication than I can name, but the stories have not gone away.  They have strengthened to where now I no longer have the will to escape the words.  I have no doubt I will write furiously until I die and still not get all of the stories written.

            Somewhere in my wilderness years publishers invented a new category of fiction: (middle-grade)/Young Adult.  But this fine idea has been taken over presently by sparkly romances and the Princess collection because young women read.  The heroine saves the city, the world, the universe in a thin plot whose main purpose is to bring two people together so they can fall in love.  I am sure there are plenty of young women who enjoy reading what Paganini would call variations on a theme. 

            At the same time, I have heard over and over that young men don’t read.  The back of my mind screams Potter, Unfortunate Events, Olympians, but the front of my mind says it is not worth arguing with agents and publishers that there is still a market for the likes of Robert Heinlein, James Blish or John Brunner.  I don’t have ten years to devote to such arguments and nonsense.  What?  So I can see something in print when I am 70?

            Instead, we have all gone digital.  So will I.  I can start putting stories up for E-readers and POD books and maybe audio books fairly quickly.  My sons are talking about the possibility of reworking the Avalon series into comic book form.  We will build a website, do some book promotions on film for YouTube, and probably participate in giveaways through Amazon Select.  Of course, if you actually buy the works I will be grateful.  My life has not exactly been one to include much money or much success.  Perhaps because my heart was not in it.  But let me be clear: my job is not to get lost in social media and dubious promotions.  My job to get as many of these stories finished as possible before I die. 

            I will do my best to keep you up-to-date as time slides by. 

            Meanwhile, on this blog I am going to start posting Avalon, season 2 as a Monday, Wednesday, Friday post.  God willing I won’t suffer a relapse or be that one-in-three who suffers a massive stroke and becomes completely incapacitated.  If you are so inclined, pray for me.  I am finally doing what I am supposed to be doing with my life.  Let us hope there are still enough years to do it.

— Michael

Avalon 2.3: Here Comes the Sun

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            The rest of the crew got up slowly.  Just being near Ameratsu, even dampened as she was, it was like sitting before a roaring fire with sub-zero temperatures behind them.

            Everyone went for the horses.  Lincoln brought up two and Elder Stow, temporarily finished with his cry, mounted without having to be told.

            “But what are these magnificent beasts?”  Ameratsu looked to Kim for the answer, but Katie spoke.

            “Horses.”

            “And you ride upon them?”  Katie nodded, and Ameratsu turned to Kim in earnest.  “May I have a horse?  Please, may I?”

            Kim took a deep breath and spoke to his beloved.  “My love, as hard as it may be for you, you must understand that sometimes the answer will be no.”

            Ameratsu lost her radiant smile and it broke everyone’s heart to see it, though they also saw her lift determination to her face.  She faced Kim and lowered her eyes.  “You are my husband.  I understand.”  The words were heart wrenching to hear.  Any one of the travelers would have gladly given their horse then and there.  They all wondered how Kim could be so heartless.  Then Kim spoke.

            “But in this case, I think maybe a pony, yes?  Would you like a pony?”

            “Oh, yes, yes!”  Ameratsu clearly grabbed the notion of a pony out of someone’s mind, and she practically tackled Kim and almost smothered him with kisses.  Everyone had to wait, but no one really minded.

            “But first we get to safety,” Kim spoke again when he could, and Ameratsu pulled herself together and nodded.

            “Better if we had some light for the journey, Lord.”  Roland spoke up.

            “I believe we do,” Boston said.  She pointed to the unicorn in the distance who appeared to be waiting, patiently.

            “Good-bye, friends,” Ameratsu shouted back from some distance.  “I will remember you.”

            “And you,” they all returned the sentiment, though by then they were already too far away to be heard.  They followed the unicorn which went perfectly the way Boston’s amulet pointed, and without any prompting.

            The journey in the dark was as quiet as it was cold, but their way was safe and unwavering as the unicorn led them by a true and easy path.  By the time they stopped for supper, the snow had started to fall once again, and this time it came with ice.  Breath from people and horses came in great white puffs which by then were seen in the lamplight.  Katie spoke quietly as they dismounted and started a fire, Elder Stow’s sonic device being an excellent tool for that job.

            “Will they make it?”  Katie looked back as she talked to Lockhart.

            “They must,” he answered.  “I don’t recall the far east in our day being shrouded in eternal darkness.”

            Katie nodded.  She had to work on putting two and two together.

            As they mounted, Lincoln had a thought about Elder Stow.  The Gott-Druk was still dressed only in his orange jumpsuit, but did not complain.

            “Are you warm enough?”  Lincoln asked.  He was thinking the Neanderthal probably had a higher tolerance for the cold.

            Elder Stow patted his jumpsuit.  “With a helmet and gloves, this suit is designed to take the sub-zero temperatures of space.”  Lincoln nodded and thought of course, he should have guessed.  Elder Stow just added one more thought.  “I wouldn’t mind having the helmet and gloves though.”

            They traveled all through the night and did not stop again until it was after five in the morning.  The horses were exhausted and needed the stop.  The people were exhausted as well, and Lockhart feared they might have to find a shelter or a cave to survive.  The cold was becoming dangerous, even with their fairy weave clothes as thick and warm and they could be.

            Boston was the one who noticed.  “Turn off the lamps.  Please.”  She sounded excited, and though the others thought various forms of wishful thinking, they obliged.  They were wishing for the same thing.  To everyone’s surprise, they could see each other better than expected.  They looked back the way they had come.  There was the least perceptible lightening on the horizon.  Boston checked.  The unicorn was nowhere to be seen.  The sun was going to rise.

            “Thank God they made it,” Katie said.

            “They had to,” Lockhart agreed.

            It was less than an hour from their encampment to the time gate.  Sun or no sun, it was still bitter cold and would take hours if not days to warm up again.  Moving into the next time zone was the only real option, and they did that with the hope that the next place would be warm and they could find a place to pitch a camp.  Lockhart knew they all needed a day off.  They would rest that day and night and start out the following morning, if they could.

            Katie and Lockhart were the last in line and Katie only ventured one brief look back before they left that world. 

            “I hope the Bokarus froze its butt off,” Lockhart quipped.

            “I hope Bob is alright,” Katie said.

            “Bob?”

            “The wolfman.”

            “You named the werewolf?” and they went through the gate.

 

Avalon 2.3: A Heated Tale

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            Kim sat down beside Ameratsu.  “But so much beauty.  So much beauty.”  That seemed all she could say about the angel.

            “You are beauty itself,” Kim told her and looked around.  Elder Stow was in tears and Kim had no desire to interrupt the Gott-Druk.  Roland and Boston were also crying and hugging and kissing.  But Lockhart, Lincoln and Katie seemed to be paying attention. 

            “You are beautiful,” Lincoln said.  “So much I can hardly look at you.”  Lockhart and Katie agreed as they sat to face the couple.

            “I think she is hot,” Kim said.

            “I know I am hot,” Ameratsu responded.  “I can’t help it.”  Kim just smiled while Katie spoke.

            “It means he thinks you are sexy.”

            Ameratsu looked at the woman and her eyes went wide.  Her face turned red and she covered her face with her hands, but they all felt the heat, like getting a bit close to a lava flow.

            “That is a good thing,” Katie suggested, and Ameratsu leaned forward, but she was clearly not used to whispering.

            “I think he is hot, too,” she said loud enough for all to hear.

            “You are rather young, aren’t you?” Lincoln guessed.

            Ameratsu insisted on speaking to Katie.  “He calls me his baby.  I thought he wanted a baby.”

            “A term of endearment,” Katie explained, and then went way out on a limb.  “Maybe you should give him one.”

            Ameratsu buried her face in her hands and her face turned scarlet.  The heat from that caused the other three to back away.  “Maybe more than one,” Ameratsu said in more of a true whisper and just the smallest glance at her husband.

            “Yes, but first we have to get you to safety in the land of the rising sun,” Kim said as he slipped his arm around her shoulder.  Ameratsu responded by snuggling into his shoulder and she looked up at his face with nothing but love in her eyes.

            Lockhart was thinking.  “Couldn’t you take her to Avalon and come back to earth at your chosen destination?”

            Kim shook his head.  “Against the law, mine I think.  I mean, we could do that but I would not dare take her out of this world.  Even a few minutes and I fear the whole world would become a block of ice.  It is cold, and will get colder for you when we move south and you go north, but even with Susanu’s friends dampening her spirit, she provides more warmth for this world than you know.”

            “But that was your light and heat used against the kraken, not hers.” Lincoln protested. 

            “A little bit shared from her, and good thing I was the one.  If she let herself out, even just a little, everything and everyone would be instant cinders for miles around.  She is a full grown woman, but still young as you said.”

            “How did you two meet?”  Katie interrupted, changed the subject, and Ameratsu smiled and responded.

            “I was hiding.  My brother was mean to me and I did not want the others to see me cry.  I was content to stay in my cave, but after a time I heard the most wonderful sounds.  Joy was dancing on a tub and everyone was clapping and singing.  I just had to see.  When I poked my head out from the cave I caught sight of the most lovely woman ever seen, and beside her was a lovely man, a mortal man, and he was blaspheming.  I wondered why this was.  I had to ask him.”

            Kim interrupted, and spoke in English so the villagers could not understand what he said.  He knew Ameratsu’s tale would be passed on from generation to generation, but there were some things the people did not need to know.  “Actually what I said was, “Now I have seen the most beautiful creature on God’s green earth.”  You see, the gods don’t call the source by the G-word.  You might as well learn that now before you go further in your journey.  Some of the high ones get violent at the mention of the Most High, if you know what I mean.”

            “But how did you come to be there?”  Lincoln asked.

            “The gods panicked.”  Kim waved at the darkness that surrounded them.  “This is not the first time the sun has failed to rise.  Once upon a time, the sun sat in a cave unhappy and alone.”

            “But I am happy now,” Ameratsu practiced her English as she took Kim’s arm.

            “Anyway, they sought me out believing I might have an idea of what to do.”

            “Wait,” Lockhart had a question.  “Who was that other woman?”

            “No other woman,” Ameratsu said with a big grin.

            “I made a brass mirror.  That was not easy in this age.  But Ameratsu saw her own reflection and was enchanted.”

            “By the one beside my reflection.” Ameratsu insisted.

            “Yes, well.  She came up close and I turned away.  I told her my mortal eyes were not made for such dazzling light and while I wanted to give her a gift, it might mean I would have to touch her and my mortal flesh was not made for the warmth of her beautiful heart.  I said, share just the smallest bit of your spirit with me and I will gladly give my gift.”

            “And I did.”

            “And I took her and kissed her.”

            “And it was the perfect gift, just what I wanted.”

            “Whirlwind romance?”  Boston said as she and Roland caught up with the group.

            “Until her brother decided she should be imprisoned in the sky as insurance to make certain the darkness never came again.  Some of the other gods agreed with him.”

            “I am sorry for the darkness now, but my husband said we must flee and I begin to understand that.”

            “If we can reach her father, Izanagi, then we should make it safely to Nippon.”

            “Yes,” Lockhart stood.  “And we must go the other way with all speed before the cold finally closes in.”

 

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Avalon 2.3:  Here Comes the Sun, Little Darlin’ … Next Time

Avalon 2.3: Angel in the Dark

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            “Ameratsu,” Lockhart said as Katie and Elder Stow brought the old woman up the hill to safety, though now that the wind was down, the sea was going back to its place.

            “Wait,” Katie interrupted.  “Shouldn’t you be in Japan?”

            “We are trying to get there,” the young man said.  “She will be safe there.”

            “Eh?”  Lockhart said it, but the question was all over Lincoln’s face as well as he stepped up to join them.

            Katie pointed around at the people who were all on their knees, though Ameratsu showed none of her true self.  “Goddess of the sun.”

            “Yes,” Ameratsu spoke to Katie and appeared more comfortable speaking to the woman than she did the men.  “And there is something special about you as well I see, though I am not sure I know what it is.  Kim?  This is strange for me.”

            The young man, Kim took a minute to properly introduce his friends from the future before he said, “But we must go before Susanu finds us.”  He explained for the others.  “My wife shared a little of her spirit with me.  That was why I could do what I did, but I fear Susanu will notice even that little thing and come here.”

            “Lord.”  It was almost a wail.  Roland had tears in his eyes and his arms around a woman that was so frail and old, Kim hardly recognized her.  Her hair was gray, her face wrinkled and the hand she put out was gnarled and leathery in the extreme.

            “Mary Riley, but everyone calls me Boston.”  The old woman spoke through terribly cracked lips.

            “But you should not be old,” Ameratsu got that right away and again looked at Kim.  “But Susanu and his friends are dampening me?”  She was not sure if that was the right word.  Kim nodded so she went on.  “My self is small when the gods do this.  I cannot make her young again.”  A tear came up into the eye of the goddess and Kim was right there to hold her and tell her everything would be alright.  The single tear fell to the earth and steam came up from the rock it landed on.

            “Why does your brother want you?” Lincoln had to ask.

            “To mate.  Hush.”  Katie quieted him.

            Ameratsu made a face of disgust at the idea, but a face only intended for Katie even if everyone saw.  “I have a husband.  My brother is such a moron.”  Lockhart, Katie, Lincoln and Boston all laughed.  “What?”  Ameratsu looked to Kim.  “Did I not use the word correctly?”

            “You used it perfectly,” Kim assured her.

            “I have a moron for a brother, too,” Boston managed to speak.  “I would hug you, but I would be afraid of falling apart.”

            “But Kim, can we not?” Ameratsu started to say one thing when her eyes turned big and she shouted, “Oh, no!”

            A giant wave came in from the sea and a tall thin man rode on top of it.  The wave crested at the last second and deposited the man precisely at the edge of the hill, only a few feet away.  “I have found you,” the man said, and then paused to stare at the travelers and wonder why they were not trembling in their boots.

            “Go away!”  Ameratsu was adamant and turned her face into Kim’s shoulder.

            “After Set and Tiamut, this one doesn’t seem so bad,” Lincoln said.

            Katie rolled her eyes, “Especially after Tiamut.”

            “But,” Susanu was clearly thrown by this reaction.  “Look here, you are to be my wife.”

            Kim looked Susanu in the eyes and Susanu appeared to have a hard time not looking away.  “The lady has made her choice.”

            “I should kill you right now.  That would settle things.”  Susanu threatened.

            Ameratsu tried to lift her head to respond, but Kim kept her planted in his chest and hushed her gently.  It was Roland who stepped up.

            “Not advisable,” he said.

            “I need no advice from a demon,” Susanu said.  “And a lesser demon at that.”

            Ameratsu could not help but say, “Elf.”  There was a pause all around and she looked up at Kim.  “How did I know that?”

            “Hush.  Later,” Kim said, and Ameratsu went happily back to laying her head in Kim’s chest.

            A second wave came in from the sea and even Susanu looked surprised.  When this wave crested, dozens of the cutest translucent sea sprites escaped the sea.  They looked like gingerbread men made of sea green and blue see-through gelatin and they marched in perfect order to stand between Susanu and Kim.  They climbed on each other’s shoulders until they made a pyramid to block Kim completely and then one spoke in the sweetest, baby voice.

            “You will not harm our Lord.”

            “What is this rebellion?” Susanu asked.

            “Children, you must not put yourselves in danger,” Kim said as he moved Ameratsu behind him and called out to his armor and weapons.  One moment he looked like a poor Korean peasant, and the next he looked like a Greco-Roman or perhaps a medieval warrior in the finest chain armor skirt, a long sword across his back and a long knife across the small of his back.

            “Kim?”  Ameratsu was surprised, but did not sound displeased with this transformation.

            “Enough!” Susanu shouted and waved his hand.  The sea babies shattered, turned back to water and soaked into the ridge, and Roland was shoved ten feet away, lucky to survive the god’s wrath.  Susanu paused when he saw Kim and how he was dressed and what he was reaching for.

            “You do not want to do this,” Kim said.  “And neither do I.”  Fortunately, it did not come to blows as a new figure arrived and stood between the two combatants.  Everyone, including Ameratsu did not hesitate to fall to their knees and tremble.  This one was brighter, more pure, more perfect that even the unicorn could ever hope to be. 

            “Angel,” Boston named the visitor and tried to go to her knees as well, but it was hard.  Kim caught her and held her up, but she lowered her head and eyes which was the least she could do.

            Angel turned his head and took one look at Susanu.  Susanu screamed like death and raced back to disappear into the sea.  “He will tremble for a time,” Angel said.  “But you must not be afraid.”

            “Boston?”  Kim spoke boldly, but he dared not say anymore.  Angel looked at Lockhart and Lincoln, both of whom were once over sixty and now were hardly thirty.

            “The ones who will grow the trees and guard them are not yet born,” Angel said.

            Kim thought of Yduna and others.  He thought there was slim hope.

            “The tree is guarded by one whose sword is bigger and sharper than anything you imagine carrying,” Angel said.  “And I know you have quite an imagination.”

            “Please, Lord.”  Kim could not let it go.

            Angel held out his hand.  “I have procured this for you.”  He held a perfect golden apple.

            “Thank you Lord,” Kim said.  Then he took it carefully so as not to touch the holy one.  He took out his knife and eye measured a piece for Boston.  She chewed it slowly at first, but in less than a minute she was fully restored and even younger than she had been before, being more nearly nineteen or so rather than twenty-five.  She wept as she fell to her knees.

            “And what will you do with the rest?”  Angel asked and indicated clearly he would not take it back.

            “My Lord?”  Ameratsu dared to speak.

            “No, I would not want a baby for a wife.  Nor is it for any of you others.  Nor is it for mortal hands.”  Kim looked around before he voice the only possible conclusion.  “I will have to eat it myself.”

            “And the core?”

            “I will plant it on Avalon,” Kim said and caught a very human expression on Angel’s face.  “Not on Avalon proper, but a new island, shrouded in mist and impossible to find.  I feel that Avalon of the apples will be important in the future, if not in the East, then certainly in the West.  And the offspring of this seed will be guarded.”

            “So be it,” Angel said and he vanished, but he left some light to linger in that place for a time.

 

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Avalon 2.3:  A Heated Tale … Next Time