Avalon

Avalon 2.11: People In Time

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Children can get underfoot, but they can also vanish when they want to avoid something unpleasant.  Disappearing is not hard when you have a tree house so high up in the trees it is completely hidden by branches and leaves.  All the children had to do was wait until the minions of Set went back to their boats.  Then they could climb down and see if any of their parents survived.

###

            It was not a long time before Usersi spied the three enemy boats shove off into the Nile for a trip downriver.  There were a half-dozen villages before Abydos.  Emotep had no idea the lowlanders had come as far upriver to take Abydos, the burial place of the kings – the burial place of Osiris.  Set had to be stopped, but apparently the king in Hierakon was doing nothing. 

            Neferet was anxious for her parents and Ankara was inclined to agree with his sister.  But even as the boats moved downriver, a strange sight came from upriver.  Ka saw great beasts lumbering along, and people appeared to be sitting on top of the beasts.  He called everyone to look, but only Emotep caught a glimpse before the beasts and people went behind a rise in the landscape.

            “You are imagining things,” Aha-Aa said.  “You have been up here and trembling in fear for too long.”  He went down first because he was the eldest.  After a moment he gave the all clear signal and the others scurried down the rope.  By then Ka had thought of a comeback.

            “I was not afraid.”

            “You were too,” Aha gave the expected response.

            They tied off the rope where it would not be obvious and went up to the village to see who was still alive  To be honest, they were all as worried about their parents as their parents were worried in return.  .

             Mother Beset came running as soon as she saw them.  She hugged Aha and almost hugged Emotep before she picked up Ka, seven years old and all.  She cried on Kora as Father Meni came up.  Aha just looked at Father and Meni spoke.

            “They have taken all the youngest.  They took Nidjauamun.”

            “What do you mean they took Nidjau?”

            Father wiped the water from his eyes.  “We count fifteen, all under six or seven years.  We are not sure.  Some of the parents are dead.”

            “We have to get them back,” Aha shouted.  “The minions of Set can’t win.”

            “I wonder what they want with the young ones.” Emotep said.

            “To eat them.”  Ka got down from his mother’s arms and ran to the group.  “They are going to eat Nidjau.”

            “They are not going to eat Nidjau,” Aha scoffed, but Father put a hand to the boy’s shoulder and looked like he was not too sure.

            “How many villages are there downriver between here and Abydos?” Emotep asked.

            “Three or four?” Father shrugged, looked at Emotep and wondered what crazy scheme he was concocting.  Emotep just nodded as the travelers rode into the village.  Some people screamed and moved away from the center of the village, certain that this was another terrible trial sent by the gods.  Some just stared in bewilderment, never having seen such a thing before.  The two in the rear got down an stepped forward.

            “Is everything alright?” The woman spoke.  “We saw the smoke.” 

            “Can we help?”  The man asked.

            “Yes,” Emotep said as he dragged his father forward and his friends and brothers followed in his wake.  “But I am not sure how, yet.”

            “Son?”  Father was reluctant to get too close.

            “Elder Stow,” Emotep shouted to the Gott-Druk who was deliberately keeping back, out of sight.  He could go invisible, but he could not put up a glamour to pretend to be human like Roland the elf.  “Did you see the boats downriver as you  came along?”

            “We saw them,” the woman out front spoke while the man nodded.

            “Good.  Elder Stow, get a scanner wave on them and track them.  I need to know if they stop at any of the other villages before they reach Abydos.  Father, this is Lockhart and Katie.  This is my Father Meni, my elder brother Aha, my younger brother Kamun, my friends Usersi and Ankaret and his little sister, Neferet.”

            “Pleased to meet you.”  Lockhart forgot himself and stuck out his hand.  Father Meni put his hand up slowly and Lockhart grabbed him by the wrist, gave a hearty shake and let go.  “Now, what happened here?”  The rest of the crew dismounted as he spoke, except Captain Decker who remained in the saddle.

            “The minions of Set,” Usersi yelled before  Meni could speak.

            “They are going to eat Nidjau,” Ka added.

            Father Meni shook his head.  “Men came.  They killed some, they burned some houses, they took all the young children, I don’t know what for.”

              “Boston!” Emotep yelled and ran forward to give Boston a hug.  Roland just smiled.  “Alexis!  Good to have you back.  I know Lincoln is happy.  And you are welcome to tend the wounded.”  Alexis was already headed in that direction.  “She is a great healer.”  Emotep shouted to the crowd.

            “Emotep?”  Lincoln always had to ask to be sure.  Emotep nodded.

            “Lord,”  Elder Stow stepped up, and though he was staring at some instrument in his hand, he gave everyone a new start, never having seen or even imagined a Neanderthal.  “I have their position, roughly.  It is not a clear picture because I was not able to scope their parameters, but they have indeed stopped in the village just below this one.”

            “Probably devastating it and stealing their children too,” Ankara suggested.  Emotep nodded again.

            “Decker,” he called.  “Are you going to join us, and put down that gun.”

            “I do not understand, my son,”  Meni stepped closer to Emotep.

            “Lockhart.”  Emotep pointed at his father.  “Don’t you want to meet my mother?”

            “Of course,” Lockhart and Katie spoke together and turned toward the waiting crowd where Alexis was already at work.

            “Lincoln, I need you and Roland to assess the damage and see what can be fixed and what must be replaced.  Boston, who is your passenger?”

            Boston wrinkled her brow as if she had to think to remember.  “Sakhmet,” she said.  They watched Captain Decker help the girl down from the back of his horse where she had been holding on.  “She said her mother is gone and she is escaping from a horrible, mean man who won’t let her do anything.  A stepdad, I assume.  She said she is trying to reach her real father.  He is all the way downriver in Memphis.”

            “A runaway.”  Emotep tapped his foot.  The girl looked to be about ten or eleven, at least no older than twelve.  As the girl came close, Aha stepped up and shoved Emotep behind him.

            “Sakhmet.  I am Aha-Aa, the eldest.  Welcome to our village.”  He gave a little bow and she smiled but walked passed him to put her hand gently against Emotep’s cheek.  A most curious expression crossed the girl’s face before she turned and picked up Neferet.

            “Yes, he seems very nice,” she said to Neferet.  “But I don’t really know him.”

            Usersi stopped grinning as Sakhment and Neferet walked off to see what the adults were doing.  He nudged Aha, who frowned.  Ankara spoke.

            “Nice moves, he teased.

 ###

Avalon 2.11:  Joining the Club … Next Time

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Avalon 2.11: Scorpion

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 3324 BC, Upper Egypt.  Kairos life 31: Emotep, the Scorpion

Recording …

            Mother Beset ran into the house and slammed the door against all the yelling and screaming in the village square.  She made her children get into the corners and under the table and tossed blankets over them because she did not know what else to do.  “Aha,” she spoke to the eldest.  “Keep your brothers covered and quiet.”

            “Mother?”  Emotep spoke from under the table, but Beset ran back out the front door.

            “Quiet!”  Aha commanded.

            “Who made you Ra?”

            “You will listen to Aha-Aa, because I am the eldest.”  Aha was twelve.  “And Mama said so.”

            “You are the smelliest,” Ka joked.  He was only seven but he generally took ten-year-old Emotep’s side.

            Aha looked about ready to abandon his corner and use his fist when Emotep spoke again.  “Where is Nidjau?”  Nidjau was the baby, just about five.

            “Mother?”  Ka asked.  The door crashed open.  A man came into the house, looked once around, rubbed his finger on the table as if checking for dust.  Emotep saw the sandals from beneath the table and was only happy Ka did not scream, or Aha.  The man looked around, no doubt saw the blankets wiggling in the back corners by the bed, but ignored them.  Even if Ka moved, he would figure it was children.  As long as there were no adults hiding, he turned back to the door. 

            “Burn it,” the man said. 

            Two men responded.  “ Yes Lord Seth.”

            Lord Seth grunted as he left, but the two others came in with torches.  They set the reed chairs aflame and left the torches on the matted floor,  Fortunately, they did not stay to watch it burn, and the boys were able to get out from the blankets.  Aha immediately tried to use his blanket to put out the fire.  Ka tried real hard not to cry or shout out in his fear.  Emotep thought.

            “Aha, if we put it out they will come back and wonder who put it out.”  Emotep grabbed Nidjau’s doll with his blanket and told Ka to bring his blanket.  He went to the back window and looked.  Their house backed up to a small grove of trees.  No one was there, so he climbed out and turned to help Ka to the ground.  Aha came over to the window and yelled at them.

            “Where are you going?  Mother said to stay here.”

            “Yell a little louder.  Maybe the enemy will hear you and come running with swords to cut us all into little pieces.”  Aha put his hand to his mouth, glanced back at the spreading fire.

            “Wait up,” he said and disappeared for a moment.  He came back with an un-burnt blanket and a sack of bread with a couple of onions and a skin of Papa’s best beer.  “Okay,” he climbed out.

            “This way.  Keep your head down, like we practiced.  Try not to be seen,” Emotep said.  Ka nodded and followed in his footsteps.  Aha just had to say something.

            “Who would have thought learning to sneak around would prove useful.  Where are we going?”

            “The clubhouse,” Emotep answered.  Aha just nodded.  It was the obvious place for the children and deliberately hidden, more or less, from the grown-ups.

            The three brothers made it to the woods and a short way down the back hill they came to a spot where three trees grew close together, practically from the same seed.  Emotep whistled and a rope ladder came snaking down from above.  He sent Ka up first.

            “Go ahead,” Aha said, so Emotep went up next.  Aha brought up the rear to the place where big branches from the trees intertwined and fought for dominance.  They laid out some wood there, knowing it would not be seen from below.  They also could not be seen from the village, though they could spy through the branches and see some.  They could also spy out the other side where it was a very good view all the way down the hill to the Nile.  Emotep once estimated he could see almost a mile of the river from there.

            Ankara was already there with big Usersi, and Ankara brought his little sister, Neferet.  She was just five, Nidjau’s age, and had been crying.  Emotep covered her with his blanket before he spoke. 

            “They will probably thrash through the bushes below, so we have to be very quiet until we are sure they have left.”

            “Their boat is on the river,” Ankara reported.

            “When it leaves,” Emotep said again, and Aha just had to say something.

            “Who would have thought this clubhouse of yours would ever prove useful?”

            The wait was not long, only about an hour, and then the boys had questions.

            “Were those the minions of Set you warned us about?” Usersi asked.  Emotep merely nodded.

            “I heard two soldiers talk to Lord Seth,” Ka said.

            “But how did you know the minions of Set would come here?”  Ankara was the curious one.  He was a thinker in his way.

            “It is what I told you.  Osiris is stuck between life and death.  He cannot come here anymore except as a ghost.  Set thinks now he can conquer the whole river, but he will kill the river unless we can stop him.”

            “How do you propose to stop a god?”  Aha asked.  An image of the death of Tiamut flashed through Emotep’s mind, but he did not mention it.

            “Not the god, but his minions.  They are not gods.  We can learn to fight and beat them back to the swamps of lower Egypt where they belong.”

            “I can learn to fight,” Usersi volunteered.

            Ankara shook his head, but his little sister spoke up.  “I can learn to fight, too.”

            “Me too,” Ka said.

            Aha said nothing for a change.

 ###

Avalon 2.11:  People In Time … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Loose Ends

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            I think confusion is Eliyawe’s middle name.  As angry as she was, even Zoe got caught up in the play, it being Eliyawe’s time period and all.  But Alexis is safe and restored to Lincoln’s arms.  Where Mingus is, no one knows.

###

            Back at the camp, Eliyawe first turned on the midget in their midst.  She shook her finger to scold the poor former giant.  “Gorman, you lived a good long time being bigger than everyone and making people afraid.  Crush their bones, indeed.  Now you can live the rest of your days smaller than everyone.  And you will like it.”

            “I won’t like it,” Gorman grumped, but he knew he had no choice in the matter and nowhere else to go.

            “All the same, you better stick with Atonas the fisherman.  If you follow me, the gods will find you for sure and then you won’t live at all, I reckon.”  Eliyawe looked over at Marduk and Assur.

            “I want a horse,” Assur said.

            “Can’t be a real cowboy without a horse,” Marduk agreed.

            “Sit and be good for now.  It is supper time.”  The boys grumbled, but complied.  Katie did not mind cooking.  Eliyawe got up to help and together they made a pass at the remaining deer and some bread crackers. 

            “A bit lean on vegetables,” Katie said and Eliyawe shrugged and wiggled to some unheard music.

            Most of the spices they used to make the local venison more palatable had been in Alexis’ bag.  They retrieved the bag and all the vitamin jars which mysteriously refilled themselves.  They also got the pouch in which Alexis carried her portion of the bread crackers.  That also refilled itself, but the spices, though they found the containers thanks to Elder Stow, they remained mostly empty.  Fortunately, Eliyawe found some local grasses that cooked up something like lemongrass.

            “Better on chicken,” She said, but it would do to cut the gamey flavor.  

            No one bothered Alexis as she cried on Lincoln’s shoulder and whispered softly to him.  He whispered in return and she had his full attention.  Lockhart did what he could to help with the cooking, but he and Katie, with Boston chiming in now and then wanted to know the whole story of Eliyawe’s adventures.  Elias told most of it, with Jonas showing his wit now and then.

            “But what about these two?”  Katie asked at last.  “Young gods, very young I am guessing.  How is it they are willing to go along?”  She wanted to say obey Eliyawe’s commands, but she imagined that might be rude, and being rude to even young gods was never advisable.

             “About one hundred and fifty,” Eliyawe said and sat down so she would not have to cook anymore.  “More than old enough to start acting mature.”  She gave the boys a sharp look and they pretended not to notice.  “You remember Beltain and that great migration from Caana to the land of Sumer.  You were there I think when she got called off at the end.  Doctor Mishka was needed.  You see, without the good Doctor, they would never have survived, even being gods.  Their mother gave me a special dispensation so I could check on them from time to time and make sure all the extraordinary measures it took to save their lives were still in order and without complications.  They kind of have to obey.  Personally, I think I grew too much skull and made them into hardheaded knuckleheads.  But I love them dearly as if they were my own.”

            Marduk and Assur looked up at her when she said that.  They looked surprised, and pleased, and Assur appeared to form a little tear in his eye.  Eliyawe did not see because she turned to Elias.  “Husband.  I think I am going to be a strict mother.  I hope you don’t mind.”  She pecked at his lips and his hand came up to touch his lips, but his eyes went out of focus and looked up at the darkening sky.

            “Lost,” Jonas said.  “Now he’ll be dreaming all night about being a father.  How about you people.  Do you have any children?”

            Katie found Jonas looking at her.  She pointed at Lockhart.  “Oh, we’re not married.”

            “Us neither,” Boston looked at Roland.  “Not yet anyway.”

            “I haven’t asked her yet,” Roland admitted in front of everyone.

            “We have three so far,” Alexis sat up.  Lincoln kept his arm around her to protect and support her.  “I would like another.”  Lincoln said nothing.

            Clearly Jonas wanted to ask more, but once Alexis was out of her weeping, Roland could no longer contain himself.  “What about father?”  he asked.  “Alexis, where is he?”

            “I don’t know.”  Alexis’ voice was soft and she shook her head.  “When Atonas left in the morning, Father woke and said I should rest.  He said I had been on watch all night by myself and needed my sleep.  He seemed perfectly normal.  But when I woke, he had packed up his tent and things, saddled up and left.  And he left the camp in disarray, so I wondered if perhaps he swallowed some of the poison he pulled out of me. 

            “LSD,” Lincoln told her.

            “But in a day or two it will work out of the system and in the lake and the sea it will sink and not be a hazard.  The streams will be clean again and people will be normal soon enough.”

            “Father has the prototype.”  Alexis looked at Boston first before she returned her eyes to her brother Roland.

            “The what?”  Lockhart asked.

            “He has the prototype amulet that leads him to the next time gate.  He took it from the history department on Avalon.  He worked on it.  That is how he took me into the past when he first kidnapped me.”

            “You mean I don’t have the only one?”  Boston pulled hers out from beneath her shirt and looked at it carefully before she also looked at Roland.

            “So when he sobers up, he should be able to follow us well enough.”  Captain Decker spoke and Alexis nodded.  “So no need to mount a search and rescue mission,” he concluded.

            People paused to think and eventually looked at Lockhart.  Lockhart looked at Roland and Alexis because it was their father.

            “Father can take care of himself,” Roland said and Alexis nodded her agreement with that assessment.

            “Good,” Eliyawe jumped up.  “Because it would probably be best if you were gone by the time the gods wake up.”  She began to wiggle.  “I’m hungry.”  Then she began to sing and dance while she waited.  “Something, something runnin’.  Da-da-da-da-da-da.  Head out on the highway.  Da-da-da-da-da-da.  Lookin’ for adventure.  Da-da-da-da-da-da.  And whatever comes my way.  Hey!  Lincoln.  Get out the database.  I am sure I loaded Steppenwolf in there.”

            Everyone’s eyes shifter to Lincoln.  “There is an extensive music library in here,” he said, but he did not look up at the others.  He had not exactly been forthcoming with that information.  It took a second, and the music started plenty loud.  Boston jumped up and joined in the dance.  Katie looked at Lockhart and he shook his head.

            “Not on a bet.” 

            Captain Decker added his own thoughts, unasked.  “Not even under torture.”

            But after a moment, Assur and Marduk joined the girls and then the nymphs joined the dance as well.  And they all danced in the campfire light in 3366 BC as the sound echoed across the plains of Meggido and bounced off the mountains and Eliyawe, her hands over her head to show off her long legs and her skinny butt wiggling away sang, “Born to be wild … “

###

            The travelers have no control over the time gates, like what period it will be in the life of the Kairos when they enter a new time zone.  The Kairos might be old, middle aged, young as Eliyawe, or as in the next zone, a child.  Somehow, though, even childhood does not prevent the Kairos from being at the center of a swirl of trouble. 

Avalon 2.11:  Scorpion … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Retrieval

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Tiamut is dead.  Osiris is in the coffin headed back to Egypt.  Assur and Marduk are present, very young and inclined to argue without Eliyawe’s intervention.  It was an interesting lunch, but now it is time to retrieve their friends.

###

            They left the horses with the Nymphs to guard them and walked across the field.  There were boulders scattered around the base of a hill, and a cave a short way up the hillside.  Roland reported that they were in the cave.

            Roland and Boston walked carefully toward one of the boulders, uncertain as to what to expect.  Marduk and Assur came a step behind them with their eyes wide.  Lockhart knew of no way to confront whoever they might be except directly.   Captain Decker spoke first.

            “Lieutenant Harper,” he said, and Katie looked up.  Decker signaled with one hand and Katie nodded. 

            “What language was that?”  Lockhart asked.

            Katie smiled for him, then spoke with a straight face.  “Marine language.”  The two marines separated and went to where they could draw a bead on the cave, each from a different angle.  Lockhart kept Lincoln with him to prevent the man from running out or doing something stupid.

            Eliyawe, Elias, Jonas and Atonas walked up in the open.  They figured they were out of bowshot range, so they did not worry.  They were talking and laughing and having a good time.  They only paused when Lockhart stood and shouted toward the cave.

            “Alexis!”

            The answer came back at once.  “I’m here, Robert.”  Lockhart stepped on Lincoln’s foot so he would not go running out.

            “You get one chance,” Lockhart shouted.  “Return Alexis unharmed and we will let you live.”

            They were answered with gunfire.  They had Alexis’ pistol.  Lockhart took the first in his shoulder.  Eliyawe swore and shoved Atonas and Jonas behind a boulder.  Elias followed as Eliyawe called out and her clothes were instantly replaced with fine chain armor over leather.  The suit came complete with boots to the knees, gloves to the elbows, a long white cape that fluttered in the wind and a helmet that made the face hard to see.  She had weapons at her back, including a long sword.

            “Hey,” Elias said.  “You got your sword back.”

            “What, this old thing?”  It was not Eliyawe’s voice.  “Zoe,” the woman gave her name as she stepped out from behind the boulder.  Three bullets came straight to her, but they did not appear to touch her.  Zoe lifted her hand and the pistol came flying out of the cave and landed in her hand.  Then something else came from the cave.  It was dark and faceless and looked like strips of black cloth flying in the wind.  It was a wraith, and Zoe shouted to Boston.

            “Little Fire, make a lasso.”

            “What?”

            “Rodeo queen, make a lasso from your fire.”

            A whole bunch of western, rodeo images flashed through Boston’s mind, but she was not sure she could make a lasso from fire.  She looked at Roland and heard a sound over her shoulder.

            “Eee-ha!”  It was Marduk, dressed in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, and he was twirling a lasso of light and shouting.  He caught the wraith by the head and yanked it to the ground.

              “Hog tie it,” Boston yelled, and Assur flew forward while Marduk kept the rope taught, and in the blink of an eye had the wraith tied, arms behind and one foot with them.  He even stood and raised his arms.  Too bad there was no crowd to cheer.  Boston applauded and Roland joined her.

            Meanwhile, Zoe stepped up to the cave.  The giant was just inside the light, afraid to come out.  It was not connected to the Masters, but a useful tool.  Zoe knew this one was not entirely a fool, just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Several arrows came in her direction, but never touched her as she thought things through.

            Alexis was not beaten badly, and through use of her magic and her fairy weave, which covered her again every time a piece was  taken off her, she was not raped.  Zoe waved her hand and the frightened giant became a little person, just three and a half feet tall.  He vanished from the cave entrance and appeared in the midst of Jonas, Atonas and Elias who sat on him to keep him quiet.

            “Alexis!”  Lincoln came running up at that point.  Lockhart could not hold him.  Katie had abandoned her post and was presently holding Lockhart up and they were watching the Gaian chits in his system push the bullet out of the wound.  It fell to the dirt and the wound began to close up and heal.

            “Benjamin!”  Alexis shouted back.  There were two men determined to carry out the rape, but Zoe got there first and brought Lincoln along.  He and Alexis hugged and kissed while the Queen of the Amazon pantheon get very angry, again.  Zoe made sure those two men would never rape anyone again, ever.  Then she waved her hand again and all six men and three women were tied like the wraith. 

            It was Eliyawe who shouted from the cave entrance.  Zoe was still too angry.  “You can come up now.  Alexis is alright.  No Mingus.  Lockhart?”

            “Here,” Katie answered.  “We are fine.”

            “What are we supposed to do with this little one?”  Elias yelled.

            “Stay where you are for now,” Eliyawe answered.

            Elias looked at the little one he was sitting on.  “You heard my wife.  I try not to argue with my wife.”

            “Wise,” Jonas said and Atonas nodded.

            “Get off me, you elephant,” the former giant complained.

            “Boys, bring the wraith.”

            “Yes, Mam.  Glad to oblige. Shuckins, ‘twern’t nothing.””

            Lincoln walked a weeping Alexis out of the cave.  She had enough fairy weave left to cover her private parts and her breasts, but that was it.  Roland and Boston met her at the cave entrance and Roland handed back all the fairy weave cloth he picked up along the trail.  It merged back into the rest of her cloth and quickly formed a proper dress and shoes.  And the twins only whistled once as they marched by with the screaming wraith in tow.  The wraith was not hurt or mad at being tied.  It was screaming because it realized just who had tied it and the wrath of the gods was a terrible thing to behold, even in those two.

            “Toss her in here,” Eliyawe said.  “Now make sure they are all tied tight.”  She took Marduk’s and Assur’s hands and changed to Junior.  They were in the dark where no one would see them.  He left a message from the three of them when the signal he set up was followed by the gods of El’s court.  “These serve the Masters, not you.  If they are left to live, they will try some new horror.  We leave them for your pleasure to do with them as you will.”

            Then Eliyawe returned and brought the boys back out into the light.  They were looking at her with wide eyes.

            “That was amazing, how you did that.”

            “That was so sophisticated.”

            “Hush,” Eliyawe quieted them.  “We have about three or four days before the LSD is fully broken down and the gods should awake, and we have a long way to go to reach Egypt.  Seal the cave, but leave a small air pocket so they don’t suffocate.”

            “Really?  Can we?  Is it okay?  Yeee-ha!”

            “Boys,” Eliyawe rolled her eyes and grinned at Boston and Alexis as they all ran down the hill to the safety of the plains.  The earth began to shake, and all at once the front of the cave collapsed.  It formed a perfect seal with only a small hole here and there for air.

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Avalon 2.10:  Loose Ends … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Lunch and Stories

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            While on the trail for Alexis and Mingus, the travelers first found the Kairos, Eliyawe, a skinny young girl in a mini skirt with nice long legs that she obviously liked to show off, who seemed to be suffering from ADHD, at the least.  She had several men and women with her, as well as a floating coffin, but had yet to get through the introductions without interrupting herself.

###

            “Boys,”  Eliyawe’s voice grabbed their attention again.  “Leave the fisherman alone.  I want you to meet Roland, the hunter.”

            “Hello,” they said before they ran to the horses.  “What are these?  Where did you get them?  Which is the fastest?  Can I have one?”

            “Children, come and sit.”  Eliyawe made them sit down where Elder Stow was building a fire.  “Now behave so we can have a nice lunch.”  Eliyawe turned to Boston and rolled her eyes in a very Boston-like manner.  “Boys,” she said with a liberal dose of sarcasm.

            “I understand,” Boston said and rolled her eyes in return.

            Roland provided a deer, but it took time to cook.  Elder Stow made a small force field around them so they could let the horses out to graze without worrying about them watering.  Katie and Boston argued a bit about the cooking.  Lincoln sounded morose when he talked.

            “Alexis is a great cook.”

            “And I am sure we will enjoy her cooking when we get her back,” Lockhart said.  And he explained to Eliyawe and the others what they were doing.  They expected to catch up, soon.  Lincoln threw the grass he had yanked out of the ground, but he said nothing.

            “Maybe we could help them?” Elias suggested with a look at his wife.  Eliyawe squinted at him. 

            “I thought you were my husband,” she said.  He nodded.

            “So how far ahead of you do you figure,”  Elias spoke to Lockhart and Eliyawe grinned and took her husband’s arm.

            “Sometime this afternoon.”  Lockhart said, but he looked at Roland for confirmation.

            “Sooner than that,” Roland said.  “I think they saw the Kairos coming from in front of them and with us following they scooted out between us and are hold up somewhere in the rocks there where the hills really start to rise.”

            “What?”  Lincoln sat straight up to look.

            “Relax,” Lockhart held him back.

            “So who is in the box?”  Decker changed the subject when he could not suppress his curiosity any longer.  He slept in an Agdaline box for 500 years, so he was curious.

            “Osiris,” Elias answered and Eliyawe nodded.

            “We are returning him to Egypt,” she said.  “The nymphs of the swamps of Lebanon are doing penance and carrying the coffin.

            “Nymphs?”  The men reacted.  Jonas and Elias looked embarrassed for some reason.

            “Osiris?” Katie also reacted.  “You mean, the Osiris?”

            “Hey.” Lincoln looked at Elyawe with sudden curiosity.  “Which ding dong the Witch is dead?”

            “Tiamut,” Eliyawe said.  “Set planned the whole thing so Osiris would snuff it away from Egypt.  The Masters are working for Tiamut, more or less.  They seeded the streams with the drug.  Tiamut was hoping the gods would go crazy, but it just put them all to sleep for a time.  Some universal default or something would be my guess.”

            Atonas could not contain himself any longer.  “You slew Chaos?  You killed the great and terrible goddess?”  He fell at Eliyawe’s feet and dared not lift his eyes. 

            “Not me,” Eliyawe said.  “All I did was stab her in her big toe.  Broke my best sword, too, and dern, it was my new one.”  Eliyawe shrugged.  “You want the slayer of Tiamut, look to Marduk and Assur.”

            “The Marduk and Assur?” Katie started again but several people yelled at her in case she said something about the future that was best not to mention.

            “I like that phrase, “The” Marduk and Assur,” Assur said.  “But it would be better to say “The” Assur and Marduk.”

            “Yes,” Marduk ignored his brother and spoke in feigned humility.  “I slew chaos for all time.”

            “Ha!  I slew Chaos.”  Assur countered, but Marduk had already jumped to his feet.

            “There she was, a true titan, terrible to behold, but I found the courage to rise up into her face, the very face of death.  I brought my great sword down upon her head and cut her in two so her brains leaked out.  And by the fire in my loins, I set her mind ablaze until it became but ash to blow away on the wind.”

            “Ha!”  Assur had a counter story.  “I rose up to her great maw that was swallowing the light itself and looked big and dark enough to swallow the very sun.  I smote her breast and cut off the paps that fed the world with destruction.  I bore a great hole in her chest and tore out her heart.  This I crushed with my bare hands.”

            “Her heart was only about this big,” Marduk pinched his fingers together to show how small it was.

            “It was not.”

            “It was too.”

            Eliyawe whistled and Marduk and Assur  fell silent.  “Actually, Tiamut was about to step on me and squish me like a bug, and my boys found the courage to finish the job.  Thanks for saving my life, boys.”

            “Aw, hush.  Think nothing of it.  You are more than welcome.  The least we could do.”

            “Twins,” Lincoln said.  “Identical.”

            “So which is older?”

            “Hey!”  Eliyawe intervened before the argument started.  “They were both born at exactly the same time, joined together at the top of their heads.  Doctor Mishka had a hard time separating them.  She had to re-grow the skulls and do some dermal regeneration and stimulate the hair follicles and voila!  Better then a plate in their heads.”  Eliyawe smiled until she saw Marduk open his mouth.  “And they both got an equal number of brain cells down to the micro-nano level, so there.”  Eliyawe stuck her tongue out at the boys.

            Elias got Atonas back up and sat him between himself and Jonas.  Jonas had to lean over to speak.  “You know, I still only understand about one in three words your wife says.  Very disturbing.”

            “Ha!”  Elias said in imitation of Assur.  “What is really disturbing is I am starting to understand the most of it.”  Eliyawe tightened her grip on Elias’ arm and robbed her head against his shoulder like a kitty  All that was missing was the purr.

            They all heard a click.  Captain Decker had his rifle at hand.  “Lunch is over,” he said.  “Time to get our missing travelers.”

            “Thank you.”  Lincoln stood straight up.

### 

Avalon 2.10:  Retrieval … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Eliyawe and Company

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Lincoln has great hopes of finding his wife, Alexis, and Roland has equally high hopes of finding both her, and their father Mingus, but the place where they expected to find them turned out to be a ruined camp.  They determined from the lack of bodies that they are likely still alive, they have been taken by someone, but they are on foot.  The travelers believe it should not be too hard to catch them on horseback.  What they will find as to who took them is the question. 

###

            The travelers followed the trail as far as they could into the night, but eventually had to pitch a light camp, eat, and give their horses a rest.  They were up with the sun and moving again, headed to the north and west toward Lebanon and the coast

            Decker took the flank.  Lincoln and Elder Stow stayed in the middle as usual, with Lockhart and Katie watching all of their backs.  Roland and Boston, and that meant Atonas who knew something about the land were out front.  Roland, to be sure they stayed on course, and Boston, to be sure they did not get too far off course as far as the next time gate was concerned,

            Every now and then Roland would ride ahead to a place where he could stop and check the signs of passage.  Once, he came back to Boston and whispered.  “They are not alone.”  Boston looked up and he explained.  “I don’t want to say anything yet because I am not certain, but they are traveling with a ghoul, perhaps, or a wraith and a giant, I would guess about ten feet tall.”

            Boston nodded and looked back to be sure the others did not hear.  Atonis spoke up.

            “I knew a giant once,” Atonas spoke loud and clear.  “Not an Amalakite.  I have to say that back home because everyone in Caana hears giant and automatically thinks Amalakite.”

            Boston rolled her eyes.  Lincoln, Katie and Lockhart were all staring at her.  “Roland thinks they may have a giant with them.  Not confirmed.”

            “Yes, he was taller than me on this beast.  Nice fellow.  Drank too much.”

            “Thank you for your insight,” Lincoln quipped from behind and did nothing to disguise the sarcasm.

            “Glad to help,” Atonas responded.  “Of course you have to be careful with giants.  Some are quite bright, but even the dumb ones can be very clever.  Not a good idea to make them mad either.”

            Lincoln joined Boston in eye rolling.  Elder Stow found the whole thing quite amusing.

            “Hold up.” Decker rode in from the flank and the party stopped moving to hear the news.  “People approaching.  Four men and five women, and they have a box with them that looks like a coffin.”

            Katie got out her rifle.  Lincoln, Boston and Lockhart all checked their side arms.  They started forward again at a slow walk until Decker had them dismount at the base of a ridge which was barely more than a long lump in the ground.  There were trees where they tied off the horses, still afraid the horses might wander to the nearest stream.  Roland and Boston agreed to watch the horses while the rest climbed the ridge to have a look.

            “No Alexis or Mingus,” Elder Stow stated the obvious.

            “No giant or other spookies either,” Katie added as she handed her binoculars to an overly anxious Lincoln.

            “A strange crew,” Decker said.  The casket was floating along without anyone touching it.  Even the telekinetic Shemsu needed to raise their hands and focus on such an object to move it.  But here, four rather scantily clad women merely walked at each of the four corners.  Two young men walked side by side, and the fat one sweating like they had been walking for some time.  The skinny young girl in the super short miniskirt and the other two young men, identical twins, appeared to be dancing along.  The young girl was singing, though it took a few minutes before they were within range to hear the song.

            “Ding, dong, the witch is dead.  Which old witch?  The wicked witch.”

            “Eliyawe,” Katie said through her grin.  It could not possibly be anyone else.  Lockhart stood and waved and instantly found himself frozen in place. Everyone was frozen, including Roland, Boston and the horses who were out-of-sight.

            “Marduk!”  Eliyawe used her scolding voice as she huffed and puffed her way up the ridge.  “Let these people go.  These are friends of mine.”

            “Blame me?  Assur must have done it.”

            “I did not,” Assur protested.

            “Well it wasn’t me,” Marduk responded.

            “Well it wasn’t me either.”

            “Hey!”  Eliyawe put her fingers to her lips and let out a shrill whistle.  “Would you boys please set them free.  I don’t care which one.”

            Marduk and Assur looked properly scolded and the travelers could move again.

            “Eliyawe!” Lockhart shouted and finished his wave before he realized what happened and Eliyawe was now in front of his face.  Eliyawe played along.  She took two steps back, waved and shouted.

            “Lockhart!”  She grinned.

            The two other men then joined them, the fat one huffing and puffing.  The women surrounding the casket also started up the ridge and they all noticed the women at the back levitated in order to keep the casket level.

            Eliyawe immediately went into the introductions.  “This strapping, handsome young man is Elias, my husband.  His wild and crazy friend is Jonas.”

            “Not anymore,” Jonas spoke up as he shook hands with everyone.  “I have given up my wild and crazy.  Eliyawe owns the wild and crazy country and I can’t compete.  Sorry, Elias, but she is all yours.”  He tapped his friend on the shoulder as every eye turned to stare at the young man.  He was not put off.

            “And she is all I want,” he said.  Eliyawe shrieked and tackled him.  She landed on top of him and he grinned the whole time, especially when she wiggled a little.

            “They’ve been married, what, twenty days?,” Jonas said.  No one else said anything, especially the women.  They were too busy smiling, including Boston who climbed up from below to see what was happening.

            Eliyawe turned her head and tossed it to get her hair out of her eyes.  She stared at Jonas through big, brown eyes and said, “A whole month if you don’t mind.”  Then she saw Boston and abandoned her husband to shout, “Boston!”  And she ran to give her a hug.  Then she hugged all the women.  Then she kissed Lockhart on the cheek and got to Lincoln where she stopped.  “Okay,” she said.  “What is going on?”

            “Down below,” Lockhart pointed.  “We build a fire, have lunch and figure out our next move.”

            “But Alexis,” Lincoln protested.

            “That’s an order,” Lockhart said as he took Katie’s hand to help her down the hill, not that she needed help.

            “Order?  You’re resorting to orders?”  Lincoln stomped past and grumbled the whole way.

            “My father,” Elder Stow stepped up to Lockhart.  “He should treat you with more respect.”

            Lockhart looked at the Gott-Druk.  “I know where his heart is.  I trust him implicitly.  No need to make a scene.  He will get over it.”

            The Gott-Druk paused to think and later was surprised to see Lockhart’s wisdom.  “I did not know humans could be so wise,” he said.

            Poor Atonas had to walk sandwiched between Marduk and Assur.  He knew who they were even if the others did not.  He was terrified to the point of being ready to wet his pants at any moment.  “I think I will claim this one,” Marduk said.

            “Atonas the fisherman?  What, are you going to have fish in your temple every day?”

            “Maybe.”

            “Too bad you don’t have a temple.”

            “You don’t either.”

            “Neither do you.”

###

Avalon 2.10:  Lunch and Stories … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Friend

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            The travelers appear to have walked into a world of madness, a derivative of LSD poisoning all the water in the area.  The experience is surreal, but one thing is most curious.  A local fisherman calls to them, “Friend, friend,” and it is in twenty-first century English.

###

            “Friend.  Ride horse.  Come.  Follow.  Friend ride horse.  Come.”  The man pointed up the lakeshore and repeated the word, “Friend.”  No one had to guess that he wanted them to follow.  After a moment Lincoln said that it must be Alexis and everyone was surprised at how calm he sounded.  Everyone was also annoyed at how slowly they moved along the edge of the lake.  They offered the man a lift and promised to use Captain Decker’s rope to bring the boat, but the man refused to leave the lake.

            “Good water,” he said and pointed toward the depths.  “Water good.”  Elder Stow agreed.  He checked and shared that it would take a long time to contaminate such a large body of water.

            The evening was quiet apart from Lincoln’s impatience.  They butchered a cow when Elder Stow suggested there were only traces of the drug.  “But I would not recommend such a diet for more than a few days.”

            Their fire could be seen for miles, but they were not worried.  The only thing they imagined they might attract would be crazy people and animals under the influence.

            “I don’t get it.”  Boston spoke up from the security of Roland’s arms.  “How can all the streams feeding into the Sea of Galilee be tainted with LSD?”

            “Human intervention,” Lockhart suggested.  He looked at Katie who was beside him, and she nodded her agreement before she spoke.

            “The phenomenon is too wide-spread for a natural occurrence.”

            “As I am thinking,” Elder Stow said.  “The formula is too complex and enhanced to be natural, the way it defies light and air and holds together in the water instead of being diluted and dissipating.”

            Lincoln grabbed a piece of beef from the fire and chewed slowly as he read from the database.  The horses were tied for the night so they would not wander off in search of a cool drink.  The tents were not set up.  Everyone expected to sleep around the campfire.  He looked at the simple boat of Atonas the fisherman, which he finally pulled up on shore when he agreed to join them for supper.  It was hardly bigger than a row boat.  It had a simple sail, and Atonas had a long pole which he used to move the boat along the shoreline.  He went back to his book as Atonas spoke.

            “The gods are all asleep.”  It was not in English.  It was his native tongue, but everyone understood what he said.  It was one of the gifts given by the Kairos just before he jumped into the void of the Second Heavens.  He gave them the ability to be understood and understand, whatever the local language along with a never-ending supply of vitamins, elf bread crackers and bullets.  Lockhart felt they had depended on the bullets far too much, especially for people who were trying to skip through history to get back to the future without disturbing any more than they had to.

            “What do you mean, asleep?”  Lockhart asked with another glance at Katie.

            “The man in his own world would be sensitive to the disposition of his own gods.  You remember Faya’s people.  Her whole world went to war when the gods of Aesgard and Vanheim went to war,” Katie responded.

            “I mean asleep, like you and I will do soon.  They tasted the water and fell asleep.”

            “Good thing they are not hallucinating,” Lincoln said as he switched off the database and prepared for sleep, now that the subject had come up.

            “I was thinking the drugs might be because of the gods in some way,” Boston suggested.

            “I don’t think they work that way,” Captain Decker said as he checked his rifle.  He was taking the first watch in the night.

            “I can’t imagine any of them being so incompetent as to put themselves asleep,” Katie responded.

            “Tiamut might.”

            That made everyone pause before Lockhart spoke again.  “But I cannot think of what she is doing that would risk the ire of all the gods by putting them to sleep, even temporarily.”

            “It does give one pause,” Elder Stow said as he laid down in fetal position to sleep.

            “But tell me.”  Atonas had something on his mind.  “This most beautiful woman, Alexis.  You know her well?”

            “She is my wife,” Lincoln said as he turned his back on the fire.

            Atonas looked disappointed.  “You are the most fortunate of men.”  No one said much after that so it was not long before the rest got on their blankets.  Boston stayed right where she was, in Roland’s arms.  Atonas walked back to the shore to sleep in his boat.

            It was mid-afternoon when the travelers reached the far Northern end of the Sea of Galilee.  The Golan heights were ahead on their right and the hills of Lebanon were several miles yet straight ahead of them.

            “Eliyawe is still off to the left, likely near the coast,” Boston reported as she checked her amulet.  “But she appears to be headed this way, probably headed home after whatever it was she was doing.”

            “Probably knows her only source of clean water will be Galilee,” Roland suggested.

            “This does not look good,” Katie Harper said softly as she handed her binoculars to Lockhart.  Captain Decker lowered his binoculars and retrieved his rifle.

            “What?”  Lincoln asked, but no one answered, and no one handed him binoculars to take a look. 

            Atonas had gotten ahead of them when they stopped to check the lay of the land and which way to go, but when Lockhart said, “Ride,” they rode right passed his slow movement along the shore.

            There was a camp up ahead where Alexis and her father Mingus had settled in either for the night or, less likely, to wait for them.  The camp was torn up, the fairy weave tents collapsed, the campfire kicked around, Alexis’ medical bag was dumped and the vitamins and elf crackers were spread all over.  The pot Alexis used to boil water to turn the elf crackers into bread was there and dented.  And Alexis and Mingus were not to be found.

            “Alexis!”  Lincoln only shouted her name once before he dismounted to look for signs of passage.  Roland was also on the ground looking at the signs.  As a hunter, he understood more of what he was looking at.

            “Eight or ten people.  No more than a dozen.  They appear headed for Lebanon, or at least the coast.”

            “Right direction,” Boston said as she dropped the reigns of Roland’s horse, jumped up on Honey’s back and headed out across the grasses.  There was a horse out there, attracted to movement in the camp.  It was Alexis’ horse, Misty Gray.  Boston had no trouble catching the animal.

            “Alright people,” Lockhart got everyone’s attention.  “Pick up everything you can find, all the equipment and let’s get it loaded first.  Then we can follow and maybe find them.”

            “No dead bodies near.”  Elder Stow had his scanner out.

            “No sign of much of a struggle despite the disarray of the camp,” Lincoln noted.  He had worked for the CIA before joining the Men in Black so Lockhart accepted that he knew what he was talking about.

            “Good reason to believe they are still alive,” Katie spoke up from where she was gathering and compressing a fairy weave tent.

            “The Lady?” Atonas spoke up from the lake as his boat arrived.

            “Tell me,” Lincoln confronted the man as the man came ashore.  “How did you meet her.  What did she say.”

            “Please, please.  I know nothing of this,” he insisted.  “I saw the campfire three days ago back where we camped last night.  I came to warn them about the water, but it was too late.  The woman had already taken the poison.  Her father did great magic and I saw the poison escape her with my own eyes.  It was red, like blood and yellow, like piss.  It came right out of her mouth.  I swear.  Then her father slept from such effort while the lady instructed me.  She said you were following and I should look for you.  She said she would delay her father at the head of the lake, here.  Please, I left in the morning to look and found you, but I know nothing of this.”

            “Fair enough,” Lockhart stepped up and put a hand on Lincoln’s shoulder.  Lincoln said nothing.  He returned to his horse.  “We are going to find her,” Lockhart told Atonas.

            “I can come?  Do you promise the big beast will not bite me?”

            “He could ride Misty,” Boston suggested as she came up close.  She was still on Honey’s back and managed to miss the whole clean-up operation.

            “I have clean water,” Atonas said, and he lifted two wineskins filled with lake water.  There were more.

            “All right,” Lockhart agreed.  “Elder Stow, help me get these water skins and see that everyone gets at least one.  Elder Stow said nothing, but Boston had something more to say.

            “Hold on with your legs, try not to bounce too much and hold on here to the saddle horn.  I have Misty tied to my saddle so you won’t have to worry about steering or anything.  That’s it.  And trust me, you will only be sore for the first two or three days.

 ###

Avalon 2.10:  Eliyawe and Company … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Born To Be Wild

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.

After 3383 BC in Caana/Southern Lebanon  Kairos life 30: Eliyawe

Recording…

            The travelers exited the time gate by the sea of Galilee and headed north, which was unexpected.  Lincoln had read from the database that Eliyawe lived her whole life not too far east of Salem, about where Bethlehem would be one day.  He suggested they might come out near the Dead Sea, or travel too it from the north, but that was not the case.  They were headed toward Lebanon instead, and Lincoln was searching the database to find out why.

            This was hot, dry country, full of sand even as far in the past as they were.  But it was also grasslands, suitable for simple agriculture and animal husbandry, and still sparsely populated enough so families could do very well.  They saw smoke rise from a village up ahead, but first they came to a small stream that ran into the lake.

            Boston got down and walked to the water.  She was thirsty because she was still healing.  The others and the horses waited, all having had their fill on tributaries of the Danube in the last time zone.  They took the time to look around while Elder Stow got out his scanner to get a reading on the water.  It was their habit to check the streams and ponds before drinking, just to be safe, and though they all had the necessary equipment in their bags to do so, they found it easier, and more accurate to let the Gott-Druk do it for them.

            The reading took a moment and Boston sipped a little from her hand until Elder Stow shouted, “Hold!”

            “What?”  Boston froze and looked at the Elder while other heads also turned.

            “There is something in the water.  A very complex molecule.  Give me a moment.”  Boston dropped the water from her hand and backed up.  “Ah!”  Elder Stow smiled.  “Lysergic acid diethylamide.  Not what anyone would expect.”

            “LSD?”  Lincoln spouted even as Boston started to throw-up.  Roland was right there to hold her.  Katie commented.

            “Looks like those Gaian healing chits are still doing their job, ejecting the poison.”

            Lockhart got down from his horse to hold on to Roland’s and Boston’s horses.  “Yes, but that has to be painful.”  Boston was holding her stomach where she had been wounded.  “Keep the horses back,” he added.

            “But I thought air and light were enemies of LSD,” Lincoln spoke up.  “And in the water it has to be terribly diluted.”

            “A derivative,” Elder Stow suggested, “with added properties the scanner is still analyzing.  It can occur naturally in some forms of mold that attack certain grains like rye and barley.”

            “Common grains to this part of the world,” Katie said.

            “Look.”  Captain Decker had his binoculars out and interrupted everyone as he pointed.

            Katie Harper got her binoculars and took a look before she handed them to Lockhart.  There were rabbits, a whole warren on a rise beside the stream, but they were fighting each other, and drawing blood.  Several looked dead.”

            “Madness,” Elder Stow breathed.

            “And more madness up ahead, I’ll bet,” Lincoln handed the binoculars back to Decker.

            “We are ready.” Roland helped a shaky Boston get up on Honey’s back, and they rode on, eyes open.

            They found cattle outside the village chasing their tails.  “I’ve seen this in Africa,” Lincoln reported.  “There is a kind of fly that crawls inside a cow’s ear to lay its eggs.  The larva eat the cow’s brains.  They will collapse from exhaustion after a while.”

            “But no such flies here,” Katie said.  “I hope,” and suddenly her ear itched.

            They saw no people at all when they first entered the village.  They paused at the center only when they heard yelling.  Two naked men came from behind a building and ran across the village center without so much as noticing the strangers.  They were followed by a half-dozen almost equally naked women with hoes and pitchforks.  Only one of the women stopped, turned and stared at them like she was trying to bring the picture into focus.  When she did, she screamed which got the attention of the others.

            “Monsters!”  The woman screamed the word and pointed at the travelers up on their horses.  The other women all dropped their farm-implements and scattered.  The men ran off across the open field.

            No one said anything.  What could they say?  Boston said she was feeling better and as far as she knew she was not hallucinating.  Lockhart mentioned the Gaian chits again, but otherwise they simply moved on.

            Outside the village, where it edged up to the sea of Galilee, there was a fisherman who waved to them and kept a big smile on his face. “Friend,” he said.  “Friend.”  It was Elder Stow who realized the man was speaking in English.

 ###

Avalon 2.10:  Friend … Next Time

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Avalon 2.9 Morning Surprise

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            It seems the imps and elves, goblins and dwarfs are all on the march to rescue Flern and her company.  That doesn’t get rid of a hundred Jaccar warriors, but it does make a big difference on which side has the advantage.   

###

            Katie and Lockhart sat quietly side by side and looked out over the grass as the sun rose behind them and a bit off to their right hand.  “Late fall.”  She took a big whiff of air and Lockhart nodded.

            Goldenwing was asleep, up in his tree branch.  Riah was also asleep beside her lady.  Roland slept at last when it was clear Boston was going to make a full recovery.  Decker slept fitfully, as did Lincoln.  Lincoln was probably dreaming about his missing wife, Alexis.  They could not imagine what Decker was dreaming about after five hundred years in stasis.  Elder Stow appeared asleep, but it was sometimes hard for the humans to honestly judge the Gott-Druk.  The gnomes, all on the far side of the horses, snored, and some loudly.  They might be good help with the horses, but not worth much on guard duty.

            It was up to Lockhart and Katie in the early morning, but all that changed in a second when they heard a sound with which they were all too familiar.

            “Bokarus.”  Lockhart mouthed the word even as people jumped to their feet.

            The Bokarus came screaming toward them, flying in his horrendous, ghostly form.  Vinnu screamed and this time Gunder appeared to want to join her.  But the Bokarus merely buzzed them and continued out over the river.

            “To the high ground!”  Roland shouted and others echoed the words.  Roland carried Boston to the top of the riverbank and then returned to help Flern and Riah carry Kined.  The rest were on their own.

            “Get up,” Lockhart yelled as he grabed Vilder’s hand, pulled and reached again for Pinn.  Everyone scrambled when the bokarus came again and brought a great wave of the river with him.  He shot out over the grassy field and began to circle around the field, faster and faster.

            Thrud, who was a bit slow in the morning was soaked, but at least no one was damaged by the water, or dragged under.  Katie, Riah and Flern stood side by side and wondered what the bokarus was doing. 

            “The wind created by that flying pest is almost a tornado,” Captain Decker said as he checked his rifle just in case the bokarus should solidify for a moment.  Lincoln could only nod, and he actually wished his father-in-law was there to strike the creature with a fireball.

            The grass beneath the bokarus bent and broke, and some of it began to rise up in sheets.  It took a second to realize why the sheets. 

            “Jaccar!”  Lockhart shouted.  The bokarus had removed their camouflage and likely undid an entire night of inching closer and closer.  The ones exposed that were still across the way turned and ran back to the rise and the Jaccar camp.  But the ones near imagined no alternative but to pull their knives and attack.  Guns went off.  The Jaccar fell.  The last one was hit with an arrow from Riah even as Lockhart pulled the trigger on his shotgun.  Then it was over and the bokarus was nowhere to be seen.

            “It did us a favor?”  Katie asked, confusion in her eyes.

            “No,” Lockhart shook his head.  “It just did not want to Jaccar to get its prey.”

            Katie looked at Riah and then Roland, and Roland responded and pointed at Lockhart, “What he said.”

            “Lockhart.  I promise I will do something about that bokarus just as soon as I can,” Flern said, and  Riah, Goldenwing and Pigot, who had just come tumbling up, all gasped.  The gods never made promises.  Roland just nodded and smiled.  This Kairos was fully human and as unpredictable as ever.

            “Lockhart.  How are we going to get out of this?” Lincoln asked with some exasperation in his voice.  “There are still eighty or more over there.  Eventually they will figure some way to get at us.”

            “Yes,” Elder Stow said, but he sounded a bit put off.  “How are we going to get out of this?”

            Lockhart had no ready answer, but that was fine because he disappeared from that spot and immediately reappeared on the rise overlooking the Jaccar camp.  There was a man there, crooked to look at, and he did not appear to be happy.  Lockhart had learned from past experience about unhappy gods.  He thought it best to hold his tongue.

            “You cheat.”  The god spit at him with his words.  “You killed twenty and none has gotten close enough to touch you but for that red headed witch.  And you healed her with more witchery.  You cheat.”

            Lockhart said nothing.

            “Too bad I can’t deal with you like I want.  The others have set a hedge around you and your group, even the elder among you.  And I can’t touch the Kai-gross either, nor any of hers.  It isn’t fair.”

            Lockhart looked down on the Jaccar camp.  The Jaccar did not seem to be aware that anyone was on the hill.  The god followed Lockhart’s eyes down the hill and frowned before he waved his hand and all the Jaccar and their horses disappeared.  “She will get her whole army killed before the battle even starts if I let her.  The Traveler may be her undoing and I will not be able to help her out.”  The crooked god ground his teeth.  “I suggest you leave before I think of a way to ruin your life.”  And he vanished while Lockhart turned and made the slow walk back to the others on the beach.

            They stayed one more day with Flern, to see Kined and Boston fully recovered.  “No Boston,” Flern said.  “Those healing chits were not designed for your specific genetic signature.  They will die out soon enough and you haven’t the means to grow more.  Besides, they were specifically programmed so they might not do you any good except against maybe another poison arrow in the next few days.”

            “Darn.”

            “Let us hope we won’t have to test it,” Roland added.

            “And you won’t tell me?”  Katie looked at Lockhart, but he shook his head.

            “Just one of the gods.”  That was all he ever said.  “It is hard to know sometimes.  I can see that now.  Some things the Kairos just has to find out for himself.”

            “Herself.”

            “That too.” 

            It was not until they were a half-day away, headed toward the next time gate that Lockhart finally relented.”

            “Let’s just say he is a god and he has an army.”

            Katie had to think before her eyes lit up.  “Ah!  Too bad we don’t have a Hulk.”

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            The next time zone finds poison everywhere – the kind that causes temporary insanity, and it is in the water.  The days are hot and sweaty, and the travelers don’t have much clean water, but somehow they have to find the Kairos and hope she isn’t under the influence, and if she is, they have to hope there isn’t the usual crisis looming.

Avalon 2.10:  Born To Be Wild … Next Time

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Avalon 2.9 In the Night, Dark and Light

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Black Sea snake.  I understand at sea they were sometimes confused with sea serpents, but they were not made to survive rifles and a double barreled shotgun.  But the travelers have virtues that most people in 3420 BC cannot imagine, and some that people in the twenty-first century might not imagine, like Gaian healing chits.  Hopefully they are transferable and will work.  Slow poison is not a good way to die.

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            The sun fell to the western horizon, but it would be some time before they knew if the healing chits of the Gaian would be effective on Boston and Kined.  Flern stayed beside Kined and Roland stayed beside Boston, but Flern made Riah get up and help the others.  They were planning something.

            Once the dark was well along, with the moon near new so it was very dark, Riah, Elder Stow, Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper moved slowly across the grass.  Goldenwing flew between them to keep them informed of their progress until they stopped where they formed a wall against the Jaccar camp.  Once they were set, Goldenwing flew back to start the others.

            Vilder and Pinn made three trips to the wagons where they got weapons to arm their group and plenty of rope so they could tie off the horses close to hand.  The others went after the horses that had wandered some distance as they grazed for two days.  The horses did tend to come near the wagons at nightfall, but not so much on this third night and some were afraid they might wander away altogether, 

            Kiren and Thrud caught two fairly quickly while Lockhart watched with his shotgun ready.  Gunder and Vinnu had a bit more trouble with Flern’s and Riah’s horses, not the least because Gunder kept having to remind Vinnu to be quiet.  Lincoln stayed with them, his pistol near to hand.

            It took most of the night, but between them thy managed to catch the nine horses ridden by the four couples and Riah, their elf guide.  Godenwing needed no horse.  He preferred to travel in his small fairy size and needed no more than a horse’s mane to rest in.  They did not find the six draft horses they had trained to pull the wagons, however, and expressed their fears.

            “Well, one good thing,” Gunder kept saying, “The Jaccar won’t be able to take the wagons either without the horses.”

            “I am sure they have gone back to the wild,” Kiren said.  He had been with Flern when they caught the horses and broke them to their task, but that was only a few months ago.

            Vilder shook his head.  “They may have just wandered out of range.”

            “I would have thought the draft horses would have stayed closest to the wagons,” Pinn said.

            Vilder shook his head again, but before he could speak there was a brilliant flash of light out over the grass.  It was far brighter and illuminated far more of the land than any eldritch fire or fairy light could hope.  There were gunshots before Goldenwing came racing back to the beach.

            “The Jaccar were trying to get to the wagons just as the friends of my Lady said they would.”  Lockhart got up quickly, prepared to run out to join the fight, but he stopped on Goldenwing’s word.  “Stay giant.  Your friends and weapons made short work of those few Jaccar.”  And the great light went out.  Moments later, Lockhart and Lincoln heard Katie and Elder Stow arguing. 

            “I did not know you had infra-red glasses,” Elder Stow sounded defensive.

            “Night goggles,” Katie responded.  “Standard issue for an assignment like this.”

            “As is the blast of light.”

            “I understand.  Just warn us next time before you pull out a new technological wonder.”

            “Yes.”  Lockhart could hear the strain in Elder Stow’s voice.  “Mother.”

            “You alright?”  Lincoln wondered as they climbed down the riverbank to the beach.

            “Seeing spots,” Captain Decker said with no other comment.

            “Hey, where are the draft horses?”  Riah was concerned to notice and ask.

            “If there were six, my people will bring them along, shortly.”  The voice came out of the dark before a man some three feet tall stepped into the firelight.  Three guns were immediately pointed at the man along with two bronze swords in the hands of Vilder and Gunder.  “Am I right to assume the Kairos is among you?”  That helped lower the guns and swords and Lockhart spoke.

            “She is with her husband.”  He pointed.

            “Shhh.”  Katie came up beside Lockhart.  “Boston and Kined are better and Flern is asleep.”

            Several eyes looked over into the shadowed area where they could just make out Flern resting on Kined’s chest and Roland still holding tight but tenderly to Boston’s hands.

            The guns and swords went all the way down as Pinn stepped up.  “We thank you, er … “

            “Pigot, and gnome is the general designation.”

            “Imp still,” a woman’s voice joined the party.  She was hardly two and a half feet tall and probably would not have topped three feet even if she was not so old and bent over.  “There’s imps and ogres all around, trolls and goblins underground, dwarves in the middle are ready to fight while elves and fairies live in the light.  All the sprits, too many to stand rest secure in the Kairos’ hand.  That’s called poetry.  I invented that.  What you got to eat around here?”

            “You invented poetry?”  Katie was stunned.

            “Well, Toth and that kid, Braggi helped some.”

            “We have elf bread,” Lincoln suggested.

            “And left over deer stew with something in it that used to be green.  Ouch.”  Kiren said ouch because Thrud, the cook hit him.

            “Please excuse Madam Livia,” Pigot spoke while the old imp scrambled down to the beach.  “She sees things and some think it has addled her brain.”

            “Addled my foot,” the old imp mumbled before she spoke up.  “Once an imp, always an imp.  That is an old and well known expression I just made up.”

            “Sees things?”  Katie wondered if this imp might be a seer, like the seers among the Amazons.

            The woman paused as she pulled up a ladle of the stew and turned up her nose.  “Sure.  Thirty goblins moving down the mountains in the dark.  Some fifty dwarfs marching through the hills and three dozen elves rowing down the river all planning to meet up with this caravan and bring the gold home.  I can see you will have to let me do the cooking.”

            “Bronze.”

            “Eh?”

            “We are bringing bronze home, not gold,” Pinn explained.

            “I think she means the stuff you value,” Pigot said.

            “So, do you need all six of those horses?”

            “Pigot smurf,” Captain Decker mumbled as he sat and enjoyed his stew and bread.  The others settled down and Riah went back to sit beside Flern and Kined.

            “Seriously.  There’s good eating on one of those horses.  Ever had horse bacon?  Makes my mouth water to think of it.”

            “Yes we need the horses!”  Vinnu yelled.  She was uncomfortable around the sprites and still was not even sure about Riah and Goldenwing.  She buried her face in big Gunder’s chest.  He didn’t mind.

            “Fogbottom,” the old imp swore as she pulled out leaves, whole branches and all sorts of spices from unknown pockets and unseen pouches.  “Might at least make this edible.”  She began to add them to the stew as the gnomes brought in the draft horses.

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Avalon 2.9  Morning Surprise.

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