Author: M G Kizzia

Avalon 4.3: part 2 of 4, Sea Serpent

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Ruan sat everyone around her on a little platform in the center of the village.  She sat in front of a copper bell that was tied to keep from ringing in every breeze.  As the sun began to set, a dozen women, mostly the older women, came to the platform with plates of food and cups of something like rice wine.  They set it before the group and bowed to Ruan Zee.

“Don’t make that into more than it is.” Ruan said quickly.  “They treat me like a needy widow because my husband is almost always away, at sea.  Yet they fear my husband and don’t want to get on his bad side.”

“The database said you were the queen of the Shemsu,” Lincoln said.  “I kind of expected something.”angkor watt

Ruan nodded as she nibbled.  “But I sent all my Shemsu inland to escape the destruction.  They will hide in the jungles, build the occasional temples, all aligned to the star systems for the Agdaline to find their way home, of course.  Their last gasp will be to build Angkor Wat almost three thousand years from now.”

“Really?” Katie was fascinated.  Lockhart looked like he wondered what an Angkor Wat was.

Ruan nodded.  “But queen is a flexible term.  A better translation might be she who decides things.”

“Nice bird,” Decker pointed up and everyone looked.

“The roc of the gods,” Ruan said.  “It is much bigger and further away than you think.  It comes around now and then, like a guardian of the coast.  I think it follows the coastline from Myanmar all the way around to the Vietnamese border with China.”

“Indonesia?” Boston asked.

Ruan shook her head.  “Other gods own Indonesia, New Guinea, the Philippines, and all the islands of Melanesia, all different gods, but the sea demons have some unity in the midst of all that.  It makes it hard on the sky gods to keep life prospering on the land when the waters rage.  Right now I suspect Bangkok and Singapore are both underwater.”

vietnam 4 There was small talk after that, mostly about rice and fish, until Alexis asked about Ruan’s husband.

“Out to sea,” she said.  “I don’t want to talk about him.  Why don’t you people tell me about your time in Vietnam and Cambodia.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Lockhart said.

“Classified,” Lincoln smiled.

###

Ruan sat up in the dark before dawn and found Katie already sitting up and wide eyed.

“Danger,” Katie said, and they moved.  Ruan ran out and untied the bell.  She rang it as hard as she could and yelled at the people who came running up.

“Get your thing and get up into the hills.  Hurry.”copper bell

Katie got the others up and they saddled and packed in no time, being well practiced.  They picked up several of the elderly and several with babies to bring them up the hillside at a slightly faster pace, though not much faster because the hill was steep.

Boston got to the top fist, where she stopped and let down her young mom with her baby.  There was a short downhill on the other side, a narrow opening before a taller, rockier hill rose up beyond, but Boston paused to look when the bell stopped ringing.  She saw Ruan, the last to begin the climb, but she still saw no reason for the panic until she saw something like a mountain rise up in the delta.  Then a second mountain rose up behind the first.  She could not grasp what she was seeing until a serpent head rose up in the river beside the village.  It reached as high as she was standing on the hilltop, and it looked big enough to swallow the whole village in a single bite.  The sound it made was remarkably like Godzilla, but not as pleasant.

The head bobbed for a minute and then moved on the climbers.  Boston saw Ruan stand and throw her arms out as if she could protect the people by offering her little self as a snack.  The serpent head paused and made a sound that sounded like a protest.  It avoided Ruan, but grabbed a chunk of hill, trees and all.  Boston could not say if there were any people eaten, or not.

“We need to keep going and get further up,” Mingus said as he rode past and moved carefully down the other side into the narrow space between the hills.  Boston turned as the serpent appeared to spy her and her horse.

gully 1Boston had to move carefully down the dip in the land.  That side of the hill was extra steep, making the place between the hills like a gully, almost a canyon.  Her horse could not avoid sliding a little on the loose dirt and sent the dirt cascading down.  There were plenty of people and the travelers down there, but some had found the narrow and dangerous path around the side of the hill that also went gradually toward the top.

“There is an upland meadow in the direction opposite the path.  If we can get the horses up there we may be all right.” Decker had noticed the terrain.

“Boston, look out!” Katie was watching something else.  The serpent head crashed into the top of the hill and tried to reach down into the gully, but it was too big to fit between the hills.  Boston was lucky to be low enough to not be snatched right off her horse.  The serpent sounded frustrated and smashed several times into the hills, trying to reach the horses in the gully.  It looked to be in slow motion as it hit the hills again and again, but it only succeeded in knocking loose rocks and dirt to the bottom.

Several locals became buried.  A couple were injured by the rocks.  But the other people from the village dug them out and helped them to the path.

“No way the horses will navigate that narrow walkway,” Lockhart admitted.  He and the others were down on their feet, trying to keep their horses from panic.  It wasn’t easy.sea serpent 3

“No way we can get to that upland meadow without becoming sea serpent food,” Katie countered.

“That beast keeps knocking dirt and rocks down the hills and we have to get up on top of it to keep from being buried, we will eventually get to the meadow, like it or not,” Decker mumbled.

“Now would be a good time to have a secret troop of dwarves open a door in the hillside,” Alexis also mumbled, but her father Mingus heard with his elf ears and responded.

“I’m sorry, but I sense no little ones close to this place.”

“That serpent has to be stretched pretty far from the water,” Lincoln surmised.  “I assume it has to stay damp to avoid drying up in the sun.”

Mingus nodded.  “Probably a sea serpent of the deep.  It is out of it’s element and stretched so it can’t get a solid hit on the rocks, or dig us out.”

“Look,” Boston shouted and pointed.  Everyone looked up.  There was a dot in the sky and it was growing.

“The roc,” Mingus named it before Katie could get out her binoculars.

“Whoa!” Decker and Lockhart rushed back down and just avoided being eaten.  They were inching up the side of the big hill, checking out the path to the upper meadow. and the mouth came close Roc 1before it grabbed a chunk of rock.

“I would say that bird is the size of a two or three story house,” Katie guessed.

“That is hardly bigger than the serpent head by itself,” Lincoln said and reached for the binoculars to take a look.

“Yeah,” Boston piped up.  “But the big bird is going after the worm.”  That was how she saw it.

Avalon 4.3: Go Away, part 1 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 2277 BC, Mekong Delta.  Kairos 49: Ruan Zee, Queen of the Shemsu

Recording …

“Smells like Vietnam,” Lincoln griped.  “Maybe Cambodia.”

“It does have that Mekong Delta aroma,” Lockhart agreed.

“Were you there?” Katie asked.  “Sometimes it is hard to remember you were around that long ago.”

“Not so long, but a different world, definitely,” Lockhart said.  “Mostly sixty-seven, and sixty-eight.vietnam  When the rest of the country went into the summer of love, I went to a summer of war.”

“Nineteen seventy,” Lincoln said.  “I went with the CIA into Cambodia, for all the good it did.  It was about a year after that, well, early seventy-two, I met Jax and went to work for the Men in Black.”

“I met the Kairos in seventy-one when he was failing to go to college for the first time.”

“Failing?” Katie asked.

“Oh, yeah.  He went to four or five different schools over about ten years before he finally got a degree.  Went on to do graduate work at Princeton, no less.  So, go figure.”

“I met him in seventy-two,” Lincoln said.  “School number two.  He was taking a writing class, a music class, and something else.”

“Western Civ., I think,” Lockhart said.

“Yeah.  A class they don’t even teach anymore, since they all decided to hate America,” Lincoln said.

“Who decided that?” Katie asked.  “Not everyone hates America.”

“Yeah,” Lockhart agreed.  “But western civilization nowadays is the bad guy on the world stage, you know, taking advantage of all those poor third world countries.”

“Kairos,” Alexis said, and then added a word for Katie.  “That’s where Benjamin and I met.”

jersey central“Nineteen seventy-two, New York City, offices of the FBI,” Lincoln clarified.

“What were you doing with the FBI?” Katie wondered.

Lockhart answered.  “Trying to keep an atomic bomb from turning Grand Central Station into a mushroom cloud.”

“We stopped it on the Jersey Central,” Lincoln admitted.

“As I recall, you fainted when he cut the wire,” Lockhart teased.

“No, but he wanted to,” Alexis said.  “Didn’t you sweetheart?”

“I had my eyes on you the whole time,” Lincoln responded to Alexis.

“You were there?” Katie asked Alexis.

“Yes,” Alexis answered.  “I was working a computer program for the Avalon science department.  We were trying to trace the old Russian experimental bomb model to see if they had the design on file.  It would have helped to know which wire to cut.”

“What happened?”

“The Kairos cut the wire.  Then Amphitrite sent the bomb into orbit and detonated it.”

“The goddess?” Katie asked.

“Yes,” Lincoln said.  “She does get around in time like the rest of them.”  Lincoln and Lockhart fell silent for a time.  Alexis had to get them back out of their introspection.

“Vietnam?”vietnam 2

“Oh, yeah,” Lockhart said.  “I was Military Police, mostly in Saigon.  It was boring.  So what did I do?  I came home and joined the police force.  After that, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Me neither,” Lincoln said.

“Benjamin usually tells people it was all hush-hush, secret work that he is not supposed to talk about,” Alexis confided.

“Saves me hours of boring conversations,” Lincoln admitted.

“So anyway, as Avi would say,” Lockhart grinned.  “It smells like Vietnam.”

“Or maybe Cambodia,” Lincoln countered.  “I recognize the hats.” he pointed.  They came down the last little bit of hill and came out from the trees to find a broad river and people fishing on the shore wearing simple straw hats that looked like little pyramids covering their whole head and shoulders.  Beyond the river was the unending blue of the sea.  Nearer at hand was a small village, a fishing village with nets drying on shore.  It looked like there were a few boats out in the water, but not much beyond that except empty fields.  Above the village, along the riverbank, there were rice fields.  The whole thing looked quaint, at least to Katie.

Elder Stow stayed out on the wing, and Katie commented.  “He is sulking for some reason.”  But Decker came in close, and Mingus and Boston rode up from the rear, Mingus being careful to keep Boston and Lincoln between himself and Alexis.

“Bucolic,” Decker said of the village.

“Vietnam,” Lockhart told him.

“Cambodia,” Lincoln suggested as he got out the database.

vietnam 3Decker grunted as Boston spoke up.  “The Kairos should not be far away.  Probably in the village.”  She was looking at her amulet, but she could not keep the sound of excitement out of her voice.  Boston liked and seriously admired the Kairos she knew in the future, almost like a person might feel in the presence of her favorite celebrity.  But ever since she became an elf, she found her like turn to love for the one that was now her god, or goddess as the case may be.  She could not help it.  Fortunately, Mingus, an elder elf was able to keep her feet on the ground.

“Ruan Zee,” Lincoln named the Kairos in this time zone.  “A woman married to the sea.”  He looked up from the reading at the curious faces.  “That is what it says,” he defended himself.

“Ruan,” Mingus said.  He spent the last three hundred or more years studying the lives of the Kairos in the Avalon history department before ending up on this daft journey.  “In this land, the sky gods and the sea gods, which they call the sea demons, are at war over the land.  As I recall, they just about wipe out all human life before Ruan helps to find a solution, but I suppose I should not talk about future events.  No telling at what point in her life we have arrived.”

“Better we not know so we have no way of saying the wrong thing,” Lockhart nodded as he led the group along the last bit of rocks and trees toward the village.

“Hello,” A woman startled Katie, and she reigned to a stop.  Lockhart took a moment, but the others soon stopped as well.  “Have you come to visit my village?” the woman asked.  She was seated on a rock under the shade of a few trees.  She was dressed in what appeared to be silk, and not at all dressed like a fisherman’s wife.  But she smiled and held her hand up to shade her eyes as she took in the strangers.

“Your village appears to be a calm and peaceful place,” Katie responded.  “We could use some rest before we move on in the morning.”

“Calm and peaceful?” the woman laughed.  “But it has been peaceful for almost a month since I

sent the Shemsu and others into the hills and wilderness inland.  We few who remain have tried to keep a low profile and the gods and sea demons have left us alone to fish and grow our rice.  Pray that this peace continues.  I do not know what they will say or how they will react on seeing strangers come.  They may fear you will settle here and try to stop that.”

“We have no intention of settling here,” Lockhart assured the woman.

“I know, but the gods of the sky and sea believe what they will and I have no control over that.”

“Ruan?” Lincoln ventured a guess.

The woman nodded.  “Boston,” she said and opened her arms.

“I knew it,” Boston shouted, and she got down to run into the hug.  The rest dismounted and came in close while Ruan stood and kept her loving arm around Boston.  She started them waking toward the village.  The huts were straw, almost mobile, easily built and easily taken down.  It seemed like the people had no interest in more permanent structures on the bank of a river which might overflow at any time.

“We eat fish and rice, and more fish and rice,” Ruan said.  “On Wednesday, we have a treat.  We eat rice and fish, just to be different.”

“It will make a good change from deer, deer, elk and deer,” Alexis said.

A man passed them with fishing gear on his shoulders.  He showed no surprise at the strangers or their horses, and merely offered a slight bow.  “Ruan Zee,” he said.

“But your village seems tranquil and happy.”  Katie pointed to where some children were playing something like tag, running around and giggling.

“Do not be fooled by appearances. We have learned to take advantage of the peaceful moments, but we do not forget that we remain on the edge of destruction.  The war between the gods and the sea demons is without end.  In fact, though the sun is out and the sky is bright, and all seems well with the world, sudden destruction could come in a heartbeat, and sadly, I fear your presence may trigger the end times, the end of days, the apocalypse.”

Avalon: One Week Episode

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Monday, May 23 ************

hawk 1Avalon 4.3 will post in a single week: M, T, W, And Th.

You can get the whole episode without waiting through the weekend for the second half.

Avalon 4.3, Go Away is only 4 posts long, so don’t miss it…Caspian serpent

 

Lincoln and Lockhart, two old men returned to their youth at the beginning of the journey, remember the last time they were in Southeast Asia.  It wasn’t so much fun.  This time, everything feels peaceful and calm until all hell breaks loose.  The sky gods and the sea gods (sea demons) are struggling for control of the land, and the travelers have stepped right into the middle of it.  It seems like both sides want to kill the travelers, lest they take the other side Ruan 4in the struggle.  And the Kairos, Ruan Zee, appears very limited on what she can do to keep them all alive.

Avalon, episode 4.3, Go Away.  That’s Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, AND Thursday of next week.  Enjoy.

Avalon 4.2: part 6 of 6, A Sad World

M G Kizzia 2 Comments

“Avi, sweetheart,” Devya said as she kissed him.  “Please gather Archamenis’ things and horses and bring them back to sanctuary.  I must fly.  It is the only way to end the bloodshed.”  She pointed in the direction of the city of Sanctuary, and up to where the Nuwa dragon was already speeding off.

“Can’t one of the gods help, like Junior, Danna, or Nameless?” Katie asked.

Devya shook her head.  “I’m surprised you didn’t mention Mikos’ female reflection, Amphitrite, but no.  With the amulet, even the gods are limited in what damage they can do.  So is the djin, which I am sure is why he wanted it out of the city.  He had to have told Archamenis about it and got him to steal it.  Now, I have to return it, and hopefully before Nuwa and Fuxi dragons turn the city to rubble and ash fighting off the djin.”

Devya rose up into the air and headed for Sanctuary.  The ones left below stared, dumbfounded, until Lockhart turned to Avi.  “I did not know she could do that.”Zisudra 1

“She can do many things,” Avi said.  “She explained to me in the night.  She told me you met Zisudra, her reflection, when he was at the end of his journey, bringing the last of the people into the Indus, my ancestors.  What you did not know is the people had been slowly moving down to the river valley for fifty years or more.  Devi said the Scythian-like people tried to overrun the land, but since Zisudra was a baby, the little ones stopped them on their own.  Then the Elamites thought to make them slaves, so they finished the migration, as you saw.”

“And how did the little ones stop the wild Scythians?” Lincoln asked.  He was listening, but also helping to pack things, so he did not have the database out to read all about it.

“Ah!  There is the rub, as Devi says.  They stopped the Scythians in their beds.  You know this is forbidden to the little ones.  But by the time Zisudra found out, there were thirty-year-old half breeds with bunches of quarter breed children running all over the place.  He got angry.  Apparently he cursed them, that they should never have a home or settle and be satisfied on this earth as long as there was little one blood in them.”

Avalon Traveler horses“Gypsies?” Katie could not help the outburst.  “Romani?”

“Gypsies.  But I think not Romani, though maybe related.”  Avi really did not know.  “Anyway.  The gods were not about to let him get away with having these breeds wandering all through their territories, so they made Zisudra a lesser god for the gypsies and saddled him with watching over them forever.  Poor Devi has cried in the night for how stupid she, or rather, he was.  The curse has been overcome at times and in places, but it remains.”  Avi shook his head.  “Anyway,” he said again.  “Since Devi is what she calls Zisudra’s gin-tetic reflection.”

“Genetic,” Decker interrupted.

“Exactly, so she reflects in a small way what was given to him.  She cannot move in an instant from here to there like a god or lesser god, but she can do many things that no ordinary person can do.”

“Like fly,” Lockhart said, and looked, so they all paused to look in the direction of the storm over Sanctuary.

###

dev temple 1Alexis gripped her wand as Boston tried out her Beretta.  Boston got off three shots, and may have hit someone before the gun just went click, click.  She got out her wand, and they waited for the Afridi to attack down both roads leading to the palace on that side of town.

Mingus gripped the shoulders of his daughters to give them his magic.  Alexis sent a hurricane force wind out which drove back the Afridi and picked several right off the ground.  Boston released something more like a flamethrower from the end of her wand, and with Mingus’ help, his strength being in fire magic, it was strong enough to shoot through the rain.  The Afridi retreated, and some had to be put out.

Boston’s fire ended too soon.  She had in mind to spark a few behinds of the fleeing men, but her flame gave out, like she was suddenly out of power.  Alexis’ wind quit at almost the same time, and she looked up at the cloud and frowned.  The djin laughed againdev temple 4

“Bows,” Mingus said and turned to the old man.  Boston had hers out already, and had that quiver of never ending arrows to draw on, if she ever hit anything.  Alexis got hers, but protested, and vowed not to hit anything unless she could not help it.  Mingus held his ready and talked to the men.  “Give the bows to the best archers.  The rest of you get ready with spears, and spread yourselves evenly down the line.”  The old man made sure that happened, not about to argue after that display of magic and power.  Boston and Mingus still looked human enough, but more than one servant and guardsman wondered.

One woman let out a soft wail as they waited.  Another put a hand to her own mouth to still her chattering teeth.  More than one man had his eyes closed in prayer.  They expected to hear the dragon 2shouts and screams of the enemy any moment, but it never came.  Fuxi dragon landed in the courtyard, and his flame was much larger and more devastating than Boston could imagine.  They heard screams, but it was not men attacking.

Then they heard screams from the side of the building.  Apparently some men had circled around to the stables and intended to get at the defenders from an unexpected direction, but the Nuwa dragon landed there and only a half dozen managed to get inside in time.  They had bows and swords, and Nuwa and Fuxi got busy above.dragon 4

The sky erupted in lighting and fire.  There were roars and high pitched squeals, the latter from the djin.  The big room shook, and a small section of the ceiling collapsed.  Fortunately, no one was injured, but the people all got down and covered their heads.  The Afridi also dared not move out of the doorway.

magic 1It was not long before the djin had enough.  He raced off to the east toward the next time gate, and he took the rain with him.  Everyone breathed, until they remembered the Afridi in the room.  Those men did not look happy, and they looked determined to take some blood.

The Afridi drew their bows and swords.  Only Boston drew hers faster, but her aim was not so good.  It turned out not to be necessary.  Two men, looking for all the world like Bluebloods, appeared in front of her.  With three arrows each, shot faster than the eye could follow, they killed all six Afridi with six perfect shots.

“Enough brother.  That is all,” One of the blue men turned toward the other as Devya came in a side door.  She stepped up to the center post that held up the ceiling and clicked her tongue at the portion of the ceiling that had collapsed.  She flew, to Boston’s gasp, and paused near the very top where she hung the amulet taken from around her neck.  As she came to the ground, the first blue man continued a thought for Alexis.

“You see, Alexis, sometimes preserving and defending go along with destroying in this sad world.”

“It is a sad world,” Alexis agreed with that much and offered a bow.

“I do not like that amulet of yours,” the other blue man turned on Devya.

“I understand,” Devya offered her own bow to the man.  “But Lord Shiva, have I not taught the Afridi to kill as the world kills?  Have I not sent them to the Khyber able to work your work?”

Lord Shiva growled, but then nodded.  “This you have done,” he said and vanished.god ind b s v 1

“And my Lord Rama Vishnu, how may we serve you?” Devya offered a bow to the other blue man.

“You know I love the name Devya.”

“Not in this lifetime,” she responded with a soft, loving voice.

Visnu shook his finger at her.  “I cannot read your heart and mind.  Such future things as you know are forbidden even to the gods, but I cannot help but live in hope.  I will take a wife and I will call her Devi.”

“Indeed you may,” Devya said.  “Who can deny the will of the gods?”

“Ha!” Vishnu and Brahma said the word at the same time as Vishnu vanished and Brahma appeared.

“Quite an adventure,” Brahma said to everyone present.

“Adventures with dead bodies are not my desire,” Devya said and Alexis nodded.

“Perhaps I could take these Afridi and teach them something other than fighting,” Brahma suggested.

god ind brahmaDevya nodded.  “I wish Katie was here to hear this.”

Brahma needed no further invitation.  He raised one hand and the entire group with their horses and ponies and all of Archamenis’ things appeared in the outside court.  Katie, Lockhart and Elder Stow appeared in the big room.

“You would tell her?” Brahma said.

Devya looked at the god and paused before she turned to Katie.  “Brahma has agreed to teach the Afridi different things, root things.”

“The Brahmins?” Katie blurted out.

“My own people?” Brahama sounded surprised.

Devya frowned.  “And you better take care of them,” she said.

Brahma nodded.  “It was wise to make your knowledge of the future inaccessible to the gods.  And it was wise to put a hedge around your friends from the future to keep that same knowledge hidden.  There are no doubt things that would be better not to be known by the gods.”  He vanished, and Devya wondered what it would take to get her people up off the floor.

“Oh dear,” Katie said with a quick look at Lockhart.  “How can we dare talk without revealing things best left unsaid.”

“Actually,” Devya said, as Lincoln, Decker and Avi came in.  “When we talk and when you talk among yourselves, future and worldly things are bleeped out, by design of the gods themselves.  As long as you don’t talk in front of the gods, they cannot hear you.”

“So Brahmins?”Devya

Devya nodded.  “And Avestan Magi in Archamenis’ direction.  But it is still way early.  Nothing will be settled for a couple of hundred years, and then it will be a long, slow, grinding process to make what history knows.  Meanwhile, who wants to help me fix the roof?”

Katie looked at Lockhart.  She did not want to be scolded again.  Alexis looked at her father Mingus and turned her back on him by walking into Lincoln’s arms.  Mingus folded his arms across his chest and frowned.  Elder Stow appeared to step away from the lot of them and took a seat.  He seemed to be scowling, and did not change his scowl when Decker went to sit with him.  Boston, empathic elf that she was, wanted to cry for all the tension in the room.  She had to say something.

“Well, at least it stopped raining.”

Avalon 4.2: part 5 of 6, Caught

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers caught up with the thieves when the thieves stopped for a good, long lunch.  Lockhart, Decker, Avi, Devya, and four men of the city guard circled around to cut off the way to Merv.  Katie, Lincoln, Elder Stow and six more guards held the road to Sanctuary.  The groups kept in touch with the wrist-watch communicators, and Lockhart gave what he thought were some simple instructions.

“Patton sabers, everyone.  Last time, the guns failed to fire near the amulet.  I don’t know if the sabers will be any more effective, but I figure it does not interfere with Devya cutting her meat at the table.  Hopefully we won’t have to find out.  Keep back and let Devya and Avi negotiate.  Tell Elder Stow he might want to cover you with his screen, just in case.  Katie, disengage and return to Sanctuary if it gets hostile.  Avi says we can get help in Merv.”

“Archamenis!” Devya called out to the man as her group approached and stopped with plenty of distance between them.  “You have taken my property.  Return the amulet and I will let you go in peace.”Nuwa a1

Lockhart did a double take as Nuwa walked up beside him.  He looked at Devya and back at Nuwa as she spoke.

“I am a greater spirit.  I can take any form I wish.”

Lockhart nodded.  “This one is not so frightening, though I would imagine the little ones might not think so.”

“You mean like these?” Nuwa said with a smile and a wave of her hand.  Lockhart caught a glimpse of a dozen gnomes in the grass, prepared with bows, arrows and long knives to do battle.  He had no doubt there were another dozen on the other side, and who all knew what else.

“You mean this?” Archamenis grinned an awful grin and held up a necklace with a bright, red ruby on the end.  The ruby looked as big as Lockhart’s fist, or at least the size of Boston’s fist.  “But with this I can defeat all my enemies and my people will always prosper.”

“If you were a good Magi your people would prosper because you would not have any enemies,” Avi shouted back.

Archamenis’ grin turned to a frown as a man came up and whispered to him.  He looked around and saw Katie and the others behind him.  When he turned back, he looked for Devya, but could not find her.  Vanu had slipped through time to stand in her place, and he clothed himself with the armor and weapons of the Kairos.

“That is my blood stone,” Vanu hollered and stuck out his hand.  The necklace nearly vacated Archamenis’ hand, but he grabbed it tight and the man beside him helped.

“No!  I will keep it for my people.” Archamenis yelled.

“As you future people say,” Nuwa smiled again for Lockhart.  “Showtime.”  She vanished, even as Vanu went away to be replace by Mikos.  Mikos stuck his hand out and the ground rumbled.  He Mikos 2was a demigod, after all, the son of Ares, god of war.

Water pressed up from beneath and burst through the surface in a number of places, shooting toward the sky like an oil gusher.  Nuwa, the dragon, let out a roar and burst of flame over everyones head at the same time.  The earth shook like an earthquake, and Archamenis and his men shouted and screamed, and fell to their knees and faces.  Archamenis dropped the amulet.

Lockhart just stood there, staring.  He wondered where the gnomes went.  Decker and Avi said nothing.  Neither one looked surprised, until Decker pointed.  Katie came riding out from the other side.  The big black horse she called Beauty could not be mistaken, even if their view of her was clouded by the water and the steam.  No one attempted to stop her as she rode up to Archamenis, got down, grabbed the amulet, and let Beauty finish the trip to the other side.

“Katie!” Mikos yelled at her one second before Lockhart yelled.

Katie handed the amulet to Avi as Lockhart grabbed her and pulled her aside for a real yelling.  Meanwhile, the water settled down, Nuwa settled down, and Devya came back to receive the necklace from her husband and put it around her neck.

“Archamenis.  You and your men need to go.  Now.” Devya yelled.  Some of the men began to peal themselves off the ground and collect their things.  “I did not say get your things and go.  I just said, go.”dragon 1

“But—” Archamenis did not know what to say, as dozens of gnomes and others appeared suddenly and urged the men to move off.  Some ran and some screamed, but most walked with their heads down.

“Archamenis.  you can have your horses and things back when you come to Sanctuary and ask my forgiveness and promise not to steal again.” Devya said, and turned to say something to Nuwa, but the dragon was focused on the distance.

###

Boston had chills in the night, but she slept.  Alexis stopped crying around midnight, but she refused to speak to either of the others before she also slept.  Father Mingus kept his mouth closed all night, and kept to himself.  No one could say that he slept.  And the rain continued all night long.

It was still raining in the morning when the servants brought as warm a meal as they could prepare.  At least it was not waterlogged.  Alexis and Mingus ate in silence, while Boston wept softly and looked back and forth between the two.  Alexis had let it all out, and no doubt regretted it.  Mingus had nothing to say, because however slanted he might call her words, they were essentially true.  After the meal, Alexis and Mingus went their separate ways.  Boston put her head down on the table and moped.

dev temple 2Lunch was much of the same, and the tableau might have continued into the afternoon if a city guard, one of the few left in the city, had not come running up, yelling.  “The Afridi have broken into the city.  They have come in the south gate and they have weapons and plan to take the city.”

The servants screamed as one older man grabbed the city guard.  “You know this?”

“Why else would they come with weapons?”

Mingus interrupted.  “Obviously they do not mean good.”

The old man began to shout orders to the servants and guardsmen who were coming up the palace steps.  Men and women started pushing furniture to the terrace to hide behind, and the old man turned to their guests.

“You have horses.  You should ride out while you can.”

Mingus looked up and for the first time caught the whiff of something familiar.  “All the same, I think we stay.  Boston.  Alexis.”  He began to give some order of his own.

By the time the first Afridi came rushing up the street, Boston had her bow out and never ending arrows.  Mingus had treated a number of the arrows, as he had before, and she began to shoot them at the oncoming horde.  They exploded.  Some in front of the crowd, but some within the crowd.  A couple exploded on the stone and wood was of the nearby houses and showered the enemy with stone shards and deadly splinters.  The Afridi backed off, even as Boston shot another arrow and it did nothing.

“I don’t get it.  Why didn’t it explode?” Boston asked.

Mingus pointed up, and they all heard a laugh and saw the face of the djin in the cloud.

“Devya!” Boston yelled.dev rain 1

Mingus had a different idea.  “Nuwa.  Fuxi.  We need you to defend Sanctuary.”  Being an elder elf, he knew his words would carry, that is, if the djin did not catch them and cut them off.

Alexis had a third idea.  Even as the Nuwa dragon and Devya were looking up, and Lincoln and elder Stow were joining the group, a word came across the wrist-watch communicators.  It was faint and crackling with interference, but they heard Alexis.

“Benjamin.  Help.  It is the djin.”  Then the sound cut off.

Avalon 4.2: part 4 of 6, Missing Peace

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Miras and Megul the Short took the main part of the city watch with them up the hills and into the mountains toward Samarkand.  Chuchi and Fuxi dragon also went with them so the dragon could clear the way, if necessary.  Decker meditated, and let his eagle eye fly up over the road.  He saw no large group of travelers, but admitted there were plenty of places where the rocks and trees obscured his vision.

“My only concern is if they find our thieves, Fuxi may eat them, along with the amulet.  That would not be good,” Devya said.dragon 11

“Your son will be able to control the dragon?” Katie wondered.

“Not exactly,” Avi admitted.  “But the dragon has adopted my children like they were his own—like they are the children of Fuxi and Nuwa.”  He pointed at Devya and explained no more.

“Are we ready?” Lockhart asked, and they headed out on the road to Merv.  Devya and Avi were bringing a few men and were grateful for the traveler’s willingness to help.  Decker and Lincoln took the point.  Lockhart, Katie, and Elder Stow with his eyes glued to his scanner, came with the main group.  “Gonna rain,” Lockhart mumbled with a last look at the darkening sky as they pushed into the wilderness and Bactra fell out of sight.

Mingus, Boston and Alexis stayed behind, over the protests of both Alexis and Boston.  Boston wanted to be with Devya, goddess of all the elves.  Alexis kept saying if there was a confrontation, they might need her healing skills, but Mingus would not hear it, and in this case, Lincoln agreed that she would be safer staying behind.

“The time gate is east of here, maybe by the Khyber pass,” Boston admitted.  “The others are going on an errand away from the gate, but I figure this time I don’t have the skills they need.  No alien contraptions to analyze and fix, you know.  Lockhart is like a sheriff in real life, gong after the thieves.  The marines will help, and Lincoln I guess has some similar experience from his days with the CIA.  They honestly don’t need us,” Boston tried to make sense of it for Alexis.  “We would just get in the way.”

Alexis folded her arms, determined to be in a bad mood.

When the rain started to fall, and the lightning split the sky, it all poured out of her.  Alexis caught her father Mingus encouraging Boston and showing her all manner of kindness, and she exploded.

“You two-faced, hypocritical—you never treated me like that, your own daughter.”  That was where it began, and Alexis held nothing back.  He lived in the history department and ignored his own children.  She practically had to raise herself.  She wondered why he even wanted children.  Poor Alexis 5Mingus tried weakly to defend himself, but her words were close enough to the truth, he could hardly speak.  Poor Boston sat and covered her mouth, but her eyes got big.

When Alexis married Benjamin, it was a good thing he did not come to her wedding because she did not want him there.  When he kidnapped her and dragged her back to the eighteenth century, what?  Was he trying to start over?  Well, it was too late.  Then when he dragged her back to the beginning of time, it was not to save her, but to save his own skin.  He knew he did wrong and did not want to be caught.  He would have killed her in the chaos before history if the Kairos had not saved her.  And now he was responsible for everyone being stuck in the past and desperately trying to get home without being killed.  He is responsible for every bad thing that happens on this journey, including the death of Doctor Procter, and including the death of his own son.

Boston shrieked beneath her hand.  They had no evidence either was dead, but the evidence was strong that they might very well be dead.

Alexis was not finished.  “And then,” she said.  “And then you kidnapped me again.”  Worse.  He violated her mind, like raping his own daughter.  Like incest.  And now, he is acting like mister nice guy to Boston, poor young child.

“Well, guess what?  It is not going to bring your son back to life.”  Alexis covered her face against her tears and ran off.  Mingus dared not follow.  Boston dared not so much as move.

###

“The amulet is infused with the greater spirits of peace and prosperity,” Devya tried to explain what Vanu once tried to explain.  “They radiate out from the amulet and affect a much larger area than just the immediate area around the amulet.  They kind of get into the brain and make nice thoughts.  Neighbors help neighbors and life is good.  I am afraid without it, all of the different tribes and people groups that pass through here will be forever at war.”

“From what Lincoln told me about the timing of everything,” Katie said, thinking out loud.  “Aren’t we about a thousand years or more from the settlement of the Medes and Persians?”

Devya shook her head.  “The people begin to move into the area now, and on down into Iran.  By av horse 8the time the Assyrians come along and more or less force the Medes to become a cohesive people, they already have a thousand year history of slowly changing from divergent tribes through trade and marriage and each adding their two cents, to a relatively common culture and one, or at most a couple of common languages, like Median and Persian.  They are like the Scandinavian languages get to be in the twentieth century.  They share a lot of word, or similar words, even if it takes some effort to understand each other.  But by then, which part of the culture is Median and which is Persian, or originally Elamite or Mesopotamian for that matter is anybody’s guess.”

“I see,” Katie said, while Lockhart was not so sure.

“You know, Avi is the first Magi,” Devya said proudly

Avi shook his head and pointed at Devya.  “She says it has to be a man.  I think she did the same thing to Lin’s husband, making him the first Emperor of the Hsian people.”

“That is not a very good thing for feminism,” Lockhart pointed out.  “Aren’t you helping to create the patriarchy?”

Devya looked down for a moment.  “Honestly, before the twentieth century, it is too hard for women.  I have children, a family, a home, and a husband to take are of, and I hardly have the time or energy for anything else, even with some willing servants.  Men have to get stuck with all the religious and political muckety-muck.  Either that or they have to be house husbands.  But I would never do that to my children.”  Devya grinned.  “Not to say Avi is not a wonderful man, but you know what I mean.”

pep ind dravid 4“I have a hard enough time trying to be a good father,” Avi admitted.  “I am amazed at what a good mother Devya is, and I admit, I could never do that.”

“See?  He even knows what to say.” Devya leaned over to kiss him and almost fell off her pony.

Lockhart thought to say his ex-wife was a good mother, before she turned the children against him, but he looked at Katie and bit his tongue.

“Lincoln is signaling,” Katie pointed to interrupt.

“That means good, solid ground ahead.  We need to ride.” Lockhart shouted the last and Avi echoed the words for his men, and then everyone had to concentrate on hanging on to their horses.

Just before sundown, they stopped in a grassy valley.  Decker let his eagle eye fly again into the heavens, and he spied the group of thieves camped about a half-day away.  It seemed like they were in no hurry to reach Merv.  Lockhart made a command decision.

“Break here to rest and get some sleep.  We will leave before dawn and hopefully catch them in the morning.”

“I am gad they are not on the mountain road to Samarkand,” Avi said.

They settled in for food and rest, but Katie found another question.  “Magi?”

“Magus,” Devya answered.  “Wise men in the Bible.  Magicians full of magic, soothsaying, and astrology in other stories.  Evil sorcerers to the Muslims, who hunt them down and kill them.  But then, I suppose everything that is not Islam is automatically evil to the Muslims.”

“So I have understood,” Lockhart said, as he took a seat beside Katie.

Devya smirked.  “Anyway, right now they are like the priest-rulers.  When they go with the Indo-Aryans into the Indus about a thousand years from now, they will be called the Brahmins, the priestly caste and highest caste, even above the warriors.  There, they will still be Vedic priests and sometimes Rajas, which is rulers.  The Iranians, that is the Medians and Persians will retain the Avestan name, Magi, and while at first they will congregate around certain cities, like Rhaga, in time they spread their teaching down into Persia and elsewhere.  That cultural mixing, remember?Devya 2  In those days they might be more like the Persian form of Druids, or maybe Levites, born by blood more than any necessary holiness.”

“The teachings of Zarathustra,” Katie said.

“Yes, mostly, with plenty of older fire cult and Mithras mixed in.  But Zoroaster has not been born yet.  That won’t be until the Vedic-Avestan split with the Indians going Vedic and the Iranians going Avestan.  And don’t ask how that came about.  It’s complicated.”

“My wife says that, plenty.” Avi said, as he sat next to her.  “It’s complicated.” He smiled at some memory.

Lockhart nodded, and glanced again at Katie.  Katie was content to know he was thinking of her.

The Missing Piece: Avalon Reviewed

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Avalon Reviewed

I was clear.

Avalon, episode 4.2 is six (6) posts long.  That came on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week–posts which can be found on the blog under ‘recent posts’–and will come on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.  You should not expect a Thursday post, yet here we are.

It occurred to me that last Thursday, at the end of the previous six post episode, I gave into crass commercialism under the guise of being helpful to readers.  I suggested people might want to visit their favorite e-book retailer (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Smashwords, or whoever) and search for M G Kizzia.  invasionofmemories

If you were having a hard time grasping just who this ‘Kairos” is and wondered about her or him ‘trading places’ with other lives in the past or future, you might consider the low, low price of $1.99 and get the prequel to this whole Avalon avaloncover1mayhem, a book titled Invasion of Memories.

If, on the other hand, you were curious about the Avalon series itself and thinking it might be nice to start at the beginning, you might consider the even lower price of $0.99 and get The Pilot Episode which, curiously, is titled: Avalon, The Pilot Episode.  Odd how that worked out, but I do try to keep things simple for readers… And I applaud you for being one in this current climate.avaloncover2

M G Kizzia should be an easy search on whatever platform you frequent.  I searched it myself and realized I left something out…  The Pilot Episode is a quick read… So of course Season One is available.  Being a full length book (over 80,000 words) it is available for the incredibly low price of $1.99.

You would think after all the Churchill I put into these stories (blood, sweat, toil and tears), $1.99 is not too much to ask.

Of course, posting Season Four and promoting Season One begs the question: Where are Seasons Two and Three?  They are coming.  Soon.  And I mean it.  If you read the prequel, you will understand how I feel about the word soon…

If you prefer to read fashion magazines and/or tool catalogues, I can’t help you.  But if you enjoy speculative fiction adventure stories, you will find them in Avalon.

MGK

Avalon 4.2: part 3 of 6, Sanctuary

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Devya paced.  She was angry and upset.  She felt like screaming.

“Mother,” the young man in the room spoke up to calm her.  “They will be back soon.  Father will have the amulet and everything will be all right, you will see.”

Devya paused.  She placed a gentle hand against her son’s cheek and smiled for him.  Then she turned and screamed.  “What is wrong with me?  I trusted people.”

“Trusting is not a bad thing,” The short man by the window said.  “You trusted me to be mayor of pep ind dravid 3your little city, and I have tried to live up to your trust.”

Devya stopped pacing again and assured the man.  “You have done a good job, Megul the Short.  In fact, you may be mayor for a third term if you keep it up.”  She smiled again, but Megul the Short sighed and nodded.  Being Mayor was not an easy job.  Already hundreds of light skinned people from the steppes had moved down to the green and fertile land round the  city.  Keeping the peace among the tribes was not hard as long as the amulet of peace and prosperity was in place, but there was no telling what might happen once that magical help was removed.

Devya started pacing again.  It was a very big room, so she had plenty of room to move, and the big table in the center, where Chuchi had taken a seat to watch his mother, allowed her to pace around it in a wide circle, rather than just pacing back and forth.  She paused at the table where a crude map was laid out.

“There is no way to avoid it,” she breathed, though loud enough for everyone to hear.  “The City of Sanctuary is not enough.  We will have to build a little kingdom and exert more control over our connections to the silk road.  I would say from the Khyber pass, up to Bukhara.  From Samarkand to Merv in the other direction.”

Megul the short left his friend by the window and came to where Devya was leaning over the map, and Chuchi was looking over her shoulder.  “That is a lot of territory to control,” Megul the Short Devya 3protested.  “That may be more than any of the Holy Cities of the Indus control.”

“We don’t have to control it.  We just want to oversee it in a sense, to encourage the ideals of Sanctuary.  To support the peace and prosperity of all the people, especially when people begin to move in here by the thousands and tens of thousands.  We need to have a reasonable structure already in place.”

“Horses in the gate,” the man by the window reported, and the others all went to look

“Thank you , Miras,” Devya said, sounding better now that she had decided something.

###

The travelers were led up a steep path to the city gate, the city, really hardly a town, sat on the top of a hill.  It had a wall around it, stone and well fitted, and Katie had to remark.

“I smell Shemsu work in the fitting of those stones.”

“Probably cut, carried from some distant quarry and fitted perfectly.  The Shemsu way,” Lincoln spoke up from behind.  “It says here that Devya’s people have Shemsu roots.  From Zisudra’s day, I would guess.  Devya herself is described as having skin as dark as an African, but with Caucasian features and eyes as blue as the sky.”

“A fair description of my wife,” Avi interrupted.  “And yes, she speaks often of the Shemsu talent with stone, but right now we need hunters to track down whoever stole the amulet.  Devi says with all of the Indo-Iranians that are due to move in and through the area, without the amulet we can expect nothing but war and killing, and the destruction of our fertile valleys.”dev temple 8

They all dismounted, and Lincoln and Alexis volunteered to set the horses for the night so the others could go inside the temple, or cathedral, which is what the palace looked like.  As they crossed the front covered porch to go inside, Lockhart pointed out the rocking chairs.

“My favorite pastime,” Avi admitted.  “I can sit and rock for hours.  Devi says one day, far in the future, Romans and Han will meet here and rock and make treaties.  I do not know who these Romans and Han may be, but living in peace is a good thing.  I have seen too much of the alternative in my life.”

“As have we all,” Katie agreed.

“Boston!”  It was the first thing they heard when they went inside.

“Nuwa dragon already covered that,” Boston said, and stuck out her tongue.

“I see you are maturing in your elf life,” Devya said, as she reached out and gave Boston a hug.  “Lockhart, I am glad you are here.”

Avi went straight for his wife, Devya, and kissed her, which made her smile.

“I’m over forty, and he still makes me smile,” she said.  “Where is Alexis?” she looked around.  “Alexis would understand.”

dev amulet 1“She and Lincoln are looking after the horses,” Lockhart said, anxious to hear about what was going on.  “So Vanu,” he referred to a time zone almost fifteen hundred years in the past, real time.  “Did Dayni’s brother and friend steal the amulet again?”

Devya offered a grin as she remembered.

“You are not supposed to tell her about lifetimes she does not remember for herself,” Mingus scolded.

“It’s all right,” Devya assured them.  “Remembering Vanu was how I thought to get the amulet and bring it here to Sanctuary.”  She stepped to the back of the room where there were arched openings that led out to a tremendous cobblestone court.  She only took one step out, the others hovering behind and around her shoulders, and she called at the top of her lungs.  “Fuxi!”

A giant dragon materialized in the courtyard, and yawned, like he had been sleeping.  “I see you found your friends,” he said.

“Fuxi,” Devya said, sternly.  “Please look up and down your road once again, from Bukhara to the Khyber pass and tell me what you see.”  Fuxi rattled off information about several tribal groups, merchants, farmers, and one group of children paying in the road, but none were the ones Devya was looking for.  Fuxi yawned again as Devya gave her instructions.  “Stay in the court for now.  Do not wander off.  We will need you to help seek out the thieves in a very short while.”  Fuxi said nothing, while Devya led everyone back inside to the map on the table.

“I take it Fuxi saw us on the road,” Lockhart surmised.

Avi nodded.  “We did not expect you to be the thieves, but we thought you might have seen them if they hurried to Bukhara before we noticed the amulet was missing.”

“About thirty men came here a week ago and camped below the city,” Devya explained.  “They were not a typical migration group, being only men without women and children.  that should have raised what you call red flags, but I have been preparing our people to receive migrants by the hundreds and thousands over the next few hundred years, so no one said anything.”pep ind men

“Migrants?”  Katie, the doctor in ancient and medieval history and technology asked.

Devya stopped moving and turned to face everyone to be sure she had all of their attention.  She did not want to repeat herself.  “Yes,” she said.  “People are moving from the north, Siberia, from around the Caspian and Aral and the Tien Shan,  They are moving from all around and north of the black sea.  They are moving.  Areas become over hunted, populations get too big, groups push against groups, people begin to discover agriculture and look for where the grass is greener.”

“People are still just discovering agriculture?” Lockhart asked with some surprise.

“Yes, hush,” Katie hushed him, and Devya continued.

“This place, from Samarkand to Merv and from Bukhara to the Khyber is green.  The Monsoons off the Indian ocean have shifted to come up through Iran and we have benefited.  Tens of thousands, and over the centuries, hundreds of thousands of people will come here, but most will not stay.  History has called them the Indo-Irannian people, but they are really a very diverse people from many places.  When the giants in Iran recede, many will move down into that land and become Medes and Persians, and others.  Eventually, groups known as Indo-Aryans will move through the pass and invade the Indus, though it won’t be a conquest type invasion, more of a gradual takeover as the Indus dries and the Harappan people move down into the subcontinent.  Climate change, you know.  Eventually, the monsoons will shift back to the Indus and Iran will begin to dry, but that won’t happen for a long time.”

“So this is like the birthplace, like the womb for whole people groups and eventual great civilizations,” Katie said, with her eyes wide as if something just clicked in her thinking.

“Yes, but it will be a thousand years of blood if we cannot retrieve the amulet of peace and prosperity.  It must cover the land, and especially the center point, here, in the city which is supposed to be sanctuary.  Without it, we are doomed to war as these various groups fight for supremacy.”

“I can see that,” Decker said, and Lockhart, Katie, Elder Stow and Mingus all looked at him, wondering what was on his mind.  Boston looked at the map on the table.

nat Rhodes inand“What are these lines?” she asked.  “They look like more roads.”

“Very good, sweetheart,” Devya responded briefly as she also looked at Dekcer

“They are,” Chuchi said.  “But they are human made roads, not so good.  Especially the crooked one that edges the mountains to Samarkand.”  Chuchi pointed and smiled hard at Boston.  “Mother calls it a short-cut, but in truth it takes almost as long as going around by way of Bukhara.”  He leaned over to get closer to her face.  “This road is easier to follow, but longer.  It goes to Merv.”

Devya stepped between them.  “No, my son,” she spoke to Chuchi.  “She is an elf, and married.”

“Mother,” Chuchi protested, but the others smiled, except Mingus who appeared to be thinking hard.  Lincoln and Alexis came in at that point and Lincoln had to ask.

“So what did I miss?”

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

You don’t have to miss anything.  Be sure to return next Monday (Tuesday and Wednesday) for the conclusion of Avalon, episode 4.2 The Storm Overhead.  The clouds are gathering as the travelers go in search of the missing amulet of peace and prosperity, and confront the thieves who stole it…

kavalon travelers horse 1

Avalon 4.2: part 2 of 6, The Silk Worm

M G Kizzia 2 Comments

You don’t have any wings,” Boston pointed out to the dragon something the others were being polite not to say.

“No need,” The dragon responded.  “I can fly well without wings.  This is not my natural form.  I am a greater spirit of the wilderness, or I was once.  My um…  My er…  My mate and I took this form to honor those magnificent beasts.”

“Your mate?”  Alexis now became curious.

“Indeed.  I was charged by Brama to open the way between the Tien Shan and the Zagros Mountains.  Tien of Heaven asked me to continue the work all the way to Longjo, the western edge of the Hsian world.  I have been many times to Lake Bosten.”

“Hey!  That is my lake,” Boston interrupted.dragon 1

The dragon smiled, which is something no one knew she could do.  “Yes, little one,” she said, and continued.  “But I have only been once to the small forts of Tufri, Hami. Axi, and Wewi.  I have never actually been to Longjo.”

“Your work stops at the Zagros Mountains?” Katie was the historian and a bit of a geographer, as far as that went.

“Indeed.  The Masters Enlil and Enki praised my work but said it was enough for one.  They have others in Elam and Susania, and through Mesopotamia to the great western sea that will make a way, and have finished the great silk road.  Though it be a long time, perhaps centuries before this road becomes filled with caravans, it is ready.”

“The only thing missing is road signs,” Decker joked.  “Maybe a stop sign where the road from the south meets the main highway here.”

“Indeed, no, Major,” the dragon smiled again. “Lady Devya has stressed that I must not import future things to this age, though road signs would help.  Sadly, none in this age really know how to read.”

“But your mate?” Alexis got back to her question.

“He has from this village that Devya calls Bukhara, through her village of Palishkul, that she sometimes calls Bactra to the gap in the mountains she calls the Khyber, and by the invitation of the Great Varuna, down into the land of the Indus, where she was born.  I have not been that way.”

“Your voice sounds very familiar,” Mingus said, curious.

“I was going to say that very thing,” Elder Stow agreed.

“But your mate?”  Alexis seemed to be stuck there.

Nuwa and Fuxi“Fuxi,” the dragon said.  “He once joined with Fuxi, and for a time the two became as one being, like a great serpent-man, and thus my mate became Fuxi the idiot.  I miss him, but not that much.”

“Nuwa,” Lockhart named the dragon, and the others nodded.

The dragon Nuwa also appeared to nod.  “When Nuwa and I became as one being, we built the twelve Quans, the forts along the Huang He made to defend the river people from the Qinjong and other nomads who come into the river valley for any reason other than peace.”  Nuwa’s dragon eyes became moist and a couple of tears fell, steaming hot to the ground.  “When Nuwa and I were one, I saw far too much of the future, and her future, or his especially.  The poor Kairos.  How can any god be so cruel to burden her with so much responsibility, so many impossible tasks.  I weep for her every night.”

“People,” Decker interrupted.  “We got company.”  Two dozen men were riding out of the little village on step ponies, and they appeared to be armed.  Obviously, the travelers had been spotted on the road, and it looked like the locals were wondering if they were friendly or trouble.  The travelers watched the Nuwa dragon become visible and held their ears against the roar.  The fire was just a warning, but the locals turned their ponies as fast as they could and raced home, no doubt to lock their doors, if they had locks.

“Maybe we better not stay the night in this village,” Lockhart said, as he yawned to clear the ringing in his ears.

“Please do,” the Nuwa dragon said.  “The people will not bother you in the night.”

“But we usually try to make friends,” Alexis complained.

“Yes, I am sorry, but I can say this much, Boston!”  She yelled her name and smiled again.  “I am sure Devya will say it again when you see her.”

Boston grinned and moved her horse, Honey, toward the village.  The others followed, and Nuwa moved with them, invisible again to all but the travelers.

###dragon 0

When the morning came, they wished the Nuwa dragon well and she returned the blessing.

“I will be moving slowly toward the village Devya calls Merv.  I will move slowly because I smell trouble, and I dare not be far from her if she needs me.”

“I don’t sense any enemies near,” Katie said.

“Lincoln is usually the one with the suspicious instinct,” Alexis added, but Lincoln shrugged.

“And Lockhart,” Boston said with a grin.  “He can’t get that police training out of his system.”

“I sense something uncertain,” Mingus said.  “Like something that should not be, but it is vague and unclear.”

Lockhart thought hard, but in the end he shrugged like Lincoln.  Decker spoke.  “Elder Stow, stay sharp,” and he rode out to his position on the wing while Elder Stow moved more slowly to ride on the other side.

It was just before lunch when they got approached by a dozen men on ponies.  The men did not pause on seeing them, but rode straight to talk to the travelers.

“Glamours everyone,” Lockhart reminded his crew as they rode up from the rear and in from the flanks to present a united front.

The men rode to within twenty feet, and one rode to the front.  He looked twice at the travelers before he spoke.

“Good elves, did you pass anyone between here and Bukhara?”

“Did my glamour slip?” Boston turned to Mingus who hushed her, kindly.

nat nature 2Lockhart pushed forward, Katie beside him.  “We passed no one,” he said.  “What seems to be the trouble?  Maybe we can help.”

The man turned to look again at Eder Stow.  “You are a strange people.  Red hair and yellow hair.  Big monster horses with seats you sit upon and holders for your feet.  Your dress is strange.  I have not seen the like, and I have been up and down the whole silk road.  I think you need to talk to my wife.”

“Avi?” Lincoln asked.  When the man stared hard at Lincoln and nodded.  Lincoln returned the nod and added, “Devya’s husband.”  He tapped the database in his hand.

“But tell me, why are you looking for people on the road?”  Lockhart asked, his police instinct finally acting up.

“The amulet has been stolen,” Avi said.  Both Boston and Katie reached for their amulets in a moment of panic.  Avi saw and shook his head at them.  “I am speaking of the amulet of peace and prosperity.  Come.”  The locals turned around and the travelers joined them.  They skipped lunch and rode hard to make the village by nightfall.  Katie called the village Bactra or Balkh, but the locals said it was Palishkul which meant Sanctuary.

Avalon 4.2: The Storm Overhead, part 1 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 2335 BC, Sanctuary on the Silk Road.  Kairos 48: Devya, First Daughter of the Indus.

Recording …

The travelers came into the time zone under a heavy cloud.  It was a rough and rocky place.  The hills were strewn with stones and patches of tall scrub grass turned dry and yellow in the late summer.  There appeared to be a grassy path that pointed in the direction they were headed, and more than one of them remarked how like a road it was.  They pointed to places here and there where others traveled that road and left signs of their passage.

“The only thing we are missing is the occasional road sign,” Lincoln joked.

“I don’t like the looks of that cloud,” Alexis spoke up.  Her eyes were not down on the grass.  The black cloudcloud was very dark and low in an otherwise bright, blue sky.  It looked suspicious, if clouds can look suspicious.  Lincoln studied it, but said nothing.  Lockhart and Katie looked, having overheard.  They were not talking to each other much at that point, so they were happy to have the interruption.

“It appears to be moving off, same direction, but much faster than us,” Lockhart said.  He turned to consider the sun and concluded they were headed southwest.  They would spend the afternoon riding into the sun.

“No telling the wind speed at that elevation,” Katie said.  “Maybe it is hurrying to catch up with the rest of the storm before unloading.  It looks heavy with rain.”

“I doubt the cloud thinks,” Lockhart said.  He did not mean for it to sound as disagreeable as it sounded.

“I don’t know,” Katie hedged.  “I used to believe the world was full of what Lady Alice described as dead, empty matter and energy, the way moderns think of it, but since coming on this mission, I have come to realize that what Alice said is true.  The whole universe is more or less alive in one way or another, and we humans are just too thick and stupid to perceive it.”

“More or less,” Alexis butted into the conversation, since Lincoln went back to read in the database.  “It is unlikely that cloud, or any given cloud is sentient, but it has enough life to respond to a word of power, like a creative word of the gods or magic, you know.  After all, this whole universe was created out of nothing by the Word of God.”

Lockhart and Katie gave Alexis a funny look, and Katie responded.

“You were born and raised an elf.  I would not have expected that from you.  Boston maybe, but not you.”

Alexis 2“Since I became human, I’ve become a good Methodist.  I don’t know.  Boston is right.  I am a serious liberal about most things, but when you realize the universe is alive and growing and changing everywhere, the idea of a creator makes a lot more sense than everything happening by freak accident.  Besides, we have met some of the gods, and everything leads me to believe even they will have to answer some day to someone or something greater than them.”

“Very well said,” a woman responded, but it went in and out of the traveler’s ears like a thought so they made no effort to look around to locate that woman.

“The silk road,” Lincoln raised his voice and distracted everyone.  “This is not the Indus Valley.  Obviously there are no Harappan villages around here.  I might have to revise that if we run into any stray Dravidians, but I would guess we are probably somewhere between Merv and Smarkand.

“Samarkand.  There is a name of legend,” Katie grinned.

“For the record,” Lockhart said.  “I didn’t like the looks of that cloud either.”  Lockhart stopped, so the rest stopped.

Father Mingus and Boston came up from the rear.  “Time to walk the horses?” Mingus asked.

“Lunch,” Lockhart announced.  He got down and spoke more softly for whoever was listening.  “There is some good grass here for the horses, and we have a good trail for as far as I can see, so let the horses rest and then we can ride until the trail peters out.”

“It is a good trail,” Katie said, as she watched Decker and Elder Stow come in from the flanks to join them.  She was listening.  She also looked at Lockhart with an expression that said she was sorry for whatever she did.  Lockhart got busy getting out the remains of breakfast.

Mingus and Boston were in charge of the fire.  They could both start a fire by magic, even in the fire campfire 1worst conditions.  In this place, they had to be careful not to set the dry grasses on fire, but they found a good location, and soon the fire was roaring.

Lincoln and Alexis were in charge of checking the area for any edibles to enhance their meal.  Alexis had the vitamins that everyone took in the morning, so there was no danger of scurvy or any other such sickness, but Alexis had her limits on a diet of deer, deer, elk and deer, as she called it.  She and Lincoln usually found tubers or berries or something, and Alexis normally did not have to resort to her magic to help.

Decker and Lockhart took over the hunting duties after Roland was taken from them.  Elder Stow with his scanner and Katie with her military rifle took guard duty.  Katie complained at first, saying she could take a turn on the hunt, but Lockhart reminded her of her duty.

“You are an elect, strong, tough, gifted to fight with or without weapons, able to sense danger and when an enemy is near.  I thought since Neolithic times it was the job of the elect to defend the home and guard the women and children when the men went out to hunt.”

“Yes, but,” Katie hedged.  “We don’t have any children.”  As she said that, Boston came running into the camp at about 50 miles per hour, testing her elf speed, and whooping like a teenager on the last day of school.  “Point taken,” Katie said.  So she and Elder Stow defended the camp while Lockhart and Decker hunted.

On that afternoon, no one needed to hunt.  They had leftovers, and Alexis found some berries and some greens she could boil.  The berries tasted sweet while the greens had a bit of a bitter taste, but Alexis said the greens were like spinach, full of iron, so everyone ate some.

Avalon travelers horses 3When lunch was over, Lockhart whistled.  The horse he had named Dog came trotting up, and the other horses followed.

“You do that very well,” Katie told him.  Lockhart made no response.  He slipped his arms around her and kissed her hard, and she kissed him right back.  The words between them were not spoken out loud, but they did not have to be.

It was less than an hour after lunch when the travelers came across three things.  The first was a very small village, actually only a few huts close together in a valley just below their position.  The village was nestled up to a hillside and the planted fields, now fallow after the harvest, spread in every direction from there, but for the road.  From their viewpoint, the travelers could see where the road continued to the west-southwest beyond the village.  It stood out like a clear border between the fields.

Second, Boston shook her amulet and rode to the front to report.  “I have never seen this happen before,” she said.  “We were headed perfectly on the road, but suddenly the target turned to the south-southeast, almost like we are supposed to turn left in the village there.”

“Maybe one of the gods took…Devya?”  Alexis began, and Lincoln nodded to the name.  “Maybe one of the gods took Devya on a ride, you know, instant teleport.”

“I don’t think so, maybe,” Boston said as she continued to tap her amulet, and Katie got hers out to confirm the direction.

“I can see where a new road covers that direction,” Decker said as he joined the group.  He pointed.  “There, where that barn-like building sits on the edge of the village, by the fields.”  Several saw.

“But how can it just change direction like that?” Katie asked.

“I did that,” they heard a woman say.  “You would have struggled to get over the mountains.  I thought it would be easier to go around the mountains on my road.”

“Who is speaking?  Where are you?” Alexis asked.

“Right here,” the voice said.  “Devya calls me the Great Silk Worm.” A great, wingless dragon, a truedragon 6 worm still sporting feathers like a young one, appeared beside the travelers, bigger than any imagined a dragon should be.  It was Smaug sized, and looked able to swallow a horse and rider in a single gulp.

The people all gasped.  Elder Stow let out one expletive and checked his scanner since the dragon appeared on his flank.  But the horses did not show any concern, and the dragon explained., without moving her lips to match her words, Lincoln noticed

“No, the horses cannot perceive me, and neither can the village people.”

“Just as well,” Lockhart tried to pull himself together.  “The Y. M. C. A. hasn’t been invented yet.”

Decker let out a rare grin.  Katie spoke, accusing.  “You’ve been saving that one.  How long have you been saving that one?”  Everyone smiled a little and tried to relax, but then the dragon got it and let out a laugh which was probably not as frightening as a roar, but close enough.