Month: August 2025

Avalon 1.0 Neverland part 4 of 5

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The man shook his necklace again. “I have the bear claws, the teeth of the lion, and the paws of the wolf. I am the hunter,” he said.

“And I am just an ordinary woman,” Alexis responded with a sigh.

“I think not.” The Shaman leaned forward and touched her clothes, respectfully. “I am fifty winters and look it. You are older than you appear.”

“I am.” Again, she saw no reason to lie to the man. “Let’s see. I was born in the spring, so next spring I will be two hundred and fifty-four years old.” She smiled. The shaman did not smile. “Really,” Alexis defended herself. “My father is a goblin.” The shaman frowned at that as if to suggest she might be carrying things a bit far. Alexis dropped her eyes. “I suppose I may have counted wrong, but I tell you what; when he gets here, you can ask him.” She smiled again even as Hog, Chodo and Shmee returned.

Chodo handed her the leg bone from a deer, but it was still moist and chipped at one end. The other end looked a little dog chewed, but with a great deal of work it might suffice. Shmee handed her a stick from an elm tree. She said oak, but who was she to quibble. The stick looked newly dead instead of dried but at least it did not look nibbled. The stick looked a little thin at the tip, but about the right length, and it had something that might do for a handle. Alexis waved her hand above the stick and the bark peeled back, then she focused her magic as well as she could with such a crude instrument and waved the stick at the leather that still bound her legs. The leather separated, and no eyes got bigger than the shaman’s. He stood with some quick words.

“This one belongs to the goblins. I have persuaded her so she has promised to make bread one time for us, but we must return her to her father when he arrives.” With that, he rattled off some words about placating the spirits and keeping the gods happy before he returned to his tent, and Alexis imagined, he sealed himself in.

“Now, Shmee, be a dear and hand me my bag.” Alexis reached out.

Shmee shrieked and handed it over with his hand shaking, terribly.

~~~*~~~

When the boys awoke, they huddled around the fire and ate what got offered. Their eyes were wide to take in the strangers in daylight. They said nothing, but Ramina sat there with Boston, Katie Harper and the two fairies, and they were using up all the words in any case. When Duba woke, the first thing he saw was the fairies and he screamed. When he saw Mingus and Roland right behind him, he stepped back and quickly let his fingers draw something like signs or symbols in the air. Mingus surprised his son, terribly, and shocked everyone except Pan. He jumped to his feet.

“Not the Praeger Defense,” Mingus shouted. “My heart!” He clutched his chest and fell to his knees before he fell to his side with his eyes closed.

Everyone got quiet except Duba. “What? I didn’t mean it.” He stepped up close. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

Mingus opened one eye and grinned at the boy. “Well, as long as you didn’t mean it, I suppose no harm done.” He sprang to his feet. “So are we ready to go yet?”

“Time to move out,” Captain Decker agreed, and Lockhart made no objection. Only Lincoln spoke.

“At last.”

Once they arrived and found a place from which they could overlook the Shemashi camp, it did not take long to make an assessment.

“They are all bunched up around a central fire,” Lincoln borrowed the binoculars.

Lieutenant Harper looked through her own binoculars. “I make it about forty people altogether, plus children,” she said.

“About two hours before sundown. Time to go.” Captain Decker spoke as he cocked his rifle.

“No!” Lincoln’s word sounded a bit loud.

“This is covert,” Pan said, much more softly.

“But isn’t this like a computer program? Aren’t we covered by that Heart of Time thing? I figure it will reset after we’ve gone, or after you’ve gone. But you said if she is injured, she stays injured.”

Mingus put his hand on the man’s gun. “And that is why we don’t go with guns blasting. You don’t think I am going to take a chance on her getting struck by a stray bullet.”

Captain Decker yanked his rifle barrel free of the elf’s hand and frowned but said no more.

“I never said anything about a reset in that way,” Pan said. “I mean I don’t think it will work like that kind of reset. The information in the Heart of Time will change to reflect the truth, not the other way around. What we are living is real.”

“What?” Captain Decker and Boston both reacted, and Lockhart made everyone pull back into the forest so Pan could explain.

“My Storyteller, Glen is missing. He isn’t dead or Jennifer would be in the womb, but I can’t reach him. Everything back home on Avalon is confused, poor Alice.”

“So, which is it? The Heart of Time program resets things or it doesn’t?” Lincoln asked.

Lieutenant Harper thought out loud. “I think reset might mean the time gates jump back to the beginning point of that time zone when the Kairos dies so it can replay from the start. I don’t think the things inside the zone reset. I mean, the people that get killed will get killed again in the replay, even if they never got killed in the original.”

Pan shrugged, nodded, and shared his thoughts. “When time began, real time, Alice got drawn back to the beginning of history. Yes, she was in the Second Heavens, but she stood on a rock under a dome of air, and angel stood there along with Cronos. Alice, that is, the Kairos and Cronos made the Heart of Time together. That was when history began.”

“The rock where we first landed.” Boston swallowed.

“I, that is, Glen did not intend to go that far. The source must have had other ideas.”

Lieutenant Harper kept thinking. “So, what you are suggesting is we will be imprinted on the time zones from the beginning and for all time as far as the heart of Time recording is concerned. Whatever time we spend in each zone will become part of the historical reality.”

Pan nodded his head. “This seems utterly real to me, but maybe I am not a fair judge.”

“It seems utterly real to me, too,” Lincoln admitted.

“Mingus?” Doctor Procter questioned his friend and Mingus rubbed his chin.

“I don’t know.”

“So, what difference does that make?” Captain Decker still did not get it.

“It means if we change something here it might change all of history,” Lockhart answered. “Real history,” he added for emphasis.

“Like the butterfly effect?” Lieutenant Harper lifted her foot to look in case she stepped on something.

“No.” Pan smiled for her. “Reality isn’t that simple or that inflexible. You would have to change something serious and maybe several things to really change history. Of course, I can’t let you do that. I would send you all to present day Avalon right now if I could.”

“What? Why can’t you?”

“Well for one, Alice isn’t finished building it yet. But for two, I told you, Glen is missing, and it has repercussions all the way through history. And for three, the only way for you to get back to your own time is by going through the time gates.”

“But what happens if we screw up?” Boston sounded concerned.

Pan shook his head. “I don’t know anymore.”

“Only now we have to be really careful not to change history,” Roland said.

“What do you mean you don’t know anymore?” Boston interrupted.

Pan frowned before he turned red and yelled. “I mean, in reality I am an eleven-year-old kid and I told you; Glen is missing and Alice and everything is confused. Come on, Ramina. We have to start operation scatterbrains.” He grabbed the girl by the hand and headed toward the boys who kept back from the strangers. He huddled them up like a football team, and though Ramina giggled at one point, it otherwise might have been a youth team. They even said, “Break!” when they were done.

The boys scattered and hunkered down to move through the trees like hunters, or maybe sneaky kids. Pan returned to the others. “A bit of temporal borrowing,” he admitted. “Don’t try that at home.”

“What’s the plan?” Lockhart asked, and Captain Decker gave him a curious look, like why was he really asking this kid?

“Wait for the signal, and then come in with Lincoln, Mingus, and Roland out front. Stop about ten yards off. The rest of you keep back and try not to kill anyone.”

“What about us?” Honeysuckle asked.

“A special assignment,” Pan said in English, and watched as several eyes widened at being reminded of their native tongue. Pan started to speak whatever he could think of in English, and only got interrupted once.

“What is the signal?” Boston asked.

“You’ll know.” Pan smiled, and then continued to imprint English on the fairy minds while they went back to the lookout spot.

Avalon 1.0 Neverland part 3 of 5

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Pan!” A young boy burst from the trees, all out of breath. He could not have been more than ten, and he looked all American, or rather Anglo-American, complete with freckles. Pan had the same European look about him.

“Tomma, what is it?”

“Ramina,” the boy said. “We couldn’t stop her.” With that, Tomma put his hands on his knees; but he let his eyes wander around to see this strange group of people Pan had mentioned. Pan called them friends, but Tomma did not look too sure.

“Pan.” A girl’s voice called out, and as she ran up, she showed no sign of being at all tired. Bluebell fluttered up into the girl’s face and turned her nose up. “Oh, a Fee,” Ramina shouted, and reached up to grab the fairy, but Bluebell made a dash for the safety of Boston’s shoulder.

“Ramina.” An exasperated sounding Pan did not have to say more.

“You don’t think I am going to let you go off adventuring without me, do you?” Ramina responded. The girl had to be Pan’s age or maybe closer to twelve or thirteen. She was beginning to show signs that she was developing little bumps and curves.

“It’s a wonder your father lets you go out so far from home at your age, or are we talking real lost boys?” Captain Decker stood up by the fire and checked his weapons in anticipation of a future fight.

“No,” Pan responded. “Our village is that way.” He pointed. “But in this age, children need to grow up fast. I’m eleven. Ramina is only ten, Tomma’s twin.” Everyone looked again and saw Ramina staring at Pan, wiggling her hips ever so slightly, like she was listening to some music no one else could hear. She also looked like she was thinking thoughts for which she was way too young.

Three boys came in and huddled around Tomma, uncertain of what to make of the strangers. “Where’s the Duba?” Pan asked.

“Where do you think?” One of the boys answered and pointed behind with his thumb. Sure enough, in the growing light they saw a boy significantly fatter than the others. He worked his arms like a true runner, but his legs staggered. When he arrived, he fell to his face, and smiled.

“Okay.” Pan clapped his hands like Alice to get everyone’s attention. “Here’s the story. Captain Hook has kidnapped a great lady. Are you ready to go and get her back?”

“Yeah. Okay.” The boys did not sound too sure. They sounded tired.

Honeysuckle chose that moment to come rushing back. “They are still at sea,” she said to Pan. “They won’t get to the village until the sun is high.” She pointed straight up.

“Well then, do we need to hurry?” Lincoln came out of his funk to ask.

“No,” Pan said flatly. “They are not cannibals, and they don’t practice human sacrifice. I imagine she will be all right until we get there.”

“And how far overland to the village?” Mingus asked.

“Half a day at most.” Pan shrugged. “Quicker than by sea in that canoe.”

“Then we stand down and let the boys get some rest. Four hours if Lincoln and Mingus can hold out,” Lockhart decided. “And Ramina can rest.” He smiled for the girl.

“Fairy.” The girl stared at Honeysuckle. Honeysuckle hid behind Pan, but he had a suggestion.

“Go sit on Lieutenant Harper, er, Katie’s shoulder and Ramina, you can visit but do not touch the fairies. Is that clear?”

Ramina’s face lit up. She rushed forward and kissed Pan on the cheek. “Yes. Thank you, shaman. Yes, oh yes.” She skipped over toward the women while Pan wiped the kiss off his cheek with the back of his sleeve.

“Shaman?” Lockhart asked.

“I get that a lot over the years—centuries.” Pan lay down by the fire and in a moment, he fell fast asleep. The other boys followed his example, though they bunched up for protection and warmth. and did not sleep quite so quickly, apart from Duba who began to snore.

“But my wife.” Lincoln spoke and Mingus spoke at the same time.

“But Alexis.”

“So, strike the camp,” Lockhart said. “Roland, would you mind finding us something for an early bite? Doctor Procter, you’ve been very quiet.”

“Eh?” Doctor Procter looked up at the man. “I was just wondering what the poor woman must be going through,” he said, and went to help take down the tents.

~~~*~~~

At that moment, Alexis was being tossed by the waves and trying hard not to throw up. She had a bag over her head. Throwing up would not have been pretty.

“But Hog, they will come for her,” Chodo whined.

“And they can have her,” Hog responded, with a smug sound in his voice. “By then we will have the secret of the breat.”

“But what if she won’t tell us the secret?” Shmee asked.

“Then we will make her tell,” Hog insisted, and he slapped his fist into his open palm.

“But what if they arrive before we can make her tell?” Chodo asked.

“A few people are not stronger than the whole village,” Hog responded.

“But she is a witch.” The truth of what bothered Shmee came out in the sound of his voice.

“Bah! Our Shaman can disarm a simple witch. You worry too much.”

“But what if Pan and the boys find out?” Chodo asked.

“Hmm.” A moment of silence followed, apart from the paddles and the sounds of the sea. “I will think. You paddle.” Hog sounded like Pan and the boys might be a problem.

When they arrived in the camp, Alexis had her hood removed. After stern warnings, her gag also got removed and her feet untied so she could walk to the central fire. They sat her down, untied her hands, but retied her feet so she would not be able to escape easily.

“Stay and watch her,” Hog told his companions, though to be sure, it did not take long before the whole village watched. “I will fetch the Shaman.”

Hog walked off and the people pressed in. Some thought to touch this strangely dressed woman. Shmee had to defend her. “Back away. She is a witch.”

“You will not hurt our people,” Chodo threatened her, but the people heard, backed up, and left her untouched.

“If you want me to make bread, the first thing I need is a bone. It should be a bone from a deer, as thick as your thumb and as long as your forearm.”

“How did you know we wanted breat?” Shmee asked.

“I know many things,” Alexis said, coyly. “And if you have no such bone, a stick might do, but it must be from an oak, the oldest, biggest tree you can find. It will take longer to make it the way I need it, but it will do.”

“I do not remember you using a bone or stick to make breat.” Chodo shook his head. “What do you need this bone-stick for?”

Alexis just looked at the man until he got uncomfortable. “I must have a new wand,” she said at last, though neither man appeared to know what a wand was. They thought about it as Hog came back.

“I have brought the shaman,” Hog said, and pointed at the man who followed him. “Now you make breat for my village.”

Alexis looked up as the shaman sat beside the fire. He looked ordinary enough apart from the red streak painted down each cheek. “Well?” She turned on Chodo and Shmee and they got up to fetch her a wand. “I need to be alone with your shaman for a few minutes,” she told Hog, and he looked willing, in order to find out what Chodo and Shmee were up to.

The elderly shaman just looked at her at first and tried to see what was inside of her. Alexis did not get ruffled or seemed bothered by the look, and that bothered the shaman. Alexis had seen such looks before, though not from one dressed in a loincloth in such chilly weather. The man only had a bearskin draped over his shoulders like a cape to keep him warm. He wore a necklace of trinkets, and he jangled it before her. She remained unmoved.

“Go.” The shaman finally spoke and waved his arm. All of the villagers that had gathered around the stranger separated, though to be sure, they only backed up a few feet and continued to stare.

“Do not be afraid.” Alexis remembered the words of the angel. “I will make bread for the village.”

“Will I be able to make more?” The shaman shot straight to the point.

Alexis shook her head. “Not unless you have the secret of the elves and can make the crackers.” She saw no reason to lie to the man. The man frowned.

“The goblins?” he asked.

“They would not like the name, but I suppose that is how you know them.”

The man’s face twisted as he thought hard. “There may be some advantage in that, knowing that it is enchanted. Call it a one-time gift of the gods.” he concluded his thoughts.

“Oh, I am always glad to help another person of magic,” Alexis said, to test a thought of her own. She judged by the look on the man’s face that he had no real magic of his own.