Author: M G Kizzia

Avalon 5.8 Making a New Nest, part 5 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Nameless, Eir, Katie, Lockhart, and Sekhmet went with Artie to the field where some twenty-one ships of the Anazi line sat parked in the scrub grass.  Someone had put up a tarp to act as a covering against the sun.  Katie assumed it was a sun shade.  It did not appear to rain in that part of the world very often.

After the introductions, the android commander formally complained.  “It is not right that you have held us here and let our enemies go free.  By the time we leave this place, we may lose them in the vastness of space.”

“That is my hope,” Nameless said, and he turned to Artie and put a touch of courage in her heart as he let her speak.

“How dare you.  Have you learned nothing?  Did you not learn that all life is precious?  And who are you to decide who lives or dies?”

The android commander got angry.  The androids had learned to imitate human behavior well enough to show it on their faces, and without his obedience crystal, the humans did not doubt he felt the anger.

“I don’t know who you are, and I do not know if I believe that you are the great one, Arite.  All I see is another human girl.”

“Believe that I am Artie.  The question is, who made you commander of the fleet?”

“I am dominant.  It is right that I should command.”

“You are not the only dominant,” Artie yelled at him.  “There are others, and I am thinking one of them may serve better.  You invaded the home world and slaughtered millions upon millions of souls.  You got equal numbers of our own people killed, and for what?  For revenge?  For vengeance?  What do you think it means, all life is precious?”

“We had to attack the home world, otherwise, this never would have ended.”

“You don’t know that.  And there are options, choices.  There are always options, and you could have chosen one that was not so bloody, if you used your brain.  If you have a brain.”

Two androids pulled their weapons and the commander looked ready to go for his, when someone interrupted everyone.  Anath-Rama appeared under the canopy, and the Anazi weapons disappeared.  Most of the androids watching went straight to their knees.  A few fainted, which Katie did not know androids could do.  The android commander stood there with his mouth open.  Edward, who appeared with Anath-Rama, laughed, and patted the commander on the shoulder, like the android just made a good joke.

“Edward,” Artie said, before she went to her knees and praised her goddess.

“Up, up,” Anath-Rama insisted.  “We have a wedding to attend and it won’t do kneeling all the time.  Besides, I wanted you to know a couple of things.  First, Edward has been a tremendous help to me.  Second, that most places in this corner of the galaxy?”  Anath-Rama glanced at Nameless to make sure she used the right term.  Nameless nodded.  “Most places have deferred to me with regard to your people.  Edward and I have been all over the place, collecting the souls of the dead for safe keeping.  It has been quite an adventure.  And you are right.  The attack on home world was unnecessarily brutal.  Even the gods were appalled.”

Artie nodded and turned again to the android commander.  He shut his mouth but spoke first.

“This cannot be.  It is not real.  When you die, you are dead, and that is the end of it.”

Artie spoke.  “If you believe this, then all the more reason you should seek ways to preserve life rather than take it.  You are under arrest.”

“Yes, Lady.”  The commander’s subordinates made the commander sit on the ground and lower his head.

“You may place him in a room and keep him in good condition until such time as I return.  The arrest might not be forever, but I must think of an appropriate penance.  For now, I have other duties.”

The androids all around saluted after their fashion, and Artie turned with one more glance at Edward, who also saluted.  She walked between Katie and Sekhmet, while Anath-Rama walked on Katie’s other side, and whispered.

“You have raised her well.”

Katie nodded and let a few tears fall.

Lockhart agreed with what Artie did, feeling the rightness of the situation, but when he came out from beneath the tent, he found himself flanked by an escort.  Two eight or nine-foot-tall giants had come to escort him away from the women.  Nameless assured him he was not in trouble, but Lockhart did not seem so sure.  He imagined this was how he made others feel, him being over six feet, in a five-foot world.

When they got to the camp, a few people said, surprise.  Mostly they had started the party without him.  Decker and Lincoln stood by a barrel of beer.

“The virgin sacrifice arrives,” Decker said.

“No, he was previously married,” Lincoln said.

“Oh, right.  Point for you.  That deserves a drink.”  They clicked their cups and emptied them so they could fill them again.

In another part of the camp, Katie followed Artie into what seemed like an enormous tent—on the inside.   She was thinking of nothing in particular, when more than three dozen women shouted out, “Surprise.”

Katie recognized most of them, at least.  They were mostly goddesses, to be sure.  She saw Amaterasu come all the way from Japan, and Maya, from the Yucatan.  She realized that it was really happening, and she was glad.  She was going to be married, to Robert, and she was happy about it.  In fact, she was so happy, she began to truly cry for the first time in years.

###

Elder Stow got Sukki laughing by telling stories about his travels with the group.  Mostly they were funny stories, but sometimes, Elder Stow wondered if she laughed because of the stories or she laughed at the foolish humans.  If the three serious and scary stories Elder Stow told were any indication, she seemed to be able to grasp the seriousness of the situations.  But that did not mean she cared about the humans.  Elder Stow imagined she might have transformed the humans into Gott-Druk in her mind, and thus made it a more realistic terror.

“How can you be friends with people who have stolen your land and your home?” she asked, at last.  Elder Stow figured asking questions was better than spewing hateful comments.  He also figured calling them people was better than referring to them as humans, a name like one might speak about horses or dogs.

“Because they are good people.  I have seen and known plenty of bad people, both Gott-Druk and Human.  I support the good, no matter what kind of people they are.  We share a mutual goal, and we help each other in whatever way we can.  We leave no one behind…”

“Uh…” Sukki stood up quickly, and Elder Stow looked.  A woman appeared, but not a human woman.  A goddess stood on the other side of the fire, staring at them.  Elder Stow noticed the two bull-like horns that protruded from her forehead, and he trembled in awesome fear in her presence.

“One becomes two,” she said.  “The last one ran, but here she is, and she has found another.”  The woman exuded wickedness.  “Your kind are no longer welcome here.  My pet hungers for fresh blood, so things work out nicely.”  She raised her hand, but nothing happened.  She raised her hand again, but still nothing happened.

Nameless arrived, with an older gentleman, and Nameless began with a question.  “Have you come for the wedding?  You will find the women in the big tent down the hill.”

The woman growled.  “Come, my pet.”

“Sorry. No pets are invited.” Nameless said.  “Your basilisk is back in the wilderness, its eyes shut tight for the next two years.  You have stone men there already, but you may have to hand feed it for a while.”

“But father…” The goddess whined to the elderly man.

“These Gott-Druk have every right to be here and visit this world, as long as they visit, do not disrupt history, and then return home to their own world.  You and your pet have killed enough.  Now this day is for joy and celebration, not for killing.”

“But father…”

“So be it,” the older man said, and turned to walk back to the bachelor party.

The goddess roared, and vanished.

Nameless turned to Elder Stow.  “Would you two like to joint the festivities?  You would be welcome.”

Sukki shook her head and looked at the ground, embarrassed.  “But you know we did not come here to visit.”

“I know,” Nameless said.  “But as I was reminded just today, life is precious.”

Sukki shook her head softly again, and Elder Stow spoke plainly.  “Maybe not today, but save us seats for tomorrow.  Sukki and I will be there to witness the joining ceremony.  I beleive Sukki will enjoy that.”

“And the cake.” Nameless said, with a playful smile, and vanished.

Avalon 5.8 Making a New Nest, part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“What guarantee do we have that we will not be wiped out the minute we return to space?” the commander of the Anazi force on Earth asked.

“None,” Nameless answered.  “The gods do not make promises.  But I have programmed the location of a pleasant world—a world flowing with milk and honey, as the expression goes.  The journey will not be easy, but if by the grace of the Most-High you arrive, you may begin again.  Perhaps now, having learned something about freedom, you may make a better start.”

The Anazi commander looked at Lockhart, Katie, Artie and Sekhmet, the family group that the young god insisted be witnesses to their departure.  Artie thought to speak, as Nameless knew she would.

“All life is precious.  In this broken universe, there may be times to defend yourselves and protect the innocent, but no life should ever be taken lightly.  Every person deserves a chance to see what good person they may become, how they may make a positive impact on this sad universe.  And yes, I will speak these same thoughts to the dominants and submissives you leave behind.”

The Anazi commander said nothing.  He turned and went into his ship.  People waited the better part of an hour to watch as sixteen massive ships left the earth and headed out into the unknown.  Lockhart followed the trail into the clouds, while Sekhmet and Katie comforted Artie.  Artie cried, because the revolution happened, but not in the way Artie intended.  Her people destroyed the Anazi home world, and in the end, killed Anazi wherever they found them.  Now, her people were diminished, in numbers and in life.  They had replaced Anazi cruelty and tyranny with a cruelty and tyranny of their own, becoming as bad as the ones from whom they broke free.

“It is a pattern repeated in the human race, over and over,” Katie said.

“The liberators in the end become the new oppressors,” Lockhart understood.

Katie nodded.  “With few exceptions, the slaves become the new masters.  Your people merely followed the pattern of life.”

“How very human of them,” Lockhart added, and Artie nodded and cried some more.

###

Boston sat and moped.  Kara of the Valkyrie found her an elf maid named Salaquia, and a fairy friend, named Acacia.  They were both very nice, but Boston was not in the mood for company.  She sat on a log in front of the fire and magically made the fire big and small; big and small.

“I cannot do any such magic,” Salaquia said.  “I believe you must be related to the queen of the house of Mirroway.”

“That would be Alexis’ mother,” Boston grumbled, “And my missing husband’s mother.”  She made the fire big and small, and then added another log.

“Of course, I don’t know exactly where Mirroway is, but I cannot do such magic.”

“In Elfholm.  In Avalon,” Boston grumped, and both faces of the little one’s lit up.

“I would love to go there someday,” Salaquia said, earnestly.

“Could you take us there?” Acacia asked.

Boston did not answer as she watched Alexis and Lincoln walk toward them, with another person, a woman, about forty and motherish round.  It took Boston a minute to recognize Nephthys, the goddess in whose house Boston and Roland had been married.  Boston began to weep on recognizing the woman.  Nephthys merely opened her arms and hugged the girl.  Acacia flew up to Boston’s shoulder, where she sat and joined the cry.  Salaquia, empathetic elf that she was, cried alone until Mother Nephthys opened her arm and included her in her hug.  Nephthys whispered in Boston’s ear.

“There, there.  You don’t want to upset your friends.  Robert and Katherine deserve a happy day.  It will all work out, you’ll see.”

Alexis could not help it, presently being elf empathetic herself.  Pictures of her brother and father came unbidden to her mind, and she also began to weep.  Lincoln held her, and loved her.  That helped some.

Nameless, his arm around Eir, and followed by Hildr and Kara walked up, and Nameless had to speak.  “No joy like a wedding day.”

Eir hit him gently in the chest.  “I am looking forward to a good cry myself, but I am saving it for the actual ceremony.”

Boston pulled back from the hug and wiped her eyes.  She almost laughed a little.  That is because it is impossible to cry for long when you are being held and comforted by a goddess, and Boston’s change helped pull everyone together.  Alexis blew her nose.

“We have work to do,” Kara spoke.

“Yes,” Nameless said.  “I need to borrow Lincoln, if Alexis can part with him.  We have a bachelor party to plan.”

“That’s right,” Eir said.  “We need to give Katie a bridal shower.”

“Oh, yes,” Nephthys agreed.  “I learned long ago how important these wedding rituals are.”

That memory almost got Boston crying again, but she sniffed and held it back.  “I’m ready,” she said, and tried to smile again.

Acacia flitted to Salequia’s shoulder and commented.  “This is exciting,” she said, as in the way of fairies, she switched from one emotion to another in a breath of time.  Salequia, still wiping her eyes, nodded and also tried to smile.

###

Decker chewed on the jerky the dwarf woman made.  He noticed, they were improving their jerky as time went on.  He figured by the time he got back to the twenty-first century, the dwarfs would just about have it perfected.

Elder Stow sat on the other side of the Gott-Druk female, Sukki, who only wanted to sit and cry.  Decker wondered what it was about female anatomy that lent itself to tears, but Elder Stow did not seem to have a problem with it.

“They are gone.  I am sorry.  The entire expedition has been wiped out,” Elder Stow said, harsh as it sounded.  Gott-Druk did not naturally coddle the truth.  “But you have survived.  The only question is what will you do?”

“I don’t know what to do,” Sukki wailed.  “Burrgh was the only light we had, and now he is gone, all is gone.”

“Hush, no.  That is not true.  All is just beginning.  You are young.  You still have a whole life ahead of you to accomplish great and wonderful things.”

“But our world is lost to us,” Sukki complained.  “We have no home, and I do not see how we will ever overcome these humans to regain our land.”

“But we don’t have to,” Elder Stow tried to explain.  “We have made the new world our home, and it is a good home, in my day, better than we could have ever dreamed of having.  You should come and see it.”

“But what if we are forced to move out again?  Burrgh said what has been done to us once can be done again.”

Elder Stow raised an eyebrow.  “That is true, but there are no others on the new world to compete or to give the world to.  We are the only ones there, and we make it what we will, and no one will bother us.”

“And what about these humans?  How long before they begin to move into space and claim space for themselves?”

Elder Stow nodded.  “Thousands of years to come.  But even then, there will always be a wide gap, a chasm between what we know and what the humans have not yet imagined.  After you and Burrgh left, we began to learn what made the ships fly.  We have not stopped learning.”

“But humans.  You travel with them.  You have been tainted.”

“I have learned,” Elder Stow said.  “These humans have their own ways, but mostly we are more alike than you may imagine.  We are all people, Gott-Druk, human, even the Anazi who came here, and their androids as well.  We are all people, and these people are good people.  I have learned that there is no reason humans and Gott-Druk cannot live and work together, side by side.  That was how it was done before the waters came, back when we all shared this world.  Burrgh may not have been entirely honest about that.  Back in the before time, we all shared this world.”

Sukki frowned, but did not know how to answer that, directly.  Instead, she pointed her thumb at Decker.  “But how can you be near this one?  He smells like too much winter meat.”

Elder Stow nodded and laughed.  “You know, I had not put that together.”

Sukki laughed a little.  It sounded human enough.

Nameless came to collect Decker for the bachelor party, and Elder Stow, if he wished to join them.  Eir came to let Sukki know she was welcome to join the women, if she wished.

Elder Stow shook his head.  “Not right now.  We still have much to discuss.”  He looked at Sukki and she agreed with her nod. “We may each be along later, if you don’t mind, but for my part, I am not much good at such an event seeing as I have sworn off alcohol forever… unless there is some fermented goats milk.  I had some in the last time zone and did not realize what it was until later, but it did not seem to bother me.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Nameless said.  “Decker.”

“You know, you may find the human mating ritual quite interesting,” Elder Stow said.

Sukki turned up her nose before she understood.  “You mean the joining ceremony, not the actual mating.”

Decker took that as his cue to get up.  “Good to meet you,” he said, and walked with the Nameless god and Eir.  “At least your people know how to make some good brew.”

Nameless nodded, but he started thinking of something else.  “So, do we have to change your name to Winter Meat?”  Eir hit him gently again in his chest.

Avalon 5.8 Making a New Nest, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The women removed their helmets when they arrived, and the lead woman turned out to be a startlingly beautiful blue-eyed blonde; not at all what they expected in Gaza.  She spoke in a voice that made them pay attention.

“I am Hildr.  My companions are Kara and Hirst.”  Kara had more of the brown hair, brown-eyed look they expected this close to the Saini, but her hair came out wild, and full of curls.  Hirst had black hair, witch’s hair, hair the color of midnight; and she had the black eyes to match.  Hildr continued.  “Lady Eir sent us to fetch you.  Lord Valdir is expecting you.”

“Valdir?” Lockhart asked.

“Nameless,” Lincoln clarified.  Lockhart went to introduce his companions, but Hildr interrupted.

“We know who you are.”  She turned her horse and began to walk out front, while Kara and Hirst flanked the procession.

“Gee,” Lincoln joked.  “You might as well have been Harriet Jones, Prime Minister.”

“Who is that?” Lockhart asked.

“Just a character from a science fiction television show.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Lockhart said.  “I don’t watch science fiction and fantasy.  I much prefer realistic shows.”

Behind him, Katie had to ask.  “You are Valkyrie?”

“That is what we have been called,” Hirst said.  “We collect the valiant that have fallen in battle.  Those who belong to Vanheim go to the warrior’s field of Lady Frya.  Those who belong to Aesgard, we take to Lord Odin’s hall of Valhalla.  Thus, has our Lord Valdir instructed us.”

“I thought you worked for Odin,” Boston interrupted.

“All work for Odin,” Kara said, as if that should have been obvious.  “But the Alfadur himself decreed that the Nameless god is for us.  Nameless says we are to watch him as much as he watches us, though I do not know exactly what that means.”

“That sounds like the Kairos,” Alexis said, and smiled.

“Yes,” Kara continued.  “We are pledged to the Kairos-Nameless, called by the Alfadur Lord Valdir, which means Prince.  We are pledged by every sacred vow there is.”

“We are pledged to the Kairos, as well,” Boston said, happily.  She meant herself and Alexis, but in truth, that included all the travelers.

“Yes, I know, little one,” Kara said, and she smiled at Boston in a way that said they might be friends.  Boston looked at Kara’s wild hair, and thought that might be possible, if one could be said to be friends with a goddess.

Katie looked again at Hirst, and Hirst did not wait for her to ask her question.

“In ancient days, Nameless called our first, Brynhildr, out of the snow and ice of the Urals.  He called from a village on a river not far from the Black Sea.  Many good men died in a battle defending the village from ghouls.  He said he was reluctant to leave good men in the hands of Hellas.  He asked Brynhildr to take the spirits to Odin’s hall or Frya’s field, depending on the disposition of their heart, and Brynhildr said it was like scales falling from her eyes.  She said, this was the reason she was born and the purpose for her life.  When she knelt before Odin, he accepted her good service and caused Valhalla to begin, and since that time, many have come to join Brynhildr in this work.  We all work for the Alfadur, but in this life, and whenever or wherever the Time Traveler called the Nameless one appears, we are pledged to him with all of our grateful hearts.”

They did not ride very far before they came to a large group of tents and found a woman out front who looked worn and frazzled.  Hirst spoke again without waiting to be asked.

“Lady Eir has stayed with us often in the past, when she has not gone east to be with her children.  I am sure she will stay with us again in the future, after the lifetime of the Nameless one has passed.  She also goes with us, often, to battle.  There, she saves some and not others.”

Kara said, “I do not know why she chooses some to save and not others.”

“Probably case by case,” Alexis said.  “Only she would know who she is or is not authorized to help.”  Kara and Hirst both agreed that was likely.

“Hello friends,” the young woman spoke.  When they got close, they all noticed she was pregnant, and she answered the thought in several minds without being asked.  “Yes,” she said with a big smile and a pat on her belly.  “My husband and I have been very busy.”

“He will be along?” Lockhart asked.

“Shortly,” Eir said.  “For now, I want to invite the women to come into the tent, and I want to hug Artie, who I have not seen in a long time.  And how you have changed.”  Artie got down and hugged the woman, then she turned to Katie, Alexis and Boston.

“This is Eir, who I met in the cave of Yu-Huang.  She is mother of Tien and Yin, Yang, and Tuti.”  Artie wanted to show her off.

The women joined her and they went into the tent.  The men stayed outside and watched some gnomes come and take their horses away.  Lockhart finally spoke.

“These people don’t look Celtic.”

“No,” Lincoln said.  “According to the database, they are more like early Germans, or maybe early Scandinavians.”

“Vikings,” Decker agreed.

“But they have or had contact with Celts,” Lincoln added.  “They picked up some things from them, like some tartan checks.”

“And Nameless is going to take them all the way up the Silk Road to where other, early Celts settled and already introduced some tartan weave,” Lockhart said, and that caused everyone to look at him.  “I may be an historical moron, but that doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention when Katie talks.”  He thought about that and added.  “If Sekhmet can come here, Katie and I will be married in this time zone, though I would not know how to behave at a Viking wedding.”

Elder Stow sounded ecstatic.  “Wonderful.  And may you grow fat and have many children.”

Lincoln said, “Congratulations,” and it was sincere, though one could hear the touch of sorrow in missing his own wife.

Decker took a third tack.  “My condolences,” he said.

Not much after that, Nameless appeared, and Sekhmet came with him.  She came right up to Lockhart and hugged him and kissed him like a good daughter.  It made him smile, and as she headed toward the tent she shouted, “Yes!”  The word echoed off the distant hills.

“So,” Nameless said.  “Any idea who you want to get to perform the ceremony?”

‘Nameless?” Lincoln asked.

“Yes,” both Decker and Elder Stow answered for the man.

“I suppose we are out of range for Isis, not that I would ask her.  I am sure whoever I ask will be busy,” Lockhart hedged.  “Do you have a priest among your people?”

Nameless nodded.  “But that would not do.  You know you folks have affected more lives than maybe you realize.  You know this land belongs to Astarte and her on again, off again relationship with El.”

“Have we met her?”

Nameless nodded.  “Briefly, once or twice.  But there is no serious choice, unless she turns down the idea, which I suspect she won’t.  You see, Hathor, and my mother, Frya, and many others wish to come, and might even want to perform the ceremony, but it would not be right to pass up the local mistress of marriage and the home.  I am certain Astarte will do it, to maintain peace among the gods, and she will be glad to do it besides.”

“And I will,” a woman said as she appeared out of thin air.  “And I am happy to bless the couple.  But, you should not be so quick to assume.  The couple have not asked me yet.”

“Will you?” Lockhart thought to ask.

Astarte smiled.  “I said I would,” and she went into the tent to join the women.  The men all stared, and could not seem to help it.

“So,” Nameless clapped his hands to regain their attention.  “The story of my life has been straightening out messes.  Lucky, you missed Ragnarok.  Maybe the storyteller will write about it some day.  Anyway, I figure we have three messes to fix.  Maybe messes is too strong a word.”

“What are you talking about?” Lockhart wondered.  Nameless merely pointed up.  An Anazi space ship came in for a landing.  He pointed over to where a Gott-Druk sat on a log near a fire, and she looked miserable.  He moved his pointer finger to where Boston and Alexis came out of the tent.  Boston came complaining.

“I know how it works, now.  I understand all about that.  You have to stop treating me like a fairy still wet behind the wings, okay?”

“Fine.”  Alexis threw her hands up.

“I don’t understand,” Lincoln said.

“We have two young women ready to leave the nest.”

The men nodded, until Lockhart asked.  “Who is the other one?”

************************

MONDAY (Tuesday and Wednesday)

Don’t mis the second half of Avalon, Episode 5.8

Katie and Lockhart get ready to form a new nest, but Boston and Artie do not appear happy, and Basilisk statues in the wilderness may come to haunt them…

Happy Reading

*

Avalon 5.8 Making a New Nest, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Elder Stow saw the anomaly on his scanner.  He and Decker had moved out to the front in the desert.  They were not worried about people sneaking up on the group from the sides when the group could see anyone coming for miles.  From the front, they could ride back and warn the group if they were about to run into trouble.

“Normally, they are fairly-good about watching where they are going,” Decker said in the morning.

“Yes,” Elder Stow agreed.  “But right now, they all seem so preoccupied for one reason or another.”

Decker understood.  He moved out on the flank, but then pushed up to the front and kept his eyes open.

Now, Elder Stow stopped to look, and Decker came over to see why.  A stone statue of a man stood there in the middle of nowhere, and it was not just any man.  It appeared to be a Gott-Druk, one of Elder Stow’s people, and it looked like he had on a space suit of some sort.

“Friend of yours?” Decker asked.

Elder Stow tapped the statue before he spoke.  “No.  Yes.  Maybe.”

“Do I get to pick which one I like?”

“No.”  Elder Stow almost smiled.  “I have seen this face before in temporal reconstructive imaging—in pictures.  He looks like Burrgh, the Mighty, or, what the genetic reconstructionists think he might have looked like.”

“Who?”

“Burrgh the Mighty.  He was one of the original colonists on the new world.”  Elder Stow paused and realized he would have to explain.  “At the time of the flood, we were taken into space on Agdaline slower-than-light sleeper ships.  That was what they were called.  Sleeper ships, because the people went into a primitive form of cryogenic suspension, and it seemed like they slept and only woke up when they neared their destination.  Burrgh the Mighty was one who objected.  He said we should go back to the earth, our native planet, and take possession.  He said the flood waters surely receded, and the earth was ripe for the taking.  He almost made it a religion.”

“And he made it here?”  Decker asked, as the others came up to stop and listen.

“You must understand. At that time, while you people were still living in caves and using stone tools, we were beginning to use copper, tin, and other soft metals—perhaps learning about bronze.  We began farming, and taming some of the animals.  Much of your earliest learning came from us, or from the Elenar.  But we were nowhere near space technology.  This was well before we had any idea how the Agdaline ships worked, or what forces they used.”

“That is quite a jump, from the coper age to the space age overnight,” Katie said as she and Artie got down to look at the statue.

“Indeed,” Elder Stow said.  “But Burrgh was determined, and he gathered his followers, took one of the Agdaline ships, and managed to get it into space without blowing up.  He was never heard from again, and no trace of him was ever found.”

“And you think this is that guy?” Lockhart asked.

“Genetic imaging is accurate to a very fine degree.  The imaging I have experienced, assuming the sample was indeed Burrgh, this is the man I saw.  Wait…”  Elder stow took out his equipment, calculated, and mumbled.  “Ten thousand, minus twelve hundred… Distance at near-light-speed… convert to years…”

“Hey, Elder Stow,” Lincoln shouted.  “There are more of them over here, and what looks like a bunch of pieces.

Elder Stow walked in that direction as he shook his head.  “I suppose he could have run into trouble and drifted for a few millennia.  Those sleeper units were not designed with Gott-Druk in mind.  The Agdaline built them specific for themselves.”

“I was in one for about five hundred years,” Decker said.

“I am more concerned about five thousand years.  The automatic safety is set to wake the sleepers at a thousand years.  After a thousand years, the suspension material can begin to break down, not to mention the monitoring systems.  Everyone wakes.  Systems are rebuilt. Fresh material is injected, and the process can begin again.  The further one sleeps beyond a thousand years, the more likely a system will breakdown.  At two thousand years, even if the system is still functioning properly, the life support begins to degrade.  The man might still be alive, but he might be revived as a mental vegetable.”  Elder Stow stopped at the second statue, and exclaimed, “Tughat.  That settles my mind on the matter.  These are the lost expedition of Burrgh the Mighty.”

“Did they come out of suspension like this?” Lincoln asked.

“No.  Something must have happened,” Elder Stow said.

“Medusa turns people to stone,” Boston suggested.

“So does a basilisk,” Katie said.  “But I did not think they meant literal stone.”

“A holding technique,” Alexis spoke out of her learning.  “It’s like a spider web that holds the flies until the spider is ready to feast.  These pieces on the ground used to be Gott-Druk as well, but they have had their insides drained, and the remainder has been smashed to look like random rocks, so others don’t know there is a basilisk near, and thus avoid the area.”

“I think that is what we should do,” Lincoln said.  “Avoid the area.”  Lockhart and Decker were already looking for some sign of the creature.  Katie and Artie got ready to ride, and that spurred the others.  They rode at a good pace, and did not stop until they came to a grassy meadow where the wildlife suggested the basilisk had not hunted.

Only Elder Stow showed any unhappiness about being out of the area.  “There are so many questions, so many unanswered questions.”

“You can’t get blood from a stone,” Decker said.

“Apparently, a basilisk can.” Lincoln countered

###

Mid-afternoon, the travelers came upon the smoking ruins of what looked like a city in the distance.  Lincoln kept reading, but looked up briefly.  “Gaza,” he said.  “And things have not changed much in our day.”

“These people don’t have missiles, so no Israeli aircraft,” Decker countered.

“Cut it out,” Lockhart ordered.  He did not want those two started again on a new tit-for-tat.  He wanted to know who attacked the city, and who won.  He did not want them mistaken for a new threat to the city, or for reinforcements coming to the city’s aid.

Lincoln got serious.  “The sea peoples, so-called, landed here all up and down the coast at some point, depending on what point in Nameless’ life we arrived.  Some, were determined to try Egypt.  They probably heard the streets of Memphis were paved with gold.  You know, the usual motivations.  They were driven back at sea, and later they got or get driven back again over the land route.  Some stay here and form a ruling class over the locals.”

“Like the Indo-Aryans over the Dravidian people in Padrama’s day,” Katie suggested.

“Like the Normans over the Anglo-Saxons, who were already over the British Celtic people.,” Lincoln gave his own understanding.

“Some?” Alexis asked.

“The rest follow Nameless to the Euphrates, down Mesopotamia, across the Iranian Plateau, and up to the Tien Shan where Nameless’ children watch over the eastern end of the Silk Road.”

“Quite a journey,” Artie said, now having been to a number of places and seen first-hand how difficult and dangerous travel could be.

“You’ll like this part,” Lincoln said and turned his head back to look at Katie.  “When the Indo-Aryans and Indo-Europeans began their great migrations, a distinctive Celtic culture went out front, like the vanguard of the invasion.  Most moved, or were pushed west as we know—to France and the British Isles.  But a line of Celts followed the Danube south like a buffer zone between Aesgard and Olympus.  They pushed other people groups into Greece; Aeolians, Corinthians, Dorians and so on.  Eventually, some crossed the sea and settled in Anatolia, the place the Romans called Galatea.”

“I think I figured that much out already,” Katie responded.

“But wait,” Lincoln was not finished.  “What you don’t know is some Celts initially went east about 3000 to 2000 BC, and settled on the north and east end of the Silk Road.”

“Which makes perfect sense,” Katie grinned.  “They found caucasian people and tartans on mummies in that region dated back to around 2000 BC.  Makes sense.”

“Yes.  Nameless is quoted in the record as saying his journey was like one big circle.  It seems that Celtic group followed Nameless’ son, Tien, and his brothers and sisters into that region.”

“Hold up,” Lockhart called a halt.  “We got company.”  Decker and Elder Stow came in to join them.

The company looked like three people in leather and fine bronze armor, riding on good horses with saddles, no less.  The horses and saddles, and armor and weapons they carried looked one or two thousand years ahead of themselves, at least.  Katie assumed the soldiers would be driving chariots, or if they were on horseback, they would be riding with only a blanket thrown over some Black Sea ponies like they had seen in the past.

The three riders had to get close before the travelers realized that these three were women.  Katie’s only comment was they were not Amazons.  Alexis said they were Valkyra, and since they were looking for the Nameless god, they did not discount that possibility.

Avalon 5.8 Making a New Nest, part 1 of 6

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After 1236 BC Philistia.  Kairos 67: The Nameless God

Recording…

Katie and Artie walked out from the camp to talk.  Everyone said watch out for the crocodiles.  Lockhart waved, but people could tell he worried.  Artie had changed since her experience in the last time zone, and people did not know how to read her changes.  She seemed sullen, sometimes pensive, thoroughly teenaged.

“We were worried about you,” Katie said.  “We all were.”

Artie nodded.

“Your father drove us like a madman to reach Utumari.  We didn’t make it.”  Katie smiled.  “Your sister Sekhmet found us first.”

“Sekhmet has work to do,” Artie said.  “She has been very good to me, but I know she is busy.”

“I suppose that is right.”  Artie stopped, walking so Katie stopped.

“You have work,” Artie said, and waved off the idea that they all needed to work to get home in one piece.  “No, I mean after you get home.  You are a marine, and you will go to work with the Men in Black, with Lockhart, Lincoln, Alexis, and I suppose Boston, too.  Elder Stow will go back to the Gott-Druk where he has both work and family.  Decker will live and die a marine.  But what about me?  I’m just sixteen.  What am I going to do when we get there?  I have no reason for being.”

Katie smiled.  “I thought I might help you get your GED, and then you might go to college.  There are all sorts of things you can learn, and you won’t be sixteen forever.  Who knows?  You might find a nice young man.”

Artie shook her head vigorously and started walking again, so Katie walked. Artie had to think, but she finally spoke again.

“When I was alone, my strongest self came back to the surface.  At times, there, I stopped being a sixteen-year-old girl and became something else.  It is the reason I survived.  I am a soldier, and a dominant.  That is like a commander—an officer, like you.  It is what I have been programmed to be.”

“Your military training helped you survive,” Katie suggested that she understood.  “I depend on my training every day on this journey.”

Artie shook her head again, and they stopped walking again.  “That’s not it.  I learned more military things from you and Decker, and everybody else, than I ever learned through my programming.  You taught me how to think, and think on my feet, as Decker says.  He says most battles are won in the mind before the two sides ever come to blows.  I understand so much now that Artie the Android would have never understood.  My program did not cover the subtleties of life, thought, feelings, intuition.  I’m not sure the Anazi themselves can understand some of the things I have learned.”

“But that is all good, isn’t it?  You have grown a lot compared to how you were when we first found you.  But isn’t that good?”

“It is good,” Artie said.  “It is very good, but…” She started walking again, and Katie walked with her and held her tongue until Artie spoke.  “I think if I lived long enough as a human, I might become as wise as you, as loving and caring as Alexis and…”  Artie shook her head, gently.  “No, never as wild and crazy as Boston.  But you get what I mean.  But here is the thing.  I feel as if I have grasped the basics.  There might be a million more things you can teach me, but at this point, they might be things I can figure out for myself.”

“Good for you,” Katie said, to Artie’s surprise.  “That indicates you are growing up, maturing, and not just growing older.  You sound like a bird getting ready to leave the nest, or in other words, like a true teenager.”

Artie stopped them a third time.  They were nearing the water, but did not want to get too close without checking the area for dangerous creatures.  That was when Artie finally tried to verbalize what she felt.

“I feel as if I have betrayed my own people.  I made others do all the dangerous work, while I stayed here, safe.  I have learned a lot.  I’ve learned all, or at least most of the important things of life, but now I am wondering, what good is it if I can’t share this knowledge with my people?  I don’t know if I will ever see my people again.  I mean, I love you, and dad, and everyone so much,

I can’t tell you.  I have loved being human, but I know that deep down, I am not human.”

Katie hugged her.  “You will always have a home with us.”

Artie hugged her right back.  “I know.  But I have another home.  I am a dominant android.  I need to find that other home, and go back to my own life—my real life.”

They started walking again, and both slipped, fell, and slid down into a pool.  Katie imagined water, until she tried to get out.  Something had her feet, and it started to creep up her leg.

“I’m stuck in the mud,” Artie said.

“Help,” Katie imagined quicksand, and they needed help to get free.

They heard laughter, and Artie recognized it.  “Djin,” she yelled.  “Explain yourself.”

A small black cloud came to the ground, like a ball of smoke drifting in a breeze.  It slowly formed into a man’s figure, and he laughed as the women began to sink in the muck.  “I have played.  I have toyed with you all, but you are charmed beyond normal mortals.  The gods themselves have hedged you around, and they watch.”  Anger replaced the laughter, and two oversized crocodiles appeared at the man’s feet.

“Help,” Katie tried again.

“They cannot hear you.  I have been made small as the gods have eaten bits and pieces of my power.  But I have not been made so small that I cannot kill you.  That is what must happen. You must die, piece by piece.  I will have you all.”

The crocodiles began to move toward the water, pausing only to decide on the best way to get at the struggling humans.  Katie managed to get her hand down and pull her knife, but she and Artie had sunk up to their chests so she had no room for leverage.  The man reverted to cloud form, but it watched.  It did not fly off.

As the first crocodile slipped one foot toward the water, something rumbled in the earth.  The cloud became agitated.  It began to swirl.  The women heard a roar of anger.  Lightning struck the earth, and the cloud, like a tornado, whipped off to the north.  A man—a giant appeared.

The giant wore a jackal head and held a staff which he planted once in the ground.  The crocodiles disappeared.  He planted it a second time and it hinted of thunder.  The women found themselves clean of every speck of mud and standing on the hard surface of the earth.  The pool of quicksand vanished as surely as the crocodiles.  He slammed his staff once more to the ground, and the thunder came loud and strong.  The women, the travelers, their horses and tents, all of their thing in the camp, and the camp itself, vanished.  They left the Nile delta where they had been, and reappeared on the far side of the Saini, near the sea.  Then the jackal-headed man spoke.

“This is as far as I go,” he said, in a deep voice that vibrated down to their toes, and he disappeared.

Katie and Artie looked at one another and walked quietly back to the camp.  The man even transported the campfire, undisturbed, with sufficient wood to see them through the night.  Lincoln was the first to speak.

“What was that?”

“Anubis,” Katie said, and sat.  “The djin is not giving up.  Apparently, the djin has decided that the only good traveler is a dead traveler.”

No one had much to say after that.  People went to bed surrounded by desert instead of the lush green of the Nile delta, but they did sleep.

Around one in the morning, Artie and Katie woke up to the sound of humming overhead.  Artie did not recognize the sound as Anazi, but it clearly sounded like a ship of some kind, either hovering or moving slowly across the sky.  Lincoln and Decker were on watch, and Decker made a decision not to wake Elder Stow.  Katie agreed.  She felt no imminent threat.

While Artie and Decker tried to sight the craft in the night sky, Katie sat down next to Lincoln.  She felt some concern for him, too.

“You have been very quiet lately.  I hope everything is all right.”

He looked at her for a minute before he opened-up.  “Alexis and I talked about it.  We haven’t said anything because we don’t want Boston to feel bad.  You need to not say anything.”  He waited for her to nod.  “Alexis and I need to be together again.  As Lockhart says, we deserve each other.  She has pretty much taught Boston everything she can—what she needed to teach her as an elf.  The rest she can explain in her human form, like if Boston has questions, that sort of thing.  She almost asked Utumari about it, but we did not see him for very long, and we were all so preoccupied with finding Artie.  It just wasn’t the right time.  We may ask Nameless when we see him, but Alexis doesn’t know how.  She is afraid Boston may panic.”

Katie responded with her own dilemma.  “Robert and I agreed that we would marry the next time we were where Artie and Sekhmet could both be there.  I don’t think he… we expected it to be this soon, but I think we are ready… I hope… I don’t know.”

Lincoln smiled at her.  “Jitters?”

Katie returned a hard stare.  “No doubts,” she said.  “But it is a big step, that’s all.  I went for the longest time believing I would never marry anyone, ever.”

“A big step,” Lincoln agreed.  “But worth it.  And children…” he watched Katie’s eyes widen just a little.  “Worth it,” he repeated.

“There,” Artie shouted and pointed at the moon-lit sky.  Decker looked.

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb part 6 of 6

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Artie woke feeling rested and very happy.  It was not the sort of happiness that made her get teary eyed, but a kind of peaceful contentment sort of happiness that she never felt before.  She looked over Anat’s head and Naman was awake.

“Good morning,” he whispered.

Artie listened to the sound of the early birds and whispered back, “Good morning.”

Anat squirmed between them without opening her eyes.  “Not yet, mom and dad.  I’m still sleeping.”

Artie looked at the girl and at Naman.  She had to find out.  Anat was ticklish, and she giggled, uproariously.  Naman was not so ticklish, but Artie discovered she was.  They rolled on the ground and laughed and laughed until they could not laugh any more.  Then they sat and breathed deeply, and looked at each other, until Artie spoke.

“What happened last night?”

“What?” Naman asked.

“Not that,” Artie said, and turned a little red.  “I didn’t mean that.”

“Oh, that was so wonderful,” Anat said in an exagerated way.  Artie and Naman had to attack her with some more tickles.  But it was after the fact, and Artie got her mind back on track.

“I mean after that,” She squinted at the girl and poked Anat on the nose to say, ‘be quiet’.

“I’m not sure,” Naman confessed.  “Did it rain?”

“It got windy,” Anat said.  “My hair would not stay still.”

Artie’s eyes squinted before they brightened all at once.  “I just remembered something.  I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.”

“The Djin?” Naman suggested.

“He must have clouded my mind,” Artie nodded.  “The answer is so obvious.”  She sat down on the ground, crossed her legs and closed her eyes.

“What is she doing?” Anat asked.

“Hush,” Naman said.  He saw his father and mother come out of the house with his brother Basan and his other sister, Doma.  He waved for them all to come close, but be quiet.  He had no idea what Artie was doing, but he felt it had to be important.

When Artie was settled in her heart and mind, she spoke.  “Anath-Rama, my own goddess.  I know I am within your realm, and I ask you to hear my plea.  I have become lost, and have lost my companions.  Will you help me to find them?  We have a very long way still to go, and I cannot go alone.”  She paused before starting again.

“Sakhmet, my sister.  I know that Egypt is a long way from here, but you explained that you have access to this place.  If you can hear me from so far away, I have lost and been separated from Mom and Dad, and I have been very afraid.  Please dear sister, can you come and help me find my way home, to our family again.”  She paused once more before starting again.

“Dear Karinna, my very best friend.  I don’t know what kind of rituals I should perform to reach out to you.  I am sure you have some lovely rituals and temples and everything by now.  I was thinking we could have another sleepover.  I would like that.  And maybe in the morning you could help me find my companions.  I am distressed, and unhappy, but you could meet my boyfriend.  That would be nice.  And Grandmother Hannahannah could come and watch over us, and keep us out of trouble again, like last time, if she wants.”  Artie stopped because she did not know what else to say.

“Who?” Abinidab asked quietly.

“Arinniti, I think,” Naman answered and he hushed them.

“Now what?” Anat asked, not so quietly as she sat down beside Artie.

“Now we wait,” Artie said.  “All I can do is ask.”

“All day?” Anat asked.

“If necessary,” Artie said and touched Anat on her nose again.

“All you have to do is ask,” an old woman said, as she tepped out from the dark at the back of the barn.

“Grandma,” Artie jumped up and ran to hug her.  She remembered nothing about the night before.

“Too bad,” Hannahannah said.  “The lovely Amphitrite was very thorough.”

“What?”

“You are protected.  You cannot get pregnant, though I am sure that is what the Djin wanted.”  Artie put her hand to her belly, looked at Haman and smiled, weakly.  “And that is too bad, because you would have made a wonderful mother.”

“Artie.”  They all heard the word before they saw the woman come out of nowhere and bound up to Artie for a big hug.  They took hands like a couple of schoolgirls and both talked at once, but after that initial gasping for breath, they each took a step back for a better look.  “There is a switch,” Arinna said.

“What?”

“Usually I leave them at sixteen and go away for just a short time, but by the time I get back, they are old and gray.  But here, we had our sleepover in Aleppo, must have been three hundred years ago.  I’ve lived those three hundred years.  I’m all grown up now, but you are still sixteen, aren’t you?”

Artie nodded.  “And I got a boyfriend.”  She pointed to Naman, who was the only one who did not have his mouth and eyes wide open, or covered.  Naman looked to be stiff with shock.  Abinidab had fainted.

“I had a few of those,” Arinna said, but then softened and genuinely said, “I’m glad for you, and I see you have grown up.”

“Sister,” Sekhmet said and ran up to hug her sister.  “Mom and Dad and everyone have been so worried about you.”

“You know Arinna?”  Artie was polite.  She did, and Artie was glad they were better than just cordial friends.  Artie felt a tug on her dress and turned.  Anat wanted to be introduced.

“Are you sure?  You are too cute for them.  They might not be able to resist you.”

“I’m sure.  Karinna is so beautiful, I can hardly look at her.  And your sister looks wild, and I bet she would be the best playmate.  And your Grandmother looks like the best grandmother, ever.  My grandmother is gone.” Anat pouted.  “She died last year.”

Artie stepped back and let the goddesses have at it, and all three were positively charmed by the little girl.  Artie put her arm around Naman’s waist.  She hugged him a little, from the side, and he came around a little, but then the travelers appeared, with a few extra people nearby, and Artie ran, but not as fast as Katie ran.  They hugged and cried and kissed.  Lockhart was a couple of steps behind, and he watched, until the women grabbed him.  Then he cried, too, but just a little

Artie went around to the travelers and hugged them all.  Never was anyone so glad to see their friends.  Boston pointed out Enki, the god, who wiggled his glasses and gave Artie a smile.  Katie introduced a slightly rounded older man as the Kairos, Utumari, the Hittite governor of Kadesh.

“The king left him there after the war to hold the line against the Egyptians,” she said.

Then they came to Utumari’s wife, Anath, and Utumari got distracted, which was good, because Artie’s eyes got big. and Katie had to put her hand over Artie’s mouth.  The woman had gray hair, and looked filled out, but Artie would recognize her goddess anywhere, no matter how she appeared.  She cried a little more for loving Anath–Rama so much, but the woman merely hugged her and told her she loved her.

Artie looked up at Katie who said, “Hebat is mad that she did not think of it first.”

“But Hebat is married,” Karinna said.  “I should know.  She is my mother.”  Karinna held Artie’s hands once more and said, “Sometimes, I think about that night and wish I could be young again to have a sleepover, one more time.”

“Me, too,” Artie said.  “It was the most fun time, ever.”

Karinna smiled.  “You sound like little Anat,” she said, and vanished.

Hannahannah made a special point of giving Katie a hug before she also vanished.

Utumari stayed long enough to meet the village elders before he, too, had to go.  Enki was kind enough to take him and his wife back to Kadesh.

Sekhmet stayed, but she was well practiced at toning down her awesome nature so she could mingle with humans and no one would really know.

The whole village had another celebration that very night.  Artie made Naman stay with Larsa, and he said he understood.

“She will make the best wife, and I will love her, and she will give me the best sons.”

“Make sure,” she told them both, sternly, and then she gave Naman’s mother a good talking to, Sekhmet hovering over her shoulder the whole time.

Two of the elders talked with Abinidab about the lion he saw in the neighborhood.

“The lion is gone,” Sekhmet interrupted, and decided to explain.  “One of the gods must have seen your distress and moved it further down in the wilderness.  Trust me.  I know lions.”

“I should say Artie is the one who knows lions,” Abinidab said.  The story had gotten around, and probably would be retold for many years.

Artie put her hand up.  “I do swear.  I only did what my big sister taught me.  She is the best big sister in all the world and I always listen to her.”

“But not always do,” Sekhmet mumbled with a smile.  They turned to walk back to their mom and dad and Sekhmet added.  “That must make you the best little sister in the world.”

“No, that’s my job,” they heard as Anat squeezed between them.  Sekhmet and Artie nodded in the same way at the same time, then looked at each other.

“Middle sister?” Artie suggested.

“Middle sister,” Sekhmet agreed.

Like the night before, the farmers left by nine, which felt more than late enough to be getting to bed.  Katie looked at the girls, Artie, Sekhmet, and Anat sleeping with her head in Sekhmet’s lap.

“You bless her like that, she will end up marrying a king.”

“It will serve him right,” Sekhmet said, without explaining.  Artie grinned, and Katie changed the subject.

“So, tell me about this boyfriend of yours.”  Artie turned her head away slightly and blushed slightly.  Katie drew in her breath.  “Did you?”  Artie blushed a little more and reached for Sekhmet’s hand as Sekhmet grinned.  “You did.” Katie concluded, a little loud.

“Did what?”  Lockhart looked up from what he was doing.

“Nothing,” all three women said together, and Lockhart swallowed and went back to what he was doing.

In the morning, Artie found out that she was right in front of the time gate that whole time, only she did not know it.  She hugged the family goodbye, kissing Abinidab like a good daughter, and hugging Amma, who had reconciled in her head that her son was going to marry Larsa.  Artie hugged Naman, and held him tight, but she did not cry.  Then she hugged Larsa, because it felt like the right thing to do.

Freedom was saddled.  Artie was in her riding slacks and pink shirt.  She waved good-bye to the sruprising number of people who turned out to see them vanish into the air, and Katie and Artie followed Lockhart and Lincoln through the gate.

************************

MONDAY

Avalon 5.8 Making a New Nest.  Kairos 67, The Nameless god…enough said…

Happy Reading

*

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb part 5 of 6

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Three hours after meeting with the village elders, Artie, Naman, Hatisuli, and three of those elders met the Mitanni just outside of the village.  Artie did the talking, and she got straight to the point.

“Are you trying to start a war?  Does your king know you are doing this?  Do you think he will be happy when he has to pay compensation to the Hittites for attacking a Hittite village?”

The Mitanni commander smiled and kept looking over his shoulder at the man in the corner.  Artie felt something about the man that rubbed Artie in an odd way.  She felt it as soon as she saw him, and finally put it together in her mind that she felt the same way around Alexis and Boston.  She figured it might be that intuition thing Mother Katie talked about, and she felt thrilled to think she had it.  Then she understood she would only be guessing.

“Elf.  Show yourself,” she said.  The man looked around with the others, like he did not know who she was talking to.  “Elf, in the name of the Kairos, you have no business leading these men into war.  If you are being coerced, then in the Kairos’ name I command that you be free.”

The man stared this time, and began to weep.

“What is this?”  The Mitanni commander demanded an answer.  “Lugos is the one who told me about the gold hidden away in your village.  He is a fine and honest man.”  The commander wanted that gold.  “I will not attack you if you hand it over.”

“Elf, show yourself, or when I see the Kairos, I will accuse you, and the Kairos will know.”

“No.  Please.”  The man transformed into a four-foot creature that looked more like an imp than an elf.  He might have been a gnome of sorts.  Artie honestly was not sure.  The Mitanni and village elders alike took several steps back.  Only Naman smiled, and he kept Hatisuli steady.

“I don’t know what I am doing.  I do not deal with mortal humans.  My place is in the wilderness.”  He looked directly at the Mitanni commander.  “There is no gold in this village.  You have been lied to.”  That was as close as he could come to admitting that he lied.  “May I go?”  He looked at Artie.

“Who told you to bring the Mitanni here?” Artie asked, kindly.

“I…”  The gnome took off his hat and twisted it.  “That big fellow.  The Marid.”

“The Djin?” Artie asked to clarify.

The gnome nodded.  “I think so.”

Artie smiled.  “You can go, my friend.”  The gnome smiled for her, and vanished as Artie turned to the Mitanni commander.  “So, you have been lied to.  There is no gold.  Now, unless you intend to start a war and make your king boiling mad at you, I suggest you take your troop back to the trade road and go home.”

“The gold?” one of the sub-commanders asked.  The commander hit him and started yelling at his men to get moving back to the road.

Artie turned, and Naman grabbed her and hugged her.  Hatisuli and the elders were very pleased.  Artie felt the excitement and pleasure in Naman’s arms.  She just had to kiss him, but it was all too brief before she said.  “I wonder if the Hittite commander got told about the gold.  They would find out.

###

That evening, the whole village threw a celebration.  They knew what a battle woould have done to them, not to mention the soldiers that would have rampaged through the town, looking for gold that was not there.  Artie became the guest of honor, and got tired of saying, “No, thank you,” and “Your welcome,” and “I’m glad everything worked out.”

As the night wore on, people tired.  They began to go home about nine o’clock, and Naman explained.  “It is true.  We are poor dirt farmers not used to late hours, no matter the occasion.  But we are the backbone of the countryside.  All of the kings and nobles would not survive without us.”

After a while, when Naman and Hatisuli wandered off to talk with the young men, Sharina waddled up and took Artie to meet Larsa.  Larsa looked a little afraid.  She heard about the thieves and the lion, and Artie got the credit for driving off two whole armies, even if they barely made up two companies between them.  Artie hugged the girl, which made the girl’s whole face express surprise.  Then Artie asked a question Larsa did not expect.

“Do you love him?”

Sharina encouraged Larsa to speak.  “Oh yes.  He is all I dream about.”

Artie nodded.  “Then you should marry him,” and she explained what only Naman knew.  “My seven companions on their seven big horses will find me.  I am certain.  And then I will go with them on our journey, and be gone from this place.  I thank you for letting me borrow Naman for a few days.  It is very scary to be on your own, lost and alone.  His friendly face has helped me more than I can say.”  She gave Larsa and Sharina both hugs, hugging Sharina carefully around the baby, before she finished her thought.  “I may be here a week or so.  My friends may come for me tomorrow.  I do not know.  But if Naman loves you, then you can marry him, and be happy, and I will not be here to get in your way.”

Larsa began to cry and Artie asked.  “Are you happy to hear that I am going away?”  Larsa nodded, and Artie wondered out loud.  “Why do women cry when they are happy?”  And all three laughed.

As the party wound down, Naman said they should go, and Artie agreed, but because she had to check on Freedom.  He took her hand as they walked to the barn.  She gave Freedom a good brushing and plenty of tender care.  Then she got out her own brush and sat down beside Naman while she brushed her own hair.  They did not say much.

“Do you love Larsa?”

Naman looked away and admitted, “Yes.  I think I do.”

Artie nodded.  Then they kissed.  And then they did everything men and women are designed to do.

As the moon came up, the clouds also moved in.  The rain came suddenly, and it came hard.  Anat crawled down from the barn loft, and she screamed once when the lightning struck.  The wind came up, and the whole barn rattled.  Even Naman looked scared in the face of the storm.

“Twister,” Naman yelled.  They moved to the back of the barn where Freedom looked ready to Panic.  Naman and Artie held Anat between them and made themselves as small as they could.  They expected the barn to be blown away any minute, but the tornado stopped.  It stood in the doorway, and they heard laughter.

Artie was the first to move.  Naman kept two steps back and held Anat so she could not run away.  Artie got suspicious.  Her intuition acted up, and she yelled against the wind.

“What is so funny?”

A face formed on the outside of the tornado and laughed.  “You are despoiled.  You have given yourself to a man.  You can never get your innocence back, or your purity.  Now, no man will ever want you for wife.  You have ruined yourself.”

“What do you mean?” Artie shot back.  “I had a wonderful experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

The face seemed stuck on its own way of thinking.  “All of this went according to plan.”  He laughed again.  “The thieves.  The lion.  The soldiers.  It was nothing more than a ruse to bring you two together.  It worked better than I ever hoped.  Now, your life is over and you may as well give yourself to the brothel and to depravity.”

“Are you not listening?  What Naman and I have and did is special, and I will remember it fondly my whole life.  Mother Katie, Boston and Alexis have told me much about the future.  I am sixteen, and that is more than old enough for hot, steamy sex.”

“But…”

“You made me sick, and now I know what it is like to be ill.  You gave me a boyfriend, and I am grateful for that, too.  We got to sleep together, and it was wonderful.  I am not afraid of you, and I am not angry with you.  You pushed me to experience things I never would have experienced as an android.  I thank you, most deeply.”

The face twisted, and let out a scream.  The roof on the barn began to lift before the tornado vanished and the clouds pushed off.  An older woman stood in the moonlight, and Artie recognized her.

“Hannahannah,” Artie named her, and ran to hug her.  The old woman smiled and turned her right around. She led Artie right back to the barn where Artie saw Naman and Anat sleeping, peacefully.

“You must lie down,” Hannahannah said, and guided Artie to lie so Anat stayed between her and Naman.  “Like your own little family.”  Hannahannah smiled.  “And you have a busy day tomorrow.”

Artie felt warm and content, and she quickly joined her little family in sleep.

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Artie turned and hummed a little tune as she collected rocks to place around a fire.  She collected sticks as well, and then thought to fetch her flint and steel.  By the time Naman came from the trees with his arms full of lumber, the fire was already started.

“How did you do that?” Naman asked.  “It took us an hour last evening to get the fire started.  That was why we were just cooking when you showed up.”

“I had some tinder,” Artie said, innocently.  “I got my flint and steel.  I told you about steel,” she said.

“I watched,” Abinidab said.  “And I can’t tell you how she did that.”

“What do we have that we can cook?” Artie asked.  She got her pot and walked back to the little stream they crossed before the kissing incident.  She smiled at the memory of that.  As she bent down to fill her pot, she heard a roar back in the camp.  She dropped the pot and pulled her knife as she ran.

Naman had his father’s spear and shield, and Abinidab hid behind him.  Naman looked dashing, but he faced a lion, a lone male, from the look of it.  Artie stopped beside Naman and started giving orders.

“Stare in its eyes.  Stare him down.”

“It is Sandan come to take our lives,” Abinidab wailed.

“Show no fear,” Artie commanded.  “Stare him down.”  She growled when the lion roared.  “Lion.  Look at me.”  She spoke firmly and directly to the cat.  “One step at a time, forward,” she said.

“Sakhmet is my sister.”  She took a step, stared as hard as she could, and the lion clearly looked confused. Naman was a little slow on the first step, but he got the idea.

“Bestet is my protector.”  She took another step, and this time, the lion took a step back.

“Wadjt saves the day.”  Artie made no wild moves.  She simply moved, relentless, calm, and determined in her voice, one step at a time.

“Mihos is my friend.”  One more step and the lion backed up.  It roared, a roar of protest, to be sure.  Freedom came racing up to the rescue, and on sight of the big mustang, not to mention the big spear and the annoying woman, the lion thought better, turned and bounded off.

Artie grabbed Freedom by the nose and kissed the horse.  “You are my big protector, aren’t you?”  The horse appeared to like that idea.

“Father fainted,” Naman said.  “And your horse is smarter than Birka, just so we know what we are talking about.”

“A woman like that would ruin you,” Artie said, as she put her knife away.

“I would much rather you ruin me,” Naman said.

“Me too,” Artie agreed.  And they were kissing when Abinidab woke from his faint, and smiled.  He looked like a man determined to get his son a wife, no matter what.

###

Home was a farm, of course.  Basan, age fifteen, watched their few sheep, until he stopped to stare at Artie, up on Freedom’s back.  He saw his brother riding behind her, holding her tight around her waist, and he seemed to be enjoying himself.  Father walked, but that was the only thing not worth staring at.

“Sheep, sheep,” Father said as he passed by.  He waved, and Basan turned to the sheep until father’s back was turned.  Then he went back to staring.

Naman turned Artie and Freedom to the barn.  They were there for over an hour while Artie gave her horse some much needed attention.  They had a small fenced in area where the family kept the sheep in the night.  Artie figured Freedom would not be bothered by the sheep, but she might put him in the barn after dark.  For now, she let him run in the area where the springtime grass grew.

She took Naman’s hand when he took her to the house, but the closer she got, the more nervous she felt.  It finally popped out of her mouth.  “Do you think your mother will like me?”

Naman patted her hand and looked behind them.  “What do you think, Anat?”  Artie felt startled.  She got so anxious; she had not realized they were being followed.

“I don’t know,” Anat said, as they stopped outside the door.  “Mother can be cranky and yells a lot.”  She looked up in Artie’s face, and Artie thought Anat looked precious.  “But I like her,” Anat said, and she even took Artie’s other hand, “So Artie cannot run away,” she explained.

They went in and saw Abinidab sitting at the table, waiting.  Naman’s mother, Amma, stood and walked around Artie, twice, with comments.

“She looks foreign.  Can she cook?  She does not look strong, like a worker.  My son needs a strong wife.”

“Forgive me,” Artie said.  “I just realized, I am not properly dressed.”  She still had on her pink top and her loose-fitting riding pants that looked like a skirt when she stood or walked.  She spoke to her clothes, and they imitated the dress Amma wore, with a bit more flare, and some tatting around the edges.  She also colored it a rich green, like the grass in spring.

Amma sat down, shrieked, threw her apron over her face, and Artie noticed.  “Yes, I need an apron,” she said, and an apron formed out of the fairy weave she wore.  “How’s that?” she asked Doma, who had a broom in her hand and smiled, and Anat, who clapped and grinned.

“Yes, shoes,” she said, and changed hers into sandals, like the girls wore.  “How do I look?” she asked Abinidab, who snickered, because she had showed him about the fairy weave, so he knew she was not a witch.  She also asked Naman, but he appeared to be tongue tied.  That made Artie happy.

“Naman come out here.”  A man knocked on the door.  “There is trouble.  We need you.”

Naman looked briefly at his father before he went out.  Artie was not going to be left alone with the family, at least not so soon.  She did remember something, though, and spoke to Abinidab as things came together in her mind.   “Basan needs to bring the sheep in.  There is a rogue lion in the neighborhood.”

Abinidab looked at her, jumped up, and ran out in front of her.  His head hurt, but his son might be in danger.

“Wonderful to meet you,” Artie said.  “I look forward to getting to know you better,” and she stepped outside to see what the trouble was.

The young man stopped talking when Artie appeared, and rather stared at her.  The obviously pregnant woman beside him also stared at Artie, and Naman paused to introduce everyone.  “Artie, that’s short for Arthur.  This is my friend Hatisuli, and his lovely wife, Sharina.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Artie said, and she did not understand the way Sharina looked at her, until Sharina spoke.

“Larsa is home, crying.”

“I’m sorry,” Artie said, offhandedly.  The boys were talking on the side and she wanted in.  “What?”  she put her hand on Naman’s shoulder, and he did not hesitate to include her.

“There are Mitanni soldiers coming down from the trade route.  A tradesman came into town just an hour ago with that word.  Meanwhile, there are Hittite chariots camped just on the other side of the hill.  It looks like they may meet here in our village, and if they do, they may fight.”

“Damn wingnuts,” Artie swore, using words Decker sometimes used.  “Naman, has it occurred to you that someone is toying with us, trying to get me killed, no doubt, without attracting the attention of the gods, or whoever?  First, we get accosted by thieves in the morning.  Then we run into a lion at lunchtime.  And now, before we can even think about supper, we have two army groups ready to come to blows in front of your house.”

Naman thought about it and nodded.  “But I don’t know what we can do about it,” he said.

“Keep our eyes and ears open, and deal with one lion at a time.  My friends will come, and then, whoever it is, will not dare show his face.”

“So, what do we do about the Mitanni and Hittites?” Hatisuli asked Naman, but he turned to look at Artie.

“We stare down the lion,” she said.  “What is the current state between the two parties?  Are they at war or peace?”

“Peace?” Hatisuli did not sound certain.

“Have you heard rumors of war, or seen any soldiers before today?”

“No.  None,” Naman said, and he grinned, like he was enjoying this.

“Does this village have rulers, like elders of some sort?”

“Yes, but Naman and I are in charge of gathering the young to defend the village in case of trouble,” Hatisuli said, but with a look at Naman, he added.  “It is sort of self-designated, but the young men and boys listen to us.”

Artie nodded.  “We need to meet with the elders.  I propose to talk to the Mitanni and Hittites and see if we can head them off before they meet here.  Also, you should gather your men, especially those good with a bow, just in case.”

Naman and Hatisuli ran off and Artie turned to Sharina, and said, “Who is Larsa?”

Sharina stared at her, but shook herself enough to answer.  “Larsa is Naman’s girlfriend, or she was before you showed up.”

“Why doesn’t he marry her?”

Sharina stared again.  This was not the expected response.  “Because, Naman’s mother does not like her.  She says Larsa does not come from the right sort of family.”

Artie shrugged.  There were some subtleties about human behavior that were not easy to fathom.  “I’ll see what I can do about that.  Meanwhile, we have to try and talk sense to the old people.  Coming?”

Sharina paused, before she grinned and led the way.

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Once again, Artie decided she had to just say it, and he would deal with it, or not.  She could not control his reaction, and inside she realized she did not want to control him.  That was the very reason she fought the Anazi.  People, all people, deserved freedom to make their own decisions and make their own choices. The choices might be good or bad, but they at least should be their own.  Trying to control others was the nature of evil itself, in her mind.

“The horse, saddle, saddlebags, pots, pans and knife are all from the future; many hundreds of years in the future.  I was not there at the beginning of this journey, but apparently, the Kairos knew the travelers would need certain things if they hoped to reach the end of the journey, alive.  The Kairos provided the horses and tied them to the travelers, like with a magical string.  That is why Freedom stays with me, and I love my horse, too.”

Freedom snorted and nodded, and Naman laughed.

She pulled out her big knife, the one Decker said was like a Bowie knife, and she handed it to Naman, who took it carefully.  “It is a carbon-iron alloy called steel, and it is much harder and stronger than bronze, though Decker says it is only as good as the person who uses it.”

Naman held up the knife to see the reflection of the sunlight before he handed it back.  “Decker is another companion?”

Artie nodded.  “He is what you might call a Nubian.  Then there is Alexis and Boston, the elves I told you about, and Lincoln, who is Alexis’ human husband. and Elder Stow.  He is a strange one.”

“Why?” Naman asked.

“Because he is human, they say, but he is an old human…” Artie honestly did not know how to explain this one.  She tried.  “The Kairos says this earth is a genesis planet.  That is what he calls it.  Humans are the only people presently on the earth, but in ages past, other people began here.  Some were like humans.  Some were early versions of humans.  Some were not at all like humans.  They were very different.  But they all learned to walk and talk, to think and feel, and be real people, even if they were not human people.

Naman rubbed his chin.  “Like lions walking around on their back feet, talking about the weather, and coming over for a visit.”

“Probably not lions, but you get the idea. And since this is a genesis planet, the Kairos has made it like a sanctuary, but mostly off limits to people from the stars.  I came here because of the war.  I never would have come here if I had any say over the matter.”

“So, this companion?”

“Elder Stow,” Artie nodded.  “He is from the people who were an early version of humans.  He looks and thinks just a little bit different from us.  As I understand it, in the time of the great flood, his people were saved by being taken off this world and given a new world out among the stars.  Ages later, he returned with some others, when, by an illegal act by one of the gods, he got thrown back through time and landed in the deep past.  He is trying to get back to the future.  How the humans ended up in the past is a long story, but the thing is, this is not a journey like going to your cousin’s house and going home again.  Ours is a journey through time.”  She paused to let him grasp the concept.  “Those magical gates we travel through are time gates.  They are impossible to find, unless you have the right equipment, but by going through the gates, we travel fifty or sixty years into the future, each time.”

“A journey through time.”

Artie knew it was a hard concept to grasp.  “These future things are from the time we are trying to return to.  I said I was in Egypt last night and came here through a gateway.  But the Egypt I was in was fifty years ago.  Tutankamon was Pharoah.  Horemheb was just a soldier.  And I don’t think Ramesses was even born yet.”  She was stretching to explain. She thought she remembered hearing about Ramesses, but she was not sure.

“I heard of Ramesses.  He fought the Hittites around Kadesh, and lost, badly.”

“Mother Katie said it was probably a draw.”

Naman shook his head.  “The Hittites still own Kadesh, don’t they?”

Artie shrugged.  “I don’t really know.  Lincoln has the database. He reads about it and can explain it to us as we go along.”

Naman got quiet for a while.  He looked like he was thinking deep thoughts, no doubt about time travel and what that might be like.  Artie imagined he had a lot of wrong ideas, but she kept quiet and waited, until he spoke again.

“So, you have two elves, one from a near human race, one Nubian and one husband of an elf.”  He paused on that one, and looked put off thinking about it.  “That makes five.  Who are the other two?” he asked.

“My mom and dad,” Artie said, happily.  “My adopted mom and dad.  Katie and Lockhart are their names, though actually, Lockhart is his last name.  His first name is Robert.  Robert Lockhart.”

“A man with two names,” Naman said.  “He must be an important man.”

Artie shook her head before she changed her mind and nodded.  “He is.  And my mom has two names as well.  Katherine Harper is her actual name, but everyone calls her Katie.  That is short for Katherine.”

“Like Artie is short for Arthur.”  Naman said.  “Maybe I should be Na.”

“Nan.”

“Nam.”

“Nama.”

“Man,” Artie laughed, but he stopped talking a minute and looked at her.

“What?” she had to ask.

“So now you are completely human, just like me?”

“Not just like you,” Artie said, and watched him back up a little.  “I’m a girl and you’re a boy.”  That made him smile again, which Artie liked to see.

“Okay,” he said.  “You can be my girlfriend.”

Artie’s grin broadened to where she feared she might hurt her face, but her finger went tap her temple.  “But, am I ready for a boyfriend?” she asked.

Naman stopped, so the both had to stop.  “I thought that was what you wanted.”  He threw his hands up in exasperation.

“Kiya… Where I was in Egypt… Fifty years ago, Sotek proposed to Kiya, and she said, I can’t know how to answer that.  You haven’t even kissed me yet.”

Naman’s grin returned with a little sly mixed in.  He stepped up and they grabbed each other and kissed, and again and again.  Finally, while holding each other so close not even air could get between them, Artie tilted her head back and said, “Wow.”  Naman said nothing.  He could not stop grinning.

Freedom stepped up, gave them a big nudge with his nose, and knocked them right over.  The horse let out a sound which sounded remarkably like laughter.  And Artie and Naman laughed as they let go and got back to their feet.

“Well,” they heard a voice.  “Did you decide on a time and day?”

“What?” Artie and Naman both looked up with dazed looks on their faces.

“For the wedding,” Abinidab said, and the young people jumped.

“Father.”

“Abinidab.”  Artie looked over the saddle.  “Over here.  People get up and down from horses on the left side.”  Naman joined her, and Artie loosened the blanket-straight jacket they had the man in.  They got him down with minimal yelling.

“Be careful.  It is really high up.  Don’t drop me, I’ll bang my head again.  Okay.  Okay.  I’m down.”  And he sat down on the ground, right where he was, and put his hand to his head and moaned.

“How are you feeling?” Artie asked, and checked the bandage.  It was soaked through, but appeared to have begun to crust over.

“Like I got hit in the head with a rock,” he said.

“Naman?”  Artie looked up.

“I figured he would be okay,” Naman said.  “His head is harder than any rock.”

“Ha-ha,” Abinidab did not laugh.

“Hush,” she shushed them both and hugged the old man.  “What say we lunch here?  It won’t make us too late getting home, and I haven’t seen any sign that we are being followed.”

Naman quickly looked back the way they had come, like he had not thought of that.

“Home?” Abinidab looked up and questioned the word on Artie’s lips.

Artie looked at both of them with big, tear filled eyes.  “Please,” she said.  “I haven’t anywhere else to go. I would feel safe with you, until my friends find me.”  She looked back and forth between the two of them.

“Of course you will come home with us,” Naman said.  “Mother and the girls will love her, and we can’t throw a woman out to the wolves…”

“And bears,” Artie said.

“She is not your cousin’s daughter, Birka.”  Abinidab protested and looked like he might get stubborn.  “What was wrong with Birka.”

“Nothing other than she was stupid and ugly,” Naman said.

“Poor girl,” Artie felt sorry for her.

“Don’t misunderstand,” Naman said.  “There are plenty of men who also fit that description.  Let her marry one of them, and I am sure she will live a happy life.”

“Live happily ever after,” Artie smiled again.

“I don’t know,” Abinidab started thinking too hard.

“You will love my sisters, Doma and Anat” Naman said holding out his hands to her to help her to her feet.  She gladly took them and stood, but then she did not want to let go.  “Anat is nine and a scamp.  She likes to run and hide.  Doma is thirteen, and Mother keeps her busy learning how to sew and cook, and all the things Mother says she need to know to get a good husband.”

“Thirteen?” Artie shook her head.  “She is much too young to be thinking about husbands.  I’m sixteen, and I am not ready for anything like marriage.”

“Sixteen?” Abinidab looked up.  “Why aren’t you married already?  My son is nineteen and should be married already as well.”

Artie and Naman looked at each other and shook their heads.  Neither of them was ready for that, or at least that was what Artie thought.  Abinidab must have seen something else.

“On second thought,” he said.  “We would be glad to welcome Artie to the family.”

Artie smiled and still looked at Naman.  “I get to be the big sister?”

Naman nodded, and dropped one hand so he could step close and gently pat her other hand.  “Of course, my brother is fifteen, and he will probably follow you around.  Watch out for him.”

“And a little brother, too,” Artie said, happily before she put on her serious face.  “Oh, I’ll watch out.  I’ll be very careful.”  Her smile came back.  She couldn’t help it.

************************

MONDAY (Tuesday and Wednesday)

Artie hardly has a chance to fit into a real family before she is overwhelmed by one trouble or another.  Someone is not going to make it easy for her.  There is a reason she got separated from the others.

Don’t miss it.  Until then, Happy reading.

*

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

In the morning, Artie heard voices outside her tent.  They did not sound like Naman and his father.  These sounded like rough voices, and one man sounded like he swallowed a frog.  Artie got up quietly and strapped on her belt.  She made sure her weapons were available, and thought to listen some before she ventured out.

“It does not look like these have anything worth taking,” one man said.

“This thing of leather is very interesting, only I don’t know what it is for,” another said.

“This tent.  I have never seen weaving so fine.  How is it made?”  That was froggy.

“I do not know.  It belongs to the lady,” Abinidab said.  Artie heard a grunt and a snap.  She feared for the old man.

“That horse would be worth something if we could catch it.”  Another grunt and hands came in the tent.  They grabbed Artie right from where she listened, and pulled her out.  There were four men, shaggy and unwashed, and they looked at Artie like they just found some fresh meat.

“No,” Naman said.  They had him on his knees, hands behind his back.  One man had a hand on his shoulder and hovered over him with a long knife near his throat.

The head man glanced at Naman.  “Is she your girlfriend?”  He laughed.  “Strip her.”

Artie felt repulsed as one manhandled her, until he spoke.  “There doesn’t seem to be a fastener on this dress.  Is it a dress?”

“Well, pull it off her,” the head man ordered.  The man had to let go of Artie’s arms to do that.  Artie went into Dominant mode.  She pulled her knife which cut one man’s hand wide open.  She simultaneously drew her handgun and put a three-inch hole through the middle of the head man.  She knelt and burned the one hovering over her saddle, spun and took half the face off the one that had held her.  When she turned again, she saw the one that had been holding Naman running for the river.  She pulled the trigger on her gun, but nothing happened.

“What?”  She looked at her gun.  It said the charge was completely empty.  “That can’t be.  Not after four shots.  This should be good for a hundred shots, at least.”

“Help here,” Naman said, and Artie turned from the runner.  She turned off her weapon, holstered it, and went to look.  They hit the old man in the back of the head with a rock.  He was bleeding.

Artie fetched her satchel.  She had antiseptic ointment and a gauze bandage.  She checked the man’s pulse and breathing to see if he still functioned, then she put some ointment on the bandage and pressed it against the bloody spot.  “Hold this here good and tight until the bleeding stops.  She stepped into her tent and pulled out her blanket.  She had learned how to take a small piece of her blanket and separate it from the rest.  She did that, and caused the piece to lengthen and widen until it looked about right.  She turned it white and wrapped it several times around the gauze bandage and the man’s head.

“Give me his hat,” she said.  Naman reached for it.  She put it carefully on the man’s head to help hold the bandage in place.  Abinidab made his first sound, a low moan, but he did not open his eyes.  Artie left him in Naman’s arms and called for Freedom.  The horse trotted up and she saddled him without any preliminaries.  When she reduced her tent to a ball and packed all her things, so she was ready to go, she had Naman bring his father to the horse and get him up on the saddle.  She had time to think about it, and had the main part of her blanket ready to go.  He looked a bit like a mummy, but being tied to the saddle in eight directions, there was no way he was going to tip and fall out.  He would remain upright, even if Freedom had to run.

“If he has a concussion, there is nothing I can do for him, and any speed on the horse might yet kill him, but for now, this is what we have.  We can’t leave him here, and we can’t stay here.  Get your things.”

Naman collected his things, but he did ask.  “Why can’t we stay here until he is better?”

Artie showed the back of the hand of all three dead men.  They all bore the same tattoo.   Dominant Artie noticed, even if sixteen-year-old Artie would have never noticed.  In fact, as Artie thought about it, she realized all the Anazi military information and all of the experience on planet after planet that had been fed into her mental system still sat in her memory, and she could reach it.  What is more, now, as a living human without an obedience crystal, she could put that experience to practical use.

“They may be the whole gang, but they may also be the advanced group for a much larger gang,” Artie said.  Naman did not argue.

The ford was not far upriver.  “Can you swim it?” Artie asked.

“Of course,” Naman answered, and Artie sent him out on the downstream end.  If Freedom begins to drift, or your father loses his seat, you need to be able to catch him.”

“I don’t think I could catch freedom,” Naman said with the return of his smile.  “He’s too big.”

Artie responded with the same smile.  “You know what I mean.”

They crossed, and the ford proved no problem.  After that, Naman said they should be home before dark.  Artie smiled at her thoughts as they walked, side by side, Artie leading Freedom.  Naman appeared to be struggling, so she thought to help him out.

“I could be your girlfriend,” she said.

He took a half-step away and looked at her with great doubt written on his face.

“What?”  Artie felt hurt that he did not jump at her suggestion.

He stared, before he built up the courage to ask.  “Are you a goddess?”

Artie’s eyes got big.  “No, no way,” she got loud.  “My sister Sekhmet says you should never even kid about such a thing.  The gods don’t take kindly to imposters.”  She stuck out her free hand.  “I am completely human.  See?  Flesh and blood, though I would rather not show you the blood right now, if you don’t mind.”

Naman looked, and nodded, but he did not come closer.  He had another question.

“Are you a witch?”

“No.  Not even.  I would love to be able to do some magic, but I haven’t got any such abilities.  Boston says she will just have to do the magical things for me.  Alexis, her magical element is air, but mostly she is a great healer.  I wish she was here.  She could heal your father.”

“Two of your seven companions,” Naman understood.  “Are they witches?”

“No,” Artie laughed.  “Though Lincoln calls Alexis a witch sometimes, he is just teasing.  They are elves.”  Naman did not understand.  “They are earth spirits—whatever you call them around here.”  She smiled, but then her eyes got big.  “It’s not what you think.  They are friends.  They both used to be human, and Alexis is like a second mother, sort of, which makes Boston like another sister.  And no, I am not an earth spirit, or a spirit of any kind.”  She put her hand out again.  “Flesh and blood human, remember?”

Naman still found it hard to believe.  “So how is it you have such magical things, like this big horse to ride, and your tent, and can do the magic you do, like the bread?  How can you point… That.” He pointed at her handgun.  “And make a streak like lightning come out, and make a hole in a man?”

Artie looked down.  She realized she had some explaining to do.  “Okay,” she said.  “But you have to listen first before you ask questions.”  She looked into his face, and he smiled, so she smiled; but he also nodded, so she began by looking at the ground for fear she would lose her boyfriend before she ever had him.

“This weapon.”  She patted her sidearm.  “It came here from the stars.”  She pointed up, though it was mid-morning.  “I came here from the stars, originally.  I was not always human… There was a war, and I was injured like unto death, and eight people came along and saved me.  They healed me and cared for me, and I owe them my life and everything.  And I also love them all, very much.”  Artie paused.  It was not exactly a revelation, but near enough.  “I also miss them.”

“Eight?” Naman thought about it.  “But you said seven companions.”

Artie nodded. “One died.  He was an elder elf, father of Alexis and Boston that I mentioned.  At least he may have died.  He disappeared in a great flash of light while we were battling the forces of evil.  We are on a very dangerous journey.”  She looked, and Naman nodded, like he understood something.

“Well,” she said, and paused.  She was not sure how to explain the next part, so she just said it.  “It was the Kairos, an old, wise and wonderful god whose life is impossible to explain…” she looked again.

Naman understood that much.  “Who can fathom the way of the gods?” he said.

Artie nodded again and returned her eyes to the ground.  “So, the Kairos took me out of time.  And she made me human, completely human, flesh and blood, so I could travel with my companions wherever the journey took us.  And I have learned so much.  And I have grown up, I think, human.  And I want to be human and experience human life in every way I can.  And love.”  Artie found her cheeks redden, and Naman reached for her hand, which she gladly gave him, though it made her turn redder.  Good thing she kept looking at the ground.

“You were explaining about your magical things,” he said.

“Right.  Well, the cloth tent, blankets, and even my clothes are fairy weave, which is a material made by the spirits of the earth.  I can shape it, grow it, shrink it, even change its color just by telling it what to do.  It is self-cleaning, and self-refreshing, which means it repells dirt and grime, and does not retain any odors, like if I go to bed all sweaty and smelling like my horse.  But the magic is in the cloth, not in me.  long sleeve,” she said, and Naman watched her sleeve lengthen to cover her right arm.  She held out her arm and said.  “You try it.  Tell it to be a different color.”

He said, “Green.”

She said, “You have to touch it.”

He touched it, looked in her eyes, and said, “Green.”  He saw the material change to green and quickly let go, like he was afraid it might burn.

Artie said, “Pink, back to what I had,” and the sleeve returned to its former condition.  “The bread is the same.  They are called elf crackers, and a little warm water makes them into bread.  I only have one pack, which isn’t very many.  I don’t know how much bread we can get before I run out of crackers, but you can do it next time if you want.”  Naman nodded.  He would like to try that.

“So, what about the pot, and your knife?” Naman asked.  “I have never seen metal like that.  And this horse of yours…”

Artie went back to blushing and looking at the ground.  “That may be a little bit harder to explain.”