After 3089 BC in Abydos, Egypt. Kairos Lifetime 35: Weret

Recording …                                                                                

Roland came riding back from out front and made the motion that people should hide. Everyone looked around. The land was exceptionally flat. There was grass and one tree by the bank of the Nile. There were a couple of grass covered dunes away from the river, but there was honestly nowhere to hide.

“Play ostrich?” Boston teased.

Roland took another look around and shrugged. When he arrived beside Boston at the head of the column, he gave her a quick kiss.

“What is coming?” Lockhart asked as he and Katie rode up from the rear. Decker came in from the flank and got his rifle ready. Elder Stow floated in from where he had been hovering over the river, and he pointed.

Thirty men in plain white tunics and long spears were jogging through the heat in a military-like formation. They halted a hundred yards off, spread out and approached the travelers carefully. When they got close, they asked a very strange question.

“Are you the ones who fell from the sky?”

“No?” Lockhart said with a quick look at Elder Stow.

Lincoln had the Database out and was reading when he spoke up. “We are looking for Weret.”

The Egyptian who spoke glanced at the men beside him before he answered. “She is looking for you. Come.” He turned his troop, and they escorted the travelers two miles downriver to a small city. It was not clear if it was a honor escort or if they were being guarded. Katie and Decker suggested it was probably both, but at least they were headed in the right direction.

When they got close, Lincoln decided it was Abydos.

“I thought it looked familiar,” Katie agreed, but she wondered what happened to the villages that used to be upriver from the little city. This was their second day of travel since Dendera and they had only passed a lone hut here and there, and no real villages.

Once arrived, the travelers were told to leave the horses in a barn and assured the animals would be fed and guarded. The travelers hesitated, but felt they had no choice. There were certainly plenty of guards around. In fact, it looked like the city was preparing for war.

The travelers took enough time to unsaddle the horses and give them a brush down against the heat. They gathered small packs and they were careful to take their weapons with them before they were marched to a multi-columned building. All along the way, the military minded Katie and Decker, pointed out the signs of soldiers in training, marching in formation, the gathering of food and supplies, and on the river, the gathering of ships. The conclusion was these people were preparing to invade.

A chubby young woman met them on the steps of the building that Lincoln guessed was the palace.. She kept her eyes lowered the whole time they approached. When they got close enough, the Egyptian still beside them and his troop still surrounding them, the woman spoke.

“The King is pleased to greet you and requests your presence in the hall of the gods.” The young woman looked pleased that she remembered to say everything just right, and then she looked up to better judge the response, but when she did she shouted one more word, “Boston!” The young woman reached out and hugged Boston, but carefully and Alexis stated the obvious reason.

“You are pregnant.”

“Weret?” Lincoln always had to ask.

“Yes,” Weret said, and she smiled for them, a lovely smile. Even the Egyptian smiled in response to her beauty as she turned to him shook her little finger at him and tried to put on a serious face. “Captain, these are not the ones I was looking for, but they will do.” She hugged Alexis and then hugged Katie and told Katie she arrived at an auspicious time. “You too, Decker. You too, Elder Stow,” and she hugged the Neanderthal which surprised and frightened everyone, Elder Stow most of all. “Now stay close. I may need you.” In all, Weret came across as a precious and lovely young woman.

“Why are you the one greeting in the gate?” Lincoln asked. He understood that was a job for servants.

Weret understood exactly. “We have servants, well, slaves actually.” Weret switched to English, a strangely accented English, but it was so her Captain and his soldiers would not understand. “I was once a slave as the Queen is fond to remind me, but the King selected me to marry his son and then … let me say the King was involved in this, intimately,” She smiled at that thought and put her hands to her belly. “The Queen tolerates me for the baby. She can’t have any more children.   And she tolerates me for the sake of her son who won’t produce an heir under torture. I mean, he is really, seriously gay.”

The women all hovered around Weret and made cooing noises for the baby so the men could hardly get close. Eventually, Lockhart interrupted. “Different question,” he said rather loudly in the native tongue. “Who are the ones you are looking for, the ones who fell from the sky?”

“Bluebloods.” Weret looked up in his face and then back down at her baby.

“You mean, Bluebloods, like rich people with old money?” Boston asked. The others also showed that they did not understand, so Weret sighed and gave the ten second explanation.

“They have the ability to alter their body chemistry and mate with whatever species dominates the planet. They don’t invade, they breed until the non-blueblood children die out. That is not going to happen here. They sneak a couple by me in the future, but never enough to impact human development, long term. They die out eventually, but by then the reputation takes hold, that the Bluebloods are somehow smarter and better than ordinary people.”

“I know a few people around Boston who think they qualify,” Boston said.

“Also, they are naturally cold blooded,” Weret added.

Boston nodded. “That too.”

“But come in,” Weret said. “I am sure the King would like to meet you. He really is very nice.” She put her hands out to welcome them and spoke to the Egyptian. “Captain, you need to keep your men here and guard the entrance—or not.” She looked up toward the sky and the travelers all turned around and looked with her.

A shuttle of some sort was working its way in for a landing. As soon as they looked, they also heard the whine of the engines slowing down. It was headed straight for the open courtyard in front of the palace, and Weret, and Elder Stow saw the scorch marks along the side of the ship. That shuttle had been in battle, and Weret wanted to know with whom and where.

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As with the last episode, Avalon episode 3.2 will be posted over two weeks, with the first half posted this week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) and the second half posted next week on the same schedule (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). Once again, let me say reading only selected parts may be confusing. I urge you to read the whole episode, and enjoy.