Author: M G Kizzia

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb, part 1 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 1294 BC Kadesh.  Kairos 66: Utumari, the Hittite

Recording…

The travelers tried never to go through a time gate in the dark, but the events in the last time zone necessitated some quick action.  Artie went through first and found herself in a whirlwind that took her up into the sky.  She tried to yell for help but the wind blew too strong and blinded her with dust.  She had to keep her head down, and how she held on to her horse, Freedom, she never knew.

Artie came down in a glade on a hill overlooking a wide river valley.  Freedom, stiff legged, staggered for a minute while she stroked his neck and said soothing words.  Eventually, he seemed to come out of his trance and snorted, twice.  She got down, but held tight to the reins for fear of losing him.

“Freedom,” she spoke out loud.  “Do you know where we are?  I don’t see the others anywhere.  Hello.” she called out as loud as she could.  “Hello.”  the trees seemed to block her sound.  “Hello.  Katie.  Alexis.  Boston.  Lockhart, daddy.  I’m scared.”

Freedom nudged her shoulder and she patted his nose.  “I think we’re lost,” she said.  “I better check the supplies.”  Her things were packed by her sister, Sekhmet, and the goddess may have mixed some things up in the rush, she imagined.  Her one saddle bag had her collapsed fairy weave tent and blanket, with Freedom’s brush, her brush and some other necessities.  The other saddle bag had her small pot, pan, cup, plate, and silverware, with some bread crackers Mother Katie gave her for emergency, as well as some medical things and supplies such as everyone had.

“It looks all right to me,” Artie said.  “We may get tired of eating bread crackers.”  She thought she remembered some plants Alexis showed her that were good to eat, but she did not know if she was in any place where those plants might grow.  She had her handgun, of course, and Elder Stow just charged it, so it was fully charged for the time being.  She did not imagine she could use it to hunt, though.  She had a good knife in with her brushes, but she did not know if she could skin and cut up an animal.  She felt sure she could cook it if someone else cut it up.  Alexis and Katie taught her a bunch about that, and she wanted to learn because since she became human, she found she got hungry a lot more often than she used to.

“I don’t know,” Artie told Freedom.  “I know we should be sleeping, but I’m trying not to think about sleeping, all alone in the wilderness.  We could go down to the river, I suppose.  Then at least we could have some fresh water.”  She mounted and started down the gentle slope, and after a moment, she called out again.  “Lincoln.  Decker.  Elder Stow.  Mom and Dad.  Hello?”  No one answered, so she stopped yelling.  She did not want to attract the wrong sort of creatures or people.

The moon came up, a half moon, but she saw it out over the river when she started, so she knew if she headed toward the moon, eventually she would come to the water.  That seemed easy enough.

Artie scolded herself.  She did not listen when Lincoln read about the place they were going.  She should not have been daydreaming.  Oh, but that wedding and the love.  All that love in one place.  She never imagined life could be like that.  She wondered why her life couldn’t be like that.

“Because I have responsibilities,” she answered herself.  “I have duties, as Decker would say.  I am pledged to set my people free, and that is what I am going to do.” She paused and sighed.  “Oh, but it would be so very nice.”  She turned her mind from such fantasies as Freedom stepped over a bubbling brook.

She thought about when she had been an android.  She was a soldier, and a dominant at that.  She had military training, not the kind that could skin and cut up animals, but the kind that might help her think through troubles and situations if she ever faced troubles and situations.  She hoped she did not have to face such things.

“At least this world does not have banthafars,” she said to herself, and felt a chill that made her look all the way around her as she rode. “No,” she said.  “This world has lions, or tigers, and bears, oh my.”  She remembered Lockhart adding the ‘oh my’, even if she did not know why.

“Lockhart,” she called, not too loud.  “Robert Lockhart, I’m calling you.  I’m scared.  I’m trying to be brave, but I’m scared and all alone… Daddy.”  She was not going to cry.  She refused to cry.  She was going to be brave and not cry.

A half-hour later, she stopped crying suddenly when she saw a campfire in the distance.  She hustled Freedom, but slowed down when she got close.  There was no reason to believe it was her family.  It might be an enemy, or thieves, or something worse.  She stopped in the dark and peered in toward the fire.

“They are camped on the riverbank,” she said to Freedom, and patted his neck to keep him quiet.  “Good eating for you, and maybe I could share some bread for some other food.”  She had to think about that.  She inched closer.  She saw a young man, feeding the fire and staring here and there into the wilderness, though how he expected to see anything in the dark when his eyes were fire blinded, she did not know.

Suddenly, a figure loomed up in front of her and Freedom bucked.  Artie held on and yelled.  “Hey!  That’s not nice.”  Freedom ran, but she got him under control in a moment and after an agonizing moment to think, she turned around and went back to the fire.

“Hello,” she called out of the dark.  “I’m not going to hurt you.”  A young man stood up and an older man had appeared to join him.  “How many are you?” she asked.  She decided if they were a big group, she would ride on.

“Hello,” the young man shouted back.  The older man hushed him.

“Young lady,” the older man said in a voice that didn’t sound sincere.  “We are just two, and we won’t harm you.  We have some meat on the fire if you are hungry, and we promise not to disturb you if you are tired and wish to sleep.  Um…how many are you?”

“Just me,” Artie said as Freedom poked his nose into the firelight followed by her.  She got down and immediately began to take off Freedom’s saddle.  She took out her pot and handed it to the young man with instructions to fill it with water.  Then she finished dressing down her horse and let him trot to the river for a drink.  She honestly should have checked first for crocodiles or snakes, but she felt so tired, she did not think straight.  She put her bundle of a tent on the ground and said, “Tent.”  The tent expanded, and she would get in it in a little bit.

The old man said, “Oh my,” and sat down, astounded by her magic.  After a minute, he added a thought.  “That is some horse you have.  I have seen horses, of course.  The Hittite lords use them to drive their chariots.  But I have never seen one ridden quite like the way you ride your horse.”

Artie watched the old man and nodded at what he said while she got out her big knife and strapped it to her belt on which she also had her handgun.  It was the only thing she wore which was not fairy weave.  She took it off when she slept, of course, but even in the tent with Katie, she kept her weapon close to her hand, just to be safe.

“I’m looking for seven friends who also ride such horses,” Artie said.  “I came into this place from another world, and I seem to have lost them.”

“Another world?”

Artie nodded.  “I was in Egypt an hour ago.  About three days’ ride from Bubastis.  I came through… a magical gate, but I am not sure where I have arrived.  You mentioned the Hittites.  Is this Hittite land?”

“The edge of it, yes,” he said.  “But we are not on the trade route or a city, so they mostly ignore us.”

Artie nodded.  These men did not live in any place of military importance.  The young man returned with her pot, and she said, “Thank you.” And put it on the fire to warm the water.  The young man smiled.

“You are very welcome.”  He sat down by the old man and Artie caught herself glancing at him and his smile again.  “Sorry if Father startled you.  He thought you were a bear.”

Artie stopped what she was doing.  “Bear?”  She did not sound too thrilled by the idea.  “Are there bears around here?”

“Not many,” the old man said.  “Some up in the hills where not many people live.  Many have been hunted out, but it is something to be careful about, when you camp near the water and have meat cooking.”

Artie’s stomach grumbled at the thought of cooking meat.  “I’ll remember that,” she said.

“My son should remember that,” the old man said.

“So, you have heard some of my story.  Tell me, why are you wandering in the wilderness, just the two of you?”

The young man looked at his father before he spoke.  “We went to visit a cousin, a two-day walk.  His wife’s family has a girl…”

“And what was wrong with Minlah?” the father asked.  He did not look happy.  Instead of talking, the young man tried to show by making faces and in mime, but Artie did not get much out of the show other than the impression that the girl was rather large.  For some reason she wanted to laugh.  She did a little, but covered her mouth and sat.  She stared at the fire.  She felt so tired.  Finally, the young man did say something.

“I’m Naman.  My father is Abinidab.  Do you have a name?”

“Artie,” she said.  “That’s short for Arthur.”  She had a bread cracker out, and though the water hardly felt warm in such a short time, she felt famished.  She made a loaf of bread, and she broke it and shared it.

Naman and Abinidab stared at the magic, open jawed, before the old man got up.  “Where are my manners,” he said.  He cut her a generous slice of whatever meat they had cooking and handed it to her, before he cut a slice for himself.  He let his son, Naman cut his own.  It was chewy and full of gristle, but it warmed her, and she chewed as much as she could.

“Thank you,” she said the word again before she went back to staring at the fire.  Finally, she felt too tired to do anything other than sleep.  She stood.  Both sets of eyes lifted to her and stared at her, but she had no more conversation in her.  She called.  “Freedom,” and the horse came close to the fire.  “Don’t wander off tonight,’ she said, and added, “Goodnight.”  She went in her tent and fell into her bed.

Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 6 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Apophis,” Kiya shouted again, and more softly added, “Don’t look in his eyes.  They are hypnotic.  Don’t look in the eyes.”  She watched as the giant serpent ground to a halt, and found something more to shout.  “Hey, moron-head, get out of there.”  She waved her arm to the side, so Horemheb backed up.

“Kairos,” Apophis said.  “Why the trouble?  I just came to thank you for preventing the Aten from returning to this world.”

“You could join him,” Kiya said.  Apophis laughed as Elder Stow stepped up, his screen device in his hand.  Kiya was going to say that would not stop Apophis, but she held her tongue. It might well stop the thousand other snakes writhing beneath the shadow of the great one.

“Why would I do that when you have given me the world?”

“Well, you have said thank you, and you’re welcome.  Now you can go back to where you were, locked up in the underground.”  Kiya seriously did not know what else to do but stall.

Apophis laughed again, a very annoying hissing sort of laugh.  “I see you are watching me closely, but for some reason, you will not meet me in the eye.”  Kiya shook her head.  The mouth was the only thing she needed to watch.  “Sutek was the only god that could meet me in the eye, and again, I need to thank you for ending Sutek’s days in the flesh.  Now the Re is mine to command.  Horus remains in hiding, and Amun will not take the power.”

A lion came up the road behind Kiya, and roared.  Two lionesses came out from the house.  One sat beside Kiya and the other bounded over to the far side of the road where she sat, though her tail twitched, nervously.  Then a third lioness came from the house and sat at that edge of the road, pausing only long enough to growl.

“Your friends cannot help you,” Apophis said.  “Even they dare not look me in the eye.”

“No need,” Kiya said.  “All they need to look at is the right place on your throat to rip off your head.”

Apophis laughed for the third time, and appeared to be preparing to strike.  Kiya interrupted him.

“So why have you come here?  You sent the ghost.  You sent the poltergeist.  What was that all about?”

Apophis hesitated before he relaxed and spoke.  “You do not frighten.  And those demons have no real power and do not do as they are told.  I am here to finish things.”

“If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself,” Kiya said.  “But what is it you plan to finish?  Surely you have a boast to share with everyone before you act.”

Apophis grinned an awful snake grin.  “You killed Sutek, and you killed the Aten as he attempted to return.  I decided it would be best to kill you before you imagine some way to kill me.  Hold still.”

The sound of a bird overhead came down to the group.  Apophis struck, and slammed right into Elder Stow’s screen.  Apophis would figure it out in a second, but meanwhile, the Benu bird came streaking down.

“The eyes,” Kiya yelled, before she remembered to change back to Phoenix and repeated.  “Benu.  Take out the eyes.”

Apophis tried once more, the screen being no barrier, but Phoenix raised her hands and the flames of sacrifice, the very fire of the sun drove the serpent back.

Phoenix collapsed as the Benu took one eye completely out with the first strike.  The serpent moved fast, but the Benu could travel faster, and quickly struck the other eye, blinding the serpent.  The lionesses growled and began to move forward, like hunting cats.  The travelers opened fire on both sides of the serpent.  The Benu just about had the second eye out of its socket when Apophis vanished, and thank goodness, he took his thousand snakes with him.

Alexis rushed to Phoenix.  She had a bite in her leg, and her whole leg swelled while the bite area turned green.  The Benu bird squawked, and Alexis paused.  The bird stepped up and let a few tears drop into the wound.  In seconds, the swelling in the leg went down and she was perfectly healed.

“Hurry now,” Phoenix talked to the bird like she might talk to a little child.  “You must get back to your nest.  It must be near the time for renewal.”  The bird squawked again and headed into the sky to quickly move out of sight, and Phoenix said one more word.  “Thank goodness for Harry Potter.”

The unknown goddess that had been the third lioness, butted in front of Alexis and planted a great big kiss on Phoenix’s lips.  Phoenix returned the kiss for a minute before she pulled back.  The goddess helped her stand as Phoenix spoke.  “You know if I had any inkling in that direction, you are the woman I would choose.”

“Wadjt,” Katie figured it out.  She and Lockhart had seen her kiss Phoenix several times, and always with the same conclusion.  Wadjt waved, looked around at the staring crowd, and vanished.  Sekhmet and Mihos resumed their human form, and the lioness in the center, that had stood beside Kiya without flinching, was gone.  Nana Bestet came out from the house and ran to Neferure.  Phoenix thought Bast was getting to be a bit like maybe she needed a telephone booth to change in.  Then she changed back to Kiya, dress and all.  The armor went back to its resting place.

Mihos got to say what everyone thought.  “You know he will find a way to heal his eyes and try again.”  Kiya nodded and looked at Sutek.

“If you still want me,” she said.

“Absolutely,” he said.  “And I will count every moment blessed.”

“Mommy,” Neferure called her by a name she had not called her in some time.  “I like him.”  Kiya nodded.

“Horemheb,” Katie warned.  The man marched in their direction, followed by a dozen or more soldiers.

“I think we should get married right away,” Kiya said.  Sutk liked the idea, but he had curiosity on his face.  Kiya answered his unasked questions.  “I believe Horemheb is going to want me to go back to the palace, and I am not going anywhere near that place without a husband.  My supposed nephew is Pharaoh now, and I don’t want to be on the menu.”

“Tutankaten?”  Sotek said.

“Tutankamon,” Kiya nodded.

“But what if Horemheb wants to hurt you?” Artie asked, seriously.  Several people laughed and Lockhart explained.

“After what just happened here, he would have to be a real moron.”

“That’s right,” Lincoln said.  “Did you call the future Pharaoh a moron-head?”

“An English slip,” Kiya said with a grin and a shrug.  “I was just the Princess, killing snakes.  She doesn’t respond to stupidity well.  Shh, don’t tell.”

“Kiya,” Horemheb said as he approached.

“Why, Horemheb,” Kiya said as she held tight to Sutek.  “How good to see you.  MY how you’ve grown.  Do you know my husband?”  Horemheb stopped and looked confused.  Kiya spoke to the others.  “Phoenix. She has a similar problem.  She doesn’t do polite, pleasantries well at all.”

###

One week later, the travelers sat around a fire, ready to move through the next time gate in the morning.  Alexis spoke.  “We have been to two weddings in Egypt now.”

“Yeah,” Boston interrupted.  “But this one was a real Egyptian wedding.  Not like mine.”

“Yes, but I listened to the words this time,” Alexis said, and with a look at Boston she added.  “Last time I cried.”

“Me too,” Katie said.  “And there is a lot of truth in what Kiya told us.  Egypt is a bit like a land of the living dead.  Osiris died before the first dynasty began.  We were with Eliyawe when she brought the coffin of Osiris back from Byblos.  The next time zone was Emotep.  He was the Scorpion King who defended the graves at Abydos.  Two time zones later, Junior was there in Egypt when Horus threw Set, or Sotek out of the two lands, and two time zones later, we finally got to Weret, concubine of Narmer and mother of Menes.  Only then were the two lands united and it became what we call Egypt.”  Katie took a breath, and Lockhart gave her an odd look.  She explained, “I stayed up last night reading.  Lincoln lent me the database.”

“Okay,” he said.

“So in the first dynasties, and the Old Kingdom, Osiris was still seen as being more-or-less in charge.  They carved his face on the Sphinx.  But he stood between life and death, so Horus was expected to actually be in charge, but the Aton Ra was still around through most of it and gumming everything up.  When he finally went over to the other side, they stopped building sun temples.  But then Horus tried to push some more democratic reforms and screwed everything up in the sixth dynasty.  So then we have the first intermediate period.  I think Horus tried to pull it together, but he could not quite get the puzzle pieces to fit.”

“Okay,” Lockhart interrupted.  “I see what you are saying, but I don’t understand how this fits with the living dead idea.”

“Well, it’s simple,” Katie said.  “Horus leaned heavily on Osiris in the Old Kingdom.  All of those pyramids, some of the greatest works in human history were nothing more than tombs.  Everything in Egypt, and by the middle kingdom, everyone in Egypt focused on dying and where people were going to spend eternity.  It’s like they forgot to live and wasted their whole lives worrying about dying.  By the Middle Kingdom, they all but stopped building temples, like the temple of Bast where we just spent some time.  All they built were mortuary temples.  I think Horus himself was still trying to please his father, and doing things to honor Osiris.  I don’t know.  But it was all focused on death and the afterlife.  Eventually, I think Horus just got frustrated and gave it up.

“I didn’t know the gods could retire,” Decker said.

“Well, I think he tried to palm it off on Amun.  Amun got all the press when the New Kingdom started, but I understand he did not want it.  Maybe that is what allowed the Aten to try and make a comeback.  I think Amun will take it from here, and he is a creative god, but I think it is too late.  After three thousand years, the cult of death has become ingrained in Egypt.”

People shrugged.  Most did not follow what she was saying.  Katie got that and turned the subject.  “So Artie,” she said.  “Tell me.  What did you think about the wedding?”

“I thought it was great.  It was wonderful.  I cried, it was so great.  I don’t understand why you two don’t have a wedding.  You could get married, and then you could adopt me for real, and I could really be your daughter, and I would be happy, and I want a boyfriend.”

Katie looked at Lockhart.  Lockhart raised his eyebrows, and found himself sitting on his saddled horse, all of his things neatly packed away.

“What the…” Decker sounded out from horseback.  Even the tents were all packed up.

Mihos appeared with Sekhmet.  Sekhmet spoke.  “You have to go.”

“We don’t normally go through a time gate in the dark,” Lockhart said, to explain.

“Poltergeist,” Mihos responded with just the one word.

“Artie, go ahead,” Katie said.  “I’m right behind you.”  And they moved through the time gate in the dark.

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

MONDAY

Artie goes missing in Avalon, episode 5.7, Little Lost Lamb.

Don’t miss it.  In the meanwhile, Happy Reading.

 

*

Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 5 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kiya grabbed Sutek and marched him a small distance from the camp.  “You knew that Mihos is the lion god?”

Sutek nodded meekly.  “He is the son of Bastet, the god in the temple of his mother.  I have been sweating trying to figure out how I was going to tell you.  Believe it or not, he is a good person and a good friend…”

“And?” Kiya prompted and saw Sutek’s mind race, while she raced a little herself.  This was a switch.  She usually had to worry about how she could possibly explain her strange life without causing her love to run away screaming.  She paused.  Did she just say love?

“And he took me to Hathor who showed me your image and asked if I would be interested in getting to know you.  You’ll forgive me if I say Hathor is the most beautiful woman in all the world.”

“She is,” Kiya said, flatly.  “Even back when she was a teenager.  Go on.”

“Well, I was surprised.  I didn’t think the gods ever asked mortals anything.  Mihos said he was trying to do things differently in the west.  I was not sure what he was talking about.”

“In the west, his name is Mathonwy, and maybe someday the lion of England.  He was my brother once.  Go on.”

Sutek paused before he shocked Kiya.  “You mean when you were one of those other people in the past?”  Kiya dropped her jaw, and Sutek continued.  “They showed me about that and said you were a very complicated person and thought they better ask before I got all tangled up in something more than I could handle.”  Kiya could only nod.  “I’m glad I said yes.”  He smiled for her.

Kiya pulled her thoughts together.  “So you know about the gods, and about the fact that I have lived a number of times in the past.  Do you know I have future lives that I can sometimes remember?”

He nodded.  “And I know your job in all this is to keep history on track.  They were very clear about that.”

Kiya had to think.  “And what about the little ones?” she asked.

“Hathor said you were like a goddess, not like a real goddess over people and life, but a goddess for the little spirits of the earth who would otherwise have no one to watch over them.  I’m not sure I understood that part well.”

Kiya looked down and realized she was still holding Sutek’s hand.  He would understand that part well enough in time, if he was willing.  He knew the basics.  The rest would just be details.  She looked up again and into his eyes.

“So what do you propose to do now?” she asked.  She saw his face scrunch up as his brain worked overtime.  She feared he might explode any minute.  Finally, he settled.

“Will you marry me?”

Talk about whirlwind.  She let go of his hand.  “I can’t answer that,” she said.  “You haven’t even kissed me yet.”

“Easily remedied,” he said, and he reached out, held her, and kissed her in the night on this Geb, under Nut’s sky.

Sekhmet turned Katie, Lockhart and Artie to look, and made sure they could see the couple kissing.  “There,” Sekhmet said.  “See how easy it is?”

###

That night, Kiya went into the house to get some things to help clean up.  She noticed the house was a shambles.  Everything looked broken and tossed everywhere.  Kiya sighed and went out to the camp.  Mutemwiya looked tired after all the excitement, and Nephthys said she would help her get to bed.  Kiya shook her head without speaking, but Nephthys smiled.

“I am sure everything will be straightened and back in place by the time two old ladies can get there.”

Kiya shrugged.  She borrowed a tent, either from Alexis or Boston, whichever one they weren’t using, and she tried to make it something fun for Neferure.  Nefer was game, and tried to get excited, but she honestly felt too tired and went straight to sleep.  Kiya worried briefly about Mutemwiya being in the house.  She imagined with poltergeist about, it was better to be around others.  Then again, she decided her worry was silly if Nephthys stayed there with her.

She looked at Sutek, drinking with the boys.  There were some things Sutek did not need to know, at least not right away.  Mihos and Sekhmet, two of the lions of Egypt ought to be enough for one day.  Nana Bestet stopped outside the tent door and stared at her.  Kiya broke.

“I’m not keeping secrets from him.  I’ll tell him.  Just not all at once.”  She made her snooty face at the cat.  “I don’t exactly see you volunteering information about yourself.”  Baestet put her tail straight up and went in the tent with Nefer.  Kiya heard the purr.

Kiya did most of the clean-up.  Katie and Artie helped, and Alexis.  Boston more-or-less pretended to help.  The men were useless, as expected.  Katie spoke to the point.  “The men are not lazy.  They just don’t care if there is a mess.  It is our problem.  We see a mess and a little bell goes off in our head and says, “must clean.”  In our day, some women are learning to not care about messes, and when women make a mess, you know we don’t do anything half-way.  I’m not sure that is a good thing, or the direction the human race wants to take.”  Katie shrugged

When they were more or less done, Kiya stepped over to the men.  She bent down and kissed Sutek on the lips, and went to bed.  It was nothing special or that big a deal, but it was the thought that counted.  That small act spoke volumes.

###

The next morning, Kiya woke up feeling good about the world and everything.  She thought sleeping on a thickened fairy weave blanket, with another thinned blanket on top of her was a treat she would probably never have again in her whole life.  She did not want to get up, but she noticed Neferure had gotten up and gone from the tent, so she sighed and got to her feet.

Kiya stuck her head out of the tent with a word on her lips.  “What is that noise?”  She noticed the sun was up, but just barely.  Still, she slept in, late.  That felt good.

“Seriously,” she looked around to ask what the noise was, and only then noticed no one sat around the campfire.  She looked to the road.  The travelers covered both sides of the road.  they were armed, but they were not firing their weapons.  The noise came from well down the street.  Kiya ran out, and got caught by Sutek.  He had a spear in his hand, but kept back to defend Neferure.  Once she saw Nefer was all right, she looked down the street and saw the most enormous serpent she had ever seen.

“The biggest this side of Ourboros,” she said.  “Just smaller than the Midgard Serpent.”  There were men in chariots with bows and spears, but they did not appear to be having much effect on the snake.  The horses kept trying to balk and run away.  The men had to get down and fight on foot, but they had to do that while averting their eyes.  They could not seem to look into the snake’s hypnotic eyes.

Kiya broke free of Sutek’s grasp and immediately traded places through time with Phoenix, Priestess of the Aton Ra in ancient times.  She carried within her the fires of the sun, a powerful weapon, but she became Phoenix because she needed special help.  She called.

“Benu.  My Benu bird.  Come to me my pet, my friend.  I need you.”

Somehow, she knew the Benu would hear her, no matter where she was in the world.  How long it might take the bird to fly from Heliopolis to Bubastis was another question.

“Snakes,” Decker said.  Rifles and handguns went off, including Lockhart’s big shotgun.  There were cobras, asps and vipers all over the road in front of the big serpent, and they went out ahead of the serpent, until they started to be chopped up by bullets.  Alexis blew many serpents back with the force of her wind.  Boston set several on fire with her wand turned flamethrower.  Phoenix hardly moved.  She stared at the battle, until she felt a snake at her feet.

Phoenix instantly traded places with the Princess, who whipped out her sword and long kniife, and cut one after another.  Even as the giant snake down the road broke through the Egyptian line, the Princess noticed the snakes started to back up, like they wanted to get under the protection of the giant.

“Hold your fire,” the Princess shouted, and changed back to Kiya.  She kept the armor in place, just for the feeling of some protection.  She let the sword and knife put themselves away.  The sword especially shook itself clean before it flew to its scabbard, no doubt an impressive sight for any onlookers; but Kiya could not worry about that.  She stepped forward and named her opponent.

“Apophis.”  The giant serpent came close before it stopped, a thousand smaller snakes writhing under its shadow.

Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers camped in the back yard, on the recently harvested field.  Kiya, with Mutemwiya’s blessing, offered them everything she had.  Curiously, no matter what the travelers ate in the way of fruit, grains and vegetables, her stores did not decrease.  In fact, even the meat she got that day in the market, not only refused to become less, but miraculously stayed as fresh as if just butchered.  Kiya decided it might be best not to question things too closely.

As the sun began to set on that first day, Iset, Pylhia, and Beket grumbled, because they had to go home to their husbands and children.  Nephthys stayed with her friend, but that was not unusual.  Nephthys stayed at the house more often than not, and Kiya did not mind because it gave Mutemwiya some company her own age.  To be honest, Nephthys became almost like a second grandmother for Neferure.  Mihos and Sutek thought they might stay for supper and, “for a while,” Mihos said.  “Just to be sure everyone is all right after the ghost incident.”

Kiya glanced at Sutek, who sat between Lincoln and Lockhart and seemed to have no end of questions.  She looked at Mihos and whispered.  “You and Hathor are really pushing it.”

“And we are not the only ones,” Mihos nodded.

Nefer sat with Boston and Alexis, Nana Bestet always near.  Somehow, Nefer knew they were elves, and she had a million questions of her own.  Alexis did not mind.  It actually let her judge how well Boston learned her lessons.

Kiya thought to sit down next to Katie, but she found herself sitting between Lockhart and Sutek.  Sutek smiled as she sat, and Kiya smiled in return, but she tried hard not to smile.  She could not help it.  Mihos sat with the boys on the end, where both Decker and Lincoln confessed that the beer was the best they had sipped in a long time.  Elder Stow, of course, did not drink.  He could not hold his liquor and always woke with a terrible hangover.

“I understand your friends are from the future,” Sutek said right away.  “They have fascinating stories of strange people living far from the two lands.  But they say they cannot tell me what tomorrow may bring…” Kiya took his hand and he immediately closed his mouth to stare at her.

“I can tell a story that even Lincoln does not have in the database.  It concerns the first days. before the days of history, and it concerns the gods, who were the titans who first came to earth at the time of the fall.”  People settled in to hear.  Katie and Lockhart held hands, and Katie slipped her free arm around Artie, to include her in the family.  Nefer left off asking her questions, and Boston and Alexis toyed with the meat that still smoked over the fire, but stayed quiet.  Mihos sat with Nephthys and Mutemwiya, the old ladies having the only chairs in the gathering.  Lincoln put away his database, and even Decker and Elder Stow quieted, curious.  Sutek just smiled.  He liked a good story.

“Before the first days, Shu, the air, and his wife Tefnut, the dew, met in the morning and fell in love.  They had two offspring, which were Nut the sky and Geb the earth.  Nut, the beauty of a million-billion stars in the night, was taken to be consort to the Aton Ra, the king of the gods, the overseer of all things, including the Re, the sun, who he made rise every morning and set every evening.  But in the night, Nut looked down on Geb and fell in love.  Likewise, Geb came to love the vision of beauty he saw every night…’

Kiya shifted in her seat to be closer to Sutek, and he reciprocated by slipping his arm around her shoulder.  It may have been love at first sight, but Hathor was not one to argue with.  Kiya continued.

“Geb watched the creatures that lived on his face.  He saw the hare dig a burrow, and invite the female to enter in.  He saw the birds build their nests, and invite the female to come and lay her eggs.  In every way, he saw the males make a home and invite the females to come and partake.  So he thought to build a home and ask Nut to join him, and he set out right away to building.  When he finished, he asked her to come, and she came because her heart was already his.  And he showed her the home and told her every bit that was for her.

“I know your stars stretch from east to west and from north to south, so I have made this home with four doors, east, west, north and south, for you.”  She was very pleased.

“When the night was done on that first evening, Nut came down to her home thinking of children, but when she arrived, Geb said he had to go.  “If the Re does not see my face, he will tell the king,” he said, and he added, “See?  I am going out the north door.”  And he left.

All day, Nut waited for Geb to return.  When she heard Geb moving outside, she ran to the north door and waited quietly, thinking of children.  But Geb came into the home and announced.  “See?  I returned home through the south door.”  And Nut was sad, because she had to go into the night sky.

On the second day, when Nut went home, thinking of children, Geb said he had to go.  “If the Re does not see my face, he will tell the king,” he said, and he added, “See?  I am going out the east door.”  And he left.

All day, Nut waited for Geb to return.  When she heard Geb moving outside, she ran to the east door and waited quietly, thinking of children.  But Geb came into the home and announced.  “See?  I returned home through the west door.”  And Nut was sad, because she had to go into the night sky.

On the third day, when Nut went home, thinking of children, Geb said he had to go.  “If the Re does not see my face, he will tell the king,” he said, and he added, “See?  I am going out the south door.”  And he left.

All day, Nut waited for Geb to return.  But when she heard Geb moving outside, she decided not to take any chances.  She tore herself into four parts and place them at the four doors.  That way, whichever door Geb came in, he would find a piece of her, waiting quietly, thinking of children.

Geb knew if Nut was not in the night sky, the king would find out.  So he gathered the four pieces, and with needle and thread he carefully and lovingly sewed her back together.  Then they had children.  And the four children they named, Set, Nephthys, Osiris and Isis, and that is the story of the birth of the gods.”

The travelers stole glances at Nephthys.  They knew who she was, and remembered her from the day Boston got married.  Boston even got up and hugged the old woman, but Nephthys simply said, “What a lovely story,” and Mutemwiya agreed.

“I never heard that one,” Sutek admitted.  “And I have heard most of the stories of the gods—being a priest in the temple, as you can imagine.”

Kiya understood.  That story had been told to her, or rather, it was told to Phoenix in ancient days, back when she became the first priestess of the temple in Heliopolis, the first sun temple of the Aton Re.  It got told to her by Toth while they developed the hieroglyphs and debated the true meaning of the words.

Something wailed, down by the river.  The travelers tensed up.  They heard the same sound before they came into Memphis.  It sounded twice as chilling in the dark.  People got prompted to look in every direction, but saw nothing. The wail came again.  It sounded closer.  Nefer crawled up into Mutemwiya’s lap, and the old woman hushed her, and held her, while Nephthys put one hand on the back of Nefer’s head and brushed her hair, gently.

The shutters on the house rattled.  The wail sounded suddenly like it came from every direction.  The wind rose, and the fire exploded with life, like someone poured gasoline on the flames.  People backed up and shouted their surprise.  The tents of the travelers rattled, but they did not blow down, like they were protected in some way from whatever this was.  The slats of wood on the expansion of the brick house began to buckle.

Something roared, and it came deep and reverberated around the camp.  It appeared to be a lion.

The pots Kiya had brought outside all shattered, and their contents exploded out in every direction.  Katie and Artie became soaked with water.  Decker and Lincoln got pelted with onions and leeks.

“Look out,” Alexis yelled, her wand in her hand.  One of the wall boards broke loose and just missed several heads as it blew toward the river.  The rest of the house caught fire from some source, but a second roar saw a lioness run up and shake her head.  Water droplets came from the lioness’ head, and the fire went out before it could do any real damage.  Then a third roar came, and another lioness came bounding into the camp.

Decker almost raised his rifle, but Lincoln stayed his hand.

With the three lions present, the wind and the fire died down.  The wail came from the distance, and then a moment of silence followed.  One lioness vanished around the house, and no one noticed when Nana Bestet returned from that same place.  They were too busy watching the other lioness become Sekhmet and run to hug her adopted family.  The big lion with the bushy mane also disappeared when Mihos returned, and Kiya saw that Sutek noticed.  And he not only noticed, he did not look surprised.

Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

As she walked up the highway to the temple, Kiya looked at the sphinxes, all with the face of a woman, that lined the road, and she thought of Neferure and her faithful cat, Nana Bestet.

“I hope Nefer is all right,” Kiya remarked.  Nefer stayed with Iset, Pylhia, Becket, and all the children in the neighborhood.  They were celebrating Beket’s five-year-old menace who was turning six.  “Dennis the Menace,” Kiya mumbled.

“I am sure she is fine, and having a wonderful time,” Nephthys said.  She always seemed to know, or at least she always believed the best.  Kiya took a deep breath and did not panic.

When they reached the place of offering, Kiya reached into her enormous bag and pulled out the special package she had made in advance.  She smiled and bowed her head when she presented it to the priest.  He immediately gave it to a young boy who ran off with it.  Then he returned Kiya’s smile, and she took another look.  The priests she dealt with were mostly old and cranky, and the priestesses were worse.  She did not go there in her mind.  This one, the one she had been seeing now for the last three months, appeared young, tall and handsome.  She tried not to go there in her mind, either, because it was such a cliché, but she could not help it.  She felt her lips return his smile, and only got saved by a familiar voice.

“Sutek.  The wait and work of a hundred days.  How has it been?”

“Mihos,” the priest responded.  “This moment makes it all worthwhile.”  The Priest bowed slightly to Kiya, and Kiya blushed, but she could not turn away.

“Ah, Kiya,” Mihos said, and added a tease.  “She is the pillar of this temple.  All we need is to get her to raise her hands to hold up the ceiling and carve the devotions on her back.”  Kiya frowned at her friend.  Kiya figured she had to be five-ten.  She stood head and shoulders above most women, and even stuck out in a crowd that included men.  These two men, Mihos and, she supposed, Sutek, were a couple of inches taller than her.  That was unusual.

“And that makes you two the east and west pillars?” she asked.

“North and south,” Mihos said, pointing to himself and his friend.

Sutek laughed before he turned serious.  “To be honest, I don’t know if I am cut out for the priestly life.  My heart and devotion are in the right place, but my mind wanders.”  He looked again at Kiya and she blushed again.  She couldn’t help it, even if she tried to help it.

Mihon said, “Sutek,” and he slapped the man on the back to dislodge his eyes from Kiya.  “Are we ready to walk to the market?  We have three lovely ladies to escort, you know.”  He pointed, and Sutek, with one more, sneaky glimpse at Kiya, went over to introduce himself to the older ladies.

Kiya instantly hit her friend, Mihon.  “Sutek?”

Mihon nodded.  “Hathor can be mean.”

“But Sutek?”  Kiya gasped.

“Hathor can be cruel.”

“But, Teti had to kill Sutek.  I can’t hardly say that name.”

“Hathor has a sick sense of humor.” Mihon nodded, grimly.

###

“Bubastis,” Lincoln said.  “In the Land of Goshen.”

Lockhart hit him.  Fortunately, Decker rode on the wing, out of ear-shot.  “So how are we supposed to find Kiya in this city since it seems clear the people here have been hiding her for these last nine years?” Lockhart asked.

“Look for trouble?” Katie said.

“Sing cockles and muscles and let her find us?” Lincoln suggested.

“Get in trouble and pray?” Artie said.

“I like that last one,” Boston shouted from the back.

“Boston!” Alexis scolded, and spoke up.  “Ask.  It never hurts to ask.”

Decker came in from the wing.  “We got trouble behind,” he said.

Elder Stow came in as well.  They were traveling on a solid road, and he commented.  “The roads are improving.”

“More traffic,” Katie said, as Lockhart looked first, and then she looked back.

“Dust,” Decker said.  “Chariots, I think.”

Lockhart nodded.  “Off the road.  Elder Stow?”

Elder Stow nodded in the same way as Lockhart, and checked his scanner.  He said, “This way.”

Lincoln said.  “So, this is the Land of…” he stopped when he saw Lockhart’ fist, but it was too late.

“Goshen,” Decker said.

###

Kiya felt happy, sort of giddy walking home.  She never expected to meet anyone and looked forward to a long and lonely life.  Sutek seemed to be as nice as he seemed.  He had great eyes, he was smart, he was kind and caring, and he had a fine laugh.  He actually had a sense of humor.  Her only fear was herself.  After all she had been through, could she honestly respond to a man the way a woman ought to respond to a man?  She did not know, but as they walked and talked, she felt strongly that she wanted to find out.

The gods were not powerless in the face of the Kairos.  Far from it.  Hathor could weave her love spells, and Kiya would be trapped like any other, but Hathor could not force things.  The Kairos could resist and walk away, broken hearted, but walk away.  The gods did not have her lifeline—her fate line.  Hathor could not simply twist two lines together and have it fait accompli.  Besides, the Kairos was too complex a person, and not just Kiya, herself, walking home from the market.  There were other lives stretching through time, deep into the past, and deep into the future to contend with.

“Why the face?” Sutek picked up on her mood right away.  She felt seriously drawn to him in that moment.  He was sensitive.  That felt important to her.

“I’m worried about Nefer,” she said.  It remained her first concern, and she wondered if he knew she already had a child.

“Mihos mentioned it,” Sutek said, and looked thoughtful.  “She is nine, and a cripple?”

Kiya looked down at the dirt as she walked.  How could she explain?  Nefer was not exactly crippled.  She stood a slim and tall child, like her mother, but with big incisors, an overbite and cleft palate to contend with.  Her bones and spine were straight, thank goodness, but her bones were not strong.  She had to be careful not to fall, or she might break like a china doll.  And she had inherited epilepsy from her father which sometimes made her fall, dangerously.  Kiya smiled, sadly.  “She is a sickly child, and not strong.  She has the fits.  But her heart is pure gold.”

Sutek smiled for her because Kiya could not seem to smile for herself.  “I look forward to meeting her,” he said.

That happened sooner than expected.  The women and children at the birthday party came running up the road, screaming.  Neferure came with them, though she lagged behind because of her leg braces, a bit of time tampering, but Kiya thought they were an acceptable risk.

Kiya, Mihos and Sutek all ran ahead, leaving the old women to hobble along on their own.  Kiya hugged Nefer, then oddly put her in Mihos’ hands, the one man Nefer knew.  Kiya stepped forward to where Nana Bestet arched her back, and growled.  Nana looked much bigger than normal, like a wildcat more than a house cat, and her growl sounded much deeper and more threatening than normal, too.  The gutteral sound said don’t come any closer, but somehow, Kiya felt no fear running up beside the beast and barely kept her hand from reaching out to pet the enraged cat.

An apparition hovered around the house, floating about two feet off the ground.  It appeared to be looking in the window, so it had its back turned.  It went inside, partly through the wall, and not exactly through the window.  When it came outside again, it turned to the road, and Kiya knew who it was.

“Beast.  Beast,” the ghost said.  “I will not disturb you, beast.”

“Nefertiti,” Kiya called to the ghost.  “Why do you haunt the land of the living?”

The ghost stopped.  “I know that voice.”

“It is Kiya.”

The ghost strained.  The eyes all but popped out of its head, and though the ghost never actually looked at Kiya, it seemed to see something.  “Why, Kiya.  Little Kiya.  Have you been good and stayed away from my daughters.  Meritaten hates you, you know, with a hate that is pure as can be.”  The ghost appeared to smile.

“Nefertiti.  Why are you here.”

“Why Kiya.”  The ghost appeared to start over.  “Little Kiya.  I know you.  I seem to have lost my way.  Do you know the way?  It is so dark.  Everything is so dark.”  The ghost spun around slowly three times.

“Nefertiti.  You do not belong here,” Kiya said.

“There is this baby, this boy.  He clings to my skirt.  I do not know him.  I do not want him.  But he will not leave me.”

“Nefertiti.  That is all there is and ever was of the human part of your husband.”

“Aten.  Aten.”  the ghost called.  “Why am I in the dark.  Aten, come to me.”

“The Aten is gone,” Kiya said, and the ghost stopped spinning, though it still faced off by a thrity degree angle, so it did not actually look at Kiya.

“That cannot be.  Aten is a god.  He is eternal.  He has given me power.  Why is it so dark?”

“Nefertiti.  Aton has gone back over to the other side.”

“That cannot be.  He made me.  He gave me great power.  I am the greatest living sorceress in all the world.”

“Nefertiti.  You are no longer living.  You have died.  You should go to the land of the dead.”

The ghost circled around once more.  “But I do not know the way.  This baby boy will not leave me alone.  Why is it so dark?” The ghost began to fade until she vanished altogether and the last they heard was the word, “Dark…”

“That was quite a show,” Lockhart said from just down the road where the travelers waited, and watched.

Kiya looked worried, but she opened her arms.  “Boston.”  Kiya spoke softly, but the young red headed elf flew into the hug.  Then she looked up, Kiya, who was a good bit taller than her, and she spoke.

“You’re young again, but very tall.”

“Kiya?”  Lincoln had to be sure.

“My mother,” Kiya said, without explaining to Boston, and with a nod for Lincoln.  She let go and rushed to Nefer, to hug her.  Nana Bestet, back to her normal size, rubbed against Neferure’s leg braces.  Kiya looked up at Sutek, who stayed right there with Mihos the whole time and held the girl back.

“Mother,” Nefer said.  “I was so afraid for you.”

Kiya kissed her daughter, and thought that there was so much about herself that Sutek did not know.

Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers stopped in a grove of trees to rest and snack before they went into the city.  The horses needed extra rest and water to get through the desert.  Sekhmet kissed her sister, hugged her mom and dad, and told them to not take too long—that she would meet them in the gate.  She vanished, and the travelers adjusted their clothes and their minds to being in a hot and dry land.  It made quite the contrast from the chilly wind and rain of Greece, and Alexis said, with the sudden, drastic change in climates every time they stepped through a gate, it was a wonder they didn’t all end up with pneumonia.

The travelers got to Memphis in record time, and as they sat for their mid-morning snack, they talked of small things and tried not to focus on how much further they had to go to get back to their own twenty-first century lives.

“So, that Horemheb was not relate to the Horemheb that was governor of Memphis back in Rachel’s day?” Lockhart wanted to be sure.

“Not an uncommon name in the eighteenth dynasty, I would guess,” Katie said, and placed a hand gently on his shoulder so he would look at her.  All he wanted to do was look at her.  That brought a different thought to Lincoln’s mind.

“So, Major.  What was going on between you and Meriope?”

Decker growled, but softly.  “She’s a virgin dedicated to the goddess, and no way I was going to break that bond.”  Everyone turned to look at him.  Even Artie paused in her staring and grinning at Katie and Lockhart.  Decker took a sip of his tea and completed his thought.  “That was just Aphrodite toying with me.”

A wail came up from the river.  People jumped, Katie, Decker and Lockhart ending up on their feet.  It sounded human, but not exactly human at the same time, and every spine felt chilled by the sound.

“Let us look,” Alexis said, and Boston nodded, but looked like she was not sure if that was such a good idea. They practiced going invisible, and ran toward the water.  The others felt the wind.

Elder Stow got out his scanner and after a moment he announced, “I don’t see anything.  This little scanner is useless.”  He turned it over.  “It is fully charged, but that Anazi equipment I use to keep it charged is on its last legs.”

Boston and Alexis stopped by the water where an odd sight greeted them.  A cobra that had to be nine or ten feet long had a six-foot crocodile wrapped up, like a boa or a python.  They were thrashing around the edge of the water, and it looked like the crocodile was losing the battle.

“That makes no sense,” Alexis said.  “Cobras don’t get that big, and they are not constrictors.”  Alexis and Boston watched for a moment before she turned her head toward Alexis and Alexis added, “I learned something about snakes and poison in nursing school.  You know, venom has medicinal properties.”

Boston nodded, and checked first to be sure the way was safe before she bent down to the water and tapped the surface.  “Little ones.  Water babies,” she called.  “In the name of the Kairos and on the Kairos’ business I would speak with you.”  She tried calling twice before she looked back at Alexis.

“I sense fear,” Alexis said, just before a woman appeared, standing on the water.  The woman looked to be made of water, like a water sprite, but she was clearly more than a sprite. She was a naiad of the river—Boston felt the power in the woman—and she might have been there watching the whole time without their knowing it.

“They are afraid,” the woman confirmed what Alexis felt.  “I am one of the many daughters of the Nile, and I can speak to the questions I see in your hearts and minds.  In the beginning, by decree of the Aten Ra, Sutek became the chief defender of the Re.”  She paused to point at the sun.  “But Sutek became corrupted and got sent over to the other side ages ago.  Horus became the king, as the Aten Ra decreed, but then the Aten himself freely chose to depart for the other side.  In these last years, the Aten tried to return and the gods themselves feared to see it.  The Kairos prevented that return, and the gods are pleased, but in the process, the underworld became torn and shaken.  Chaos has come.”

“Chaos?” Alexi asked.

“A forbidden class of demons your Kairos calls poltergeist have been released from their prison on the other side.  They are formless and shapeless, but they can haunt life and are the very nature of chaotic evil.  Worse, Apophis, the god of chaos himself has escaped from the underworld.  Now the Re is in grave danger, the Aton is no longer able to decree otherwise, Sutek is no longer there to defend him, and Horus is withdrawn into his own safe space and wishes to remain apart from this place.  The world stands in peril.  Apophis may eat this world, beginning with the Re, which is the sun.”  She did not vanish, exactly.  She split into a million droplets of water and blended back into the great river.

“That sounds bad,” Boston said, and Alexis led them back to the others where they reported the news and what they saw.  Lockhart wisely moved them on to the city.  He felt what they all felt, that there was nothing they could do about the trouble, though of course they would help if they could.  Sekhmet met them in the gate, and when they told her what they learned, she shrugged it off.

“Those river girls live to trouble the waters,” she said.

Sekhmet took them to a private home where the horses would be safe and the travelers could sleep well without the need for keeping watch.  By the time they arrived, they relaxed and put the worried thoughts out of their minds.  The man of the house looked to be about forty; and he showed them great kindness before he let it slip that he knew who they were and that they were trying to return to the twenty-first century.

“I am Ptah,” he admitted.  “I am Sekhmet’s actual father, though I don’t mind that you have adopted her.  You two seem to have a good heart for strays as well as for each other.”  Ptah smiled for Katie and Lockhart and added, “Here, my daughter told me that I am supposed to say it is a shame you are not yet married.  You know, we could arrange things easily enough; but honestly, I know you will do what is in your heart when the time is right.”  He turned to his own thoughts.

Katie took Lockhart’s hand, but then asked what put that serious look on Ptah’s face.

“Eh?” he looked up.  “No, I just realized that you are a clue to the mystery of dissolution.  The gods, most of the gods are aware that a day will come when our life in the flesh will come to an end.  We will return to the spiritual realm, and the spirit lives we had at first, without eyes or ears or any way to know how we are affecting life on the earth.  Some, well… Many protest that humanity will not survive without our willful guidance—without the testing of the soul, and pointing the right way.   But here you are.  You come from after the time of dissolution, whenever that may be, and you are mature and intelligent and quite capable of building a good life without our interference.”

In that moment, Boston came running down the hall, followed by Alexis and another elf maid, and she yelled.  “Hey, look.  We got elves.”

“House elves,” Alexis said, over Boston’s shoulder.

Sekhmet and Artie also came in from the patio, looked at everyone, and giggled.

Lincoln came in from the stables shaking his head and holding his nose.  Decker and Elder Stow followed.  Elder Stow kept trying to explain that the expulsion of gas shows that your guest is relaxed and content in your home, like a good burp after eating shows respect for the food.

“You were saying about intelligent and mature,” Lockhart said.

###

Mutemwiya and her neighbor, Nephthys, walked slowly to the town marketplace, two old ladies walking at an old lady pace.  Kiya, burdened with her big bag of vegetables that banged her hip every time she picked up her feet, decided that the slow pace to town was just as well.

Bubastis was a growing, vibrant place.  It became a little city in only the last hundred years, as Kiya recalled from conversations with the palace bookkeepers—what felt like ages ago.  That was one of the reasons she chose to hide in Bubastis. The town had new faces almost every day, so people paid no attention.

The Nile had slowly shifted, as it did, making new arms there and revealing more fertile soil here in its march to the sea.  Bubastis slowly gained land, good fertile land, and people came to till that land, and the city grew.  Kiya imagined the city would grow for another few hundred years before the Nile slowly shifted again and the city started to shrink again.

“We must stop at the temple on the way,” Mutemwiya reminded them, as if they had forgotten.  “We must offer our best to the goddess if we hope to have success in the market.”

Kiya smiled.  Bast served as goddess of many things, but mostly she was goddess of luck.  Kiya had certainly been lucky to stay hidden as she had for so many years.

Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 1 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 1353 BC Egypt.  Kairos 65: Kiya, Queen Forgotten

Recording…

Kiya ground her grain with a stone pestle in a stone mortar, which was in truth no more than a big stone with an indentation.  She added a touch of water so the grain would not dry out and blow away.  She ground away, to make the coarse flour that she would bake into the coarse bread they ate every day.  While she worked, she let her eyes wander up to the clouds, and her thoughts wandered down odd trails.

It seemed to Kiya that for the average folks, after more than three thousand years of history, they had not progressed much out of the stone age.  She had pots to keep water and food stuffs, a kind of plow and an ox to pull it, a copper pot and a copper pan for cooking on an open flame, but not much more.  The brick oven was good, and the irrigation ditches that fed her little field, but they were the only indication that she was not living in the stone age, or in the early copper age at best.  Bronze was big in the world, but she only had a couple of trinkets.

“Where is your mind?” old Mutemwiya asked, interrupting Kiya’s dream state.  Pylhia and Beket looked up from their chores to listen.  Mutemwiya sat at the loom, where she sat every day.  Pylhia had her bread in the oven and waited for the bell in her head to go off.  She was presently chewing on a piece of straw and thinking of nothing in particular.  Beket, that is, Beketamun was frowning, sewing another patch on her seven-year-old son’s clothes.

Kiya turned her head and shouted at her daughter.  “Nefer.  Watch out for Sobek.”  Nefer had wandered down to the water to play in the mud.

“I will, mother,” she shouted back.  “Nana Bestet is watching me.”

Kiya turned her head a little further and saw the big, black cat sitting there, facing the girl, soaking up the sun.  “All right,” Kiya said, and went back to her grinding.  Phlhia went back to chewing.  Beket went back to frowning and trying to thread the needle.  They figured they were not going to hear any good stories.  Mutemwiya, though, was not so easily put off.

“When you came here, you saved me from the end of my days,” Mutemwiya mused.  “You restored my life from the hands of Anubis, and you have been better to me than if you were my own daughter.  And your little Neferure, with all her troubles and ailments, is the best granddaughter there ever was.  But sometimes I worry.  You sit and dream of things that are gone, and things that never were.  This is not good.”

“Muti,” Kaya called her and smiled, shyly, as she looked down at her grain.  ‘I am happy that things have worked out.  You know Nefer does not have any other grandparents, and I know she loves you very much, too.”

“Tell us about your family,” Pylhia said, sounding very much like a child, not a grown woman of twenty years.

“Tell us,” Beket insisted.  Kiya knew the woman was frustrated with her son, and her husband was not the best sort of man.  He drank too much and worked too little. She was twenty-three and already unhappy.

Kiya was just twenty-two but she had a sickly nine-year-old of her own to contend with.  She glanced back at Neferure, and watched her hobble up to pet Nana Bestet.  She could be rough, but the cat seemed infinitely patient with her.

“I suppose it does not matter now,” Kiya said.  “Most of the principle players are dead.”  Kiya paused and looked at her friends, and her adopted mother, before she looked down, like she did not want to meet them in the eye.  “You know how I came here eight years ago, a fourteen-year-old girl with a baby in my arms.  You also know for three or four years, the whole country was up in arms, looking for Akhenaten’s missing royal wife, Kiya.  I am sure you know, that was me.”

Beket waved to Iset as she came around the back of the house, looking for everyone.  Beket patted the ground beside herself, and Iset sat while Pylhia hushed her.  All eyes stared at Kiya, who took a deep breath.

“My mother was a Mitanni princess.  They say she was the most beautiful woman of her day, outshining even the Great Nefertiti.”

“Looking at you, I can believe that,” Iset said, as she got comfortable and Pylhia and Beket hushed her again.

“I was born in the house of Amenhotep III.  My mother was his wife, but he was a very old man.  He died when I was one and a half.  And I can say with certainty that he was not my father, though I do not know who my father may have been.”

“That makes you Akhenaten’s sister,” Mutemwiya thought out loud.  Eyes popped wide open.

“In name only.  But Amenhotep IV adopted me in Thebes, before the madness began and before he changed his name to Akhenaten, and before Nefertiti began to give him daughters.  Meritaten, the eldest daughter, was two years younger than me, and hated me with an unending jealousy.  Yet somehow, when I was young, I remained special to Akhenaten, not as family, mind you, Nefertiti would not have that, but as a kind of personal playmate for the king.  You see, he married my mother after Amenhotep III died, because she was a political token of peace between the Two Lands and the Mitanni.  But Nefertiti had her put away so she would never become a rival for the title of ‘Great Wife’.”

Kiya looked back at Nefer again to be sure she was far enough away where she could not hear.  “Akhenaten married me, and I became his Second Royal Wife.  I think I was six or seven.  That was back when the madness began.  Nefertiti, the wicked sorceress, got cursed by the gods.  It got complicated, but let’s just say she could only have girls, and Akhenaten became desperate for a son.  An heir was necessary for him to complete the transformation…which…you don’t need to know about.  What matters is he decided to impregnate every woman in the house, and that included his own sisters.  Then he had me tied to the bed, since I was supposedly his wife, at age thirteen, and he raped me over and over.  One of the sisters had a son.  I had Neferure, and…and I ran.”

Kiya quietly cried but would not let anyone come over to comfort her.  She looked back again toward Nefer.  She wiped her eyes and continued.

“Things happened.  I ran.  I… I came here, and wonderful mother Mutemwiya took me in, and you all protected me, and you are my best friends, and I am so happy here.”  Kiya got up and cried on Mutemwiya’s shoulder as the old woman hushed her and patted her back, saying everything would be fine.

“Mama,” Nefer called.

“Yes Sweet,” Kiya said, as she whipped on a smile and turned to face her daughter.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes baby,” Kiya said.  “I’m just glad to be home.”

###

Lockhart and Lincoln came through the time gate and stopped on the other side.  Katie and Artie had to squeeze to the left to get through.  Alexis and Boston had to do the same thing on the right.  Decker and Elder Stow were lucky by the time they came through.  Lockhart and Lincoln had moved forward some, to stand out at the front of the crowd.  The view before them seemed odd, but not odd when they thought about it.  Any person watching would see eight people on horseback coming out of what had to be an invisible hole in the middle of the air.  That view did not change when a whole army watched.

Men had spears, chariots, and unhitched horses.  They had tents and sat around campfires.  Many came stumbling up to join the crowd that stared, wide-eyed.  They babbled, incoherent, held their spears in sweaty hand, and shuffled backwards in the face of Lockhart and Lincoln.  It looked to the travelers like an army camp, and plenty of the men saw the travelers appear out of nowhere.  The men looked like they wanted to be brave soldiers but looked terribly frightened at the same time.

“Who is the head man here?” Lockhart asked, plenty loud.  “Who is the man in charge?”  He felt sure the head man had already been fetched.

“I am Horemheb,” the young man jogged up to face them.  “I am the driver of the royal chariot and the Pharaoh’s voice with foreigners.  Who are you, and why have you come into the Two Lands, uninvited?”

“We are travelers, from Avalon, and we have come to the Nile in search of one named…”

“Kiya,” Lincoln said.

“Kiya,” Lockhart repeated.

Horemheb stared, no doubt his meanest stare, one intended to extract the truth from lesser men.

Katie looked across the river to the city built in the middle of nowhere.  It looked like land where the desert encroached on the river.  Not a good place for a city.  She saw a step pyramid in the distance and thought about it.  She looked at the head man and wondered if this might be the Horemheb who was or who would become the Pharaoh of all Egypt, back when.

Lincoln spoke.  “She is or was the Second Royal Wife of Akhenaten.  We are not sure exactly what year we arrived.”

Horemheb broke his stare, laughed and spat.  “You’re too late.  Kiya vanished nine years ago and none have been able to find her, though all of the Two Lands have searched for her.  I wasted three years of my life searching for her in every place she may have gone.”

“Downriver,” Boston directed her voice only to Lockhart’s ears, which elves could do.  She had secretly slipped the amulet out for a look, tried not to draw attention to herself, and before she spoke, she put it back beneath her shirt where it would hang, hidden between her breasts.

“Saqqara,” Katie pointed at the city, like she just figured it out.  “We are not far from Memphis, though the court is in Amarna, rather, Akhetaten, I imagine, unless they have already moved it back to Thebes.”

“Don’t mind us,” Lockhart said.  “Go back to what you were doing.  We will just visit some friends in Memphis and move on.”

Horemheb clearly had to think about that.

Artie caught on to where they were.  “Is my sister here?” she asked, nice and loud.

“I am sure she is around somewhere,” Katie assured her.

Horemheb looked curious.  “Kiya had no sister.”

Katie spoke to Horemheb.  “Her sister is Sekhmet.”  Katie debated whether or not to add, “the goddess”, but she did not have to.  Sekhmet came in a swirl of sand, and she appeared as the lion, who roared at Horemheb.  Artie shrieked, but applauded when Sekhmet became a woman again and jumped up behind her on the horse.  She made herself heard by Horemheb.  A goddess could do that.

“This is my sister, and this is my adopted mom, and that is my adopted dad, and these are my friends, so back off.”

“You are welcome to accompany us in our search for Kiya,” Alexis said.  She thought it would be polite.  Horemheb shook his head and hands, and stood there watching until they rode out of sight.

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

And, before I forget:

 

Avalon 5.5 Artemis Home, part 6 of 6

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The sanctuary shook, but it did not fall down.  Hysphagia’s prayers sometimes became verbal.  Every time the big bad wolf huffed and puffed, Alexis caused the wind to blow back, away from the house.  Thus the house stood, but Alexis knew she could not keep it up for long.

“I figured it had to be the Djin.  He hides in the clouds and rain, but I wonder why the gods permit him to do his thing.”

“What?” Artie asked and blinked as Alexis gave her some water.

“The big bad genie that has been following us through time,” Alexis said.  “It is the same one that invaded Yu-Huang’s mountain with Iblis, Ifrit, and Ghouls.”

Artie nodded and laid her head back down.  She listened to the thunder and did not know the Djin was trying to knock down the whole building.

Katie and Cassandra came to the edge of the woods and saw whole trees bending, and the shrine tottering and ready to fall.

“No,” Cassandra yelled, and something happened.  Katie was not sure, but she heard a shriek out of the wind and it stopped, suddenly.  They sky began to clear.

“This is a big animal for us four women and Lincoln,” she said.

“The others will be back,” Cassandra assured her, and Katie did not doubt it.

###

“Okay, cloud.”  Malichron, the chief thief stood outside the temple of Apollo and shouted at the sky.  “We have done all that you asked, now pay up.”  The rest of the gang stood lazily in the doorway to the temple where they could stay dry.

“Here,” Meriope drew in the mud.  “The temple is laid out in this manner, and here, in the back, is the quarters for the priests and workers.”

“Simple enough,” Lockhart said.

“I could take them all out with one shot,” Elder Stow suggested.

“We would like to get our weapons back, if you don’t mind,” Decker said as he aimed carefully at the head of the man on the temple steps that had a rifle.  Malichron had the other rifle, but he figured to take him out second since he would be running back into the temple.  Decker had Artie’s Anazi gun and pulled the trigger.  The weapon made a straight line of bright white energy before it cut off.  The man’s head exploded, and he fell.

The thieves panicked and rushed inside, leaving the rifle on the temple steps.  Malichron saw where the shot came from and turned to rush back inside.  Decker aimed, but Meriope stood on her tip-toes, right in front of him, to see.

“Get down,” Decker yelled.  She did, as she realized she blocked his shot, but by then Malichron made it, and they had to assault the temple.

“Arm up,” Lockhart said, and they went in the back way Meriope knew.  They caught the thieves unprepared.  It did not last long except for Malichron, who got behind a column with the rifle.

Decker had the other rifle, and his own column, but he was afraid to use Artie’s weapon for fear it might put a hole in the wood columns, or set them on fire, and bring down the ceiling.  Elder Stow did bring down the ceiling in a back section of the temple.  Fortunately, it only came down on the thieves.

Lockhart had Katie’s handgun, but no better angle than Decker.  The only one with a good angle was Meriope with her bow and arrows, but she got busy.  Her father found her, and she kept trying to get him to keep his head down.  To be sure, Malichron was no marksman.  Meriope’s father got hit by a stray bullet.  He died mercifully fast, and Meriope’s anger became nearly palpable.  A young priest came up behind her as she took aim.  He put his hand on her shoulder.  Her arrow was no accident, and Malichron did not die nearly as swiftly as Meriope’s father.

Decker retrieved his rifle as Lockhart bent down to the dying man.  The man spoke.  “But the cloud man said we would be rewarded with riches if we killed all the healers in the temple.”  He did not understand what happened when he died.

“Excuse me,” the young priest said, and he stepped outside as Boston and Elder Stow came in from the back rooms.

“All of my equipment is safe and sound,” Elder Stow reported.

“All the guns except my Baretta that got melted by Elder Stow,” Boston whined.  “Why is it always me and mine?”  She complained, until, like a fairy, she completely flipped her conversation.  “That’s okay.  I need to learn to use my bow and arrows.  Great shot, Meriope.”

“I had help,” Meriope admitted, as she stepped up to Decker and let him hold her while she cried.  They heard thunder, and it suddenly stopped raining.  The young priest came back in, and Boston said he looked remarkably like the boy from Philoletes’ place.

“I’m inclined to let Philoletes wonder, and sweat.  He could lose some weight.”  The young priest looked around at the devastation to the temple.  “Needs stone columns,” he said and waved his hand.  The travelers with Meriope, all the horses and all the equipment appeared outside the shrine in the wilderness.  Katie and Cassandra were still standing there, but at least it stopped raining.

“Hello sis.  Lose something?”

Cassandra hushed her brother.  “I’m undercover.”

Artie, Alexis, Lincoln and Hysphagia came to the door and stepped out into the sunshine.  Artie said she was feeling much better.

The priest of Apollo, who everyone knew was Apollo, stepped to the door.  He put his hand on Artie’s forehead and stepped back.  “She should not be bothered with diseases again,” he said.  “It was not the lack of immunization, though.  It was the hedge of the gods is not around her.  That is why the Djin could still affect her.”

“Exactly,” a man said, as he appeared out of nowhere.  He was a big man with a full, gray beard and hair, and no one doubted that this was Zeus himself.  “And by myself, I cannot hedge her for other lands, but she will be safe in the lands of Olympus, and others may add to my work which may become a hedge.”  He smiled.  “Children.”

“Father,” Apollo said.

“Daddy, I’m undercover.”

“Cassandra?” Zeus raised an eyebrow at the name.

“She is only my very best friend in the whole wide world, forever.” Cassandra said, like a real ten-year-old, but then she sighed and instantly grew into a beautiful, fully grown woman, and people gasped at the appearance of brother and sister.  They were male and female, but they looked like identical twins.

“Thank goodness,” Katie said and shrugged the stag off her shoulders.

“You guessed,” Artimis wondered.

“I would never tell,” Katie said, and Artemis hugged her for her many kindnesses to a poor orphan girl.

“What about the Djin?” Alexis asked, though she thought it wise to get down on her knees next to Boston.

“Well,” Zeus said.  “I was not authorized to end his life, but I see some have been reducing him, slowly.  Still, you will have to deal with him again, I imagine. I assume he will serve some greater purpose at some point in the future.  So I let him go.”  He looked at Boston.  “But I burned his butt pretty good on the way out the door.”  Zeus smiled as Boston giggled.  He looked at Artemis and added, “I like the little girl.  The old woman, not so much,” and he vanished.

“Up everyone,” Apollo insisted, and everyone stood before they realized that was what they were doing.  “I came here because father wanted to know why it was raining so much.  This is not the rainy season.  But now that the mystery is all cleared up, I have a bone to pick with Uncle Hades.  He is trying to tell me the thieves cannot be held fully responsible because they were under the influence of the Djin.  I think they should burn in the deepest pits for what they did, and just to be clear, I don’t hold any of you in any way responsible for the damage to my temple.”  He smiled, and everyone felt the sunshine. “Merioipe, sorry about your father,” he said, and he vanished.

“I better go too,” Artemis said, but first she stepped over to hug the weeping Hysphagia and Meriope.  She paused at Alexis and Boston.  “Healer,” she said.  “And Little Fire.  Now that Alexis is with you, I expect you to learn everything, and the next time I see you, I want to see a perfect little nymph.”  She hugged Katie once more and whispered, “I’ll look for my wedding invitation in the mail.”  She stood tall.  “Gentlemen,” and she vanished, just in time for a chariot to appear on the path with two dozen soldiers, following.

The man who got down from the chariot looked like a gruff older man with the same kind of gray beard Zeus had.  He also wore armor—the armor of the Kairos, which at least the travelers all recognized.

“I’m Sinon, if you were looking for me,” he said, and opened his arms to give Boston a hug.  “I’m headed for Mycenae.  I’m raising an army to invade Akos, that’s Crete for the scholars.”  He pointed and winked at Katie.  “With any luck, you might find the exit gate somewhere around my home in Megara…” He looked around at the piles of equipment, the wandering horses, the weeping women, the quiet travelers who looked like they had been through hell, and he said, “What did I miss?”

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

MONDAY

A New Year’s Greeting, and the first of 6 posts where the travelers return to Egypt.

In Avalon, episode 5.6, Notes from the Underworld, they run into Kiya, the queen forgotten… Also ghosts, the lions of Egypt, poltergeist, the serpents of the deep, and love… you know, typical Kairos stuff.

Happy Reading

 

*

Avalon 5.5 Artemis Home, part 5 of 6

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Meriope still grinned when she watched Decker work.  “Brilliant,” she said.  “Philoletes is a very hard man to bargain with.  No one talks him out of payment.”  Decker returned a smile, and for once, it was not a frightening thing to see.

The old man, as Elder Stow appeared, had a couple of watchers.  Lockhart had three, including the young man that first met them, and the man he called Neoman.  Boston had seven all crowding around.  Not only was she pretty in her slacks and loose fitting top, but she had fascinating red hair.

Of them all, only the young boy helped.

“I’ve had Dog here since…” Lockhart had to think.  “Lincoln would know.  At a guess, I would say about two thousand, five hundred years, give or take.  He is faithful like a dog, and brave.  I will give him that.”

“No,” Neoman said.  “That can’t be.  You’re my age.”

“It’s true,” Elder Stow said, as he walked to Dog’s stall where Lockhart worked.  He limped a little, having done the worst riding bareback because of his short legs.  Decker and Meriope followed, walking side by side, Meriope still smiling and looking hard at her feet.

“Boston,” Lockhart spoke over to the next stall.  “Do you know how long we have had these horses?”

“Twenty-five hundred years sounds about right.  As you said, Lincoln would know.”

“How can you have had your horse for so long?” The young man who first met them protested.  “Horses did not even exist that long ago.  Poseidon just brought them out of the sea, not three hundred years ago.”

“You’re just telling stories,” a third man said, and Lockhart suppressed his smile.

“You’re lying,” Neoman said, and it was said to provoke something.  Lockhart, the former policeman, had been well trained at not being provoked.  Decker and Elder Stow had comparable training somewhere in their background.  But Boston was wet, tired and stressed about everything at the moment.  She jumped, burst out of her stall, and confronted Neoman to his face.

“Are you calling my boss a liar?” she yelled.

He turned to face her, and nodded, and the look on his face appeared so smarmy, she said later she could not help it.  She pulled her wand from her slip and dropped her glamour of humanity.  She got in his face, an unmistakable elf; and he looked terrified.

“You should not talk about things you know nothing about.”  She growled at him, and he ran.  In fact, most of the men ran, and some of them screamed besides.  Meriope caught the young boy and calmed him.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said.  “She really is a very nice person.”

“Mary Riley,” Lockhart scolded her with her real name.  Boston put her wand back and resumed her glamour of humanity.

“Sorry,” she said to Lockhart, and the men still standing there, shocked senseless.  “Sorry,” she told Decker and Elder Stow.  Decker snickered and Elder Stow hid his lips behind his hand.  “Sorry,” she said to Meriope and hugged her right around the young boy.  “I think you are very nice, too.”

The boy, having had time to think about it said, “Do it again.”

Boston rubbed his head while Elder Stow had a suggestion.  “What say we find out what our fat friend is offering to eat.”

“And what swill he has that he calls beer,” Decker added.

###

Katie and Cassandra spied the stag under the failing light of the sun.  Cassandra picked up the trail almost from the beginning, and tracked it for well over an hour.  Katie said nothing, but took more than one look at this ten-year-old who appeared to be able to track animals in the wilderness like the Princess.  Katie thought Cassandra was the Princess’ real name, too, though she had been strictly warned not to call her that.  The Princess hated her name.

“You shoot it,” Cassandra whispered.

“You should try,” Katie said.  “You found it and tracked it.  You should get the credit.”

Cassandra smiled a lovely, somehow knowing smile, and said, “No, you.  I’m not watching.  See?”  She turned away and covered her eyes with her hand.  Katie frowned and smiled at the same time, such as only a mom can do.  She lifted her bow, having learned long since on the journey, where the arrow needed to strike to bring the beast down.  Then she almost lost it as she felt something nudge her on the inside; but she fired, and it made a near perfect shot.  The stag took two wobbly steps before it fell over.

“Wow.  That was great,” Cassandra shouted and ran out before Katie could stop her.  She got up to the stag and screeched to a halt, staring at something in the trees.  She yelled.  “This is mine.  You have to go find your own.”

Katie heard the growl as she caught up to Cassandra.  Katie slipped a protective arm around the girl.  It was a gray wolf.  Cassandra pointed.

“Her mate is over there,” Cassandra said, and Katie saw, but the wolves decided not to argue.  They turned and bounded back into the dark beneath the trees.  Cassandra framed an odd question as she looked up into Katie’s face.  “Was that scary?”

Katie nodded.  “That was scary.”  She wondered why Cassandra would ask such a thing instead of just being scared, but Cassandra moved the conversation before Katie thought about it too hard.

“How are we going to get this beast home?” she asked, genuine concern in her face.  Katie smiled and touched that face with the palm of her hand.

Katie squatted down, slipped the stag over her shoulders, and used her legs to lift it.  She figured as an elect, being strong as a man had to count for something.  “Which way?” Katie asked.  She felt certain she could find her way back, but Cassandra had done well so far, and it turned out she was glad she asked.  Cassandra said they were much closer than Katie imagined because they circled around a bunch of times in the hunt.

“Good,” Katie said.  The Stag was heavy.  And I think you did a great job hunting.  I bet Artemis herself would be proud of you.”

Cassandra looked back at Katie and got a big smile on her face.  “Meriope says I’m a natural.”

Katie returned the smile, but said nothing, wanting to conserve her strength.

###

“You can’t come in,” Hysphagia said.  “Men are not allowed in here.  This sanctuary is dedicated to Artemis, the chaste.”

The man in the doorway laughed.  “You have a sick one, and you have no power to keep me out.  Soon, I may make all of you sick.”  The man shrugged, like it was no concern to him.

Alexis rushed out from behind the curtain.  She had her wand in her hand, and waved it at the doorway, but the man just laughed.

“Little elf, you missed,” the man said with another shrug.  “You have no magic strong enough to touch me.”

“I wasn’t aiming at you,” Alexis said.  “My husband figured you out.”

The man laughed and tried to step into the sanctuary, but something like an invisible wall kept him out.  The man started to roar, but Alexis whipped her wand, and the door slammed shut in the man’s face, cutting off the sound.

“Keep praying,” Alexis told Hysphagia.  “Your prayers are working a far stronger magic than I have.”  She turned to catch Artie.  Lincoln brought her into the sanctuary, and they laid her down on one of the benches, and covered her again with blankets.  Alexis stepped into the other room for Artie’s pillow, and when she put it under Artie’s head, she waved her wand again, this time at the curtain.  The curtain stiffened and became like a door.

Artie spoke in her fevered delirium.  “Mom, I don’t feel well…”

###

“So, what do you have?” Lockhart asked.  He felt frustrated, thinking about it.  Corinth was not that big, being hardly more than a big village, despite having stunted walls of a sort and a couple of gates.  But searching it might take days.  Lockhart felt they did not have days.

Elder Stow burped before he pulled a few small things out of his pocket.  “All they left was a weather ring.  It is raining with a chance of rain.  A simple chronometer with a section for notes, if anything is worth writing down.  Another key hole video camera, as you would call it.  I have a health monitor, which warns of any dangerous radiation in the area, a must for space travel.”  He put them all in his hand.  “Hardly trinkets,”

“Wait.”  Boston faced Meriope, but something grabbed her attention.  “Does that health monitor have a way of tuning in on that radiation to tell you what kind and where the source is?”

“Yes,” Elder Stow nodded.  “Better to avoid the area.  It maps the whole irradiated area.  Why?”

“So, does your equipment, like the scanner and screen device, or maybe the batteries—do they give off energy signals like radiation?”

“Oh yes, I see,” Elder Stow tapped his chin and thought.  “The batteries decay at a certain rate, but it is negligible.  Then again, it might work, even if the equipment is not turned on.  I will try,” he said, and got right to work.

“What language was that you were speaking?” Meriope asked.

“Mixed,” Boston answered honestly.  “But local words for most of it.”  Meriope sipped her drink and it became Boston’s turn to ask a question. “So, you did not seem surprised when you saw me.”

“I think I figured it out,” Meriope said.  “Your eyes and ears were too good for an ordinary person, and you are too graceful, besides.”

“Graceful?”  Boston let out a small laugh.  “My brothers should hear that.  I grew up with a bunch of brothers.  That is why I am the way I am.”

Meriope sighed.  “I had no siblings.  I was an only child.”

“My sympathy,” Elder Stow paused to express his condolences.

Lockhart said, “Most people don’t see being an only child as a bad thing.”

“But family is so important,” Elder Stow countered.  “I was born in a great litter of children.”

“I had a brother and a sister,” Lockhart said, as he pointed, and Elder Stow got back to work.  “My brother died in Vietnam.  My sister is in some swinging retirement home in Florida, not that far from my ex-wife.  Don’t tell Katie I said that.”

“Decker?”  Boston had to ask.

Decker took a sip from his cup and said, “This brew really stinks.”

Boston and Lockhart laughed, and Meriope picked up her cup to take a big whiff.

Avalon 5.5 Artemis Home, part 4 of 6

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“Katie,” Alexis called.  Katie looked back, but did not move.  Lincoln spoke softly.

“Don’t worry.  I’ll keep my eyes open and let you know as soon as I spot them.”

Katie turned from the front window and went back through the curtain, reluctantly.  Cassandra followed her to watch.

“She is sleeping,” Alexis said.  “But I am worried about her.  The fever is not going down.”

“Sleep may help,” Cassandra said, with a child’s optimistic voice and a look up at Katie.

Hysphagia stood to dump the water in her pan and wring out the cloth she used to wipe Artie’s forehead and hands.  “I know nothing about sickness,” she admitted.

“You have done well, and learned fast,” Alexis encouraged her.  “There isn’t any more anyone can do now.  We have to just wait and hope.”

Hysphagia smiled and spoke, like she hated to sound contrary.  “The gods can do more than we can imagine.  I will pray that Artie may be healed, and see if my Artemis will protect us all from this plague.  I do not know what Artemis will do, but I know she can do it, so I will pray and ask her.  That at least I can do.”

Hysphagia stepped out into the sanctuary room where she sat on a bench facing the front table, lowered her eyes, and spoke from her heart.

Katie turned back to Alexis.  “Why did you call?”

Alexis nodded, like she just remembered.  “Hysphagia said they just finished the last of their food yesterday.  They haven’t eaten all day, and we only have bread crackers, and lucky at that since I keep some in my medical bag.  They are desperately trying to keep the sheep for shearing so they have wool for clothes and blankets.  They had an old mule to pull their wagon, but they had to kill it a week ago.”

“I get the picture,” Katie responded.  “A hunt would be especially appropriate here, but we have no weapons.”

“I still have my bow and arrows,” Cassandra spoke up.  “I would hate to disturb Hysphagia, but I am sure she would not mind if you used hers.  That should get us some good hunting.”

“We would like to get some good food,” Katie corrected the girl and put a motherly hand to the girl’s head again.  “We do the hunting.  Alexis?”

“I’ll stay here,” Alexis said.  “I wouldn’t even mention it, normally.  We could all survive on bread crackers for a day, or even two.  But when Artie wakes up, I would like to get something substantial in her.”

Katie understood and turned to Cassandra, and asked, “So where are these bows?”

Cassandra shook her head.  “I’m not telling until you promise to take me with you.  You have to promise.”

Katie did imagine telling Cassandra to stay at the shrine, but if she bundled against the rain, she did not imagine there would be any harm in her coming.  Katie honestly thought their chances of finding anything were slim, and getting anything with their bows and arrows even slimmer.  “I’ll also look for plants to gather, such as you’ve shown me.”

Alexis said, “I may ask Lincoln to come here and watch while I take a look around outside, myself.”

That settled things.  Cassandra got the two bows and two quivers, each with a few arrows, and Katie made sure the scarf got tied extra snug around Cassandra’s head so it would not blow away in the wind and rain.

###

“I know a place where we can keep the horses safe while we search for the thieves,” Meriope said, and no one had a better idea, so they followed her to a barn and stables beside a large fenced in area within the city.  This was the first time the travelers had seen stables, a place designed and built for horses.  Boston and Lockhart imagined they were trained to pull plows and wagons, but Decker thought chariots may have made their way to Greece by then, and indeed, they found two primitive looking chariots left out in the rain.

“Does this place have somewhere we can eat and rest?” Lockhart asked the practical question.

“Yes, if that is wise,” Meriope said.  She watched a young boy run to the house as soon as he saw them in the yard.  “The inn is not big, but there are rooms.  I imagine the innkeeper is coming even now.”

“What is this place?” Elder Stow spoke before Boston could ask the same thing.

“A holding place,’ Meriope called it.  “When men drive herds into the city, they bring them here until they arrange the sale, if it has not been agreed in advance.  Usually, the innkeeper gets a portion of the fruit, grain and meat from the transaction as the price for keeping the animals fed and housed.”

“Meriope,” an elderly man hollered, smiled, and held out his arms like he was looking for a hug as he waddled toward them.  The young boy and a big young man came beside him.

“Philoletes,” Meriope responded, but she did not smile and she certainly was not going to hug the man.  He got the message and turned toward the horses.

“Such big and strong beasts.  They are a wonder.  And you ride upon them?  Malichron mentioned that.  He said the sadlees were made to go around the horses somehow, if we can figure out how…”

Decker did not need to hear any more, and Lockhart and Boston were right behind him.  They burst into the stables, and Black Beauty and Misty Gray both made their presence known.  Lockhart gave beauty a good look.  Boston kept trying to hold Misty’s nose while the horse kept nodding to acknowledge her.  Decker went to Cortez and commented.

“Lincoln’s horse is always cranky in the rain.”

“What are you doing?” the fat man objected.

“The saddles and satchels are here,” Elder Stow counted them.  “Most of the equipment, I think, but the guns are missing.”

“These are my things,” the man yelled.  “And my horses.  I made a deal.”  The young man tried to get between Boston and Misty Gray, but he backed off when Misty tried to bite him.

Lockhart turned on the fat man.  “Where I come from, we call this dealing in stolen goods, and it carries the same penalties as the thieves who stole the goods in the first place.”

“What?”

Meriope spoke, and her voice did not sound kind.  “These horses and all of these things were stolen, just like you stole my father’s cattle.”

“Now Meriope,” Philoletes tried to calm the woman.  “All that was settled a long time ago.”

“You still owe me,” Meriope said, but the fat man turned to the more immediate concern.

“You claim these horses, but can you prove this?”

Lockhart whistled and his horse came trotting up. He took the fat man and showed him the brand.  “Double bars,” he called it.  “And you will find the same brand on the three horses in your stable.”

“What is a brand?” the boy asked.

“It is a symbol, burned into the animal by a hot iron, er, hot metal rod,” Boston said.

“That must hurt.”

“But only for a little bit,” Boston agreed.

“Neoman, fetch the men,” the young man spoke to a man that came into the yard

“Do I need to show you on the horses?” Lockhart pressed.  Philoletes thought about it.

“No need,” he said.  “My men cannot get near those horses, and from the way they respond to you, I believe you.”  He looked like he only lost round one.  “But since they are yours, and these others I assume, you will have to pay for keeping them and feeding them for however long you are here.”

“We won’t be here long,” Lockhart said.

“Overnight,” Boston said.

“And one room for the women,” Lockhart added.

“It should not cost them anything,” Meriope said.  “You still owe me.”

A half-dozen men showed up at the door, but waited and did not interfere.

“I suppose we could go to the king and tell him you are dealing with thieves,” Lockhart said.

“Does this town have a king?” Boston asked Meriope and she nodded as Philoletes erupted.

“But I didn’t know they were stolen.”

“No excuse,” Lockhart said.  “You should have checked.”

“Maybe the king will take this place away from him and give it to another,” Boston added.

“Better yet,” Decker said.  “We could let people know all over this land that Philoletes is a thief and not to come here.”

“Then you would starve and get no payments,” Boston grinned.  Meriope wanted to grin as well.

“Only tonight,” Philoletes said.

“And food and a room for the women, and we will say no more about it.”  Lockhart insisted.

“And we will show your men how to properly care for horses,” Boston added.  “So you will get something out of the deal.”  She pointed at the men gathered in the doorway.

Philoletes turned without a word and waddled back up to the inn as Elder Stow came from where their equipment had been stacked.  He came shaking his head, which got people’s attention.

“Most of your things are present, including these,” he found the horse brushes and the horse blankets were obvious.  “Most of my things are still missing, with your guns.  They have my scanner with the screen device, and my sonic device.  I would guess someone wants a closer look.”

“Your sonic screwdriver?” Boston asked, and Elder Stow nodded.  “Man!  Come on, everyone.”  Boston, Lockhart and Decker brought in the other horses and got them into stalls, and then with Elder Stow’s help, they gave four horses some tender care, and then moved on to the other four.