Golden Door Chapter 10 James and the Tree part 2 of 2

March 26, 2025March 2, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The imp became the first to recover. “Aw. I’m not scared of her,” he said. He looked back at the twins for support, which they gave by nodding their heads, though they looked plenty scared.

Tekos turned serious. “She should scare you.” He whispered in a James sort of soft voice. Then he spoke up. “Back in the day, we were considered lesser gods, ourselves, though not immortal like the Gods, and yet this one even scares me.” It felt like a big admission.

“Well, we’re not afraid.” Grubby the imp tried again.

“I am,” James said. He remembered the witch and the arm half-way into the room, reaching for his neck. He shuddered.

“Me, too,” one of the dwarf twins admitted.

“And me, too,” the other echoed.

“We all are.” Mrs. Copperpot nodded and looked ever so stern. “But we still have to do what we can while we are able. The Lord Kairos is depending on us. There is no one else.” She paused to explain their mission to Tekos; that they were headed to the castle on the hill to try and set Lord Noen free and release the prisoners from the dungeon if they could.

With that said, Tekos leaned down to James and smiled, his wooden face crackling with the movement. He laid a gentle, though bark-rough hand against James’ cheek. “But I would not see you go defenseless into the lion’s den,” he said. He lifted his hand to James’ head, and his eyes went wide. “Son, I see that you have already been given every talent and connection to the dwarfs and those that walk the earth in between the light and the dark. There is much that you will have to discover and learn, but there is one thing I can activate in you.” He paused and appeared determined. “I have no authority to change you into a lion, you understand. I may not be able to affect the son of the Kairos at all, lesser god though I be. But I think it would be good to keep up with these other misbehavers, and glamour your way to the castle. Yes, I think you ought to be able to put on a good glamour when you have a mind.” He took his hand away as if already finished with his work, and the twins pushed forward.

“Try it out,” they echoed each other again.

James did not understand. “What’s a glamour?” he asked.

“An illusion,” Tekos responded.

“It’s how we move about sometimes when we are in substance form like now,” Mrs. Copperpot began to explain, but stopped when she saw it did not help.

Grubby pushed the twins back behind him and spoke. “Like when some human person comes tromping through the woods, and there isn’t time to go invisible-like, we make an illusion.” Grubby stepped back, and James suddenly saw a bush of thorns where the imp had been. “What dumb mortal is going to guess I’m not a real bush?” The bush finished the comment.

“Try it out,” the twins said again, though they kept back as if even they seemed reluctant to get too close to the thorns.

“It’s easy,” Grubby said, and he reappeared as the bush disappeared.

“But.”

“Just think about what you want to be,” Tekos said, gently. He laid a very long fingered hand on James’ shoulder.

“Just think,” Mrs. Copperpot urged. “But think with your belly, not with your head.” She stopped. She imagined she would confuse the boy again; but in this case, James understood what she said, or he thought he did. He did not think of it exactly. He more felt it. Then he was not there, but aware of the illusion which was a lion, and he roared loud enough to echo through the forest. The twins jumped behind a tree, and Grubby swallowed hard. Even Mrs. Copperpot looked startled, but Tekos merely smiled.

“And now the glamour will remain as long as you want,” Tekos explained while James licked his hand like Seabass his cat so often did; and the illusion lion licked its paw and looked every bit like a real lion. “You must think yourself James again to come back.”

The inevitable thought came. What If I can’t do that? But James tried, and it turned out to be very easy.

“That was great. I’m Picker.” The head stuck out from behind the tree.

“That was really great. I’m Poker.” The other called down from the third branch above. The young one quickly climbed down, while James studied them. He decided that apart from their short stature, not unusual for boys, the only way he could distinguish them from the purely human boys in his school was the fact that they both sported the beginnings of serious beards. Otherwise, they looked like perfectly normal, dark-haired, bright-eyed boys.

“’sall right,” Grubby admitted, but he looked impressed. Grubby, on the other hand, had a bulbous nose that seemed a bit too big for a human nose, and bulgy eyes which looked more nearly like little saucers. He did not exactly look non-human, but then he did not exactly look human, either.

James had a thought. “Will you come with us to the castle and help rescue everyone?” he asked before anyone could stop him.

“Oh, no, dear,” Mrs. Copperpot spoke quickly. “It’ll be dangerous enough just for the two of us.”

“Oh, please.” Tekos spoke almost as quickly. “My dear Mrs. Copperpot, you are a far better choice to watch these young ruffians than I. I understand the danger,” he assured her. “But if they do not go somewhere, I fear you may return to find no forest at all. You may find nothing but cinders.” He looked cross as he pulled a small broken branch from Poker’s shirt, and then snatched several light-anywhere matches from Grubby’s pocket with such speed and dexterity, the young imp could not do anything but shout.

“Hey!”

“Please, my dear Lady Copperpot. I must insist.” Tekos looked stubborn. One might say he looked rooted in that position.

“Yes, my Lord.” Mrs. Copperpot would not argue, but she had something more to say. “You three had better mind,” she insisted, shook her finger at them and lingered on the imp.

“We will.” Picker and Poker readily agreed, and even the imp nodded.

“Will you come with us?” James asked the dryad.

“Alas,” Tekos said in his most tender voice. “Apart from an invitation and under the protection of Lady Alice, the Kairos, your father, I cannot. Like the Naiads and their springs and grottos, and the Oreads and their stones and mountains, I am bound to the trees. I cannot go far from my roots, you see?”

“I see,” James said, but he felt disappointed to hear it. He imagined this great, tall tree-man might come in very handy against whatever they faced.

“Well, then,” Mrs. Copperpot said, as she came to grips with her extended responsibilities. “Let’s be off. Time is short, and there is a ways to go yet to reach the castle.” She reached out one hand, and the dwarf twins came forward. Grubby held back a bit, until James took the imp’s arm in encouragement. Grubby smiled.

“Son of the Kairos, indeed,” Tekos said, with his own creaking smile. He no sooner finished speaking, however, when the ground began to tremble. It felt like an aftershock from the previous night’s earthquake, perhaps, but this one felt stronger than the other, and it went on longer as well. Everyone fell to the ground. The twins crawled up beside the bigger dwarf, and the imp all but buried his head in the dirt. James tried not to scream, even as he tried not to get sick. The crashing of trees started in the forest, and the voice of Tekos rose-up.

“Hold to your roots! Keep a deep grip!” It felt hard to tell what or whom he spoke to as a nearby tree began to topple toward them. James got a good look, but afterwards, he could not say if the two big branches happened to be in the right place to catch the tree before it crushed them, or if the branches sort of grew and reached out to grab their fallen comrade. Then the earthquake subsided, and the earth stilled.

As soon as she caught her breath, Mrs. Copperpot stood. “Come,” she said. She looked up briefly as a shadow crossed the clearing. “Time is short.” The young ones followed, and only after reaching the path did James think to look back and say, “Thank you.”

“Don’t be a stranger.” James heard Tekos, either on the air or in his mind, but he could see nothing but trees.

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

MONDAY

Chris discovers there are dangers in the dark, and Beth could tell him there are dangers in the bright sunshine as well. Until Monday, Happy Reading

Golden Door Chapter 10 James and the Tree part 1 of 2

March 25, 2025March 2, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

James had to hustle to stay beside Mrs. Copperpot despite the dwarf’s short legs. She did not ignore him, exactly, but she did not talk much, and she loved the brisk stroll through the old growth forest. James did not worry too much as long as he kept to the path, and as long as he could keep up, he would not complain. The trouble, of course, is dwarfs can walk at a spritely pace all day and all night without a stop, and James soon found his legs were not used to so much rapid walking.

He paused at one point to catch his breath and give his legs a breather as well. “Hey. Just a minute,” he said, but between his soft voice and Mrs. Copperpot’s elderly ears, they did not make contact. James bent down to tie his shoe and thought that the woman stopped, but when he looked up he did not see her.

He ran a little to catch her, but just around the corner, he came to a crossroads of a sort and felt stumped. He could neither see her nor hear her, and he felt afraid for a minute that he might be lost. Then he felt the urge and sniffed. Without hesitation, he knew exactly which way she went. James could never explain how that worked. He said, much later, that it seemed like a sixth sense, something Angel had given him, but in this case, since it was the first time he tried it, his mind filled with doubts. He started down that path, but then backed up to the crossroads, and thought that surely Mrs. Copperpot would notice his absence in a minute, and she would come back to that place to find him. He did not want to be wandering down the wrong path and miss her. His father always said if he got lost, he should stay where he was and wait for the others to find him.

James looked around and decided that apart from being a place where two paths through the forest crossed, nothing special stuck out about his location. There were trees, piles of old leaves, bushes, vines, and a few flowers all around him, but the paths seemed clear of debris and so he sat at the very cross of the crossroads and waited. He heard a rustling in the leaves and started; but it turned out to be a squirrel, as he guessed. The birds came out as well. He began to hum and then mouthed a few words. He moved his arms and elbows sharply back and forth as he sat.

“Now we’re not complaining, but there is still one thing remaining. For bread is quite boring if that’s all you eat.” He screamed. A vine came up from behind him and wrapped twice around his middle. James leaned forward to grab what he could, but the path was just dirt without even a protruding rock to hold on to, and the vine pulled him back among the trees.

“Help! Help!” James cried out, and he flipped around to see where he headed. He spied a fly trap type plant big enough to swallow him, but also a tree root that stuck up out of the ground. He grabbed the root and held on, and his motion toward that plant trap stopped while he shouted at the top of his lungs. “Help! Help!”

A man stepped out of the tree, or at least it looked like that to James. The man raised a staff of oak and spoke to the fly trap in some ancient language. The plant immediately burst into flames and withdrew the vine from James’ chest. The man spoke again, and the wind came and put the fire out lest the whole area of dead and dry leaves go up in flames. Then he grabbed James by the hand, without looking at the boy, and pulled him away.

“Come along you nuisance. Are you the imp or one of the twins?” James kept his mouth shut, but apparently, the man thought he was someone else. At last, they came to an area that could not be seen from the paths. Nothing grew in that spot other than sweet grass all the way around in a circle, and in the center of the circle of grass, a tremendous, thick, gnarled old oak grew in primeval splendor, taller than any of the other trees around. It looked like a hand reaching for the sun. “Now let’s see.” The man said, and he spun James around rather rudely; but paused when he got a good look. “Why, you’re neither imp nor dwarf,” he said. “If I did not know better, I would guess you were a mortal human, though I don’t suppose the creature in the castle would be daft enough to allow that to happen.”

“I’m James,” James said hopefully. He did not want to be cross with his savior despite the rough handling. The man turned James around for a thorough look, while James also examined the man close enough to realize that it was not a man. For one, the hair looked too thick, and the face and hands too scraggly, with warts that looked almost like tree knots, and skin that seemed a bit rough and brittle as well, like bark. Most of all, when the man finally stood upright, he apparently stood about ten feet tall, and that made James, who was short for his age, feel especially short.

“I am Tekos the Seventh, Lord of the Oak Wood,” the man said, and with hardly a breath, he added. “And you are mortal, human, aren’t you?”

James shrugged. He could not be sure what the Lord of the Oak was asking. “My father is the Kairos,” he said. He thought that meant something in this world, even if he did not exactly understand what it meant.

Tekos’ eyebrows lifted slowly, and James heard the sound of crackling wood. “I’ll bet the-should-be-gone goddess in the castle did not plan on this.” He smiled.

“No, sir,” James said, politely.

Suddenly, the man-creature softened and plopped down on the ground to speak to James more eye to eye. “You know my sire, the first Tekos by name, did your father a great favor in ancient times. He was rooted in Greece, not far from Athens, and he opened a way for some friends of your father so some of the little spirits could travel instantly from Greece back to their homes at the top of the Black Sea. Of course, your father was a god himself in those days, the Nameless god, but the story says he was very young and did not yet know how to do the work on his own.” James shook his head. He did not follow the story.

“James!” The call came from the path.

“Over here!” James shouted, in case this Tekos turned out to be not so nice as he seemed and tried to stop him from speaking. Then he explained. “Mrs. Copperpot. My, er, friend,” he concluded. He realized that he did not know what else to call her. She was not his babysitter or any such thing; certainly not his cook, though he would not have minded if she was. He supposed guide would have been a reasonable choice, but friend just seemed friendlier.

“I see,” Lord Tekos said, and crinkled those eyebrows up once again. He called out himself. “James is here, and safe!”

A moment of crunching through the bushes followed. James thought that surely Mrs. Copperpot would not make all that noise, when he saw her holding a youngster by the ear and followed by two other boys of some sort that had their heads down like they had just survived a good scolding. He heard the one in her grip.

“Ow! I tell you, ow!”

“Quiet, Grubby,” Mrs. Copperpot said, in a voice not to be argued with. “You behave or I’ll twist the ear right off. And you two, Picker and Poker, I expect better from you than to hang around with wayward imps!”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The two boys in Mrs. Copperpot’s train spoke in unison, but neither raised his head.

“James!” Suddenly the imp got dropped and forgotten as Mrs. Copperpot raced forward to embrace the boy. James did not mind the hug, but he felt a bit uncomfortable as well. He decided it would be all right provided she did not start slobbering over him like a seldom seen grandmother. Besides, the hug felt brief as Mrs. Copperpot turned quickly to Tekos who had stood to his full height and towered over them all. “Lord Dryad.” The dwarf curtsied.

“Lady. Have I the honor of addressing the great Lady Copperpot of the golden cauldron?”

“I wouldn’t say great, your worship.” Mrs. Copperpot turned her head, shyly, and curtsied a little once more. Tekos merely smiled before he turned on the three youngsters.

“And you, you rascals.” Tekos eyes creaked down to slits as he peered at the three boys that James suddenly realized were not boys at all, though they appeared to be about his age. “Did you hear this fine lady? Your behavior is in need of repair, lest you call attention to yourselves and the creepy thing in the castle grab you.” The way Tekos said creepy thing sent chills down James’ spine, and he saw it affected the others in a similar way.

Golden Door Chapter 9 David by the Pool

March 24, 2025January 14, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

David and Inaros walked through the hills on what appeared to be a path. David had not recognized it as a path at first because fallen leaves, stones, sticks and overgrowth completely covered it. They startled a few partridges right away. The birds took to the sky in a flurry of wings. After that, they saw more than their fair share of birds and squirrels, and one white tailed deer that scramble off into the trees at their approach. David kept his eyes open for bees and spiders, and his ears open for larger predators, but the area around him seemed quiet and peaceful, even tranquil in a way.

“I can almost smell the sea from here, boy. Do you smell it?” Inaros took a great whiff of air and let it out slowly. He walked on his own and had since he stopped trying to animate his words. He paused to lean on his cane.

“Sir?” David felt that word was appropriate. Inaros pointed. They had been following a stream for some time and slowly worked their way down hill. David looked, but all he could see was blue on the horizon.

Inaros spoke. “The trouble is always where does the sky end and the sea begin? Sailors know”

David looked again and he thought he saw a distant line separating the two. “I think I see it.”

“You will, boy. Practice with that nose and you will smell it, the smell of clams and brine of the salty sea. And practice with those ears and you may even be able to hear it crashing against the rocks from this far away. I know I don’t hear like I did when I was young, but even I can imagine hearing it from here.” He appeared rested and they started walking again. “It is Swift’s Gulliver, eh? And I am one of the Little People.” He laughed and slapped David on the shoulder. David laughed as well but looked up at the elf who stood considerably taller than himself.

After a time, they came to a short cliff and had to climb down carefully to the woods below. These woods seemed less inclined to be overgrown with burrs and pines, though the pines were still present, the trees had begun to thin out even more as they approached the salty air coming up off the distant water. The stream tumbled off the short cliff and crashed into a pool with a minimum of spray and foam because the cliff proved not terribly high. The pool looked like it churned the same water since the beginning of time.

“Time to rest.” Inaros announced, and David did not argue. The old elf probably needed a mid-morning nap.

“I’ll take the first watch, Captain,” David said with a short salute. He was a good sport and willing to indulge the gentleman who smiled and patted his shoulder.

“’Ware the Jabberwock, my son,” Inaros said, as he stepped heavily over to rest against a tree. Hardly a moment later, David heard the snores.

David wandered to where the stream came out of the pool and decided that it might be a very small river, being waist deep where he checked with a long stick, and it seemed twice the distance across than he could jump, even with a running start. He wanted to see how deep the pool might be, so he took his stick and poked, but he could hardly reach the center of the pool.

David looked at Inaros who slept peacefully. It would be June soon enough, and it warmed up nicely as they headed toward noon. David decided to slip off his shoes and socks and change his fairy weave long pants of the morning into shorts for the afternoon. With that, he waded out into the pool for some distance. He poked with the stick and tried to find the deepest spot. His stick brushed against a fish, and he scrambled out of the pool as fast as he could just on the general principal that he would be better safe than sorry. The fish came to the surface and poked its’ head out of the water to stare up at him.

“Ouch,” the fish said, and David felt too astonished for words. “Want to eat me?” The fish asked. It looked like a very big, and apparently, a very old fish.

“What?”

“Eat me,” the fish repeated. “All of the wisdom and knowledge in the world is in my flesh.”

“I’m sorry?” David said. “I’ve never talked to a fish before.”

“Salmon,” the fish said. “I was going up-stream to spawn and die when Alice, the lady of the castle, put in this cliff and waterfall. I’ve been stuck here, down below for thousands of years.”

“Eat you?”

“I’m tired,” the salmon said. “I want to go over to the other side, but I don’t know the way. Someone has to cook me and eat me, and I promise all the wisdom and knowledge of the ages.”

“Stop it.” David felt sure the fish was lying to him.

“I’ll prove it!” The fish said, indignantly. “Touch me and lick your finger, and you will be able to teach your seventh-grade teachers a thing or too when you get back to school in the fall, I guarantee it.”

“How did you know I am going into the seventh grade?” David responded, sharply.

“I know all about you, David,” the salmon answered. “I had to do something to occupy my time while swimming around this pool for thousands of years. You think I am kidding about knowing everything?”

“Stop.” A young man of some sort stepped up beside David. “We don’t talk to fish, least of all Salmon know-it-alls.”

“Yeah!” A second young man who stepped up on David’s other side, agreed.

“Little bugs.” The fish spat at them. “If you won’t eat me, perhaps I should eat you.” The fish began to grow, like a blowfish, and as it swelled it came more and more out of the water. All three young men shrieked before the two on each side of David pulled on David’s hands to get him out of there. But David responded slowly, as if the fish had hypnotized him. The salmon’s mouth opened, and there were plenty of sharp teeth inside. In fact, the salmon began to look less like a salmon and more like a great white shark; but still David could hardly move. His feet felt glued in place.

An arrow shot out from the bank of the pool, followed by two darts and another arrow. Something must have struck home, because the fish immediately began to deflate, and as it did, David became able to break eye contact with the beast. He let the two boys, and he thought they were boys, lead him up the bank of the river pool. When he looked more closely, he saw three young people dressed in hunter green, and Inaros up, with the darts in his hand. The three newcomers smiled, and the young woman with the bow and arrows bowed slightly and nudged the two boys to tell them to do the same.

“Lord Inaros,” the young woman spoke. “I am pleased to see that you have not fallen into the clutches of the beast in the castle.”

“Hardly,” Inaros said. He leaned on his cane and returned his remaining darts to his pouch. “It would take more than a sea devil to trap these old bones. Er, Floren, isn’t it?”

“Exactly so,” Floren said with another slight bow, and David made note of the pointed ears and understood that this was another elf. “I also see that these are strange times, indeed, that you should travel about with a mere human from the Midgard lands.”

“Earth.” Inaros corrected the name. “And this is David, son of the Kairos.”

“Oh.” Floren went to one knee, but the boys grinned.

“I’m Oren,” one said and stuck out his hand which David gladly shook.

“I’m Alden,” the other spoke. He looked a little older. They seemed to David to be about James’ age, but when he remembered that Inaros claimed to be fifteen hundred years old he held his tongue. They were probably older than he was.

“David,” he said, and he gladly shook both hands.

“Up, up.” Inaros insisted, and Floren did rise but with a look at David to make sure it would be all right. “David’s a fine boy, and he doesn’t bite,” Inaros said. “But tell me, how is it you are free in this neck of the woods.”

“We were hunting.” Oren spoke right up. “And we were trying to get lost.”

“Why would you want to get lost?” David wondered.

“Elves don’t get lost,” Inaros whispered, a bit too loud.

“Young Lord,” Floren explained. “I was to babysit my younger brother and his friend. They were trying to lose me.”

“And we would have, too,” Alden insisted and folded his arms across his chest.

Floren ignored the boy. “And for a week, nearly ten days, we have been hiding out here by the pool. We have a small camp on the other side of the river, and fresh fish cooking for lunch.”

“Not salmon.” David wanted to be sure. Floren shook her head but smiled at the thought.

“Come on,” Oren yelled, and he tugged on David’s sleeve. He turned and ran with such speed he raced across the water and hardly got his feet wet. Alden ran right behind.

“I can’t do that,” David protested while Inaros winked at Floren, and she smiled. The next thing David knew, Inaros bonked him on the head with his cane, and not softly, and Floren whipped his bare legs with her bow, which stung, and his feet started to move. He ran across the top of the water and hooted the entire way, while Inaros and Floren watched. When David stopped, turned around and shouted.

“That was great!”

Floren waved and raced to his side faster than David could blink. Inaros picked up his cane, put one hand on his alpine hat, and crossed the top of the water in four quick, very leggy strides.

“Refreshing,” he said on the other bank. “But I am always hungry after a nap and a good run.” David did not hear. He ran off to find Oren and Alden, and laughed at the speed, and Floren went right behind him, thinking that now she had three young men to watch.

When the fish got ready, the boys climbed down out of the trees, and David finally tired of running around with super speed, they sat and had a good, if a bit early lunch.

“We are headed for the sea,” Inaros explained. “We hope to find a way to the Palace under the sea, set your father free of his enchantment, and if possible, get the ladies out of the dungeon as well.”

“Eh?” David said in imitation of the old man. He looked up for an explanation having caught the part about their father.

Inaros leaned over. “Floren and Oren are the children of Stongheart and Lady Lisel,” he said, and then apologized. “I am sorry, but I do not recall Alden’s family.”

“Cause I’m a mountain elf, you know, a kobold, not strictly in the elf line,” Alden said and Inaros nodded. David nodded as if he understood as well, but he could hardly see much difference. Alden looked a half-foot shorter, but then James was small for his age group, so David thought nothing of it. He looked closely, then, and decided that Alden’s skin might have been a little darker and his ears not quite so pointed, but it did not mean much.

David tried the fish. He found he could eat it even if it was not his favorite. He preferred the bread, though, with plenty of butter, and he knew that at least his finicky self would not starve. Then he had a thought. “This fish isn’t salmon, is it?” He just had to ask again, to be triple sure.

“No,” Floren said, with a smile and a sweet, lilting laugh. “You asked that already.”

David returned her grin. “Because the salmon said he knew everything, but I’m not ready for that yet.” David always spoke in utter honesty about what he thought and felt, and because of it, he sometimes shared more than he should.

Floren smiled even more deeply at his words. “Well, I wouldn’t worry about it. The salmon was probably just bragging.”

“No,” Inaros said to everyone’s surprise. “Maybe it does know everything, but that is still no excuse for being rude.”

Golden Door Chapter 8 Morning Matters, part 2 of 2

March 19, 2025January 14, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“But we only saw one castle,” David said. He tried to turn his mind from the sight of Ashtoreth.

“Castles.” Inaros underlined the plural.

“Yes, you see, this place is in the second heavens, which is not like on earth under the first heavens. Things are different here.” Mrs. Aster spoke quickly.

“An understatement,” Chris muttered, and James got a very broad grin.

Deathwalker held up his hand for quiet before he tried to explain. “There is only one castle, but four castles in a sense. It is all in how you look at it. In the same way, there is only one island, but many, many islands in the sea. They are separate islands, so you can sail to them and all the way around them, but you can also go from one island to the next without ever crossing the water.”

Mrs. Copperpot interrupted and spoke to James and to all by extension. “Most of the monsters now on Castle Isle belong on other islands, but the demon-goddess is now controlling the doors and has Avalon cut off from the Earth, and she has made the innumerable islands of Avalon leak into each other. She is using the monsters to guard the ways to the castles.”

“Enough.” Deathwalker regained the floor. “So there is one castle, but four that are one and the same. There is the Castle on the hill that you have seen. It is called Castle Perilous or Castle Turning or the Castle of the Kairos or Nameless’ Castle.” Mrs. Copperpot cleared her throat to stop the litany. Deathwalker swallowed before he continued. “Yes, it is where the spirits of the Earth reside and where the Kairos usually makes his or her home, but then there are three other castles as well. One is the castle under the earth, Castle Sidhe or the Castle of Darkness, you know, Danna’s Castle.” He paused long enough to stare at Mrs. Copperpot before the next cough. “The castle underground is where the dark elves and fire sprites reside. Lord Deepdigger is master there right now, and his Lady Goldenvein is in the dungeon.”

“He has his own lady in the dungeon?” Beth asked.

Deathwalker waved off the question. “He is enchanted. All the Lords of the Dias are enchanted, and the ladies are all in the dungeon. We think the ladies are all together in the same rooms with your mother, but who can know?”

“You forgot Lord Noen, the Dwarf King is in Nameless’ Castle and his lady is Lady Biggles,” Mrs. Aster interjected.

“Yes, and the Castle in the Clouds, the Castle in the Sky, the Castle of Light, Junior’s place is presently ruled by Lord Oak of the fee.”

“Fairies,” Mrs. Aster whispered.

“It is where the sprites of the air live, and Lord Oak’s lady is Queen Ivy.” Deathwalker nodded to Mrs. Aster and then looked at a contemplative Inaros. “The fourth castle is called the Golden Palace under the sea where Amphitrite used to rule over the winds and waves. Lord Galadren, the Elf King has been made ruler over the water sprites and mere people. He did the most to resist Ashtoreth and his punishment is to be assigned under the sea.”

“His lady?” Chris asked.

“Lisel.” Deathwalker said.

Inaros spoke. “Galadren means strong heart, and he was very hard to enchant, and Lisel means beauty, and that she surely is. My own lord and lady confined to live with the seaweed.” He shook his head.

Mrs. Copperpot rapped her spoon on the table in front of the old man. “I should say Lord Sweetwater and Lady Wavemaker might take exception to your sentiment.”

“To those it suits, dear Lady. To those it suits.”

“Anyway.” Mrs. Aster took the floor again by fluttering down to stand on the table. “We thought we might be able to liberate one or more of the lords from their enchantment and they might know a way to overcome the demon-goddess. After all, and I mean no offense, but what can a bunch of old has-bins and human children do against the likes of her, even if you are the children of the Kairos.”

“Hey. That’s right.” David sat up and looked pleased, as if two and two just connected in his mind.

“That makes us what?” Chris asked. He was going to say nothing special, but Inaros spoke first.

“Like a prince of the realm, and a princess for Miss Beth, in whose blood runs all the power of the rightful king.” He tipped his hat toward Beth.

“More like demigods,” Deathwalker said quietly to Chris and James, but he found his hand slapped by Mrs. Copperpot’s spoon. He popped his hand into his big mouth while she spoke.

“Truth is, if you don’t want to do anything, we can’t make you even if we had all of the power of the little ones on earth.”

“You’re not has-bins.” David backed-up in the conversation.

“Kind of you to say.” Inaros smiled for him.

“I want my mom safe and my dad well,” James said, quietly. Beth nodded, and Chris spoke for the group.

“We’re in,” he said.

Mrs. Aster likewise looked around the table. “As are we,” she said, and it would have been a beautiful moment if Deathwalker had not removed his hand from his mouth to mumble.

“Probably in for the dungeons.” He jumped to get away from the cooking spoon.

“Beth.” Mrs. Aster ignored the exchange and got Beth’s attention. “You are the eldest. We are first.” They all looked again at the open door and the garden-like scene outside.

“It doesn’t look too bad in daylight,” David admitted.

Beth walked to the doorway but hesitated while Mrs. Aster turned back to the others. “We’ll meet you in the Castle in the sky,” she said. They moved through, and the door closed.

“Well, Gentlemen,” Inaros said. “And the ever-blessed Mrs. Copperpot. Who shall go next?”

The thump came and the door opened on pitch blackness. “Looks like the decision has already been made,” Deathwalker said, still out of reach of the cooking spoon. “Come on, Chris.”

“But it is totally dark in there. I can’t see a thing,” Chris protested.

“Now that Holy One gave you eyes.” Deathwalker told him. “And I will admit that those creatures know what they are doing, so I would guess all you have to do is use them. Try looking at the dark in a different sort of way.”

Of course, that honestly explained nothing, but suddenly Chris said, “Wow!” in a way that suggested he saw something, and they stepped through the door together, and the door closed.

“You go next,” James said.

“No.” David immediately protested. “You go.”

James shook his head, but then the next thump came, and the door opened on a real forest scene. They saw a path through the trees, but otherwise the forest looked dark and thick with plenty of bushes and large clumps of fallen leaves at ground level.

“I think I know this place,” Mrs. Copperpot said, as she stepped up for a closer look.

Inaros put his old hand on David’s shoulder. “I think we will call it ladies first,” he said.

Mrs. Copperpot turned around. “Come along, James. At least you won’t starve.” She held out her hand. James reluctantly took it as he looked at his brother. Then he broke free and came back to give David a hug and whisper in David’s ear.

“Good luck. If I can do it, so can you,” he said, and he turned and rushed out to follow Mrs. Copperpot before he changed his own mind.

David nodded, and then he set his courage and he became determined to see things through. His face became stern and stubborn. Inaros noticed but said nothing as the thump came one more time. This time the door exposed a view that looked more like highlands. The trees were strewn sparsely among great rocks and boulders and heather of some kind for beneath the feet. Many of the trees were evergreen trees, and in all they smelled the aroma of cold stone and late spring flowers where spring came later in the highlands. David did not look encouraged by the scene, despite his determination. He hated camping out, but Inaros slipped his arm all the way around David’s shoulder and began to walk, alternately leaning on his stick and the boy.

“Reminds me of Nova Scotia where I sailed with the great Captain Hawk on the Golden Hawk.” He lifted his cane to use again as a pretend sword and leaned more heavily on David as he did. David, kind heart that he was, kept the man upright and helped as much he could.

“Why was he called Captain Hawk, because of the ship, the Golden Hawk?” David asked.

“No,” Inaros said. “It was because he had a great aquiline nose.” He used his cane hand to represent the nose with his fingers. “Made him look a bit like a hawk.” He laughed. “Elizabeth loved him for his quick wit, you know.” Then to David’s curious look, he responded. “The queen, boy. The queen.”

David looked around suddenly, but they were already outside, and the golden door had gone.

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

MONDAY

David gets in trouble with a fish and James has a fine conversation with a tree on Monday. Until then, Happy Reading

Golden Door Chapter 8 Morning Matters, part 1 of 2

March 18, 2025January 14, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The children awoke to the sound of church bells, far away; a lovely, soft and comfortable way to wake. Beth had to lay for a few minutes longer to figure out what she was hearing. Chris smiled, but in his usual fashion, he did not want to get up right away. James felt hungry. He always ate a good breakfast. David, with the nightmare journey completely behind him, only remembered his wonderful dream about elves and fairies.

“Get up boy.” David heard the words and sat straight up in bed to find Inaros looking down on him. He realized it had not been a dream. “Sleep all day ‘oft gang aglay,” Inaros said, and though it did not entirely make sense, the tone was clear. David got up.

Beth looked for a change of clothes, but there weren’t any. She looked for her own clothes, but they were not to be found, either.

“No, dear.” Mrs. Aster fluttered there. “Just think to freshen your clothes and then shape them and color them as you wish.” Beth did that, with a deep grin, and thought that she might never have to do laundry again.

“Yeah, yeah.” Mister Deathwalker seemed inclined to agree with Chris. He would not have minded a few more winks himself; but Chris got up, and having overheard Mrs. Aster’s instructions, Mister Deathwalker thought he ought to say something, too. “Freshen up and let’s eat.”

“Why?” Chris asked about the freshening, not the eating.

Mrs. Copperpot outdid herself with the rich variety and quality of breakfast choices. The children tended toward the sweet rolls and Danish type dishes, but James had some eggs, and Chris liked the sausage. Even finicky eater David had more than enough to keep his face stuffed.

“Maybe we should have shown them before they ate,” Deathwalker said, suddenly. The three little spirits looked at him as if in agreement, but then Mrs. Copperpot appeared to change her mind and shook her head.

“Even that one can’t upset my good cooking,” she decided.

“See what?” Beth asked.

“What we’re up against,” Chris guessed, and the spirits nodded.

“We?” David asked.

“Of course, boy.” Inaros eyed the young man with a knowing eye. “We may be old and all that rot, but once more into the breach, say what?” David just swallowed and nodded.

“Better get it over before Davey changes his mind,” James teased.

“Not funny!” David’s words sounded sharp, even if he knew his brother was only teasing.

Mrs. Aster gave an equally sharp look at the boys but held her tongue as she fluttered up to the wall. The ceiling light, which had been at full glare, softened in anticipation of what was to come.

Mrs. Aster could not get a picture at first. The wall filled with swirling colors, but they would not congeal into a viable picture. Mrs. Copperpot came up with her cooking spoon to help, and Mister Deathwalker also tried flinging some dust at the wall which he pulled from a small pouch he carried at his side. By then, Mrs. Aster shook her stick and looked bewildered, as if something clogged up the magic. Inaros stood with a dour expression.

“Amateurs,” he mumbled. “All together now. One, two, three.” And he pointed his walking stick while the others tried their stick, spoon, and dust at the same time, and at last the picture came into focus. The children came up to stand around them as they all watched.

The room that they looked into did not appear to be all that big, though the ceiling looked cathedral-like, as it went up and up. It ended in beams of wood that were big enough to come from redwood trees and set in the shape of a dome, but the room itself looked relatively small, like the inside of a great tower. The floor looked all inlaid marble, though no one could quite make out the pictures set in the stone. Apart from that, there appeared to be only one noticeable piece of furniture in the room. A three-legged, waist high stand or table of a sort sat in the very center. The tabletop looked shaped like a three-fingered claw of wood, and it held the crystal which beat bright and soft, bright and soft, exactly like a heart. They all recognized the crystal—the Heart of Time.

The creature beside the crystal seemed of general human shape, though little could be determined through the long black robe, and nothing of the face, since it faced the crystal with most of its back to the watchers. It appeared to be staring into the crystal before suddenly, the creature picked up its head and turned around.

“Eh? What is this?” It looked straight at them all, and they saw, for all practical purposes, what looked like a classic hag, or a witch, with only a few straggly strands of gray hair that still clung for life to a skull whose ancient skin had turned a gray-green color. There were bumps and knobs, perhaps warts all over the head, except where the two horns protruded from the skull. These were no knobby little devil horns, but real bull horns, discolored and chipped in a few places, but ready to rend anything that got too close.

“Ashtoreth,” Deathwalker whispered, and Chris thought the goblin looked like a tame puppy compared to this horror.

“Looks like Gollum.” James suggested, and it did look a bit like someone who should have died ages and ages ago.

“I see you watching.” Ashtoreth raised a hand and flashed her teeth. The children expected to see few teeth, if any, in that ancient skull; but the teeth still looked as sharp and pointed as they had probably ever been. Beth imagined those teeth tearing apart live rats while the demon-goddess stayed in hiding for two thousand years.

“I hear you speaking my name.” Ashtoreth turned her head to the side and put a hand to her ear as if listening. Those nails, which may have once appeared human, were so long and thick and sharp they looked more like knives than fingernails.

The head turned again, and they all saw the blood red color come up into those eyes and noticed the darkness around them as the eyes seemed to sink a little further back into that horrible, ancient, decrepit face; and at once they all realized that when Ashtoreth hid herself for a time inside Lydia, she picked up more inside herself than perhaps she bargained for.

Her scream was enough to still the heart as she stretched out her right hand and ran straight at them.

The little spirits moved fast, and whether in concert or just accidentally at the same time, they managed to shut down the picture, but not before Ashtoreth stuck her right hand into the room, right up to the elbow. It grabbed at the air three or four times before it went stiff and turned as white as the wall and as brittle as plaster of Paris. It crumbled to dust. A thump shook the floor ever so slightly, and the golden door opened. A breeze came, swept up the white dust without missing a grain, and blew it out to be scattered in the wind of the world.

Everyone stared at the scene outside the door. It looked like a park, or perhaps an orchard, with the trees spaced liberally about, and only grass and a few ferns and flowers growing beneath. Mrs. Aster quickly turned everyone back to the table. “We’re not ready,” she said to the ceiling.

“I can’t go there,” David said straight out what everyone honestly felt.

“Fortunately, we won’t have to,” Inaros assured him as they took their seats.

“Thanks be,” Deathwalker added.

“Then, what are we doing?” Beth asked.

“We thought we would go to the castles,” Mrs. Aster responded.

Golden Door Chapter 7 Explanations, part 2 of 2

March 17, 2025January 14, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

With that, the picture began to pull back, and they saw that Alice and Cronos and the door were all on a very small island, indeed. Outside of the bare rock and dirt on which they stood the rest of that place looked like little more than a swirl of colors. Even the sky above their head appeared as a swirl.

“Primordial soup.” Inaros spoke almost as softly as James.

“That’s the way of the second heavens in many places,” Deathwalker explained. “And it may be the way for this place again if we don’t do something about it.”

“But that is not what we found out there,” Chris said.

“But that is because the Lady Alice is holding things together for the present, but with her sick and all, there is no telling how long she may be able to keep it together.” Mrs. Aster sounded very concerned.

“That is Avalon?” Beth asked, but the picture began to change.

“All there was at the beginning of time,” Deathwalker nodded.

“I always preferred the name Shamballa.” Inaros spoke up. “My grandfather brought the family from that region of the world and into the Roman Empire around the time of the first Caesar, Augustus, if I remember. Of course, that was before my time.”

“Hey!” Inaros’ recollection got interrupted by several voices of protest. Mrs. Copperpot reached out with her cooking spoon and tapped the wall, so the picture froze in place. They saw a woman with stringy, light brown hair who stood beside an old stone wall. She wore something like a Roman style toga, but her back was turned so they could not see her face.

“The children got to be prepared before they see more,” she said.

Deathwalker and Mrs. Aster exchanged a glance, but it was Deathwalker who spoke. “You will see the demons,” he said flatly. “Poor Lydia. Her mother suffered from demon oppression, but her mother got set free, by—by the one who was and is…” His voice trailed off.

“Jesus?” Chris asked.

The goblin squinted as if struck by a blow but nodded. “Lydia went to the crucifixion, but then her mother got killed on the road to the coast and the girl got stolen and carried off to slave in a brothel. She escaped. She married a fine Roman, a centurion. She had some adventures, but one day, they found her and dragged her back to the brothel. Many demons came into her in that place, but with her knowledge of the future, she became a prophetess and made money for her owners.”

Mrs. Aster took up the story. “But you understand that while Lydia’s body got saved from the degradation of the brothel, her spirit fell into eternal danger.”

“The spirit of the Kairos. The whole future of the human race stood in danger,” Inaros added.

“If it weren’t for the apostle.” Mister Deathwalker shook his head and the picture started again. The woman turned around. Beth let out a shriek, Chris gasped, James closed his eyes for a second, and David looked away altogether.

Lydia’s hair writhed without reason, her eyes looked blood red apart from the great black rings around them, like she had two black eyes. She had a cut on one cheek, and several cuts on her forearms where she had clearly tried to hurt herself. A bit of drool came from her mouth on a face that appeared so distorted it hardly looked human. Most of all, she showed hatred, fear, pure evil in those eyes and in that expression, which looked willing to destroy the whole world if it could only figure out how. Then she started to yell, and the voice gave chills down the spine as nothing else can.

“Listen to these men! They are telling you the way to salvation! Listen to them!” The picture got paused again by the cooking spoon.

“Demons are stupid,” Inaros said, and Mrs. Copperpot nodded but spoke differently.

“But do not be fooled to think the one in the castle is stupid,” and she started the picture again.

They heard the apostle speak in the name of Jesus and command the demons come out of her.

“No!” Lydia was not willing. “No!” The scene changed, suddenly. Lydia fell on the grass in the meadow that stood before the castle, but the voice came, relentless.

“Come out of her!”

It carried all the way into the second heavens. It reverberated from the rocks like a storm and came across the sea like a tidal wave. It shook the earth and the walls of the castle on the hill shook until it became difficult to see how the walls stayed up. Lydia tore her clothes, and things came out of her. They were identified by the little black dots, though at first, they came so thick together they looked like a pall of smoke. The picture paused again. Mrs. Aster did it this time with her wand. She circled one of the dots which appeared gray in color.

“Ashtoreth,” she announced, and the picture faded. “And she hid while the Knights of the Lance rooted out all the demons and drove them from Avalon and the Isles,” she finished the story.

“Actually.” Inaros put up his finger like he was testing the wind. “The isle of Avalon, the one by name, King Arthur’s Avalon which is the isle of the apples, is over that way.” He pointed.

“Knight?” Beth asked, as she remembered seeing one not many hours ago.

“Knights of the Lance?” Chris asked. He ignored the old man. Mrs. Aster nodded and the picture changed again.

They looked through a door in a darkened room and were hardly aware of the people in that room because of the vision through that door. It did not look like the golden door, but it was a door between the earth and Avalon. They could see the castle in the background beyond the green field. It looked like late afternoon, and an honest-to-goodness knight covered head to toe in brilliant, shining armor rode across the grass on a tremendous horse in full charge. The lance he carried, no toy for sport or jousting, was a real, wicked looking weapon intended to do great damage to an enemy. Chris understood in that moment why the knights of old sometimes got referred to as medieval tanks. This knight chased after one of those same creatures that had chased the children earlier that evening. He caught it by the door. The lance pinned the creature to the far earthly wall, while a very fairy-like fairy, with bumblebee wings, and a young woman with very light blond hair and light brown eyes and freckles, screamed. None of the children blamed them for screaming, and then the picture went away altogether until nothing remained but big, empty white wall.

“Hey!” Deathwalker objected. “The story of Greta is one of my favorites.”

“Greta?” David asked.

“The Kairos,” three people answered.

“My father,” Beth said softly, trying to grasp the image of her father living over and over and sometimes as a woman.

James yawned. Inaros leaned his head on his walking stick and nearly slipped as he almost fell asleep. David wondered how anyone could sleep after what they just saw. He knew it had gotten well past time for bed. They knew of nothing they could do until morning, and the overhead light had dimmed a great deal, enough to show that there was a ceiling up there after all.

“But who is this Angel?” James heard Beth ask, and he wanted to hear. He thought that might help him get the picture of Lydia out of his mind.

“She is one of the first and greatest of all of the spiritual creatures,” the fairy answered.

“He,” Inaros objected.

“It,” Deathwalker said, and added, “Now go to bed.”

“No wings,” James whispered, and Mrs. Copperpot hushed him, pulled up a chair, sat down beside his bed, and brushed back his hair as he curled up under the covers.

“Come on, boy. You go to bed, and I’ll stand guard,” Inaros intoned. David crawled into bed, but he did not feel too certain about the arrangement. Sure enough, the minute Inaros sat in his chair he started to snore, and David found himself staring at the ceiling and trying not to remember Lydia’s face. Then he remembered that Angel said do not be afraid, and with that thought held firmly in his heart, he slept, despite all the snoring around him.

Golden Door Chapter 7 Explanations, part 1 of 2

March 12, 2025January 14, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Mrs. Aster reached out to hold Beth’s hand which rested on the table while Mrs. Copperpot settled into the last seat, the one next to her good eater, James, and Inaros fell silent readily enough. He would let the woman explain.

“And who is Angel?” Beth asked before the fairy could begin.

Mrs. Aster looked at the others before she spoke. “When Ashtoreth, the demon-goddess came out of hiding, and drew your father into this place, and captured the Lords of the Dias, and imprisoned your mother, we four did something that is not normal for our kind to do.”

“And it was a shameful hard thing for us, let me tell you,” Deathwalker added.

“We prayed, not to your father, the Kairos, as is our way, because he is in the most danger of all, but to the other.”

“To the one above,” Mrs. Copperpot said.

“To the Source,” Mrs. Aster closed her eyes.

“To God?” Chris said the word out loud and saw the four elders wince, but nod.

“We were brought into this place and told to wait for you,” Mrs. Aster went on.

“And it was the most scariest moment of my life, let me tell you,” Deathwalker said, and to hear a goblin, or whatever he was, talk about being scared really felt like something.

“And so, now, here we all are, but I am not sure what we can do about the situation,” Mrs. Aster finished.

“Out there?” David asked. He looked up at Inaros, who like James, kept trying not to doze off.

“But it is dangerous out there,” Chris said, in all honesty.

“Yes, son, it is,” Deathwalker said, knowingly. He raised a hand, filled with very sharp nails, and placed it gently on Chris’ shoulder. “There’s danger on every street corner. Washington, Bangkok, Paris. Why, a person can’t hardly make his way in the world without bumping into some evil…” He stopped. “Oh, you meant Avalon.”

“Well, yeah.” Beth sounded exasperated.

“Well, maybe we ought to start with some pictures, some background to get the gist of what we are up against,” he said.

“No,” Mrs. Copperpot said sternly as she stood. “Children got to get ready for bed first,” she insisted.

Clothes were laid out on the four beds, clothes the children did not notice before or that somehow just magically appeared. Mrs. Copperpot pulled a screen from the wall to separate Beth’s area from the boys, and Inaros showed them the bathroom, behind a door on the bedside. The door, almost invisible, fit perfectly into the white wall like the door to the kitchen on the table side.

“Everything off,” Mrs. Copperpot insisted.

“This is fairy weave,” Mrs. Aster explained to them all. You can grow it, shape it, and even color it just by thinking about it. You can harden it for shoes or leave it soft underneath against the skin. You can even separate it into several pieces or bring it back together into a nice dress if you like.”

“I’m not wearing a dress,” James said.

“Of course, you have to separate it to make shoes,” Inaros said, grumpily, like it had gotten past his bedtime.

“She meant me and the dress,” Beth told her little brother.

“Don’t be wearing shoes to bed. You’ll get the sheets all dirty,” Mrs. Copperpot said.

Eventually, all four children were ready, though Beth kept changing her nightgown from blue to green and back again, unable to decide, until Mrs. Aster turned it into a green background with big blue flowers and told her to leave it alone. Then they took their pillows and gathered themselves on the floor in front of the big blank wall at the back of the room, which was going to be their television, as Deathwalker explained.

Mrs. Aster changed back into her fairy size, with wings fluttering gently against the air to keep herself aloft. She said it felt much more comfortable than being big, and Beth said she did not mind. Mrs. Copperpot wanted to pick James up and hold him in her lap, but James decided he would rather not. David would not let poor Inaros sleep. He got excited and expected a good movie. Chris talked with Deathwalker who wanted to get things started; but he tried to answer Chris’ questions and got loud enough for everyone to hear while they waited.

“But how can my dad have lived other lifetimes?” he asked, having realized that the Kairos had to be something more than just a title passed down from person to person.

“Well, it would be more correct to say the Kairos has lived many lifetimes and at present he happens to be your dad. In other lifetimes, the Kairos lived as dad or mom, as it were, of other children.”

“But look. I remember where it said it is appointed once for a man to die and after that the judgment.” Chris insisted.

“Yes, it is, but there is the hurt of it, don’t you see? The Kairos gets all the pain and suffering of death, right up to the last breath, but before he can cross over to the other side he gets pulled into a new conception. He is never actually allowed to die.”

“But I thought reincarnation—”

“It isn’t reincarnation.” Deathwalker spoke with certainty. “It is deliberate and done by a power far greater than us little spirits have. Sometimes he calls the doers his friends, and sometimes he bitterly refers to himself or herself as an experiment in time and genetics, but all the same, he or she gets born again and starts from scratch again as a know-nothing baby.”

“But…”

“Sit down, son,” Deathwalker said, gently, and he reached up again with that clawed hand and rested it again on Chris’ shoulder. “There’s a couple of things to know yet, and no sense in getting worked up over what none of us can really know or understand.”

Chris nodded and sat as Mrs. Aster fluttered up to the wall, pulled a stick out of some unseen pocket, or something like a stick, and began to tap the wall here and there. Wherever she tapped, there came a swirl of color which spread out until it touched other swirls, and then the swirls began to form into shapes, out of focus at first, but they slowly came together.

“Like Tinkerbell.” David suggested.

“Wrong kind of wings,” James pointed out, and then they all grew quiet as the pictures on the wall took on a three-dimensional quality that no television or movie could match. It seemed like they were looking through a glass into another place, altogether.

Alice stood in that place. They all recognized her by her blonde hair, and when she turned around, by her light brown, almost golden sparkling eyes. They named her; and the golden door stood there too. The children imagined it had to be how Alice got into that place, wherever she was. It looked completely desolate, a bit rocky and full of bare dirt without the least sign of grass or anything growing and alive at all.

“This all happened ages and ages ago,” Deathwalker explained. “That spot where they are standing is at the very center of where the Castle of the Kairos now stands.”

“And who is the other one?” Beth asked, because a man that faced Alice had to be nine or ten feet tall.

“Cronos,” Deathwalker said, and they watched while the two held out their hands and something began to glow between them. In a very short time they saw a crystal of some sort, but with an internal glow as if something bright got trapped inside the crystal. After another short time, the crystal began to pulse with a regular steady beat, and then the making of that object seemed to be done.

“That is the Heart of Time,” Mrs. Aster said. “That is the point where human history began, and everything that has ever happened since then is recorded in the heart.”

“Everything?” David wondered, and the four little spirits all nodded.

“Trouble is, the heart is now in the hands of the demon,” Deathwalker said. “And there is no telling what she is doing with it.”

“Our fear is that she may attempt to break it,” Mrs. Aster said.

“And a real fear that is,” Mrs. Copperpot interjected. “Some say that human history will come to an end at that point. Some say that time itself will come to an end. Some say creation will be ended and the whole universe will roll up like a scroll. Who can say exactly?”

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

MONDAY

After witnessing the making of the Heart of Time, and hearing the dire predictions, it is time to have some further explanations, like why they are there and what they hope to do about the trouble. Next time. Until then, Happy Reading

Golden Door Chapter 6 Angels & Visions, part 2 of 2

March 11, 2025January 14, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“I am Mrs. Aster,” the fairy said. “Since no one here has the manners to properly introduce anyone.” She fluttered up to the side of the table and appeared to grow instantly. She became a stately woman, very old, but still very shapely and easy to look at. She wore a gown of silver sparkles and a very small circle of silver with small diamonds set around her head to keep back her long silver hair.

“The wings.” James noticed that they were gone.

“Now I could hardly walk around on Earth with wings, could I?” Mrs. Aster responded with an enchanting smile. She took a seat between Beth and David.

“Yes, well, you can call me plain old Deathwalker,” Mister Deathwalker said. He slipped into the seat beside Chris. “I’m too old to worry much about that other part. Anyway, our cook is Mrs. Copperpot.” The dwarf curtsied a little and the children heard the crackling in those old knees. “And you are very fortunate to have her to cook. She mastered the art some three hundred years ago.”

“I wouldn’t say mastered,” Mrs. Copperpot said shyly. She sat beside James who wanted to say she had mastered the art as far as he was concerned, but presently his mouth was too full to speak.

“And this,” Mister Deathwalker stopped in mid-introduction. “Where has that old coot got to?” he asked. They all heard a loud crash from the back room, followed by the words.

“I’m all right! I’m all right! I just slipped on nothing. You shouldn’t leave nothing lying around just anywhere, you know.” A six-foot-tall, most ancient man appeared in the door, supported by a large cane of hickory wood. He had on a scarlet ruffled shirt, a golden vest, complete with pocket watch and fob, something like a tuxedo dinner jacket with tails, and terribly pointed shoes beneath the long black pants that covered very long legs. “Inaros of Constantinople at your service,” he introduced himself, bowed regally, and tipped his hat which looked like an alpine hiker’s hat, complete with a feather on the side.

“He has pointed ears.” David noticed right away.

“Of course he does.” Mister Deathwalker whispered. “Most elves do, you know.”

“An elf?” David got excited.

“Yes.” Mister Deathwalker continued a little louder for the benefit of all. “And nearly deaf.”

“Deft?” Inaros sat beside David and leaned over to let the young man touch his pointed ears. Apparently, David was not the first young man in his experience who needed the assurance of that reality. “Why, I haven’t practiced the art of slight-of-hand in years, but I do thank you for the compliment, Professor Deathwalker, and as for the other part, plain Deathwalker rather than Mister Deathwalker, if I heard aright; might we say Dreamwalker? Perchance to dream, eh? Perchance to dream.”

Mrs. Aster leaned over to whisper to Beth and Chris. “He fancies himself an actor.”

“Yes, those were the days.” Inaros went on without having heard a thing, or perhaps he ignored the comment. “It was the Kairos, Peter Van Dyke, who introduced me to William, you know. A horse. A horse. My kingdom for a horse.”

“Shakespeare?” Beth wondered.

“Indeed. Is there any other William worthy of the name?” Inaros asked. “That was back when I was on the stage, a real stage, mind you, not like the silly things they call plays today. I became the inspiration for Oberon, you know. Some incidental time in my younger days.” Inaros held his chin up as if posing for a picture.

“Peter Van Dyke?” Chris started on another track.

“Your father in this life.” Inaros nodded. “Peter Van Dyke lived as Captain of the Golden Hawk, scourge of the Spanish Main.” He lifted his cane and pretended he had a sword. He almost knocked over the crystal decanter.

“My dad was a pirate?” James whispered to himself.

“My dad was a pirate?” David repeated it loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Not exactly your dad, but the Kairos, certainly,” Deathwalker said.

“Hardly.” Inaros looked offended by the pirate suggestion. “He was a Privateer, with papers from the queen, herself. After destroying the Spanish Armada, we took to the Caribbean. “Have at ye! Make all sail! Two points off the starboard bow Mister Givens! The Golden Hawk was the fastest ship afloat. Many a merchant feared the Flying Dutchman.”

“The Flying Dutchman?”

“Aye-Aye, Captain. Of course, there were real pirates then, not like the silly ones today, or the ones up on the so-called big screen.” He made a disgusted face. Clearly, he did not think much of Hollywood acting. “But that was some years ago, a good while before you young urchins ever came to mind. Like sweet infants, you are.” He looked at the children and meant it as a compliment, but Beth pushed her head up.

“I’ll be twenty next spring,” she said, asserting her adult status.

Inaros smiled. “I just turned fifteen hundred,” he said, and Beth and Chris both swallowed hard.

“I first fought beside the Kairos when she was the Duchess Genevieve, back in the days of Charlemagne, at the battle of Tours.” He tried to lift his cane again for another try at the decanter, but Deathwalker held the stick to the ground, and Mrs. Aster interrupted.

“Charlemagne’s grandfather, Charles Martel fought at the battle of Tours, and the Kairos was Lady Margueritte back then.”

“Have some more taters.” Mrs. Copperpot tried Chris, but he felt stuffed and waved her off. James raised his hand. “Ah, my James is a good eater for a little one.” She smiled and loaded James’ plate with enough mashed potatoes for six people.

“Eh? Eh?” Inaros got miffed at the interruption.

“I said—” Mrs. Aster began, but Inaros interrupted her in turn.

“I heard what you said. I’m not deaf, woman, but I am pontificating. Since when do the facts stand in the way of a good story?”

“Oh, well, if you’re pontificating,” Mrs. Aster responded, curtly.

“Pontificate away,” Deathwalker encouraged.

“More milk?” Mrs. Copperpot poured some for David.

“Now, where was I?” Inaros asked and rubbed his ancient chin.

“Tours,” Chris suggested.

“The Kairos was Lady Margueritte.” Beth shook her head.

“Ah, yes.” Inaros looked up, but his eyes were not focused on the glowing ceiling so much as his mind tried to remember. “Lady Margueritte. The Kairos is always a fine Lady when living a female life, not like today, you know. She would never lower herself to be a flapper. Not her.”

“Like Doctor Mishka?” Mrs. Aster interjected.

Inaros looked slightly offended again. “Nadia was a respectable professional in her thirties. An educated woman. A Doctor.”

“But still a fine figure of a woman,” Deathwalker said. “She could get away with the short stuff. She had mighty fine legs.”

“I blame that Hollywood crowd.” Inaros confided to David, but his voice sounded loud enough for everyone to hear.

Chris pushed his plate away. Beth had already finished. David nibbled on a roll and sipped his milk. James began to stare. Everyone could see he was ready for bed.

“So, Okay,” Chris said. “Those are all lovely stories, but now I think we have some questions, like who are you and how did you get here?”

“How did we get here?” James whispered and yawned.

Golden Door Chapter 6 Angels & Visions, part 1 of 2

March 10, 2025January 12, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Who are you?” Chris asked. The light dimmed a little and the children came back to their senses.

“Angel.” The presence spoke as he stepped out from the glare and the unbearable light fell into the background, ever present, but not intrusive. “That is what your father called me ages and ages ago.”

“You know my dad?” David asked, while Beth studied the creature. From the dress, the voice, the long, pure sparkling white hair, and the sparkling eyes of some indeterminate color, it seemed impossible to tell if Angel might be a man or a woman. Beth and the boys eventually referred to him as a man; but to be sure, that was not certain, any more than it was certain how old he might be. He might have been just twenty-something, but he seemed as ancient as time, and possibly older than time.

“I know your dad well.” Angel said, with a smile that looked very warm and very human in a way.

“You know everything.” James whispered. Angel did not acknowledge the comment.

“I knew the Kairos when he was a Scotsman who deserted the English lines to hold the hand of a young French girl named Joan,” Angel spoke. “I knew him when he was a boy, sitting in the dust, holding the camels, waiting for his brothers to return with news of what happened to Sodom. I knew him when he was the young grandson of Odin trying to run away from himself, when he was a priest preparing to face the Witch of Endor, when the Kairos was a woman. I knew her when she had to leave her cousin, Tutankaton, and run for her life. I knew her when she feared Tiamut and the Chaos that started swallowing the world; and again, when the demons came up and infested her village way back in the days of wood and stone, sinew and bone. And even earlier, I knew the Kairos when she was the lady Alice who has not yet been born. She stood not far from this very spot with that old spirit, Cronos, and between them they created the Heart of Time. With the Heart of Time, that thing you call history began. I knew your father when each of you came to be born, and how much he loves you with all of his heart.”

“Is my dad safe?” David had to interrupt. He just had to ask.

“For now,” Angel said. “But you will have to help him. Since that one has come to infest this place with wickedness, you will have to help him and your mother and the little ones who have had this place as a sanctuary for thousands of years. They will be depending on you.”

“Us?” David wondered.

“But the door can move,” Beth pointed out.

“Can’t we just go and get them? Can’t you just take us to them?” Chris thought much the same thing.

“Christopher,” Angel scolded, and that felt like a terrible, frightening moment; but then he spoke with such calm grace the moment passed quickly. “You know the Most-High does not work that way. You must walk by faith, and never lose hope, and always love.” Angel stepped forward, or glided forward, and placed his hands on Beth’s and Chris’ heads. Beth wanted to take a step back, but she did not dare.

“One little one to dance on the clouds. One for the dark, deep underground. There is help, but you need the eyes to see. Be a light to pierce the darkness,” he said, and shifted his position to put his hands on David’s and James’ heads. “One for the light with your feet on the ground, and one to find the narrow path between. You need the ears to hear, and the good sense to find your way.” He stepped back and smiled more deeply. “And no, James, I have no wings.” He looked ready to laugh, and the children found it was something they longed to hear, but it did not quite come. Angel spoke to them all. “The gifts now resident in your heart will not fail. Some, you will discover. Some, others will set free. One for each of you will be given and enhanced by others if they are willing. Then, when you find the ones you seek, simply say, “Angel said, do not be afraid.” With that, Angel began to fade from sight, still smiling at each of them, personally, and all of them at the same time. No one said wait, or where are you going, they just returned the smile and no longer felt afraid. And then Angel vanished, and they were alone in the small room.

The light faded until it toned down to the intensity of a well-lit room. It glowed down from the ceiling, if indeed there was a ceiling above the glow. The children saw three stark empty walls, and a fourth wall which now held the familiar golden door. On one side of the room, four beds waited for the four of them. A table with eight chairs sat on the other side. But the wall opposite the door had nothing to cover it. It stood out, stark white, and bare. It stared back at them until an unseen door opened in the corner of that wall near the table, and a smallish head popped out.

“Is it gone?” the head asked.

The children, who could not really feel fear at that moment, were shocked all the same at this sudden intrusion of color against the pure white. In fact, the head looked a bit gray in color, and it sported two little horns and eye teeth in its lower jaw which honestly had to be called tusks.

“Tom and Jerry,” James said to himself. David caught the angel and devil suggestion, grinned and nodded.

“Professor Deathwalker, you’ll scare the tykes.” A full-grown woman’s voice got followed by a little fairy who fluttered out from behind the door. She looked about a foot tall and had butterfly-like wings which undulated like a stingray in water. “Welcome children.” The fairy bowed regally in mid-air, though she seemed a bit hard to see, exactly, since she hardly kept still even when she hovered, and she glowed a little as if powered by some internal light.

“Just making sure it was gone, and it is just Mister Deathwalker these days,” the head said. Mister Deathwalker stepped into the room. The children saw a creature about four feet tall, but it had hairy feet like one might imagine hobbit feet, not cloven hooves, and they saw no tail. He came dressed in a simple black jerkin, and leggings, and the belt looked like well-worn leather. The buckle looked as gold as the door, and he sported a ring on his finger which had to have the biggest, gaudiest cut of green glass in it, because surely no one had an emerald that big.

“Move out of the way.” Another voice boomed out from behind the door, and Mister Deathwalker jumped quickly to the side.

“Mrs. Copperpot.” Mister Deathwalker identified the newcomer with a tip of his hat which the children had thought was his hair. It turned out the imp or goblin or whatever it was, looked utterly hairless apart from the hair on his feet and knuckles.

Mrs. Copperpot appeared to be a more normal dwarf if a real dwarf can be called normal. She stood three-and-a-half feet tall, and had some stubble on her chin, though not what might be called a beard, and she came dressed in a simple green dress with a red and white apron over her front. The thing the children noticed, however, was the fact that she carried the most enormous tray of food, and they realized they were all starving hungry.

“Well, come on,” she said. “It will only get cold if you hesitate.” The children did not hesitate, at least not Chris and James. Beth kept one eye open, and David had always been a bit of a finicky eater, but it all tasted very good, whatever they tried.

Golden Door Chapter 5 Finding the Way

March 5, 2025January 12, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“My dad is connected, somehow, to women and men in the past?” Beth seemed to have a hard time grasping that idea, and less concerned with the sudden darkness.

“And future lives, too,” David said.

“That doesn’t sound right.” Chris got skeptical.

“What light?” James asked the practical question. They all looked around and saw no light to speak of.

“Anyway,” Beth spoke quickly. “Now that we are together, let’s stick together and try not to get separated this time.”

“But which way?” Chris asked for a change. “Maybe we should make a campfire and stay here until morning,” he suggested.

“I’ve heard that earthquakes usually have aftershocks,” Beth said.

“Oh thanks.” David did not want to hear that.

“Got any matches?” James asked. “Gonna rub two sticks together?”

Chris did not answer, but he realized that his had not been a very good suggestion.

“This way,” Beth said, and if she was not going to head toward the giants, bees, or banshees, she knew only one other direction on the compass. She started to walk. Since Alice called this an island, she wondered if they could find their way to a beach. She imagined sleeping at the edge of the forest where the trees touched the sand might not be so bad as long as the moon stayed up and the stars stayed bright. Then again, the thought crossed her mind to wonder what sort of monsters might be down by the water. She tried not to think too hard about that.

After about an hour of carefully picking their way through the woods as quietly as they could, and hearing very little signs of life around them, they came to a small open area and paused to look at the sky.

“Orion.” David pointed, and then he had to explain about the three stars in the belt.

“But we’re not on Earth,” Beth objected.

“I guess Lady Alice made this place as Earth-like as she could,” Chris suggested. James was going to suggest much the same thing, but as it was, he merely nodded in agreement, which no one noticed in the dark.

“Why don’t we stay here?” David suggested. “Like in the middle of the clearing where we can watch the trees.”

“Like we could hear and see anything before it came out on to the clearing and run the opposite way if necessary.” Chris agreed.

“No, no.” Beth already set her mind on sleeping on the beach. She started to walk again, because she could not think of an immediate reason not to agree with David and Chris.

“Hey!” James raised his voice and that gained everyone’s attention. He walked to the side of the others, more in the center of the clearing, and he stepped inside what turned out to be a rather large circle of plain stones. He shouted immediately after he passed the border of that circle. In his eyes, the whole area lit up like morning. He could even see the green grass and tree leaves and the blue in the sky, though the stars were also still present.

The others joined him, but only David echoed his brother. “Hey!”

“Is this the light?” James immediately wondered out loud. Chris and Beth looked at each other and shook their heads.

“I don’t think so,” Beth said.

“But we could sleep here,” David suggested, hopefully. He did prefer to sleep with the light on, after all.

“Mmm.” Beth nodded. She would not be against the idea, and James did not seem to mind the suggestion either.

“But what is that?” Chris pointed. Everyone saw a whole series of little lights close together, flying just inside the shadow edge of the trees. They flowed slowly up and down which made them appear like a school of fish out for a swim. “The moon sparkling off dragon armor?” Chris suggested. That was not what any of the others were thinking, but it felt a little unnerving because they all admitted it might be true.

“And there.” James pointed off in the direction from which the sparkling lights had come. A light, terrifically bright, appeared in that place. It looked like a narrow beam search light, but it stayed partially hidden behind many trees and it did not appear to be moving.

“And there.” Beth pointed in a direction just at the edge of the trees which meant that they were surrounded by a triangle of lights.

“Hey!” David protested. “How come I didn’t find one?”

“Let’s check it out,” Beth said. She referred to her own find. No one had an interest in checking out what Chris had called a dragon’s glittering neck, and the other light seemed very far away.

“Lady Alice must have meant one of these lights,” Chris said. And Beth’s light did seem the most inviting and earth-like. It had started out dim, but it looked to be slowly warming and growing stronger.

They all felt a bit of a shock when they stepped back into the night, but they had a purpose in going, so it did not shock them so badly. The light strengthened, but slowly. “Hey!” David yelled for the third time as he rushed ahead when he recognized something. He could see his own living room. It looked fuzzy, but grew clearer every moment, and David remembered turning on the light when the house got cast in the late afternoon shadows. “It’s home,” he shouted with undisguised glee.

The others jogged up, happy for a second. They had forgotten about the beasts, and suddenly one appeared in the glimmering circle of light that appeared to be slowly forming into an opening between the worlds. This time they all saw it. The creature, not a great cat and not an overgrown dog, looked more like part hyena and part bear with odd rectangle ears. It looked fast, mean, and it began to drool altogether too much from a mouth that sported the sharpest, longest looking teeth any of them had ever seen.

The children stood in shock for a moment while three other beasts came up behind the first. It looked like they were waiting for the portal to open so they could pass through and get their prey. No one had to say run. Only David, for a change, directed their course.

“To the other light!” he yelled, and they all followed. They crashed back into the woods even as they heard the snarls and howls of the pursuit begin.

“Ahhh!” Beth tripped, but she did not waste her breath cursing. James had a bit of trouble pushing through a bush. David started in front for once, but Chris caught up as they neared that other, blazing light. They heard the pursuit, but then they all saw the source of the light ahead. The golden door stood wide open, and the light, sunlight strong, streamed out from the inside. It seemed as bright and as pure white as a never-ending camera flash. Surely their eyes should have been burned, and Beth would not have been surprised if they all ended up blind. But Chris did not hesitate, and David ran right on his heels. James went across the portal a moment later, and then, like before, Beth dove and whirled around to see; except this time the door did not close.

Beth felt a presence beside her and made herself as small as she could. She saw the beasts and took a deep breath as they stopped at the edge of the light. They snarled, growled, and began to pace. Their eyes never wavered from the door and the children inside that brightness.

Then Beth saw something else. It looked for all the world like a knight in shining armor riding to her rescue. She thought of the castle on the hill and wondered about who might live there. The knight’s armor glistened in moonlight that looked more like sunlight. The valiant, glowing white horse, snorted as it charged through the trees. The lance, held tight beneath the knight’s arm, looked certain to pierce one of the beasts, if not two with one blow. Beth had to blink. The light around the knight began to grow brighter and brighter until Beth had to look away. It felt like Beth might be trying to look directly into the sun, itself.

“Begone.” The presence beside Beth spoke, and the light that shone off that glorious knight reached out and grabbed all four beasts at once. Suddenly, their angry, hungry sounds turned to baleful moans, and the creatures literally melted in the light until at last, four mere wisps of dark smoke rose up to be scattered away on the wind. When Beth looked up again, the knight had gone.

The presence moved back from the door and Beth turned slowly. She saw Chris, David, and James all on their knees, trembling, and she knew why. Somehow, in that light, she felt utterly naked, not unclothed, but in her soul. It felt like every dark corner of her mind and heart filled with that light, and she could not lie, not even to herself. Every wicked thought, every bare mistake, every intention, blessed or cruel stood wide open to examination. Even innocent nine-year-old James trembled in that presence, and David, who never imagined hurting a flea, had his eyes shut tight. At last, the words of the presence helped a little.

“Do not be afraid.”

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MONDAY

Do not be afraid seems a good motto, especially in a strange land full of monsters. Making friends is not a bad idea either. Until Next Time, Happy Reading