Author: M G Kizzia

Avalon 4.8: part 1 of 6 Swords and the Sorcerer

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After 1994 BC, The Silk Road, Kairos 54: Thalia-Anath, the Sword.

Recording …

Thalia sat by the fire and worked the stone against her sword.  She shifted her whip back a bit from her hip, and noticed.  Phadon sat across from her and kept staring, as usual.  Thalia never imagined herself to be a woman worth garnering stares.  She was tall enough to be a man; as tall as Doctor Mishka who claimed to be five-feet, eight-inches, and she had the broad shoulders and rather masculine-like muscles in her arms and legs as well.  She supposed her face and rich green eyes might be worth a second look, and maybe her hair, which was such a light blonde it was virtually white.  But most people took the hair to be the hair color of age and imagined she was much older than she actually was.  In any case, a second look did not equate to stares.thalia 3

“What?” she shot at the man.  He blinked and shook his head slightly like one coming out of a trance.

“Sorry,” he said.  “You are the most mysterious woman, Thalia-Anath.  No one knows where you have come from or where you are going.  The way you speak of the gods is the way most speak of friends and family, a mixture of love and blasphemy.  I do not understand why everything for you in this world must be a challenge, like you have to fight and struggle through every day.  And yet; you see life filled with more beauty and speak of things with astounding knowledge and understanding.  Even the priests who fill the land between the rivers and the magi who walk the plateau and fill these mountains are amazed at your wisdom, even when you say things that make no earthly sense. You might be a queen worthy of all reverence, but you choose to live alone in the wilderness, just you and your sword, and your friend Nevah who you claim is a half-hobgoblin.  I do not understand you, Thalia-Anath.”

“Just Thalia, please.” Thalia said.  “Anath and I live in a guarded truce.  She had my son Aqhat killed.”

“You had a son?  I thought you were younger than that.”

“I am.  He was Yadinel’s son, but it was me all the same.  Some day you may hear the story.  The scribes in Ugarit are collecting and writing down all the stories they gather from all the lands, including the stories of Gilgamesh, Etana, and Aqhat.  I hear they are writing down the story of Eliyawe and the death of Tiamut, though they give all the credit to the twins, Marduk or Assur, depending on who is telling the story.”

“Why would they gather stories from all over?”

th phaedon 1“To better understand the gods.  Me and my big Sinuhe mouth put the idea in their heads.”  Thalia sighed before she got serious.  “You would do well to pay attention to how capricious the gods can be.  Your devotion to Bael is honorable, but I doubt he is as devoted to you.”

“Do you see?  How can you disparage the gods in that way?  I do not understand you.”

“But I understand you, Bael-Phadon.  In another world you would be called a paladin, or a knight in shining armor.  You have come on this quest to honor your god, Bael.  You are here to save the damsel in distress that is reported to be held prisoner by the evil sorcerer.  You are driven to help the innocent, the weak and needy because you think that is what your god does and what he wants.  You are a true believer, Bael-Phadon,” Thalia said, and she thought, and far be it from me to dissuade you from that notion.  Bael keeps Asherah from her most evil impulses, and looks the other way when she dallies with Yam, but he honestly does not care about people all that much.

Phadon looked to the bushes when he heard the leaves crackle.  Thalia was not worried.  She knew who it was.  Her elect senses stayed flared in the wilderness.

Nevah came marching in, singing.  “It’s a small world after all.  It’s a small—.”

“Hey!”  Thalia was so sick of that song.  Her Danna-self sang it once by accident more than twelve-hundred-years ago, and she still could not go anywhere in the earth without some of her little ones singing the thing.  It was maddening.

Nevah kindly slapped her hand over her mouth for a second.  “Sorry,” she said, and let her forked tongue out from between her very sharp teeth to lick her dry lips.  Thalia waved her off as Bezos the barbarian came in behind her.

“Nice deer,” Phadon said.

Bezos grinned and dropped it by the fire.  Who knew how far he carried it.  He did not break a sweat.  “Thanks,” he accepted the compliment and grinned as much as his teeth allowed.  He was a six foot Cimmerian from the south end of the Caspian Sea, the same area Nevah came from, and when he got mad, he showed signs of ogre strength, though there was no ogre blood in him.  He was too smart for an ogre, but not by much.

Despite her sharp teeth, forked tongue, two little horns that could not really be seen beneath her hair, and her brown eyes that flashed red in firelight, Nevah appeared human enough, if she kept her nails trimmed.  She was a sweet, kind, loving soul who had the flaw of being sneaky and taking th nevah 4things that did not belong to her.  Calling her a kleptomaniac was a kindness.  Thief was probably more accurate, but she had no problem returning non-edible things.  She said it gave her a chance to borrow it all over again.  To be sure, she was willing to return the edible things as well, but people generally declined.

“I got it with only one arrow,” Nevah said proudly as she unstrung her bow.  “But then a bear wanted to steal it.”

“I chased off the bear,” Bezos said with equal pride in his voice.

“I gave it a hot-foot,” Nevah admitted.  She did not get much magic with her half-hobgoblin blood, but what little she had was fire based—that, and she could understand and communicate in any language, the legacy of her mother, Serpentelle, which helped Thalia immensely at times.

“So all we are missing is the magi,” Thalia said, as she went back to her sword.  Thalia wore the armor of the Kairos, but her weapons were locally made.  She knew she could call on her elf-made and god-blessed weapons any time, but mostly she lived local.

“Anwanna is over by the cliff meditating,” Phadon reported, as he drew his knife to help cut deer steaks for the fire.  Bezos’ knife was dull, and his axe was not much good, though better than his hammer.  The big man was a walking arsenal, but he had nothing to do a proper butcher job.

Phadon had a few weapons as well.  He carried a sword, kept his knife clean and sharp, and walked with a spear like it was a staff.  His armor was made of overlapping plates, like dragon scales.  His helmet had no face or nose guard, but it protected his head well enough when he wore it.

Bezos wore bear skins, and seemed content with that.  Nevah wore fairy weave which she kept stiff for the most part, like a kind of armor.  She imitated Thalia’s short sleeves and fingerless gloves as well as her skirt and leather boots, but in front, she kept her blouse soft and low cut.  She liked showing off her big breasts, which was again, the legacy of her mother.

Nevah built up the fire and looked toward the cliffs.  Thalia put her sword down and stood.  “I’ll fetch him,” she said of Anwanna, even as the man came running into the small clearing.

skeletons 3“Skeletons,” Anwanna yelled.  “They are right behind me, and they are armed.”

Thalia grabbed her sword, and Phadon pulled his.  Nevah grabbed Bezos’ axe, so Bezos reached for his big hammer, which was honestly like a club.  Anwanna raced behind the others and tried to think how he might help.  He was pretty useless in a fight, which is why he gathered the group for this quest.  He knew the sorcerer, his brother, would not fight fair, so he figured he needed all the help he could get.

Phadon and Thalia began to hack off limbs as soon as the skeletons arrived.  Swords were not the best choice against fleshless creatures, but it was all they had.  Nevah’s axe was more effective, until it got stuck in a rib cage.  Bezos and his hammer were the best, and he appeared to be grinning the whole time he smashed skeletons to pieces.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Nevah shouted.

“There are too many of them,” Phadon admitted.

Thalia said nothing.  She picked up one of the new sticks Nevah put on the fire.  It was only lit at the end, but she waved it and the skeletons near her backed up to stay clear of the flames.  Phadon saw and imitated her actions.

“Nevah, in the middle.  Give them hot feet,” Thalia commanded.  “Bezos, back us up and smash any that break through.”  She considered saying something to Anwanna, but he was busy mumbling some incantation.  Thalia hoped it was a good one.  “Drive them to the cliff.”

Nevah gave it all she had and set a couple of skeletons on fire.  She felt lucky they did not set the forest on fire.

“Spread out to corral them to the edge,” Thalia shouted, and she and Phadon tried to give the skeletons no place to escape.  One by one, the skeletons began to fall over the edge, or they tripped, or they were accidentally pushed by the ones backing up.  Bezos did not get many chances to smash strays, and he looked about ready to complain when Anwanna finished his chanting.th wizard 5

A great wind rose up.  It made the bones rattle, but mostly it flowed right through the skeletons even as it put the fires out.

“Great,” Thalia said, but with her sword, Phadon’s sword, and Bezos’ hammer, they managed to drive the last of the skeletons over the edge.  “Get down,” Thalia shouted over the rising wind.

“Find something to hold on to,” Phadon added.

“My hair,” Nevah complained, as she found herself partly crushed under the weight of Bezos.

“Help.”  Anwanna started to lift off the ground, lifted by the very wind he created.

“Damn,” Thalia said.  She grabbed the roots of the bush with one hand and her whip with the other.  She snapped it around Anwanna’s ankle as he flew past, headed straight toward the cliff edge.  She had to hold on and pray, but in only a moment, the wind stopped, utterly.  Anwanna fell hard on to the lip of the cliff.  Thalia pulled him back from the edge.  Phadon breathed, and Nevah shoved Bezos off her legs.

Thalia rolled up her whip and snapped it back to her side while Nevah and Phadon peeked over the cliff edge.  “Gone,” Phadon said.

“They got all busted up,” Nevah happily reported.  “That is a tall cliff.  They won’t be back.”

Thalia nodded.  “Quote the raven, Nevah-more.”

Avalon 4.7 part 6 of 6 Toward the Future

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The travelers stayed for the three days of feasting.  It had become the custom for Yadinel and Mibdrus to meet once per year for three days.  On the first day, they feasted outside the city in great tents Mibdrus set up in the fallow fields.  That year, there was a slight delay as they waited for the Marzalotipan ship to leave.  On the first day, Mibdrus always asked Yadinel to surrender the city, and Yadinel always declined.  It was the tradition.

The second day of the feast was inside the city, in the great building with the threshing floor.  It was where Yadinel always asked Mibdrus to withdraw his forces and leave the city in peace, and Mibdrus declined, as expected.salem street 3

Katie and Lockhart had talked about the great building, being at the top of a hill the way it was.  Lockhart said it had to be extra work for the city to bring all the grain up to be threshed.  Yadinel nodded, but answered that in lean years, the grain and flour were rationed so hopefully no one would starve.  The top of the hill, with limited access made it easier to defend.  Lockhart nodded to the wisdom of that answer, but Katie had a very different question.

“Yes,” Yadinel whispered.  “This is the very floor that David will buy and where Solomon will build the temple.”  Then he said no more about it.

The third feast day was just below the threshing floor hill at the eastern gate.  That was just up from where the Jebusite army had its camp.  Yadinel pointed at the camp from the top of the wall.  “Bethphage,” he called it.  “On the direct road to Jericho and the side of the Mount of Olives.  A bit off the road to your right you can see the growing village of Bethany.  Right now it is mostly army wives and children, and what you might call other women with some enterprising men supplying goods for the troops.  Of course, they aren’t called Bethphage and Bethany yet, but they will be in time.”

salem street 2“So I have seen,” Katie responded.  “Things take time, sometimes centuries to develop, but the seeds go back much further than most modern scholars imagine.”

“Like the foundation for the city of Jericho being laid by the Gott-Druk,” Lockhart suggested.  Katie frowned, but was willing to nod.  To be honest, modern scholars did not credit the Neaderthal with anything more than a few stray cave paintings.

Yadinel nodded for Katie, with a glance at Lockhart, Lincoln and Alexis.  “And now I must go down much further than I care to imagine.  Alexis and Katie, I would appreciate you making sure I don’t fall off or down the stairs.”  They stepped up and took his arms, leaving Lockhart and Lincoln to follow.  “I don’t climb the wall much these days, but usually Paghat is a good girl and helps her old man get down.  Sorry she is not around.”

“You know where she is,” Alexis suggested, without actually saying she was off dallying with Mebdred.  Yadinel nodded his head like a man who was honestly not happy about it but knew he had no choice.

“It is the same story every lifetime,” Yadinel said.  “I always have to tell myself that the future is not in my hands.  It belongs to the children, and I will be somewhere else.”  Mingus and Boston met them at the bottom of the stairs.  They came to say the feast was ready, but Yadinel was not finished speaking.  “We do our best to raise our children well.  We teach them right from wrongBoston 5, about faith, and encourage them to love God and neighbor, but we cannot do it for them.  At some point, we will move on and they will be alone, to face their own future.  We cannot control that.  While we are alive, we can encourage them to make good choices, but we cannot prevent them from making mistakes.  In the end, all we can do is pray for them, that somehow, despite their mistakes, everything will work out for the best.  Prayer and hope.  That is all parents ever really have.”

“Everything is ready,” Boston said as she helped Yadinel from the stairs.

“Good,” he said, and smiled for her.  “After two days of feasting, you wouldn’t think it, but I am actually hungry.”

###

Mingus rode quietly at the back of the column.  He avoided talking to everyone.  He heard and thought about what Yadinel said about children, and about how parents ultimately can’t control what their children will do. Parents can hope their children will turn out to be good people, but that is about all any parent can really hope for.  Even among elves, where parents might live a thousand years, they will go over to the other side one day and leave the children to live their own lives.  Mingus frowned.

Av alexisIt was a terrible thing to imagine children dying before their parents.  That is what got this whole thing started.  He could not imagine Alexis dying before him.  No parent should have to be left to mourn and grieve for their child.  Then again, Yadinel lost his son, Aqhat, but he went on, cared for his daughter, and did his work in this world.  No one ever said life is easy.

Mingus looked forward to where Boston had ridden up to talk with Alexis and Lincoln.  He had two daughters now, and they were both good people.  He might not have liked their choices, but he had no power to force them to do what he wanted.  They were good people and that was more than some could claim.  Boston was a spunky child, still wet behind the wings as a fairy might say.  Alexis was a fine and mature woman with children of her own, and even grandchildren.  True, since she ate a bit of the apple of youth, she was presently about twenty-six, but being human, she would grow old fast.  Humans aged too fast, but that was out of his hands.

His own god made Alexis human so she could marry that man and live with his life; the short or long of it.  Deep down, Mingus trusted his god, or goddess as the case may be.  Certainly Yadinel, not a tenth his age, was wiser and more knowledgeable and with a deeper and broader understanding of life than he could ever hope to know.  Mingus felt he spent too many centuries in the Avalon history department and avoided life.  Certainly his children believed that was the case.

Mingus looked down at the chattering dwarf at his feet.  He grinned once to say he was listening, but he wondered if Pluckman Junior would ever take a breath.

He looked again at his daughters and thought that Elder Stow was right, as far as it went.  He had a chance to get to know them as grown people, and to tell them he loved them.  Thus far, he had failed miserably on that score.  He knew he was the only one who needed to change, but that was not so easy.  Life was not easy.dwarf 3

“So father says we are looking for a place to settle down, but it has got to have copper.  We thought Golan might be a good place.  It’s got nice, dark forests to hide in and all, but underneath there is tar and that oil stuff.  We gotta have copper.  Some tin would be nice to make some bronze, but copper is the good stuff.  It shines up real nice.  I just hope we can find somewhere that the goblins…er…dark elves haven’t already claimed.”

“No gold or silver?” Mingus asked.

“Nah.  Can’t do nothing with that stuff.  Too soft.  Can’t make a good ax or sword or nothing to fight with.”

“You like to fight?”

“Well; hang around with the Kairos for a couple hundred years, and you better learn to fight.  Like it or not.  The Kairos never lives a quiet life.”

“The Timna valley might do, if we get that far,” Mingus said, and smiled again.  For himself, though, he imagined he had been fighting too much.  Maybe it was time to make peace, at least with his daughters.

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

Don’t miss next Monday, Avalon, episode 4.8 where the travelers meet up with the Swords and the Sorcerer.  The Sink Road adventure awaits…

And I wish everyone Happy Reading

a a happy read 5

Avalon 4.7 part 5 of 6 Setting Things Straight

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It took three days for the little ones of the Kairos to locate the Marzalotipan ship and get them to land just out from the city gate.  They set down on the fallow fields between the city and the Jebusite army. Mebdred arrived by then, but despite his urging, the Jebusite army took a giant step back from the unknown.

The travelers saddled up, and Yadinel and Paghat pledged to walk down the hill with them.  A dozen city guards and Pluckman with a dozen dwarfs insisted on joining them.  Alexis made Yadinel ride her horse while she walked the beast.  Lincoln and Lockhart walked to either side of them where they could keep their eyes open.  Decker and Elder Stow went to the flanks where they could watch for Jebusites or whoever else might interfere.  Mingus rode out front, ostensiblysalem 4 for the same purpose, but honestly, he was not about to ride at the rear where Pluckman and his people were jabbering away and acting like they were headed for a picnic among the flowers.  Paghat walked between Boston and Katie—one who lost her husband and one who had not yet gotten a husband.  They talked quietly.

“Do you love him?” Boston needed to know.  Paghat nodded without hesitation.

“He is big and strong, a true leader.  And he is smart, and not afraid.”  Paghat smiled.  “And he makes me laugh.”

“But does he love you?” Katie asked with a glance back at Lockhart.  “That is the important question.”

Paghat held up her hand.  “Do you see this finger?  I only have to wiggle it and he comes with his hat in his hands.”

Boston and Katie eyed each other.  Katie was the one who spoke.  “I’m not sure that qualifies for love.”

“Oh, don’t worry.  He loves me well enough.” Paghat smiled again before she confessed.  “I’m going to have his baby.  I think I am pregnant.”

Katie just got her hand over Boston’s mouth before Boston shouted out the happy news.  “Are you sure?” Katie asked.

Paghat shook her head.  “But I think so.  I feel it, if you know what I mean, and we have certainly tried well enough.”  It looked like she could not stop grinning at that thought.  “Besides,” she settled her mind.  “I can’t exactly ask Doctor Mishka to examine me.  Father would never forgive me.  He and Mebdred’s father, Chief Mibdrus are the worst of enemies and have forbidden us from seeing each other.  I’m afraid this may break father’s heart.”

paghat 2Katie and Boston walked in silence before Katie added a thought.  “Your father is a grown man.  The Kairos can handle more than you think.”

“You won’t know unless you tell him,” Boston added, with one look back at Yadinel and Alexis.  “I am sure it won’t be any more difficult than when Alexis told Father Mingus she was going to become human to marry Lincoln.”

Paghat nodded.  “I will tell him if it proves true.  I will have to tell him when I start to show.  But I am afraid for him all the same.  I will put it off as long as possible, so please don’t say anything.”

“Don’t worry.  We are getting used to not saying everything we know,” Katie said, with a glance at Boston.  “Some of us are even learning to tell little white lies, isn’t that right, Boston?”

“What?  You mean me?”  Boston sounded offended, but the offence was obviously fake.

###

Noodlegluk, Screek, Shloop and his mate Clack-Clack were all standing on the ramp, waiting patiently, but nervous.  They had some wares out on display, in particular those items Mebdred and the travelers seemed interested in.  Elder Stow was always in the market for something he could adapt to charge up his equipment.  Alexis mentioned Dilodian silk.  Mebdred had his eye on weapons, but that was expected.

Lockhart made sure everyone knew the rules going in.  Mingus would translate for Yadinel and otherwise everyone else was to shut up.  Elder Stow took Shloop aside to see what they could find.  Alexis stepped off with Clack-Clack, and Katie, Paghat and Boston followed.  Decker watched the weapons and imagined one big gun looked like a Blueblood weapon.  It had a wide angle and stun setting, but he wasn’t exactly sure how it worked.  Lincoln and Lockhart stayed back while Mingus and Yadinel stepped forward.UFO Birdman 5

The conversation between Yadinel and Noodlgluk was brief, and Noodlgluk cried.  Yadinel traded places briefly with Amun Junior and did something by divine fiat, but Yadinel came back in time for Mibdrus, his elders, and two dozen soldiers to appear on the edge of the woods.  They were coming to see about this strange, giant ball that floated on air.

“Company,” Pluckman shouted out what everyone saw.  The city guards looked ready, but relaxed.  Pluckman’s dwarfs pulled their arrows and axes, set up a defensive line, and growled.  Katie looked, but not at Mibdrus, and Decker, Father Mingus and Boston all looked a moment later.

Mebdred and some twenty men came from the trees off to the left, and it looked like they were charging, an enemy ready to do battle.  People were going to get hurt, but Decker snatched up the Blueblood weapon and sprayed the group.  They all fell, unconscious, he hoped.

Junior came back for a second to check before Yadinel returned and relaxed.  Paghat ran into the field and began to wail, supposing Mebdred to be dead.  In fact, he sat up by the time she arrived and began to fawn all over him.  He looked like a man who might soak his injuries for all they were worth.

Yadinel sighed for the travelers as he hobbled to the end of the Marzalotipan ramp and hollered.  “Paghat, get away from him.  He may be poison or something.”

The travelers looked up at Mebdrus, who was certainly close enough to hear what Yadinel yelled.  “Yes,” he also yelled, but he grinned the whole time like a bad actor.  “Mebdred, leave that girl alone.  She may have a hidden knife or something.”

UFO Blueblood CanonThe young people, which in this case was about twenty-seven and thirty-years-old, ignored their fathers and even pecked at the lips before they separated.  Mebdrus arrived, and spoke.  “What was that great flash of light to knock over my son and his friends?”

“Blueblood cannon, updated, I assume,” Decker admitted.

“And a very dangerous choice if you read the settings wrong,” Lincoln pointed out.

“Sorry,” Decker apologized to Yadinel.  “Automatic reflex, but I figured it was better than bullets.”

Yadinel frowned, but only slightly.  “The Marzalotipan will be leaving, and not coming back.  Junior slipped the coordinates into the navigation system for a small Marzalotipan colony way out on the galactic rim.”  He held up a hand to prevent people from speaking.  “I mean further out on the rim than we are right here.”

“Bird people,” Mibdrus said, astonished as soon as he got a good look.  “Good to know my son has not gone mad.”

“Mad is a relative concept,” Mingus said with a quick glance at Alexis.

“Yes,” Alexis caught the look.  “Father is an expert on the subject.”

“Should we tell the young people what we have decided?” Mibdrus asked, but Yadinel shook his head.reb tera

“We dare not suggest such a thing yet.  Too soon may ruin everything.  We have our three-day feast and meeting without the young ones present, and I suspect by this time next year I may be called to move on to a new assignment, whatever that may be.”

“Called by your one god,” Mibdrus nodded.  Everyone knew they were talking about Yadinel’s death.  “But now I have brought only three hundred young men.  I will take the five hundred home, so you see my army at the gate is getting smaller in anticipation.”

Yadinel nodded.  “Good.  The less men, the less chance blood gets spilled.”  He turned to the travelers.  “Mibdrus does not entirely trust me to keep the bargain, but as I tell him, it is Mebdred and Paghat who will keep the bargain.

Avalon 4.7 part 4 of 6 Paghat

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The travelers got to the gate by lunchtime, having successfully avoided the five-hundred-man army that was camped just far enough away to be out of sight from the city.  Abandoned farm fields stood between the army and the city on the hill.  The city itself appeared to have a good, solid wall.  While the wall offered no protection for the people to work those fields, the city would not be easily overrun.  The travelers supposed without the use of those fields, the people might be starved into submission, but it would not be easily taken.salem 2

Lockhart and Katie got down to stand in front of the gate.  Lockhart banged on the big wooden door while Katie shaded her eyes and looked up at the battlements above.  Lincoln shouted from his horse.

“Yadinel.  We have come to see Yadinel.”

A man’s voice answered from above.  “Lord Danel is in seclusion.  He sees no one.”

A woman’s voice interrupted.  “Why do you wish to see Yadinel?”

“We are old friends,” Alexis shouted, as they heard an all too familiar voice in response.

“Get that gate open,” the voice ordered.  “Hop to it.  Hurry,” the voice continued as the big gate slowly opened wide enough to get two horses in abreast.

“Pluckman,” Katie named the dwarf, and actually smiled while Lockhart turned to tell the others.

“It’s Pluckman and his gang.”

“I wonder how many stooges they have by now,” Decker mumbled.

“Sixty?” Elder Stow suggested.

“Maybe eighty by now,” Alexis suggested with a grin.  “Those women folk keep pushing out the young ‘uns, you know.”

dwarves a2“Pluckman,” Boston ran up front and left her horse, Honey, for Father Mingus to bring inside.  Boston paused before she bent down to hug the dwarf.  He showed some signs of age, his hair graying, and his beard long, almost to the ground.  Boston glanced at the woman, just shy of thirty, who stood a bit to the side and stared at the travelers, but Boston spoke to Pluckman.  “How old are you now?”

Pluckman smiled broadly, not the least for being hugged by the pretty red-head, even if she was an elf.  “I’m four-hundred-years old, but I still got plenty to go,” he said, nice and loud.  “My great uncle Donner lived to be nearly eight hundred years, he did.”

“I thought Donner was one of Santa’s reindeer,” Lincoln said as he passed by.

“No surprise there,” Decker mumbled, without explaining.

Pluckman led the travelers to a big barn where they could stable their horses.  There appeared to be dwarfs everywhere, but also some gnomes who knew all about the care and feeding of horses.

“This is the threshing floor,” Pluckman explained.  “You can see there isn’t much grain here at the moment.  Lord Danel lets us go out and glean the Jebusite fields after they get harvested, and I am not saying we steal Jebusite grain, mind you, but there’s plenty that has to eat here in old Salem town.”

“It is a wonder the Jebusites don’t starve,” Mingus suggested quietly to the group.

Once the horses were in good hands, the woman who followed them from the gate spoke one word.  “Come.”  She turned to walk, evidently used to being obeyed.  Boston started to follow without question, but then stopped suddenly as a question came to her face.  She turned to ask Mingus, but Pluckman answered.

“Lord Danel’s daughter, Princess Paghat.”paghat 1

Father Mingus explained to Boston.  “The children of the Kairos are to us like children of the king.  We have used the terms prince and princess from the beginning, even though most human people do not yet know the terms.  They have a special relationship and some authority over all the little ones, even to the third generation, that is, the grandchildren of the Kairos.  We all feel the obligation to protect and defend them, and listen to them, even if we do not always do what they ask.”

Boston understood.  When Paghat told her to come, she felt a compulsion that was by no means irresistible.  Still, the travelers followed the woman and soon found a large home with a beautiful garden, not far from the main spring that gave water to the whole city.  They found Yadinel, an old man, tending the flowers.

“Lockhart, good to see you with these old eyes,” Yadinel said.  He turned and opened his arms for Boston.  She hugged him carefully, since hugging the elderly seemed to be the theme for the day.  “Katie, are you and Lockhart working things out?”

Katie glanced at Lockhart who preferred to stand, statue-like.  “I am honestly trying,” she said.  She did not explain what she was trying and she did not speak for Lockhart.

“Good, good,” Yadinel accepted whatever she was willing to offer in answer.  “Father Mingus.”  He turned to the elder elf.  “Are you loving your daughters?”

Mingus dropped his head and echoed Katie’s words.  “I am trying.”  Lincoln hushed Alexis before she could say anything about just how trying he was.

mes king 1“Good, good,” Yadinel said.  “I have my own headstrong daughter to care for.”

“Father,” Paghat protested with her voice, but stepped up and kissed Yadinel’s cheek before she turned again to look at the travelers.  “You are welcome to Salem and welcome to share whatever we have.”

“Yes, yes,” Yadinel said, and spoke to Paghat.  “You best go tell Missus Rondel and the ladies that we have guests, I hope for the next several days at least.  That means eight more at meal time, not that the dwarf ladies don’t already cook for an army.”

“Yes, Father.  But more Jebusites are coming to the army camp.  I saw from the top of the wall.”

Pluckman spoke up.  “My guess is Mibdrus himself.  That makes some eight-hundred men at arms, almost as many as we got men, women and children inside the city.”

“Paghat, go on and tell the ladies,” Yadinel said, and Paghat nodded and left so he had to shout after her.  “And stay away from those Jebusites, especially that Mebdred fellow.”

“We met Mebdred,” Lincoln said.

“Don’t tell me, she and Mebdred…” Lockhart did not finish his thought.  Yadinel let out a wry smile.

“Did you ever see The Fantastiks?  The play in New York was performed for, I don’t know, twenty years or more.”  A few heads nodded.  “Well, Mebdred’s father Mibdrus and I have an agreement, to avoid as much bloodshed as possible.  You see the wall.  You must always keep the wall.  But I don’t have long to live, then Paghat and Mebdred will be together and the city will become a Jebusite city.  I can only pray that the Elohim will survive.”

“Elohim?”  Katie was curious.  “You worship El?”pag david

Yadinel began to walk, slowly, almost staggering in his old age.  He shook his head.  “You must understand that history often repeats itself.  Lord Melchizedek’s father was like Saul, the King.  He turned the people to worship the Most-High god, but he stumbled, often.  Lord Melchizedek was himself like King David.  He was not perfect, but God approved, you might say.  I play the part of Solomon, though my failure has not been infidelity.  In my case, my son and wife have both been taken from me, and my daughter will marry the enemy, and the gods of infidelity will once again move into the city.”

“How old are you?” Boston got weepy, watching him struggle.

“I am fifty-seven,” he said, and quickly added, “You can’t judge with twenty-first century eyes.  Fifty-seven is a good, long life in this day and age.  For me especially.  I don’t think I live more than sixty years right up through the middle ages.  There may be a couple after Y1K, but honestly Doctor Mishka in the twentieth century is about the first to begin living longer than sixty years.”

“There are historical crisis points where the Kairos is needed,” Mingus explained.  “He can’t age gracefully here if he is needed in ten or twenty years in China, Africa, or the Americas.”

“Even when I am young and healthy,” Yadinel nodded.  “I will die when it is time to move on, sad as that may be.  I am like everyone else in that respect.  I have no control over when I die, and it can come at any time.”

People walked in silence for a while, not unlike a funeral procession, Boston imagined.  Eventually, they got back to the threshing floor building, which turned out to be much bigger from the outside.  There were any number of oversized rooms, all attached.  The horses were in one room.  elohim 1The noise, like a raucous celebration, was coming from another great room, and Lincoln thought he better say something before his words got swallowed up by the noise.

“We ran into a Marzilotipan on the way here.”

Lockhart took up the story.  “She said the Anazi have overrun her home world and she escaped.  She is here seeking refuge and apparently she will trade any sort of advanced technology for some land.”

“A foolish idea,” Yadinel said.  “Property and ownership is a fluid concept for the human race.  Humans give land, and then change their minds.”  They went in to lunch.  The dwarfs were celebrating extra hard, and extra loud and wild for the arrival of their friends.

Avalon 4.7 part 3 of 6 Seeing is Not Believing

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Alexis and Lincoln always had first watch.  They went out in the evening, from sundown to about nine o’clock.  There were often others awake at that time.  Decker and Elder Stow learned to go to bed with the sun.  They had the watch in the wee hours.  But the others often stayed up in the early evening, at least for a while.  Katie and Boston sometimes gave the horses some extra attention while Lockhart and Mingus discussed their progress and what they might expect up ahead.  At this point, both agreed that they were closing in on the ghoul home location, whatever time zone that might be in.  They had been attacked twice out of the last half-dozen time zones, though the attack in Rebecca’s time zone was curious because it did not strictly focus on the travelers.mingus 1

“Still,” Mingus said.  “Normally ghouls terrorize a community for months, but in secret, and one or two at a time before they move on.  They don’t normally expose themselves like that in an all-out attack against a community.”

Lockhart was glad to get that much out of the Elder Elf who was otherwise not inclined to speak at all.

Sometimes, Katie and Lockhart spent the sundown to nine o’clock hours together, and often enough that included caring for the horses.  That, of course, was back over those weeks after Roland was taken from them, and Mingus focused on teaching and training Boston like the young elf she was.  Currently, Mingus hardly talked to Boston, and Boston spent much of that time in tears.

Mingus and Lockhart watched through the night, from roughly nine until midnight, while everyone else slept.  Sometimes Katie stayed up a bit with Lockhart, but most of the time she was tired and needed at least her six hours.  Lincoln and Alexis were not always careful to separate and walk the camp perimeter, but by the time Lockhart and Mingus got the duty, the dark generally closed in.  They watched both ends of the camp so there was no time to discuss things.

On that evening, Alexis made a point of walking in front of her father and talking to Lincoln about making wild, passionate love under the moon.  That did not put Mingus in a good mood.  He kidnapped Alexis in the first place, which got this whole mess started, because she had the bad sense to become human and marry a human.  He spent the next few hours stewing, and not paying attention to anything that was going on around him.

At midnight, Elder Stow and Major Decker took over.  Again, they were careful to watch both sides of the camp so they spent little time together.  Elder Stow’s scanner was a great help in those hours, which were often the darkest hours before the dawn.  On that night, the scanner was not prepped to sound an alarm based on what his detectors might detect.  He regularly watched it during his shift, but it was a quiet night, so when he went back to bed, he neglected to turn on the alarm function.

Stow 1Elder Stow got up twenty minutes early that night.  He wanted the time to talk to Mingus.  He felt for the elder elf and thought a good word might help.  He talked about the importance of family and the bonds that tied family into one unit.  He said how he accepted the travelers were his family for the journey, and how he understood that it was important to do his part.  He told Mingus how lucky he was to have actual family, or blood family as he called it, having two daughters in the group.  He wanted to encourage the elder elf to do all he could for them and cherish the time he had been given with them.  Elder Stow had family, both sons and daughters, but he never saw them.  He missed them.  Mingus was lucky, and he should take advantage of the time.

Mingus did not say much.  He went to bed when he could, and Elder Stow sat up wondering if his talk did any good at all.

Three in the morning, Boston and Katie got up.  They built up the fire and sat together, as they did at times, to watch the sun rise, or at least to see the horizon turn light.  They were charged to get everyone up by six, and while it was not expected, they usually had whatever was available cooking for breakfast.  To Lockhart’s delight, they had whatever might substitute for coffee boiling away.

On that particular morning, as the light first touched the horizon, they saw the last thing they expected or wanted.  A whole army had moved up in the night, and it was camped on the plain about a hundred yards out from where they sat.

“I’ll get the others,” Katie said, and she went to wake everyone, though it was not quite six.  Boston sat and watched as a half-dozen men, not dressed like common soldiers, but like elders or dignitaries of some kind, stepped out of the army camp, walked some distance from the camp.  They stopped at a certain line.  One reached out and his hand toward the travelers.  Boston guessed the men did not come close enough in the night to wake anyone. desert at dawn 1

“Boston,” Lockhart called.

“Coming,” she answered.  She stood facing the men who were staring at her.  She removed her glamour of humanity, to their surprise, not that they could see her well at that distance in the dim light before sunrise.  She turned and used some elf speed to race out of sight.  She was behind the trees and rocks and at the campfire in the blink of an eye, and in fact, if those men all blinked, it might have looked like she disappeared.

“Decker says there is a route we can follow out of here,” Lockhart explained.

“I need to see your amulet so I can judge where we need to turn west.”  He held out his hand.

“I haven’t taken this off since Doctor Procter gave it to me,” Boston said.  She pulled it out and showed it to the marine, but she seriously did not want to take it off.

“Is that a settlement?” Decker asked.  The amulet was not exactly clear, like an old road map after too many rain showers.

“Yes, I think so.  But whether it is a town, a city, or a tent camp…”  She shrugged.

“Salem is a city,” Lincoln spoke up.  “I thought I was clear about that.  Yadinel is king of Salem.”

“And this here?” Decker asked.  Boston shrugged.

Alexis looked.  “Bethany?  Bethpage?”

“Bethlehem?” Lockhart asked.

Katie 8“No.  That would be further down,” Katie assured him.

Decker paused the discussion.  “So this could be the main army camp.  A place of tents as far as you can tell.”

“I know,” Boston said.  “It is frustrating sometimes trying to interpret the thing.”

“Mine only shows minimal landmarks on the direct route to the gate from wherever we are,” Katie said.  “It doesn’t show Salem at all at this point, because the direct route is mostly south.”

“Okay,” Lockhart made a decision.  “Everyone needs to be packed and ready to move on short notice.  I’ll try to buy some time to get packed.  Right now, they only seem to be curious about who we are.  My guess is Salem is probably their objective, but if we run, they will probably chase us, thinking we are an enemy.  So Mingus, would you join Katie and I when we talk to them?  I want someone who can recognize if they start lying.”

Mingus nodded and followed while the others began to pack the tents, but he said nothing.

Lockhart buckled the police belt that held his trusty revolver.  He changed his fairy weave clothes to his normal slacks, shirt and boots, and grabbed his shotgun.  Katie already had her gun belt on for her turn on watch.  She also dressed in more modern shirt, shorts, and riding boots, and brought her rifle.  Mingus came as is, but his magic was not limited to what he wore.

“Hello,” Lockhart spoke in a friendly manner as they approached the delegation from the army.  Katie and Mingus both pushed out their senses and both concluded that the army, about three hundred men just rising in the morning, did not represent any hostile intent for the present.

“Just curious, for now,” Mingus guessed.

“Hello,” Lockhart repeated.  “How can we help you?”

“We are not in need of help,” one of the elder men responded.  “We did not expect to find people in the wilderness before the city.”  There were, in fact, seven men facing the three.  The two in the rear were young soldiers with spears, but the other five looked unarmed and had gray hair.soldiers 4

“We are simple travelers, passing through this fine land.  I am Lockhart.  This is Katie and Father Mingus.  And you are?”

“You are a priest?” One old man stared at Mingus while others had different questions.

“You are Raphaite?” another asked.

“You are Elohim?” a third asked.

Katie whispered to Lockhart.  “The Raphaite are giants.  Elohim, children of the god El.”

Mingus gave a terse response.  “I am an elder elf from the long march of Avalon.”  He dropped his glamour and the men facing them all took a step back.  At least none of them ran away screaming, this time.

One man stepped forward.

“I am Mibdrus, son of Jebus, King of Jericho and Chief of all of the people of Jebus.”  They all heard the touch of fear in his voice.  He looked around before his eyes settled on Katie who appeared the least threatening, even if she had strange yellow hair.  “You have come upon my land without permission.  You must account for yourselves to my satisfaction or by right I will claim you wives and daughters and all of your cattle.”  He drew himself up to look as tall as possible.  He looked back once to be sure his army was behind him.

“Jebusites,” Katie said.

“Interesting,” Lockhart said, before Mingus interrupted.

“You wouldn’t want my daughters.  They are both witches.”

Lockhart continued.  “Three days ago, we met a young man named Mebdred who claimed to be chief of all the Jebusite people and ruler of all this land.”

“Your son?” Katie guessed and asked, and the king nodded, even as he frowned.

“I would watch him,” Lockhart said.  “It sounds like he is getting ahead of himself.”

nat jerusalem 1Decker, Boston and Elder Stow came out from the trees, mounted, and trailing three horses.  Boston had Father Mingus’ horse.  Decker and Elder Stow had Katie’s and Lockhart’s horses.  Elder Stow neglected to put on his glamour of humanity, which startled the delegation, again.  Decker spoke.

“We are ready to go.”

Mingus turned to his horse while Katie added a thought.  “We are travelers and we will be gone from this area in a couple of days.”

Lockhart added one further thought before he mounted.  “It looks to me like your son wants to be chief and is impatient that you are living so long.”

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

The travelers are just trying to get to Salem, but there are obstacles.  Aliens have landed in the wilderness.  The travelers are being chased by a warrior and his men who would love to get their hands on some advanced alien weaponry.  And just when the travelers think they have moved safely out of range, they run into an entire army of Jebusites.  Don’t miss next week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, for the conclusion of Avalon, episode 4.7 King After Melchizedek.  Happy Reading.

a a happy read 6

Avalon 4.7 part 2 of 6 Jebusites and Marzalotipan

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Lockhart yelled as soon as he got close enough.  “Marzalotipan.”  Katie glanced at him.  She had her rifle out.  Men were standing around the ramp, and they looked like soldiers, not a casual hunting party.  They were eyeing the merchandise with some trepidation, except the big man who was talking to the birdman.

“Marzalotipn,” Lockhart yelled again, and the birdman turned to stare as Lockhart dismounted and grabbed his shotgun.  Katie got down and told the others not to crowd in.  She figured at least Decker would put the big human in his sights.

“You know my people?” the bird spoke through the translator because its own language could not be replicated by the human tongue and lips.UFO Birdman 5

Lockhart stopped short.  The bird had wing-like arms that ended in some sort of hands, feathers over much of its body, a beak-like nose and mouth, and sharp eyes that did not appear to miss much.  Lockhart could not tell the difference based on his past encounters, but this appeared to be a bird-woman, or it sounded like one in the translator.  The other two bird people looked younger, and he guessed they were male.

“Your people have been told that Earth is off limits for trade,” Lockhart said as he walked up and tried to strike a pose that projected readiness, but remained non-threatening.

“Why are you here?” Katie asked.

“A sad tale.”  The Martzalotipan shed some tears.  “Our home world has been overrun.  So few have escaped.  I, Noodlgluk, and my sons Screek and Shloop.  Shloop’s mate, Clack-Clack is inside, deeply sorrowing.”  The translator could only accommodate so much, but Katie and Lockhart got the gist of it, as the others moved up.

“Anazi?” Katie asked, kindly.

“Anazzizi,” Noodlgluk nodded.

“The Anazi sound like they have serious OCD issues.  I’m guessing they have no tolerance for a bunch of free birds flying around the galaxy, arming whoever will pay them a good price.”

Lockhart picked up on Katie’s attitude.  “I am sorry to hear about your world,” he said.  “But this world is still off limits.”

“It is a sanctuary world.  The Anazzi-azi cannot come here.”

“True,” Lockhart said, as he looked at the human who appeared to be following the conversation with great interest.  “But you cannot trade here,” Lockhart got to the point.  “Your technologically advanced weapons systems do not belong in the hands of these people.  These people will learn to build their own systems soon enough.”

“But we trade only for land so we may have a place to live.”

mebdred 4The human grinned.

Katie responded to the grin.  “I take it you claim this land.”

The man answered.  “From here, south along both sides of the great river to the Sea of Salt is Jebusite land.  My land.  These talking birds have shown me some interesting things.  I might be willing to trade some land for some of what I have seen.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Katie said to the man and to the bird.  “Reality is larger and more complicated than you think.”

Lockhart spoke to Noodlgluk.  “No weapons of any kind, or even something that might be turned into a weapon.”

One of the bird sons stepped up, clicked off the translator, and said something to Noodlgluk.  It was hard to follow, but clearly the Marzalotipan did not know that the travelers had been gifted to understand and be understood, no matter what.  Lockhart contradicted the son.

“I would say you do have to listen to me,” he said.  It came out in English, which even he was not expecting, but apparently the Marzalotipan understood perfectly what he was saying.  “If you check your historical records concerning this world, you will find reference to us, no doubt hundreds of years ago.  Now, we will take your concern to the Kairos, which is a name that should also be in your records.  The Kairos will decide what you must do, and that decision will be without debate.”

Noodlgluk turned her translator back on.  “And why should the Kairos decide what we can and cannot do?”

Lockhart found his words reverted to the local tongue.  The Jebusite would understand them.  “Check your records for the Kairos and then ask your questions.  Boston, how far from the Kairos are we, travel time.”Boston 4b

“About two days, if we push it.  Eighty or ninety miles.  We have a couple of hours of daylight, then all day tomorrow and the next day and we should get there in the evening, or the following morning,” she said.

“We might need to camp and take the morning to finish the trip,” Lincoln suggested.  He was consulting the database.

“It is my land,” the man protested, and his dozen soldiers moved a bit closer with their big spears on hearing his agitation.  “Who is this Kairos and why should he decide?”

“Yadinel…” Lincoln only got out the name and the man’s agitation turned to violence.  Lucky for Lincoln, Katie caught the fist and threw the man back to the ground.  The man did not expect that.

“Don’t do something stupid,” Lockhart said, sharply.

“I would hate to have to kill you,” Decker added, his rifle ready.

“We have only just met,” Katie said and held out her hand to help the man back up.  “Do you have a name?”

“Mebdred,” the man said, as he refused the hand and got up on his own.  “Chief of the Jebusite people.”

“Chief Mebdred,” Lockhart said.  “There will be no trade until the Kairos decides what is to be done about these refugees.  If they stay, they may be allowed to trade for land at that point, but nothing before.”  He turned to Noodlgluk.  “Is that clear?”

Noodlgluk nodded, but who knew what her word was worth.  In the past, the travelers found the Marzolatipan quick to forget the rules and justify doing what they wanted, rules or no rules.

“You could just tell them to pack up and leave,” Mingus suggested.

“I can’t,” Lockhart admitted.  “It sounds like they have nowhere else to go, but I am not authorized to allow them to stay.”  He mounted and so did Katie.

Avalon traveers on horseback“I wonder if they have any more of that Dilodian silk,” Alexis said, as they rode quickly south.  Lockhart pushed the group and the horses almost until dark.  Then he had Katie and Decker pick a campsite they could defend.

“You don’t think Mebdred will follow us, do you?” Boston asked.

“That is exactly what I think, and I bet I am not the only one,” Lockhart answered.

Sure enough, about an hour before dawn, Mebdred and his dozen men showed up.  Elder Stow set his scanner when he went on watch in the wee hours, and it went off when people got close.

“Nice alarm clock,” Decker groused, and looked over the hedge with his night goggles, to see how far away the men might be.

“That’s all right,” Lockhart said.  “I figured we would leave as soon as Mebdred showed up, assuming he was coming.”  They skipped breakfast on the promise of a fine lunch, saddled up and headed south along the Jordan River.

Lunch was the inevitable deer, taken from a herd that got between them and the river.  Alexis complained about not having time to go fishing for something different in their diet.  Of course, a whole deer was far more than they could eat, and they had no time to smoke it or prep it for travel.  Lincoln suggested leaving the rest for Mebdred and his band of merry men, so they did, and moved well down the river in the early afternoon.

“We didn’t get as far as I thought we would,” Boston said as they camped for the night.  “Trailblazing always takes longer than I think.”

“That’s okay,” Lockhart told her.  “I think we have moved out of Mebdred’s range.”  He looked at Lincoln and Lincoln nodded.

“Unless Mebdred wants to drive his men a second night without sleep,” he said.jordan river 1

They left early the next day just to be safe, and pushed south again, keeping the river to their left hand side.  By early-afternoon, Boston moved them away from the river and toward the southwest.  It was not long before they saw a familiar sight.  Jericho rose up far off to their left.  Boston suggested they go around it this time.

“Why?” Lincoln asked.  “I have had dreams about Jericho, and wondered how it must have changed since we were here.”  Alexis agreed with her husband.

“Sorry,” Katie said.  “The Jebusites may have overrun the city, and going in might put us in Mebdred’s hands.  Best avoided.”

After that, they turned almost due west and found a place among some rocks where they could shelter for the night.

“We are still ten miles out from where we should find the Kairos,” Boston said.

“I’m no help.” Katie said, looking at her own amulet.  “This prototype only shows the line between the two gates when we first enter the time zone.  I can extrapolate where the Kairos must be in the middle of the line, but since we have shifted significantly off the original line, my line has shifted too, to compensate.”  She looked up.  “I can take us from where we are to the next time gate, but where the Kairos might be, I could not say.”

“It’s all right,” Lockhart assured her.  “I thought it best to follow the river as long as practical, and cut through the hills around Jericho.  It was like two sides of a triangle, but faster overall since we avoided having to go over a few mountains.”

fire campfire 2“Hopefully, there will be a reasonable road or well-traveled path between Jericho and the Kairos,” Lincoln added.  “We should cover the ten miles before lunch.”

“The detectors are set,” Elder Stow reported, and people settled in for the night and some quiet conversation.

Katie spoke to Lockhart.  “We have ridden pretty hard these last two days.  I hope we can give the horses a rest when we find the Kairos.”  Lockhart nodded.

Decker spoke to Lincoln.  “It seems to me the time gates are getting farther apart as we move forward in time.  I remember the two gates around the Tower of Babel were not more than about thirty miles apart.  Here, they have to be at least two hundred miles apart.”

Lincoln responded.  “I’m guessing as the world becomes more complex, the effective reach and contact range of the Kairos has expanded.  It will probably expand some more when chariots and horses become more common, but not by much, and it will probably hover around the same size until the other side of the middle ages.”

Decker paused to consider before he agreed.  “What I know is in the beginning it took three to four days walking to make it from one gate to the next.  Now it can take three to four days ride just to get to the center.  That would be six to eight days ride between gates.”

Boston talked to Alexis about Father Mingus.  “I still can’t get him to say hardly anything at all.”  She wanted to cry.

“Don’t you worry.  Father has been stubborn, ornery, and rude my whole life.  Right now he is being stubborn.  He will come around to ornery.  Soon enough he will get back to being just plain rude.”Alexis 7

“Alexis,” Boston sounded like she was scolding the woman.  Then she sounded like she wanted to ask something serious.  “Alexis?”

“What,” Alexis had to prompt.

“Don’t be mad at me.  You know it isn’t my fault, the way he was treating me.  I was grateful.  There is so much to learn about being an elf that I never knew.  I didn’t mean to cause any trouble between you and your father.”

Alexis smiled for her.  “Don’t worry.”  Alexis gave Boston’s hand a motherly pat.  “I don’t blame you.  It isn’t your fault.  You and I can still be best friends.”  Alexis changed her mind and reached out to hug Boston.  Boston hugged her back and then found some tears.

Avalon 4.7: part 1 of 6 King after Melchizadek

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After 2052 BC, Salem.  Kairos 53: Yadinel, King of the Elohim

Recording …

The travelers went through the time gate and came out the other side seemingly unmoved in their location.

“I remember this rock,” Boston insisted.  “This very rock.”

“Lincoln, did you check the horizon?” Lockhart asked.

Lincoln nodded.  “It is the same horizon as far as I can tell.”

“How can you know this?” Elder Stow wondered.

“Way back, the very first time we stepped through a time gate, Lockhart and I heard the tower fall.”golan heights 1

“Babel,” Alexis explained.  “The Tower of Babel fell as we were going through.”

“I looked back and checked the time zone.  I thought I might catch a glimpse of the zone resetting itself,” Lincoln said.  “Ever since then, I have gotten into the habit of checking the horizon every time we go through a gate.”  He got out the database.

“Personally, I think it is a wonder you could focus on anything with Pluckman and his people all blabbering and shouting good-bye, and all,” Alexis said.

“Like munchkins,” Decker agreed, in his own way.

“Stop it,” Boston said.  “I was starting to like all those dwarfs.  They were cute and funny.”

“In an annoying sort of way,” Decker said.

“Like the forty-three stooges, maybe,” Lockhart agreed.

“Well, they aren’t here now,” Katie interrupted.  “So we must have moved forward in time, even if we are still in the same place.”  She looked at the back-up amulet she wore around her neck.  “This way,” she said.  “Same direction we were going.”

Lockhart rode up beside Katie.  Decker and Elder Stow stayed in close while Lincoln read whatever information he could about the Kairos in this time zone.  “Yadinel, the Elohim version of the name Daniel…”  He read the myth before he gave some particulars.  “He becomes king of Salem after Melchizadek and keeps the Jebusites out of the city as long as he is alive.  But, of course, there is no telling when in his lifetime we have arrived.  He could be a sage king with a long gray beard, or he could be a child.  It says when he was young, he went with his older brothers to find out what happened to Sodom.  It says Sodom was destroyed when an Anazi battleship broke up in the atmosphere overhead.  The resulting explosion was atomic in proportion, but after one massive blast of radiation, the radiation dissipated with no long term effect.”

“Darn,” Boston complained.  “I thought Sodom was destroyed by the wrath of God.”

“It was,” Alexis countered.  “Don’t make the atheist mistake.  God is not limited to divine fiat.  Just because there is an explanation, that does not mean it isn’t the hand of God.  I think God works through natural means and the natural world all the time.”

gol sodom 1

 

Boston swallowed.  That was exactly what she was thinking, that somehow, if it was not some inexplicable miracle, it was not God.

“So what happened to Gomorrah?” Lockhart asked out of curiosity.  “No one ever explains about Gomorrah.

Lincoln took a moment to find the information.  “Plague.  Fallout from the explosion killed plenty, and then some Anazi plague.  A pox wiped out almost all the inhabitants of Gomorah and two other cities.  The fifth city, Bela, was the only one that made it well enough to gather the survivors.”

“Pox?” Alexis asked.

“It doesn’t say what kind.”

Decker nodded and moved out to the flank.  Elder stow took the other side, and Lockhart was glad that without the dwarfs dragging along, they could ride their horses.  Over that day, they came down out of the high country and moved through a deep and wide valley.  In the evening, they saw the sea of Galilee spread out in front of them.

###

GalileeThe following morning, the travelers moved down the west side of the lake, the opposite direction to the way they went once before.  “At least the water is drinkable this time,” Katie said.  “Last time we came through here the water was full of hallucinogenic substances.”

“I remember,” Lockhart said, and looked back.  Last time, Mingus had kidnapped Alexis and wiped her memory.  This was the place where they got Alexis back and Alexis got her memory back.  Mingus disappeared for several time zones, following with the back-up amulet that Katie now wore.  This time, Mingus was plodding along, not saying anything.  Even Boston had given up trying the get a word out of the elder elf.

Lockhart looked away to see what Elder Stow wanted.  The Gott-Druk rode in, alternately looking at his scanner and the sky.  That did not appear to be a good thing.

“Something overhead,” Elder Stow said.  “It is very big and appears to be dropping through the atmosphere, but coming in on powered flight.”

“Trajectory?” Lincoln asked.

Elder Stow pointed the way they were headed.  “Several miles down the sea side.”

“We probably should hurry up and maybe get there before dark,” Lockhart said.

They rode all out for a time, but finally had to walk the horses to rest them.  Then Lockhart had another question.

“Lincoln.  What might we be facing?  The Anazi, whoever they are?””

“Them or the blobs.”

“What happened to the Bluebloods and Sevarese?” Katie asked.

“According to the database, after wiping out the Pendratti, and they are now extinct by the way, the Blueblood and Sevarese fought each other to near extinction.”UFO Marzilotipan 1

“So who are these Anazi?” Lockhart asked

“A minor player on the side of the Sevarese at the end.  They helped the Sevarese wipe out the Bluebloods, and then turned on the few remaining Sevarese.  They are now the big players in this backwater of the galaxy. Um…” Lincoln took a minute to read.  “They are very central command structure oriented.  Even ship captains have to ask permission, get approval for actions, and follow orders.  Serious micro-management issues.  Individual soldiers are hardly allowed to think at all.”

“They sound like ghouls,” Mingus spoke for the first time in two days.

“No, well they may be…Oh, I see what you mean.”

“The hundred ghouls have one central figure they are all connected with in some psychic way,” Boston explained what she knew.  “The nine move on command of the tenth, and the ten move on command of the controller.”

“The controller doesn’t have very many tens left,” Lincoln sounded hopeful.

“forty or more, I would guess,” Lockhart said.  “Time to ride.”

Another hour, and Elder Stow and Decker came back in from the outside edge.  They made better time than expected.  It was only mid-afternoon.

“The ship should be just up ahead,” Elder Stow reported.  “Major Decker has a good idea about who it might be.”

People looked at Decker, but he smiled and said, “I’ll wait until we get there.”

Shortly the football stadium sized ship came into view.  It was a ship of unfamiliar design, until they got close enough to see the ramp and the goods scattered about like sales racks from a department store.  Alexis was the one who named the aliens.

UFO Birdman 5“Marzalotipan.”  It was not kindly said.  The Marzilotipan were the worst sort of merchants and sales people.  They dealt in advanced equipment, salvaged space parts, junk, weapons and weapons systems. and who knew what else?  Earlier Marzilotipan made offers for their horses, so there were likely all sorts of animals or animal-like or plant-like things in the ship, not to mention alien diseases.

“They survived the war…wars?” Lockhart asked.

“And probably made a good profit selling to both sides,” Decker nodded and smiled again, like he guessed correctly.

“Well, they have been warned off this planet.  Earth is off limits.” Lockhart spurred his horse forward and the others followed.

Avalon 4.6 part 6 of 6, While the Getting is Good

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“Be good,” Hathor turned to the travelers.  “Live long and prosper,” she grinned that time and vanished.

“Hey, that’s my line,” Sinuhe said.

“No it isn’t.  That is Spock’s line,” Lincoln objected.

“I’m saying it four thousand years before Spock is even born, so I can claim it.”kiss 1

“Cheater,” Lockhart took a breath and offered his opinion.  Katie nodded like she agreed, and then went for more of that kissing stuff.

“All right,” Sinuhe started, but Lincoln interrupted.

“What did she mean about the way the gods keep secrets?” he looked like he was still coming out of a fog.  “Was she talking about Heba—.”  He found his mouth covered by both Alexis and Sinuhe.

“Yes,” Sinuhe said.  “And given the way the gods keep secrets; I expect her to show up any second.”

“I’m so sorry,” Alexis said to Sinuhe as she turned to Boston and hugged her.  Mingus was still on the floor, crying.  Elder Stow moved to comfort the girl, but he was not a hugger.

“All right…” Sinuhe started again, but this time Hellel interrupted.

“Why is she crying?”  Hellel pointed at Boston.  “The goddess loved on her.  I’m the one who got threatened.”

“Hathor reminded her of when she married,” Sinuhe explained.  “She got married in Egypt, but there was an accident, and she lost her new husband.  We think he made it home ahead of her.  We hope he will be there when we get home.  That is the hope we are going on.”

“But you said you had three more years to get home.  When did she marry?”

“About four hundred and fifty years ago,” Sinuhe said.  “That is just an estimate.  About three months ago, travel time.”

Hellel did not know what to say about that.  Gabrall looked up from his place even as Lockhart and Katie took a breath and went to join in comforting Boston.

kissing 1“Gabrall,” Sinuhe caught his attention.  He got the man to take charge of getting the army started on the clean sweep project.  They had to get every shovel, broom and bucket for water they could find.  Fortunately, the sea was full of water.

Just as that was settled and Zagurt and the king were beginning to stir, and it looked like Hellel was ready to get off her chair and find out more about a four hundred and fifty-year-old bride, there was a flash of light and Hebat arrived wearing a yellow sundress and big round sunglasses.  She marched up to Sinuhe and planted her lips on his, and he kissed her back.

After a while, they parted, and Hebat had the biggest, silliest grin on her face.  “My Egyptian,” she said.  Hellel found some courage.

“Hey.  That’s my husband,” she protested.

Hebat turned and lowered her glasses to glare at the princess.  “So?  You don’t love him.  My man is starving for love.” She turned back to Sinuhe and kissed him again, and this time he reached down and squeezed her bum.  She purred, and Hellel couldn’t say anything but, “Hey!”

“I am a married man, alas,” Sinuhe finally said.  “And you are a married woman.”

“I know,” Hebat said.  “Kind of exciting, isn’t it?”sinu hebat

“You should go.”

Hebat pouted, but did not argue.  She turned to strut in front of Hellel and caught movement out of the corner of her eye.  She shrieked a happy shriek and vanished just before Sinuhe could whack her bottom.  Hellel’s comment was interesting.

“Gee, you never whacked my bottom.”

###

The travelers all agreed it would be wise to move on the following morning.  As Sinuhe explained, “The wrath of the gods is unforgettable.  Even the mild annoyance of the gods leaves an impression, but you know how memory works.  The mind twists the message very quickly.  Often, the message is not clear, filtered through that anger.  But even when it is clear, it does not take long before the person is doing the very thing the god warned them not to do, and they will swear they are following the will of the gods.”

“Basically you are saying the king is going to change his mind,” Lockhart summarized.

“I don’t think it will take long,” Sinuhe nodded.

Decker added a thought.  “The human race is a poor excuse for…the human race.”  He rode out to the wing.

dwarves a1“By the way,” Mingus said as he was at the end of the line with Boston.  “Thanks for giving us Pluckman.”  More than forty dwarfs surrounded the group.

“My pleasure,” Sinuhe said and waved.

“I am sure,” Mingus mumbled, and Boston giggled.

The travelers moved three days down from the hills toward Galilee, and stopped on the third afternoon.  An army was coming up the valley.

“Pluckman, can you tell whose army that is?” Lockhart asked.  Pluckman stared at the man, slack jawed.

“You are asking a dwarf to tell the difference between one set of humans and another/” Katie scoffed and put down her binoculars.  “Besides, how many armies do you expect to find traveling in this wilderness?”

The others waited while Lockhart and Katie walked their horses forward.  Pluckman and a half-dozen heavily armed dwarfs went with them.  Decker and Elder Stow stayed out on the flanks where they appeared to be out of range from enemy slings and arrows, but were well within range of the weapons they carried.  They each had their own little troop of dwarfs that clung to them like bugs on a windshield.

Lockhart and Katie did not have to wait long before the army ground to a halt and a dozen men jogged out to face them.  Lockhart spoke before they got too close.

“I have a message from Lord Sinuhe, general of King Enshi.  He says you better hurry up.  The Syrians are two days ahead of you, and you know how the Syrians can be.  They will try to sneak in and take your prize if you don’t get there first.”

The men were amazed by the horses, but their eyes hardly left the dwarfs.  “You travel with earth spirits?”army 2

“We have many friends,” Katie said.

“But why would the king’s general send us this word?” a second man asked.

“Because he knows you Canaanites and the city people have much in common where the Syrians are a strange and unnatural people of foreign gods who should be driven back to where they came from.”

“And you?” The man framed his thoughts, but Lockhart cut him off with his hand like a traffic cop.

“No, we have other business to attend to.  We have delivered the message for our friends, but we are going to the inland sea.  What you do with the words we have given you is up to you.”

The man nodded as Lockhart and Katie turned their horses and went back to the group.  The dwarfs disappeared, but they growled, an effective sound for the Canaanites, no doubt, but it almost ruined everything as Katie and Lockhart tried not to laugh.

The Canaanites went back to their army to begin moving again.  The travelers and their dwarf escort passed them from up on the ridge.  Whether the Canaanites hurried from that point or not, Katie and Lockhart never knew.

“So I don’t get it,” Alexis said when they finally settled down for the night.

Lockhart answered her.  “The way Sinuhe explained it, there are natural prejudices that he can stoke to a nice little flame.  He hopes, if he plays his card right, the Syrians and Canaanintes will fight each other and leave the city alone, or at least be so diminished at the end, he and his little army should be able to handle them.”

“Tricky, and mean,” Alexis said.

“And very hard to pull off,” Decker said.

dwarf night

 

Pluckman yelled “Food,” and the campfire became a madhouse where no one could talk.  Katie had to shout her question at Lockhart.

“I wonder how it will turn out.”  Lockhart could only shrug as the music and dancing started that would go on passed midnight.

Avalon 4.6 part 5 of 6, Laying Down the Law

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“You didn’t have to cut so deep,” Alexis complained as she stood and went to see about the broken nose.

“A miracle,” the guard who had been cut looked at his belly, leg and hand and yelled.  Everyone paid attention.  “Look, look.  I am healed.”

“You are the healer?” Hellel turned to the side to get out from under her husband’s glare.  “But you are a woman.”

“What does being a woman have to do with it?” Katie asked.

“It makes me afraid to think what your men may be able to do,” she responded and sounded sincere enough.

“We are not gods,” Lockhart said quickly.  “We are not able to work miracles, though Alexis has Alexis 1some gifts for healing.  But what we can mostly do is be good friends.  We try to make friends wherever our journey takes us.”

“Yes, I have consulted with Sinuhe,” Alexis said after tending the broken nose.  She rejoined the group and faced the king.  “King Enshi.  There is no cure for your condition.  Your physician is doing everything possible to relieve your symptoms, but some of this must be up to you.  You must watch your diet.  If you eat foods that are bad for your condition, no one but the gods may be able to help you.”

The king lowered his head and took the scolding well.

“Now, about your plague,” Alexis continued.  “Again, your physician and I have talked, and frankly there is a limit on what any of us mortals can do.  But there is one thing that would help a great deal, and might actually end the plague.  I said might.  Right now, your streets are full of people.  I don’t blame them.  I hate armies.  But your streets are also, if you will pardon the expression, full of shit.  If you cleaned the streets, and cleaned up after your animals, and bring wagons for people to dump their waste rather than dumping it in the streets, that might be the best thing you can do.  The respiratory condition Sinuhe has described can be caused by a number of things, but filth may be the cause, and at the least it is not helping.”  Alexis quieted, and Gabrall presented the counter-argument.

“I am sure what you say is true, but we can only pray for rain and seek the will of the gods in this matter.  We do not have the people to do such work as you suggest.”

“What do you mean?” Lincoln spoke, in part to support his wife.  “You have a whole army of men right now that have nothing better to do than stand on the wall and spit off the battlements.”

Sinuhe smiled.  “I should have thought of that.  We could work them for the free food they and their families are getting.  It would keep them fit and give them something to think about other than the coming enemy, if any.  They say, idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”

“I am not paying an army of men to clean the shit from the streets,” the king objected.

“Would you rather pay the army to stand around and play spitting for distance?” Lockhart asked.

sinu court“That sounds like a fun game,” Zagurt whispered for the first time.

The king thought about it.  Clearly, he had not considered it in that light.  He was glad when the guard came back with what remained of the pigeon on a silver platter.  The king looked at it.  The Bird had a huge hole in the middle.  Zagurt leaned over.

“Let me see,” he shouted, and “Wow.”

Hellel just glanced at it.  She was too unhappy that she would not get her hands on a cracker, or apparently any other magic and powerful thing these strangers might have.  Her mind turned to stealing.

The king took the time of distraction to change the subject.  “I have sent men to collect your beasts.  It may be with a gift of one of your beasts I may let you live in peace.”

“I am sorry,” Boston stepped up.  “Your men will not be able to do that.  Our beasts are protected by a hedge of the gods, as are we.”

‘Quite right,” Everyone turned their heads as the image of beauty and perfection became manifest in that room.  The king covered his eyes, and Zagurt thought that was a good idea.  Gabrall began to choke on his breath.  Guards dropped to their faces.  Hellel’s mouth opened and she curled up in her chair, looking like one who wanted to run away and hide, but it was too late.

Sinuhe went to one knee and lowered his head.  “Hathor,” he breathed, as the woman walked right up to him and stopped.

“Stand up, Kairos.  You are only embarrassing yourself.”

He did, but he had something to say.  “You are my goddess this time, and you remind me of my princess whom you blessed so favorably in her youth.”sinu hathor

Hathor laid a hand on Sinuhe’s cheek and smiled for him, such a radiant smile that Alexis and Lincoln who got the full force of it were forced to lower their heads.  Hathor turned to Lockhart and Katie.  She hugged them both and spoke.

“That is from your baby girl, Sakhmet.  She misses you very much and send her love.  She also wonders how much longer before you two marry.”  Hathor let out a wry smile that time, and Lockhart and Katie felt it in the pit of their stomachs as they turned to face each other.

Hathor stepped passed them to where Mingus was on his knees with his head down.  “I should think so,” she said.  “You have two good daughters and it is high time you showed them both that you love them, and stop picking on Alexis.”  She saw Elder Stow, who appeared to want to join Mingus on his knees but looked frozen in his place, but she turned to Boston.

Boston was in tears, and Hathor gently hugged her and rocked her.  “Sweet, baby child.  You must not lose hope.  I am sure if there is any way possible, Roland will come back to you.  And if you must travel all the way home to him, I am sure he will be waiting for you with open arms.  Three years is not forever.  I think you two may have a good eight hundred or more years ahead of you.  Let your heart lead you, and be happy while you can.  As the Kairos is fond of saying, the future isn’t written yet, so you can make it what you want.”

Hathor let go and stepped passed Lockhart and Katie who were kissing and oblivious to everything around them.

“Why are you here?” Sinuhe asked.

“I remain the sponsor of foreign nations, with the permission of El and Astarte.  I am mostly finished with the Canaanites and never got into Syria much, but my father, Osiris did, and I am still fulfilling his promise to you, since…well, you know, even if you don’t remember at the moment.  There are still some cities here on the coast, including Sidon, Tyre, and others.  Ugarit is about as far north as I go.  Above that, the cities are Akoshian or Mycenaean and answer to Olympus.  Inland, the Hittite and Hurrians have their own pantheon, mostly run by a certain lady whose sinuhe 4name begins with H, if you know who I mean.

“I was beginning to hope she did not know I was here,” Sinuhe said.

“She won’t hear it from me, but you know how well secrets are kept among the gods.”  Hathor stopped to shake a finger at the king.  “Leave Sinuhe’s friends alone.  Do what they say.  Give them whatever they ask for, and send them happily on their way when they are ready to go.”  She turned to Hellel.  “And if you steal so much as one thing from these good people, you may find yourself living with the gutter rats, and may even become one of them, am I clear?”

Hathor spoke is a very straight forward way.  She did not raise her voice or sound at all cross.  But everyone felt the feeling behind the words, and trembled.  Gabrall fell to his face and wept for fear.  Sinuhe wondered if Hellel wet herself again.

Avalon 4.6 part 4 of 6, Demonstration

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The room was typical, as the travelers supposed, an open room supported by a number of pillars which broke up the space.  The king sat at one end on a raised platform with his daughter seated to his right and his son seated to his left.  The king had a stool in front of his chair where his swollen right foot was lifted up and sat on a soft cushion.  He looked at the strangers, not in a rude sort of way, but calculating, like he was wondering what these people had to offer that might benefit him, personally.

The room also contained a dozen guards dressed only in short skirts, and holding six and a half hellel court 1foot spears with big bronze points.  The guards were all big men in that day and age, but they were not pleased with having to look up to Lockhart and Decker.  Sinuhe himself was taller than the rest, being five-eleven, but at least he was technically on their side as their general.

The man the travelers all took to be Gabrall stood beside the king’s left ear.  He looked competent, but also like he did not trust anyone but himself.  The man to the king’s right, and slightly behind Hellel, appeared to be Sinuhe’s assistant, no doubt charged with watching the king’s health in the night.  He acknowledged his master as Sinuhe came in.

Sinuhe bowed a normal enough bow and introduced everyone, interrupted only by Zagurt’s expected exclamations of “Red hair!” and “Yellow hair!”.  Names were familiar except ‘King Enshi’ was proper.  The terms Prince and Princess were not current in that place.  Zagurt and Hellel were more likely referred to as the king’s son and the king’s daughter in common conversation.  After the introductions, everyone waited for the king to speak.

“My daughter tells me you are people with great powers,” he said.

“I only mentioned it in passing,” Hellel confessed, and lowered her eyes as if she was all innocent.

“I would see a demonstration,” the king said.

“Not by my advice,” Sinuhe said.  “Great power can bring great destruction.”

“Your advice is not wanted, physician,” Hellel spoke most rudely, while Gabrall leaned down to whisper in the king’s ear.  The king nodded and pushed Gabrall’s face away.

“So, Egyptian.  Are you still the frightened coward that came to my door all those years ago?”

sinu bird

Sinuhe frowned and looked around the room.  His eyes stopped at the windows which were eight feet above the hall.  Of course, they had no glass, so the windows were wide open to whatever flies and birds wanted to venture in.  Presently, there was a pigeon strutting around on the ledge, cooing.

“Decker,” Sinuhe said and pointed.

Decker took his rifle.  He did not have to be told.  He took careful aim and squeezed the trigger.  The gun fired.  The bird disappeared outside, and Sinuhe signaled a guard to go and fetch it while everyone else recovered from the shock of the noise.  Hellel screamed, and Sinuhe wondered if she wet herself.

“What a crack,” Zagurt yelled.  “I want a cracker.  Can I see that?  Father, can I have a cracker?”

Sinuhe, Lockhart and Katie all stepped up in front of the others, no doubt thinking much the same thing.  Sinuhe spoke.  “No, Zagurt.  You do not know how it works.  You do not know what you are doing.  You might accidentally kill your father or sister, and then you would be in real trouble.”

“I won’t.  I wouldn’t,” Zagurt insisted and looked at his father.

“Let us wait and see what is left of the pigeon, if anything, before you decide.”

“Father,” Hellel spoke up.  “You don’t have to listen to these people.  You can just take the cracker if you want.”

Sinuhe shook his head.  “I don’t believe the whole army could take so much as one if these good people did not want them to.”

“It is for your own safety and protection,” Lockhart said in his best police voice, but no one listened.

“We shall see about that.” Gabrall spoke at last, and signaled one of the big guards to take it. Katie 5

“Captain,” Decker said to Katie, without spelling it out.  The guard was wary, gripped his spear tight as he lowered it and tried to look mean, but stopped altogether when Katie drew her saber and put her big army knife in her other hand.

“What are you doing?” Lockhart asked her, and reached for her arm.

Katie reverted to English so the locals would not understand her.  “We settled this back in the migrant camp with Beltain.  If I win, they are humiliated, but if I lose, they only beat a woman.”

A reluctant Lockhart looked at Decker, but he had confidence in Katie.  He looked at Sinuhe, but Sinuhe merely shrugged with his shoulders and eyebrows and said nothing.

The guard appeared to be reluctant to attack the girl, so she slapped her saber twice into the man’s spear, the second time causing a small cut on the man’s hand.  That made him mad and he lunged, but she stepped into the lunge and pushed the spear away with her knife laid up against her forearm, and she sliced the man’s leg, then his belly, though not deeply like a killing cut, then paused where her saber went to the man’s throat.

The man fell to his knees, and Alexis scolded.  “Katie.”  She rushed over to begin healing the man.

A second guard stepped forward.  Katie handed her saber to Boston to clean, slipped her knife back in its sheath, then ducked and spun, and grabbed the man’s spear just below the point.  She yanked on the spear and almost took it away from the guard.  He held on, but his arms were stretched all the way out.  Katie shoved on the spear, and the butt of the spear slammed hard into the man’s stomach.  He doubled over, moaned, and finally let the spear go as he also collapsed to the floor.

Two guards came, and Lockhart barely mouthed the word, “Cheater” before Katie ducked, rolled to one side, and stood again to grab one man’s spear down by his hands.  She forced that spear to block the other spear while her foot kicked the man beside her in the face.  He fell back, his nose a bloody mess, and Katie now had the spear all to herself.  She blocked the other man’s spear again, hard away from his body while she stepped in close and laid the point of her spear against his throat.  She slid her hands up to the point and grabbed the man by the shoulder, and squeezed, mes king 3which had to hurt.

“Stop,” the king commanded.

The man froze as Katie spoke.  “I’ll drop my spear if you drop yours.”  The man’s eyes darted back and forth as his spear immediately clattered to the floor.  “Good move,” she said.  She let go of her spear and stepped to Boston to retrieve her saber.  She checked to see that it was clean and slipped it back in its sheath.

“Four guards and one woman,” Sinuhe said with a shake of his head.  He stared at Hellel.  “I will say again.  The whole army could not take the power from these good people.  Be content that they are willing to be our friends.”

“It is for your own safety and protection,” Lockhart said again.