Avalon

Avalon 2.6: Lost and Found

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            So, is Elder Stow betraying the travelers?  Back in the days of the Kairos Odelion, the travelers killed his two “children” – crewmates who fell with him into the deep past; and the Gott-Druk are not known as a forgiving people.  On the other hand, the travelers are headed back into the future where he wants to go, and given some of the things he has seen, he understands it is not safe even for him to travel alone.  A truce seems in order.  But then, here he has a whole contingent of his own people to back him up, even if they are caught up in a war.  On the fourth hand …

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            Mingus stood.  He intended to defend his daughter with every last shred of strength he had, and it might take his last shred.  Their jailer was a djin of the lesser spirit variety.  No little spirit could hope to match it, or her as Alexis kept insisting.  Even Mingus and Alexis combining their magic would not be enough.

            “Here is a change,” Alexis looked but stayed seated and let her sarcasm do the talking.  “A Gott-Druk who wants to talk to us.”

            “Must be the tenth.”

            “Oh, father.  An even dozen at least.”

            “In here,” the djin said in her grating voice that gave Alexis the shivers.

            “And where are the other prisoners?”  The Gott-Druk asked.

            The djin laughed, at least the others guessed it was a laugh.  “We don’t take prisoners.  These two with their horses are hostages, for now.”

            “So there are no other jailers around?”

            “What for?”  the djin asked.  “I got eyes and ears.  They can’t get passed me.”

            “Good to know,” Elder Stow said, and as soon as the djin unlocked the cage he fired some kind of weapon at the creature which vaporized her so fast she had no time to cry out.  He stepped into the cage and Mingus reacted.

            “Orange jumper.  You are the one from the future.  Are you here to kill us?”

            “No.”  Elder Stow said as he pulled a big piece of hand-held equipment from his vest pocket.  He scanned the two in the cage and read the readout.  “I came to talk some sense into my people.  They are on the wrong side of history here – not that I am an expert on earth history, but even I know that much.”

            “How did it go?” Alexis asked.

            Elder Stow shrugged.  “My people are naturally stubborn and some are stupid as well.  Stubborn and stupid is a powerful combination to try and overcome.  Here, swallow this.”  He held out something for Alexis, the size of a big pill.

            “Swallow what?”  Mingus asked.

            “Father can be stubborn, too,” Alexis said.

            “Electronic.”  Elder Stow handed it to the elder elf.  “It will pass in a day or two, but in the meanwhile she will appear on their scanners as Gott-Druk.”  Mingus hesitated.  “I already seeded your two horses,” Elder Stow added to suggest it would cause no harm.

            “Misty is alright?” Alexis stood with hope in her voice.

            “So far, kept as curiosities or perhaps because the powers feel they may need you with your horses to make the complete hostage package.”  Elder Stow shrugged.

            “Swallow this,” Mingus handed the thing to Alexis but kept his eyes on the Gott-Druk.  “How did you find us?”

            “Accident,” Elder Stow admitted while Alexis struggled to swallow.  “I found the horses first.  Of course you could only be Mingus and Alexis.  Lincoln, your husband speaks of you often, and your brother, though he speaks mostly to young Boston.

            Alexis swallowed.  “I have a husband?  You see, Father.  I said I had a husband only I couldn’t remember him.  But he is alive?”

            “Last I saw,” Elder Stow said.  “I hope they got picked up by the right side.”  He looked again at the scanner in his hand and tossed it to the floor, and broke it.  “They will see you from a distance as Gott-Druk, and your horses as well.  The elf does not show up on the scanner at all.  No surprise there.”

            “We must hurry,” Mingus said, and refused to look at his daughter.

            “But father?”  she was remembering some things, but only in bits and pieces. 

            “No, I will not speak of it.”

            “And he can be stubborn,” Alexis told Elder Stow.

            “But at least not stupid,” Elder Stow agreed and took the lead, pausing at the door only long enough to pull out whatever that powerful weapon was that killed the djin.

            They were in luck.  The horses were still saddled and looked untouched, though that was not good luck for the poor horses.  The Gott-Druk and two humans guarding the horses made them pause, but they appeared to be eyeing each other more than the horses or the approaches to the hastily erected pen.

            “Allow me,” Mingus said as he began to fade from sight.

            “Wait,” Elder Stow said.  He had twisted something on his weapon and pointed.  There was a bright flash and the Gott-Druk and two men collapsed.  “Unconscious,” Elder Stow said.  “At least mine are unconscious.  I can’t speak for the two humans.  They may be dead.”

            “Quickly,” Alexis rushed them forward, and the men argued.

            “You take my horse,” Mingus said.

            “No, you take it.”  It looked like they were passing a hot potato back and forth.  Clearly neither liked to ride.  Alexis had to step in.

            “Father, I’ll ride with you.  Gott-Druk, you take Misty.  He will follow us so all you have to do is hang on.”

            Neither man liked the solution, but they had no alternative to suggest.  Elder Stow changed the subject.  “Better go invisible,” he said, and mounted and twisted something on his wrist.  He vanished.  Mingus could still see him, but Alexis had to magically adjust her eyes to see.  Then she practiced her magical art on herself, her father and his horse to make them invisible as well.  She left a window open so Elder Stow could still see them.

            “But which way?” Mingus asked as they walked the horses out of the enclosure.  “They put bags over our heads when they brought us.”

            “And mine,” Elder Stow said as he looked again at his wrist.  “But my scanner kept recording the trail, and would no matter how big the bag.”  He pointed and started out.  Mingus quickly caught up, and they rode, all out when they could, for several hours.

            “We may be invisible to Gott-Druk and men, but not to the spirits.  We are certainly not invisible to the titans,” Mingus reminded his daughter.

            Since she sat behind her father and held on, she could whisper in his ear and did not have to shout to be heard.  “But maybe the others are looking for us.  Maybe my husband, whoever he is.  Maybe Tetamon will find us first.”

            They rode until Alexis called a halt.  Their horses had not been mistreated and had been fed something, but they had to be worn and sore from wearing their saddles for so long.  She made everyone get down and loosened the horse’s belts.  She knew if necessary she could tighten the belts again instantly by magic, but for now they walked the horses and gave them a much needed breather.

            “Good animals, these beasts of yours.  Loyal.  That is important,” Elder Stow remarked.

            “As the little spirits should be loyal to the Kairos.  You have no idea how distressing I find their rebellion.”

            “My people will probably be wiped out if they do not find some sense and switch sides,” Elder Stow agreed with the sentiment.

            “And what of the men?” Alexis said.  “They say Domnu has brought men, women and children to the continent to force their commitment to the cause, but in the process she has depopulated her islands.  If these people are wiped out, there will be no men left alive in all of her lands.”

            They all thought and walked in silence until Mingus finally signaled that they should prepare to ride again.  Alexis tightened the saddle belt on her father’s horse and went to tighten Misty’s.  Elder Stow gave her his attention and stepped back to give her room, and that is no doubt why he was taken unprepared by a number of elves, dwarfs and a rather ugly ogre who grabbed the Gott-Druk by the arms to prevent him from going for a weapon.

            “Wait,” Mingus yelled, and at the sight of the elder elf the troop did stop long enough to look.  Mingus mounted his horse.  “Hurry up, Alexis,” he said as he brought his horse up to where he could sprinkle some dust on the Gott-Druk.  “Just a temporary disabling of your many devices.  It should pass in a day or so.”  He grinned and turned to the elf Captain.  “Good work.  This one needs to go to Lord Tetamon as quickly as possible.  Treat him well, he has vital information for our side.  Now we have just one more job to finish our mission.”

            “Elder,” the Captain did not question his elder, though the dwarfs looked wary.

            “Hurry up, Alexis,” Mingus said again as he rode off at all speed before the dwarfs could speak up.  Alexis followed in his wake.

###

Avalon 2.6:  War is Hello … Next Time

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Avalon 2.6: Escape and Discovery

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Well, the rest of the travelers slept for at least half a night before and Elenar ship found them and the enemy came charging out of the wood with the sole desire of killing them and eating them.

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            Katie was the first to fire at the oncoming horde.  Lockhart’s first thought was for the horses.  “To the barn,” he yelled.

            “Back door!” Lincoln pointed at the barn and yelled back.

            “Our equipment!” Katie joined in the yelling and pointed to the house.

            “Damn,” Lockhart expressed himself.

            “We will pick you up out back.”  Roland finished the conversation.  To be sure, most of the camp was packed and ready to go.  Only Lockhart and Katie still had their bags in the house.

            “Come on,” Lockhart yelled at the three Elenar that had gone to their knees in firing position and were taking a toll on the attackers.  Arrows were beginning to come in their direction, and while they still fell short, they would not fall short for long.  “Come on,” Lockhart was a bit more insistent and got the leader’s attention.  Lockhart pointed to the house and the Elder nodded and barked orders.  They fell back to the house.

            Katie already had the bags in hand.  “Out the back,” he told her.  There was a window and she dove through it.  “Come. hurry.”  The Elenar were not sure what he had in mind, but they knew their three handguns, as advanced as they were, would not hold off this attack or even make much of a dent in it.

            Lockhart got out as Roland brought up his horse.  He mounted and put a hand down for the Elenar leader.  The leader did not look sure, but he took the hand and Lockhart hauled him up behind and told him to hold on.  The other two got up behind Roland and Lincoln and avoided the human female, though the one behind the elf looked very uncomfortable.

            They rode hard for the woods on the far side of the field, and Katie was glad she was not burdened with an extra rider.  It gave her the chance to turn, fire on the enemy as they rounded the building, and still turn again to catch up.  By then the Elenar ship came in to cover their retreat.  This enemy had no weapon to match the flying machine, but they did have some runners among the spirits that could race a horse.  Fortunately, the ship could target them even at that speed, and it was not long before three of those darting Elenar fighters joined the battle. 

            The riders found what appeared to be a natural path through the woods.  They revised their idea of natural when they discovered it led to a village.  It was a primitive, mobile village that was deserted some time ago.  They decided deserted rather than overrun because of the lack of bodies.

            “Who knows if that means anything, though,” Katie said when they stopped to check for pursuit.  “They may have eaten the dead.”

            “No bones,” Lincoln pointed out, and no one wanted to argue that even the bones might have been eaten by one group or the other.

            The Elenar all got down carefully.  They were shaken, frightened by the horses far more than by the enemy.

            “Invigorating,” the Elenar leader said and stepped aside to put his finger to his ear again.  “They have retreated back to the woods from whence they came.  Our ship has zeroed in on our position and will be here in a second, not that you would understand anything about flying in a ship or how it might find us,.”

            “Radar or geo-positioning?”  Lockhart asked, and the Elenar looked surprised.

            “Might be radio if they each have a micro transmitter, like sewn in a pocket, that could show them permanently on a grid,” Katie suggested.

             “But too easy to jam,” Lincoln said.  “Maybe they have a simple scanner on the ship that can track their life-signs.”

            “Who are you people?”  The Elenar asked as the ship appeared over the trees and set down in the adjacent field.

            “People who don’t belong here,” Lockhart said honestly enough. 

            “And there you are.”  They heard the woman before they saw her.  When she manifested, Katie’s face lit up. 

            “Artemis?”

            “Yes, my elect.”

            “Boston?” Lockhart voiced his first thought.

            “Safe,” Artemis said and she raised her arms and they vanished, horses and all.  They reappeared beside the entrance to a tunnel.  “The main cavern is about two miles in.  Tetamon set up a nine square mile area that does not appear to exist in the world so even the opposing titans cannot detect it.  Cheating, I know, but at least the refugees are safe for now.  Don’t be long.”  Artemis vanished down the hole and even the horses at full speed could not have kept up.

            “Curiouser and curiouser,” Katie said.

            “Lamps,” Lockhart said.  “We have a rabbit hole to negotiate.”

            “If it is big enough for trolls and ogres we can probably ride the whole way,” Roland said.

            “Comforting thought,” Lincoln frowned and they started into the tunnel.

            They walked the horses after one point in the tunnel narrowed.  In that way it took them an hour before they came out into the great cavern.  Gnomes were waiting for them and quickly relieved them of their horses.  It was an ordinary man who led them after that, straight to the chamber where Tetamon was waiting. 

            “Lockhart.”  Tetamon recognized them right away, and though they had never seen him before, they knew him once he spoke.  They also knew KimKeri and AhnYani and were pleased to see them safe and free of Jericho.

            Boston was still sleeping comfortably, but it was enough to see her.  They did not have to wake her.  That left them at liberty to ask about Elder Stow.

            “No trace of him,” Tetamon admitted.  “With so many competing powers on the field, even the gods are hampered in what they can do.  We retrieved Captain Decker’s horse.”

            “You did that,” AhnYani said with a joyful voice of praise.

            “Nameless did that,” Tetamon corrected.  “Wlvn plugged Nameless in when you first got your horses.  Nameless is still connected to them, not as strongly as you are connected, but certainly strong enough.”

            “But the Gott-Druk?” Lincoln asked.

            “I fear he may have gone to join his people,” Tetamon admitted what they all feared.

###

Avalon 2.6:  Lost and Found … Next Time

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Avalon 2.6: Underground

M G Kizzia 1 Comment

            So, while the main group of travelers are in the wild being attacked by the enemy, Boston has been captured by what she hopes are friendly folk, even if they are goblins, and a troll.

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            “Now missy, we won’t hurt you, much.” One of the goblins spoke to Boston when her feet were safely on the ground.

            “That works out well,” Boston said and hoped her voice remained on an even keel.  She did not need to show the fear she was feeling.  “Because I have no intention of hurting you either.”

            “Hey chief,” a goblin spoke up.  “She is not afraid of us.”  The goblins all scratched their heads.  This was not the usual response from outsider humans and they were not sure how to take it.

            “Shredder,” the chief goblin called and the troll moved to the front.  Boston most certainly would have blanched at that, but something else caught her attention across the field so she did not have to look at the troll directly.

            “You expecting company?” she asked and pointed.  The goblins and troll all looked and the chief shouted.

            “Traitors!”

            Of course that got the attention of the traitors who immediately turned and attacked.  Boston pulled out her pistol and killed or wounded three of the enemy before the two sides met.  After that she dared not interfere because she thought she could tell the difference between the goblins and their distorted images in the enemy, but she could not be sure.  One horribly distorted looking creature broke through to attack her.  She was sure of that one and three bullets made short work of the beast, but then she had to wait for the fighting to be over, and only hoped her goblins won.

            Boston held Honey and patted his nose to keep him calm while the six goblins and one troll survivor of the attack came to fetch her.  “We have to get underground,” the chief said.

            “Going to have to back fill the tunnel now that they found it,” one goblin said.

            “How did they find it?”  the troll asked.

            “No telling,” a goblin answered as he lifted a bush to reveal a dark hole.

            Boston stopped and faced the darkness.  She held out her palm and tried to make a light again.  It was a meager thing, but she was not going into the dark with goblins and a troll even if they were on her side.

            “Save your little magic,” the chief said.  He reached inside and grabbed a torch, which Boston noticed was smokeless.  Several of the others also grabbed torches and they provided plenty of light.

            “That banger did not look like little magic to me,” one of the goblins said as they started down the tunnel.

            “No wonder she wasn’t afraid of us.” Another pointed his finger and said, “Bang!” 

            “Credit for four kills. ” The chief stroked his chin.  “That is impressive.”

            “Hey!  What is she doing now?   Why, she is crying.”  Boston was crying because she did not like killing things, even distorted wicked things.  Several of the goblins showed surprising sympathy.

            “We better watch this one, she’s tricky,” the chief said, but to be sure, Boston was also crying because she was exhausted.  They walked in silence for what seemed to her like forever, but finally they came out of the tunnels and into a tremendous cavern, one where she could not take in all the walls and where stalactites and stalagmites met in the middle and appeared like pillars holding up a great ceiling

            Honey followed the whole way though the tunnels, content as long as he was following Boston.  When they got to the big cavern, however, there were too many strangers and too much noise in that closed in space.  He balked and would not move forward until several of the smaller little ones came up and began to speak to him.  Curiously, it looked to Boston that he could understand what they were saying.  Equally curious was the fact that she could not, but she imagined talking to animals was not on the Kairos’ translation program.  As far as she was concerned, everyone else was speaking English, unless she deliberately thought about it.

            “Little Witch,” the goblins were anxious to keep moving.  No doubt they had to report in.

            “Give him some oats if you have any,” Boston said, not the least concerned that these little ones might have in mind to eat her horse.  There was something about them she trusted, and apparently Honey did as well.

            “And a good rub and rest,” one of the little ones spoke.  “We care for horses, even in the wild.  We know our business.”

            Boston nodded.  She was too tired to speak again.  She grabbed her pack and followed the goblins.  They were really dark elves, she reminded herself.  It all depended on how she looked at it, and for her, looking at them as dark elves was better than goblins.

            The huge cavern room was full of different species, and plenty of humans as well.  Boston saw human children running around within reach of an ogre’s arms and no one said anything.  The human families were obviously seeking shelter from the war and devastation above.  This underground life was not the best option, but better than the no option they would have above.

            “How long has this war been going on?” Boston asked.  She saw dwarfs bring in straw from some tunnel.  Fairies fluttered over to strike the straw with their wands.  The straw took shape, something like a bed and that was carried off by elves for distribution to the people.

            “More than a year,” the chief dark elf answered.  “Things are beginning to get hard, and the food a bit thin.”

            “Why have the gods permitted this?” 

            “Which ones?  There are four different claims on this land, well, three, but Domnu is the only one so far willing to take it by force if she can.”

            “Well three?”

            “Yes, The gods across the Mediterranean have no claim this far north, but the Kairos has hope that his mother may yet persuade some of those at Karnak to join the effort against the titans across the channel.”

            Which three?”

            “Aesgard, Olympus and Domnu who claims the throne of Vanheim even if everyone knows it is not hers to claim.”

            “I see,” Boston said as the chief goblin stepped aside.  They had arrived at a room off the main cavern.  There was a man who recognized her immediately.

            “Boston?”

            Boston said nothing, but went straight to hug the two women who stood at each side of the man.  She hugged KimKeri gently because KimKeri was very pregnant.  She fell into AhnYani’s arms and spoke.  “Roland, Katie, Lockhart and Lincoln are lost.  I got separated in the snow storm.  Elder Stow went invisible, and I don’t know where he went.  Please help.”

            KimKeri spoke to the man in the middle.  “Not before daylight,” she said as another woman appeared in the room and took Boston right from AhnYani’s arms.  She lifted Boston in her arms like a mother might cradle a baby.

            “We will get them come sunrise.  Don’t worry.”

            Boston squinted.  “Artemis?”  She had never been held by a real, full blood goddess before.

            Artemis smiled.  “Can’t have my little Amazon wall maker dying of exhaustion.”  She kissed Boston on the forehead and Boston immediately fell into the first truly relaxing and restful sleep she had since leaving the castle of Avalon.

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Avalon 2.6:  Escape and Discovery … Next Time

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Avalon 2.6: Out in the Wilderness

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            The main group of travelers have discovered that Boston is missing, and Elder Stow as well.  And the communicators are useless due to the interference in the air.

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            “Roland?”  Lockhart turned to the expert.

            Roland shook his head.  “I don’t think I could find her in the dark and snow and smoke.  We might try and just end up wandering for hours, and might get the rest of us separated.”

            “I’m thinking Elder Stow left our company on purpose,” Lincoln said again.

            “Possibly,” Lockhart agreed.  “But that does not explain why Boston is missing.”

            Katie said nothing.  She was slouching a little in her saddle and Lockhart was concerned.  “Boston has the amulet,” he said.  “Can we move on a bit further and maybe find some shelter, or do you need to rest now?”  He was really asking Katie.

            “I can go for a bit more,” Katie said, and Roland turned to lead the party.

            “I can stay to the same direction we were going and compensate for our sidesteps.  It is true of the elves generally, but especially those gifted with the hunt.”  Roland was certain about that.

            “If we can get out in front of her and find a rise of some sort, we might catch her in the morning.

            “Not on a rise,” Lincoln said.  “Too many eyes in the air.”

            Lockhart heard and nodded, but he was not going to lose Boston somewhere in the past.

            The snow soon slackened and stopped and the clouds cleared off to reveal the moon and stars.  The smoke in the air slowly became more of a mist than smoke, but that just made the forest appear enchanted in the moonlight.  When they came to a clearing, it was a large opening in the woods.  They quickly saw the signs of slash and burn agriculture and felt they were on the right path to something.  It was not much further on before they saw a big two-room cabin in the opening.

            “We can’t just march in there,” Lincoln insisted.  He had Katie’s binoculars but saw nothing so passed them to Lockhart.  “No sign of anyone home, and no sign of alien visitation either.”

            “Gott-Druk and Elenar are not aliens,” Roland said.  “They are Elders of the earth, what you call Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon.”

            “I understand,” Lincoln said.  “But the principle is the same.  We look for burn marks from landing craft and other signs of advanced technology.”

            “Yes, of course,” Roland said.

            “We go,” Lockhart got up and caught the reins of his horse and Katie’s horse.  Katie had felt it best not to get down.  She feared she might not have been able to get back up.  Of the many cuts she received, only a few had been significantly deep, and the healing machine used by Elder Stow was a miraculous help, but she lost a fair amount of blood and was still torn up on the inside.  Continuing to walk and ride and walk and ride since then had taken its toll.  She hated being the weak one, but she was going to have to stop and rest.

            The cabin room was empty as expected.  The other room appeared to be a big barn area, big enough for a dozen cows.  It easily fit the horses.  Most of the grain had been taken with the cows, wherever they went, but there was enough in the few bins and areas of the floor to put together a real tasty supper for the horses.  There was even a water trough, and though the water in it was undrinkable. They emptied it and melted some fresh snow.

            Both men and the elf cared for the horses while Katie stayed in the cabin.  She was told to get into her sleeping bag and rest, but she tried to help out as much as she could.  She spread the tent material they carried around the walls to block any cracks for the cold or the light, then she lit several lamps and spread out everyone’s bags.  By the time the men came in, the inside was homey and warm.

            “We need to keep this one,” Lincoln said. 

            “Yes we do,” Lockhart agreed.

            They came at dawn.  Roland and Lincoln were in the barn tending to the horses.  Lockhart was failing to build a fire.  Katie was still in the house when the ship landed out front.  Three men came from the hatch, or at least they looked more like men than the Gott-Druk.  Lockhart recognized them as Elenar, and he stood as they approached.  He considered running, but he knew he could not get far enough.  He also thought of escaping into the cabin or the barn, but those structures would not provide any protection from an energy weapon, so he just stood and spoke first when they got near.

            “Good, can I borrow your heat ray?  I can’t get this fire started.”  He noticed two of the Elenar touched their side arms, and he smiled.  “Welcome,” he added.  “What can I do for you?”

            “Where is the Gott-Druk?”  The one out front did the talking.

            “Gone,” Lockhart said honestly.  “And I wish I knew where.  I’m worried about him.”  The same two touched their side arms again, but no weapons were drawn.  “Mostly I am worried about the girl he took with him.  Boston doesn’t know anything about being in the middle of a war.”  The Elenar looked at each other before the front man spoke again. 

            “Why should you worry about the Gott-Druk?” the Elenar asked.

            “Because he doesn’t belong here anymore than we do, and if he is lost he might never get home on his own.”

            “And where does he belong?”

            Lockhart stood up a little straighter.  “Five thousand, six hundred years in the future,” he said without blinking.  He could tell the Elenar were not expecting that answer.  Katie came out while the Elenar turned to each other to discuss things among themselves.  She had her rifle in her hands.  Lincoln also stepped out of the barn door with his rifle.  Lockhart guessed Roland was getting the horses ready for a quick getaway.

            “You do not look like the corrupted men of the enemy, but this may be a new ploy.  Can you offer any reason why we should not kill you?”

            “Because you will have to answer to the Kairos, and for murder,” Lincoln spoke up.

            “And because you will deprive yourself of help against the ones in the trees,” Katie said and pointed, and Lockhart realized she came out because she saw something in the distance, not because of the Elenar. 

            The Elenar out front put a finger to his ear to listen to something and then two things happened at once.  The Elenar ship began to rise into the air and about a hundred fur-clad men came roaring out of the woods with a hundred little ones among them.  The men looked starved and desperate and charged like their only hope was to kill and eat the ones by the cabin.  The little ones looked worse in a way.  They appeared twisted and distorted in their forms and features, but Lockhart guessed they were once elves, dwarfs and maybe a couple of ogres.

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Avalon 2.6:  Underground … Next Time 

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Avalon 2.6: Boston in the Dark

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Elder Stow became unnaturally verbal and asked questions about his people and another people called the Elenar at that point in history.  After being assured that they should be allies and not fighting each other, the Gott-Druk decided to take a short side trip.  Unfortunately, in the snow storm, Boston unwittingly followed and then loses sight of the Elder whereupon she finds herself alone, in the dark, in the snow, in the middle of a war zone.

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            “Hello?”  Boston called out several times, but the smoke from the fires and the falling snow conspired to deaden her every sound.  Boston got down and got out her Beretta, belt and all.  She buckled the belt around her hips and added her hunting knife to the ensemble, just in case.  She checked to be sure the gun came easily to her hand and patted her horse’s neck.

            “Don’t worry, Honey,” she said.  “We will find them again, soon.”  Honey simply blew out a great puff of white air in answer while Boston got out her fairy weave tent.  It took some time and serious adjustments to the fairy weave, but soon she had Honey covered in a late medieval style blanket that had holes for the horse’s head and tail and fit snugly around the saddle.  It fell to six inches from the ground and warmed the horse nicely.  “Of course one virtue of the fairy weave is I can command it to shorten to uncover your legs if we need to ride out of a bad situation.”  Honey simply nodded his head.

            One more reassuring pat on the horse’s neck and Boston stepped to the nose and took the reins.  She checked the amulet to get her direction.  She knew Roland would stay true to the direction even in the worst of the storm, but they might move on as much as a mile before they noticed she was missing.  She checked the ground, but whatever prints Elder Stow may have made with Decker’s horse were long since wiped out by the snow and wind.

            “Better move,” she said and they started to walk.  Boston felt reasonably certain that she could parallel the group and if she could find a rise or hilltop, she might be able to see them in the wilderness.  It was a long shot, but then she had the amulet.  The better chance was for her to find the Kairos, Tetamon and let him help her find the others

            The snow slacked off as she walked, and the wind dropped down to where it only became rough in the occasional gusts that made her turn her head to one side or the other.  It was terribly dark in the woods, but there were more clearings, fields and meadows than before so it gave the illusion that she was getting somewhere.  “It is getting very cold,” Boston admitted, but she kept walking.  She knew Honey was terribly hungry as was she, but she walked to not overtax her poor horse.  There was no telling when she might have to move quickly.

            Boston stopped before they entered a particularly dark and thick copse of trees.  She wondered if she could do what she had seen Roland, Mingus and Alexis do.  This magic business was all so new to her.  She never imagined doing such things before.  She understood what the Sybil said back in Zoe’s world.  By the time she got old enough to begin to show some signs of power she had already convinced herself that such things were impossible.  She wondered briefly how many people back in her own day would never know what they were capable of because the world said it was impossible.

            Honey nudged Boston with his nose and Boston grinned.  “Alright, just give me a minute.”  She focused on her open palm.  A light began to grow over her palm which almost went out when she got excited.  She quickly stuffed down her excitement and stayed focused until the light strengthened.  When it was about as bright as she reasonably felt she could make it, she let it float up into the air.  It was trickier than she thought.  She had to keep part of her mind trained on it now and then to keep it lit and floating, and it took something out of her to do that.

            Finally, she managed to set the light a few feet above her head and a few feet out front, and she began to walk into the dark trees.  Honey snorted and followed.  It was only fifteen minutes through that little section of dark, but that was enough and about all Boston could handle.  Roland said the more she did, the more strength she would build, like exercising a muscle, but Boston could already see that she would never be in the same league with someone like Alexis or the elves.  That was fine.  She was amazed she could do anything at all.

            There was an open field on the other side of the dark woods.  Boston checked her amulet once more and climbed up on Honey’s back.  She was tired before.  Now she was exhausted.  That was something else about magic she never understood before.  It was not free.  It took something out of the magician.

            The open field proved to not be as big as Boston hoped, but by the time she got to the other side the snow had stopped and the clouds had begun to clear off.  The moon was still up and a great help to see since she was finally far enough from the fires to where they were no help at all.  When she entered the woods on the other side she was glad she did not have to make another fairy light.

            “Hello, witch.”  Boston heard a voice by her right shoulder and jumped before she spurred Honey to a run.  She ducked down flat, held Honey around the neck and let the horse avoid the trees and other obstacles, which horses will do for a short way.  Rather quickly, Honey slowed again to a walk and Boston caught her breath.  She strained her ears and heard some huffing and puffing catching up.  She pulled her gun.

            “Who are you?  Who is there?  Show yourself.”

            “That is some speedy horse you’ve got,” the voice said right next to her and Boston barely kept her finger from pulling the trigger.

            “Who are you and what do you want?”  She demanded an answer and added, “And why can’t I see you?”

            “I’m a pookah, I don’t want to eat you or anything like that if you are worried, and I’m invisible.”

            “So what do you want?”  Boston tried to relax.

            “Nothing,” the pookah said and added, “Witch.”

            Boston got Honey walking again as the horse seemed oblivious to it all.  “I am not a witch,” she protested.

            “Well, you are certainly no sorceress,” the pookah said and Boston kept silent.  The pookah, which appeared content to walk beside her, finally spoke again.  “You’re not from around here,” it said and added, “Come here often?”  Boston thought she heard the thing laugh.

            “Ha, ha!”  Boston was not laughing.  “I’m from further away than you can imagine.”

            “Um, twenty-first century AD, whatever that is, near Washington DC, but grew up near Boston which is why most people call you Boston.”

            Boston thought for a second.  “You read minds?”

            “A little,” the pookah said, and Boston realized there was no point in hiding the matter.  She pulled out her amulet and checked the direction, and the pookah made an interesting remark.  “Part of what I do is mislead travelers in the dark, but I see that will be pointless with you.  That amulet is covered by a magic far stronger than mine.”

            “From the castle of the Kairos,” Boston said.  She felt it was pointless to try and hid it from a mind reader.

            “I understand,” the pookah said.  They walked in silence for a minute before the pookah spoke again.  “I am not with Domnu and her brood if you were wondering.  I would rather be neutral, but since the gods themselves have taken sides it is kind of hard to stay out of it.”

            “What is happening here?  I don’t understand this war.  What is this all about?”  The questions that built up in Boston’s mind since entering that world all tumbled out at once.  It seemed to her that the pookah took a moment to project a sense of peace in her direction, and it also seemed that such a thing was very unusual.  Boston was grateful and quieted, and the pookah talked as they walked.

            “Not long ago, Queen Nerthus willingly gave up her life and went over to the other side.  There was peace then between Aesgard and Vanheim, but the Queen knew there could not be two leaders.  She gave her authority to Odin and moved on.  Now Aesgard claims the west, but Olympus and Karnak both claim large sections of the same territory, so things are not exactly settled.

            “Meanwhile, from long ago, the Queen’s sister Domnu ruled over the islands in her own right.  She bowed to her sister as long as Queen Nerthus was alive, but now she wants to claim all of the ancient lands of Vanheim for her own.  She has brought men to the continent along with many rebellious little spirits including goblins, trolls ogres and others.  Now she has exploited the natural animosity between the elder races and taken the Gott-Druk for her allies, leaving the Elenar to fight for the other side.  So it is Gott-Druk against Elenar, Men against men, spirits against spirits and ultimately gods against gods because Domnu has many children.”

            “Wait, goblins, ogres and trolls?  Don’t they belong to the Kairos?”

            “Yes, and that is one of the things that makes all this so complicated.  You see, the Kairos is leading the fight against Domnu.”

            “And some Little Ones are fighting against their own god?”

            “And do you always do what your god tells you?”

            “Point taken,” Boston said. 

            “I would rather stay out of it altogether, but that is not really possible.  And here we are.”  They came to the edge of the woods where another small clearing stretched out in front of them.

            “Where?” Boston asked as she pulled out her amulet to check again.  She calculated.  “Why you pookah.  You did get me off track, but only a little.”

            It seemed like she could feel the pookah smile.  “Where your Kairos is,  Now, only one last thing to do,” the pookah said and Boston heard it walk away toward the back of her horse.  She turned her head to say good-bye and heard a shocking “Boo” next to her.  She screamed.

            “Now, that tasted good,” the pookah said.  “Witch fright always has a little extra kick to it.  Thanks for the snack,” and the pookah vanished for real as several goblins with long spears and a terribly hungry looking troll came up and surrounded her.

            Boston had put her gun away, and she thought to get down slowly from Honey’s back so as not to make any sudden moves.  Then she swallowed her fear, looked at these creatures of the dark and said what she always wanted to say.  “Take me to your leader.” 

###

Avalon 2.6:  Out in the Wilderness … Next Time

Avalon 2.6: Splinters

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            War is confusing.  Ask anyone who has been there.  It is especially bad when you think you are fighting bows and arrows and suddenly get blasted with what Lockhart called a heat ray.  Then to be saved by fighter aircraft, like from a space ship, makes the head swirl around 3550  BC.  War may be Hell, but only if you can wrap your mind around it.

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            The sun went down but there was plenty of light as the distant patches of fire became more apparent.  There was a general haze in the air and plenty of smoke and ash in the sky, but the moon was nearly full and the stars behind the haze were bright. 

            “Keep going,” Lockhart insisted.  He was not going to be satisfied until  they were completely out of that area or into the next time zone, whichever came first.

            “We should be fine if we can get beyond the fires,” Roland said and pointed off to the side.

            “Boston nodded and put the amulet back beneath her shirt.  She touched the collar of her fairy weave coat and said, “Hood, and a mask over the mouth and nose to filter out the smoke.”  The fairy weave grew and shifted to conform to the picture in her mind.  Shortly they all had such masks except Elder Stow who did not seem as bothered by the smoke in the air.

            “Can you walk a bit?”  Lockhart asked Katie and she nodded.  Her legs had been spared the rock shards.  “Dismount and walk them,” Lockhart called out and they did.  It slowed their progress considerably, but gave the horses something of a break to rest them.  It was as much of a break as Lockhart dared to give them at the moment.

            A half-hour on and they saw a smoldering ruin in their path.  When they got close, they all read the markings on the side of the craft.  It was a fighter craft called the Karrigan’s Claws.  No one asked what a Karrigan was, but they all recognized the writing as Gott-Druk.

            “It seems the magic of translation the Kairos gave us works on written words, too,” Boston remarked.  Elder Stow ran forward and Lincoln caught the reins of Captain Decker’s horse.  After rummaging around inside the craft, Elder Stow came back out and made an announcement.

            “No bodies.”

            Everyone was relieved, and did not seriously mind when the Elder insisted they search the immediate area.  Lockhart and Boston got the horses while the others went out.  Roland seemed better able to navigate the smoke and Elder Stow was motivated.  Lincoln and Katie had the marine night goggles on to complete their outfits, and though Katie walked more slowly than she might have otherwise, she insisted and carried her rifle besides.

            There were no dead or wounded to be found anywhere near the crash.  This was also good, but when they mounted again, Elder Stow asked Lincoln some pointed questions.  Lincoln had to get out the database and read up on the subject to answer.

            “At this point in history, roughly, the Balok are being overcome if they have not yet been defeated, but the Pendratti are making noises about taking over.  The Sevarese work with the Gott-Druk and the Bluebloods work with the Elenar, but they all remain allies in the struggle against the Pendratti menace.”

            “So my people and the Elenar are still allies at this point in history,” Elder Stow was searching for something.

            “Yes that’s right.”

            “So they should not be fighting each other.”

            “That’s right, why?”

            Elder Stow looked back at Lockhart and Katie.  He looked ahead to Boston and Roland, though he supposed there was nothing he could do about the elf’s good ears.  He tried to whisper, but Gott-Druk were not good at whispering in general.  Their natural habitat was small groups and family groups of the size where it was generally not good to keep secrets.

            “I believe those fighters were Elenar,” he said.

            “I see,” Lincoln nodded, and after a moment of thought he looked again at the Gott-Druk.  “So you think the ones who attacked us were your people.”

            “Humans mostly,” Elder Stow said.  “But the energy weapons were likely held in Gott-Druk hands.”

            Lincoln nodded but made no move to tell the others.  “Well,” he continued the private conversation.  “At this point in history that should not be happening.  The Gott-Druk and Elenar should be helping each other, not fighting each other.”

            “That is accurate?”  Elder Stow questioned the database.

            “The information in this database was taken from the Heart of Time itself.  That is the crystal heart that has recorded all of history since the first days of the Kairos.” 

            “But maybe not accurate concerning my people?”

            “No, as far as I know it is totally accurate.  Gott-Druk, Elenar, Agdaline or any of the other species that touch the earth at any point have a detailed description of who they are and where they fit into the overall picture of the larger universe.  I imagine Lady Alice was very thorough in that.

            Elder Stow said nothing as the clouds moved in and the little drips of snow began to pick up steam.  It was not much further before they had to go single file.  The wind picked up and began to blow the snow into their faces and they had to move forward with their eyes on the rump of the horse in front. 

            Boston dropped back to check on Katie.  She knew Lockhart’s healing chits would have him healed in short order, but Katie had no such help.  She also knew an elect had a high tolerance for pain and healed quickly, but she was worried all the same.  Boston might have found a little magic in her veins, but she was no healer like Alexis.  They had already lost Captain Decker.  They could not afford to lose Katie too.

            When they started to move single file, she found herself between Katie and Elder Stow.  Her eyes became glued to the back end of Captain Decker’s horse and did not waver.  She was not worried about their direction.  Roland had an unerring sense of direction and would keep them headed in the right direction no matter how many side steps he had to make to get around obstacles in their path.

            When they came to a corner, Elder Stow kicked his horse to a trot.  Boston stayed right with him  Katie had to hustle to keep up and turned to warn Lockhart.  Soon enough Katie saw the rear end of the horse again, walking in front, and she slowed down.  Because of the snow and ice, she did not recognize the back side of Lincoln’s horse.  Elder Stow had left the procession and unwittingly taken Boston with him.  When he touched the device on his wrist and he and his horse became invisible, Boston suddenly found herself alone in the woods.

###

Avalon 2.6:  Boston in the Dark … Next Time

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Avalon 2.6: Multiple Worlds

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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After 3617 BC around Paris, France.  Kairos life 26:  Tetamon, called the Theban.

Recording…

            “This forest is far spookier than the one we left,” Boston said.  “And it is going to be dark soon besides.”

            “Looks and feels like a war zone if you ask me,” Lockhart spoke up from the rear.  He and Katie had discussed it and agreed.

            “I can smell fires burning in the distance,” Roland added.  “Wildfires, not campfires, though I suppose there are some of those as well if there are armies.”

            “My guess would be we came out somewhere in the Ardennes,” Lincoln said.  “We seem to be headed toward Paris, or where Paris will be at some point in the future.”

            “How do you figure?”  Boston was getting used to asking that.

            “Tetamon’s childhood was traveling around the Mediterranean with his Greek merchant father.  But when he began to show signs that he was his mother’s son, he was banished for a time by the gods of Olympus.”

            “What?”  Katie was not getting it.  She was too busy scanning the neighborhood for hostiles.  Her every instinct was on alert.

            “His mother was the Egyptian goddess Nephthys.  As a teenager he laid the foundation for the city of Thebes in Egypt before Set got him kicked out of that country, too.”

            “His mother was a goddess?”  Boston thought she heard that wrong.

            “That actually happened several times, that the Kairos was born a half-god or half-goddess.  The gods of old were not known for being chaste, you know,” Roland explained quietly.

            “Anyway,” Lincoln continued.  “He wandered up the coasts of the Middle East and Asia Minor and got tangled with Tiamut.”

            “One of our all time favorites,” Lockhart said.

            “And eventually got back to Greece, but he was still not welcomed there so he wandered into Germanic lands.  Forced to move on by Aesgard, he eventually came West where he finally settled around what would one day be Paris, France.”

            “Adventurous life,” Elder Stow offered a rare opinion.

            “Yes, but anyway, I figure we must be headed through the forest toward Paris.”

            “How do you figure?”  Boston tried again.

            “Snow,” Roland said.

            “No snow in Egypt, the Middle East or normally Greece,” Lincoln finished the explanation.

            Boston nodded as Katie fired her gun.  The party stopped moving forward.  “Something is coming through the trees,” she said.

            “Shouldn’t we ask questions first and shoot later?” Boston wondered out loud even as an arrow came toward them in answer.  It was followed by several more.

            “To those rocks,” Lockhart pointed further West.  It was a good defensive place that put the sun at their backs and allowed them to shoot toward the East or North as needed.  Boston and Roland tied off the horses behind the protection of the rocks.

            The rocks were slick with ice.  Everyone had to be careful, but Katie and Lincoln quickly took the two best positions for their rifles.  Lockhart had his shotgun and unsnapped the cover of his holster so his pistol could be quickly brought to bear.

            “I say again, let me have my weapons,” Elder Stow tried.

            Once again Lockhart shook his head.  “Bullets are bad enough as historical disruptions go.  We don’t need heat rays blasting the forest.”

            “It isn’t a heat ray, as you call it,” Elder Stow complained.

            “Go get Decker’s pistol.  Can you shoot a pistol?”

            The Gott-Druk stood and scrambled down to the horses.  “It can’t be that complicated.”

            Roland was best with the horses so Boston climbed up from behind when the attack came.  The enemy was unseen and preferred to shoot from behind the bushes and trees, but they did have to stick out their heads and arms to fire, and that was when Lincoln, Katie and Lockhart could draw a bead.  Several were hit, though none were necessarily killed.

            “I think they are waiting for reinforcements,” Boston spoke up.  She had not fired her weapon and was keeping her head down, but watched as well as she could.  Elder Stow came up beside her so she missed what Katie and Lincoln planned.

            “Roland,” Lockhart shouted in English as soon as he figured out how to be sure it was in English rather than the local tongue.  “Get the horses ready for a quick ride.”

            “What are you thinking?”  Boston shouted back.

            Katie was closer, so she answered.  “This was a good temporary redoubt, but they appear only to be in that direction so we will ride in the opposite direction and our horses should be able to outrun them, even in the woods.”  As she finished speaking she had to get busy.  Some twenty men, or maybe they were something like animals came out from the trees to charge their position.  Boston and Elder Stow added their  fire to the three in the rocks and those five guns left nineteen on the ground in various forms of groaning and trying to crawl back to the trees.

            “Now,” Lockhart said and he started to get up, but the answering fire came from the other side at that point, and it was one of what he called “heat rays.”  The rocks in front exploded into slivers.  Lockhart went down, his back shredded.  Katie saved her face but got several bad cuts in her arms and one in her side.  Lincoln escaped as did the ones further away who both reacted.

            Elder Stow ran back down to the horses.  Boston closed her eyes, thought of the Amazons and the wall she built against the magician in that valley.  She was not sure if it would work, but the heat rays from the other side soon hit her wall and reflected off, straight up into the air.  Someone must have seen, because in a moment three small ships came over their position and hovered briefly before they started firing into the woods at their enemy.  That enemy must have moved, and quickly because the craft shot over top of the forest and disappeared, though they could continue to hear shots fired from the craft.  It was like they were trying to get at the enemy down among the trees, and if they hit any, no one knew, but certainly a number of trees were set aflame.

            Elder Stow returned from the horses with all his equipment back in his pockets, on his wrist and around his neck.  He discarded Cophu’s bag which had just about disintegrated from age and came up first to Lockhart.  “Forgive me father for overstepping my boundaries,” he said and moved a flat piece of equipment over Lockhart’s back.  The slivers of stone vacated the flesh, though he remarked how many of the slivers were already being pushed out.

            “Over here,” Boston yelled and the Elder did the same thing for Katie.  The pieces of stone that cut into her were far less, in far less vital areas, but they were still deep, one cutting all the way to the bone.  Then he passed the device over each cut and the flesh pulled together like it was stitched.

            “The inside will still need to heal, but there should be no infection once the outside is sealed.”

            “I’ll be fine,” Katie insisted and she crawled over to Lockhart.  He was preparing to sit up.

            “Gaian healing chits still active, I guess.  I should be whole in a couple of hours.”

            Roland came up from the horses now that Lincoln was down there.  He went straight for Boston, but looked at Lockhart as he spoke.  “Can you ride?”  Lockhart nodded and he and Katie clambered down the far side of the rocks and crawled up on their mounts.  The others were ready and they left that place a bit slower than they planned.

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Avalon 2.6:  Splinters … Next Time

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Avalon 2.5: Getting Out Alive

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            The Buffalo burgers were good, but now it is time to move on.  Lincoln and Lockhart especially want to get back to the twenty-first century before they became old men again.

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            Lockhart secretly set a watch in the night.  It was only one person for a couple of hours each so no one went without rest.  Even so, when he woke up in the morning he found a stranger beside the campfire and a pile of their things beside him.  With his eyes half closed, his feet stumbling and his brain lacking his morning coffee, Lockhart nevertheless recognized that the stranger was not human and patted himself on the back for that realization.  For one, when the stranger stood and turned to face Lockhart, he proved to be nearly nine feet tall.  For two, Lockhart thought his sleepy eyes were tricking him at first since it looked like a bush grew up in the night beside the fire.  Even when the stranger faced him, he looked something like the trees with bark-like skin, vines for hair and tree trunk knots for his mouth and eyes.

            “I am Deep Roots,” the stranger introduced himself.  “I cannot stay long away from my trees, but I thought I should help.  Huyana is not always on top of every situation and I suspected the little diggers would rob you in the night.”

            “My thanks,” Lockhart said. 

            “Think nothing of it,” Deep roots said and let a smile creak across his face before he vanished.  Huyana came stumbling up, Aster trailing, as Katie brought Lockhart his coffee.

            “What is all this?”  Huyana pointed to the pile

            “Your dwarfs borrowed a few of our things in the night,” Lockhart said.  “I hope they didn’t break anything.”

            Huyana looked suddenly unhappy.  “Lady, remember the Earth, the sea and the sky,” Aster whispered.  Huyana took a deep breath and then called, “Dwarfs!”

            All seven appeared, tied together in a group with Decker’s rope.  They were gagged as well with bits of leather, and not one of them could wiggle enough to get free.  Boston came out of her tent in time to laugh.  Roland, who was with the horses also laughed as he came over to untie them and collect the rope.  The dwarfs pulled off their own gags and yelled, mostly all at once.

            “It was Deep Roots.  We found this stuff fair and square.  We could have been rich.  He stole it from us.  We just want what is ours.”

            “These are our things,” Katie said, reasonably.  Boston interrupted.

            “Three second rule.  All this stuff has been sitting here untouched for three seconds.  I claim it.”

            “Oh, buggers.  Toots.  Twaddle,” the dwarfs swore and added a few real words as well.

            Huyana put her hands on her hips and tapped her moccasin.  It made a surprisingly crisp sound on the dirt.  The dwarfs noticed, whipped off their hats and put on their most humble and sorry expressions.  Huyana was not fooled.  “Three seconds or not, everything these people brought with them is theirs, not yours.  You so much as touch one of their things again and you should have your fingers burned.”

            Aster stepped up and took Huyana’s hand, but it was too late.  Digger cried, “uh-oh,” and whipped something out of his pocket and tossed it to Picky who tossed it to the next one.  It was the ultimate game of hot potato, but the potato was Boston’s Beretta.  Finally, Gome had the sense to toss it to the pile.  It went off when it landed, but by some unknown grace, the bullet missed everyone.

            “Now, enough,” Huyana had to take several breaths and squeeze Aster’s hand several times before she could speak.  “I am asking you, will you escort my friends to the next time gate.  They will know the way, but I need someone to guard them from the bokarus.  Will you do this for me?”

            “Bokarus is spooky,” Picky spoke for the group.  “And what might we expect –“

            “This is not a bargain!  It is yes or no.”  Huyana shouted and squeezed Aster’s hand several more times while the dwarfs all said, “Yes, sure, of course.”  Huyana squeezed once more before she said, “Thank you.”  Then she let go of Aster’s hand.  Aster whipped the hand to her mouth to hold back the tears.  Her hand got a serious workout, squeezed again and again by her own goddess, but she would do it again.  She did not mind, really.

            Ogalalo came up to join them for breakfast and marveled at the bread they offered.  Then he saw them mount to ride out.

            “We may not make it in a day if we walk the horses the whole way,” Boston said mostly to herself.  Huyana heard.  She was ignoring Ogalalo.

            “The dwarfs will protect you in the night.  They will take you all the way to the time gate as promised.  Isn’t that right?”

            “Oh,yes.  Yes mam.  Absolutely.  Time gate it is.”  Gome was the one who asked.  “What’s a time gate?”

            Huyana sighed.  “You will know when you get there, only you are not permitted to go through the gate.”

            “Oh yes, absolutely.”

            “Just like a real goddess,” Dingle spoke up with pride in his voice.  “Cryptic as the best of them.  What’s a time gate?  You’ll know when you get there.  Yes, sir.  Just like a real goddess, she is.”

            “Ogalalo?”  Huyana could not ignore him any longer.

            “I wanted to warn your friends to beware the Onakatta if their way takes them into the next valley.  They are a treacherous and cruel people best avoided.”

            “Thank you for the warning,” Lockhart said as he started out.

            “And thank you for the feast,” Katie added. 

            Boston thought to say something else.  “Good-bye Huyana.  We love you.”  Huyana started to cry when she heard that and Aster and Ogalalo did their best to comfort her, but the dwarfs all began to argue about which one of them was really about to say that, except the dumb human beat them to it. 

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            The tapestry of life is three dimensional.  It has layers, but life gets confusing when the layers begin to interweave and the colors bleed into one another, and when war is the reason, it also gets downright dangerous.

Avalon 2.6:  Multiple Worlds … Next Time

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Avalon 2.5: Things of Power

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Only a guess, mind you, but I believe the bokarus is not finished finding new and inventive ways to try and kill the travelers; and if the natives and native village gets crushed in the process I imagine the green man would think all the better.

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            The hillside just outside the camp was clear of trees and covered only in the tall grasses of late summer.  The camp itself was nestled among the trees and the edge of the forest proper.  At the moment, more than a hundred buffalo were careening down that grassy hill in utter panic, a true stampede, and the only thing that stood between the buffalo and the camp was nothing.         

            “Lincoln!”  Lockhart shouted and pulled his thirty-eight.  The pistol might prove of little value, but it was better long range than the shotgun.  Lincoln stepped up beside Katie.  They had the high powered rifles, and Katie started the action. 

            “Go for between the eyes,” Katie said.  “Hit the ones out front.  The ones behind might stumble or turn aside.”  Three of the beasts fell in short order.

            “Easy for you,” Lincoln said as he began to fire.  Five more fell before the buffalo reached the bottom of the hill and the far edge of the camp.  Several were also standing or stumbling around like they were injured from tripping over the fallen ones, but the majority were not slowing significantly.

            “Rapid fire,” Katie said, and she and Lincoln turned a switch on their rifles.  They sprayed the front of the herd with bullets even as Lockhart chimed in with his police pistol.  Boston added her Beretta, though it was pretty useless against such big animals.  Roland retrieved Decker’s pistol from Decker’s old saddle bag and fired as well.

            Another half-dozen went down along with several tents before Elder Stow stepped up and let his sonic device whine.  “Within range,” he said.  The buffalo turned.  They did not exactly race back up the hill, but the high-pitched squeal finally turned them so they roared off at an angle to miss the rest of the camp.  Everyone breathed deeply.

            `While the travelers talked softly and patted each other for reassurance, Huyana reached up and closed Ogalalo’s mouth.  “You see?” she said.  “They could have wiped out your whole tribe before supper if they wanted to.”  She paused and kissed that mouth, and it was a poor-Ogalalo-will-never-recover kind of kiss.  When she was finished, Huyana kept talking like she was uninterrupted.  “Fortunately for you these are good people, like I said.  You should learn to ask.  Asking is good.  Demanding sometimes just makes people mad.”

            “Hey!”  Lockhart interrupted.  “You have fifteen or so animals ready to supply meat and warm skins for the winter.  You better get your people on them before they start to rot.”

            Ogalalo broke free of the trance he was under.  He might have been excused.  He was holding his beloved, and with that in mind, he quickly kissed Huyana again on the lips and then stepped away to begin shouting at all of the men in the camp and most of the women and children as well.

            Huyana raised her eyebrows and touched her lips like this was the first time Ogalalo kissed her.  She looked at Aster who came up and also kissed her, but on the cheek.  “Are you going to introduce us to your friends?”

            “Oh, yeah.”  Huyana was being neglectful in her duties.  She clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention and then she said everyone’s names, beginning with herself and pointing to each one along the way.  “Huyana, Aster, Roland, Boston, Katie, Lockhart, Lincoln, Elder Stow, Tooter, Dingle, Blocker, Digger, Piebald, Picky and Gome, and I’m Huyana.”  Gome was the smallest of the lot, but he had a hard look on his face like he was not going to take any guff from anyone, least of all a bunch of human beings, big as they might be.  Boston imagined with that look he might stare down an ogre.

            “Mostly she calls him Gomer,” Tooter said, “Like Gomer Pyle,” and he snickered.

            “Yeah?” Gome spoke up.  “Well at least it is safe to be in the same room with me.”

            “And what is it you do?” Katie changed the subject.  There had already been a couple of fistfights since the arrival of the dwarfs and she thought a change in the conversation was in order.  Anyway, she was enchanted by the little ones as always.  Lockhart was more the opposite.  He kept one step behind Katie and stared over her shoulder.

            “We’re prospectors,” Digger said.

            “We were prospectors,” Picky corrected the dwarf.

            “What?”  Lincoln stepped up.  “Like there’s gold in them thar hills?”

            “What? Where?  Which hills?”  the Dwarfs got excited.

            “Just an expression.  Not real.  I was kidding.” Lincoln said quickly.

            “No surprise.”  Piebald moped.  “All we find around here is black gooey stuff in the ground.”

            “Oil?”  Lincoln wondered.

            “That’s the stuff,” Piebald said.

            “And granite.  Lots of granite,” Picky added.

            “Hey lady.”  Dingle came up to Boston.  “Want to buy a diamond.”  He pulled a crystal the size of Boston’s fist out of an unseen pocket and held it up to her so she could see the dazzle in the late afternoon sun.

            “No money,” Boston admitted with a shrug.

            “What’s money?”  Tooter asked.

            “Never heard of money,” Picky admitted. 

            “You got trade.”  Dingle was not going to stray from his mark.

            “I don’t think so,” Roland interrupted the bargain as he stepped up and slipped his arm over Boston’s shoulder.

            “Ooo, uppity elfity –“

            “Ahem!” Aster cleared her throat and the dwarf swallowed his words and moved on to Katie.

            “How about you, Lady?”

            “That is not a diamond.  That is quartz,” Katie said and turned her head to Lockhart.  “I took basic geology in college.”

            “Quartz?  I got snookered?”  Dingle put on a good show.  “Still, very sparkly, mind you, and mighty fine to look at.  Make a fine necklace.”

            “She’s one of the elect.”  Blocker tapped Dingle on the shoulder.  “Dangerous trade if you ask me, especially if she feels taken.”

            “Sorry mam,” Dingle tipped his hat wanting no part of crossing Katie.  He went right back to Boston like he had never talked to her before.

            “Mind you, very sparkly.  Make a fine bracelet.  Maybe a wedding crown?”  He smiled way too much.

            “She’s a witch,” Blocker said.

            “Oh, never mind.” Dingle slipped the quartz back in his pocket and quickly faded into the group as Ogalalo ran up.

            “You must stay the night,” he told the travelers who looked around at the camp outside of what was happening in their little circle.  It would be dark soon enough.  Staying was not a bad idea.  “All of you.  Stay.  We will have a real feast.”  Ogalalo looked very happy, and Lockhart and Katie both imagined it was as close as they were going to get to an apology.  “If those Onakatta thought that stampede would hurt us, how wrong they were.”  Ogalalo thought the turn of those tables was delicious.  Lockhart hated to pour vinegar on the man’s treat.

            “I doubt it was the Onakatta.  Probably the bokarus started the stampede.”

            Ogalalo lost his smile and looked again to the sky and all around.  He had forgotten.  He spoke again, but this time with far less conviction.  “You stay anyway.  We feast.”  He ran back to the kill.

            People looked at Lockhart.  “Unpack.”  That was all he had to say and they went for their tents.

            “Aster,” Huyana said and Aster stepped up to walk beside her.  Huyana was going down to the kill site herself.  She wanted another taste of those lips.

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Avalon 2.5:  Getting Out Alive … Next Time

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Avalon 2.5: Unbroken

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            After the attack of the bokarus, the shaman wants to sacrifice the travelers, and he has a dozen armed men to back him up.  The travelers still have their handguns and steel knives but then a woman’s voice interrupts the Mexican standoff.  A referee, or more fuel to the fire?

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            “Huyana.” Ogalalo recognized the woman that bounced up and down on the back of the great beast.  Huyana was far from a horsewoman, but rode up and got down carefully.  Roland brought up the rest of the horses with strange looking riders in his trail.  There was a beautiful elf maiden on one horse, and the other three horses carried dwarfs.  Two bounced on Lincoln’s horse, two on Lockhart’s and three on poor Decker’s horse, and they complained the whole way.

            “You let my friends go!”  Huyana yelled at the Shaman as soon as she felt the earth under her feet again.

            “I have no quarrel with you,” Ogalalo said and took a step back.

            “You have a quarrel if you mean to harm my friends,” Huyana responded.

            “But the Elder Elf and his daughter said they were people of great power.  You know the Onakatta tribe we struggle with.  I only hoped to help my people.”

            “By stealing?  By holding innocent people hostage?  By making more enemies?  Did you ask first if they might help you?  These are good people.  If you have a genuine need, they would help.  No.  You never thought to ask.  All you think is to take, you brute.”

            “I’m sorry,” Ogalalo borrowed Boston’s word.  “I didn’t think.  I am sorry.”  He waved his hand, angrily and the men with their spears went back about their business.

            “We had a visit from the bokarus,” Boston told Roland.  Roland relieved Lockhart of holding duty, but Boston was about able to stand on her own by then.

            “Ahem,” the young elf maid coughed.  It was a time honored nudge.

            “Boston, this is Aster.  Aster, Boston.”

            “Hi,” Boston said and gulped.  This maid was lovely beyond words, or anyway beyond her words.

            “Good to meet you.  I have heard so much about you,” Aster said, and Boston fought to keep her nose from turning up.  Aster even sounded beautiful.

            “Oh?” Boston stood up instead and looked at Roland who gave Aster a mean stare.

            “So then the bokarus flew off,” Lincoln finished explaining as Lockhart moved Katie off to the side.

            “What did you think you were doing?” he asked her.

            “I was trying to get us out of here.  I was trying to get him to let us go.”

            “You were busy showing off.  elect or not, you don’t willingly step into a circle of spears.  That is a good way to get yourself killed.”

            “I don’t work for you,” Katie said.

            “No?  You going to go back to some Marine Corps, Pentagon desk?”

            Katie paused.  “Okay, I work for you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t show initiative.”

            “It doesn’t give you the right to behave stupidly either.”

            “What I did was not stupid.”

            “It was stupid showing off and you are not allowed to get hurt.”

            “Well, you are not allowed to get hurt either.”

            “Yes, but I still have those Gaian healing chits running through me.” 

            “But the Kairos said not to depend on them.” 

            Well, the same goes for you.”

            “Well, I didn’t get hurt.”

            “Well I’m glad.”

            “So am I.”

            “People!” Huyana yelled as one of the dwarfs put his fingers to his lips and let out a shrill whistle.  Roland, Boston and Aster looked up from one direction.  Katie and Lockhart looked up from the other.  Lincoln stopped babbling with Ogalalo and Elder Stow.  “You need to get your things back for the journey.  Am I the only one here with any sense?  There’s a switch.”

            “Nice crew,” Lincoln said, referring to the dwarfs that crowded around and made the people in the village keep their distance, the ones that were not already keeping back.

            “Thanks,” Huyana said before she realized Lincoln was not being serious.  She explained anyway.  “Aster keeps me sane.  She is my nurse in the Dryad’s house in the forest.  I left the ogre at the house because Ogalalo is scared of him.”

            “I am not.”

            “Yes you are, and good thing it wasn’t the right time of day for the goblins.”  She winked at the Shaman.  “Then there are my dwarf buddies.  There are seven of them and I don’t want to hear one wisecrack.  I can’t get rid of them.  I think if I went to the moon they would track me down.  They followed me all the way from the desert, where I used to live.”

            “The Mojave?”  Boston asked innocently and Aster touched Boston’s arm and shook her head but it was too late.

            “Yes,” Huyana said, and she began to cry.  “And I am so sorry I made them come.  Please.  I didn’t mean to make them come.”

            Aster moved as did Katie, but Boston got there first to hug Huyana. 

            “Why am I alive?” Huyana said quietly in Boston’s shoulder.  “Why can’t I just die and be done with it all like any normal person.  I’m so tired and I screw up everything I touch.”

            “Hush,” Boston said softly in return before she did something that surprised everyone, most of all Ogalalo.  She placed Huyana in the man’s arms.  He held her at first like she was a soft flower, easily crushed.  But after a moment he bent to kiss the top of her head and pulled her in to comfort her.

            “We have to find our own things,” Elder Stow said.  Lincoln shrugged and they went in search.  Katie and Lockhart stared at Huyana and Ogalalo and at each other. 

            “I’ll make sure the horses are ready,” Roland said and went down the line.

            Aster stepped up to Boston’s side and spoke to her alone.  “I have only just met him, but I would say you are a very lucky woman.”

            “I know,” Boston said as she watched Ogalalo’s face turn to one of pure joy.

            “As long as you know you are lucky, I am content.” Aster said.  

            When the men came back with their equipment and supplies, Katie checked her rifle first while Lockhart checked his shotgun.  There was the sound of distant thunder and one of the dwarfs stepped up.

            “Weather’s coming.”

            “Powerful weather,” A second said.

            “But I am smelling something more,” a third spoke up.

            “Something is on the hoof and sounds like thunder,” said the fourth, and they saw it as a woman screamed and came running into the village.  A herd of Buffalo was headed straight toward them.

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Avalon 2.5:  Things of Power … Next Time

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