Science Fiction

Avalon 8.2 Trouble Big and Small, part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Alexis, Katie, and Lockhart got left alone, but Lincoln got shoved into the room.  Lincoln was not as intimidating.  Alexis immediately went to the man already in that room.  He looked like he had been beaten raw.  Her healing power might not work on diseases, but she could fix most injuries.  She laid her hands near the man, and they began to glow as she closed her eyes and concentrated.  Bruises and swelling went down, raw spots healed over.  Cuts pulled together and gashes stopped bleeding.  What is more, her work had an anesthetic quality to it.  The pain all but vanished wherever she touched.  As the healing glow worked down inside the man, several cracked and one broken finger bone knitted together, the lungs cleared so he could breathe, and the muscles that were strained all relaxed.  Very soon, the man began to talk.

“God’s blessing on you and your kindness.  Why would the cruel monster, Bozarius allow you to practice your healing ministry on me?  Does he want to abuse me again?  I will not tell him the secret.  I don’t care how badly he tortures me.”

“I don’t think he knows my wife is a healer,” Lincoln said.

“And a most lovely wife you have,” the man sounded utterly grateful.

Lockhart lifted his arm to talk through the wristwatch communicator that he, and honestly everyone, regularly forgot they had.  “Hope they are in range,” he said.

“Wait.”  Katie caused him to pause.  She turned to the man.  “I’m Katie, and my husband is Robert.  Alexis is your healer, and Benjamin is her husband.  Do you have a name?”

“Kallinikos, from Heliopolis.” he said.

“Heliopolis?” Lockhart asked, still paused with his wrist beside his mouth.

“In Syria,” Kallinikos answered.

“But wait,” Katie looked puzzled.  “Why do I know your name?”

“I am a simple artificer,” the man said.  “I can think of no reason you should know me.  Perhaps another Kallinikos?”   He smiled for Lockhart.  “Your wife is pretty, too.  I am sure she has other skills that you prize.  I had a wife, and a daughter, once.  They were slaughtered by the Arabs, and no one in our city resisted them.  We peacefully surrendered, and they came in and slaughtered so many.  I have seen many such places since.  Burning, looting, and killing.”

“It is what armies do,” Lockhart suggested.

Kallinikos sighed before he growled.  “But I, too, can burn.  I know the secret to set the sea itself on fire…”

“Greek Fire,” Katie’s face lit up.  “I knew that I knew your name.”

“What is Greek Fire?” Kallinikos asked.

“That is what it gets called—what it will be called.  But you should be giving your formula to the emperor, what’s his name…”

“Constantine IV,” Lincoln said, without having to look it up.

“My intention,” Kallinikos said.  “I intend to see the Arabs burned and killed, but the monster Bozarius found me.  He wants the formula, but I will not tell him. Strange, though.  I do not know how he knew I had a formula.”

“Why doesn’t he already know the formula?” Lockhart asked Katie, their expert in all things ancient and medieval in the technology department.

“Because it is kept a secret for centuries,” Katie answered.  “Most think it is tar or bitumen based, but the actual formula and what made it so effective is lost to history.”

“The Arabs should not have this.  I escaped the Arabs to give it to the Greek emperor.  I am sure Bozarius plans to give it or maybe sell it to the Arabs, but I will not let them have it.”

“We need to set him free.” Katie insisted.  “We need to see he gets safely to Constantinople.”

“So people can be burned or killed?” Alexis said, though she did not really protest.

Lincoln answered his wife.  “So history stays on track and isn’t changed.”

Lockhart agreed and got on his communicator, thinking hard about what he would say.  “Decker.  Elder Stow.  Are you there?  Can you hear me?  Over.”

“I hear you,” Elder Stow responded.  “We are waiting your return to the inn.  Tony, Nanette, Decker, and Boston have taken the horses and wagon to find a ship.  We had three men try to take our things from the wagon and we all agreed it was not safe to stay here.  Sukki and I are here at the inn…”

“Lockhart,” Decker interrupted.  “We have a ship.  The tide is in.  The wagon is on board, and we are ready to load the horses, but your horse is being a pain…”

“Breaker,” Lockhart said.

“Come in,” Decker Responded.

“The priest led us into a trap.  Our old friend, Lord Bobo is here, and we are his prisoners, again.  You know the man, the one Boston called Lord Bozo.”

“The Masters,” Elder Stow interrupted.

“Exactly.  He is building cannon for the expected Arab attack on Constantinople.  He is also working with a Doctor Theopholus, another agent of the Masters, who is tailoring the plague to set it off in Constantinople so he can reduce the population and the military in the city by half.”

“Germ warfare,” Decker interrupted.

“We also have a guy named Kallinikos here that Katie says is important to history.  Apparently, he invented something called Greek Fire.  Katie says it is imperative we get him safely to the Byzantines.  Do you copy all that?”

“Roger,” Decker said.

“Okay.  Here is what I am thinking.  You finish loading the ship.  Threaten the captain or do whatever you have to do to make sure he does not sail off without you.  Elder Stow.  Can you get our location on your scanner?”

“Yes, I’m just getting it up just as you said prisoners.” Elder Stow said.

“Okay. Then maybe Elder Stow can share some of his discs and you can come over here, invisible.  There are cannon to blow up and men with muskets to put out of commission.  But listen to this carefully.  If Bozarius—Lord Bobo is not here, you are not to go looking for him. We are not here to find the gun factory and put it out of commission.  For all we know, the factory could be in the city where we came into this time zone, ten days ago.  The Kairos has told us over and over it is his job.  We do what we can, and I am sure he is grateful, but our job is to get back to the twenty-first century, or twentieth century as the case may be.  Got it?”

“Roger that.”

“Okay.  We are scheduled to go with the doctor to Constantinople.  We might not be here when you get here.  But for one, we need to stick with the doctor to stop him. We need to make sure he does not release his disease in the city.  And two, save Kallinikos and bring him safely to Constantinople.”

“Three, be careful,” Katie added

“If we are not here when you arrive, we will meet you in Constantinople on the docks.  Over and out.”  Lockhart stared at his wrist before he put his arm down.  “There.  Did I leave anything out?”

Alexis looked up.  “Only that Kallinikos has been tortured.”

“Servants of the Masters,” Lincoln said.  “That should be a given.”

“You didn’t mention our gun belts,” Katie said.  “They were still on the table when we came in here.”

“Oh, shoot,” Lockhart said, and he called Decker again.

###

It took less than an hour for the Doctor to arrive and escort his prisoners to the ship.  The straight was only a couple miles wide, and they would only travel a few miles to the port at Constantinople, but it was way too far to swim, and like so many such trips, it took longer to get out of the port and dock on the other side than the trip across the Bosporus actually took.

This ship was a single masted merchant ship with a capacity of maybe one hundred tons.  They carried no cargo for this trip if the travelers were not considered cargo.  The ship was used to transport prisoners or unruly slaves.  It had a dozen wall mounted shackles down in the hold beneath the deck.   Katie got a good look at the nails in the ship’s wall before they locked her in.  The shackles had enough chain to let the prisoners sit, but not enough to let them lie down.

As soon as the prisoners were secured, their guards went up on deck to get some fresh air and to relax.  Katie began to pull on the chain held in by the rustiest nail.  Lockhart pulled on his own chains and one of the nails had some wiggle in it.  He looked at Alexis and Lincoln.  Lincoln shook his head.

“I’ll wait until one of you to gets the keys.”  Lincoln pointed to the wood beam where the keys hung on a nail.

“We can try yours together,” Katie suggested, and she grabbed Lockhart’s chain with him and said one—two—three.  They pulled the nail out of the wall easier than they imagined.  Lockhart immediately reached for the keys, but he could not quite reach them.

“Wait,” Katie said.  “Come on.  We can try the other side.”  Lockhart agreed.  He had to stand beside Katie so she could help, but it felt like an odd angle.  Katie had to stretch as far as her chains allowed so they could yank on the chain together.  This second nail did not come out nearly as easily as the first, but when it did, they heard a loud Crack! and a piece of the planking broke.  Everyone got still to listen in case the sound attracted someone’s attention.

Avalon 8.2 Trouble Big and Small, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The doctor stopped his work and put on a pair of thin leather gloves.  He grabbed something like a magnifying glass and stepped over to examine the travelers.  He paused to look up at Lockhart, who stood quite tall.  Lockhart wanted to make a face, maybe a Decker face to intimidate the little man, but it was hard to get his face to cooperate when he had a gun poking him in the back.

“Yes, these will do quite nicely,” the doctor squeaked in a timid little voice.

“Aren’t you going to listen to our heart and lungs,” Alexis objected.  “Don’t you want to check our blood pressure, or maybe take a blood sample for analysis?”

The doctor stopped and stared at Alexis for a minute.  He seemed to need the words, and finally he came out with, “No.  None of that is necessary.  You are relatively healthy specimens who show no signs of infection.  That will do.”

“Are you ready to go?” Bozarius asked.

“The tide is not up yet,” one of the men said.

“About an hour,” the doctor said at about the same time.

Bozarius nodded.  “Stygria, you and your men keep the prisoners locked up until the doctor is ready to leave.  You need to escort the prisoners to the ship and see them fastened in.  Then you have your orders.”

“Sir.” the man, Stygria came to attention and acknowledged his leader like a military officer, only lacking the salute.

Bozarius thought to say something more to the travelers before he left.  “Doctor Theopholus has kept the plague alive since the death of the Prophet, and in a controlled way that has kept it away from the armies of Arabia.  That has been for more than thirty years.  How old are you now?”

“Sixty,” the doctor said.  He went back to work but half-listened.

“There is one more job before he can rest.  He will cut the population, including the military strength of Constantinople in half.  This plague outbreak will be the pneumonic kind?”  The doctor nodded but said nothing.  “He will infect you when you reach the city.  You will infect everyone else.  I believe that is what you call killing two fish with one stone.

“Birds,” Lockhart mumbled.

“But what happens when the Arabs get here?  Won’t they risk catching the infection?” Lincoln asked.

“It will burn out by the time the Arabs get here.  That is two years hence.  I have many more cannon to make in those two years.  Then we blast the vaunted walls to gravel and that will be that.”

The travelers got brought to the room where they heard the moaning and groaning, and they got locked in.

###

Elder Stow stopped working on his screen device long enough to eat.  He actually joined in the conversation around the table for a while.  People were talking about how similar they all were, black and white, men and women, from 1905 or 2010, and even between Homo Sapiens and Homo Neanderthals.

“Much of it, like touch, parental concern, and children exploring their environment is plain animal stuff, at least for mammals,” Elder Stow said.  “Though I have witnessed birds and others who show a remarkable concern to keep contact and stay close to their young.”

“Crocodile mothers,” Decker nodded.

“Most of the rest, as far as I can tell, and I never really thought of it before, seems to be based on social, cultural, and more than we realize on technological conditions.  Without automobiles, and I might say, trains and planes, people connect with people, mostly neighbors and in the community.  The limiting factor appears to be the ability to travel.  With cars, trains, and planes, people can travel, even to distant and interesting places, and I mean ordinary people, not just the rich.  Real friendships can develop between people who may live thousands of miles away when you have a telephone.”

“Then,” Boston interrupted.  “With the invention of the internet, people do not have to go anywhere.  You can travel the world from your own living room, and no one has to talk to anyone, if you don’t want to.  We are all isolated all over again, and this time, people don’t even know their neighbors.”

“Yes,” Elder Stow frowned.  “Not all advances are especially good ones.  And believe me, there are some advances on the human horizon that make bad matters worse.  You don’t want to know, but I will say, I have learned much in our journey, and one is that relationships, or what I imagine as real contact between real people, is something we should never lose sight of.  Hugs matter.  All hugs matter.”

Sukki smiled and gave Elder Stow a hug.

“Travel broadens the mind,” Decker said, and with a little grin for Nanette added, “Or so I have heard.”

Nanette returned his grin and patted his hand.  “In that case, 5000 years has not quite done the job.  You have a little more traveling to do.”

Decker picked up Nanette’s hand and kissed it right in front of everyone.  Boston dropped her jaw.  Sukki looked away and turned as red as Boston’s hair.  Elder Stow smiled and said, simply, “Family.”

Tony looked at his food and thought to change the subject.  “Once the world was full of Greeks and barbarians, but then the Romans came, and the world got bigger.  Some Greeks realized that some of the people outside the borders of Greece were maybe not so barbaric.”

“The Persians first.  Then the Romans.”  Nanette said.  “Alexander the Great really expanded the Greek world.”

“Then the medieval world went backwards for a bit.  Medieval people stayed pretty much in their villages and probably had no idea what the rest of the world was like.  Even the church focused on spiritual horizons, not worldly ones.”

“Or the mosque. Or the synagogue.” Nanette added, basically agreeing.

“But then the age of discovery arrived, and it was no longer me and my few and everyone else are strangers.  Now, the whole world seemed strange, but people got into exploring, learning, and getting to know everything that was new and different.”

“And where did that get us?” Boston asked.

“To world war or maybe world peace,” Decker said.  “If the human race can ever learn to live in peace.”

Elder Stow’s screen device alarm went off.  He turned it off quickly and checked his scanner.  “Someone has gotten into the wagon,” he said.

Decker jumped up and grabbed his rifle.  Elder Stow and Tony, with Katie’s rifle, followed.  The girls came behind because Sukki stopped to hug Nanette and encourage her with Decker, and Boston tried really hard not to tease the girl.

In the stable, they found three men that tried to rummage through their things.  They appeared to be trapped and unable to escape.  Elder Stow explained.  “I tuned a disc to the screen and gave it a twenty-foot radius around the wagon.  I set it carefully so it would not slice through any flesh and blood, or animals.  It was sort of a test, but I think it worked.  Walking around the wagon would not set it off, but as soon as the insides of the wagon or anything in it got touched, it automatically deployed.”

“Can I shoot them?” Decker asked as they stepped up to face the three men.

“No,” Elder Stow said.  “The screen is solid on both sides.  They can’t get out, and we can’t get in until I turn it off.”

“Hey,” one of the men shouted.  “We’re trapped in here and can’t get out.  Help.”

“What did you steal?” Decker asked as Tony and the girls caught up.

“Nothing.  I didn’t take nothing,” the man said.

“We were just looking,” Another man said.  “He was just showing us your stuff.  Honest.”

“I want you to lie face down, arms stretched out over your head while we take a look,” Decker said.  They did not move.  They looked at each other, uncertain.  “Now,” Decker shouted.  “Don’t make me kill you for just looking.”  All three men got slowly to the ground.  “Okay,” he said softly to Elder Stow and with more volume added, “Tony, do an inventory.”

“Hey, Decker,” Boston shouted from where she wandered into the back to check on the horses.  “Somebody let Ghost out of his stall.”

Decker turned on the men at his feet.  “Just looking?”

One man jumped up to run.  Decker kindly shot him in the leg.  He fell and grabbed his leg where the blood started to come out.  He shouted, stunned by the sound of the gun and in shock at seeing a bleeding hole in his leg.  It would start to hurt soon enough.

“Any other bright ideas?” Decker asked.

One man did not move at all.  The other shook his head, said, “No, no.” and tried not to cry from fear.

“A horseshoe and some nails,” Tony said.

“Do I have to search you?” Decker asked.

The man who said nothing that whole time pulled the horseshoe and small bag of nails from his shirt and placed it on the ground.  “Can we go?”

“Let’s see,” Decker said.  He shouted to the back.  “Horses okay?”

“A-okay,” Boston said.

“We need them saddled to take them to the dock,” Decker decided.

“All okay, blankets and everything.” Nanette shouted.  “Being saddled.”

“Your friend probably needs to see a physician,” Elder Stow said, and handed a few copper coins to the scared one thinking if he was scared enough, he might do the right thing.

“Get your stupid friend and go,” Decker said.  “And don’t come back.  I would rather not have to kill you.  It would spoil my supper.”

The two men helped their friend while he cried and tried to walk on one leg.

“Was that really necessary?” Elder Stow asked.

“The Kairos thinks so,” Decker answered.  “Bad as guns are, they cannot be easily duplicated.  Horseshoes, however, could change the course of history.”

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

MONDAY

The travelers need to escape to save the man who invents Greek Fire.  They need to get that invention to Constantinople and disrupt the plans of the Masters, in whatever way they can.  Until then, Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 8.2 Trouble Big and Small, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

It took six days to reach Nicomedia, having once again avoided Nicaea.  Soldiers met them some distance from Nicomedia to turn them away.

“There’s an outbreak of plague in the city.  Best not to go there.”

“Gee,” Boston complained.  “I wanted to see if that first mate, Pinto Beans was still hiding around the dock, hoping the authorities did not catch him.”

Decker snickered.  He remembered giving the man that name.

“A criminal?” the soldier looked up.

“Never mind,” Alexis told him.

“Last time we traveled by sea and skipped Chalcedon.  This time, Katie wants to see the city,” Lockhart said, and Katie nodded.

“No plague in Chalcedon, is there?” Nanette asked.

“Not that I know of,” the soldier answered.

It took a day to get to the coast road and most of another day to reach Chalcedon.  They stopped short of the city and stayed at a country inn.  The food was good, and even if the beds were not bug free, at least they were soft.

The following day, they spent finding a place to stay near the docks.  It was a busy port and they found plenty of places by the sea, but they filled up quickly.  They settled into one place, not the best, about three o’clock and had an early supper, or a very late lunch around four.  They found plenty of sailors in the room already washing away their sorrows with alcohol, but they managed a table for four and another one that sat eight where six of them could relax.  Lockhart, Katie, Lincoln, and Alexis took the table for four.

“This time zone has been very quiet, considering all that has been going on around us,” Alexis started the conversation.

Lincoln frowned.  “Now, don’t jinx us.”

Katie and Lockhart smiled, and Lockhart responded.  “We paid for the rooms, such as they are, and the horses are settled in, but only if we can’t find a ship to leave this evening.”

“We might find a ship where we can spend the night and leave on the morning tide,” Katie said.

“That is the idea.”  Lockhart nodded as their food arrived.  The innkeeper paid special attention.  These people had money.

“You know,” Lincoln said.  “I’m getting used to sleeping with the bugs.”

Alexis smiled.  “Like the fleas from the rats that spread the plague.”

Lincoln looked temporarily horrified.  “Thanks a lot.  Now I won’t sleep a wink.”

“Keep it down,” Lockhart said.  “You’ll scare Nanette.” He pointed at the other table.

Katie grinned for Alexis.

Nanette sat at the other table between Decker and Tony, across from Elder Stow, Sukki, and Boston.  Katie pointed once or twice as Decker touched Nanette’s hand, and once her shoulder.  Decker seemed happy, which was a rare thing.  Nanette seemed shy, which was the opposite of her evil twin, the one made, and in the end, unmade by Athena.  Alexis grinned a sly grin, and Lockhart had to ask.

“What are you two plotting?”

“Nothing,” Alexis said and broadened her grin.

“I’ll tell you later,” Katie said, and rubbed Lockhart’s shoulder.

“Probably Cupid,” Lincoln said in a very flat voice.  “It is a game that wives play to get other men trapped in the bonds of holy matrimony.”

Alexis hit him in the shoulder rather hard.

“Ouch,”

“You sound like Decker,” Lockhart quipped, but then looked at the other table and saw Decker and Nanette talking and touching hands.  He looked at Katie, his wife, but she just smiled.  He raised his brows, shrugged a little, and went back to his supper.

A priest came into the inn.  No one paid attention because there were priests and monks all over the city, but this one pushed through the drunken sailors and stepped up to the table where Katie sat and said, “Excuse me.  You are the traveler from Avalon with the yellow hair?”

Lockhart stopped eating and stared at the man, but Katie’s elect intuition did not sense any danger from this man.  She smiled and said, “How can I help you?”

“The doctor has asked to see you.  He needs your help.  That is all I know, but I can take you to him.”

“Doctor?” Alexis looked up.  The priest stood at her back.  Lincoln put down his spoon and looked as well.  “Maybe I can help,” Alexis said.

“Please.  The Kairos told him you know things and may help.”

Lockhart got suspicious, even if Katie did not.  “I thought you said that was all you knew.”

The priest smiled a friendly smile, or a nervous one, and nodded.  “Indeed.  But that was all I was told.  If you are having your supper, I can convey a message.”

“Doctor Mishka?” Lincoln spoke to the other table.  He saw Boston who was eavesdropping already had her amulet out.

“No,” Boston said.  “The Kairos is still on the other side of the water in Constantinople.”

“Is it an emergency?” Katie asked.

“I don’t do diseases, except nursing,” Alexis said, thinking about the plague.

The priest did not know.

Katie stood, so Lockhart stood.  “Is the doctor far from here?” she asked, and the priest shook his head.

“Please.”

“It might not hurt to take a look,” Alexis said and stood, so Lincoln stood.  Katie felt Lockhart’s suspicion.  Lockhart left his shotgun in the wagon, in the stables with the horses, but Katie started carrying her military rifle with her, like Decker.  She dropped her rifle with Tony. She wore her belt with her handgun and knife.  They all started wearing their belts and their handheld weapons since the Khyber Pass, except Alexis who still had an elf-slip where she kept her wand and otherwise carried her small first aid pack like a purse.  The pack held their vitamins and whatever first aid supplies they had plus a few elf bread crackers and a few coins in case Alexis got separated from the group.

Decker spoke before Lockhart could say anything.  “Tony and I can secure a ship to take us to the capitol, and we can get the horses and wagon loaded.”

“This port probably has regular ferries that cross over to the capitol,” Tony said.

“Getting a ship should not be hard if you spend a little money,” Nanette added.

“I may be able to help,” Elder Stow said, and he meant help with whatever this doctor wanted them for.  They all understood what he meant.  He had plenty of gadgets, as Lockhart called them.  He could be a remarkable help with injuries at times, and identifying various diseases, but Lockhart waved for him to stay seated.

“We don’t know what the trouble is.  You stay and work on your screen device.”

“Should we come?” Sukki asked, but Boston held her hand down.

“No,” Boston said emphatically.  “The adults are going off to do grown up things and leaving us children to have fun and tear the house up while they are gone.”  Boston grinned.  Nanette laughed.

Once outside, the priest led the couples toward the water and the docks.  They came to a warehouse, and the priest invited them in first.  Katie jumped as her elect radar went off, but she reacted too late.  A dozen men stepped from the shadows.  The travelers might have been able to fend off swords and spears, but there was nothing they could do about the rifles and primitive handguns the men carried.

“Damn.”  Lincoln said, as the men made them hand over their gun belts.  “Double damn,” he added when they saw the man who came out from the back of the big room.  “Lord Bozo.”

“Bobo,” the man said.  “And in this life, it is Bozarius.  But this time, you won’t catch me unaware.  The invisible ones are still at the inn with no idea anything is amiss.  By the time they figure that out, you will be on your way.”  He handed a small bag to the priest who bowed and smiled.

“Thirty pieces of silver?” Alexis asked.  The priest looked temporarily horrified before he pursed his lips, lowered his shaking head, and scurried away like a rat.

“So, what is it this time?” Katie asked, boldly.  Bozarius paused at the question but appeared to have no qualms about answering.  Like before, he did not mind talking when he felt he had the upper hand.  He led them toward the back of the warehouse where they saw several large cannons.  They looked of a size to break down city walls.

“I am still interested in your guns that never seem to run out of bullets.  Too bad you did not come with one of those rifles.  I would like another look at that.  But, you see, this time I am not interested in small arms.  I have made some for my crew, but I am focused on the big guns.  I have smaller, ship sized cannon to mount on the Muslim ships.”

Katie drew in her breath.  “You plan to beat down the Theodosian walls.  You want the Arabs to take Constantinople.”

Bozarius smiled.  “You found me out.  Yes, the Masters have decided that an Islamic Europe will be more conducive to the future.  But come, let me introduce you to Doctor Theopholus.  He will be taking you to Constantinople where I believe he will have a surprise for you.”

They found three doors at the back of the warehouse and figured the one on the end probably led to the outside, maybe a back alley.  They heard terrible moaning behind one door.  They went through the middle one and found a chemistry lab set up, not in the most sterile condition, and an old man in a kind of makeshift lab coat.  “Doctor,” Bozarius said.  “I have your subjects here.”

Avalon 8.2 Trouble Big and Small, part 1 of 6

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After 640 A.D. Byzantium

Kairos 100: Nicholas, not Saint Nicholas

Recording …

“Ankyra,” Lincoln guessed the name of the city that sat behind them on the road.  He had the database out and looked at the map it provided.  He also read some and reported to Alexis and whoever else might be listening.  “The Arabs are definitely knocking on the door, but we are well within Byzantine territory.”  He answered Alexis’ question, while Tony helped Lockhart drive Ghost and the wagon to the road.

“I’m surprised the Kairos is not on the leading edge of the Muslim advance,” Nanette said.  “He, or she is usually where all the action is.  Isn’t that so?”

“He, in this time zone,” Lincoln set that straight and looked at the database.  “Nicholas.  A toymaker and carpenter in Constantinople.”

“All right,” Boston raised her voice and let out an excited elf-worthy grin.  “I wonder if Nicholas has elves helping to make the toys.”

Alexis shook her head and spoke sensibly to Lincoln, Sukki, and Nanette.  “I imagine there are some things the Kairos needs to stay away from.  Maybe most things he has to let work out on their own.  He might not even dare get involved in certain things.  I believe he only gets in the middle of the mess when something threatens to throw history off track.”

Boston had not finished interrupting.  “I wonder if he lets the cobbler borrow his elves.” She grinned again.

“Good thing the time gate sat in an open field and did not let us out in the city.” Alexis changed the subject.  She looked back toward the city that fell away behind them as they started up the road. Boston and Sukki raced around the bend in the road to get a look ahead.  Decker moved off the highway to climb a small hill with the same thought in mind, to see where they were headed.  Alexis and Lincoln took the front, followed by Nanette and Tony.  Lockhart and Katie took a turn driving the wagon, since the Roman road was well kept.

“Probably good all the way to Constantinople,” Lincoln suggested.

“You take the afternoon,” Lockhart responded.  “Give Tony a rest.”

Elder Stow sat in the back of the wagon, working on his screen device and shaking his head.  That seemed about all he did for the last ten days.  “I have it set to the way it was made.  It can put a solid screen up around a certain area, like the camp, such as a ship’s officer might put around his crew.  But all the special programing I worked on over the last couple of years has collapsed.  I think you use the word crashed.  No more screen walls, much less one-sided walls where we can shoot out while they cannot shoot in.  I can still tune it to let in oxygen and keep out other, noxious gasses.  That is built in, but other than that…”  He never really finished that sentence.  He mumbled about starting from scratch and went back to work on the device.

Lockhart turned to Katie who sat beside him.  “So, tell me about the Arabs knocking on the door.”

Katie had a thought.  “Interesting, us being on the other side of the world when Muhammad was alive and working.  I think the Kairos, or someone worked that out on purpose.”

“The Kairos was also on the other side of the world,” Lockhart said.

Katie nodded.  “Muhammad died in 632, and they argued about who would take over.  He had pretty much united the Arabian Peninsula under his monotheism.  The Arabs were polytheists, but they had serious influence from the Jews and Nestorian Christians who made up significant minority populations.”

“Nestorian Christians?”

“They believed Jesus was not God made man.  They taught that Jesus was just a man, though God-inspired.”

“Ah,” Lockhart seemed to understand.  “Maybe where Muhammad got the idea.”

Katie shrugged.  “Anyway, there were four Caliphs, you know, rulers of the sect.  They were kind of both religious and secular rulers at the same time.  Not all the faithful agreed on who should rule, so there was a split in the faith right from the beginning.  But they made a big dent in the Byzantine Empire and almost completely killed the Sassanid Empire.  My personal opinion was they put off a civil war in the faith by focusing their armies on outside enemies.”

“Distraction.  But what happened to the Byzantines and Sassanids?”

“Well, they sort of fought each other to exhaustion.  Neither side had any strength left when the Arabs came.  The Byzantines lost Syria, the Levant and Egypt very quickly.  The Arabs fought some battles, but the Byzantines did not have any armies left to speak of, and the people were tired of the constant wars and heavy taxes to support the wars.  Some scholars have suggested the people practically gave themselves to the Arabs to get out from under the Byzantine yoke.  They did not all instantly convert to Islam.  That took generations.  Even in our day there are Christians, and even Zoroastrians in those lands.  But those areas fell fairly quickly.  The Byzantine leadership stayed together back home, so they held on to their core territory of basically Turkey and Thrace with Greece and a bit of Bulgaria, but the rest vanished in a blink.”

“What about the Sassanids?”

“They were in even worse shape.  They lost the last war against the Byzantines and had to give back all the territory they had taken.  Then they had something like their own civil war.  For all practical purposes, they broke up into a bunch of feudal kingdoms.  The last Sassanid ruler was a boy not in any condition to unite the people.  Again, the Arabs fought a few battles, but they honestly faced little resistance.  They took the Sassanid capitol, the Sassanid treasury, and technically took over the Sassanid empire.  They only had to snuff out the occasional, local rebellion in cities and such here and there.”

“Sounds like the Arabs timed things pretty well,” Lockhart concluded.

“Timing is everything,” Katie agreed.

Up front, Lincoln and Tony filled in Nanette and Alexis with much of the same information.

“Muhammad died in 632.  Nicholas was born in Constantinople in 640,” Lincoln said.  He did not like to read and ride at the same time, but he remembered that much.

“Eventually,” Tony said. “The Arabs got into their own civil war of sorts.  But they worked it out when the son of the fourth Caliph resigned in favor of a guy named Mu’awiyah.  That was about 661, about when the Kairos turned twenty-one.  Mu’awiyah started the Umayyad dynasty and ruled until about 680.”  He looked at Lincoln.

“I don’t remember the name,” Lincoln said.  “But the Kairos is reborn next in 697.  I remember the date.”

Tony nodded.  “Okay.  The Umayyads rule until 750, if I remember.  Let’s see.  The Sassanids fall about 651.”

“When the Kairos turned eleven.  Hardly old enough to do much about it.”

Tony nodded again.  “Caliph number three I can’t really remember his name.  I don’t think he did much except have unrest.  Ali became Caliph about five years later, when the third Caliph got assassinated.  That started the civil war.  So, unless the Kairos is a baby, we are probably riding through the days of number three or Ali or Mu’awiyah, or maybe one of the later Umayyads, if the Kairos is an old man.”

“All fine and well,” Nanette said.  “But if we are riding deeper into Byzantine territory, why does all that even matter?”

Lincoln and Tony looked at each other and shrugged, until Tony had a suggestion.  “Around 672, the Arabs under Mu’awiyah’s son Yazid, I think, take Chalcedon and the coast, where we are headed.  They put Constantinople under siege for five years, roughly from 674 to 678.  We could ride right into that.”

No one said anything more until Alexis asked the pertinent question.  “So, who is ruling in Byzantium right now?”

“Yes,” Tony had to think, and Lincoln could not look it up right away.  “Either Constans II, or probably Constantine IV.  I remember Constantine IV was the one who fought off the Muslim siege.  If the Kairos is old, maybe Justinian…the second, I believe.”

“You believe?”

“There was an earlier Justinian, the one associated with the plague.”

“Plague?” Nanette nearly shouted.

Tony nodded but tried to reassure her.  “That was a hundred, maybe a hundred and twenty years ago.  There are reoccurrences up until the eighth century, but nothing to worry about, I hope.”

“Plague?”  Nanette said in a quieter voice.

“Bubonic,” Alexis said.  “I read about it in nursing school.  Elves don’t really get sick.  It was fascinating reading.”  She smiled for Nanette before her face turned sour.  “Of course, it was not so much fun being sick, even if all I ever got was colds and the flu a couple of times.”

Decker appeared on their flank.  Boston and Sukki came riding back from the front, and Boston shouted first.

“Soldiers on the road.”

They got Lockhart to pull the wagon to the side of the road, and the others waited.  It did not take long before the soldiers appeared.  The three in front rode.  The hundred or so behind marched four abreast.

The horsemen came up to the side of the road to talk with the travelers while the soldiers marched on.  “Where are you headed?” The Centurion asked.  People looked at Lincoln, expecting him to open his big mouth, but he actually looked at Lockhart for once.

“Constantinople,” Lockhart said.  “We are meeting a tradesman named Nicholas.  You probably don’t know him.”

“He is a carpenter and a toy maker,” Lincoln did say that much being unable to keep his mouth closed after all.

The centurion smiled.  “Actually, I know Nicholas very well.  He is also the most brilliant politician in the empire.”

“Really?” Alexis looked surprised.

“He usually stays out of politics, if he can help it,” Katie said.

The centurion’s smile broadened.  “I see you do know him, some.  And yes, he stays out of politics which is why in my book he is the most brilliant politician in Constantinople.”

“Where are you headed?” Lockhart asked to change the subject.  He gave it his friendliest smile.

“Caesarea, near where the Arabs are.  We are charged to keep them out of our territory, but I hope they do try us. They need a good thrashing.”

“Good luck,” Lincoln said.

The Centurion nodded.  “And to you.  Tell Nicholas Centurion Rudolph says hello, and my nose is not presently red.”  He waved his men to move on.  “At least we get to escape from that one will or two wills stupidity.  Sergeant.”  They road off to retake their men.

“Okay,” Lockhart said with a look at Katie.  “Now you have more explaining to do.”

“Tony?”  Nanette looked at him while they got the wagon back on the road and started moving again, and Boston rode off ahead of the crowd, singing about Dasher, Dancer, and the rest.

Avalon 8.1 Rain and Fire, part 6 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“The city finally got abandoned when some dry years killed the crops and the constant wars made continuing impossible.  Some got carted off by enemy armies to populate other cities.  Gluga and I found a few people here.  More have come.  Mostly artists and workers tired of all the fighting and killing.  We have tried to keep the settlement small, so the armies won’t bother us. We have a small group of Shemsu here.  Imagine, after all these centuries, some Shemsu have remained apart and not entirely blended into the larger population.  We hide them, mostly.  You know, they are in big demand to build and maintain things in the cities.”

“I can imagine,” Katie said as they stood and watched the people bring a whole deer to the open porch in front of a very large building.  The men bowed and backed away, quickly. Gluga stuck her head out and grabbed the deer.  They saw the light of the flames as Gluga ate.

“The building has no roof on it, so Gluga does not feel confined,” Yamaya explained what she already explained.  “She can come and go as she pleases.  I think it was a funeral building.  There are dead bones, broken shields and weapons, and lots of shards of old pottery.  There are even some gold, silver, and jade things there.  I would think it would be very uncomfortable to sleep in, but Gluga loves it.  She has marked it all as her nest.”

“And woe to anyone who imagines stealing something from the nest,” Lockhart said.

“No one is that stupid,” Yamaya said.

After three days of rest, the travelers with Yamaya and Gluga headed off toward the northern lowlands.  Boston complained, but Alexis explained to her that Yamaya would bring them to the place where the time gate showed.  It was for their own safety.

“But the gate will just move further away, the closer Yamaya gets,”

“Yes, but then Yamaya and Gluga will fly back to Mirador.  It should take a couple of days, and the gate will come back to the place it is now.”

“Oh,” Boston understood.  “That should work.”

On the road, Yamaya said little outside of lovely, pleasant conversation.  She admitted early on that she was honestly not very smart in this life.  “I don’t know.  I think all the brains got saved for other lifetimes.  I got no education.  Gluga probably has as much brains as I do.  Maybe that is why we get along so well.”

“Yes,” Katie said.  “Gluga seems to have a very big vocabulary.”

Yamaya paused and looked serious for a minute, a look which did not fit on her face at all.  “Gluga is still an animal, not a person, I think.  After being in a cage for five hundred years and hearing all the talk around her, she learned an amazing number of words.  She has a much bigger vocabulary than a dog or a chimp.  She understands complete sentences and can even respond in sentences when her tongue and lips cooperate.  But my lifetimes say she is still an animal, and not a person.  I don’t get how that works.  Anyway, she adopted me.  Much better than a watchdog.  She is the mother, and I am the baby.  I don’t mind.”

Later in the evening, Boston, who in the end bonded a bit with the dragon, at least more than any of the others, went to talk to the beast.  She scratched a little behind the dragon’s ears and then leaned on the snout.

“So, you adopted Yamaya,” Boston said.  She had to wait for the answer.

“Yamaya is baby.  I protect baby.”

Boston nodded but had a more serious question.  “You love her?”

“Yes,” the dragon responded rather quickly.  “Saved me.  Fly again.  Love.”

Boston nodded.  “I love her too,” she admitted.

“I know,” the dragon said, snorted, and appeared to smile, just a little.

Boston returned the smile and in a moment of madness leaned over and kissed the dragon’s nose.  The dragon rumbled a minute, which someone might have thought of as the dragon’s way of preparing to let out some fire, but Boston understood it was something more like the purr of a cat.

On another occasion, Tony asked how Yamaya came to be in Tikal and slated to be sacrificed.  Nanette shook her head, as if to say that might not be a good subject to bring up, but Yamaya did not mind, and Tony explained.  “Nanette and I are both students of history, though mostly Greek and Roman history.  What is more, we are from 1905, when not much was known about the Mayan world.  Katie, from 2010 knows more than I know.  Professor Fleming never said much if anything about the Maya.  I am curious.”

“I don’t mind,” Yamaya said and smiled for Tony.  She sat for a long time and people stayed patient and quiet.  Finally, she spoke.

“My father was a great man.  Lincoln said our city was…”  She could not remember.

“Palenque,” Lincoln prompted.

Yamaya nodded.  “My father was a great man in the city.  Jonab Pakal.  Maybe you heard of him?  No, I guess not.”  Yamaya sighed.  “He got killed when the army of Calakmul came.  I was very young.  I hid.  King Chan of Calakmul found me anyway.  His brother, the evil K’ahk wanted to sacrifice me to the gods, but Chan had another idea.  He betrothed me to his eldest son, Cauac.  Cauac was about fourteen.  I was about half that age, maybe six or seven.  Cauac was not the greatest thinker.  He was showing no interest in girls, or in the idea of marriage.  But we got thrown together, and we became best friends.”  Yamaya paused to sniffle a bit.  “His younger brother Chan, now King Chan II, was mean and ambitious.  You know what I mean ambitious?”  They all did.  Sukki had to interrupt.

“You did not get married at age seven, did you?”

Yamaya shook her head, said, “No,” and laughed at the thought.  “I was fifteen.  Cauac was twenty-three.  But we were happy.  We loved each other.”  Yamaya kept trying to smile.  “Well, when old King Chan died, Cauac got named king.  I got to be queen.  I did not expect that.  It was different.  People who did not care for me at all, suddenly became nice to me.  I was happy for a minute, but then Uncle K’ahk took over.  He ran things and made all the decisions in Cauac’s name, and had his name written in the city.  I don’t know that.  I can’t read.  But Cauac and I were kept like prisoners for almost eight years.”

“That must have been hard,” Alexis said.

“I did not mind so much,” Yamaya said.  “I was not sure about this queen business, anyway.  And I stayed with my best friend.  We had a son.  But he died.” Yamaya sniffled again.  “I had a sister when I was young, an older sister, but my sister died when King Chan came.  That was a sad time, but I was very young.  Well, the city that just got taken by Caracol…” she could not remember the name.

“Naranjo,” Lincoln said.  Yamaya wrinkled her brows to question the name, but Lincoln gave her an answer.  “That is what the city is called in the database.”  Yamaya shrugged.

“We, I mean Calakmul took Naranjo away from Tikal, but they rebelled, and Uncle K’ahk died trying to get it back.  Cauac got to be king, for real.  He listened to his brother, Chan, and they took back Naran… that city.  I got to be queen for six whole years.  After being in prison for eight years, like Gluga.  I understand being in prison and understand how it hurts.  So Cauac and I were happy, but the kings in this world have to fight.  They fight to protect the trade, and to make new trade and trade places, and to keep some cities small and make their city big.  Kill, killing, fighting, sacrifices for the gods, and more killing.  The kings do not know what peace is.”  Yamaya almost looked mad, though Boston said later she was not sure if Yamaya knew what anger was.

“You were queen for six years?” Katie prompted in case Yamaya lost her place in the story.

“Oh, yes.  Then Cauac got killed fighting in another city.  The evil Chan became king, and I got driven into the wilderness of Tikal.”

“They did not try to sacrifice you?” Lockhart asked.

Yamaya shook her head.  “Chan was afraid,” Yamaya said.  “He doesn’t seem afraid of anything, but he seemed afraid.”  She paused and looked down at her hands.  “I have little ones who follow me around.  I told them I was not Huyana.  I did not need to see them.  I said I would call them if I needed them, but they are very protective.  I know they are there.”  She lowered her voice to a whisper.  “I think they threatened Chan.”

“All right,” Boston shouted into the wilderness.  When the others looked at her, she admitted.  “I know they are there, and I agree with them.  If anyone wanted to hurt Yamaya, I would threaten them, too.  How about you, Gluga.”

“Yes,” everyone heard, and some were startled.  They did not realize the dragon was sitting there the whole time, in the dark beyond the firelight, listening.

“But I don’t want anyone to be hurt,” Yamaya said.

“Why didn’t you tell us there were others around?” Nanette asked Boston.

“You could have told me,” Sukki said.

Boston shrugged as Alexis spoke up.  “No reason to tell.  You must assume they are somewhere around wherever we go.”

“Okay, but what happened?”

Yamaya tried to pick up the story.  “I escaped… I mean, I got caught… Cadmael and men from Tikal caught me in the woods.  The king of Tikal was going to cut my heart out.  He said cutting out the heart of the Queen of Calakmul was like cutting out the heart of the enemy city.  But the little ones helped me escape, and I helped Gluga escape.  We went to the wilderness of Uaxactun for a while.  Poor Gluga was so skinny, and her wings were all but dead.  She is better now.  Of course, the people of Tikal and Calakmul have not bothered us.  I did see Cadmael and told him he would not be bothered if he moved south.  I guess he did.  He seemed like a nice man.  Anyway, after a while we moved to the old city, and we are happy there.”

Everyone smiled for her, and she said, “I think I will go to sleep now.”

A few days later they arrived at Chichen Itza.  They found Shemsu there who were wary of strangers, but nice once the travelers got to know them.  Thus far, they only had the ground floor of the famous pyramid built, but it would not take too long to finish once they got to it.

In the meanwhile, everyone got distracted as a giant globe of an alien ship moved slowly overhead.  The travelers all recognized the ship, and Yamaya borrowed Elder Stow’s communication device, tuning it quickly to the right frequency.

“Agdaline.  You are welcome here, but you must follow me and my andasmagoria to a place where you can safely set down.  Send word to your fleet.  I am the one in this place designated by the gods to help you.  Please cooperate.”

Yamaya shrugged as she handed Elder Stow his equipment.  “The Agdaline think too highly of themselves.  I can never tell what they will do.”

“Will you be all right?” Katie asked.

Yamaya nodded.  “Not your problem.  Martok and the others are already volunteering to help.”  She smiled a great big smile, and Katie could not resist hugging her.

Everyone said good-bye to Yamaya and Gluga.  Yamaya explained that it would take them two days to get home because Gluga’s wings were not one hundred percent, and probably never would be.  The dragon could not fly all day and all night.  They would have to stop about half-way and rest.

Everyone said that would be fine, and they all smiled for her.  After she left, Lincoln got sulky quiet.

“What?” Alexis finally asked around the campfire

Lincoln opened up.  “Yamaya only lives another three or four years.”

“What?”

Decker asked.  “What does she die of?”

“Monkey Brain Fever.  A different strain.  Highly contagious but not as deadly.”

“Still,” Alexis said with a shake of her head.

“No, Boston,” Lockhart spoke right up.  “You cannot go back and warn her.”

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

MONDAY

The Byzantines are barely able to hold the line in Anatolia against the arabs, but the Masters have plans to help bring the Byzantines down.  The travelers fall into the middle of it all in Trouble Big and Small.  Monday.  Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 8.1 Rain and Fire, part 5 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Katie whistled for her horse, and he came right away.  The other horses followed, except Lockhart’s horse, Seahorse, and Boston’s Strawberry.  They were not finished munching on flowers for breakfast, and Seahorse even stamped his hooves like the unruly child he was.

“Strawberry,” Boston called, and the horse came.  Seahorse still resisted but did not want to be the only one left standing in the field.

While the horses got saddled, Sukki asked what the opposing army was doing.  “They are just standing there being quiet.  It feels creepy.”

“Spooky,” Nanette agreed.

Decker lifted Tony’s hands.  Tony held his handgun at the ready, but he pointed the gun too low, anticipating the recoil.  “No recoil until after you fire,” Decker said.

“I can’t think of anything we can do to send them away.  This looks like a stalemate,” Lockhart said.

Lincoln walked up, having just put Ghost in the harness.  “Don’t look at me,” he said.

Cadmael offered a thought.  “It looks like the whole army from Caracol.”

“Maybe we could talk to them and see what they want?” Gabor suggested.

“Major, ever do any sharpshooting?” Decker asked.  “Six hundred meters is not that far.”

“Yes Colonel,” Katie answered.  “But I don’t think we are starting with sharpshooting.”

“We see if we can talk,” Lockhart agreed.  He started forward.  Katie, Cadmael, and Gabor went with him.  They got about a hundred yards toward the forest when they heard someone in the army line shout a command.  Lockhart could not tell what was said, but at once, the whole enemy line rushed forward.  More than five hundred, and maybe a thousand Caracol warriors hit Elder Stow’s screens at once.  They bounced off, but he heard Elder Stow shout, “No, no.  No.”

Lockhart quickly turned and brought everyone back while the Caracol warriors tried again and again.

“No,” Elder shouted once more, and the screen disappeared.  Three thousand Caracol warriors crossed the line, screaming murder.  Decker and Katie opened fire with the rifles set to automatic.  Lincoln, Lockhart, and Tony added their handguns to the mix.  At that distance, given the way they were all bunched up, they would hit something.

Boston gave her handgun to Nanette who bravely walked up beside Decker and pulled the trigger.  Boston did not have time to make explosive arrows, but she had her wand.  Alexis was already calling up a wind strong enough to blow dozens off their feet.  Boston made her flamethrower which at least slowed the charge.

Sukki rose up, seeing that Elder Stow was busy with the screen device.  At twenty feet in the air, Sukki could see the whole Caracol army.  She looked at her own hands.  She could not control her power well enough yet.  She did not practice.  She still scared herself.  She could not just stun them to put the whole Caracol army unconscious. She could fry many of them and leave charcoal bits on the ground that used to be human beings, but she could not bring herself to do that.  She made up her mind that she had to do that when something intruded through the air.

A dragon flew between the travelers and the army of Caracol, spewing fire on the army the whole way.  That fire, far more powerful than Boston’s little flame thrower, turned the whole front of that line into a burning, screaming mass of humanity.  The ones behind, or who were not disabled by the fire, turned and ran for their lives.  Decker, and after a minute Katie mercifully shot the men who were burning and screaming in pain.  After another moment, Tony joined them.  Then Lockhart pulled his shotgun and finished some of the last.  It felt like a horrible thing to have to do, but no one talked about it, ever.

Cadmael stood like a stoic and watched flanked by young Xipetec and old man Kaax.  Gabor and most of his escort crew were on their knees, and a few were crying.  A few more screamed and shrieked when the dragon turned in the sky and came in for a landing.  Lockhart stood out front and yelled at the top of his lungs.

“No fire.  Do no harm.  Friends.  Friends.”  He repeated the phrase in the Agdaline tongue that all dragons were bred to obey.  “No fire.  Friends.”  Of course, whether they obeyed when they got big and went wild was always a question, but there was nothing else they could do.  They stood in an open field without so much as a rock or tree to hide behind.  “Friends.”

The travelers gathered behind Lockhart.  The Mayan kept their distance, and many stayed on their knees.  The horses kept their distance as well, but they did not run off, being magically tied to their riders.  They shuffled away from the beast but stayed within reach.

The dragon landed and raised its head high in the sky.  It burped a small burst of flame into the sky and repeated Lockhart’s words in the Mayan tongue.  “No fire.”  People looked up and saw someone on the neck of the dragon, riding the dragon, like they once saw Ixchel, daughter of Maya, the corn woman goddess, who rode a different dragon a long time ago.

Lincoln whispered to Alexis.  “This is a different breed.  It still has all its feathers, like a baby.”

Alexis nodded and answered.  “And it looks more like an actual worm than most, with hardly any claws front and back.”  She pointed.  “The folded wings are hardly noticeable, the way they blend into the body.  It is a wonder it doesn’t set itself on fire with those feathers.”

Lincoln clarified.  “I read about that.  They are leathery and fireproof, a strong protection that is more flexible, though not as strong as scales.  Most dragons, especially the more dinosaur-looking type, shed their feathers at a certain age when their scales begin to harden. But a few of the more obvious worm-like breeds, the kind that slither but don’t really walk, wear their feathers their whole life.”

Alexis nodded, as the dragon said another word.  “Friends,” and Lockhart noticed the dragon spoke in the Mayan language, not the Agdaline.  He was about to say something when they heard the person overhead riding on the Dragon’s neck.

“Boston,” the woman said.

Boston shouted back.  “No way.  I’m not climbing on a dragon back to get my hug.”

The woman, obviously Yamaya, laughed.  They heard it as the dragon lowered its head to the ground and let a little puff of smoke out from its nostrils.  Yamaya slipped down and opened her arms.  She grinned, but Boston remained wary, being so close to the big dragon’s head.  At last, though, she could not help herself and ran into the hug.  Everyone smiled, though most looked at the dragon to see if it reacted.  It watched but stayed quiet.

Yamaya went around to hug all of the travelers.  It felt a bit like she was sending the dragon a message that these people were okay, and the dragon should not hurt them.  Then she introduced her dragon and stepped over to scratch behind the dragon’s ear.

“This is my friend, Gluga,” she said.  “She is my protector, though she says she is more like my mother, and I am like her baby.  She never had any babies.”  Gluga snorted and shot out her tongue, briefly, like a snake might taste the air.

“Glugh?” Lockhart said as he tried to grasp the Agdaline word.  “Injury?”

“Hurting,” Yamaya said.  “Gluga was a prisoner in a stone-built cage in Tikal for five hundred years.  She cried and told me how much being a prisoner hurt her.  We figured out how to set her free and we escaped to the wilderness around Uaxactun, but that is a long story.”  Yamaya looked up and saw a face she recognized.  “Cadmael,” she said.  “How dare you return here.”

Cadmael fell to one knee and lowered his head.  “These people appeared to belong to you.  They said as much.  I do not understand most of what they say or how they can do what they can do, but if they are not of the gods, as they claim, then they certainly must belong to you.  I felt it only fair to guide them and give them as safe a passage as I could.  I still owe you my life.”

Yamaya looked like she could not stay mad.  The smile came back with force.  “Thank you, but you and your friends can go back south if you do not want the Lords of Tikal to find you.”

“Yes, please.  Thank you,” Cadmael looked relieved that he was not going to be eaten.

“And these men from Tayasal?” Yamaya asked, not sure what to ask, exactly.

Somehow, Gabor found the courage to answer.  “My Lords said to take these people to Tikal and offer them for the sacrifice, to prove that Tayasal is still loyal to the great city and not willing to submit to the advances of King K’an of Caracol.  I see now that was a wrong-headed and foolish idea.  My few men could not take these people anywhere they did not want to go.  Please, mighty Queen of the Serpent.  May we live?”

Yamaya shook her head and sighed.  “Go ahead.  Take your men and leave.  Be content to live beside the lake of plenty and do not come here again.”

Gabor bowed his head and did not have to yell to get his men to hurry back the way they came.  Cadmael, Xipetec, and old man Kaax also bowed, and with more reverence and less desperation.  Then they turned and followed the men of Tayasal.

“They planned to give us to Tikal to have our hearts cut out?” Tony said, and people looked at Yamaya.

“It is what we do,” she said.  “But honestly, I don’t understand all the politics involved.  All I know is the people are divided, like polar opposites mostly on stupid little stuff that should not matter.  It is like the hundred year’s war with Catholics and Protestants killing each other over stupid stuff.  It isn’t like your Civil War where a couple of big issues divided the people and needed to be decided.  It is more like your twenty-first century where progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans can’t even talk to each other.  Only here, the cities fight each other all the time, and have for years.  And why?  Mostly over stupid stuff.  They just can’t agree.  I don’t understand politics.  Why can’t people just be nice to each other and live in peace?”

Gluga lifted her head a little and nudged Yamaya gently.  Yamaya’s smile returned, and she nodded.  “Come on,” she said.  Gluga will lead the way.  We cross a few fallow farm fields and get to an old causeway that will take us to the old city where we are living.  Come.  Get your horses and come on.”

Yamaya started walking, and Gluga slithered out front, making a nice indent in the field.  It took a bit to gather the horses.  Ghost, for some reason, did not appear bothered by the dragon.  So soon they headed out across the field, following the woman and the serpent.

The travelers stayed one night in the Wilderness of Uaxactun before they went on to Yamaya’s old city which Lincoln identified as Mirador.

Avalon 8.1 Rain and Fire, part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

It took them three days to reach Seibal and another day to reach Tayasal.  Cadmael told them this was the most dangerous area and showed them all the roads that went to Caracol.  “Lord Kan II of Caracol turned his army many times against Naranjo, a city in league with the Great Tikal.  Finally, in the last year, he has taken Naranjo away from Tikal and all the cities fear he will now turn on them.”

“The people in Seibal and Tayasal seemed nice, but nervous,” Katie said.  But the smaller towns and villages we came through seemed unafraid.”

Cadmael agreed, and Kaax spoke.  “When the king goes hunting, the monkey laughs but the deer scatter.”

Decker gave it a guess.  “When a city goes on the warpath, they don’t bother with the small towns and villages. They go after the cities that own and control those towns.  But for the bigger cities it is like every man for himself.”

“Every city for itself,” Lincoln corrected.

“Land a Goshen,” Decker said.

Lincoln looked at Lockhart’s face and kept his mouth closed.

###

The following morning, the travelers left Tayasal under escort.  A man named Gabor led twenty men who pledged to take them safely to Tikal.  He and Cadmael did not know each other, but they soon got on friendly, speaking terms.

“And you believe these are messengers of the gods?” Gabor asked.

“If not, they should be,” Cadmael answered.  “I have seen thing and they know things, even future things that should not be spoken.  They told us about the hurricane the day before it arrived.”

Gabor closed his mouth and shook his head.  “It was a bad storm,” he admitted.

When they stopped for lunch, Elder Stow took a long look ahead on his scanner.  He saw a village about an hour away, but something did not look right.  He could not decide what bothered him, so he asked Decker to spy with his eagle totem.  Decker slipped out of the group where he could meditate in relative quiet.  His eagle totem took him almost to the clouds, and when he dove down to the village to give his eagle eyes a good look and he understood what bothered Elder Stow.

Decker opened his eyes and returned to the group with a word.  “The village ahead is full of soldiers—warriors.  They have the residents rounded up and surrounded in an open area, and they appear to be ransacking the village.  I think gathering foodstuffs.”

“How far away?” Lockhart asked.

“About an hour, if I judge correctly,” Elder Stow said.

“Any way to spy out the village and not be seen?” Lockhart asked.

“A few trees left along the causeway,” Decker answered.  “But mostly flat, open farm fields.”

“Yeah,” Lincoln interrupted.  “I expected this whole area to be deep dark jungle.”

“I agree,” Tony said.

Katie shook her head.  “Most of the jungle has been cut down for slash and burn agriculture.  And they probably have cut two or three times what they plant in a year.  They rotate fields because jungle soil plays out fairly quickly and needs time to renew.”

“Okay,” Lockhart raised his voice to regain everyone’s attention.  “We will get as close as we can and let Elder Stow pull up that hologram thing so we can look before we leap.”

An hour later, Elder Stow brought up an image from his scanner.  It showed Gabor, Cadmael, and the Mayan warriors in red, the travelers and their horses in blue, the residents in the village ahead in green, all bunched up in an open area, and the invading warriors in yellow.  For once, Elder Stow did not say yellow is for danger.

Cadmael pointed to the image and spoke.  “Tikal would not send armed men to a village.  They depend on grain from the village to feed their people.”

Gabor swallowed and said, “Caracol.”  He blinked at the image and explained himself.  “This place belongs to Yaxha, not Tikal.  The army of Caracol may be after Yaxha after Naranjo.”

Or they may be attacking Tikal itself and wanting to secure the land behind them and gather food to feed their army,” Decker suggested.

“Maybe Tikal is attacking Yaxha as a counter to Caracol taking Naranjo,” Katie said.

“Tikal owns Yaxha,” Gabor said.  “But Yaxha may be tempted to switch to Caracol after the taking of their sister city, and that might be enough to bring out Tikal’s men.”

“I would say that is least likely,” Decker countered.

“Sir,” Katie acknowledged her superior officer.

“Most likely, Caracol,” Cadmael said, and they planned what to do.

The travelers mounted up and rode their horses into the village.  Their Mayan guides and escort bunched up behind them.  Nanette and Alexis walked in the rear and led Ghost and the wagon.  Elder Stow payed close attention to his screen device and fiddled with the controls.

The warriors, and they were about three dozen from Caracol, made a line between the travelers and the village residents.  The line of armed men said stop where you are and go no further without anyone having to say anything.

Lockhart waited until Elder Stow said, “Done.  Ready.”  Then he got down and stepped up in front of his horse.  This time, Katie stayed mounted.  She had her rifle out and ready.

“You have a leader?”  Lockhart, looking like a giant to these men, had to wait while the men of Caracol whispered among themselves.  Finally, one stepped forward and Boston yelled.

“That is not the leader.  That is the one the leader designated to face the giant.”  Of course, her good elf ears heard exactly what the men had been whispering.

The man looked back, and a different man stepped out.  He looked determined and walked up to Lockhart.  Lockhart held his hand up as if to signal that was close enough, but the man kept walking until he bumped his toe and then his face and hands into Elder Stow’s screen and fell back on his rump.  The man rubbed his toe as Lockhart shrugged.

“I am giving you thirty seconds to collect your things and leave this place and leave these people alone.  After that time, I cannot guarantee you will survive.”

A Caracol warrior stepped up from behind the line and threw his spear at Lockhart while Lockhart said slowly, “One—two—three.”  The spear did not fare any better than the Caracol leader.  It bounced off Elder Stow’s screen and they all heard it crack.  Lockhart simply said, “Four—five—six.”

The leader jumped up and started to yell at his people to grab everything they could and go.  Several started toward the villagers, and Lockhart shot off his shotgun.  The thunderous roar and spray of buckshot, mostly that tore up the ground, got everyone’s attention.  A couple of Caracol warriors got pinprick holes in their legs that started bleeding. Several warriors screamed.  Many of the people screamed.  Lockhart was not sure if maybe some of the escort warriors from Tayasal screamed.  But then all went silent, and eyes turned to Lockhart.  He spoke into the silence.

“The people and their food are not your things.  I said collect your things and leave.  “Eleven—twelve—thirteen.”

The warriors from Caracol went off down the road and disappeared by the time Lockhart got to twenty-five.  Elder Stow turned off his screens.  Everyone came up into the village.  Nanette and Alexis went straight to the people to see if any were hurt.  Katie shouldered her rifle and got down to give Lockhart a kiss on the cheek.

“I counted slowly,” he said.

“I’m glad we did not have to kill anyone,” she said.

“Me too,” Decker said, but then answered the surprise on the faces around him by adding, “Believe it or not.”  He reigned back to join Tony in securing the wagon.

Cadmael and the men from Tayasal all wanted to spend the night in the village.  It turned four o’clock which meant they only had a few of hour of daylight left, but the travelers insisted they push on, not that they had any expectation of making it to Tikal before dark, but, as Katie explained, “By morning, the men of Caracol might be able to set up an ambush and we might walk right into it.”

The Mayan dragged their feet, but the travelers did not stop, until around six.  They came to a field left fallow, and they thought it might be a good place to camp.  They had plenty of open space behind them and stopped about six hundred yards short of a jungle area, so they had plenty of space ahead of them as well.  They had no interest in being surprised.  After they all got settled, Elder Stow set his screens around the camp so their night would be undisturbed.  The horses got set free for the night since Elder Stow finally figured out how to set the screen so they could shoot through it if they had to, but the horses and people could not accidentally walk through it and find themselves on the outside.  Of course, nothing but air and most birds could penetrate from the outside.  Boston, Sukki, and Nanette complained that the insects could also penetrate the screens.

Elder Stow shook his head.  “The insects are already inside,” he insisted.

Come the morning, the travelers woke to a surprise.  On the edge of the trees, six hundred yards off, and totally blocking the causeway to Tikal, there stood hundreds, or more likely thousands of Caracol warriors, ready for a fight.

Lincoln complained.  “You try to be nice.  You count nice and slow and let the men go, and they come back with an army.”

Avalon 8.1 Rain and Fire, part 3 of 6

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The Avenue ended in front of an adobe mountain beside what Katie called ball courts.

“Basketball?” Lockhart joked.  He knew better.

“Similar,” Katie said.  “Except the ring the ball needs to go through is twenty feet up and turned sideways, and no hands or feet allowed.”  To Lockhart’s curious look, she added, “Head shoulders, elbows, chest and knees only.”

At the end of the Avenue, roughly thirty men, looking like warriors but mostly older men, stood on a three-foot platform to stand above the crowd, a place where they could talk down to the people.  Aapo, Yochi, and Eme bowed deeply.  The people crowded around to hear what the rulers might say.  The soldiers waited, patiently, and kept the crowd from coming too close.  Katie and Lockhart stepped forward, followed by Lincoln and Alexis.  The horses, not having any grass to nibble, and wary of the crowd around them, also waited patiently for their riders.

“We are…” Lincoln started to speak but found Alexis’ hand over his mouth.  He meant to speak to Lockhart and Katie, but no doubt other ears would hear.

Aapo went into a long and fanciful tale about the travelers appearing out of nowhere, and coming from the west, which seemed important.  He told about the horses being poisonous, but how they were good servants to the gods.  He named Gukumatz, and the others that he knew.  He talked about how they flew over the narrow ledge on the mountain and embellished everything to make the tale almost unrecognizable.  He finished.  He waited like a man waiting for judgment.

Cadmael stepped up, bowed briefly, and added one word, militarily short and to the point.  “I see no trouble from these people.”

Silence followed as Elder Stow shuffled up from behind, his eyes glued to his scanner.

Katie and Lockhart took a step forward, and Katie spoke.  “We come in peace and pray that peace may extend to all of your people.”

“My father,” Elder Stow spoke to Lockhart as quietly as he could, but Gott-Druk are not good at whispering.  “I am picking up a storm over the water in the northwest.”  He stopped talking and stared at the group of elders.  Katie sensed what was coming.

One of the elders pushed to the front of the group.  He held a spear which he threw at Katie.  Katie stepped aside in time, but the spear struck Elder Stow, who fortunately had turned on his personal screen as soon as they got surrounded by the crowd.  The spear bounced off and Katie caught it.  She growled.

“That was not smart.” Lockhart spoke softly into the hush that followed.  Katie snapped the spear in two.  She threw the pieces to the ground.  Boston pulled her wand and shot a stream of fire which burned the weapon.

The elder who threw the spear screamed something unintelligible and reached for a second spear.  Decker fired his rifle.  The man spun around, fell to the ground, and died.  Two other men in the elders group quickly dropped their own spears.

“That was foolish,” Katie yelled, while Lockhart turned to Elder Stow.  Elder Stow pulled himself together enough to finish his thought.

“At its rate of travel, the hurricane should be here by tomorrow afternoon.  It will probably be a tropical storm by then, the way you folks judge things, but still destructive.”

Katie kept yelling.  “We came in peace.  We are not your prisoners.  We are not your sacrifices.  We are not your enemies, and you do not want to make us your enemies.”

“Cadmael,” Lockhart interrupted and looked at the man.  Cadmael had his hands up which somehow indicated to his warriors that they should not interfere.  “Is that the way to the main city?”  He could not remember the name.  He reached for Katie’s hand.

“Tikal,” Lincoln escaped Alexis’ hand and filled in the name.

Cadmael nodded, then shook his head.  “It is beyond the temple.”  He pointed to the pyramid.

“Take us,” Lockhart said before he turned to the elders.

“You should be kind to the strangers in your midst,” Katie finished yelling.  The elders looked unmoved.

Lockhart raised his voice.  “A hurricane is coming.  You will face the storm after mid-day tomorrow.  Consider this your warning.”  He waved Cadmael to move on, and the man did not argue, but Alexis spoke up.

“We need grain for the horses.”  Alexis reminded them all of what they talked about earlier, and she turned to give Aapo a hug.  She hugged Yochi and Eme and thanked them for their help.  Boston and Sukki joined in the hugs.  Lincoln suggested they go straight home and prepare their families for the coming storm, and they did, appearing anxious to get away from there.

“I would not expect any grain from these people,” Katie said, not quite out of steam.

“I can help with that,” Cadmael said.  He bowed to the unmoving and silent elders on the platform and waved to his warriors.  The warriors formed up and the crowd parted for them.  The travelers soon got behind the pyramid.

“This is the causeway to Tikal,” Cadmael explained.  “It is five days journey.  There are turns, crossways, places to stop and shelter, and places to avoid.  I will go with you.”  Before any of the travelers could object, Lincoln interrupted.  He had the database and talked with Boston, who checked her amulet.

“Six days if we stop and shelter from the storm,” he said.  “Yamaya should be another day beyond Tikal.”

Cadmael sent most of the men home to prepare for the storm.  He did not doubt the warning the travelers gave.  Some came back temporarily with bags and clay pots full of grain and food for the road.  Tony directed them to fill the wagon.  The causeway looked like a reasonable road, at least in the city.  No telling how bad it might get in the wilderness.  One good thing, though, was the land was not solid jungle, like it got in the future.  In fact, much of it was cleared for farm fields, so Tony figured if the road got too rough in a country not made for wheels, he might do better driving across the relatively flat farm fields.

Cadmael returned with two men to speak to Lockhart and Katie.  He introduced them.  “The young one is Xipetec.  He is not married and has brothers and sisters to take care of the home.  The old man is Kaax”

“Itzenkaax,” the man said.  “But they call me Kaax, and I’m not that old.”

Cadmael nodded.  “His wife died three years ago from the sickness, and his son left with the others to prepare his family for the storm.”

“The three of you will show us the way to Tikal?” Lockhart asked, wanting to be sure what the arrangement was.

“The magic number,” Kaax said, and pointed up.  “Like the three stars that stand side by side in the heavens.”

“Orion’s belt,” Katie said.  “I smell some Shemsu in that.  Boston,” she called.

“I only smell human beans,” Boston responded, and no one corrected her, though Alexis rolled her eyes and imagined she had been hanging out with too many imps and dwarfs.

“No, actually,” Cadmael shook his head.  “These are the only ones courageous enough to travel with you.”

“Good.”  Decker butted up to the front.  “Three wisemen.  Now, can we get moving before those elders think of some way to attack us.”

“Right,” Lockhart heard.  Boston and Sukki rode off a short way down the road.  The rest walked their horses and followed on foot.

The causeway proved good, about twenty feet wide and relatively flat, though mostly it wound around the hills.  “Good to not have to climb over the hills,” Decker remarked.

“But not good winding like a lazy river,” Tony responded.  “Give me Roman roads every time.  Straight as an arrow.”

“And the Romans built bridges,” Nanette added.  They arrived at a riverbank.  The river did not appear to be too wide or deep, but it guarded a small city on the other side, one that did not appear too friendly.  Thirty men stood on the opposite bank, and they were armed.

Cadmael stepped out front and shouted across the river.  One older man shouted back, but eventually the travelers would be allowed to cross.  Cadmael turned to explain to Lockhart.  Lincoln, Alexis, and Boston all listened in.  “They will let you pass, but you must go around and not come into the city.  I know a way where you can bring your wagon.”

“We are not that scary,” Lockhart protested.

Cadmael shook his head.  “You are strange and different.  That is enough for some.  And these people are afraid of Caracol.  They are not bad people.  There is much jade here along the river.  They dig what Copan does not take, and they trade well, but now, they are afraid.”

“El Porton,” Lincoln named the place.  “That is what it is called on my map.”  He showed Alexis.

“My father,” Elder Stow walked up with Katie.  “I have set four discs on the wagon, front, back, and both sides.  Sukki and I can float it across without getting it wet.  Tony will bring the mule.  Decker will bring Mudd.  Nanette will bring Sukki’s horse, Cocoa.”

“Better let me take Cocoa,” Boston interrupted.  “Cocoa and Strawberry go together.”

“But, my father,” Elder Stow continued, and looked up at the drizzling rain that started again an hour ago.  Everyone glanced up, following Elder Stow’s lead.  “The storm has sped up.  It will arrive tonight.  I recommend high ground in case the river overflows.  We need somewhere the horses can graze.  I can set my screens around a large enough area to keep out the worst of it.”

“We need somewhere that won’t become a mud slide,” Katie said

Two hours later, as the sky darkened beneath the clouds, they arrived in a meadow just north and up the hill from El Porton.  “I told them the storm is coming,” Cadmael said.  “But I cannot say they will listen.”

“The telling is the important thing,” Katie said.  “You have no control over what they hear and believe.”

Elder Stow threw the switch and young Xipetec stood and let out a shout.  “What happened to the rain?”

“Magic,” Boston blurted out, the second time Boston tried that line.  Alexis gave her a hard, motherly stare.

“Come,” Alexis said.  “I will show you.”  She led the young man to the edge of the meadow and showed him where the screen stopped, and the rain began to pour.

Lincoln turned to the old man, Kaax.  “You’re not curious?”

Kaax shook his head.  “But I am looking forward to a piece of deer that isn’t drowned.”

Cadmael just laughed.

The storm had plenty of lightning and thunder, but Elder Stow tweaked his screens to shade them from the great flashes of light and deaden the sound of the rumbling thunder.  They stayed most of the next day.  Finally, Lockhart made them move two hours north where they found a new campsite.  He was not about to let them go back to El Porton and see what they could do to help the people and with whatever damage might have occurred.  That might have delayed them for a week, but he only told Katie that was what he was doing.

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

MONDAY

The travelers run into big problems on the way to find Yamaya.  A whole army blocks the path, and a dragon intervenes.  Until then, Happy Reading

*

Avalon 8.1 Rain and Fire, part 2 of 6

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Aapo led the way with his son Yochi and his daughter-in-law Eme.  Eme stayed with the old man and helped him over some rough spots in the path.  Yochi kept a firm grip on his spear and kept his eyes open.  Lockhart looked around as well, wondering if there might be jaguars, puma, or other dangerous or wild animals in the area, but eventually Lockhart figured Yochi mostly kept an eye on them, like he did not entirely trust them.  No doubt Yochi questioned their being messengers of the gods and wondered if Lockhart was actually Gukumatz.  He did keep his distance from Decker, probably to be safe in case Decker turned out to be the god of darkness.

The path narrowed in spots, but nothing that ghost and the wagon could not handle.  Tony got down and led the mule from the front, and Ghost responded well to the gentle hand.  The path also got steep in a couple of places and Decker had to get out his rope.  He tied one end to a corner of the wagon and the other end to his saddle so Ghost and Decker’s horse could pull the wagon up the steep places together.

The sun felt hot that day, but the travelers imagined it was better than a rainstorm.  Mud would have made the journey unnecessarily hard.  Eventually, they came to the top of the mountain and a place the wagon could not cross.  The path became a narrow ledge, barely as wide as the wagon.  A rocky hill went up one side and a thirty or forty-foot cliff fell off on the other.  The travelers had to stop and think, so Aapo, Yochi, and Eme stopped to watch.  Yochi smiled a little wondering what these so-called messengers of the gods would do with their so-called wagon.  Yochi nearly choked when Elder Stow volunteered to fly over to the other side to see how far the ledge went.

“I better go with him,” Sukki said.  She knew her adopted father tended to focus on one thing at a time.  He might fly right into trouble and never see it until it was too late.  So, the two of them flew around the bend in the path while the rest of the travelers got out their blankets to cover their horse’s eyes.

“Better for the horses not to see the cliff and get nervous,” Katie explained to Aapo, even as Elder Stow and Sukki returned.

“About a hundred of your meters or yards and it turns into a meadow,” Elder Stow reported.  “The path looks improved and begins to go downhill.”

“Yes,” Aapo agreed.  “Downhill to the city and the road.”

“It’s all downhill from here,” Boston said, and giggled.

Elder Stow took a few minutes tuning his discs and handing two to half of the travelers.  “We will have to go in two shifts,” he said.  “One disc for the horse and one for the person.  You won’t be able to fly, but if you slip off the ledge, you should float long enough to be pulled back to the path.”

“Wait,” Alexis interrupted and took the disc back from Boston.  “She is an elf.  She can dance safely on the head of a pin” Alexis explained.  “You are just tempting her to deliberately step off the ledge just to see what floating feels like.”

Boston gave the disc back without arguing, but grinned a true elf grin, almost too big for her face, and nodded vigorously, while Decker explained quietly to Nanette.  “She might have done that if she was still human.  Becoming an elf did not change her much as far as I can tell.”

“Hard to believe,” Nanette said with a shake of her head, but she sounded like she believed it.

Sukki grinned with Boston as she helped Elder Stow attach two discs to the wagon, front and back.  Then she and Elder Stow lifted the wagon right off the ground and flew it to the meadow on the other side.  Lockhart, Katie, Lincoln, Alexis and eventually Sukki led their horses while Tony led Ghost across the ledge.  Lincoln was the only one who said anything.

“I wouldn’t mind a blanket over my eyes.”  He tried hard not to look down.

Yochi and Eme held two ends of Yochi’s spear so the old man would be trapped on the inside of the ledge while they walked.  When they reached the other side, Sukki flew back with the discs so Decker, Nanette, and Boston could cross.  Sukki brought Tony’s horse.

Once safely on the other side, they began the decent to the city.  This time, Decker had to use his rope and horse to slow the wagon on the steep parts.

“Don’t worry,” Katie explained.  From Kaminaljuyu north, the road will likely follow the rivers right out of the highlands.  Most of the Mayan homeland in the north is on the relative flatlands of the Yucatan.”

“Good thing,” Lockhart responded.  “Obviously these people did not build their roads with wheeled vehicles in mind.”

“No horses or oxen to speak of,” Katie answered.  “They invented the wheel, but without big domestic animals to carry the load, they never bothered with things like wagons.”

On the way down, the sky clouded over, and it started to drizzle.  Fortunately, they got to the valley area before the ground got too slippery with mud.  As they approached the city, they saw the path, now nearly a road, along a causeway that had been built up like a man-made ridge, three to five feet above the rest of the ground.  Most of that ground outside the road looked like swamp or marsh.

“Like a moat,” Katie suggested.  “Any enemy army would pretty much have to stick to the road to prevent snake-bite and who knows what.”

Lockhart nodded, but he had a question and turned to look back.  “Lincoln.  When was the last time we were in this place?”

“I remember Otapec and Maya, and their children,” Katie said, while Lincoln got out the database to look it up.

“She called him Opi,” Lockhart nodded that he remembered.  “Decker said, like the Andy Griffith Show.  And the children were Chac, Kuican and, I can’t ever remember the girl’s name.”

“Ixchel,” Katie reminded him.  We met her all grown up, not that long ago.”  She also looked at Lincoln.

“About a year and a half ago, travel time.  That was twenty-eight time zones back.  About fifteen hundred years, normal time,” Lincoln said, without ever lifting his eyes from the database.  “Ozma—Ozmatlan.  La Venta Island when the Olmec civilization fell apart due to Monkey Brain Fever.”  Lincoln paused to shiver at the memory.

“About fifteen hundred years ago?” Lockhart asked.

“Yes,” Lincoln confirmed.  “We left the time zone about where Yamaya is located in this zone, between Tikal and Calakmul if Boston is right and if I am reading my maps correctly.”

“Between Tikal and Calakmul, you mean between Athens and Sparta like in a war zone?”

Lincoln shook his head.  He read some, and everyone stayed quiet to listen.  “Tikal got beaten down about sixty years before Yamaya was born.  They pull it together enough just before Yamaya became queen of Calakmul to build a new trade city in the north, but that goes sour.  Tikal doesn’t really get it back together until about forty years after Yamaya dies.”

“Passes on to her next life,” Boston interrupted.  Lincoln nodded.

“So, maybe the war isn’t going on at the moment,” Lockhart concluded.

“I would guess,” Lincoln agreed.  “But the database reports that Ch’en II, the Calakmul ruler after Yamaya’s husband dies is a warlord who always appears to be fighting someone, and he rules for about fifty years.”

“Enough,” Katie said.  “We have unauthorized ears listening.”  She nodded at Yochi, whose eyes looked really big, and Eme, who seemed to have a hard time blinking.  Aapo, walking between the two, kept smiling and looked like he might start whistling any moment.

People quieted just in time for some forty warriors to rise up out of the muck on either side of the causeway.  A dozen more came from the trees to block the path to the city.  One stepped forward.

“Aapo,” the warrior said, apparently knowing the old man.  “I see no baskets of grain for the Holy Lords of the city.  What do you bring as an offering?”

Aapo smiled.  “I bring messengers of the gods,” he said.  “Gukumatz and his consort, the yellow haired daughter of the sun.  I’ic’ ajaw, who you can plainly see, and his woman.  The girl who carries fire on her head, and the animals that serve them.  Does the king of Kaminaljuyu not wish to see them?”

“And these others?”

“I have feared to ask their names,” Aapo admitted.  “But they claim they have come to see the Serpent Queen.  I thought it right to bring them here first.”

“I saw the old man and his daughter fly through the air like the serpent itself,” Yochi shouted and Eme nodded.

“And these animals?”

Katie spoke up.  “They serve us and are filled with poison lest you be tempted to try and eat them.”

“And this box.  How does it move?”

“Magic,” Boston lied like an elf and let the fire come up into her hand.  She tossed the fireball into the swamp where it sizzled and steamed, and the men in the swamp all took a step back.

“We have a long way to travel,” Lockhart said.  “But we have been told to acknowledge the king of whatever cities we pass through.”

“Only right,” Alexis agreed.  “The Kairos has mentioned that often enough.”

“Yeah,” Lincoln agreed.  “When he has not been telling us to keep away from kings and things.”

The poor man looked stymied, before he sighed and waved for his soldiers to lower their weapons.  “At least you are not warriors from Caracol.”

“You were expecting soldiers from Caracol?” Katie asked.

The man nodded.  “They defeated Naranjo this last year, and the king fears they may seek to extend their territory.”

“Good thing to keep watch,” Decker said.  The soldier looked at him like he was surprised the Lord of Darkness would speak.

As the travelers walked slowly down the central avenue of Kaminaljuyu, Tony suggested that the city had seen better days.

“Adobe bricks.”  Katie pointed to a couple of structures that appeared to be crumbling.  The people did not seem to be concerned about fixing the structures.  “Further north, in the Mayan lowlands, the structures and pyramids are made mostly of limestone blocks, if I recall.”

“They must not have many Shemsu around to cut and lift the blocks, and keep things repaired,” Lincoln spoke up from behind.

Aapo led the procession like a conquering hero, though Yochi and Eme looked wary.  As soon as they reached the outskirts, the head warrior, Cadmael, sent runners ahead with the news.  He had his men line up on both sides of the travelers as soon as there was room.  Lincoln thought it made them look like prisoners.  Nanette, in the back with Tony, Elder Stow and Decker, called it an honor guard.  Alexis, in the middle, countered the two of them by saying that might be the same thing.  In fact, they discovered when they reached the broad central avenue, that the main function of the soldiers was to keep back the crowd.  People gathered to see, maybe a thousand on each side of the avenue.

Boston and Sukki walked up front, just behind Aapo and his family.  She turned to Sukki and grinned.  “And you’ll find all sort of toys at Macy’s.”  She giggled, though of course Sukki had no idea what Boston was talking about.

Avalon 8.1 Rain and Fire, part 1 of 6

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After 606 A.D. Yucatan

Kairos 99: Yamaya, the Serpent Queen

Recording …

The old man and old woman stepped in front of the villagers and bowed to the strangers.  They looked uncertain, and some of the villagers behind them looked afraid.  Lockhart and Katie tried to smile, and Lockhart thought it was a good thing Decker stayed busy trying to get the wagon through the time gate.  Decker’s smile had something of a shark-look to it, or maybe like the way a crocodile smiled right before it ate you.

“We mean you no harm,” Katie said.

“We are just passing through and will go as soon as we are all gathered,” Lockhart tried.  He noticed Sukki sat calmly on her horse and the horse stayed still beneath her. Boston’s horse kept wiggling, like he wanted to get moving already.  Boston paid little attention as her eyes focused on the amulet that pointed to the next time gate.

Lockhart glanced in the other direction behind him.  Elder Stow had his scanner out, searching the farm fields that snaked up the mountainside, and the deep forest ahead of them, in case something ahead might present a danger to them.  Lincoln assured them that the Maya had no standing armies, and only raised men to fight when they went to war.  Several people said that was fine, but they did not want to walk into a war.

“What is the hold up?” Lincoln asked.  Alexis looked content to wait, but Lincoln, and sometimes Decker, could be as impatient as Boston’s horse.  Lockhart shrugged and turned his attention back to the older couple.  The old woman let out one very soft shriek and looked down at her feet while the old man took one more step forward and spoke.

“I am Aapo.”  He bowed.  “My wife is Akna.”  He bowed again.  “This village is our children, mostly, they are our children.” He bowed for a third time.  “The great city of Kaminaljuyu, is in that direction.”  He pointed off toward a mountain to the right and a little behind the travelers.  “How may we serve you?”

“No,” Boston spoke up, and when Lockhart and Katie looked, she pointed north, in the direction they faced.  Before Lockhart could respond, the man lifted his brows, almost smiled, and spoke again.

“That way is the great city of Tikal where the feathered dragon king rules over all the cities and the people.  Certainly, the messengers of the gods would be most welcome there.”

Decker pushed up from the rear to report. The old man shouted, “I’ic’ ajaw,” and fell to his knees.  The old woman let out a little shriek again, and joined him on his knees, though it looked like her old knees did not want to cooperate.

Decker ignored the couple and reported.  “We are ready to go, but Tony says the wagon probably won’t make it if we have to drag it through the jungle.”

“What?” Lockhart asked.  “Not you,” he said to Decker.  He wanted to know what the man said and wondered why his mind did not automatically translate the words into English.  That one gift of the Kairos made this journey possible: to understand and be understood no matter the language spoken.

Katie frowned.  “I think I’ic’ is the word for black and ajaw is lord, I think.  Like a name.  Some names don’t translate well.  Maybe black lord, or ruler of the blacks or blackness.  Maybe Lord of the darkness.  Then again, it may be a reference to Africa, like Lord of Africa or something.”

“We get the idea,” Lockhart said, and Decker nodded slowly as he thought about accepting that designation.  Katie’s blonde locks and Boston’s red head got plenty of notice from time to time, but mostly Decker, and now Nanette, stood out in some places as something different because of their dark skin.

“Tell him we are looking for Yamaya,” Lincoln shouted from behind.

The woman Akna let out her full shriek and fell to her face.  The people behind her also gasped and shrieked, fell to their knees to join their parents, and quite a few of them scanned the skies for something unnamed.

Aapo swallowed before he spoke.  “The Serpent Queen.  The enemy of Tikal.  The thief from Ox Te Tuun, who stole the feathered dragon for Chiik Naab, to burn the great cities of Tikal.  Even the Yaknoom, ruler of the enemy city Calakmul of the three stones fears her…” Old man Aapo’s words petered off as he fell silent and got down on his face beside the old woman.

Lockhart frowned and turned to Katie.  “Translate?”

Katie shook her head.  “My knowledge of Mayan and Mesoamerican languages in general is very limited, but my guess would be mostly names.  Ox Te Tuun is probably a city name.  Chiik Naab might be a region, or maybe the area that city controls.”  She shrugged.

“Lincoln?”  Lockhart raised his voice without turning around.

Lincoln got out the database to be sure, but he already read about it, so he related what he remembered.  “Tikal and Calakmul are two great cities in the classical Mayan period.  They are competitors.  Think Athens and Sparta.  And like Athens and Sparta, they have different cultures and worldviews.  Tikal may have been conquered by a pre-Aztec people in the pre-classical era.  That may be the source of the feathered serpent or feathered dragon image.  They have a king.  Women are merely wives and concubines.  Very patriarchal.  Calakmul is more classic Mayan, some think.  They are the city of the snake—the Kan is the snake symbol.  The nobles are even called the divine lords of the snake.  I know.  The snake versus the serpent can be confusing.  Anyway, kings and queens tend to joint rule in Calakmul, though sometimes they have just a king, but women are more equal, and some even fight on the battlefield.”

“Get to the point,” Decker said.

“Mayan cities are independent city-states more or less like the Greeks used to be.  Tikal and Calakmul have a network of allied cities that they minimally control, for trade and military purposes.  Sometimes, cities switch sides.  It’s complicated.  But Calakmul and Tikal are the Athens and Sparta—the big players.  Yamaya was born in Palenque.  Her city got conquered by Calakmul when she was six.  She got forced married to the son of the king of Calakmul.  She actually became queen of Calakmul for about six years before her husband Cauak died in battle trying to take another city.  The younger brother, Chen took the crown, and drove Yamaya into the wilderness of Tikal.  The king of Tikal planned to cut her heart out—they all practice human sacrifice here—but she somehow set the feathered serpent of Tikal free from its cage, and they escaped back to the wilderness between the cities, ending up in a smaller city called Uaxactun, if I said that right.  Now, both the Athens and Sparta cities are afraid of her because she has some control over the serpent, that is, the dragon.”

Lockhart shook his head.  “This isn’t helping,” he said, and looked again at Katie who smiled.

“Quetzalcoatl,” she said, calling him by that name.  “Looks like the Kairos found a dragon, and she has both main cities scared of her.”  Katie smiled and noticed Aapo looked up and looked curious at the name.  Katie tried another name and pointed at Lockhart.  “Kukulkan.”

“Gukumatz,” Aapo said, nice and loud, and he almost smiled.  Most of the village looked up, and looked pleased, though the old woman shook her head, kept her face pointed toward the dirt, and continued to look scared.

Lockhart still frowned as Decker whispered, “I’m content with Lord of Africa.”  He went back to check on the wagon crew.

Lockhart sighed.  “Stand up, Aapo.  No one is going to eat you.”  Even as he spoke, the early morning sun broke free of the hills to bathe the travelers in the light.

Aapo stood slowly.  He watched, as Elder Stow pushed up on one side, and Boston, who finally got her horse to settle down, pushed up next to Katie.  Boston and Katie pulled out their amulets to compare.  They looked like pieces of driftwood, or maybe seashells, shaped like miniature conch shells of some sort.  Elder Stow spoke.

“My father.  I checked when our friend here mentioned a city on the other side of that mountain.  There appears to be a narrow path between here and the city, and from the city, something like a road appears to head north, the way we are headed.”  He looked over at Katie, and she nodded and pointed north.

“The highway,” Aapo pointed to the mountain.  It is the safe way between Kaminaljuyu and Tikal.”  Lockhart nodded as Sukki got down.  She found Alexis already headed toward the people.  They both ended up beside a nervous Aapo and reached down for the wife.

“Stand up, Akna,” Alexis said.  She and Sukki each took one arm of the old woman and lifted her to her feet.  The woman still would not look up, and backed up, bowing, until she got surrounded by her children, most of whom were standing again and watching.

“You can take us to Kaminaljuyu?” Katie asked.

“Show us the way?” Lockhart clarified.

“As the gods command,” Aapo said and bowed deeply.  Lockhart frowned again, but Lincoln spoke up from behind.

“Good.  We can start moving.”