Author: M G Kizzia

Avalon 6.8 Archidamian War’s End, part 5 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Labium and his elf troop had been secretly ferrying out humans from the village since they took up their watch. They doubled their efforts as soon as they knew Ophelia was on the way.  They feared the intervention of the gods and imagined there might not be a village when it was over.

Taking people to safety did not always go well.  In one house, a husband, wife, and two children cowered in their hut-like dwelling. They seemed typically human when Labium spoke.

“Friend.  Friend.  Do you want to get to safety?”

“Yes,” the man said, a bit loudly. “Where are you?”

“I am here, but I am invisible.  I am an elf.”

The man stopped.  The woman looked at her husband, and he said, “Can you guarantee our safety?”

“If you follow my instructions and keep very quiet, I can lead you to safety outside the village.  I am not a god to guarantee anything, but we have a good chance to get away from the monsters, if you stay quiet.”

“We will,” the woman promised.

“I will show myself.  Not a sound.  Not a peep.”

“I understand,” the man whispered.

Labium became visible, and the woman took one look and screamed as loud as she could, and it seemed she would never stop screaming.  Labium went invisible again.  Two Wolv came in from the street, and Labium slipped out behind them.  After a moment, the screaming subsided.  Labium heard weeping with his good elf ears, and the Wolv came back out from the hut with the two children, whom they killed and ate.

In another case, a young elf maid led two parents and their teenaged son to the corner of an alley.  She held them there because two Wolv were on the street, and until they moved, she could not safely bring the people across the back of the alley.  She hushed them again and again.  Finally, the boy got bored.

“Dad,” he said, nice and loud, and touched his father on the shoulder.

The man’s fear came out of his mouth, really loud.  “We are going to get caught.”

The elf maid saw the Wolv coming down the alley.  She quickly shoved the nice woman into the house there and shut the door. Then she ran, much faster than the Wolv could catch her.  Sadly, she heard the nice woman come right back out of the house.

“What ya pushing for?”  She was nice, but not smart.  Needless to say, that family did not live long.

Far and away, most of the people in that village made it to safety.  Most of those headed for Corinth.  They got off the road when the dwarfs and travelers approached.  Few spoke.  No one pointed.  Most just stared.

A few villagers headed for Sidius, some because they had relatives there.  When they found the army coming to Isthmia, they wept and cried, believing the army would save them from the monsters.  In that moment, they could not have cared less if they were Athenians or Spartans.  Too many of their friends and neighbors had already died.

“Nicias,” Ophelia shouted, though the man was not far away.  “You need to set an escort to take these people to Sidius, to find shelter.”

“Just coming to that,” Nicias responded gruffly, and Ophelia changed her tone.

“Of course.  My apologies.  You are the general here.  You will do what is best.”

Nicias eyed her and nodded.

“Trouble?” Styphon stepped up.

Ophelia shook her head.  “I am a Spartan woman, but I must remember I am still dealing with Athenians.  I should respect the men, that they know what they are doing.”

Styphon nodded, and Nicias came up as Styphon stood up for her.  “We would have suffered much worse if you had not directed us in the battle.”  Nicias scratched his beard, but nodded a little. “I don’t know how you became friends with the spirits of the earth, but that has helped greatly.  You also seem to know about these space aliens, as you call them, and the story isn’t finished yet.  I am willing to follow your lead.”

“As am I,” Nicias admitted.

Ophelia accepted that.  “Just please be gracious to me.  When I deal with flighty fairies, or trickster elves, or pig-headed, stubborn dwarfs, I often have to be hard and harsh.  I do not need to turn that same attitude on you men, stubborn as you can be.”  She smiled, and the men smiled a little with her.  “Just forgive me and remind me if I overstep myself. Okay?”

This time, Nicias nodded in earnest. “I think an escort to Sidius for these good people is a fine idea.  I will see to it.”  He walked off, and Ophelia offered Styphon a kiss on the cheek.

###

Ophelia and the travelers arrived at Isthmia at about the same time.  The little ones guiding the travelers and scouting for the army were good at that sort of timing.

Prissy sat on Ophelia’s shoulder. Labium and Flaves stood beside her as she looked down on the village and the Humanoid transport.  It evidently crushed several houses when it landed, and no one bothered to see what or who might be under there.  Zeuxides and Tellis stood close as well.  Nicias, Styphon, Antiphas and Timocrates stood a couple of steps away so they could see around a tree.

Ophelia opened her arms as the travelers dismounted and began to climb her little hill.  Boston raced into Ophelia’s arms at a speed that made Labium smile and made the men take another look.  Boston appeared human enough.

“Ophelia?” Lincoln shouted up the hill as he walked.

“Yes, Lincoln,” Ophelia shouted back. “Lockhart and Katie, I have some people for you to meet.  Elder Stow, I will need your help.”

“You are older,” Boston said as she stepped back.  “Your hair is all gray, and short, like mine used to be.”

“I am forty-six, I think.  My youngest son is eleven.  My eldest son is seventeen. My daughter should be fourteen. She was ten when I went into captivity in Athens.  It is a long story.”

By then, Bergeron had pushed to the front.  He went to one knee and spouted his report.  “We have brought your traveler friends here safely.  We had to fight to protect them, especially the women, but we knew you would not want to see them hurt…” his voice trailed off.  He looked at the dirt.  He dared not say more.  Even with overwhelming odds, and mostly injured Wolv, a dozen dwarfs died.

Ophelia put her hands to her hips and tapped her foot.  “Prissy. You should visit with Boston’s shoulder.”

“Yes, Mum,” Prissy said.  “Thank you, Mum.”  She quickly vacated Ophelia’s shoulder before steam started coming out of Ophelia’s ears.  Ophelia tapped her foot and let Bergeron build up a good head of sweat before she said, “Thank you,” She growled, and turned away, and never smiled until she spoke to the others.  “Lockhart and Katie.  Please meet my friends.”  She introduced the couple to the commanders present even as she noticed an older woman and a young woman hugging Millie and Evan.

“Athenians and Spartans working together,” Katie remarked without explanation.

“Given the circumstances,” Styphon said. “We are all Greeks.”

“We worked hard to make a peace that would last,” Nicias added.

Katie did not respond, but the look on her face suggested she did not believe it would last.

Ophelia took charge then and began giving orders.  She moved the Spartans and their allies to the south, behind the dwarfs.  She kept the Athenians and their allies on the north, and moved the Elves in front of them, just in case.  “Yes,” she said.  “They know we are here, and are watching.”  She did not need to tell them that given Humanoid technology, they no doubt tracked them all the way through the wilderness.

“Katie and Decker, take opposite sides of the little hill here.  Zeuxides, open your blanket.”  The man did. There were three Humanoid heads in the blanket.  “Bergeron. Add your three Humanoid heads to the pile.  Lockhart and Lincoln, get the binoculars and direct things from here.  Millie, Evan, Sukki, Boston and Alexis, stay here with mother and my lovely daughter, Nyssa.”

“Ready,” Elder Stow said.  Ophelia nodded.

“Zeuxides,” she said, and the man picked up the blanket full of heads.  “Do not follow us, no matter what,” Ophelia told Styphon, Nicias and Lockhart.  She started down the hill toward the village, with Elder Stow beside her.  Zeuxides followed, and another young man appeared on her other side—a most handsome man. Ophelia squinted before she named the man.  “Proteus.”

The man smiled.  “I can’t ever fool you, mother.”  After several more steps, he added, “So you know, father wants to help.” Ophelia nodded, but she grimaced a bit to imagine what the god, Poseidon, might consider help.

Avalon 6.8 Archidamian War’s End, part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The Spartans and Athenians dug three trenches on the slight rise, and they piled up rocks on the dirt they excavated to make like mini-walls.  Some of the Spartans, and to be fair, some of the Athenians did not like the idea of keeping their heads down, or throwing their javelins rather than stabbing the enemy in the face when the time came.  Some called bows and arrows cowardly weapons.  All Ophelia could say was they will probably get close enough for tooth and claw no matter what we do.  Then, gods help us.  Nicias and Styphon kept the troops focused.  They had no reason to disbelieve a woman who commanded fairies.

They waited all morning.  They waited until Zeuxides said he was hungry and ready for lunch.  Then they came.

They looked like wolves, albeit, dressed in vests and far bigger than any wolf seen by humans.  Ophelia made out the three Humanoids who kept back to bark out orders.  She raised her bow.  The Athenian archers, and some of the Spartans and their allies all raised their bows.  Ophelia tried to wait, but when it appeared they were not getting closer, she said, “Loose.”

The arrows barely went the distance, but two of the Wolv looked put out of commission.  Ophelia knew better.  It just made them mad.  She saw the Wolvs back out of range, and then had to yell again.

“Get your heads down.”

The Wolv pulled out weapons and several men reacted too slowly.  They got fried, and the rest of the men got an object lesson, encouraging them to keep their heads down.  The Wolv did not fire for long.  They had nothing but hand weapons, and that would take all day to cut through the fortifications.  Flaves showed up and helped Ophelia hear the barked orders.  Ophelia yelled

“Javelins.”

Fourteen of the twenty Wolvs attacked. The men stood and about a third threw their best, but the Wolvs moved too fast.  Only two got taken down that way.  Three bounded up to the top trench where the more lightly armored Athenians and archers waited.  Nearly thirty men got torn to shreds or were grievously wounded before they put down the three Wolvs.  The Athenian regulars in the second trench hardly did better when four Wolvs arrived. More than twenty men died there, and almost twenty more died among the Spartans in the first trench where they fought off the remaining five.  The Wolvs fought for victory or death.  They had no thought of retreat, but neither did the Spartans.

Ophelia got spared when Zeuxides, who kept his javelin instead of throwing it, stabbed a Wolv in the back, the same time two Spartans struck it from the front, one cutting off the Wolv’s arm. The Wolv hardly slowed by the loss of an arm, but then it was only a matter of time to put it down, completely. Six Spartans went down to five Wolv, along with nineteen Spartan allies who died or were wounded unto death.  Of the two hundred and ninety-two captured on Sphacteria, two hundred and forty-eight would make it home.  Zeuxides wept for his friends, and no one thought less of him for it, but Ophelia lifted her eyes to the three Humanoids and the remaining six Wolv.  What she saw angered her, greatly, and she stomped down from the fight to confront the situation.

During the battle in the trenches, the whole fairy troop landed in secret behind the enemy.  They got big and had their bows.  The Humanoids and Wolv became pincushions for Fairy arrows.  As she stomped across the field, Styphon, Antiphas, and Porocleon of Olympia saw and followed her.  Flaves arrived as the fairy troop got small and scattered, having seen the look on Ophelia’s face.  The anger of the gods is a terrible thing to behold.

Ophelia stopped, and made sure the Wolv were dead.  She noted that even with a half-dozen arrows in their backs, the Wolv still turned to attack, and only went down when another half dozen or more arrows struck their front.  Nicias, with a handful of Athenians and a few more Spartans jogged up when Ophelia got to examining the Humanoids.  She paused before she spoke, and then it was to Styphon, not Flaves.

“I want the Humanoid heads.  We will take them to Isthmia.”  Styphon and the others got right on that grisly job without question.  Ophelia looked at Flaves.  She knew Fairies were capable warriors in war and battle, but they would have been irreparably injured if forced to perform such a macabre task.  She turned to Nicias.

“We need to move out at dawn. Leave as many here as you need to care for the wounded, but I want to be in Isthmia before dark tomorrow, so we can end this”

Nicias nodded and began doling out orders.

###

Dawn in Corinth saw the Wolvs fire on the city walls.  They only had handguns, but they put some holes in the stone and shook the foundation. The Corinthians did panic a bit, but one Captain got mad enough to gather a company of like-minded soldiers. Lockhart, Decker, and Katie, who had gotten to the walls by then, all urged the man to not act like a fool. but he was determined.

“Stubborn and stupid,” Elder Stow called the man.  “I recognize the symptoms.  Gott-Druk are very good at stubborn and stupid.”

“A strong human trait,” Alexis agreed. “Homo Sapiens as well as Homo Neanderthal.”

“Yes, but we have long since mastered it.”

Decker got to one section of the wall and readied his rifle and scope.  Katie took a section far enough away to spread the Wolv fire.  On a field, they might catch the enemy in a crossfire.  Elder Stow stood about half-way between the two where he could relay words without using the watch communicators, which might be on a frequency the Humanoids could tap into; but he was not to do anything unless he caught sight of the Humanoid commanders.

When they were ready, forty men poured out of the Corinthian gate, and charged, shields up, swords at their sides, javelins in their free hand.  The Wolvs were close enough to the wall so the men had a chance to get there before they all got cut down with Wolv weapon-fire.  Plus, Decker and Katie fired from above, struck several Wolvs, and at least distracted most of the others.  Only a few Wolvs returned fire to the wall.

At the end of the engagement, forty Corinthians lay dead on the field, and about half of the Wolvs sustained injuries. Three got seriously injured. Three Wolvs died, mostly from bullets. But then Elder Stow caught sight of one of the Humanoids and fired, once.  A streak of power lit up the sky.  The humanoid, though not directly struck, melted, and the big, old oak beside him exploded into splinters.

The Wolvs began to pull back into a copse of trees.  No doubt, the two remaining Humanoids needed to consider this new development.  Katie looked content to let them do that, but Decker flipped his rifle to automatic.  He never got to fire on the Wolvs, however, because roughly two hundred dwarfs came seemingly out of nowhere and attacked, about six or eight dwarfs to each Wolv.

“Damn,” Lockhart said.  He stood by Elder Stow and watched through the binoculars.

“Oh, Bergeron is in big trouble,” Boston said, and grinned for the dwarfs.

“We better get down there,” Alexis said, foolishly thinking some of the Corinthians might still be alive and need her help.

The Corinthians were more than willing to let the travelers ride out, but there were no Corinthians left foolish enough to follow them.  It looked like a gruesome battle, with human, Wolv, and some dwarf pieces strewn all over the place.  Bergeron survived, though he had a cut in his arm.  He, and his dwarfs looked content, even if they were in trouble.

“The Lady is on her way to Isthmia. We need to meet her there,” Bergeron reported.  “She wants the Humanoid heads.”  A few quick dwarf-strikes with their axes and the heads got wrapped in fairy weave for transport.  The dwarfs remained stoic about their losses.  They were not going to show any emotion in front of the humans.  “Best get moving,” Bergeron said, and he went out front.  The travelers came behind him in silence.  Appalled by the events.  Most of the dwarfs marched behind the travelers, where even the most gregarious ones only whispered.

FREE Read during your stay at home, continued

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

I have not heard anything about Smashwords extending the time for the free offer.  That being the case, let me urge you to take advantage of the time.  When the time for the free offer runs out, the books will return to their regularly scheduled price, because, after all, the free government money most are getting won’t exactly cover all the bills…  Happy Reading.

Good through April 20, 2020

I am participating in the Authors Give Back promotion at Smashwords.com to help us all get through this time of isolation and self-quarantine. Right now, the first five books of the Avalon series are Free. See for yourself

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MGKizzia

You can now power-watch, or as the case may be, power-read through the prequel, the pilot episode, and seasons one, two, and three for absolutely no money. The promotion will continue through April 20, 2020, so help yourself while you can, and enjoy.

 

*

Avalon 6.8 Archidamian War’s End, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Lockhart and Katie got down in front of the inn where the guard in the gate directed them.  At first, he was reluctant to let them into the city.  He asked which side they were on.  Lincoln stupidly said Persia, because it was the only coins they had, from back in Xanthia’s day.  Rajish certainly had no coins to give them.  But the old Persian coins were silver and gold, so the gate guard did not argue too much.  He directed them to an inn where they did not ask questions.  It did not appear to be in the best neighborhood.

“Boston, Sukki, Evan, and Millie, please stay with the horses,” Lockhart said.

“Alexis and I could stay,” Lincoln suggested.

“No mister Persia.  You need to come and keep your mouth closed.”

“Good thing we came through when we did,” Katie said.  “Not that many years ago, Persian coins would have gotten us in real trouble.”

Krack!

Lincoln looked at the door.  “That sounds like…” Decker, Katie, Lockhart, Alexis and Elder Stow all ran by him.  Even Boston raced ahead.  “…gunfire.” Lincoln followed.

The inn had a dining area, not necessarily expected.  A man lay on the floor, bleeding out.  A woman knelt beside him, weeping.  Three other men and one older woman looked on in horror.

“Alexis,” Katie called.  Alexis got down beside the man, and Lincoln got down with her.

“Who did this?” Lockhart asked the people, but they stood there with dumb looks on their faces.

Decker found the back door, but paused when Boston shouted from the window.  “It’s one of the outlaws.”  They heard a “Yip-yip,” and the sound of a horse ridden hard.  Decker had to grab Boston to prevent her from jumping out the window to pursue the horse on foot.  With some elf speed, she might have caught a horse hampered by city traffic, but then what would she do with the man?

“Come here,” Katie caught the old woman’s attention and brought her to a table.  “Tell me what happened.”

That seemed to shake the men free of their stupor.  They all began to spout at once.

“Decker.  Lockhart.  Help me get him up on the table,” Alexis insisted.  Lincoln had the weeping young woman in a hug, to comfort her.

“Careful, careful.”  They got him up.  “Decker, cut the dress off him to expose the wound.  You may have to hold him down.”  Alexis dug into the medical pack that she carried like a purse.  She pulled out a jar of something and checked for the green dot on the bottom before she managed to get some down the man’s throat.  He moaned, and the young woman wanted to go to him, but Lincoln would not let her go.

“Boston,” Lockhart said.  “Aren’t you supposed to be watching the horses?”

Boston shook her head.  “Alexis might need my magic, or to cauterize the wound or something.”

Alexis reached to the bottom of her pack and pulled out a long, thin knife, the one she got back after the necromancer turned to dust.  She said, “I had hoped I would never have to use this.”  Then she added, “I wish Doctor Mishka was here.  She is an actual doctor, and a surgeon with battlefield experience besides.  I’m just a registered nurse.”  She leaned over the man to cut into the wound, and added a word for whomever might be watching.  “We have to get the bullet out if we want him to heal.”

Elder Stow interrupted her.  He had the device with which he pulled out bullets before.  Alexis gladly put her knife away while Elder Stow passed his device over the wound many times.  It took a while, and Alexis interrupted several times to staunch the bleeding, but at last, the bullet came to the surface and came out of the wound.

Alexis had Boston put a hand on her shoulder, so she could draw on a touch of Boston’s fire magic.  Then she placed her hands gently on the wound and a golden glow filled the area.  Eventually, the wound closed up, and both Alexis and Boston took a deep breath.

Lockhart went to Katie where the old woman and the three men began to babble.  It took almost as long to get a straight story from them as it did for Alexis to perform her healing.

Meanwhile, outside, Sukki got impatient. She finally told Evan and Millie that she was just going to check, and she would be right back.  She no sooner stepped in the door when Millie got grabbed from behind.

“Don’t cry out,” the man said in English. He had a knife to Millie’s throat. “Billy, check him,” he said.

The young cowboy checked to make sure Evan had no weapons.  He took the knife Evan had been given, but then balked.  “I can’t frisk no lady.”

The other man rolled his eyes. “Come with us,” he said.

Evan stepped up beside Millie, and did not argue.  Instead, he asked a serious question.  “You are a red Indian?”

“Apache,” the man said.  “Though I had a French grandfather.  Juan Reynard, at your service.”

“I’m Billy Porter,” the young man said, with evident pride.  “Me and my brother Tom robbed every bank on the Rio Grande.  Maybe you heard of us.  The Porter brothers.”

“Sorry,” Evan said.  Millie shook her head as they came to a building across the way from the inn.  “But if I was home, I might look you up.”

“Where is home?” Reynard asked.

“The United States, 1905.”  He added the date, because the others showed him that not everyone came from the same year.

“1875,” Reynard said.  “Inside.”

They went in, and Millie spouted, “Nanette.”

“Yes, Millie.  Good to see you.  And Evan, you are looking well.”

“What is this about?” Evan asked, not concerned about propriety.

“Why so suspicious, or do you not trust a darkie?  But look. My palm is as white as any white woman. It is light and bright.  The back of my hand is dark.  See?  Light and dark.  Look at my hand.  Light and dark… Light and dark… Light and dark… Now, when I count to three, you will close your eyes.  Light and dark… One… two… three.”

Millie and Evan closed their eyes.

“You will not remember seeing me or talking to me, or seeing these cowboys.  But there is one thing you must do.”  She explained, that they must wait until the others were asleep and bring all of their weapons to her, but in the next time zone.  “Now, when I say go, I want you to return to your horses, and touch your horse.  When you touch your horse, you will wake, and remember nothing of our conversation, except you will remember to do your job in the next time zone.  Now, go.”  Millie and Evan turned and walked back to the horses.

“Why the next time zone?” Reynard asked.

“Because the space monsters have come into this place.  We will have to ride hard up the west coast to avoid them.”

“Maybe the space monsters will eat the travelers so we won’t have to worry about them,” Reynard suggested.

Nanette rolled her eyes and stepped up to Billy.  “Billy, you are not to bring me anyone’s weapons.  You will wake up, remember what was said here, and make a sound like a chicken.”  She slapped Billy.  “Wake up.”

Billy said, “Cluck, cluck.”

###

The travelers sat around the table, feasting.  Dionysios, the wounded man, stayed upstairs, resting, but Helene, his young wife stayed with the travelers, grateful for their saving her husband’s life.  The old woman who ran the inn loaded them up with food. These people had gold, and the war over the last ten years really hurt the business.

“Tell me, Helene.”  Millie spoke kindly.  “How old is your husband?”

“Dion is thirty-six, but he is such a nice man.”

“My age, poor fellow,” Decker said, to everyone’s surprise.  “And how old are you?”  He asked in a way that suggested the answer meant nothing to him, personally.

“How old do I look to you?”

Decker shrugged. “Twenty-one?”  Helene smiled at the answer.

“Not more than eighteen,” Lockhart tried, and Katie tugged on his sleeve to quiet him.

Helene lifted her chin in pride. “I am just sixteen, but that is more than old enough to be a good wife, and young enough to have many children.”

“Start with one,” Alexis suggested. “Then see how you feel about it.”

“You should listen to my wife,” Lincoln said.  “She is old and wise.  Me? I’m sixty-eight, though I don’t feel a day over thirty.  Maybe twenty-eight.  She is much older than I am.”

“How could that be?” Helene scoffed. “She can’t be older than twenty-four. Maybe twenty-one as the Egyptian said.

“Last I counted, she is two hundred and thirty-eight years old.”

Alexis slapped Lincoln’s arm for telling, even as Decker spoke up again.  “So, I am an Egyptian now?  Good to know.”

“You’re not?” Helene looked surprised. “I thought all dark-skinned men were Egyptians.”

Decker got ready to explain, but stopped when Boston stood and knocked over her chair.  “You might as well show yourselves.  Do you have word from Ophelia?”

Bergeron the dwarf and two other dwarfs with him dropped their glamour of invisibility.  Bergeron introduced himself, said he knew who they were, and said, “Yes and no.  You see, it is like this, Miss Boston.  An alien transport landed up the coast in the village of Isthmia, and right now you got three Humanoids and twenty Wolv looking over the city walls, and the Lady won’t let us get in between.  We been watching these humans fight each other for ten years, and the lady would not let us help, even when she got taken captive and spent the last four years in prison.  Well, I got buckets full of dwarfs that are just itching for a fight, but the lady says the humans have to fight their own fights.”

“I’m human,” Decker said, and reached for his rifle, which was never out of reach.

“I was hoping you would say that,” Bergeron said.  “We wouldn’t have to fight, just sort of protect the women folk, if you know what I mean.”

“What do you mean?” Lincoln asked.

“I mean if the women are in danger, we might have to attack the Wolvs, just defensively, you know.”

Boston grinned.  Katie spoke.  “Your logic is so flawed, I don’t know where to begin.”

“Thank you, Captain.”  Bergeron tipped his helmet.  “I take that as a great compliment.”

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

MONDAY

The groups clash and try to find a solution that does not cost too much blood…

Until then, Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 6.8 Archidamian War’s End, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Nicias and Styphon got the Athenians and Spartans working together to fortify their position.  Timocrates and Antiphas, the Athenian and Spartan seconds, worked side by side.  Porocleon of Olympia had command of the 167 Spartan allies, members of the Peloponnesian League that had also been held captive in Athens for four years.  Lesycles of Thebes did the same for the Athenian allies who came along for the ride.

Lesycles wanted to kill one in ten Spartans to send the message of what would happen if they did not keep the peace, but Nicias overruled him.  He knew the Spartans would see that as an offense to their pride.  If they gave their word for peace, that should be enough. The decimation of the prisoners would have only angered the Spartans to continue the war.  Maybe that was what Lesycles wanted.  Now, if Ophelia was to be believed, he was glad to have the Spartans standing out front to face the enemy.

Ophelia got left in her tent with the Athenian Tellis and Zeuxides, who had been a good friend of her husband. Zeuxides knew, but Tellis stifled his own shriek when Ophelia called and a man appeared out of thin air, or rather, an elf, pointed ears and all.  Ophelia ignored Tellis.

“Labium, have you had a chance to examine the Humanoid ship?”

“Yes, lady,” Labium said.

“An explorer?  A scout ship?”

“No, lady.  It is a patrol-transport.”

“Damn,” Ophelia swore.

“Trouble?” Zeuxides asked.

“Double trouble,” she answered, before she explained.  “A typical patrol ship will be crewed by nine to fifteen Humanoids.  They patrol the solar system where they are based, and keep watch on whatever colonies or outposts might be in operation.  You might think of them as small ships that watch the coast for enemies or intruders.  A patrol-transport is a bigger ship that can supply colonies with men, equipment or food stuffs.  In a pinch, they can be used to transport troops to an outpost or colony that might be under attack.  They might carry as many as a hundred Wolvs on a short trip.”

Zeuxides whistled.  “If these Wolvs are as formidable as you say, and I do not doubt that, having seen the remains of the night guard—and no dead Wolvs, I might add, though they may have taken their wounded with them—that sounds like a lot to contend with.”

“But that isn’t the worst of it,” Ophelia shouted.  “Patrol ships are not built for long distance travel.  A patrol ship means they have to have come from a nearby star, and only a half-dozen would qualify, I would guess.  Tau Ceti, or maybe Epsilon Eridani.  They would be candidates, about ten to twelve light years away.  That means we have a humanoid house staking a claim in our back yard.”

“When you say star, you mean…” Tellis looked up at the roof of the tent, swallowed and pointed… “Star.”

“What do you mean, house?” Zeuxides asked a question Ophelia could at least try to answer.

“Think of the Humanoid Empire like Greece, but with an emperor—a kind of high king, like Agamemnon was in the Trojan War.  The houses are like cities, all but independent, but sworn in allegiance back and forth across the stars.”

“Like the cities sworn to Athens?” Tellis asked, and thought to add, “Or Sparta.”

“More medieval,” Ophelia said. “More complicated,” she clarified, since the men would have no way of knowing what medieval meant.  “Like Megara is pledged to Athens in one way, has long term economic ties to Thebes, has other contracts with Corinth about shipping, and a long friendship with Argos.  So, when Corinth attacks Argo and Athens comes to the aid of Argo, but Thebes wants to stay out of it, which way does Megara go?”

“Complicated,” Zeuxides got the gist of it.

“So, we have a house in our back yard, and you can be sure they are looking at our world as a world to feast on.”

“But what about us?” Tellis understood something.  “We are living here.”

“They bring tens of thousands of Wolvs here, and those humans, Spartans and Athenians, that don’t get eaten would become their slaves.  We need to discourage that idea from the beginning.”  Ophelia brushed everything off the table in the tent and got out a map of the area.  “Labium. Show me on this map, where they are and how many, as best as you know and what house?”

“House of Lachkar,” Labium said, as he stepped up to examine the map.  “Isthmia?” Labium pointed and asked.

Ophelia nodded.  “Corinth is the big spot.  We are about here, just on the isthmus, down from Sidius.  This is Isthmia in the middle between Corinth and us.”

“They are in Isthmia.”  Labium tapped the map.  He paused to catch the drool that tried to slide out of his oversized lower lip.  “Best guess is ten Humanoids and about fifty Wolvs in the village.  They have the villagers completely cowered, but have not eaten many yet.  Less than a quarter league from here are twenty more Wolvs under three Humanoids. They are scouting the area, examining the flora and fauna, and specifically looking for military information. Your group of roughly eight hundred affords them a perfect opportunity for testing.”

“Tough luck on us.” Ophelia said, and stopped when she had a sudden thought.  “Fifty, plus ten Wolvs still on the ship, plus twenty here, makes eighty. Did they explore the isthmus in the other direction, like towards Corinth?”

“I was just coming to that.” Labium sipped.  “Twenty more, with three more Humanoids are headed in that direction.”

“Damn,” Ophelia spouted.  “Who do we have down there?  Bergeron,” she commanded, and a dwarf deked out for battle appeared in their midst.

“What?  What?”  Bergeron appeared confused for a moment.  “Labium,” he acknowledged the elf before he turned to Ophelia.  “No, before you speak.  We got our eyes on the Wolv and a plan to turn them back before they get to the city.”

“You will do no such thing.  The humans have to defend themselves.  I won’t have any of your people killed defending the human race.”

Zeuxides stepped up and spoke. “Corinth has stout walls and a strong garrison.”

Ophelia shook her head.  “Wolv weapons will make holes in the wall and they will run right in.  As for the garrison, nothing disarms a man faster than panic.  Better they check the city and decide to not try it without reinforcements.  They could eat Corinth in a couple of days of feasting.”

“So, what can we do?”  Bergeron sounded put off by her refusal to let them fight.

“Keep me apprised of developments. If it looks like they are going to test the city, let me know.  We will decide what to do when that time comes.”

Bergeron looked mollified a little. She did not say when that time came that she would not let the dwarfs fight.

“And my people?” Labium asked.

“Keep an eye on Isthmia and on that ship, and please ask Prissy to come see me.”  She clapped her hands and Bergeron vanished.

“Miss Prissy is here?” Zeuxides brightened.

“Miss Priscilla and her whole troop have been following since Athens, and trying to hide,” Ophelia said, though her eyes stayed on the map.

“I told her it wouldn’t work, that you would know.”  Labium grinned.

Ophelia smiled for the elf.  “And you were right.  Thank you for all you do.”  She clapped.  Labium bowed as he vanished.

“Miss Prissy?” Tellis asked that much before two lights zoomed into the room.  One landed on Ophelia’s shoulder, though being a married woman, Ophelia had her hair cut short, so she had no locks for Priscilla to hide in.  The other light landed on the map.”

“Flaves, old man,” Zeuxides smiled for the fairy who was Prissy’s husband.

“Zeuxides, young man,” the fairy responded.  “Are you ready to go to war?”

“Always,” Zeuxides grinned, before Ophelia interrupted.

“Tellis.  Stay.”

Zeuxides grabbed the man before he could run out of the tent, screaming.  The elf he could accept.  If he ignored the lip and the pointed ears, he looked human enough.  The dwarf he could pretend was a short, stout man with an extra-long, untrimmed beard.  Fairies, however, became too much.  His eyes stayed wide as he stared at Flaves.

“Please get big.  That might help our friend here,” Ophelia asked Flaves.

“Me too?” Prissy said in her ear.

“Yes, please.”

In a moment, a very fine man dressed in armor appeared beside a most beautiful woman, one who appeared a bit shy. Ophelia watched Tellis take a breath and let it out slowly, as she introduced them.  “Flaves and Priscilla, this is Tellis, Athenian from Marathon.”

Flaves bowed and Priscilla curtseyed because they were sensitive enough to know a handshake would have been too much for the man.

“G-good to meet you,” Tellis stuttered.

“So, tell me about the twenty Wolvs and three humanoids not far from here,” Ophelia said, having little patience for formalities.

“Of course,” Flaves said, and pointed at the map.  “They have a physician who took the captive men and ran some tests?”  He did not sound certain about the phrase, but Ophelia nodded.  “I don’t know what he tested for, but he gave most of them to the Wolvs for lunch, after separating some prime pieces for the Humanoids.  They ate it all raw.  No one built a fire.”

“And their conversation?”

“They want to run more tests, and one is keen on testing the military strength you show.  He figured out in the wilderness, away from the settlements, we are fair game.  That was how he talked about you humans, as game.”

“Well,” Zeuxides said, plenty loud. “If they are hunters, they will not find us rabbits.  We will be like the bear and turn on them to their end.  Isn’t that right, Athenian?”

Tellis nodded, but he did not look at all sure.

“Zeuxides,” Ophelia said.  “Fetch Styphon and send for Antiphas and Porocleon. Tellis, fetch Nicias and send for Timocrates and Lesycles.  We need to share what we have discovered.”

“Yes,” Tellis said, as the two ran off.

“You should know,” Flaves said to Ophelia.  “The travelers from Avalon are in Corinth, and so is the witch and her three cowboys.”

“Typical,” Ophelia said.  “When it rains, it pours.”  She let out something between a scream and a growl and stomped back into the tent.

Avalon 6.8 Archidamian War’s End, part 1 of 6

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After 467 BC, Attica. Kairos lifetime 80: Ophelia, Spartan Princess

Recording …

A man screamed.  It came from the perimeter.  One man, and then several men began shouting, “To Arms!  To Arms!”  The camp scrambled.

The Spartan commander, Styphon, and the Athenian general, Nicias, both jumped to their feet and looked to the tent door.  Ophelia shouted.

“Wait.  See what it is first.  Panic and rash decisions help no one.”

Styphon growled.

Nicias looked again at the supper on the table.

Shortly, Timocrates, Nicias’ number two, and Antiphas the Spartan came to the door.  Timocrates reported.

“They came from the coastal area. No idea who.  Several men are dead, torn up, I don’t know how or from what. The sergeants are counting their charges to see if any are missing.”

Antiphas the Spartan spoke. “Zeuxides walked near the area. He claims he saw a wolf, but one standing on its hind legs, and bigger than any wolf he ever saw.”

“Damn!” Ophelia stood and threw her cloth to the table.  “Lord Nicias. We are less than a day from the border of the Peloponnesian League, but you better give the Spartans and the others their weapons now, if you want to survive this.”

Nicias shook his head slightly.  “I don’t know.  The Ecclesia charged me to see the prisoners safely out of Athenian land.”

“You know what we are facing?” Styphon asked, ignoring the general.

“I have a good guess.  I fear that I do know, and that is saying something, because you know I fear no man nor beast,” Ophelia responded.  “Timocrates, can you take us to the place so we can examine the evidence?”

Timocrates glanced at his general who appeared to nod, slightly.  “Follow me,” he said.

General Nicias had five hundred Athenians to escort two hundred and seventy-three soldiers of the Peloponnesian League to their own territory, one hundred and six of whom were Spartiates—Spartan warriors of the highest class.  Some did not survive four years of captivity, after the surrender at Sphacteria, though they had been treated well, and fed during those four years. Rightly or wrongly, the men credited Ophelia, a fellow prisoner, with the humane way they were treated and survived captivity, being treated like prisoners of war, and hostages, not like criminals.  They knew that being a woman, the Athenians wanted to release her, but being a Spartan woman, she refused.  She insisted on sharing the hardship of her people, even though she had a ten-year-old daughter back home.  Well, she had two older sisters to count on, and a husband who died an honorable and glorious death on Sphacteria.  Helen should be a fine young woman of fourteen by now.

When Ophelia and the men arrived, they found Zeuxides and the Athenian Tellis of Marathon waiting.  They looked uncertain.  Ophelia bent down to the shredded body of the guard.  She did not have to examine much before she swore again.

“Damn.  Wolvs.”  Ophelia called to her armor and weapons, and they came out of the Second Heavens and replaced the dress she wore.  No one blinked.  They had all seen her do that before.  “Nicias, you better arm the Spartans, even if it is a day early.  It may be a scouting party from a small ship, but we cannot count on that.”

“What are Wolvs?” Styphon asked.

“Like the name, but intelligent as a man, and big.  They have weapons of fire and explosions.”  She pointed to the burn marks on the body.  “They travel in ships that fly in the air the way our ships travel on water.  And even without weapons, they have claws and teeth that can shred you.  In fact, they seem to delight in shredding things like soft, human flesh.”

“Timocrates,” Nicias pointed at his number two.  “Arm the Spartans.”  Antiphas went with him to see it done.

“I haven’t even said the worst part yet,” Ophelia added, regaining everyone’s attention.  “The Wolv are just soldiers.  They answer to Humanoid commanders.  The Humanoids look like us, but have very sharp teeth.  They like to eat humans, raw.  They won’t bother to cook us first.”

“Wonderful,” Zeuxides said.  The Spartan took it like a challenge.

###

Evan explained how they came this way before, in the opposite direction.  “The time gate stood in the middle of a shallow river well north of Rome…”

“In the village of Pisa,” Millie interrupted.  “The Arno, I believe.”

“It was fairly shallow, and nearly dry,” Evan continued.  “We swam out in the muddy water, and did not know what to expect on the other side.” He paused to see if Millie wanted to add anything.  She shook her head.  “We landed in the Aegean, somewhere off the coast of Chios.  I thought we would surely drown.”

“Last time we moved from water to water,” Lincoln said, thinking a minute.  “That seems to be the way it works.  If the gate is in the water, the exit gate will be as well.  But, in any case, we moved from river to river, but that was before we had the horses.”

“So, what happened?” Alexis asked Millie.

“We got rescued,” Millie said, with a smile.

“We got picked up by a ship out from Rhodes, headed for Piraeus harbor and Athens.  That took a week, and the winds were favorable the whole time. Odd, to think of it.  The captain and crew acted like they picked up all of us in Chios, and our passage got paid.  That is very odd, now that I think about it.”

“What do you mean, we?” Alexis asked.

Millie answered.  “We traveled with a very kind older woman, Doris, and her granddaughter, Nyssa.  They gave us a cabin, where we ate all out meals; but I did not even know such ancient ships actually had cabins.”

“They don’t,” Lincoln said, as he got out the database to read.

“Another woman, one that Nyssa called Aunt Galatea was there, too.  But we only saw her on a couple of days,” Millie finished.  “I guess she kept mostly to herself.”

“We exited this zone around Olympia, where we came in,” Evan also finished, and added, “What?” because Lincoln appeared to be reading something interesting.

“Doris is Amphitrite’s mother. Nyssa is her daughter.  Galatea is her sister, one of the ninety-nine.”

“Amphitrite?” Evan asked.  He knew the name, even if Millie did not know it off hand.

“The Kairos,” Lincoln said, and Evan nodded, like he should have guessed.

“Sea goddesses,” Alexis told Millie, and a light seemed to go off in her head.

“Poseidon is Nyssa’s father,” Lincoln said.

“Neptune,” Evan told Millie.  “You would know her mother as Salacia.”

Millie nodded.  “Amphitrite is Salacia, and the Kairos.”

“And a wonderful woman, from what little I’ve seen of her,” Alexis added.

“Walk ‘em,” Katie spoke back to the four following.  She slipped off the back of Lockhart’s horse, and he also got down.  Sukki, who had taken to riding beside the mother and father of the group, also dismounted, but looked ahead.  Boston was returning from out front, having ridden out to check the lay of the land, and she had her amulet out, no doubt checking their direction.

“Corinth is up ahead.  Walking distance,” Boston reported.  “My guess is the Kairos is at the other end of the isthmus, on our side of the next big city, but not far from a village.”

Decker rode up in time to hear Katie name the village.  “The village is probably Isthmia, or whatever they call it in this time period, or maybe Sidius.”

“That’s it,” Decker said.  “The Kairos is insidious.”

“Ha, ha,” Boston spoke without laughing.

Elder Stow came in with an apology. “I am sorry, my mother.  The shrine of Artemis is no longer in the woods, and its wilderness location now appears to be farm fields just outside the city walls.”

“That’s okay,” Katie responded.  “I didn’t expect it to still be there after all this time.”  She glanced up at the sky and let out a little sigh for Artie, the android that Amphitrite made human, and that she and Lockhart adopted before they were even officially married.  She changed the subject as Lincoln, Alexis, Evan and Millie walked up.  “I am more unhappy that we came right through Nemea and did not get one whiff of a lion in the neighborhood.”

“The Nemean lion would be Hercules. That would have been ages ago, wouldn’t it?” Evan asked.

“We met him,” Lincoln whispered, to Evan’s surprise, but his whisper got over drowned out by Lockhart’s volume.

“Lunch.”  He shouted before he said more softly to Katie, as people turned to first take care of their horses.  “I want to get a meal in before we get to the city.  Even I can see that herd of sheep down that hill there.  That means we are too close to habitation to even technically be in the wilderness.”

Katie nodded.  “I wonder if your horse-thief’s inn is still there, in the city.”

Lockhart rolled his eyes.

When they were seated by the fire, Boston looked again at her amulet.  “The Kairos was moving in our direction,” she said.  “But she appears to have stopped for some reason.”

“We are too far away for a look,” Decker said.

“Indeed,” Elder Stow said, with a look at his scanner.

“Let’s just get through Corinth first,” Lockhart said.

“I’m sure there is a good reason,” Katie said, at about the same time.

“Who can understand the mind of the gods,” Millie said, still thinking about her trip aboard that ship.

“Exactly,” Boston and Sukki said together, but Boston said it louder.

Avalon 6.7 Yeti, part 4 of 4

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“The witch and her outlaws came through here about three months ago,” Rajish explained.  “It was winter, but the storms were not nearly as bad as yesterday. Clearly, she set some traps for you.”

“Don’t play with that,” Lincoln interrupted.  Alexis wanted to touch the bandage around her head.  “Let it heal.”

Alexis put her hand down, reluctantly. “So, we are in a period when the other earth is near and leaking creative and variable energy into our universe?” Alexis asked, to distract her mind.

“Yes,” Rajish said.  “And we are at the beginning of the period, so that will continue for the next three hundred years or so, which will be five or six time zones.”

“Understood,” Lockhart said, as he, and Boston came in from a visit to the stables.

Elder Stow and Sukki quickly followed, coming from places unknown.

Decker and Katie came in sweating. They had been in the work room where they worked out with the monks, and showed them a few martial arts moves the monks did not know.

Since Millie and Evan were already present, Rajish clapped his hands and people brought in food.  Then Rajish spoke.

“Since everyone is here, awake, and alert, let me answer Katie’s question from yesterday—two questions actually.  The second is, I helped save civilization. We gathered the armies of the Ganges and stopped Darius at the Indus—an idea that may be repeated in a couple of hundred years when Alexander comes to call…though I seem to recall that things go differently for Diogenes.”  Rajish shrugged.  “To answer the first question, I am here hiding.”

People looked at each other. Boston spoke.  “What are you hiding from?”

“Well, let’s see.  Zoroaster caught the ear of Cyrus the Great, and now his grandsons and the Magi have taken the ear of Darius and have helped build and direct the Persian Empire.  I best stay out of that.  Then back home, in the Ganges, the Buddha is ready to start teaching, and all that he does, and Mahariva is establishing Jainism, and I really need to not interfere. I talked to Gautama when he was young, but all it did was make me realize I need to keep my mouth shut.  When I came here to deal with the Skudsku, I thought China might work; but then it occurred to me that Laozi is just finishing the Tao Te Ching, Confucius is about half-way through his epic works, and Sunzi is about ready to start writing his book.”

“What did Sunzi write?” Lockhart asked Katie, but Katie, Decker, and Lincoln all answered.

“The Art of War.”

“The point is,” Rajish continued. “These are transitional years in human history, and in human thinking.  I don’t know why it all bunches up like that, but from about six hundred BC to about three hundred, From Homer to after Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, everything changes.  I would say it fits nicely with the influx of creative and variable energy—magic energy from the Other Earth, but…  We won’t have another time like this until the enlightenment, and that fits mostly in years when the Other Earth is out of range.  I would give it another three hundred years then, from about 1650-1950. The age of reason and science, in art and music, and all those revolutions, including the industrial and technological kind.  I may feel different when I get there, but this time around, unless something comes to my attention, I think this hermitage is safe enough.”

“So, you are teaching the monks the martial arts?” Katie asked.  “How is that not interfering?”

“Yeah, well…”  Rajish shrugged.  “My contribution.  The Persians are very good.  They are not Spartans, but good.  And the many, constantly warring states in my homeland, in India, have developed many techniques.  The warring states in China won’t really start for another twenty to forty years. I am sure they will benefit greatly from the monks from here, and all the new monasteries that will be built. These people are Taoists, you know, given to folk religion.  So, will the Shaolin monastery be founded by Taoists or Buddhists?”  Rajish shrugged again.

“You don’t mind if I teach a few things?” Decker asked.

“Local weapons only.  No Patton sabers.  Hand-to-hand is okay, but use your judgment.  No anatomy lessons.”

“Understood,” Decker responded.

With that word, Alexis yawned. Rajish imagined she and Lincoln could use the extra rest.  There were only two more things he felt important to say while everyone sat present.

“Lincoln,” he said and waited for Lincoln’s full attention.  “I’m sorry, but Cortez is finished.”  He waited for Lincoln to nod.  “I have to figure out how to send the horse back to the 1870s so Casidy can get some trade-in value.  Probably not much.  But that leaves you three horses short, and there isn’t anything I can do about that right now with the Storyteller still missing and all.”

“That’s okay,” Katie spoke up.

“We talked about that earlier while Lincoln and Alexis were still in recovery,” Lockhart said.  He looked at Evan, and Evan and Millie both nodded.

“It should work,” Evan said.

Katie explained.  “Alexis can take back Misty Gray, and she and Lincoln can ride him.  Evan and Millie can ride on my horse, Black Beauty.  I will ride with Lockhart on Dog, even if it is a ridiculous name for a horse.”

Lockhart smiled.  The name worked for him.  He spoke.  “It isn’t an ideal solution.  We will have to walk the horses even more than we have.  And we may be in trouble if we need to get away in a hurry.”

“Build that bridge when we come to it,” Decker said.

“Not to mention the wear and tear the extra weight will put on those poor horses,” Katie said.  “I worry about the horses.  We have been riding them a long time.”

Rajish held up his hand.  “I understand.  I am trying to send some fresh mounts into the past, but that is not so easy.”

Lincoln interrupted.  “I think part of what happened to Cortez was he just got exhausted.”  Alexis nodded, pointed at Lincoln, and yawned at the same time.

Boston spoke up.  “Sukki and I will take Lincoln’s saddle and equipment.”

“Yes,” Sukki said, and almost closed her mouth when every eye turned to her.  She pulled up her courage.  “But what can we do about the traps of the witch?”  She turned her eyes to the floor.  Millie stepped in to help.

“From what all you say, it will take more than normal time to get to the next time gate, and we won’t be able to hurry up.  So, how can we do that, safely?”

You still have your chestnut?” Rajish asked.  He held out his hand, and Millie pulled it from a pocket she had in her dress.  She did not hesitate to hand it to the man. Rajish looked at it carefully, and continued his thoughts.  “I have three masters of the mystical arts.  Individually, they cannot match the witch, but combined, they should be able to sniff out whatever traps the witch may have set.”

“I assume we cannot continue to count on help from the Yeti,” Lockhart said.

“No,” Rajish shook his head.  “When the witch came through, my memory got jogged. I’m not sure why, exactly, but I remembered you, and that you would follow fairly soon, but I had no idea when that might be.  I let it be known to the Yeti and… whoever, to please help you.  I assumed the witch did not have your best interests in mind. The three stood against her, so she did not come here, but…”

“But look,” Evan interrupted.  “I knew Nanette.  She was a fine, kind, and lovely woman.  What happened to her?”

“Power corrupts, absolutely,” Lincoln suggested.

“That isn’t it,” Rajish said.  “The Nanette you know is still with Professor Fleming, I believe.  It was her concern for you traveling into the past that inspired her to beg Minerva for some way to help and protect you.  The goddess agreed, and before I could stop her, she made a duplicate Nanette, like a twin.”  Rajish shook his head.  “It was as I feared.  In the spiritual world, identical twins, same gender, are rare and special.  When they are like fraternal twins, like Apollo and Artemis, they are fine, but identical twins are often a problem.  It is mostly a human myth, but in the spiritual world, it is often true enough that there is one good twin and one bad twin.  I feared this would happen.  The fact that Nanette has proved to be a very capable witch is a complication.”

“I’ll say…” Alexis yawned again and laid the non-bandaged side of her head against Lincoln’s shoulder.  She appeared to be ready to sleep.

Rajish stood.  “You need to stay here a few days.  Alexis, being a healer, will heal faster than most.  Still, I wouldn’t recommend moving her for a few days.”

###

When the time came, the three mystics helped the travelers avoid a flash flood in a valley as they headed toward the foothills.  They avoided a tiger attack one morning as they climbed up into those hills, and on one evening, they drove off an attack from a pack of about fifteen dholes. Lockhart thought they were jackals, but Elder Stow said they were more like hyenas.

Elder Stow and Decker each took one of the mystics to ride with them.  Sukki and Boston doubled up on Boston’s horse, Honey, so the one mystic who knew how to ride a horse could ride Sukki’s horse, Freedom, and lead the way.

Decker and Elder Stow still moved out on the wings from time to time, but the mystics said that was where they wanted to be.  The third one often rode out front.  They said that their senses could stretch out and pick up the lay of the land in front and around the travelers.  They could also sense that the witch had come through the area, but they admitted that they did not know if the flood and predators was something the witch did, or just natural phenomena.  The dhole and the tiger might have just seen the horses as large prey after a long, hard winter.

“Getting close to humans might have been a calculated risk, not having experience with your weapons,” one said.

To be honest, they did not ride much. They walked most of the way, in part because of the burden on the horses, and in part because of the uncertainty of the terrain under the snow.  Lincoln did not want another overburdened horse to slip and twist a leg, and Alexis still touched her head, though she had healed well.

On the eighth day, the mystic who rode out front looked at the chestnut he had been given.  He affirmed Boston’s prediction that they would reach the time gate by sundown.  A short time later, they all began to hear howling and screeching in the wilderness.

“Yeti?” Lockhart asked.

“Snow leopards,” one mystic said.

“They are often blamed for the myth of the Yeti…” Katie began, thought about what she said, and added.  “Of course, now we know otherwise…”

They came to the edge of a woods and another steep hill, like the hill of the mudslide, except this one looked covered in snow.  At once, like the last time, the ground began to tremble.  The distant yowling increased.  The snow gave way.

“Avalanche,” Lincoln yelled, and this time, they had no time to mount and ride away.  Fortunately, Elder Stow flipped a switch on his screen device, which he wisely set up ahead of time, for once.  The snow, rocks and uprooted trees stopped and piled up at the edge of the screen, or slid over top.  Elder Stow had to get his weapon out to burn a short tunnel away from the hill.  They made it out from beneath the mess without too much difficulty, and when they reached the camp beside the next time gate, the mystics had something to say.

“It seems to me you have the resources to counter about anything the witch might attack you with.”

“That depends on what she throws at us,” Decker said, as the only negative comment.

“Still,” the man continued.  “Don’t worry about us.  We are adjusted to this environment and have some resources of our own. We should be home in about four days, five at the outside.  It took longer coming here because we needed to find a route safe for the horses and we had obstacles to avoid.”

People nodded.  On the return trip, the mystics did not have anyone trying to kill them.

The travelers stepped through the time gate first thing in the morning.  When Boston and Sukki got relegated to the rear again, they shared their thoughts.

“I hope the witch thinks we got killed by one of her traps,” Boston said.

Sukki only said one thing.  “I’m scared.”

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

MONDAY

The travelers look for Ophelia, a Spartan princess just after a war with Athens, and they run into Wolv, one thing to make Spartans and Athenians join forces.  Until then, Happy Reading

*

Avalon 6.7 Yeti, part 3 of 4

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That day, the clouds closed in. They left by dawn, traveled under occasional snow flurries, and did not stop until sundown, riding as much as possible, and only walking the horses now and then to give them a rest.  That night it began to snow in earnest, and by morning, they entered blizzard conditions.  The snow came thick, and a mist came up from the ground and limited vision to a few feet.  Elder Stow’s promise that they should reach the monastery by the end of the day was the one thing that kept them going.

The travelers lined up, single file, to keep the horse in front in view.  Alexis convinced Boston to ride out front and extend her elf senses to find the best route to travel.  Boston knew she had some such skill, but she never tried it before, except that one time when the volcano went off.

Boston imagined fairies who might supply some fairy lights to help them navigate the snow.  What she heard was a distant hoop, hoop.  She smiled.

“We got hoopers,” she yelled to the others.

“Great,” Decker said, giving it his sarcastic best.  He rode a bit out on the flank, but never far enough to lose the train.

Boston led.  She could make a fairy light of sorts if it got dark enough. She also had the fire in her fingertips, if needed.  Sukki followed her at the head of the actual line when Boston rode ahead to check with her hooper friends.  Elder Stow came next.  He kept one eye on the scanner to keep them from deviating too far from the path to the monastery.  He also had a light, and the only one strong enough to penetrate the terrible storm.

“Good thing I’m up front,” Boston shouted to Sukki.  “Last time we went through a storm like this, I followed Elder Stow.  He left the line without telling anyone, and went invisible. I ended up lost as all get out.”

“Really?”  Sukki looked back at Elder Stow.

“No worry here,” Elder Stow spoke up. “No sign of any Gott-Druk around to tempt me.”

Katie and Lockhart followed Elder Stow, watching carefully in case the wolves or something like a snow leopard might get their scent in the wind.  Somehow, every hour brought colder and colder air.

“This storm doesn’t feel natural,” Katie tried to whisper.

“Careful.  You’ll scare Lincoln.”  Lockhart looked back, and then grinned at Katie, even if she could not quite see it in the snow.  After a moment, he added, “I agree.”  This felt like no spring storm, even if it was really early spring.

Evan and Millie came after Lockhart. Millie got out her blanket, and riding behind her husband, she tried to keep the two of them covered.  It limited their vision except straight ahead, but it helped some against the increasingly frigid wind.

Lincoln and Alexis came last on Lincoln’s horse, Cortez.  Alexis could turn her magic wind against anything following that might get too close. She could hold about anything at bay, until Lincoln got his handgun out.  She prayed that would not be needed.

“My hands are going to freeze to the reins,” Lincoln said.

“Fairy weave can only do so much,” Alexis responded in his ear.  “The poor horses must really be suffering.”

“Good thing these tents are adaptable,” Lincoln agreed.  “At least their legs are covered with long, medieval-like blankets.”

“I think they are called saddle pads,” Alexis said.  “It was well before my time.”

“No pads in the 1770s?”  Lincoln teased.

“Not since gunpowder took over,” Alexis smiled and slapped him gently on the shoulder.

They rode across a big open field where the wind blasted them and made each step colder than the one before. Cortez kept his head down.  At least the wind whipped across the field and he did not have to head straight into it.

“Trees ahead.”  They heard Boston, far away as she was in the storm.  As an elf, she could make herself heard when needed.

“Good thing,” Lincoln said.

Alexis nodded, even if Lincoln could not see her.  “Give the horses a break from the wind.”

“Give me a break,” Lincoln shivered.

Two hoopers bounced alongside Boston. Sukki marveled at the creatures, or strange people.  She remembered that the travelers always called others, people, even if they were not human people, or in her case, Gott-Druk people.  She glanced back at her adopted Gott-Druk father.  Elder Stow turned on his spotlight as he went among the trees to give some illumination in the dark.  It had been dark all day, but among the trees it got especially dark.

Decker slipped in behind Elder Stow, and Katie and Lockhart hurried to get out of the wind.  Millie pulled her blanket up over her and Evan’s heads against whatever snow might slip off the branches.  Cortez stepped on a slippery rock and fell to his knees, spilling Lincoln and Alexis.  Alexis hit her head on that same rock.  Lincoln got deposited in a snow bank by the trees.

Lincoln dug himself out of the snow as Cortez got to his feet.  The horse appeared to be limping, but Lincoln could not be concerned about that yet. “Alexis,” he called. She did not answer, so he crawled to where he saw her, lying still.  “Alexis,” he said more softly when he reached her, then he added, “Oh crap.”  As he turned her head to face him, he saw a big gash just above her temple.  She was unconscious.

“Crap,” he said again, and got up to grab Cortez’s reins.  He needed the medical pack Alexis carried.  Cortez favored one leg, but it did not appear broken.  Lincoln thought to shout as he got what he needed. “Hey!  Stop!  Help! Hey, stop!”

The only ones close enough were Evan and Millie, but between the trees and the blanket pulled over their heads, they heard nothing.  Even Boston, with her good elf ears, did not hear.  Her mind focused on what was ahead and did not worry about those behind her.

“Alexis,” Lincoln called her again as he held the gauze against her head to stop the bleeding.

“Benjamin,” she responded softly, but did not come out of her faint.

“Damn,” Lincoln said.  He had plenty of snow to clean the wound, and the cold probably helped more than he knew, but he did not know if he could move her. He had to.  His hands were frostbitten and his nose and ears, right through his hat and scarf, felt like they were going to fall off.

With great effort, he got a bandaged Alexis up in Cortez’s saddle, where he took what rope they had and tied her down. He draped her arms around Cortez’s neck, and would walk beside her to make sure she did not slip off.  Cortez definitely limped, but the horse was a trooper and did not argue.

Lincoln walked them carefully into the woods.  He thought he might be able to make out the trail.  Seven horses ahead of them, walking in more or less single file, might not be too hard to follow.  The trees helped with the wind, but it felt colder in the stillness of the trees.

Very quickly, Lincoln knew he would not be able to follow for very long.  They had to be way ahead of them by then.  The snow would not let up.  And while he could still see the trail under the trees, it would be well covered by the time he got to the next open field.  They already moved right to get down one hill, and far to the left to get up another.  No guarantee they moved in a straight line from this point, and he had no idea how far away the monastery might be.

Sure enough, they came to a wide-open field.  Lincoln stopped at the edge of the trees and tried to think what he could do.  He could keep walking, he decided.  Or he could die of hypothermia in this weather. He considered stopping and starting a fire, but he did not know if he could do that.  He did not have fire in his fingertips the way Boston did.

Lincoln squinted.  He imagined a light in the distance.  He convinced himself it was Elder Stow’s spotlight, though the back of his head said he was imagining things.  He walked.  Cortez limped beside him.  Alexis became conscious enough to hang on.  And he walked, until they got well out into the field.  He knew he was not thinking straight, but he could not do anything about that.

“Boston…” he tried one last call, but it sounded weak and would not carry in the storm.  Then Cortez stumbled again, and Lincoln, in a sense, surrendered. He got Alexis free, and they slipped to the snow where they leaned against the horse, and he held her to share what body warmth he had left.  The thought of getting their blankets did not occur to him.  He felt too close to unconsciousness himself.  His only hope was the others would notice their absence and Elder Stow might pick them up with his scanner.

Something in the back of his mind said wrist watch communicator, but his thoughts felt frozen.  He could not figure out what that might be.

It felt like an hour.  It might have only been a minute.  Lincoln became vaguely aware of a man standing over them. The man picked up Alexis like a baby and put her to his shoulder.  Lincoln let her go, thinking she would get the help she needed.  The man somehow got Cortez to stand, and then reached for Lincoln. He picked up Lincoln like a sack of potatoes, under his arm, with his head pointing back toward the horse.

“Cortez,” Lincoln whispered, and the horse, relieved of the burden of Alexis, followed.

They walked slowly so the horse could keep up.  Lincoln lost all sense of time, but it was not long before they came over a rise and found the monastery straight ahead.  There were people on horseback in the gate, but they didn’t ride out until the man set down Lincoln.  He gently placed Alexis in Lincoln’s arms, and backed away.  The last thing Lincoln remembered was the horrendous smell of the man. He felt like throwing up, but he did not have the strength.

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

TOMORROW.  Don’t forget, 4 posts this week, so come back for the conclusion…

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Avalon 6.7 Yeti, part 2 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The following morning, the clouds closed in again, and by noon, it started raining, a cold, soaking kind of rain; the kind to put everyone out of sorts.  Elder Stow and Decker stayed in close, given the rough terrain, and even Boston and Sukki did not straggle far behind.

By noon, everyone felt miserable; but Evan reminded them of the monastery up ahead, and when Elder Stow claimed the small dot on his scanner might indicate human habitation, they all felt a little better.  They hurried lunch, but would have hurried it in the rain in any case.

Around two that afternoon, the rain turned into a deep mist-like fog that limited their visibility.  Decker and Elder Stow moved in closer on the flanks. Ears opened, and talk came in whispers, until Boston shouted, “Hush.”  She stopped moving, and Sukki stopped with her.  Lockhart clearly did not want to stop in the open, out in the rain, but he did.  Elder Stow and Decker came all the way from the flanks.  “Hush,” Boston repeated.  She pointed to the woods up ahead, but off the line they traveled, to their right, and down a gentle hill.

Everyone heard.  It sounded faint, in the distance.  A barely audible, Boom, Boom.

“Sounds like someone has a big club,” Lincoln said.

“What are they hitting?  Drums?” Evan asked.

“Trees, I think,” Alexis answered.

Katie closed her eyes for a second, and stretched her hand out toward the sound.  “I sense no danger to us from that direction.”

“Your Yeti?” Sukki quietly asked Boston, who shrugged.

Decker spoke sensibly.  “I’m not picking up a pattern.  If it is a message, it may not be for us.”

Lockhart nodded.  “Which way?”

Boston pulled out her amulet and pointed the way they were heading.  Lockhart started them moving again.  As they pushed slowly into the woods, the Boom, Boombecame louder and began to pick up speed.

Very quickly, they came to a stream among the trees.  “Winter runoff,” Lincoln called it.

“Rain melted snow from further uphill,” Alexis agreed.

“Woah,” Lockhart shouted and stopped. A hill, hidden by the fog, rose up before them.  It looked almost steep enough to be a cliff.

Boom-boom-boom-boom... The drumming became very fast, like someone banging between two trees. Katie closed her eyes again and faced the sound.  Lockhart got ready to cross the stream, but waited for Katie.  He watched as her eyes sprang open.

“It’s a warning,” she said.  “Back to the meadow,” she yelled and swung her horse around.  “Hurry,” she added, as the ground began to tremble. The others started more slowly, but sped up by the time they heard the rumbling on the hill.  The hillside gave way.  Hugh chunks of mud and boulders rushed to the forest below.  Bushes were crushed, and saplings snapped.  Big, old trees cracked and fell over.  The stream got blocked and had to find a new path. Horses and riders burst from the woods as the rumbling stopped.  The mudslide stopped at the edge of the forest.

“Everyone here?” Lockhart yelled over the din of voices.  Everyone was, though they all looked rather shaken.  “Which way?” Lockhart asked again, wanting to get out of that area, just to be safe.

Katie and Boston both pointed toward the Boom, Boom, which had once again slowed and sounded more distant.

“Warning?” Lincoln asked, having heard that word.  Katie nodded.

“We would have had to go around that hill in any case,” Lockhart said.

“I would go the opposite way,” Decker said, softly.

“I think we are outvoted,” Elder Stow said more loudly, but only because Gott-Druk are not good at whispering.

The travelers gave the hill a wide berth, and came down into a valley where a small river ran, no doubt made up of many small streams.  The rain stopped and the mist cleared off about the time they found an acceptable campsite.

The booming had long since stopped, but this time no one jumped when Boston said, “Yeti,” and pointed up river. Some eyes turned in that direction, though of course, they did not see anything.

“Thank you.”  Alexis thought to shout that out, just before Boston said, “Gone.”

“Do you think they could be like the fauns, slipping into another universe?” Decker asked.

“No,” Elder Stow said.  He sat frowning and shaking his head at his scanner. “I have adjusted the scanner to pick up any such thing, like movement out of the world altogether, like a hole in the world to another dimension, or something.  No.  I’m catching glimpses, but having trouble picking up the Yeti, or whatever it is, even when it is there.  I have no way of knowing where it goes.”

“Time distortion,” Lincoln said, reading from the database.  “There is very little in here about the Bigfoot or Yeti.  That may be on purpose.  There may be some things the Kairos does not want known, for some reason. But anyway, as near as I can figure, the Yeti lives a few seconds in the future.  It can phase into our time stream when it wants, but mostly it moves ahead of us, in time, I mean.  I think when your equipment tries to focus in on it, it has already moved on.  That probably doesn’t make much sense.”

“No.  That is helpful,” Elder Stow said.  “I am not sure what I can do about that.  The scanner does not have a temporal adjustment.  But it is helpful to know.”

“The elusive bigfoot,” Lockhart said.

“It will never be seen unless it wants to be seen,” Katie added, agreeing with Lockhart.

People sat quietly for a minute. They tried to get warm by the fire, grateful that the fairy weave clothing was self-cleaning and self-drying.  All that frigid rain did not stick to them, or to their fairy weave blankets and tents.  Sadly, the horses were not self-drying, but the travelers did the best they could.  At least, by the river, the horses had some snow and ice-free grass to eat.  Then Evan had a thought.

“It seems to me, the question is, why is the Yeti following us.”

“And warning us,” Millie added.

No one had an answer, and soon, people went off to bed, keeping their watch in the night.

All remained quiet—cold, but quiet, until the shift change at four in the morning.  At that time of year, in that part of the world, the sun set around five-thirty in the evening, and rose again around six-thirty in the morning. Millie asked about the time.  She said she did not notice when they walked, but now that they had watches, surely, they were several hours, or time zones east of Babylon.  Why didn’t they have to reset the watches for each time zone?

Katie answered.  “I asked at the very beginning.  Lincoln looked it up and explained that the time zones automatically adjusted a few hours one way or the other.  He could not explain how, exactly.  But the result is, when it is noon here, it is noon in all the time zones.”

“A blessing,” Alexis said.  “We would be utterly frazzled by now if we had to adjust our internal clocks every time we came into a new time zone.”

“Some things you just have to take by faith,” Boston added.

“I see,” Millie said.  “But then, I have seen plenty of things that I used to dismiss as fantasies of the mind.”

“Like magic?” Sukki asked, as Boston magically started the campfire despite the soaking wet wood.

“Like elves,” Millie answered, and reached out to touch Boston’s pointed ears.

Boston grinned.  “I was not born this way, you know.  But it feels so right.  I can’t explain it.  I just hope my parents and brothers can deal with it.”

That began a long conversation about what to expect when they got home.  Of course, they all paused to hug Sukki and say she would be welcome to make a home with them.  Sukki only cried a little, and that got Elder Stow’s attention. Soon the men joined the conversation, though realistically, they could only imagine what might have happened back home after five years of travel.

Boston still wondered about that when she and Sukki got up for the early morning shift.  Decker looked ready for a two-hour nap, and Elder Stow looked already asleep, when Boston shouted.

“Yeti!”

“Wolves!” Sukki shouted as well, even as she punched one that made a leap for her.  She moved fast, and given her natural Neanderthal strength, she knocked the wolf into a tree and undoubtedly broke its jaw.  She whipped out the knife Boston gave her, as Boston pulled her wand to lay down a line of flames between them and the wolves.  Decker grabbed his rifle, but paused to watch the Yeti.

The Yeti made a sound like Chewbacca on a bad day.  One by one, it caught three wolves by the scruff of the neck and tossed them, seemingly without much effort, into the half-frozen river.  It turned and roared at the rest of the pack, flailing its arms for any wolves that might not already be running for their lives.  Then in a few steps it disappeared among the trees.

Elder Stow switched on his screens just before three lynx came at them from the other direction.  One slammed into the screens and appeared dizzy. Decker shot one, since Elder Stow had long since adjusted things so he could shoot out and nothing could get in. The third lynx ran, but by then the others were up, and Alexis offered a thought.

“There is something more than accident going on here.  Lynx are solitary hunters.  They don’t hunt in packs like wolves.”

“Not to mention wolves and lynx attacking at the same time can’t be coincidence,” Lincoln added.

Lockhart and Katie came back from helping Boston and Sukki put out the line of bushes still smoldering from Boston’s fire.  “Maybe we need to hurry and get to that monastery before the next mudslide,” Lockhart said.

“Good thing everything is still wet,” Katie had a different thought.  “Boston might have set the whole forest on fire.”

“Nuh-uh,” Boston said, but no one said anything more.

Avalon 6.7 Yeti, part 1 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Don’t forget.  4 posts this week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Don’t miss it.

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After 529 BC, The Himalayas. Kairos lifetime 79: Rajish the Defender

Recording …

The travelers came out of the time gate and landed in a snow storm.  They stopped and thickened their fairy weave clothing to imitate the best winter coats, scarves, hats and boots.  The fairy weave tents got repurposed to cover the horses against the cold.  Then they walked and rode very little over the rough ground, looking for shelter against the storm.  They found a rock overhang where they and the horses could at least stay out of the wort of it.

By lunchtime, it did not look like they would make much progress on that day.  They huddled around the fire, watched the deer cook, and talked quietly against the silent, falling snow.

“I’m not picking up any signs of human habitation,” Elder stow said, with a shake of his scanner device.

“I couldn’t find anything either in this storm,” Decker agreed.  “Only the mountains in the distance, and we appear to be heading that way.”

“But, where is this place?” Evan asked. He looked at Millie, who shrugged. “We came this way, well, reverse, mostly through a storm, stronger than this one.  There is a monastery up the mountainside, about a week from here. Chinese, I think, though not exactly. They saved our lives, let me tell you.”

“Something to look forward to,” Lockhart said.  Katie shivered and pulled the blanket up as she snuggled closer to him.

“Let’s see,” Lincoln said, as he pulled out the database.  Alexis imitated Katie, pulling her blanket up and hugging Lincoln, but without the obvious shivering.  “Rajish. He is from the Ganges river area. My guess would be we are somewhere in the Himalayas, and it appears our path is uphill.”

“In winter?” Millie dreaded the idea.

“Spring.”  Boston took a big whiff of air.  “Really early spring.”

“But, he is from India?” Lockhart interjected.

Lincoln nodded.  “He went up into the mountains on rumors of Skudsu in the snow.” He paused when he saw curious faces, so he reminded everyone.  “You remember Lakshme, and her faithful elf companion, Libra.”  People smiled and nodded.

“Lucky girl…” Boston whispered.

Lincoln finished his thought. “Apparently, one piece of the stuff landed this far north, and froze.  It stayed dormant until a human found it. Of course, we don’t know if that has happened yet,” Lincoln added.  “We have to assume it has not, but at least we know he made it into the mountains, or we would be on the Ganges, or the Indus in the heat.”

“And he has been here for a while,” Millie said.

“We came this way before,” Evan repeated, and nodded.  “I imagine he has dealt with any rumors by now.  So, what is Skudsku?”

“An alien plant,” Lockhart said.

“Intelligent,” Katie added.

“Spreads like wildfire,” Alexis said, and Lincoln cleared his throat.

“Kills everything in its path.” Lincoln shivered, and not from the cold.

After a moment of silence, Evan said, “Sorry I asked.”

“Hush,” Boston said, sharply.  She looked behind her.  Katie sat up and looked in the same direction.  Decker’s head followed a moment later.

“What is it?” Millie asked.

“Shh!” Boston insisted.

“Something out there,” Decker said.  Sukki moved to the other side of the fire.  Elder Stow started up his scanner, but it would take a moment to change it from wide range to short range.

“Not a bear, or tiger, or whatnot,” Boston said.

“I’m not picking up danger,” Katie agreed.

“Gone,” Boston said.

“I’m not seeing anything,” Elder Stow admitted.

“Maybe just a squirrel or something,” Lincoln suggested.  Lockhart frowned at him, but no one contradicted him.

The snow stopped falling by four, but the gray clouds never went away.  They were not going anywhere that day, so they settled in for the night, giving the horses some extra attention since the horses had so little to eat.

The standard watch in the night became Evan and Millie from eight to ten, with Lincoln and Alexis from ten to midnight. The leaders of the expedition, Lockhart and Katie, took the middle of the night when they should have been sleeping. Decker with his rifle and Elder Stow with his scanner took the dark of night, between two and four in the morning. They woke the elf, Boston, so she could rise with the sun, and Sukki got up with her.  In this case, the watchers not only needed to watch over the camp, they had to keep a special eye on the horses, and keep the fire burning bright, and as warm as possible.  Though it stopped snowing, and the sky cleared around midnight, that just made the cold wind feel worse.

All that day, and the next, they traveled under mostly gray skies.  It felt warmer than hard winter, but not by much.  On the second day, they found some green patches in the snow.  They stopped in one large patch of green and let the horses nibble on what they could find.  The horses did not appear picky, and several nibbled on the trees, crunchy as the bark might be.

“I’m getting concerned about the horses,” Katie mentioned privately to Lockhart.

“How so?”  He had his own thoughts, but wanted to hear what she had to say.

“These horses have carried us through sixty time zones, according to Lincoln.  That is about two-and-a-half years, as Lincoln figures.  Decker, who has been counting the days, more or less agrees.”

“How do you figure?”

Katie paused a minute.  “It is ten days to two weeks between time gates, on average.  It was less when we began, but the time between gates has grown, so I am counting the average.  We sometimes stop and rest with the Kairos in the center for a few days, but sometimes we get hurried up by the gods or Tobaka’s Android ship, or some such thing. Altogether, that makes a rough two week per time zone average.  That puts us somewhere in the sixteenth week of the third year since we got the horses. Decker figures we are forty-five days’ shy of three full years, though he counts it from when we arrived on the plains of Shinar, before we got the horses.  Putting it together, I would guess we are a hundred and sixty-four days into our third year with the horses.”

“One-sixty-four sounds pretty accurate for an estimate,” Lockhart said, and smiled.

Katie returned the smile.  “I try,” she said.

“But I figure we got them when they were six or seven, so fully mature, and well trained to the saddle.  At age nine or ten, they aren’t even middle-aged yet,” Lockhart said, doing some figuring of his own.

“But we have worked them pretty hard these three years.”

Lockhart nodded.  “But we walk them as much as ride them.  We stop by six or sooner, and leave at six or later. Figure a two-hour lunch, and that is only a nine or ten-hour work day.  Plus, we do take three or four days of rest about every two weeks.”

“I understand,” Katie agreed.  “But I would guess we have another two to three years to travel to get home.  When we get into landscapes like this where there is so little for them, beneath the snow and all… I don’t know.  I worry about them.  This is some rough duty, day after day.”

“Rough for all of us.  Aren’t you afraid I will wear out?”

Katie reached for his hand.  “Poor baby.”

He stopped to kiss her.

When they got to the end of the third day, Boston shouted from the rear.  “He’s here again.”  As soon as she shouted, Katie looked in the right direction.  For three days, on each day near the evening, they heard and sensed something.  Elder Stow, who did not wander out far on the wing, given the conditions, and the fact that there did not appear to be any people in the immediate area, quickly got out his scanner.

“No, nothing,” he said.  “I am not picking up anything.  Wait… No.”

Decker came in from the other side. “I saw something big moving through the woods.”

“Dragon big?” Lockhart asked.

“No.”

“No,” Elder Stow interrupted.  “The scanner is set for dragon.  Can’t hide such a thing.”

“So, some life form the scanner does not recognize?” Boston asked.  Elder Stow nodded.

“How big?” Lockhart got back to his question.

“Seven or eight feet, maybe nine. Bi-pedal.  It moved among the trees where I could not actually see it.” Decker checked his rifle.

People stood quietly thinking before Lincoln blurted out, “Bigfoot?”

“Yeti,” Alexis corrected him.  “In this part of the world, it would be the yeti. I know that much.”

“Just a myth,” Lockhart said, and everyone looked at him like he lost a screw. “Okay. Forget I said that.”

Katie helped him out.  “I don’t sense any hostile intent.”

Lockhart looked around.  They stood in a large field where some grass tried to poke through the snow.  They seemed surrounded by forest, but some distance away on all sides.  The wind was down.  Lockhart did not think for long.

“We camp here, in the middle of the field.  Be careful gathering wood.  Let the horses loose and build the fire nice and big.  Maybe we won’t be disturbed in the night, but at least we should see something approach.”

People looked up, but the clouds did not appear threatening, so they got busy making camp.  Meanwhile, Boston had to explain to Sukki what she meant when she said, “Bumbles bounce.”