Pierce’s knife came out and flew through the air at a terrible speed.  Emily moved to her weak left side instead of her strong side as expected, and the knife whizzed past instead of gutting her.  It cut a small slice from her right arm before it stuck fast in the old wooden roof door.  Emily thought about pulling it out, but only briefly.  It was thrown with such strength it would probably take her time to yank it free, and she had no time.  Pierce was on her and she was running to her left.

Emily kicked at Pierce’s knees, but missed.  She tried higher, but he caught her foot.  He was incredibly fast and strong, and he tossed her over the edge of the roof.  Emily barely grabbed on to the lip with her left hand, and like a high diver twisting in the air, she contorted and used her momentum to swing herself back up on the roof.

Pierce was right there, but she hit him and knocked his head back.  He hit her and knocked her through the air.  She landed hard against the HVAC pipe and wondered why her neck was not broken with that one punch.  Again he was right there, and this time he had a knife pulled from some hidden pocket.  Emily moved in one motion, she got up, pulled her own knife and sliced Pierce’s hand so he dropped his weapon.  He kicked out and her knife also flew free.

She kicked him, this time in the thigh.  She saw he felt it, but then he kicked back and caught her in the ribs.  It felt to her like someone smashed her with a hammer and she had to back away.  Pierce made a grab for her, but she slapped his hands away.  He was too strong and too quick to wrestle.  They traded punches, but neither landed a clean blow, and Emily knew she needed a weapon.  She made the mistake of glancing at the ground in search of one of the knives, and  Pierce caught her.  He yanked on her hand and reeled her in for an embrace.

He lifted her a bit from the ground and squeezed the air out of her already hurting ribs, but she managed to box his ears and slammed her elbows down, which maybe broke his collarbone.  She went for his eyes while she squirmed to bring her knees up in an effort to break free of his grip.  He buried his face in her chest, but as she boxed his ears again and pushed with her knees, he let her go.  She fell, and he hit her again which sent her rapidly to the roof where she cracked the asphalt.  She was dizzy and broken, but managed to get to her feet once more and backed off, a bit surprised that he was not on top of her.  Maybe she hurt him.  Maybe it was something else, but she breathed through her ribs and spoke.

“Pierce, I love you.”

That appeared to anger him and he rushed her.  She fought like a tigress as they traded blow after blow, but in the end Pierce got in the telling blow and Emily was knocked to her back.  She closed her eyes, involuntarily, because the sky was spinning.  She was not entirely conscious, but by chance she landed on her own knife, and her left hand reached behind her back to grab it, like her hand had a mind of its own.

Pierce came up, cut, bleeding and hurting, but he did not go for the kill.  Instead, he went to one knee and lifted Emily so she sat up at the waist.  He laid her semi-conscious head on his upright knee and found a tear in his eye, though Emily did not see it.  They heard a sound by the door.  Emily came awake at the sound of two knives whizzing through the air.  Pierce ducked so the first completely missed.  He grabbed the second in mid flight.  Then he turned his head for a second to look back at Lisa.

Emily did not hesitate.  She whipped her left hand up and drove her knife deep into Pierce’s chest.  Pierce grabbed her hair and yanked her head back to expose her neck.  He whipped Lisa’s knife around and put it to her throat.  Then he smiled deeply and dropped the knife, and the words exploded in Emily’s head.

“He knew!  He turned away on purpose.  He could have stopped her.  He knew!”

Pierce bent down and put his lips to hers.  Emily felt the kiss for a second before she felt just lips.  She wriggled free and Pierce fell to his back.

“Pierce!”  She screamed and fell on him and wept until Lisa gently pulled her off.

END

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On Monday April 18, 2016, assuming everyone survives April 15th tax day, Avalon, season 4 will begin to post.

Each episode of the Avalon series is a complete episode, taking place at a different point in history as the travelers work their way from the distant past back to the present day.  Each episode will post over a two week period with three posts per week (occasionally two posts and a couple of times four posts in a given week)  so stay on your toes.  That’s two weeks per episode.

Avalon is the story of a group of travelers, three “Men in Black”, two marines, two elves and one Gott-Druk (a technologically advanced, space-faring Neanderthal) that get trapped in the deep past.  The only way home is through the Time Gates that surround the many lives of the Kairos, an unfortunate soul who is forced to be reborn every time he (or she) dies.

The Kairos, in many incarnations, remembers the past and, “remembers” the future, which is why she (or he) is concerned to make sure history turns out the way it has been recorded.  That isn’t always easy, especially with a group of twenty-first century lunkheads people stirring the mix.  As if it isn’t bad enough that the Kairos never lives a quiet life, certain other people, creatures, even nightmares have fallen into the past, and some have picked up the trail of the travelers.  Some are following them, but some are hunting them…

Avalon, Episode 4.0 through 4.12 (which is 13 episodes or a Japanese season) will post through the summer up until October.  Hopefully, come October, The Elect II, Sophomore Year will be ready to post.

Enjoy the summer traveling with the Travelers from Avalon, and wish them luck.  They are going to need it.

M G Kizzia

Under my author name, you can find the Prequel, the Pilot Episode, and Avalon Season One all available in E-book form, on Amazon, and through Smashwords at all major E-book sellers (Apple, B&N, etc.).  Season 2 and Season 3 are being formatted and will soon join the company.  Also, they are being formatted for CreateSpace, so sometime this summer they will be available as print-on-demand for all of you who prefer to hold a hard copy in your wonderful hand.  Stay tuned, and as always, whatever you read…************************