Science Fiction

Avalon 1.7 Peace and Prosperity part 1 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 4289 BC in the foothills of Kashmir. Kairos 14: Vanu

Recording …

Boston sat by the fire and alternately stared at the amulet and Roland. She did not know what to say to the elf, but she felt she ought to say something. Lincoln inherited the database from Boston and found the place for taking notes.

“Beats my notebook,” he remarked casually. Alexis simply nodded as the howl came again. Her eyes got drawn to the sky while her ears tried to judge the direction and distance.

“Full moon,” Katie noted.

“Don’t start,” Lincoln looked up from his notes. Lockhart laughed, but Mingus waved off the laughter.

“There may be something to that,” he said. “But I would think we are too early for a man wolf.”

“Werewolf, father.” Roland and Alexis both corrected the elder elf.

“Man wolf. Were wolf. Anyway, it is too early in history. The Were people still have a strong presence in several places around the globe. The disease and genetic component responsible for that rarest of troubles won’t connect for a thousand years, maybe two or three thousand.”

The howl came again. It sounded closer, but not by much.

“Well, I do not think there are regular wolves in this part of the world,” Lincoln said.

“Ah!” Mingus raised a knowing finger. “But again, this far in the past may prove different. We might find elephants stretching all the way from Africa to India in unbroken herds, even across the plains of Saudi Arabia, before the land there turns to dust and the elephant herds separate, India to Africa.”

“I recommend we watch in the night,” Captain Decker interrupted.

“Father, you are very talkative tonight.” Alexis shifted her seat to sit beside the elf while Lockhart considered the captain’s suggestion.

“Just thinking of my old friend, Procter. I am sorry you did not get to know him the way he really was. He should have been babbling and rambling and sharing all this sort of information all along. He could be very annoying, but he was a likeable fellow. He was likeable.”

Alexis leaned in and kissed her father on the cheek while Lockhart stood. “Team watch,” he said. He knew everyone felt exhausted from lack of sleep over the past couple of days, but he did not spend all those early years on the police force for nothing. His instincts were acting up. Something did not feel right. Team watch put Lincoln and Alexis up first. Mingus and Lockhart got the dark of the night. Captain Decker and Roland watched through the wee hours and Katie and Boston got the dawn shift. A single watch of an hour or two each through the night would have let everyone get more rest, but something tweaked Lockhart’s nerves. Lockhart glanced at Katie, and she nodded as if to say it did not feel right to her, too.

The howl came a third time, but this time it sounded further away.

The morning arrived without incident, but Lockhart’s feelings would not go away easily. Someone had to be engaged in something criminal and dangerous, and not too far away. Katie handed him a cup of herbal coffee to help. He said thanks, but honestly, the coffee was something he still had to get used to.

The travelers did not go far that morning before they came to a jungle. They had to spread out a bit, as each tried to find the path of least resistance through the thick undergrowth.

“Don’t move out of sight and sound,” Lockhart ordered.

“And watch out for snakes,” Lincoln added. He imagined the place was full of monster pythons and cobras.

An hour in, and the elves stopped still.

“Leopard?” Mingus suggested. Their good ears picked up something the others did not hear.

Roland shook his head. “Tiger, I believe.” Most thought that was worse. Tigers sometimes became man-eaters.

Another hour and the jungle showed no signs of thinning, and thus far only had what Boston called rabbit trails through the brush. They looked promising for a few yards but quickly petered out.

The elves stopped again, and this time everyone else stopped with them, quieted, and wondered what they heard. Then Captain Decker heard and raised his rifle. Then the others heard and became deathly quiet.

“This is a good place.” They heard a man’s voice.

“This is the middle of nowhere.” A second man argued.

“So, no one will look here.”

“But how will we remember to look here?”

Roland moved in absolute silence. He leapt past Captain Decker and climbed the nearest tree in the blink of an eye. No one felt quite sure how he did that, except Boston who chalked it up to him being an elf and young and a hunter. Roland stood on a thick branch and spied on the men. He waved down to Decker, pointed to his eyes, and cupped his hand. Captain Decker tossed up his binoculars. Even the Captain knew that elf eyes were as superhuman as their ears, but clearly Roland wanted a closer look at something.

“It is only until tonight,” the first man said.

“Tonight? But there is the wolf about. Didn’t you see Vanu’s shredded sheep?”

“Ha! I’m more worried about Dayni. If she knew we had this, we would be the ones shredded.”

“But the wolf—”

“You worry too much. You know the day god cannot meet us while the sun is up. It has to be at night.”

“Hey, hey. Do you think he will do everything he said?”

“He is a god. How can you question that?”

“Yeah. I guess Vanu isn’t the only one with friends. But how are we going to find this exact place again?”

 “Easy. We just come to the place where that goblin up the tree there is staring at us with boogly eyes.”

A moment of silence followed, before everyone heard two men scream like little girls and the thunder of crashing through the bushes. Roland tossed the binoculars down to the captain and zipped down the other side of the tree. “Over here,” he shouted. He wanted to find whatever it was the two fools dropped.

~~~*~~~

“It appears to be an amulet.”

“Let me see.” Mingus held out his hand, but Roland only held up the amulet. He caught Boston’s eye, but she looked at Alexis, so he handed it to his sister.

“You better hang on to this.”

Mingus followed with his eyes. “There is great power in that amulet,” Mingus announced. “Of course, I have never seen it, but that might be the amulet of peace and prosperity. Reportedly made by the same folk who made Thor’s Hammer and the armor and blades of the Kairos.”

“Peace and prosperity?” Lockhart asked. Mingus nodded, but Captain Decker scoffed. The captain started getting a handle on this Kairos business, but magic still seemed like so much nonsense to him.

“At least there is a clear path here through this jungle,” he said.

“Boston?” Lockhart asked without spelling it out.

“This is more or less the right direction.” Boston pointed. Without being asked, Roland and Decker trotted down the path and out of sight to scout.

“The amulet of peace and prosperity,” Lincoln read from the database. “Made from a stone found by the Kairos and blah, blah. Ah! The greater spirits of Peace and Prosperity willingly filled the stone with a reflection of their own being. Even the gods are restrained from causing disasters and hardship against the owners and their people.” Lincoln looked up at Alexis who gently fingered the stone that hung from her neck. “Sounds very powerful.”

“I can feel it,” Alexis admitted.

“It belongs to the Kairos?”

“Yes.” Lincoln looked again at the database. “In a thousand or so years, it will go north with the Kairos, Devya, and become the centerpiece of the city of Sanctuary that she will build on the silk road.”

“The sun god, Dayus.” Lieutenant Harper remembered and looked at Lockhart. Lockhart nodded and thought like a police officer.

“Dayus was the one who hated Dallah so much he created the Thar desert to get rid of her. Now Vanu is within his grasp again, but he is frustrated by the power of the amulet. So he gets two locals to steal the amulet for him so he can make a desert in the Kashmir to get rid of Vanu.”

“Dayni,” Boston remembered what she heard. “I bet the amulet belongs to him.”

“Her,” Lincoln corrected. “The Traveler’s wife.”

“I read that book,” Lockhart smiled as Roland and Decker reappeared with a man between them. The man looked ragged, cut, and bruised everywhere. He stood stark naked, and he also looked like he was not in his right mind.

Avalon 1.6 Freedom part 4 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

By morning, all nerves were stretched to the limit and hardly helped when Xiang gathered them for her good-byes. “God willing as we move south the gate will catch up to you before the demons do. They are two days behind, but they move faster than we do. My people rested some when the rain came, but we have five days to go.” She shook her head. She all but confessed that they would be caught.

“We could slow them down a little,” Captain Decker suggested.

“No!” Xiang shouted. “That is the one thing you must not do. Killing them will just set the demons free to infest others, maybe you. They cannot possess you without your permission, but the lies and temptations can be very persuasive.”

“But if we can’t kill them…” Captain Decker did not know what to say. He had to think of options.

“A sleeping gas?” Lieutenant Harper suggested.

“Demons don’t sleep,” Xiang said. “That might just make them act like zombies. Come to think of it, killing them might not stop them either.”

“Great!” Lincoln frowned. “So what do we do?”

“Avoid them,” Lockhart said. “Go out of our way if necessary and wait until they pass.” Boston reached for Lockhart’s hand, and he gave it to her. Touch was something they all needed.

“Yes, avoid them,” Mingus agreed, and he put his hand on his son’s shoulder. Roland looked toward the rising sun. It looked pale and wan, though the sky hardly had a discernible cloud since the rain cleared off. Everyone had been hoping for a bright, sunny day. It would have lifted all their spirits, but it was not to be.

Unlike the day before, everyone talked while they walked. Something about hearing a voice, even their own voices, kept them from collapsing in dread of the demons. They spoke about memories and tried to relate the good times. They tried to laugh, but by lunch, even the best of times felt strangely ominous and became harder to recall while the wicked and sinful moments of life bombarded them with pain and regrets.

Mingus, Roland, and to a smaller extent Alexis felt the oncoming evil as a palpable fear. Mingus did collapse a couple of times, but Lincoln and Lockhart were right there to lift him and get him walking again. “It can’t be much further,” he kept saying. They kept walking. Lincoln did his best to let Alexis lean on him. Roland did his best to keep breathing and keep his feet moving.

Boston squeezed herself between Lockhart and Roland and held on to one or the other at times for the comfort of their touch. Roland smiled at first when she took his arm, but by afternoon, his expression turned to pity and sorrow. Lockhart’s expression remained stoic throughout, but after lunch, there came a moment when he reached out for her hand.

Katie Harper felt the sweat on her brow. She felt a chill in the air, like an early mountain spring, but the sweat could not be helped. She felt like she was burning, perhaps with a fever, or perhaps, she thought she was getting too close to the lake of fire that waited for the demons in the deepest pit of Hell. She checked and kept checking to be sure Captain Decker’s rifle had the safety on. He did not seem to mind. He did not seem to notice. His eyes simply darted back and forth between the trees and bushes, like he expected some terror to jump out at them any minute.

“It can’t be much further,” Mingus droned and shook his senses to keep to his feet.

“Shouldn’t we be looking to sidestep soon?” Boston asked. When Lockhart looked at her with incomprehension on his face, she explained. “To get off to the side and hide until they pass us by.” It took a minute for her words to penetrate.

“Doctor Procter?” Lockhart spoke to the man out front.

“This way,” the Doctor said in a voice that sounded too sprightly, like a man becoming excited. Lockhart had been watching the man since the beginning and especially since their visit with the Ophir. He came suddenly awake and sharp at the sound of that voice.

“This way,” he said, and turned the group ninety degrees to the Doctor’s prescription. Doctor Procter clearly wanted to object, but as the group turned aside, a thick fog rolled in, instantly, or as Alexis later surmised, it suddenly appeared in their midst. No one could see more than a foot ahead, and as they were all in the process of turning aside, some turned too far and some not far enough. It did not take many steps for them to separate.

“Hello?” “Where are you?” “Come toward my voice.” They all spoke, but the fog echoed the words and threw them back at the speaker, which made orientation and direction impossible. Instead of finding and getting closer to each other, they walked further apart. Only Lincoln and Alexis held on to each other, and Boston, whose sweaty hand was not about to let go of Lockhart. Then everyone stopped at once. They heard a voice. It sounded raspy, cold, and chilling in a way none of them had ever heard before or hoped to hear again. It sounded like the voice of death. It sounded like the voice of damnation.

“They are here.”

Boston pulled herself into Lockhart’s arms feeling sure they were going to die. She looked up into his eyes as he held her close, and the strangest thought crossed her mind. She did not want to die without knowing, so she kissed him, full and firm on the lips, and he kissed her back. When they separated, they looked each other in the eyes, momentarily oblivious to their impending doom. They shook their heads at the same time and the same word escaped their lips. “No,” and they almost smiled.

The fog began to lift, and Boston saw two things at once. She saw Roland right beside them, still. She was not sure what all he saw, but she felt sure he saw something. She felt overwhelmed with the need to tell him she was sorry and that she didn’t mean it. But she said nothing as the faces became clear not too many yards away. Those faces looked twisted and distorted. Some hardly looked human. She turned her own face and buried it in Lockhart’s chest. She tried to get away from the sight, but she closed her eyes too late. Those images got burned into her retinas and her brain. Alexis screamed. Katie Harper also screamed, but it was words.

“Decker, no! We can’t kill them. That will just set them free.”

Doctor Procter jumped forward, straight toward the faces. He turned and walked backwards in the direction of the demonized people as a smile spread across his own face. Everyone saw the tears form in his eyes as he spoke gleefully. “Kill them. Kill them all and have your supper.” He pointed at his companions, tripped over a root, and fell straight to his back. He began to struggle, but he could not get up. What is more, the demonized people appeared to be unmoving. They looked frozen in place, and the travelers could only stare at them in return.

Doctor Procter screamed this time. They heard the horse before they saw it. It appeared indeed, like a medieval-looking knight from the High Middle Ages, covered head to toe in dazzling armor. The long lance looked deadly, but they saw something of grace, perhaps chivalry in the knight’s demeanor. The knight said nothing. He simply walked his well-trained steed until he stood beside the Doctor. He lowered his lance and touched Doctor Procter gently on the chest where the heart rested. A brilliant white light spread slowly all the way around the Doctor until he became bathed in it.

Now, the Doctor truly screamed and writhed, or something writhed, twisted, and tried to get free. The thing, a pall of darkness, looked devoid of all light, not simply dark or black. It looked like the enemy of light but proved no match for the lance. The darkness slowly separated from the doctor and began to squirm like a wounded snake. It tried to lash out again and again, but the light from the lance contained it. At last, the darkness began to dissipate. Outmatched, it had nowhere to go. It became like smoke from an extinguished fire. It turned pale gray and vanished at last, like that smoke in a strong gust of wind.

Still without a word spoken, the Knight of the Lance turned his horse around and step by step he became insubstantial, until he disappeared, not behind a tree, but simply in the air. The travelers all stepped up to the Doctor’s side. They were heedless of the others for the moment. Doctor Procter smiled and glowed with residual light.

He began with one word. “Free.” Then he pulled the amulet from beneath his shirt. “Boston. You must take this. You understand it better than the others, and I trust you will guide everyone safely home.” He took it from around his neck and held it out. Boston accepted it, but her eyes were too full of tears to see it properly. “Alexis. I am glad you are safe. I still remember you scampering around the workplace, and Roland, you were worse.”

“Eh?” Roland glanced at his sister before he looked down at the man.

“Yes. Always breaking things, isn’t that right, Mingus?” Mingus nodded, but he could not answer. “Anyway, I think Mister Lincoln is a fine man so Mingus, leave them alone. And Mister Lockhart, I am sorry I never really got to know you properly.” He paused to look around at his surroundings and gave the impression in his eyes that this was the first he was seeing of it. “I am sorrier that all those years of study will now be missed, eh Mingus? I would dearly love to actually see and experience the lives of the Traveler.” He began to have trouble breathing and Alexis and Katie Harper both began to reach for him, but in a flash of light that made everyone blink and throw their hands toward their eyes, he vanished utterly from the world.

“God rest his soul,” Lockhart breathed. The elves did not object since after all, Doctor Procter had been half-human.

“We better move before these others come around,” Captain Decker said. He nudged Lockhart. Lockhart looked at Boston and it took her a second to remember and check the amulet. She pointed, and they walked around the mass of men and a few women who were still frozen in place. The time gate turned out to be barely a hundred yards away. Boston slipped the amulet around her neck as they hurried through. They heard the demons behind them begin to stir.

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

MONDAY

Peace and Prosperity as long as the wolf does not get in the way. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 1.6 Freedom part 3 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“I’m dying,” Xiang said. “Everyone knows it. You might as well know it, too.” The young man beside her bowed his head. Xiang tried to smile for him. “But I won’t let go until all of my friends and neighbors are safe.”

“But what happened?” Boston could not contain her words.

“My husband.” Xiang spoke without flinching. “The chief demon leading the ones who are chasing us. I have no doubt they have something like this in mind for all of us if they can catch us.”

The young man beside her spoke up. “They pulled Nanhai’s skin from his body and all of it, even after he was dead. They left only his face intact so we would know him.”

Everyone looked at Xiang with mouths agape. “They pinned his eyelids back,” she said. “They left his mouth open in a scream so we would find him that way.”

“And they are chasing you?” Lincoln looked off in the direction they had been walking as Xiang nodded.

“Now.” Xiang got their attention before she had to pause and cough. The coughing looked painful. “Mingus, please get a fire started. The wood is wet, and it will need your help, but don’t wear yourself out. You will probably have to help several families start their fires. Blossom—sorry Boston. Blossom, go and say goodnight to your husband but come right back before dark—darker. Roland, take Boston and Katie on the hunt. Shengi has made the game plentiful, so the hunting should be easy.”

“Take them on a hunt?” Roland asked.

Xiang paused to look up at the encroaching darkness. A chill in the air felt far colder than the end of a cold rain should be. “I don’t want anyone alone.”

“We can set up camp here,” Lockhart waved, and Captain Decker leaned his rifle against a tree so he could shed his backpack and get his tent.

“Can I help?” Alexis’ eyes never wavered from Xiang.

Xiang shook her head. “Some warm bread I have heard so much about, and some water. That is all I need.”

“No, I mean—”

“I know what you mean. You can’t help me. Shengi and Nagi can’t help me. It is time for me to pass on, you see? If I don’t die, how will I be born again?” Xiang began to hobble away.

Alexis stepped up and pulled Xiang’s good arm over her shoulder. Xiang was willing. “Actually, Shengi already said I was not allowed to heal you, but I thought I would ask anyway.”

“Not a good idea to do what the gods have forbidden,” Xiang said, but she smiled. It did not make it easier for Xiang to have help walking, but it did not make it any worse, and she did not mind the company.

“Where are we headed?” Alexis asked.

“The top of that little hill,” Xiang answered and stopped. She turned her head to be sure no one watched. Then Alexis found her arm around a twelve-year-old boy whom she recognized right away.

“Pan.”

“Uh-huh,” Pan said. “Race you.” They ran up the hill. Alexis felt winded at the top though Pan did not.

“I am young again.” Alexis caught her breath. “But not that young.”

Pan just laughed, sat down with his back to a tree, got comfortable and traded places with Xiang once again. “Well, I certainly could not run uphill,” Xiang said.

Alexis sat beside her and for a long time they sat in silence as they watched down below. The people came in and set up makeshift tents and shelters for the night. Campfires got lit, though they appeared dismal and dim in that atmosphere, and no doubt provided little warmth against the cold. Alexis finally had to ask.

“It is the ones after us,” Xiang explained. “Their very nearness projects a terrible pall around everything. I am not surprised with your magic you are still sensitive to it. All my little ones are.”

“Boston, Katie, Lockhart and Captain Decker are sensitive to it, too.”

Xiang nodded. “Not Lincoln?” she asked.

“Him most of all,” Alexis answered, and smiled before they got interrupted by the arrival of the goddess, Nagi. Alexis turned down her eyes.

“Shoot!” Nagi said. “I thought I was getting good at appearing like a normal mortal.” She turned to Alexis as she sat on Xiang’s other side. “Xiang is teaching me how to do that and how to block my mind to the thoughts and lives of others so I can walk among people and see and hear for myself. You know, it gets quite boring after a while knowing all the answers up front.”

Xiang just smiled at the goddess. “It might work better if you didn’t appear out of nowhere.”

“Oh, yeah.” Nagi apparently had something else on her mind. She smiled too much. “Stop it,” she told Alexis. “I know you are older than I am, though I can’t imagine how that is possible.” Alexis simply pointed at Xiang. “I should have guessed.”

“She was born an elf,” Xiang confessed.

“No way,” Nagi reached for Alexis’ hand and Alexis found that a very curious thing for a goddess to do. “You see, I didn’t know that in advance. It is so much more fun this way.  But…”  She turned again to Xiang. “I didn’t know you could do that. That is remarkable, for a mortal I mean.”

Xiang shrugged as well as she could and changed the subject. “You and Shengi getting along?”

Nagi let go of Alexis’ hand and looked away. “Is it obvious.”

“Even without reading minds,” Xiang nodded.

“He said if I was willing to help clean up the mess, we might form a partnership. We sealed the bargain with a kiss, a real kiss.” Nagi looked up at Alexis. “But you are married. You know.”

“Husbands have their good points,” Alexis admitted before she remembered and looked at Xiang. Xiang’s husband was demon possessed and leading the ones chasing the people. It became an awkward moment, but in the perfect timing the little ones so often show, Truffles the fairy chose that moment to zoom up.

“Lady, Lady!” Truffles spouted. “Your children are looking for you and Myming is crying.”

“Husbands have their good points,” Xiang said, as Truffles acknowledged the two other women. They watched as the fairy paused, got big eyes, and turned again toward Nagi.

“Lady,” the fairy breathed and curtsied properly.

Xiang started to get up. It looked painful, Nagi interrupted. “Let me,” she said, and Xiang, Alexis, and Truffles found themselves at the bottom of the hill where the children were gathered.

~~~*~~~

Everyone woke in the night at one time or another. Some people screamed in the night and tears could be heard every now and then. It was hard to tell if they were tears of fear or tears for those friends and relatives now lost to the demons—the very ones pursuing them with nothing in their minds but to kill and destroy them. Lincoln woke when Alexis woke, and they whispered for hours. Boston got up when the moon rose high and found Roland sitting quietly a short distance from the camp. Captain Decker hardly slept and kept his rifle close. Lockhart found Katie up and they talked for a while. They both needed reassurance. Mingus joined them after a while and stayed up long after they tried to get some rest.

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

Don’t forget, the final part of this episode will be posted tomorrow, on Thursday.

Don’t miss it.

*

Avalon 1.6 Freedom part 2 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The morning stayed gray and overcast and the travelers were not in the best of spirits. Alexis spent much of the morning arguing with her father.

“I’m telling you it was a man on horseback, and horses have not been tamed yet or I am sure Shengi god would have given us some.”

“So, one man got ahead of the game. That proves nothing.”

“But he was in armor.”

“But it was dark.”

“The moon was close enough to full, and he had a lance besides.”

“Maybe it was a spear that just looked like a lance. All I am saying is the Knights of the Lance arrived mysteriously on Avalon and the innumerable isles when Lydia brought in that legion of demons. God bless her, she could not help it. But there has not been a sighting of a Knight of the Lance for a thousand years. You have never seen one. I have never seen one. I am just saying you might be mistaken,” Mingus sounded firm and tried to end the conversation there.

“You are just saying you don’t believe me.” Alexis was not going to let him get in the last word.

By the time they all stopped for lunch, no one felt in the mood to speak. Even so, the matter between Mingus and Alexis remained heated, and only settled a bit when Boston overheard the argument.

“I saw a knight, too,” she said. “It was on the ridge of the Ophir, by Ranear’s village three time zones back.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Lockhart asked.

“Because when I looked a second time, it wasn’t there. I thought I had to be imagining things.”

Lieutenant Harper inched closer at that point and spoke up softly. “I saw it.” Every eye turned to her. “All the way back on the first day when we were looking down on the plains of Shinar and the Tower of Babel. I caught the glint of light in my binoculars. When I looked close it looked like a knight in armor on horseback. He rode away over the tower hill.” Lockhart just stared at her. “Like Boston,” she defended herself. “I thought I just imagined it.”

Captain Decker jumped and raised his rifle. He held it tight and sweated. “Did you hear that?”

“I’ve been seeing things out of the corner of my eyes all morning,” Roland admitted.

“Me, too. Seeing and hearing things.” Lincoln looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“Now that you mention it,” Mingus looked up. “The atmosphere here is a bit like standing on the edge of the land of the dead.”

Lincoln looked at the elder elf and frowned. “I wish you hadn’t mentioned it.” The silence came after that, and they packed up lunch early.

Doctor Procter led them to the edge of a cliff and said they had to climb down. Lockhart had everyone spread out along the ledge to look for an easier way down. He felt certain someone would get hurt in the climb. Boston thought to go back the way they had come and circle around. Sure enough, she found an easy way to the bottom.

“Hey!” She hollered back up to the top.

“Where the Hell did you go?” Lockhart yelled back. “We thought you were hurt somewhere or who knows what?” He sounded very parental, worried about his child. He seemed happy to see her safe, but quickly scolded her.

Boston explained how to get down, and Lockhart took a good look at Doctor Procter. The half-elf looked disappointed. Lockhart said nothing.

After that, Doctor Procter led them to a stream, swollen by the rain to where it raged more like a small river. It rushed down the mountainside. It did not seem so wide or deep, but it made rapids, and the rocks looked wet and slick. Lockhart could only imagine a twisted ankle if not a broken leg.

Everyone spread out again to look for a better way across. Roland followed Boston’s lead this time and went beyond the allotted time and distance. They found where the river turned one hundred and eighty degrees and saw they could continue on their path down the mountain without having to cross the water at all. When they reported back, Roland spoke innocently.

“If we had crossed the stream here we would have had to cross it again a few thousand yards down the mountain.” This time Lockhart disguised nothing in his stare at Doctor Procter. The doctor spoke amiably.

“I only follow the direction on the amulet. It doesn’t have a setting to help us avoid obstacles.” All the same, Lockhart caught the sense of cursing that came to Doctor Procter’s lips. It began to look to Lockhart like the good doctor wanted them injured for some reason, or worse.

An hour later, about three hours before sundown, if they would recognize sundown when it came, the whole atmosphere around them turned from dark and gloomy to seriously oppressive. They were all jumpy by then and hearing noises and catching things in the corners of their vision. Nothing happened, though, until something fluttered up and said “Hi.” Decker’s gun went off and the fluttering thing vanished.

“Wait. Fairy. Miss fairy.” Boston called out. “We won’t harm you.” She whipped around on Captain Decker and let lose her anger. “If you harmed her you will pay for it.” The look on Captain Decker’s face said he was sorry, that he could not help it, but words were beyond him. Another half-hour down the path and they heard the words before they saw a thing.

“Hello. Is it safe? Xiang sent me to fetch you, but I don’t want more bang-bang scary noises. It is scary enough as it is.”

Several voices answered, but Boston’s voice carried above the others. “It’s safe, miss fairy. No one will hurt you. My name is Boston.” The fairy flew up to Boston’s face and hovered for a moment to examine the girl.

“My name is Blossom,” she said before she fluttered up to examine the others. She gave the elder elf a bow, smiled for Roland, did not appear to even acknowledge Doctor Procter, and returned to Boston again at the end.

“You can sit on my shoulder while we walk if you like,” Boston suggested.

Blossom wrinkled her nose. “You have done this before,” she said.

“Twice,” Boston admitted, and the fairy settled down for a visit. With that, they had good guidance, and everyone felt their spirits lift a little in the presence of the fairy, except perhaps Doctor Procter, who slipped to the rear to walk beside Captain Decker. The captain felt guilty about firing at the poor fairy. He did not know that the chances of hitting a fairy were astronomically slim, even for a marksman.

After another half-hour, they came upon four men in a clearing. One of the men looked up. “Ah, there you are,” he said, before he turned to one of the others. “Go tell the people to hurry up. This is a good place for the night and now that my friends have arrived, we can start making camp.” While two of the men trotted off, the travelers simply stared at this familiar face before Alexis got it.

“Keng?”

Captain Decker looked at Alexis with great curiosity. “He can’t still be alive, can he?”

“Get with the program, Decker.” Lieutenant Harper frowned. “Sir,” she added to be safe.

“It’s all right, Katie.” Keng smiled for them all. “I was just getting ready to leave. The village is not far behind.”

“You’re older,” Alexis said.

“I’m older than I was when I died,” Keng responded. “I guess that sounds a little strange.”

“From you?” Lockhart shook his head.

“Mind if I write that one down?” Lincoln asked.

Keng just broadened his grin and retrieved the crutch the other man had been holding. “See you,” he said, and went away. A woman took his place and several people gasped, except Mingus who merely nodded.

“Keng and Xiang are genetic reflections,” he said. When the others did not appear to understand, he added, “They share the exact same genetic code altered only for male and female. They are like identical twins of the opposite sex.”

Alexis hit her father to quiet him. That was not why they gasped. Xiang arrived bent over. Her spine appeared bent, like it cracked, though it had not yet broken. One knee looked like it had been shattered and healed badly, and her ribs came wrapped and caked with dried blood, like she had a wound that would not close. Above all, her face seemed twisted. It looked raw, as if the flesh itself had been beaten off her.

Avalon 1.6 Freedom part 1 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 4320 BC in the Mountains of Southern China. Kairos 13: Xiang

Recording …

The hard rain pelted them. It tried to move them downhill, like flood waters from a broken dam. The travelers had to stop and take the time to adjust their fairy weave clothing, to make slickers with hoods and boots to resist the water. They trudged forward only to have Lockhart drag them to the nearby cliffs. The time was close enough to sundown that he felt it not worth forcing them through that downpour. He decided the sooner they found some shelter, the better.

Lockhart thrilled to discover a cave in the side of the cliffs, as he hoped. An overhang would not have served nearly as well the way the wind whipped around. What made him pause, and made them all pause, was the fact that there already appeared to be a campfire burning in the cave. They could see the light and smell the meat cooking.

“Our path is this way.” Doctor Procter pointed away from the cave.

“Forget that,” Boston said, and she walked boldly into the light. The others followed and were surprised to find a single man sitting there. A whole deer roasted away, and it smelled delicious.

“Come in. Come in.” The man said, and they all thought he seemed a very young man. “Get yourselves dry and warm by the fire.

“Thank you.” Lockhart said it before Alexis could. “It is pretty rough out there.”

“Well,” the man grinned at some internal thought. “The rain was overdue and there is a place of soft dirt some five-days march from here. With luck, it may come loose and slide to the bottom, and maybe bring some boulders with it.”

“That’s an odd thought,” Lieutenant Harper noted, while she checked her rifle.

“When can we expect the rest of your group?” Captain Decker wondered.

“Just me,” the young man said. “This deer is for you. We were expecting you, and when you came through, I rushed here. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No. Not at all. Great.” They all said.

“Thank you very much.” Alexis got to say it after all. “I’m Alexis.”

“I know who you are,” the young man interrupted. “I am Shengi, god of the mountain, or I should say mountains.”

They all paused at various points in disrobing and did not know what to say until Boston spoke. “You’re not a hundred yet, are you?”

Shengi looked up at her. He could have easily been offended, but instead he smiled. “Is it that obvious young Mary Riley but everyone calls me Boston?”

“No.” Boston shook her head and returned his smile. Then she turned to the others and explained. “A god isn’t considered fully mature until he is at least a hundred-years-old.”

“Oh.” People went back to taking off their wet things and inching toward the fire. It not only rained torrents, it was a cold rain on the mountain. Lincoln had a thought.

“What did you mean when you said “we” were expecting you?”

Shengi stood and invited Lockhart and Lieutenant Harper to take his place. “Xiang,” he said. “She said you had not come in her whole life and had to come soon.”

“The Kairos,” Boston said, having read some about her in the database.

Shengi nodded. “But not official for several more lifetimes.”

“Why soon?” Lincoln still sounded suspicious.

“Because she is dying,” Shengi turned his back on them, but it took no insight to know he fought tears at the thought. When he turned back, he had a word for Alexis. “And you are not permitted to heal her.”

Alexis looked down at the fire.

“And why is she dying?” Lockhart thought to ask.

“Because I screwed up,” Shengi said, and Roland gasped at the thought. “Do not be surprised, good elf. It is more common than you think. But here, I am responsible for events.” He knelt by the fire, began to cut pieces of the deer, and passed them out. There were vegetables as well, roasted, but not burnt, and Alexis quickly made some bread to complete the meal while Shengi explained.

“My cousin and I devised a plan to advance the people in civilization. Her land is good land by the river, the one Xiang calls the Lancang. We started by devising a competition between the people. It escalated to a struggle. We helped our own far more than we should. At last, we became the ones in competition, and I would not lose to her.” Shengi clearly stiffened his upper lip before he finished. “Xiang is leading two thirds of her people to safety over the mountain. They will enter the safe lands of the Whirlwind that she calls Laos. The other third of the people are demon possessed and hungry for blood, to steal, kill and destroy.”

“That is what demons do,” Alexis said. She went to church regularly since becoming human.

Shengi sighed. “I am responsible for the infestation of demons, and once the matter with Xiang is settled, I will spend the next several hundred years cleaning up my mess.”

“We are responsible.” They heard another voice, and a woman stepped out of the dark. She appeared beautiful beyond words and because of that, they all knew she was a goddess. “I am not going to let you take all the fallout from this.” Shengi looked up at the woman with gratitude. She bent down and kissed him gently, smack on the lips. “We have to stick together, we do.” Shengi just nodded, and then Lockhart, Lincoln, and Roland all spoke at more or less the same time.

“Nagi.” They had met the woman back in the days of Keng.

Nagi looked around for the first time and then turned her back on them all, the way Shengi had. “What is this feeling?” she asked. Everyone stayed quiet as Nagi let out a little gasp. “It is shame. I feel ashamed of what I did. I have never felt that feeling before.” She spun around, but instead of the anger they feared, she also sported a look of gratitude as Shengi had shown just moments before.

“You have done nothing to be ashamed of,” Shengi said.

“But you don’t know all I have done,” Nagi responded. “These people do not know the details, but I feel ashamed in any case.” She paused and lowered her eyes. “I would say I am sorry, but the gods are not supposed to say that, if you follow me.”

“If I thought it safe, I would give you a hug,” Boston said, and Nagi gladly stepped over and hugged her.

“But now, Shengi and I must go.”

“I think you make a fine couple.” Alexis said, having read the look Nagi gave to the young man. “Don’t you think so, father?”

“Lovely,” Mingus said.

Nagi returned a knowing smile to Alexis. “But then, you are older than I am. You should know about such things.”

“Wait,” Captain Decker got their attention since he felt sure their interview was over. “This looks more like a tunnel than a cave. May I ask what is back there?”

“Trolls,” Shengi admitted. “But I have set a hedge for the night. They will not bother you.”

“Great.” Lincoln said, but he said no more as Shengi and Nagi vanished before their eyes.

“What is great about trolls?” Roland asked. Clearly, he did not like having trolls around.

“I was being sarcastic,” Lincoln admitted. “With trolls behind us and demon possessed people ahead of us I doubt I’ll get much sleep.”

“Poor baby,” Alexis slipped her arm around Lincoln’s waist. “I’ll protect you.”

Doctor Procter chose that moment to come in out of the rain and dark. “It is really coming down out there and no sign of a let-up,” he said as he took off his wet things.

The others just stared at him since none of them realized he had not already come into the cave. Mingus verbalized the thought.

“And you were where?”

“Just checking the distance and direction for the morning. I wasn’t getting a good reading inside the cave for some reason.”

“But you just got over being sick,” Alexis worried.

“But I am over,” Doctor Procter said, as he came up to the fire. “Dead animal. Good, I’m starving.” No one said a word in response.

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

Once again we have a FOUR part episode so it will conclude on Thursday

Don’t miss it.

*

Avalon 1.5 Little Packages part 4 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Godus came running back and shouted, even as the sounds of barking and growling reached their ears. “Hurry,” Godus yelled. “The dogs are into the sheep.” He turned and ran back toward the stream.

“Everybody! Come and help,” Dallah yelled, and followed her husband. The travelers followed Reneus, except for Alexis who thought to stay and keep an eye on Doctor Procter. Guns came out, and Roland got out his bow. The people all came, and so did the imps who were generally faster than the people. The elves were fastest, and Roland had one shot before anyone else arrived.

The imps dove into the herd howling, rolling their eyes, waving their big hands, using glamours to make themselves appear big and frightening. They just about scared the boys and sheep to death. The dogs looked like they wanted no part of it either. When Stonecrusher arrived, the dogs ran, but by then the travelers were near enough.

Lockhart got one with the shotgun. Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper were a little slower, but both brought a dog to the ground. Three escaped, but they looked like they could not run fast enough, and like they might not stop until they were out of that region altogether.

Dallah was one of the last to arrive. “She is not strong,” Reneus explained.

“She won’t eat,” Mya added.

“Mother,” Andor tugged on her dress and Korah stood beside her little brother, her mouth open.

“Stonecrusher, stand still and keep your mouth closed and your hands to yourself.” Dallah practically whispered the words, but Stonecrusher stopped where he was. “Imps, here, now.” Dallah said, and people gasped as the imps appeared a few feet away. This time the imps all doffed their hats. “Thank you.”

“Our pleasure,” Crusty said, and Dwizzle nodded.

“It was?” Itchy turned to the others before he had something like a revelation. “It was. It really was our pleasure.”

“Were you scared?” Andor asked.

“Well, it’s like this young master—” Itchy started to speak but Crusty interrupted.

“Dwizzle wet himself,” Crusty said and Dwizzle nodded.

“But now what are we going to do with them?” Godus asked when they heard the sound of wailing among the sheep.

Korah recognized the sound and ran toward the cry. The sheep parted to let her through, and her future husband ran right behind her. The young boys in the field stood over their mother but did not know what to do. She cried over a dead sheep, and there was no comforting her.

The dogs only killed one, but the woman’s herd had gotten down to six. Herds that once sported forty or fifty sheep were in a death spiral in that harsh and inhospitable environment.

“Godus, dear.” Dallah turned again to her husband. “Give her one of ours. Make it a good one.”

“But then we will have just six.”

“As she will. Give it to Korah for her new family,” Dallah decided. Godus raised an eyebrow. That was not really playing fair.

“Pardon, lady.” Itchy stepped forward. “Might Stonecrusher have the dead one? That would certainly be a relief for everyone.”

“No,” Dallah said. “Roland, you take the dead sheep for tomorrow and the next day if necessary since you likely won’t find anything between here and the gate. Stonecrusher.” She waited until she had the ogre’s complete attention before she spoke. “You can have the dogs.”

“Mother!” Reneus objected. They had a lot of good meat on those animals, and that would sustain them for some time. But Dallah had not finished speaking.

“Take only the dead dogs and be content. Share one with your impy cousins and go with them to Lord Varuna. He may have new work for you. You are released from your obligation to Dayus.”

“Yes, Lady. Thank you, Lady.” The ogre picked up the dogs one by one and carried all four back into the wilderness without any strain at all.

“Strong sucker,” Captain Decker noted.

“And you imps.” They looked up at Dallah with big eyes. She smiled. “Skat,” she said. “Shoo.” They ran off, happy.

Godus sidled up to his wife and spoke softly. “Any more surprises?”

“A few, but mostly you are looking at them.” She took his hand introduced the travelers. She remembered to say, “Her name is Mary Riley, but everyone calls her Boston.” Then they all went to a wedding.

Dallah cried. Boston cried with her. Alexis only got teary eyed, so Lincoln cried for her. Captain Decker said, “Women.” Captain or not, Katie Harper slapped him in the arm.

The third family in the camp performed the actual ceremony. They also stood as witnesses to the union. It was a lovely ceremony, and surprisingly like modern ceremonies in most parts. But then there came the sacrifice of a sheep. And several moderns looked away when the old man who performed the sacrifice soaked his hands in the sheep’s blood and sprinkled it liberally all over the couple.

Boston kept her mouth shut, but she thought “Ewww,” really loud.

After the wedding, the couple had a place not far from the camp. They had their own fire and sweets and got the prime portion of the sacrificed sheep for their supper. The families, meanwhile, settled in for a party of their own. Korah’s new mother sat beside Dallah for a time, though it made Dallah uncomfortable. Dallah only had one word of advice for the woman.

“Korah has a big, sensitive heart full of love. If you treat her gently and with kindness and encourage her in what she does she will love you forever.” The woman responded in a way which should not have been too surprising given the events of the day.

“Yes, Lady. I will do that very thing.”

By evening, Doctor Procter appeared to be much better. He sat up and ate but thought it best not to go join the celebration. He claimed to be too tired.

Later, when the sun set and most of the camp slept, Alexis stayed up a bit to watch the Doctor. She looked out beneath a moon that appeared just shy of being full, when her eye caught something glisten in the moonlight. She had no idea what it might be until she heard the sound of a horse snort a big gust of breath. The knight came close to the camp, but it did not come into the camp. Alexis stood. Doctor Procter appeared to be asleep, but he began to shiver. Alexis held her breath while the knight reared up, turned, and galloped off into the dark. She immediately woke her father and told him.

“It was a Knight of the Lance. I am sure. It had to be.”

Mingus shook his head. “There haven’t been any Knights of the Lance around for centuries.”

“No,” Alexis argued. “I heard of one a few years ago when Ashtoreth came up into the castle of the Kairos and the Kairos got so sick.”

Mingus nodded. “I heard that too, but never any proof… Just a rumor…”

“But father—”

“Go to bed and sleep. We will be leaving in the morning.”

Alexis looked down and nodded. Maybe she had not seen it. Maybe it had been like a waking dream. Maybe, but she was not sure.

Later in the night, Doctor Procter woke when a lizard crawled across his belly. His hand reached out and grabbed the creature. A harmless little thing, and the Doctor held it and bent it backwards until there came a snap! The Doctor Procter had no reason for doing that. He felt the urge to kill and wanted the pleasure of watching the beast die.

More tears came in the morning as everyone said good-bye. The witness family, the first to leave, took their sheep and headed off to the southeast. Then it came time for Korah and her mother to be parted. “Always respect your husband,” Dallah whispered between the hugs and tears. “And he will love you without ceasing.”

Korah nodded, and shortly they headed off into the north. They said they were going to go as far as the mountains to escape the dead lands. Dallah truly wished them well.

Last of all the travelers headed into the west, and Andor waved until they were out of sight. After they were gone, Andor pointed his fingers at Mya and said, “Bang! Bang!” She just had to chase him. They would be staying where they were for the present. They had the stream and some grass worth eating for their few sheep, but how long they might hold out was anyone’s guess.

Boston was the last to say anything under that blazing sun. “Doesn’t the Kairos ever get born anywhere off the equator? I mean, a little rain might be nice, at least.” Naturally, as they stepped through the gate, they found themselves in a torrent.

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

Monday

Avalon 1.6 Freedom is another 4-part / 4-post episode, so don’t forget the Thursday post. The travelers get into the middle of a forced migration. The people are fleeing from some in their own village. There is a story there. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 1.5 Little Packages part 3 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Lockhart! Boston!” Dallah groaned as she got to her feet and waved.

“Mother?” Mya spoke.

“These are the ones I told you might come one day.”

“I had forgotten.” Reneus said, as the travelers came to the water. Dallah had to hug Boston and Alexis, in her wet clothes.

“It is so good to see you. I am so glad you are here.”

“Where can we set down Doctor Procter?” Lockhart asked. He looked exhausted. He and Mingus were taking a turn and the elder elf, in particular, looked unable to go much further.

“Of course.” Dallah stepped close to the half-breed but knew better than to touch him. “How long has he been like this?” she asked.

“This is the second day,” Captain Decker said. He shouldered his rifle and took Mingus’ place.

“Well, come. We must get him to the camp.”

“Mother.” Andor got her attention. “Your imps went ahead of us.”

“Oh dear.” She hurried and everyone hurried to follow. Fortunately, the imps just arrived since they stopped first for an argument.

“We are free now,” Crusty said.

“We’re supposed to go see Lord Varuna,” Dwizzle said.

“Wait a minute!” Itchy bought none of it. “Since when does a thicky bean tell us what to do, especially when our orders come from the king of the gods himself?”

“But I feel free,” Crusty said. “I don’t feel like doing the work of Dayus anymore.”

Dwizzle nodded, but Itchy responded. “That don’t mean anything. Crusty, you don’t ever feel like doing any work.” Dwizzle laughed.

“I’m thinking we could ask Lord Varuna when we find him. He always tells the truth.” Itchy hit him. “Ooowww.”

“You don’t do the thinking, you’ll only hurt yourself worse than before.” Dwizzle put his hand back in his mouth and pouted.

“I think that is a good idea,” Crusty said. Itchy stomped on his foot. “Ooowww.”

“Right now, we got to find Stonecrusher some meat before we become meat.” They could agree on that. With their glamours on, they came right up to the edge of the camp, which was not much to speak of, the huts being barely more than lean-tos with skins on the open side. They were snuggled between some stick trees, and there were only five of them altogether. There could not have been more than twenty people in that camp and barely more than twenty sheep as well.

The sheep were presently in a pen where Dallah’s husband, Godus, and two men had separated the sacrifice from the others. When they were done, the groom had two younger brothers who drove the rest to the stream.

“Not much selection,” Crusty said. The sheep were all scrawny, stunted, and underfed.

“Yeah, but it will do,” Itchy responded.

“Hey, look. Sweets.” Dwizzle pointed to a table by the altar. It sat full of dried fruits and cooked roots and tubers of various kinds.

“Oh, boy!” Crusty shouted, and before Itchy could stop them, they were on the table, they had let their glamours drop, and people screamed, some ran away, and some did not seem sure what to do.

“Hold it right there!” Dallah shouted between breaths. The imps froze in place because Dallah had that in mind. “This is my daughter’s wedding, and you will not mess it up.” She yelled a little, but mostly walked more slowly to the table so she could regain her breath. When she arrived to stare at the imps, she pushed an escaped gray hair back toward the bun on her head before she spoke. “Your hands, empty.” Dwizzle and Crusty put out their hands and she slapped them. The imps made no sound, but both squinted from the sharp, if temporary pain. “Itchy.”

The imp had his hands behind his back. “No.” He shook his head for emphasis.

“You should have been named stubborn,” Dallah said. “Your hand.” She did not ask and Itchy whipped out his hands, empty despite what his mind told him and despite his better judgment. She slapped them both, and Itchy had a hard time putting both in his mouth at once.

“Hey! How do you know our names?” Crusty asked, like the truth of that suddenly caught up to him.

“I know all about you,” Dallah said. “More than I would like to know. Now get off the table and behave, I have to see to my daughter.” Korah was already running into her mother’s arms. She cried, but Dallah brushed Korah’s hair with her hand and said, “Hush, everything will be all right.”

“Mother.” Andor tried to get her attention as Godus came up from the sheep pen.

“Who are you?” Itchy finally removed his hands to ask, and then decided to take turns soaking one hand at a time.

“She is your goddess,” Boston said. “Or she will be one day.” She knew she should not say it because it came out of time context, but she could not help herself.

“What? Don’t we have enough gods and goddesses already?”

“No, no.” Alexis spoke to clarify. Apparently, she could not help herself either. “She will not be another goddess of humans that you have to work for. She will be your goddess; goddess of all the little spirits of the earth.”

“There is no such thing.” Itchy understood.

“There will be,” Alexis responded with a smile toward her brother who frowned. The law said they were not supposed to reveal the future like that.

“Mother.” Andor tried again. Reneus, Lockhart and some of the others looked where Andor looked, but hardly knew what to say.

“But she is old and will die soon,” Crusty protested.

“But she will be reborn,” Mingus stepped up. “And sometimes she will be a god and sometimes a goddess for us all.” He turned to Itchy. “Whether we like it or not.”

“Mother.”

“But lady…” Dwizzle tugged on Dallah’s dress and pointed. “Stonecrusher is hungry.

The ogre came down the path from the stream. He appeared hard to look at because he was so ugly; but not simply a disgusting ugly. He looked mean, mad, and hungry, and now the people had something they could really scream about.

“I’m gonna eat me some people,” Stonecrusher said.

“I’m gonna eat some people,” the ogre said it again, like he was trying to make it into a song. Dallah felt sure no one wanted to hear the ogre sing so she shouted.

“Save your bullets!” Dallah said that before anything else, and Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper lowered their weapons, if reluctantly. The marines were surprised to see Lockhart, Lincoln, Alexis, and Boston all grinning. Mingus had his hands over his eyes as if he did not want to watch. Roland looked at Boston to be sure she was not too frightened. Besides, it felt too hard to look at the ogre, even for him.

“Your bullets might penetrate and maybe a shotgun slug at close range,” Mingus said. “But most would just bounce off his rock-hard skin and make him mad.”

“Rock-hard head, you mean,” Itchy added.

“That too, I am sure,” Mingus admitted.

Dallah placed Korah in her father’s arms and stepped toward the oncoming terror. Hold it right there!” She had to shout to be heard above the screams, though she knew her little one would hear her no matter what. “Stop walking. Feet, stand still.”

“I’m gonna eat some people,” the ogre repeated himself before he shouted back. “Hey! What happened to my feet?” It was fortunate the commands of the Kairos did not have to be processed through the brain before becoming effective.

 “Sit down.” Dallah said, and to the dismay of many of the people, not the least her family, Dallah walked straight toward the thing. As the ogre sat, he asked his question again.

“But what happened to my feet?” Stonecrusher paused while Dallah walked the distance and then the ogre asked a second question. “Why am I sitting?”

“What am I going to do with you?” Dallah asked a rhetorical question in return as she neared. The ogre reached for her. People gasped, but Dallah merely slapped the ogre hand like she had slapped the imp hands. The ogre snatched his hand back and looked at it.

“I thought you said the skin was rock hard.” Lieutenant Harper spoke.

“It is,” Roland answered. “But the Kairos is not hampered by any of it.”

Then the pain got processed and the ogre imitated his little cousins. “Ooowww,” he said in a very loud voice, and he slipped its hand into its mouth.

“Quiet and keep your hands to yourself.” Dallah thought as hard as she could but saw no alternative. “Godus.” She shouted back to the people who had fallen into a hushed silence to watch this spectacle. “We have to give it one of our sheep.”

“We’ve not but seven left,” Godus responded. Being the spouse of the Kairos had its privileges as far as the little ones were concerned. Her family certainly adjusted to the imps fast enough in the stream.

“Well, we will have to have six. You can pick the least of the lot that is left, but we have to feed it something. The poor thing is starving.”

“Somehow, I never imagined an ogre being called a poor thing,” Lincoln said quietly, and Alexis went to take his arm.

Godus handed Korah to her older brother, Reneus, but she already semed fine, had stopped crying, and stared with the rest of them.

Crusty sighed. “I was afraid if she was still mad at us she might feed us to the ogre.” Dwizzle nodded.

“And she could make us walk right into that big mouth without another thought,” Itchy added.

“She would never do that.” Mingus lowered his hands. “Don’t you know how much she loves you?” A small tear came to his eye, and also to Dwizzle’s eye.

“But she is old and will die soon.” Crusty said it again.

“That’s okay,” Itchy decided. “I could live with a god that dies now and then. Then she gets to be a baby again?” Mingus nodded. “So, we get a season of peace when she is young and growing up,” Itchy concluded.

“Or he,” Mingus said.

“That must be weird,” Itchy said.

“Not if you are born that way,” Mingus said.

“Oh yeah. I hadn’t thought of that.”

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

Don’t forget tomorrow (Thursday) will finish the episode, so…

*

Avalon 1.5 Little Packages part 2 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Dwizzle, the imp closest to the travelers stood. “Look, females.” He reached out a hand too big for the little body that supported it.

“Careful, Dwizzle,” Itchy spoke from beside the rock. “It may have prrrrikles.”

The hand paused and Alexis pointed her wand. An electrical discharge struck the hand, and Dwizzle snatched his hand back and slipped it into his mouth, a mouth too big for its face. Indeed, the nose, eyes and ears were all oversized.

“She’s a blinking witch,” Crusty said, as he waddled over to the rock to stand beside Itchy.

“I think you may have cooties,” Lockhart told Boston who grinned at the idea.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Lincoln remembered that the imps belonged to the Kairos, even if the Kairos was not yet official. That helped him relax and ask his question. “What are you imps doing out in this forsaken wilderness?”

Itchy looked at the man like he was daft. Crusty spoke. “We got our job, don’t we? Dry the land and make it sand.”

“Yeah, but we’ve been working too hard,” Itchy complained. “We heard there was a party around here.”

“Hey look!” Dwizzle removed his hand from his mouth as he spoke. “This female has bumps.” He reached for Boston’s chest, and she did not hesitate to slap the imp across the cheek, hard.

Dwizzle paused. His eyes got bigger than big. He let out a drawn-out sound.  “Ooowww,” and put his good hand to his cheek while his other hand went back into his mouth.

“You better go stand behind your friends before you hurt yourself,” Lincoln suggested. Dwizzle did that while Itchy spoke.

“Surprising sense from one so thick.”

Mingus interrupted any response with his explanation. “He means thick like more body, less spirit. He doesn’t mean stupid.”

“I mean what I mean,” Itchy said, with a stern look at the elder elf, but then Dwizzle had a thought.

“Stonecrusher is hungry, you know. He eats human beans.”

“Is Stonecrusher a troll?” Boston had to ask.

“Nah!” Crusty answered. “He’s just an ogre with a bad temper. Ooowww.” Itchy hit Crusty in the arm.

“He is a great, big ugly giant,” Itchy said. “Terrible and mean and, and hungry for human meat.”

Dwizzle removed his hand for a moment. “Yeah, we thought we could snitch some food from the party.”

“Better than him eatin’ us,” Crusty mumbled and put his fists up in case Itchy had in mind to hit him again.

“When the ogre is fed, you are safe in your bed,” Boston said.

“I remember.” Lockhart patted her on the shoulder.

“That’s very good,” Alexis complimented Boston. “Where did you hear that?”

“Missus Pumpkin,” Boston answered.

“Ahem!” Lincoln coughed and pointed to the imps.

Itchy smiled too big a smile for his face. “Anyway, all you got is elf bread stuff.” The imps made faces of disgust. “How can anyone stomach elf food?”

Everyone paused while the sound of howling and dogs fighting echoed across the barren land. Doctor Procter chose that moment to sit up and yell. The words were nonsense, but then he fell back to his makeshift pillow and grew quiet again.

“You got a sicky.” Crusty pointed.

“What’s a sicky?” Dwizzle asked.

“That there.”

“You’ve never been sick. You don’t know what sick is,” Itchy mocked.

“Do so. I saw a thicky get sicky before.”

“Hey!” Lockhart got their attention again and the imps paused in their own argument to look up at the man. Lockhart smiled, but not as broadly as Itchy had smiled. Itchy shook a finger at the man.

“We gotta watch this one,” he said. “But right now, we gotta go find that party.”

“Right,” Crusty agreed.

“Better than us getting eaten by Stonecrusher,” Dwizzle added.

Roland stood behind them with his bow ready. Captain Decker had his rifle to one side, and they were hemmed in on the other side by the big rock. The rest of the travelers were in front of them so they appeared surrounded, but they moved with surprising speed and slipped around both sides of the Captain knowing better than to test the elf. Captain Decker might have plugged one, but Lockhart spoke quickly.

“Hold your fire.” In a few short seconds, the imps blended back into the landscape and became impossible to see but for the motion of the dust and sand they kicked up.

“A glamour,” Mingus described it. “Not true invisibility.” Everyone else just nodded.

~~~*~~~

Andor got into the water and the first thing Dallah did was judge the depth. It barely came to her son’s knees, which meant it had dried up another two inches or more. Reneus knelt down to fill the water skin. Mya stared at Andor before she made the boy strip down to nothing. Andor did not mind playing in the water. It stayed hot out, and even the shade of the few lively trees that bordered the stream did not help all that much.

Dallah sat slowly in that shade. Her joints ached. “You better do a good job, Andor, or you will have to take a real bath and get scrubbed.”

“Aw, mother.” Andor glanced at Mya.

“Now, come. Your sister is getting married. Do it for her.”

Andor did not mind that so much. He liked his sister, so he began by dumping a double handful of water on his head.

Mya grinned at some impish thought, dropped her dress so she stood in her under things. She stepped into the water with a word that perhaps Andor needed help, and she splashed him. Of course, he splashed her back, and they went at it for a few turns before they turned, without a word, and splashed Reneus. He immediately dropped his wet clothes and put his hand to the water. He turned to look at his mother, but she spoke first.

“Don’t you dare.”

He did not dare, but he had fun with the others while Dallah watched the visitors come in close. She would rather not deal with them at the moment, but nothing in this lifetime went the way she wanted. She watched as the imps came out from beneath their glamour and she put her hand to her ears when Mya screamed and grabbed hold of Reneus.

Dwizzle immediately jumped into the water and began to use his two hands like water shovels. Poor Andor did not stand a chance. Surprisingly, Mya was the first to come to his assistance. Then Crusty joined in, but he splashed Dwizzle by accident. So they splashed each other a few times, and that brought Itchy and Reneus into the fray.

“Wait!” Dallah shouted. Everyone stopped and looked in her direction. “Have your fun as long as no one gets hurt but leave me out of it.” She spoke sternly, and at least Crusty gave a little bow. Dwizzle just opened his jaw and Andor took advantage by splashing Dwizzle in the face to make him swallow some water.

Then it became a free-for-all, and the water went everywhere. Inevitably, Itchy and Crusty teamed up to make a big four-handed wave aimed at Reneus, and Reneus ducked. Dallah got soaked, and again, everyone stopped.

“I would say that is enough,” she said. “Imps, come here.” Dwizzle and Crusty came right away, but she had to sternly add, “You too, Itchy.” The imp came whether he wanted to or not.

“Now, who are you working for?”

Crusty took off his hat, which no one realized he wore, and so Dwizzle followed that example. Itchy chose to be stubborn, and he was the one who answered.

“Dayus, the king of the gods himself.”

“Oh? He got sober enough to give you instructions.” The imps, even Itchy grinned at that, but Reneus and Mya reacted at her blasphemy.

“Mother!”

“Please!” Dallah sighed. “It is a wonder he gets up in the morning and can follow a straight line across the sky.”

“Automatic pilot,” Itchy whispered with a grin.

Dallah nodded. “Now what is your job?”

“To dry the land and make it sand,” Crusty recited. Dwizzle nodded. Itchy had a thought.

“What’s it to you?”

“I think you have done enough of that. The die is cast, as they say. There is no stopping it now.” She paused to examine the three imp faces one at a time before she spoke again. “I release you from your duty to Dayus. I think you should go see Lord Varuna. He may have work for you.”

“Wait a minute. Who are you?”

“Mother,” Reneus interrupted. The travelers were on the horizon.

“Quick, now’s our chance.” Itchy pulled the other imps to the side. They melted back into the landscape and made for the party.

Avalon 1.5 Little Packages part 1 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 4364 BC on the Plains of Thera. Kairos 12: Dallah

Recording …

“Another one.” Alexis pointed. Lieutenant Harper trained her rifle in the general direction, but it was hard to pinpoint, whatever it was, since it kept going invisible. They were the color of the sand, the main part of the landscape. The rest of the scenery was not much to look at. The trees, what there were of them, seemed just sticks, short, stunted, and dry, like they baked too long in the oven. The clumps of grass that stubbornly refused to give up looked burnt yellow and brown. The sun felt relentless.

A dog howled in the distance, but Alexis shook her head. “They aren’t dogs,” she said. “What we are seeing,” she clarified.

“A mirage in this heat?” Lincoln wiped the sweat from Alexis’ brow. The sun itself appeared to be sweating from its own heat.

“Not a mirage,” Lockhart answered. “With mirages you see things. All we are seeing is occasional movement and glimpses of figures that vanish in the heat.”

“And not enough of glimpses to make out shape and size,” Roland added.

Lockhart and Captain Decker set down the stretcher. Doctor Procter kept mumbling that he would be all right, but Alexis was not so sure. Lincoln needed to take a turn carrying the stretcher, and Roland, though it would be his second turn. Mingus said he would be there to help if needed.

Poor Doctor Procter stayed delirious most of the time. The only time he came awake was when someone reached for him. Then his words sounded clear and sharp. “Don’t touch me.” And they got spoken with such vehemence, no one dared to disobey.

“At least it is not the bokarus,” Boston pointed out. “There is only one bokarus.”

“This is no terrain for a bokarus,” Mingus assured them.

“Or ghouls,” Alexis said. “If they sent out a second group after the first stopped reporting, they would not be nearly this far along yet.”

“Whatever it is, it is a wild one.” Roland suggested, as he sipped some water. Lockhart had already started watching their water supply, carefully. No telling how long it might be in that environment before they found more water. Captain Decker also seemed to have gotten the idea, but neither said a word.

“Wild ones, I think.” Mingus responded. He gave them the impression that he might be seeing a bit more than the others, but he did not let on yet about what he was seeing or thinking.

Alexis bent down toward Doctor Procter. The man sat straight up. “Don’t!” Alexis paused.

“It is just some water.”

Doctor Procter reached for the cup, carefully, to not touch the woman. He drank greedily and when he handed the empty cup back so she could take it by the handle, he added a word. “Don’t let anyone else drink from that cup.” His words were stern as he began to shake his head. He closed his eyes, fell back, and mumbled “no, no, no.”

~~~*~~~

Dallah walked out from the camp. She needed some alone time. Her daughter, Korah would be married in the afternoon and in her world, the mother-in-law made all the arrangements, not the mother. She supposed that was only right since Korah would go and live with her husband and his family. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law needed to form a relationship to carry them through the rest of their lives—hopefully a good one. To be sure, she had a wonderful time when Mya married her son, Reneus. Still, she had to think about it.

Dallah had too many cultures in her head. She imagined it might be best if she did not think about it at all, but lately she could not seem to help it. She turned forty-three or forty-four years old. She was not sure, but at her age, and given her life circumstances, there seemed little for her to do but sit and think.

Godus, her husband, stayed away for days at a time. He always came home with food for the fire, but the absences were hard. Her nine-year-old, Andor, the love of her old age kept the sheep, what remained of them. Her son, Reneus, stubbornly tried to bring grain out of the soil. Mya had taken over most of the cooking and cleaning duties for the family, and Dallah had no complaints, but it gave her too much time to think and worry.

Somehow, she made an enemy of the sun god Dayus when she was a child. She could not imagine anything she said or did. Dayus simply did not want her to be born in his world. His advisors warned against killing her outright as a child, but that did not stop him from ruining the world around her, thus killing her slowly. They moved and migrated and moved again to greener pastures, only to find those pastures dry up under the incessant sun. The people swore the rains would come again. They can’t stay away forever. But Dallah knew it was more complicated than that.

She had no doubt Korah would move away with her new family once the marriage was consummated. Dallah would cry but pray for her. Korah would do well away from Dallah and the ruination that surrounded her life. She might even be happy.

Dallah looked up at the sun and squinted. “Is it enough?” she asked. “Are you satisfied?” She knew the sun god was not yet satisfied. After all, she still lived.

“Mother!” Reneus called. He followed her out into the wilderness. She had an empty water skin with her, but she walked, in no hurry to get to the stream. “Mother. You don’t need to be wandering out here alone.”

“Well, there does not seem much for me to do back in the camp,” Dallah said. “I thought I could fetch some water and at least and make myself useful, somehow.”

Reneus took the water skin from her hands. “No need for that,” he said. “Father is looking for you.”

“Is he?” Dallah looked back once, but she only saw Mya chasing after Andor.

“Mama!” Andor ran up to her. “Help me! Help! Mya is going to make me take a bath.”

Mya arrived with a stern look on her face directed at the boy that hid behind Dallah’s dress.

“There is time for that,” Dallah assured her daughter-in-law. “Reneus and I were headed to the stream. Maybe Andor would like to splash in the water while we are there.” She winked at Mya, who understood what Dallah suggested, but had a strong-willed streak that did not like to be disobeyed by a certain nine-year-old boy. Andor knew the dynamics well. He stuck his tongue out at Mya before he took his mother’s hand.

“Why you.”

Dallah put her hand up to stop them both. “I really came out here to be alone for a while. I don’t mind you coming along, but please keep your thoughts to yourselves. And that goes for you, too.” She poked Reneus in the chest. He backed up in innocence to say, “Me?” But he did not actually say anything out loud.

~~~*~~~

Boston stepped back. Something moved ahead, just around the edge of the rock. “Did you see that?” She turned her head and asked. Captain Decker already moved out into the brush to get an angle on it. Roland made his way quietly around the far side of the rock. Lieutenant Harper had her rifle ready, and Alexis had her wand in her hand. Lincoln and Lockhart had already put Doctor Procter on the ground. Mingus responded.

“Yes,” he said and raised his voice. “And they better all come out of hiding if they know what is good for them!”

A face popped up from the ground, not far from Boston’s feet. She might have stepped on it, but instead she jumped back though it hurt her muscles to move like that. He had not been invisible, but perfectly colored to blend in with the desert floor, and he spoke with a sandy rasp in his voice.

“Look, Itchy, it’s human beans.”

A second came from behind the rock. “Yeah, Dwizzle, and they got elves. ‘bout the worst case of elves I’ve ever seen. What do you think, Crusty?”

A third stepped from behind a skinny tree. No one saw him there but could not imagine why. He looked much fatter than the tree. He clicked his tongue a couple of times before he spoke. “Domesticated elves no less.” He clicked his tongue some more.

“Imps.” Mingus identified the creatures with some disgust in his voice.

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

FOUR part episode this week so it will conclude with a post on Thursday.

Dom’t miss it.

*

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 5 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Boston?” That left the three fighters.

“Ready!” The word echoed in the stick ship.

“Zero in on a fighter,” Saphira said, but Katie had already done that.

“Now.” Katie spoke into her wrist communicator, and Boston sent out a plasma pulse. The Balok fighter disintegrated in a crimson ball of fire. Immediately, the two remaining Balok fighters began to move around to avoid being targeted, but Katie and Boston got a second one before the last one dipped below the radar.

Saphira grabbed Katie’s hand and spoke into the wrist communicator. “Lockhart. One fighter landed. Meet us at the front door.”

“Already there,” Lockhart responded. They vacated the stick ship for the firm ground, and a few of the stick people followed them.

The stick leader looked sick. He bobbed up and down a couple of times before he spoke. “You are mad, like the Balok. We did our very best to escape them, but since they found us, it would have been better if we had died than participate in their madness.”

No one knew what to say until Alexis stepped up. “You have the right to live in peace.”

“We have no right to take life,” the leader said, and with that he moved his people away from the travelers.

“I guess we screwed up,” Lincoln said, even as Saphira, Katie and Boston came huffing and puffing down the ramp.

“All right,” Saphira said. “We need to find that ship.”

“They would rather die than be part of the killing.” Alexis summed things up and pointed to the stick people who were keeping their distance. Saphira looked, but she had an alternative view and said so in her own tongue.

“We are protecting my people. We are protecting the human race, even if I am sorry the stick people got in the middle of it. We won’t survive if the Balok come here.” That seemed to satisfy the group. “Now, I want to split us up. Despite the F-whatever-number, single man fighters that are current with your military; most space fighters have two or three occupants. There are too many systems to keep track of. Decker and Roland, you take Coramel’s sons and circle around quietly to approach the fighter on the flank. The rest—where is Mingus?”

“Doctor Procter has taken a fever,” Roland said, and Boston looked at Alexis.

“I do wounds, occasionally help avoid surgery. I don’t do sickness.”

“All right.” Saphira adjusted her thinking. “But still, Alexis, would you stay with your father and Doctor Procter? We should probably leave someone here to watch over the stick people, even if they don’t want our help. Katie and Boston, Coramel, Lincoln and Lockhart. We go straight for the ship.”

“Works for me.” Captain Decker checked his rifle.

“A last thought,” Saphira stopped them all. “We need to kill them. No, there is no alternative, and do not hesitate or they will certainly kill you.”

Roland nodded and led the way into the open fields. They stayed in sight for a time before they dipped down into a gully.

“We go.” Lockhart had judged the time and distance, and they started into the tall grass. There were stubby, non-descript bushes here and there and the occasional tree, but the land held mostly grass to the knees, and sometimes to the waist. They had no way to move quietly, but they spread out and kept their eyes and ears as open as they could. A slim trail of engine smoke still rose into the air in the distance. They headed straight for it.

When they topped a rise, they saw the ship down below, and it looked much larger than they imagined. The grass looked much taller there too, being on the side of a hill where most animals would not bother to graze. All things considered, it should not have come as a surprise when the serpent rose-up and wrapped itself twice around Boston.

Boston screamed and struggled, and that made it hard for the others. They dared not fire at the creature for fear of hitting Boston. The snake kept trying to bite her, but it could not get its head at a good angle. Saphira dropped her bow and waited three seconds for an opening before she brought the butt end of her spear down on the snake’s head. The snake nipped at her, but by then the others were moving.

Lockhart pulled the same stunt with the stock of his shotgun, and the hit appeared to hurt the serpent. Lincoln and Lieutenant Harper still tried to get off a shot, but Coramel came up with a stone between his hands. The snake responded by showing a hand of its own. The hand pealed out from the side of the creature, and it held something. They heard no sound, saw no light, or anything, but Coramel dropped to the ground, stunned and maybe dead.

Then the snake took Boston to the ground while Boston screamed the words, “I can’t breathe.”

Lincoln went to Coramel while Saphira’s next shot with her spear hit the snake in the hand. It dropped the weapon but began to roll down the hill with its captive. Lockhart, Saphira and Lieutenant Harper followed, and when Boston and the creature slowed, Lockhart managed another whack at the creature’s head.

The snake roared from pain and appeared to speak, though no one knew what it said except Saphira. Then it suddenly let go of Boston to slither away in the grass. Saphira, with the snake’s weapon in her hand, went to her knees beside Boston.

When the serpent reached what it no doubt imagined as a safe distance from the primitives, it put its rear legs down and reared up eight feet in the air. It spoke again, more clearly as another hand made itself known, and whether they retained some vestige of the primal tongue of Shinar, or the magic of the Kairos worked overtime, they all managed to catch one distinct word. “Die.”

“Balok!” Lockhart shouted to distract the snake, and Lieutenant Harper’s rifle went off. The creature looked stunned as the bullet tore through its neck. Then Lockhart fired the shotgun and the snakehead shredded. The body fell after a moment.

~~~*~~~

Captain Decker, Roland, and the boys got surprised when the Balok reared-up in front of them. The boys got excited and rushed forward to throw their spears. The Balok easily avoided the stone tips and pulled out a hand and a weapon. To be sure, the hand looked more like seven skinny tentacles than a human hand, and the weapon looked like a small disc but Captain Decker and Roland both saw it.

Roland had his bow out, but he could not get off a shot because of the boys. The Balok clearly recognized the bow as a danger and shot Roland first. Roland froze in place even as Decker yelled.

“Boys! Lie down on the ground. Now!”

One went straight to the dirt. The other knelt and bent down but looked at the captain with questions on his face. It was enough. Captain Decker peeled off three bullets before the Balok shot him and Decker fell. It is likely the Balok would have died shortly. It may have already been dead, but to be sure, Roland shook himself free of his frozen state. He pulled his sword and beheaded the serpent before he turned to see to Decker.

~~~*~~~

Lockhart stepped over to where Boston lay on the ground. She sat up and breathed better, but Saphira thought her ribs were cracked, if a couple were not broken.

“Coramel is fine, but frozen,” Lincoln reported. “His fingers and toes look frostbitten.”

“Frozen?” Lieutenant Harper asked.

“Think like a reptile or amphibian,” Saphira answered. “A heat ray would not be as effective.”

“Lincoln. We need a stretcher,” Lockhart shouted.

“Coramel will be fine in a moment,” Lincoln said. “Oh, you mean—” He patted a groaning, shivering Coramel on the shoulder and got up to search a small stand of nearby trees.

Saphira headed straight for the Balok ship, Katie Harper on her heels.

“Don’t wander off,” Lockhart shouted. Saphira waved, but they ended up closer to the ship than she imagined they would. It would have been too much to ask her not to take a look. When they arrived at the door to the ship, they heard three shots fired not too far away.

“Decker,” Katie said.

“Let’s hope that’s it,” Saphira responded while she examined the outside of the door. It took three hands with pinky fingers and three little sticks to press on the six holes that would have fit a Balok hand very well. The door opened and they could look in if they held their breath. The whole thing smelled like rotten cabbage and decayed meat. Saphira did not have to look for more than a moment before she let out a stream of invectives for the third time. She spun and ran, Katie beside her.

“What?”

“Three,” Saphira said.

~~~*~~~

Alexis spent her time cleaning up the camp and getting things ready to move out. She confessed to herself that being twenty-five again did not necessarily change things. She might be Boston’s age, but she was not wild and free like that girl. She had been a mom too long, and now she had become a grandmother. She liked being a mother and grandmother, and she was good at it, and maybe there was nothing wrong with that. At the same time, though, maybe she did need to let Benjamin get adjusted. She smiled. Poor little Billy, her grandson. He would always be older than his uncle, or maybe his aunt. She had two boys. She decided this time she wanted a girl.

“Daughter.” Mingus startled Alexis.

“Father? How is Doctor Procter?”

“Shivering from fever,” Mingus said. “But he won’t let me so much as touch him. He growls at me every time I try.”

“Growls?”

“He is an old man, far older than his human half should be. Old men growl, haven’t you noticed?”

Alexis looked up into her father’s face. She looked serious at first, but quickly smiled. She reached for his hand. “You don’t growl; you just get grumpy now and then.”

Mingus returned her smile. “I am sorry about the stick people.”

Alexis shifted her gaze to where the stick people were gathering, still repairing their ship, and keeping their distance from the mad humans. “They would rather die than take life,” she said. “What can the human race offer to compare with that?”

Mingus took back his hand and began to take down a tent. “The Kairos was wise all these millennia to keep us from interacting with the human race. Look at me. I have studied human history for centuries and have been corrupted. I sometimes think I must be more human now than elf.”

Alexis said nothing. She screamed. The Balok lifted-up from the grass, only a dozen yards away. It splayed both hands and each held an instrument of some kind. The first, a freeze ray, shot at Mingus, but Mingus easily shrugged it off because of the fires inside of him. He shot back with a ball of flame, and while the Balok backed away from the actual fire, the heat and warmth of the flames appeared to strengthen it.