Avalon

Avalon 2.7: Changes

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Since leaving the deepest past, the travelers have picked up any number of creatures – creatures that are hunting them, following them through the time gates from time zone to time zone.  The power of the Djin has attracted them and the travelers have to fight for their lives.  They no sooner drive one off and another comes.

###

            “Boston?”  Alexis called up to her.  She was concerned.  She knew like no other what magic could take out of a person.

            But Boston stood again and climbed slowly back on to her chair.  “Just like an all-nighter at school,” she shouted.  “I could use an energy drink.”  She raise her arms and began to glow once again, just like she did before she sent the great wind.  Then she shouted, “Ameratsu, give me your light and strength.”  Down below, Katie tried to be more practical about it all.  She prayed for Zoe to send help.  Two hundred men presently faced Lockhart’s one hundred, and a hundred and fifty skirted Lockhart’s position and were presently headed for Katie and her warrior women.

###

            Oktapi and a dozen gnomes came in from the west, driving a small herd as agreed.  The animals were mostly lame, halt and broken in some way, but that would hardly matter when the creatures of mud and blood cut them up for food.

            Beltain waited patiently.  She folded and unfolded her hands in front of her belly and tapped her foot, but that was about as patiently as she could wait.

            “Lady.”  Oktapi stepped forward and bowed as soon as he arrived.  “The animals agreed.”

            “I thank you, Oktapi, on behalf of all your people.  You have been a great help to us all as we cross this land and do not settle here.  I know it is your wish that we be gone from your territory, and that is our wish as well.  But tonight I have a special request.”  Oktapi looked at Beltain with a twisted eye.  This was not the goddess he knew and loved.  Okay, he admitted it to himself.

            “You may certainly ask,” he said.

            “I know I can only ask, and here it is.  Some geis has fallen on the other camps to make them believe we have not shared fairly from the herd.  Even now they are attacking us.  I have every hope that come daylight, we may be able to work out our differences, but for now we are in grave danger.  My request is to ask if you and your people may help us defend ourselves on this one night.  I would be very grateful.”  Beltain quieted for an answer, and that was when the Djin descended on them. 

            The Genii had seen this troop of gnomes travel through the boundary set up by the old one.  He watched the elder elf, aided by his son and that other gnome, lay hands on each of these little spirits in turn.  He expected to find a resistance to his power, but imagined he was too clever for them.  He found the spell of resistance and easily vanquished it.  Then he swallowed the will power of the little gnomes almost as easily and he swallowed the human will power.  The gnomes were completely his, but then he was distracted by a great light in the battle and just had to see what these clever people from the future were up to.

            Oktapi finally answered Beltain’s question.  “Not a chance.  We would like nothing more than to see you destroy yourselves in blood and go back to the mud from whence you came.”  He laughed, and several of the other gnomes laughed with him.  All the same, the gnomes spread out to circle around Beltain.  They began to dance around her and quietly chant.  There was a compulsion laid inside of them all, much deeper than the surface resistance found by the Djin.  They belonged completely to the Djin and would do whatever his will required, after they finished doing what they were compelled to do.

            Beltain watched them dance and chant.  They had her surrounded.  She fell to her knees in their midst and became afraid.

###

            When Boston was fully cooked, she leaned forward, suddenly, which almost made her lose her balance.  She was indeed glowing like the sun at that point.  People could not look at her directly.  And all that energy projected from her in a single beam of sunlight.

            Lincoln was backing up from the snarling wolf and telling others to stay behind him.  He had a copper sword in his hand, not that it would have much effect on the drooling beast.  The wolf looked hungry when the light fell on it.  The wolf howled.  It was trapped in the light.  And Lincoln watched as the snout became a human mouth and the claws became hands, and very quickly a filthy, naked man collapsed to the ground.

            “Rope, quick!”  He rushed forward into the light and pinned the man to the ground while others came up with rope.  They tied up the man, hands behind, legs together, and Lincoln determined he wanted a rope mummy.  The light went out all at once, but Lincoln knew they had to have the man completely incapacitated before it turned back into the wolf.

            Boston fell.  The chair slipped off the table which was on top of the upside-down wagon.  She fell, and would have landed hard on the ground, but Katie was right there to catch her as easily as a mother might catch a small child.  Katie could not stay, however, because the attackers were getting close.  She put an unconscious Boston in Alexis’ arms to work whatever healing magic Alexis could work, picked up her spear and rejoined her Amazons.

            “Archers ready!”  She shouted even as Lockhart was shouting the same thing out on the perimeter of the camp.  “Aim.”  She yelled and raised her hand with the spear grasped tightly even as a lightning bolt struck the earth between the two opposing groups.

            A figure appeared between the combatants, some of whom were looking up because the sky became suddenly cloudless and the full moon made everything visible.  The figure was a woman.  Katie recognized her at once.  It was Zoe, but the goddess, not just Zoe the human Queen she knew.  This was Zoe transformed, the Queen of the Amazon Pantheon of goddesses, and she looked pissed.

###

Avalon 2.7:  Death and Life … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: The Trenches

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Looks like war in the camps.  The Djin seems to have taken over the mind and will of the people to play a dangerous and deadly game.  The travelers in the camp have no will to resist, and the ones on the hill who are still in their right minds appear equally helpless.

###

            Boston and the women built a tower on which she could stand.  They made it out of upside-down wagons, a table and a chair.  It slanted a little, but it was not entirely unstable.  Boston felt safe enough to stand up on the chair, and there she watched all around as the sunlight faded into evening darkness, Alexis paced, and the old woman told stories to the gathered children.  Better than television, Boston thought, and then she wondered what television was.

            Even as the last wisps of purple left the sky, Katie came up to check their handiwork.  “We may need some light.”  She shouted up to Boston, though Boston was not that high up.

            “I was thinking that, but I see Lockhart has set some signal fires a little way into the wilderness and pulled his men well within the perimeter.  Lincoln is still setting his.  I would guess Lockhart told him what he was doing and Lincoln is copying the idea.

            “And a good idea it is,” Katie responded.  “I assume you can’t blaze like the sun for very long.”

            Boston was not sure she could blaze like the sun at all, but she said nothing.

###

            Lincoln saw them coming.  He moved all of his hunters with their bows to the front, first.  He briefly wished he had his rifle before he wondered what a rifle was.  That was okay,  they had to wait for the enemy to get close enough.

            “Ready?”  Lincoln moved down his line of archers.  “Remember, just shoot in a straight line.  They are bunched up and you will hit something.  Don’t try to pick a target at this range in the dark.  I don’t want twenty arrows in one person and none in the rest.  Aim.”  Lincoln raised his hand and paused to let the enemy inch closer before he dropped his hand and shouted, “Fire!”

            The volley was withering.  A number of men were struck with arrows and the attacking group quickly gathered their wounded and retreated. 

            Lockhart, a good man in charge of protecting the south ran into the same kind of situation – the enemy attempting to sneak up in the dark.  He dealt with it in a similar way, but this enemy raged after the first volley and attacked.  It took two more volleys to finally drive them off, and certainly some of those men that were down were dead.

            With Lockhart distracted by the attack, a third group took advantage and tried to move on them from the Southeast.  Fortunately, Boston saw from her perch and did not hesitate.  She raised her arms and groaned and shouted.  Katie, who was gifted, Alexis, who had magic of her own, and no doubt the Sybil who looked up, saw the golden power of Boston’s magic rise up into the air like a flare.  At once, Boston threw her hands forward, pointed straight at the sneaky enemy.  The Golden sparkles rushed out over the camp to that place, and the wind followed.  It was a concentrated wind blast of hurricane strength.  It picked up most of the enemy and blew them back in the direction from which they had come.  A few escaped by falling flat to the ground, but then Lockhart was alerted and men came running, so as soon as Boston’s initial blast gave out, the men on their faces jumped up and hastily retreated.

            Everyone paused to catch their breath, and in that brief silence they heard a howl.  It was one with which the travelers were familiar even if the people were not.  The bokarus in ghost form came rushing over the perimeter of the camp and brought Boston’s wind back with it.  People were knocked in every direction.  Tents were torn up by the roots.  Wagons were shaken.  A couple fell apart while several others wheeled off in whatever random direction they were pointed.

            Lockhart and Lincoln held their lines together, as did Katie at the center.  Otherwise, some might have run wild in panic.  “Alexis.  Boston.”  Katie shouted.  This creature, in ghost form, was something which she, for all her gifts could not touch.  The frustration of that ate at her.

            Alexis stomped over to the women and grabbed Star’s bow and one arrow.  She groused, “I am a healer, not a wounder.”  Her magic was much whiter than Boston’s yellow, slightly orange magic and she covered the bow and arrow with a white glow before she handed it back to the hunter.  “Star, shoot it at the bokarus when it flies overhead.  You don’t have to hit it, exactly, but the closer the better.”

            Star waited at the ready, and let the arrow fly with some lead time as a good hunter should.  Alexis had her hands together and her eyes shut tight.  The arrow missed and they thought it was laughter that came from the bokarus; but then Alexis opened her hands and opened her eyes, and the arrow exploded like a bomb on the Fourth of July. 

            The bokarus shrieked.  It felt that.  The women cheered, but then it looked like the arrow just made the bokarus mad.  It headed for the children, and Alexis was afraid some of them were young enough for the bokarus to suck out their life force without having to kill them first.  She looked up at Boston.  So did Katie, Star and the others.  Boston appeared to be staring at her finger.  She did not have a wand.  No one ever told her she needed one.  Her finger would have to do, and when she heard the children scream, she pointed that finger.

            Boston was thinking of Lockhart’s “heat ray” comments.  She did not know what a heat ray was, but she imagined herself as her Amazon name, “Little fire.”  She knew that fire consisted of light and heat, and she felt there was no reason they had to go together.  When the children screamed, a dull red beam of light came from Boston’s finger.  If she had been herself, she might have likened it to a laser beam.  It struck the bokarus in the back and this time the cry of the bokarus sounded painful.  It pulled up from the children, but Boston’s finger followed it.  It began to fly in wild directions, but still she followed.  Her finger fire set a tent aflame as she tracked the bokarus near the ground, but she caught it and stayed with it as often as not.  Finally the bokarus had enough and it streaked out across the camps and vanished in the dark in the distance, Boston hoped never to return.  It had better not.  She was used up.

            Boston sat on the chair to catch her breath.  She did not hear the cheers from the women, but she did hear the Sybil when she ran up as fast as she could.  “Lincoln,” she yelled.  “He is facing the wolfman!”

###

Avalon 2.7:  Changes … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Mindless

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Beltain.  There is an image the travelers don’t want to repeat.  She is rough and bawdy, but still the Kairos on the inside.  She is quick to point out that Katie (the elect) and Boston (the Spell Caster) are not the ones the women are looking for to complete their Amazon council, but then I would guess the great and terrible power lurking on the horizon decided not to lurk anymore.

###

            “What happened?”  Boston shouted her question though the whining sound had subsided.

            The Sybil spoke.  “The other camps are in rebellion.  They think we are saving the best of the meat for ourselves and not being fair in the sharing.  They plan to attack us after the sunset delivery.”

            “Oktapi must be warned,” Katie said as she picked up a nearby spear.  All of the weapons from the future had vanished, and the travelers never noticed.  What is more, their fairy weave clothing was shaped to match the local clothing, and the travelers thought nothing odd about that, either.

            “Oktapi and his people can take care of themselves, but I will tell him when I meet him.  We cannot count on his help or the help of his people.  He would just as soon we all die, but I will ask all the same.”  Beltain tipped her head to Katie.  “Majesty,” she said.

            “Thank you Priestess,” Katie responded before she went into queen mode.  “Lockhart and Lincoln, gather the men, young and old.  Lockhart take the south.  Lincoln take the north.  You must defend the perimeter for as long as you can, but if they break through, fall back to our line.  Star, gather the women.  With our smaller numbers we will hold the reserve post.”

            “The women are not going to like that,” Star admitted.  She already had her bow off her shoulder and an arrow in her hand.

            “The decision has been made,” Katie said in a voice which also said she did not care if the women liked it or not.  “Our place is to defend the children and the fut… fut…”

            “Future.”  Old woman Hannah said it because Katie seemed to have trouble with the word.

            “Hannah.”  Katie turned to the woman.  “Gather the rest of the women in the center with the children.  Your words and stories will have to be strong tonight to keep the children calm and safe.”

            “What about me?”  Boston stepped up.

            “I want you in the center, but not with the children.  It would be best if you could get up high enough to see the edges of the camp.  I do not yet know where your power may be needed, but if you start in the west and we need you in the east it may be too late by the time you get there.”

            “I will find a way,” Boston said.  “But what of the healer?”  

            “Here I am!”  A woman shouted and ran up to them.

            “Alexis, you need to stay near Boston at the center.  If there are wounded, we will bring them to you.  If there are many, we will probably retreat to you in the center.”

            “Pray to the gods there are no wounded,” Alexis said with a glance at Beltain.

            “Amen,” Beltain said, though the word caused the others to start.  It sounded odd.

            “Move it!”  Katie knew they would have to worry about that later.  The sun was already touching the horizon.

###

            Roland looked up when they sky over the camps clouded over.  His good elf ears barely discerned the shrill sound through Elder Stow’s screen.  He was surprised when Gnumma came to stand beside him and the carcass of the beast to look out over the darkening camps.

            “The Djinn.” Gnumma named the cloud.  “But what game is he playing?”

            Roland could only shrug and worry about Boston and his friends.  The greatness of the Genii prevented him from knowing anything for certain and the power was almost unimaginable.  “This one is as close to being one of the gods as a greater spirit can get.”

            “We will find out soon enough,” Gnumma said and walked away again so Roland could finish his grisly work.

            Roland got a steak sizzling on the stone Elder Stow heated with his sonic device.  He was not much of a meat eater and neither was the Gott-Druk.  He imagined the gnome was a strict vegetarian, but they had to eat something and the Elder was also not a big fan of elf crackers.

            “I guess the Djin has no interest in us,” Roland said at last to make conversation.  The gnome was altogether too quiet and Elder Stow seemed glued to looking at his screen device.

            “An elf, a gnome and an old one?  What would he want with us?”

            “Hey!  I’m not that old.”  Elder Stow objected but never looked up.

            “Okay,” Roland surrendered.  “What is so fascinating about your screening device.”

            “Eh?”  The Gott-Druk looked up briefly before he looked again at the box.  “Something came through the screen some time ago.  I have been tracking it.”

            “What?  Where?”  Roland stood and Gnumma sat up straight and looked around.

            “Right here.”  They heard the voice before they saw Mingus walk into the light.

            “Father?” 

            Mingus came to sit and spoke right up.  “I would not say the djin is disinterested in us, exactly.  He covered all the camps but just did not bother to stretch it out this far.  I was almost taken.  Only my mind magic allowed me to hold out until I was out from under.”

            “Alexis?”  Roland asked right away.

            “Completely taken.  She thinks she is an Amazon healer, of all things.”

            “Katie Harper is an elect,” Roland said to catch his father up with more recent events.  “And Boston has shown some magical ability.”

            “Really?  Katie doesn’t surprise me.  I thought there was something about her.  But who would have thought that frivolous little red-head would ever amount to anything.”

            “Father!  Boston is the most brilliant, beautiful and capable person I know.”  Roland was miffed.  Mingus rubbed his chin.

            “So it has gone that far already,” he said.

            “Elder Stow,” The Gott-Druk introduced himself again and nodded his head.  “Yes it has, and I say that as a disinterested outsider.”  The elder stared at Mingus because of what happened the last time they met, but he said nothing so Mingus said nothing.

            Gnumma was obviously not following much of the conversation, primarily because his mind seemed focused elsewhere.  “I wonder what is happening in the camps,” he interjected.

            Every head turned though they could hardly see through the encroaching dark.  Mingus picked up the tale.

            “Well, as I understand it they have a huntress, a wise woman and a Sybil already.  It was the Sybil that found us and saw right through my glamours.  Now with an elect to be their queen, a woman of magic and poor Alexis as their healer, they have the foundation for a real Amazon tribe.”  It was hard to tell, but Mingus appeared to not think much of Amazon tribes.

            “All they need is a priestess,” Roland said.

            “Beltain.”  Mingus and Gnumma both spoke at once.

            “The Kairos?  How can the Kairos be taken in by the spell?”

            Mingus got fatherly.  “Son, the Kairos in this life is simply a human being like any other.  As such, she is subject to the full limitations of the breed.”

            “She is mere mud and blood.”  Gnumma gently stroked his beard. 

            “Then we need to save her.”  Roland got excited again.

            “I have already discussed this with Oktapi.  Yours is mind magic?”

            Mingus nodded slowly.  “I have some skill, but nothing to counter the power of the Djin.”

            “But with my help and your son.  Let me tell you what I was thinking which I did not share with Oktapi.”

###

Avalon 2.7:  The Trenches … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Mind Your Matters

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            It looks like the travelers are going to be allowed to see Beltain.  There is a Sybil, a seer in the camp who has said as much.  But then she also talked about a terrible power looming on the horizon.

###

            Lockhart stepped up to Katie and the Sybil.  “I think you better take us to Beltain.”

            The Sybil looked up in surprise and immediately looked again at Katie.

            “He’s the boss,” Katie said, and the Sybil looked very confused for a minute before she seemed to understand something.

            “Of course.”  She spoke as Katie and Boston helped her back to her feet.  “I must remember you come from a very strange world.  This way.”  She started to waddle off.  “But I advise against seeing Beltain right away.  She is very busy right now.”

            When they arrived outside Beltain’s tent, they were met by two women, one maybe eighteen and one that looked closer to eighty.  The eighteen-year-old jumped in front.  “Hi,” she said.  “My name is Asterasine, but everyone calls me Star.”  She shook Boston’s hand and repeated the same phrase for Lockhart as she shook his hand.  Lockhart laughed and looked at Boston. 

            Lincoln at least said, “Nice to meet you.”

            When Star got to Katie, she was smiling and already had her hand out to shake, but the girl stopped still, and after a moment went down on one knee, lowered her head and eyes and said, “Majesty.”

            The Sybil took over.  “Hannah is our wise woman.”  She pointed to the old lady.  “Asterasine is our hunter.  I am as you have named me, the Sybil.  Beltain is our priestess.  All we lacked was a woman of magic, a healer and our Queen to make the Amazon pantheon complete.  And now you have come.”

            “Oh, no –“ Katie started to speak, but Lincoln interrupted.

            “Beltain is the priestess?”

            “What priestess has ever had a greater claim than one who is herself counted among the gods.  Beltain is a holy vessel –“

            This time Lockhart interrupted.  He pushed passed the women and into the tent.  The others followed and everyone froze.  Beltain was naked and giggling.  A naked man was on top of her and moaning.  And the two appeared to be having a wonderful time.  Everyone turned around, but not before the picture was indelibly etched into their minds.

            They heard Beltain speak.  “Damn it. Grogan get off.  We have company.”  There was the sound of shuffling and cloth being tossed here and there before Beltain spoke again.  “Okay.”  They turned again to face her.  “Sorry ladies, you especially Boston.  Lincoln, close your mouth.  Lockhart, how the Hell are you?”

            “Holy vessel?”  Lincoln whispered.

            “I see you have met Star, Hannah and Anath-Isis.”

            “The Sybil?”  Boston asked.

            Beltain nodded while she tugged on her dress.  She was a short, plump woman, not fat like the Sybil but leaning in that direction.  She had long, light brown hair with a few streaks of gray which she took a moment to put up while she eyed them all through very ordinary brown eyes.  In every way she appeared unremarkable, so much so that Lockhart was prompted to ask.

            “How is it you managed to be the one to lead all these thousands on this migration?  I assume this is a migration.”

            “Right,” Beltain said once her hair was in place.  “The Sahara, Arabia, and even Caana are suffering through a dry spell, like for the last thousand years.”  Beltain rolled her eyes.  “The last ten years have been especially bad in Caana.  Blame man-made global warming.”  Beltain smiled, and it was an inviting smile.  “You know, Anenki built some nice permanent settlements around the Tigris and Euphrates in the east.  Then Cophu finally showed up with his Shemsu people.  They turned those settlements into cities, massive stone walls and everything.  Now we, and hundreds of other migrations are going to fill the places up.  My own people call it the land of green and plenty, but most call it Sumer.”

            “Sumer?”  Katie had to ask.

            “The Ubaidian way of saying Shemsu.  Some of the originals still call the land Ubaidai, but even most of them now call it Sumeria.”

            “Wow!”  Lincoln mouthed the word before Katie could.

            “But you –“ Lockhart started to bring them back to his question, but Beltain waved at him to quiet him.

            “So there are cities in Caana, like from Byblos to Sodom.  You have been to the biggest, Jericho.  But they are in no better shape than the countryside.  It was Astarte that first contacted me.  The gods want the migration.  Enlil and Enki want to see the cities in the east fill up.  They are anxious to see real wars start.  I told them that was stupid, but you know how boys can be.”

            “Enki with his glasses.  He did not seem like the warrior type,” Boston said.

            “Yeah, well, I made him the glasses to see but I have no control over what he sees,” Beltain threw her hands to the side like she was washing her hands of the whole thing.  “So anyway, we are not the only groups migrating.  Some went ahead of us.  Many more will follow us over the next hundred years or so.”

            “But you in charge?”  Lockhart would not let go.

            “Easy,” Beltain responded.  “We travel a day and stop for three or four before we travel another day.  When we stop, my little ones bring what they cull from the herds which we then divide between all the groups.  You know, people will follow anyone who feeds them.”

            Lockhart nodded, but Lincoln thought to say something to the man who was standing by, silent.  “Grogan, is it?  Sorry to interrupt you and your wife.”

            Grogan smiled, but Beltain laughed out loud.  “Grogan is not my husband.  I mean, my husband is probably around here somewhere screwing some young tart.  We don’t have that kind of a marriage.” 

            “Oh.”

            “Grogan was third in line.”

            “Oh!”

            “Forget it,” Beltain said with a final grin at Grogan.  “Oktapi should be here soon.  I suppose we should go out to greet him.”

            As they stepped outside, the Sybil nudged Lincoln.  “What priestess has more direct access to such things as Beltain.”

            “I suppose,” Beltain heard and responded.  “But there is nothing more natural in this time and culture than having a priest and priestess in the ruling position.”

            “How about an Amazon Queen?”  Katie whispered to Beltain as they went outside.

            “Oh yes, sorry.”  She turned just outside the door of her tent and spoke to everyone.  “Listen up.  Katie is an elect, and Boston, I suppose, is a woman of magic, but Zoe says they are on special assignment.  Hannah, Star and Anath, they are not the ones you are looking for.  Just wanted to be clear about that.  Beltain turned again and whispered to Katie.  “And I can hardly be my own priestess.”

            “Exactly,” Katie responded in the same soft tones.  “You are Zoe, or at least you were.”

            “Exactly,” Beltain echoed.  “Right now I am not Zoe, I am Beltain, and while I would not mind loving Artemis, Vrya, Astarte and the others, being Zoe’s high priestess would be too weird even for me.  What is that noise?”

            Beltain asked the last because there was a shrill sound in the air that was growing louder by the second.  It sounded at first like the screech of the bokarus, but this was much, much bigger.  People covered their ears, and still the sound grew until no one could think straight.

###

Avalon 2.7:  Mindless … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: The Way of the Migrants

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Precautions are good, but to be sure, as wary as the gnomes are of these strange horse riding travelers, so the travelers are of the many tribal campsites scattered across the grassland.  They want to find the Kairos, but are careful to enter that mass of humanity armed, just in case.

###

            The first camp the travelers came to had an old man waiting for them.  They had been seen, though they did nothing to hide.  As they marched down the hill, they took a good look around at what they could see of the camp and were surprised and not surprised.  The camp was full of people in many family groups to be sure, but also full of animals.  There were oxen with the wagons which looked full of grain, sheep and plenty of goats running around in small groups, birds in wooden cages that might one day be called pigeons and chickens and a few strange looking cows in the midst of the domesticated donkeys.  There were also children everywhere which were also running around in small groups.  It looked like sheer chaos, but the travelers imagined there was some sense to it.

            “I can see the way they came,” Katie said and pointed to the distance before they got too far down the hill.  There was a wide swath of the grassland that had been crushed and torn and eaten by the animals all along the way.

            “Hamites,” Lincoln pointed in another direction to where a different camp appeared to be filled with black Africans.

            Katie whipped her head around to look and Lockhart could not resist a comment.  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

            “My doctorate was in ancient cultures and technologies.  Walking into one of these early, massive migrations is a bit like walking into a candy shop.”

            “Just don’t let it distract you,” Boston said.  She had on her determined face.

            “Ah, the other Doctor heard from,” Lincoln mumbled.

            Boston let her frown come to her face.  “My doctorate in engineering, specifically electrical engineering is not going to be much help here.  When we get back, I might want a better look at Elder Stow’s screen maker, but for now I am focusing on my redneck.”

            “Massachusetts redneck.”  Lockhart pointed out.

            “Hey, we have rednecks in Massachusetts too, and rodeos.”

            “You know the last words of the redneck just before he committed accidental suicide?”  Lockhart asked.

            “What?”  Boston looked at the man, her frown still showed.

            “Hey!  Watch this!”

            Katie and Lincoln found it funny, but then they arrived where the old man was waiting, leaning heavily on his staff.  Several younger men also began to gather from the other side, and they carried spears and at least one had a copper knife.

            “Arameans?”  Lockhart said the word like a question.

            The old man turned his head so they could not see his face, but the young men behind saw.  He turned back and began to point toward various other camps as he spoke.  “Jakonites, Amorites, Sabateans,”  He was listing the nearby camps like he was thinking about it and maybe not sure where the Arameans were, or even if they existed.

            “Beltain.”  Katie cut him off.

            The old man looked at her before he lowered his eyes and waved his hand behind him.  The young men that gathered began to go back to whatever they had been doing, and the old man lifted his eyes and pointed near and then pointed further as if to suggest the Aramean camp was two camps away. 

            “Beltain sleeps in the distance and watches over us all.”  The old man said and turned and walked away.  The travelers walked around the outskirts of the camp to avoid any incidents.  They skirted the next camp over as well, though there were plenty of armed young men who watched them.  When they arrived at what they hoped was Beltain’s people, they stepped just inside the camp perimeter where Lockhart made them stop and wait.

            A young man as big as Lockhart came rushing up, with several other young men who hustled up behind.  Older men, women and children also appeared to stop what they were doing to watch.

            “Beltain?”  Lockhart tried again.

            “You have not been called to see her,” the young man growled.  The threat in his voice was clear.  “This is not your place.  Go back to your own kind.”

            “We need to see Beltain,” Lockhart was not put off.  “We are old friends and only wish to say hello.”

            “No one calls the lady.  She calls you as she pleases.”

            An older man stepped up next to the big man and spoke.  “The game is not plentiful in this area, but you will get your fair share with the rest.”

            “Now, go.”  The big man spoke again.  “Or I will be forced to make you go.”

            “Boston.”  Katie moved quickly.  She handed Boston her rifle and tied down the pistol at her side.  She stepped forward, but Lockhart grabbed her arm to stop her.  Katie spoke in English so the locals would not understand.  “Look, if he beats me it is no shame since he only beat a woman.  But if I beat him, we may get to see Beltain without anyone getting killed.”

            “I can live with that,” Boston said and stepped in front of Lockhart so he could not interfere.

            “Besides,” Katie finished her thought as she extracted her arm.  “Being one of the elect has to count for something.”  She turned to the big man who was watching the exchange with a dumb expression worthy of an ogre.  Katie returned to speaking the local tongue.  “So make me leave,” she said.  “If you can, we will all leave in peace.  If you cannot, you will take us to Beltain.”  She put her hands to her hips and waited. 

            The man thought for a moment before he jumped, his fist hooked through the air in what he imagined was a sucker punch.  Katie easily leaned back, caught the man’s arm and shoved, and added only her left foot to the man’s rump at the last.  The man flew several feet and landed on his face.  The young men started to shout, but it was like teenagers shouting “Fight!  Fight!”  They made no move to interfere.

            The big man got up, roared and rushed at Katie with both hands outstretched.  Katie started to roll to her back. The big man’s arms went over her head as she grabbed the man’s tunic.  She threw her foot into the man’s crotch, and when she reached her back she threw the man over her head.  Again, he flew several feet,, but this time he landed with a thump and a cloud of dust on his back.  He did not get up as quickly this time.

            When he did, he saw Katie standing again, unfazed, with her hands again on her hips, waiting.  The man was wary.  He moved just out of reach to her side so she had to turn to continue to face him.  When the man made nearly a complete circle, he stepped in and jabbed with his left hand while his right came from below in an uppercut.

            Katie avoided the jab and caught the man’s uppercut in her hand.  That completely stopped the man in mid punch, and since he was not pulling his punches, he had to have strained his muscles badly.  But clearly she was the stronger, and as she squeezed the man’s hand he moaned and went to his knees.  She easily punched him on the jaw with her free hand as she let go of his hand and he fell to the dirt too dizzy to get up again. 

            That was when a fat, middle-aged woman came barreling in, yelling at everyone to get back.   The people all complied and the travelers wondered if this could be Beltain.  That illusion was dispelled when the woman went to her knees in front of Katie.

            “Elect,” the woman said.

            Katie hesitated and put her hand out to the woman as if sensing something.  “Sybil,” she said at last.  “Please stand up.  I am no Amazon Queen.”

            “But you are,” the Sybil insisted.  “Though you have no tribe except the child of magic, you are.  Zoe herself has spoken.”  The woman drew in her breath.  “You have seen Zoe.  You have been with her.”  The woman began to cry, but the travelers knew they were tears of surprise, amazement and joy at the sight of Katie and Zoe together.

            “But why were you so late in coming?”  Boston stepped up.

            “It is the terrible power that is coming to fall upon us all.  It has been that I can hardly see anything else.”

###

Avalon 2.7:  Mind Your Matters … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Horses first

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Gnomes in ancient times were not the garden variety.  They tended the vast herds of many breeds that roamed the ancient grasslands, worldwide.  And they would have set the traveler’s horses free if they were not gifts of the Kairos.  So maybe they will watch the travelers and see exactly what kinds of friends of the Kairos they really are.

###

            By the time the travelers arrived, the thousands of people migrating east were settling down for the night in a number of clearly separated camps.  “Different tribal groups,” Katie suggested.  Lockhart simply nodded and thought it was wise to keep their camp separate as well.  They backed up a hill about a quarter mile to pitch their tents.

            “Especially for the sake of the horses,” he said.  “Some of these people might see the horse flesh as an easy supper.”

            “I was thinking the same,” Elder Stow spoke up.  “But I may have a solution.”  He handed everyone a small disc taken from a little pack on his belt.  He gave Lockhart and Katie three extra discs with the word, “For the Kairos and whomever she might want to bring.”  Then he set the main device from that little pouch in the center of the camp and turned it on.  It showed by a little red light that it was activated.  “A simple screen will isolate this area.  The horses will not be able to wander off and no person without a disc will be able to enter in.”

            “Like a dome of force?”  Boston asked.  “How big?”

            “A sphere,” Elder Stow said.  “On some planets things come from below.  But above the surface, for practical purposes, it will be like a dome.  I have set it to short of a quarter mile, and that will give the horses plenty of grazing room without endangering them.”

            “Electric fence.”  Lincoln nodded.  “Like for dogs.”

            “But two-way,” Boston said.  “Also keeping things out.”

            “What of our supper?”  Roland asked, and Elder Stow gave a second disc to Roland.

            “To tag the meat if necessary.  Plants and dead animals will not be a problem, and to be honest, I don’t know how the screen will affect your kind.  You, and those like the gnomes may be able to pass in and out without trouble.”

            Roland spoke honestly enough.  “In this life and in this world we have physical form just like humans.  Magic might make a temporary hole in your screen easily enough but it would require magic.  The disc simplifies things.”

            “The magic works easily enough.”  They all heard the voice and looked every way for the speaker.  “Even the little witch might manage it.”  A gnome appeared in their midst and introduced himself.  “Oktapi has decided to keep an eye on you for a time to better judge your intentions and see to your horses.  My name is Gnumma.”  Gnumma sat on the grass, and might have disappeared altogether if his wheat colored hair and beard did not have some gray in it.  “I have dealt with creatures of mud and blood before, so I was chosen to watch.  I felt your concern to keep the horses safe and that encouraged me to show myself.  Also, I brought this lame one to sustain you.”  He looked at Roland.  “No need to hunt,” he said.  “You will forgive me if I do not watch you butcher it.”

            “Mud and blood?”  Boston asked.

            “We are dust, and to dust we will return,” Lincoln answered.  “And the life is in the blood.”

            Boston looked at Roland, but he shook his head.  “Even we who are the littlest spirits of the earth are spiritual creatures.  The bodies we wear, though completely real, are more like clothing than an essential part of our nature.”

            “And can you change your clothing?”  Boston wondered.

            “No.  Yes.  Maybe.  It is very hard to do and a glamour is easy and works as well.  Some lesser spirits and certainly the greater spirits can change their form easily enough.  Of course, the gods can appear any way they choose, but all of them tend to find an agreeable form and settle in.”

            “They all have a natural form given at their making and that is the form to which they return time and again.”  Gnumma nodded.

            Lockhart also nodded and determined this gnome posed no threat.  “Horses first,” he said, and the group got busy setting the horses free to graze while the sun was still up.  The tents went up after that, and the fire got built, such as they could.  There was not much wood.  There was no wooded areas in sight and even the bushes, though some were big and thick, were not numerous.  Fortunately, there were acceptable rocks around and Elder Stow was able to use his sonic device to heat a big one to cooking temperature.

            “Forgive me,” Roland apologized to the gnome who nodded his forgiveness before Roland went to kill and cut up the poor donkey with the broken leg.

            Gnumma looked up at Lockhart who was cradling his shotgun.  “I have had dealings with your kind before, and once it was agreeable.  After all, as I told my chief, our goddess in this life is a mortal female.”

            “And it is time for us to find her,” Lockhart told the gnome.  “Roland, you and Elder Stow need to stay here and fix supper.  Stow, I will see if there are any fruits and vegetables among the migrants.”

            Elder Stow gave Lockhart a funny look, like he was continually surprised by these humans.  “Thank you,” he said.

            Katie and Lincoln walked up with their rifles ready.  Boston shouted.  “Wait a minute!”  She jumped up, took a brief look at Roland, eyed the Gott-Druk and the gnome and came to a decision.  “I’m coming.”  She ran to fetch her belt which she put together in the last time zone where there was a war going on.  She had her Beretta on one hip and her big hunting knife on her other hip.  She made her fairy weave running shoes into something more like Katie’s army boots.  She left her shorts alone since it was so hot and Katie was still in shorts, but she made her T-top a bit larger so as not to show her shape quite so well.  When she ran back out of the tent, she found the others patiently waiting, but they turned when they saw her and started toward the nearest camp.

            Lincoln had the database out when they came to a place where they could look down on the camps.  “Aramean,” he said to identify Beltain’s tribe.  Then he put the database away to get a good grip on his rifle, just in case.

###

Avalon 2.7:  The Way of the Migrants … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: New Blood

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 3557, somewhere between the Tigris and the Euphrates.  Kairos life 27:  Beltain.

 

Recording…

 

            The travelers spent the whole day moving west through an unchanging landscape.  It was occasional undulating hills and grass as far as they could see.  There were herds of animals now and then, though no herd was the size of the one they found back when they crossed the grasslands of the Sahara.  Here, there were some that maybe belonged on the Sahara, like the wildebeests, the impala and the few giraffes they saw.  Then again, some of the deer looked like they belonged more on the Indian subcontinent than in what had to be Iraq.  And then there were the elephants.  Roland supposed they might go either way.

            “This is imp and gnome country,” Roland reported early on.  “But it is likely the gnomes are wild ones, bred to care for these wild beasts, so it may be hard to tell them from their more mischievous imp cousins.”

            Lincoln nodded.  He was reading through the database, but said nothing out loud.  Elder Stow was also quiet, and thus they moved along in a way that was becoming their habit.  Boston, with the amulet to provide direction, stayed out front with Roland.  They spoke now and then, but quietly as lovers do.  Lincoln and the elder Gott-Druk rode quietly in the middle while Lockhart and Katie brought up the rear.  Katie and Lockhart also spoke now and then, but it was more about things like the weather and comments on the flora and fauna of the area.

            Lunch came all too slowly as is the case when people are bored; but during the meal, Elder Stow suggested a reasonable perspective on it all.  “It is good to be able to rest from one’s labors,” he said.

            Lincoln agreed but looked further down that road.  “Yeah.  I imagine things will start heating up soon enough.  The Kairos does tend to live in the eye of the hurricane, and I suspect Beltain will be no exception.”

            “Not to mention everything that is still following us, like the bokarus.”

            Oh.”  Katie turned her head to look back the way they had come.  “I hope Bob is alright.”

            “Bob?”  Lincoln had to ask.

            Lockhart grinned and pointed at Katie.  “She named the werewolf.”

            “Bob,” Boston said.  “Good name.”

            “But isn’t Bob a short form for Robert?”  Elder Stow looked at what he considered the leaders of the group, “Mother” Katie and “Father” Lockhart with curiosity written across his Neanderthal features.  Lockhart explained.

            “I was always Robert, and sometimes Rob.  As often as not I was Lockhart, but the only one who ever called me Bob was my older brother when he wanted to tease me.”

            “Ah, yes.  Family.”  The Gott-Druk nodded that he understood that much, even as Katie reached out to touch Lockhart on the upper arm.

            “I’m sorry,” she apologized.  “I never even thought of you as a Bob.”

            “Good thing I am not,” he responded with a smile as much for her hand on his arm as for her.

            “Hold!”  Roland spoke sharply and everyone stilled instantly and wondered what his elf ears picked up.  Roland stood and spoke more softly.  “Show yourselves.  We mean you no harm.”

            There was a slight pause, a moment of silence when people looked in every direction but saw nothing but the never-ending grasses, before six small figures became visible only a few yards away.  Even visible, they were hard to see as their long wheat colored beards and green clothes perfectly matched the color of the grass.  One stepped forward from the group and spoke to Roland.

            “So we have perceived.  One elf, one old one and four bits of animated mud are no concern of ours.  What we do not understand are the horses you ride.  We have never seen their like, but we have determined they should be free and not your slaves.”

            Every eye shot to the horses where they saw a number of the little green men stripping the horses of saddle and bridle.  Lockhart whistled, and the horse he called dog trotted straight to him.  It knocked down three little green men in the process.

            “Ours is a mutually agreeable arrangement,” Lockhart explained.  “We and the horses are from the future and do not belong here.  We are trying to get home and go with our strengths.”

            Katie interrupted.  “We care for the horses, feed and protect them and they carry us to our destination.”

            The little green man who had spoken looked at Lockhart and Katie like he was surprised the creatures knew how to talk.  He looked again at the elf.

            “Gnome, hear me.  The horses are a gift of the Kairos,” Roland said flatly.  “I recommend you leave them alone to fulfill their assigned task.”

            The gnome hissed, waved his hand and the ones by the horses left off setting the horses free and vanished.  Then the gnome spoke again.  “And you have seen her and the great mass of beings she brings to strip the land bare?  Woe that long ago the Kairos forbid our forbearers from preventing the beings from killing and eating our charges.  Soon there may be no beasts left in the fields for us to tend.”

            “The beasts will not utterly disappear,” Roland said before he was interrupted by Lincoln.

            “You have seen Beltain?  You know where she is?”

            The gnome continued to stare at the elf and pretended that Lincoln did not exist.  Roland had to repeat the questions.

            “There.”  The gnome pointed in the general direction they were headed.  With your horses it will take less than the sunset.  But beware, elf-kind, there are those behind you that seek to play.  The great one follows, but the play of the great one will not be fun.  It will ruin you so the great one may laugh.”

            “Great one?”  Boston asked before she also looked up at Roland.  Roland shrugged, and there was no way to ask the gnomes since they vanished back into the landscape.

            With that, the travelers became anxious.  They fixed their saddles, checked their saddle bags and other equipment and rode out with some speed.  It was not two more hours before they saw a cloud of dust coming in their direction.  There had to be thousands of people – a far larger herd than any animal herd they had seen.

            “And Beltain is somewhere in the middle of all that?”  Boston asked the rhetorical question.  “Good luck.”

            “I don’t know,” Lincoln countered.  “I have learned that the Kairos is usually pretty easy to find.”

            “Yeah,” Lockhart agreed.  “Just look for trouble.”  He smiled at his own humor and turned to share the smile with Katie, but she was looking behind with some worry on her face.

###

Avalon 2.7:  Horses first … Next Time

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Avalon 2.6: The Battle for Freedom

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Apparently, getting out of the war zone did not get them out of the war.   The enemy is guarding the time gate.  There is no other way around it.  Someone is going to have to move or the travelers will never get home to the future.

###

            Katie handed her binoculars to Boston as she spoke.  “If they charge, they will run into a wall of arrows here at the edge of the trees and we will be able to get behind them.  If they dig in we will be here a while picking them off one by one.”

            “And if they do both?  Won’t that put Ivy at risk on his own rear?” Lockhart asked.

            “I can see that,” Ivy said.  “But we can watch for that.  I think this is the most brilliant plan I ever heard of.  Who would think of circling around to hit the enemy from the front and rear at the same time?”

            “War is still a relatively new business in the world,” Lincoln suggested as he put down the binoculars he inherited from Decker.  “Anger, fighting, tribe on tribe sure, but tactics?  This scale of war is probably unknown.”

            Boston lingered.  She was looking at the gate, perfectly framed by two great oak trees.  She guessed one of the gods or titans caused the trees to grow and caused their branches to curve and meet overhead.  The space was three riders wide and twice as tall as a horse.  She could see the slight shimmer in the air under the cloud-filled sky.

            “Boston,” Lockhart called and she scooted down the glacial boulder that was their spy perch.  She knew the plan was good, but it was going to take some timing with untrained people.

            Ivy and Holly got a full hour to explain the idea to their people.  Elder Stow spent that time with the help of Gimble and Linnia pinpointing the lesser spirits among the enemy.  His powerful weapon would be needed to take out as many of them as possible.  When he mounted his horse he expressed his reservations.

            “They would be fools to charge us when they have the strong position.”

            “Then we must hope they are fools,” Linnia said, and then Holly and Ivy were ready.

            The travelers on horseback rode out from the trees at some speed.  They had to act like this was the first time they saw the enemy and also make it look like it took thirty yards or so to get their horses to stop the forward motion.  They wanted to get close enough to present a tempting morsel for the enemy to bite.  Immediately, the travelers began to fire their weapons and men and spirits in the flesh began to drop.  Elder Stow was more deliberate in selecting his targets, but hopefully no one noticed in the midst of the confusion made by the guns.

            It did not take long for the enemy to respond.  They charged full out.  Only a half-dozen men and a couple of spiritual creatures remained to guard the gate.

            The travelers turned their horses and rode.  They knew some of the spirits would outrun the men and only hoped they would not outrun the horses.  When they rode into the forest and turned again, they saw the devastating effect of their plan.  Holly brought twenty-five fee from one side and Ivy brought twenty-five from the other so they met at the rear of the charge.  The enemy became covered with volleys of arrows from the hundred Little Ones at the edge of the trees and fifty at their rear.  Some near the sides managed to scoot out from the trap, but they simply ran for their lives.  Half of the enemy lay on the field, dead and dying, and the two sides never actually met.

            The ones left by the time gate realized they were too exposed by the oaks.  They moved aside to take up residence in a cluster of nearby rocks.  It was a wise move, but it allowed an opening that Lockhart was quick to exploit. 

            “Ride!” he shouted, and the travelers rode full speed for the gate.  They shouted as they went.  “Good-bye, thank you, good luck.”  They zipped through the gate into a world of grass that stretched out before them in small, rolling hills that looked like waves at sea.  Lincoln was content to ride straight on until morning, but Lockhart and Katie knew better.  Roland also knew better so he turned back and Boston followed him, and that left Lincoln and Elder Stow in the rear and grumbling.

            A lesser spirit, a harbinger of death that would one day be called a banshee followed them and three men followed the banshee.  The travelers could not take their eyes off the men as the banshee spoke.  Those men aged at least fifty years in a matter of seconds.  Two fell to their knees in pain and clutched their chests.  One fell to his face like one already dead.

            “The two before you escaped before we came to guard this place,” the banshee whined in a voice that made the travelers open their eyes wide and grind their teeth.  “You will follow me down into the land of the dead.”

            “And where might that be?” Roland asked as he came up alongside Katie. 

            The Banshee paused, floated up about three feet in the air, let her head circle all the way around on her neck like a scene from the Exorcist, and she even turned green.  Clearly the banshee had no idea where it was.

            Elder Stow arrived and fired his weapon.  The banshee was caught in the middle and thrown back through the gate, and if it was not dead, it was near enough.  Meanwhile, the three old men struggled to get to their feet and Lockhart got down from his mount to confront them.

            “I don’t know if you can get back through the gate or not.  If you can, I do not know if you will become young again.  Only this much is certain, that we cannot stay here and we cannot take you with us.  If you can get through the gate, you must surrender yourselves, and hear me.  Domnu and her children hate you and will kill you all.  Tetamon and the gods will give your people land and homes and bless your children.  Make your own choice, which is it you want?

            Lockhart got back up on his horse and turned away.  He led the group into those grasslands and while Boston and Lincoln looked back, he never looked back.

###

            Once upon a time the world was full of grass, until the day it became overgrazed and began to dry.  That was when people moved in search of greener pastures.  Great and successive migrations eventually filled the place between the fertile Tigris and Euphrates rivers, but in Beltain’s day, keeping the various tribal groups from killing each other while on the road is the key to a successful migration,  and the headache.  The travelers from Avalon are not much help with this problem.  In fact, they get caught up in the problem, thanks to the thing that is following them.  It is big and powerful, cruel, and hidden in the clouds, and it has an irresistible agenda all its own.

Avalon 2.7:  New Blood … Next Time.

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Avalon 2.6: Traveling Mercies

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            When the travelers discovered they would be more of a hindrance than a help in the war, they reluctantly decide to more on.  Getting out of the war zone was good, but it hardly meant they were out of danger.

###

            The line of lights in the dark steadied for a moment and Katie wondered if it was some kind of ground machine, like a truck with side lights.  “Is it Gott-Druk?” she asked.

            “No,” Elder Stow said flatly.

            “How about a dragon hunting near the ground?” Lockhart wondered with a look at Lincoln.

            “Thanks!” Lincoln sat up straight.  “That is an image I won’t soon forget.”

            Gimble, the chief dwarf stood, squinted, and then let out a whistle guaranteed loud enough and shrill enough to crack a window.  The string of lights wavered, turned, and fluttered straight for them.  The humans might have been afraid if the little ones were not so relaxed about it.  When the lights arrived, it turned out to be fairies, as many as a hundred, and they went mostly for the trees for the night, but a number of them paused to examine the horses first.  Two, one golden lit male and one bluish lit female made a special effort to pause before each human face around that camp.  They hesitated in front of Elder Stow as well, but only very briefly.  They also hardly paused at the elves and dwarfs as if they knew what they were and had no real interest in them.

            “It is as we heard,” the female spoke.  “Humans and spirits working together.” 

            “Strange,” the male said.  “And the gods divided and alien creatures fighting beside the rest.”

            “We are not aliens,” Elder Stow spoke up loudly.  “Our genesis was on this world the same as the humans.  We have as much right to be here as they do.”

            “But you are no longer authorized to be on this world.  By decree of the gods, it is a human world now.”  Lockhart spoke the truth of it.

            Elder Stow got a little hot.  “But the gods have gone away, at least in our day.”

            “Hey!” Roland, Boston, Katie and Lincoln all spoke up.  “You are not to speak of future things like that.”

            Elder Stow paused and looked around the group and ended with a look at Katie.  “Mother.  My apologies.  I did not mean to speak out of turn.”

            “Accepted,” Katie said without hesitation.  Her eyes were on the blue glowing fairy.  “I knew a fairy once that was blue like you.  Her name was Bluebell.”

            The blue fairy rushed up to Katie’s face.  “My mother’s name was Bluebell,” she said. 

            “But it couldn’t be,” Katie shook her head, sadly.  “That was on the other side of the world and had to be almost nine hundred years ago.”

            “My mother lived to be over nine hundred.  I was born five hundred years ago two years ago.”

            “That makes you five hundred and two,” Lockhart suggested.

            “It does?  Well, that is a good thing, isn’t it?”

            “A good thing,” Lockhart agreed.

            “And we just arrived from the other side of the world,” the male added.

            “But I don’t know.  Mother avoided humans.  You see, she met some once shortly before she lost her Lord.  After that, she stayed away from the human world.”

            “But she met some?”

            “Yes.  One with hair like fire who was called Mary Riley, but her real name was Boston and one with hair of gold called Lieutenant Harper, but her real name was Katie.”

            “That’s my Bluebell!”  Boston shouted.  “I’m Boston.”

            “And Honeysuckle?” Katie thought of her special friend.

            “She was my mother,” the young male said.  He did something then that caused Katie to audibly gasp.  He got big, which is to say human sized.  His wings vanished and his fairy weave clothes grew with him to fit his new size.  Katie had forgotten fairies could do that.  “My name is Ivy, and my wife is Holly,” he said.  Holly got big, and she was as beautiful as everyone expected a fairy to be.

            Katie stood.  “I am Katie,” and she did what she did when she said good-bye to Bluebell and Honeysuckle.  She hugged each of the fairies in turn, this time to say hello.

            Captain Arturo rubbed his hands together.  “Good thing you are here.  We can use your help.”

            When the travelers set out in the morning, they had a hundred fairies with them to watch their rear, move way out on their flanks, scout ahead and spy from far overhead.  Elder Stow said he was honestly not sure of the range of the Gott-Druk scanners in the atmosphere, but he thought they might send a ship if they saw him traveling with humans, and especially if they picked up sign of the spirits with them.

            “Then again, in this mixed-up war, they might find that normal and ignore it,” he concluded.

            “Some little or lesser spirits might notice,” Captain Arturo admitted.  He was jogging beside Lockhart and was speaking with him, Katie and Ivy in his small form who sat on the neck of Lockhart’s horse and held on to the horse’s mane.  “Lesser spirits might have been a real problem with just my troop, but I have confidence now that we have the force to meet any such threat.”

            “Let us hope the force won’t be needed,” Lockhart responded.

            “I asked for this assignment,” Arturo admitted.  “But my Lord could only send me and my troop.  There were no others that could be spared.  I believe the retreating has ended now and the real fighting will begin.”

            “What?”  Lincoln looked back as if looking all the way to the burning woods.  “You mean there hasn’t been any real fighting yet?”

            “To be sure there has,” Arturo said.  “But most of our effort until now has been in an orderly retreat.  They landed at the place my Lord calls Normandy.  He brought the humans and us from that place step by step.  We carried what food we could and destroyed the rest.  We harried the enemy, but did not pitch battle.  Now the enemy men are starving and the rebellion of the spirits is wavering.  One good blow now and the enemy may fall apart.  If the elder race can be turned, all the better.”

            “Elder race?”  Katie had to be sure she understood.

            “The Gott-Druk,” Lockhart confirmed.

            Up front, Boston talked nonstop with Missus Holly who was small and rode in her horse’s mane and Linnia who jogged beside them.  Roland did his very best to ignore them.  They were all three talking when a troop of six fairies rushed back from the front.  They paused only long enough for a sentence before they rushed back to report to Lord Ivy.

            “The enemy is up ahead just standing there, doing nothing.”

            Boston got out her amulet and took a reading.  The time gate was less than a mile away and she turned and shouted back to the others.  “I bet they are guarding the time gate.”

###

Avalon 2.6:  The Battle for Freedom … Next Time

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Avalon 2.6: War is Hello

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Alexis and her father Mingus are alive and well, all things considered, and Elder Stow, one of those dreaded Gott-Druk, is a prisoner of the elves.  Tsk, tsk.

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            “I am sorry, young Lincoln.  I did not expect treachery.”  Elder Stow shook his head, sadly.

            “Captain.”  Tetamon called the elf to get off the floor.  The elf was shaking once he discovered that this particular Gott-Druk was with the friends of the Kairos.  Tetamon just looked at the elf for a minute before he spoke.  “You did your best in a confusing situation and that is all I can ask.  You brought the elder Gott-Druk here without harm, and you respected the elder of your own people.  Respect is never a bad thing.  Learn and grow.  Dismissed.”

            The elf had a tear in his eye as he left and realized that nothing bad was going to happen to him for messing up and letting the others get away.  He would work twice as hard after that to be sure he did twice as good a job.

            “But what about your people?” Boston asked.

            Elder Stow shrugged.  “Stupid and stubborn.  I may have planted some seeds.  Domnu has promised them the land of what you call Western Europe.  It is our old land, you know.  But as you humans say, you can’t make a deal with the devil and expect it to come out heavenly.”  Elder Stow shrugged again.  “I will say this also.  Her humans are starving.  Children are dying of hunger, and some females.  The men are grumbling and may rebel.  Who can say?”

            “We may turn the Gott-Druk,” Tetamon spoke up.  “The men may rebel, and every day we are seeing Little Ones repent their rebellion and switch sides.  But all of this will mean nothing if we cannot drive back the titans.  I have every hope that mother will be able to persuade the gods of Egypt.  If Amon, Ptah, Bast, Anubis, Wadjt and others come, they have the least claim on this land.  I am certain Aesgard will come in force and probably Olympus as well.  That should be plenty to turn back the titans, but then how we settle the claims between them may be another problem.”

            “What if the gods start fighting each other over the land?” Katie asked.

            “The whole earth might end up in a ball of flame,” Tetamon shrugged like the Gott-Druk.

            “But that didn’t happen in history,” Lincoln protested.  “If it had, we would not have been born.”

            “History is in flux,” Tetamon responded.  “What you say and what I remember about the future gives me hope that a solution will be found, but we still have to find it.  I can’t just sit back and assume it will all work out.  My memories of the future and your lives are uncertain right now.  It can all be changed.”

            “So it is possible we might never exist,” Lockhart summed things up, and Tetamon nodded.  “Sounds like this watching over history business is not so easy.”

            “Figuring out how to keep it from all falling apart can be hard,” Tetamon admitted.

            “How can we help?” Boston was first in line to volunteer.

            “I’m not sure we can,” Roland spoke to her.

            “That’s right,” Tetamon said.  “The best help right now is for you to move on.  That is one less thing for me to worry about.  I am just sorry you couldn’t come at a point in my life when I was alone and bored.”

            “Me too,” Boston said.

            “We do have Alexis and Mingus to follow now.  We should be hot on their trail and might catch them soon.”  Lockhart put a hand on Lincoln’s shoulder to encourage the man.

            Lincoln looked at his boss.  “Thanks.”

            They gathered the horses first thing in the morning and found them well groomed, well fed and rested.  They imagined it might give them an advantage in catching up to Alexis and Mingus and their worn out steeds.  Elder Stow grumbled at the prospect of riding again, but Decker’s horse did not seem to mind.  On the other hand, he was not the only one relieved to know they would be traveling away from the battle front.

            The elf Captain, Arturo and his troop were assigned to protect their flanks and rear.  That meant they could not move too swiftly with the horses, but in any case it was going to take them more than a day to reach the time gate.  Lincoln was mostly good about it.  Sometimes he cursed the pace saying they would never catch Alexis at that rate.  At other times, when he looked around at the devastated landscape. he worried that without help, Alexis and her father might have been captured again and end up lost in that time zone forever, or killed.  But mostly he was quiet, and that was fine with Elder Stow who had no conversation left in him.

            The forest they traveled through was thin, and even as they increased the distance from the actual fighting there were signs of burned trees and fallow fields.  The few huts they saw were all abandoned.  And there was a pall in the sky which probably meant it was going to snow again, but all it did was dampen everyone’s spirits.

            “I bet this place was once beautiful,” Katie whispered.

            “War is Hell,” Lockhart responded.

            Katie and Lockhart whispered from time to time as they brought up the rear, but it was not really about anything in particular.  Roland kept his peace most of the way, but an elf maid was assigned to run at the front of the group beside Boston and those two soon became involved in a real discussion.  Some of it was about Roland which was perhaps why he wisely remained silent.  Some of it was about magic, and the maid, Linnia became animated when she discovered that Boston had some abilities in that direction.  Most of it was about being an elf, about life and culture and work such as elves did in the grand scheme of the earth.  Boston got excited when the conversation turned to talk about Avalon.  Boston was interested, but not surprised to find out that one day on Avalon could be worth three or four days on earth, or a third of a day, depending.  It made sense in a twisted sort of second heavens kind of way.  She was also not surprised to find Linnia had only been there once as a young girl.  Boston imagined Avalon was a nice place to rest for a time, but not meant as a permanent residence to take the Little Ones out of the world altogether.

            They halted to camp for the night when Captain Arturo, Roland and Lockhart all agreed on a defensible position.  Katie confirmed the choice with a nod that neither Lockhart nor Roland missed.  Lockhart once relied on Decker’s counsel, but he was finding Katie could judge such matters just as well, and in some ways perhaps better, as a woman might see it.  Thus they stopped, gathered wood for a fire and Boston got to practice her little magic to start the fire.

            “The Amazons called me Little Fire,” Boston admitted after she calmed from her excitement at lighting the fire with magic alone.

            “And you are,” Linnia said.  “But it is enough.”  She smiled.  They were friends by then and would remain so no matter how many millennia ended up separating them.

            There was not much to put on the fire, but the travelers had plenty of elf bread.  The dwarfs complained and the ogre would not touch it, but no one starved.  For everyone’s safety, the Little Ones shared their meat with the ogre first.”

            “When the ogre is fed you are safe in your bed,” Boston repeated what the Kairos once told her.

            “That is very good,” Captain Arturo said.  “I will have to remember that.”

            “Isn’t it a well known expression among the elves?”

            “No,” Roland and Lincoln spoke together, and Roland added, “But it is now.”

            “But what is that?”  Katie took everyone’s attention as she pointed off into the dark.  A string of dim lights stretched across the horizon some distance from the camp, undulating up and down like a snake slithering through the air about five feet above the earth. 

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Avalon 2.6:  Traveling Mercies … Next Time

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