Storyteller

Avalon 5.11 The River Circus, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers kept to their watch schedule, even though it was daylight and they were sheltered.  Decker and Elder Stow went right to bed, having the noon to three shift.  Boston and Sukki had a hard time sleeping during the day.  Lockhart and Katie slept about two hours before their shift, with the thought that they could get more rest in the afternoon.  People stayed on edge, but they understood that there was no way the night creatures could get near them in the daytime without help, and they planned to start moving again before dark.  Every hour of daylight they moved, the more space they should theoretically put between them and the creatures.

“I hope the clouds move off by nighttime,” Lockhart said.  “And the moon comes up like last night.”

“It won’t be the moon’s fault,” Lincoln said, and the others agreed.

Around four o’clock in the afternoon, Boston heard the sound of a baby crying in the distance.  It sounded far enough away so she could not tell if it was a night creature or a real baby.  She decided she could not take a chance.  She began to wake the others and make sure they moved into the patches of afternoon sunlight that shone here and there across the floor.

Lockhart and Elder Stow got grumpy.  They were not finished sleeping.  The others woke well enough, but they were all slow moving into the light.  They needed something to encourage them.  They got it when a claw, then a head that roared broke free of the dirt in the back corner of the barn.  Sukki screamed, an alto with a slight gurgling sound, like she had a mouth full of water.  It did not exactly sound like a human scream, but no one missed the point.

“The horses,” Alexis yelled.

“Out in the field,” Lincoln said, and followed Alexis to call them in.

Boston had her wand out, but Elder Stow stopped her from spraying the creature with fire, for fear she would set the whole barn on fire.  For that reason, he kept his energy weapon at the ready, but did not use it.  Katie and Decker had their marine rifles, and this time they shot for the head, and especially the eyes and mouth.  That seemed more effective.  The night creature staggered like a drunken donkey as it pulled itself free of the tunnel.  Lockhart unloaded his shotgun in the creature’s face and it collapsed into a stream of sunlight.  It immediately began to smoke, and in seconds, became engulfed in flame.  A few seconds more, and nothing remained but ash to be blown off on the wind.

“That explains why no bones of a Set animal has ever been found,” Katie said.

Sukki looked at her and Lockhart with questions on her face.  Lockhart explained.  “Their hide is tough and their bodies are full of muscle and cartilage—better than Kevlar.  Even with a high-powered rifle, it is nearly impossible to penetrate the body deep enough to hit a vital organ.  Their bones and skull are also much harder than human bones, but the head has vulnerable spots.  The eyes and open mouth are the best option to penetrate to the brain.”

“They got big, strong teeth, too,” Boston added as she put away her wand and encouraged Sukki to put away her knife.

“From a heavy gravity world, so exceptionally strong and fast,” Elder Stow added, though Sukki did not really understand what he meant by a heavy gravity world.  She came from a time before the Gott-Druk mastered space flight and began to explore other worlds.

“I don’t sense any more in the immediate area,” Katie said, as she grabbed her saddle.

“I heard them, though pretty far away,” Boston admitted while she began to pack her saddle bag.

“Let us hope this one was the scout and the others will take some time to get here,” Lockhart took the hopeful note.  Decker took the sour position.

“With the tunnel, it probably won’t take the main body long to get here.  Maybe an hour, and this barn will be swarming with night creatures.”  People grabbed their things and went out to grab their horses.

The old man came out of the little hovel he lived in to watch the travelers get ready to leave.  Katie found a small bronze bell she picked up back in Nameless’ day, and she thought to offer it to the man for his kindness.  He refused to take it.

“I sense the gods about you,” he said.  “They are watching, even when you think they are not.  Tien Shang-Di is looking down from heaven and sees what is done, even in the dark.  I know, for longer than I have been alive, there are struggles going on in the heavens.  The demons tried to break out of their place and fought against the gods, but the gods have gained the upper hand, and I believe good days are on the horizon.  There will be one final struggle before then.”

“How do you know this?” Katie asked.

“I have seen the signs.  I listen to the wind,” he said.  “And a small troop of Zhou and Shang fought each other not two days ago in my fields.”  He grinned.  “The Shang have kept us in bondage for hundreds of years, and these last years have been the worst of all.  The Zhou have been raised up to set us free.  Thank the gods, and may they have the victory.”

“I take that as the attitude of the general public all over China,” Katie said.

“Back home, we just have an election,” Lockhart said.  “Though lately, things have been so divided, I sense violence, depending on who gets elected.”

“No,” Katie and Alexis objected, and Katie spoke.  “We may not like who is elected, but we can be civil about it.  We are all Americans.”

“People set aside their differences after the election to try and work for the common good,” Alexis said.

Lockhart shrugged, and Lincoln spoke.  “But apparently, in human history, these things were decided by violence, revolution and war.  Like here, I am guessing the Zhou are getting ready to overthrow the Shang.”

Katie nodded.  “That would make it sometime before 1046 BC.”

Boston rode up.  “I got a lead on the Kairos,” she said.  “If we ride through the night and all day tomorrow, we should catch him by tomorrow night.”

“Her,” Lincoln said.  “Shang Feyan is a woman.”

“Great,” Boston looked happy, before her ears picked up the sound of a baby crying.

“You and Sukki need to take the front again in the dark,” Lockhart said.  “Weave us a good path.  Lincoln and Alexis in the middle and Katie and I will protect the rear.  Tell Decker and Elder Stow to stay in close and keep their senses peeled.”

“Great,” Boston repeated, and went to tell the others what was decided.

“I sense you have a long journey,” the old man spoke again.  “I also sense that the demons following you will not have long to live.”

“Great,” Lincoln borrowed Boston’s word.  “Will that be before or after they eat us?”

“Oh, come on,” Alexis turned him to the group.

“Thank you,” Katie said again.

“Oh,” Lockhart had a final thought as he mounted.  “I recommend you stay inside until the sun comes up in the morning.  Please stay away from the barn until tomorrow, daylight.  It is for your own safety and protection.”  The old man nodded as the travelers rode off.

With a three-hour head start in the daylight, and being in an area where more and more people lived, they found roads, or at least worn paths between the farms and villages.  They crossed a small river about midnight, one deep enough where they hoped it might at least make the night creatures pause.  Night creatures could not swim.  On the other side of the river, they passed through what Katie called a genuine town, though she figured in China, a thousand years before Christ, the locals probably called it a city.

No one stopped them, or interfered with their progress, including several camps of soldiers they passed in the dark.  They did not stop to see whose side the soldiers were on.  When the sun rose in the morning, they had to stop in a field.  They ate, and opted for four-hours of rest.  Boston volunteered to stay awake and watch.  Being a light elf, she dragged through some of the night, but became energized again when the sun rose.  She was also young enough, and her constitution strong enough, so it did not bother her, even with little rest the day before.

Most of the others were in no position to argue.  Katie, an elect, stayed up with her for a while.  Sukki, who was also young and had an enormously strong Gott-Druk constitution, got up after a couple of hours of sleep, so mostly Boston did not watch alone.

At noon, they ate again before they set out, and this time they did not stop until the sun got ready to set.

All through the afternoon, the soldiers and gathering army became more evident.  “These people are serious,” Decker said when they finally stopped to catch their breath.  “This is way more than a few thousand Greeks versus a few thousand Trojans.”

“Right, Major,” Katie said.  “I’m not as conversant on this period in China because the historical record is so sketchy, but as I recall, modern estimates say a bit less than fifty-thousand Zhou will attack some seventy-thousand Shang.”

“The numbers are against the Zhou,” Decker countered.  “Wisdom says they should set up a defensive position.”

“Yes, but maybe seventeen-thousand of the Shang Troops will be slaves who will switch sides.  And some of the Shang troops will refuse to fight for their corrupt king, and some of them may even switch sides.”

Decker nodded.

Alexis spoke.  “So much waste.”

“Yes,” Katie agreed.  “But sometimes there is no other choice.  Either people force a change, or they surrender to suffering under the Shang, maybe for centuries to come, generation after generation.”

“The people appear to want a change,” Lincoln added.  Alexis still looked disgusted by the whole idea, but she didn’t argue.

“So, Boston,” Lockhart changed the subject.  “You said we might reach the Kairos by nightfall.”

“I didn’t plan on a four-hour nap,” she said, and pulled out her amulet, though she had studied it earlier.  “But we should be there by midnight.  I assume we are not stopping for the night.”

“Don’t dare,” Lockhart said.  “Not if one of the Shang gods is helping the djin and bringing the creatures close during the day.”

“I wonder why the night creatures don’t just appear in our midst,” Lincoln said, not as a serious suggestion.

“I imagine the god or goddess does not want to be obvious about it,” Alexis answered.

Decker had another thought.  “I was wondering why the night creatures don’t appear in front of us, where they can ambush us.”

“Oh, great,” Lincoln yelled.  “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Same reason, I suppose,” Alexis said.  “That would show obvious interference by someone.  I think, whoever it is, is keeping the creatures close to our tail, but then expecting the night creatures to do their job.”

“Time to move,” Lockhart said.

“I hope the Kairos has some way to stop this,” Sukki said.  They all hoped that.

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

The travelers are headed rapidly toward Shang Feyan, but the night creatures appear to be keeping up.  MONDAY, part 4 of 6 will continue the story, and see who or what will catch up…

Until then, Happy Reading.

Avalon 5.11 The River Circus, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Zhou Gongming stood on the deck and looked out over the town.  His sons, Bi and Wang made the boat fast against the dock.  His wife, Chen, cooked the fish and rice, while her niece, Feyan, who was also Gongming’s ten-year-old good luck charm, slept lazily under the shade of the boat house.  She had one arm draped over the tiger who napped with her.  The tiger, like a nanny, had the sleeping girl trapped between her front paws.  They were a team.

He found the black tiger cub and saved it when it was a newborn, barely able to suck milk from a cloth.  To this day, he had no idea what madness possessed him to do that.  But when Feyan showed up, a runny nosed four-year-old, and Feyan’s mother begged her sister to take the girl, they did.  Another act of madness.  Now, the tiger adopted the orphan girl, or the girl adopted the tiger, and they were making him a fortune.

The boat bumped the dock.  Gongming had to shift his weight to keep from falling over.  The tiger let out a small sound of protest.  Feyan shouted.  “Wang,” like everything was Wang’s fault.  Well, he was the eldest, but she never shouted at Bi.  A different Bi, that is, Bi Gan, had been Feyan’s father, presumably murdered by the Great King of the Shang, Di Xin.

They gave the girl the stage name of Shang Feyan.  Gongming thought it was a great rub in the nose of the Shang king.  No one would ever know her father had been brother to the former king, Di Yi, the present king’s father.  Feyan was the current king’s first cousin, but only Gongming and Chen knew that, and Chen’s sister, if she was still alive somewhere out there, in hiding.  The woman had been pregnant when she begged Chen to take the girl.  Gongming often wondered if the woman had that baby, and if Feyan had a baby brother or sister.

The tiger they named Ziya, a reminder that there were great rulers before the Shang took over.  Of course, Feyan just called the tiger Baby.

“Come along, Baby,” Feyan said.  “Let us see what Aunt Chen is cooking.  Maybe we can help.”

Baby let out something between a purr and a yawn, but got up and lumbered beside the girl.  The big tiger’s head was as tall as the girl’s head, and Feyan was not so short for a ten-year-old.  In fact, the tiger grew into a monster size, big enough and strong enough for Gongming to ride upon, and Gongming was not so slim for… his age.

“The boat is fast,” Bi reported.  “Wang is hungry.  Feyan is not helping, and Baby is following her like a puppy.  All is right with the world.”

Gongming raised one eyebrow.  The name Baby had pretty much infected the family.  “Son,” he said.  “Always do your job as well as you can.  Work hard and save, and fortune will smile on you.  And always take care of the things you have or you will soon lose them and have nothing at all.  Like, try not to damage the boat against the dock.”

“That is too much to fit in a fortune cookie,” Feyan protested.  She sat scratching the shoulder of the cat who sat beside her. The shoulder was as high as she could reach.

“Very wise,” Chen said.  She said that every time Feyan said something that no one knew what she was talking about.

“But father,” Wang spoke up.  “What is our job right now?”

“Lunch,” Gongming said, and Chen gave him his big bowl full of rice and fish.  Wang, the eldest got his bowl.  Bi said, “Thank you.”  Feyan got her little bowl.  She never ate much.  Then Chen set aside her own bowl before she scooped most of the rest into Baby’s big bowl.  Baby loved her rice and fish.  Feyan sometimes turned her nose up at the same thing, day after day.

###

The sun got ready to set.  It turned pink and extra bright against the river water.  Feyan knew from long experience that it would give her a headache if she stared at it for too long.  But the colors were especially beautiful that evening as the sky turned from golden to crimson, to maroon, and finally to a deep purple.  “Ultraviolet,” Feyan called it.  “Probably storm clouds gathering in the west, or too much dust from the Taklimakan Desert blowing up into the sky.”

“Very wise,” Aunt Chen said, and hugged Feyan and gave her a motherly kiss.  “Time to get ready.  Feyan had her pants on, and only needed to tie back her long, straight hair and make sure Baby had on her brass collar.

Many people came to the dock at sundown, because they had been told, they had heard about the show, or just because any sort of entertainment to break the monotony of their lives was welcomed.  Most of the rest came when they heard the fighting.

Wang and Bi set up a square on the place between the dock and the market.  They put up a bamboo curtain with great, wide openings for the people to see through, and admonished the people at every opportunity to stay behind the curtain.  Many people got up on the roofs of the houses around so they could look down into the square.  The boys brought out the stand with a great circle on top, and Bi made sure the wooden circle got soaked with plenty of oil that would burn without turning the circle to ash.  Wang set the two buckets of water aside, and then the brothers set up the wall on the fourth side of the square.  The wall had rope attached, though it was not evident what the rope might be used for.  Only one opening next to the wall let people in and out of the square.

As the sun set, Bi and Wang began to light the torches.  Wang tossed them to Bi, who pretended to not catch very well.  The torches went up in the air, and as soon as they were all lit, he tossed some back to Wang.  In this way, the brothers juggled the torches for a bit before they set them in place.

Shang Feyan came out doing a series of back hand springs.  She entertained the crowd with her acrobatics before she ended in a handstand, and walked on her hands until she stood between the brothers.  She curled to her feet and walked around the boys in a figure eight.  When she stood between them again, she tapped Wang on the chest and said, “No.”  She tapped Bi on the chest and said, “No.”  Then she threw her nose straight up in a haughty look, and stomped off through the opening by the solid wall.

“I will have that girl to wife,” Wang said his line.

“You will not,” Bi responded.  “She will be my wife.”

The boys growled at each other and retrieved their swords.  Wang and Bi fought a very well-choreographed duel.  The fists and kicks flew around the swords, but it all ended when Feyan leapt into the ring with a short sword of her own.

“Who is it that disturbs my beauty sleep?”

“It is I, Shang Wang, your one true love.”

“It is I, Shang Bi, the one who loves you most of all.”

Feyan practiced a little acting and marched around the two boys, examining them again, this time like one might examine livestock, going for more than a couple of laughs, including looking at their teeth.  She ended with, “But I do not love either one of you.”

“Give us a chance,” both boys objected.

“I tell you what.  I will marry the one who can best me with a sword.”

Suddenly, the sword fight became three ways, and Feyan got good licks on the boys, but they never touched her, until, at last, she disarmed them.  She picked up their swords and began to juggle them.  The boys stared, amazed, and came close until she jumped, did the splits in mid-air, and supposedly kicked both boys in the face.  They fell and pretended to be unconscious, and she caught her own sword, but let the other two hit the dirt, to prove they were real.  One or both usually stuck into the ground and stood straight up, but even if they clanked on the dirt, that proved the point.

Feyan went to the water bucket and took a swig of the river water.  Then she took the boys to the solid wall.  She used the rope loops, where she supposedly tied the boys so they could not escape.  She backed up and threw water into Wang’s face to wake him up.  She threw two knives, one to each side of his head.  He shrieked, which he was supposed to do, but he always shrieked.  She threw a third knife between his legs.  The entire audience winced before she spoke.

“No, I will not hurt my one true love.”

Then she splashed water in Bi’s face and picked up her bow and a handful of arrows.  She put an apple on Bi’s head and split it with an arrow.  Then she shot arrows all around him, without hitting him.  People applauded, until they heard a roar.

Feyan let the boys loose with a word.  “My Father!”

Zhou Gongming came into the square, riding on the back of the tiger.  He had Baby on a leash, but it was not necessary.  Baby knew her part.  Wang and Bi brought out the ring and the see-saw while father paraded along the edge of the bamboo curtain where the people could see the tiger up close.  He had a stick in the hand that was not holding the leash, and he was quick to slap any hand, young or old, that was foolish enough to try to reach through the bamboo to touch the tiger.

When they stopped, Bi and Wang pretended to be petrified, unwilling to move.  Feyan kissed baby’s nose and Baby licked her, and Gongming got down.  He asked what was going on, and Feyan said, I will show you.  She made Wang stand in a certain spot and put Bi on the see-saw.  She backed up about as far as she could and did back handsprings before a final back flip where she landed on the other end of the see-saw.  Bi went up, and landed, standing on Wang’s shoulders.  Feyan grinned and stood on the down end of the see-saw, presumably to laugh at the boys.

“Jump Ziya.  Jump,” Gongming said, and the tiger jumped on the up end ot the see-saw with enough weight to send Feyan to the top, where she landed on Bi’s shoulders, so they were standing three people high.  People applauded as Baby roared.  After Wang turned a bit, about as far as he could move, Feyan jumped down into Wang’s arms while Bi jumped back off Wang’s shoulders.  Then Wang shouted.

“But the tiger.”

Bi jumped through the ring and echoed, “Tiger.”

Wang jumped through, and rolled on the other side while Bi got a torch.  Feyan jumped through, and Gongming did something that made everyone gasp.  He took off Baby’s leash, and Baby did not have to be coaxed to jump through.

Bi brought up the torch and lit the ring.  “This will stop the tiger,” he declared, as Wang jumped through again, in the other direction, followed by Bi.

“You won’t escape us,” Feyan yelled and leapt through.  She turned and called.  Baby paced until she called a second time.  The tiger leapt through the burning ring, and Gongming immediately put the leash back on Baby while Wang and Bi put out the ring.  It burned mostly the oil, and they got quite a few shows out of one ring, but eventually, they did have to build a new ring, so they tried to preserve it.

All that remained was the bows, and Gongming quickly brought Baby back to the boat for treats.  After Chen got Baby, he returned to see what he could get for such a show, having already worked some things out with the village elders.  He got rice and fish.  That was expected.  He also got some pork and fowl, and a few copper, bronze, and brass trinkets that he knew where to trade for more rice and fish, or if need be, to keep the boat in top order, or even to buy a new ring.  He was a happy fellow.  As word of their little show went ahead of them, the price went up.  He thought it remarkable what people would pay for a little entertainment.

“Chen, my wife, we have so much bronze, I fear some nights that we may sink the boat,” he said, as he put the new things away.

“So you say,” Aunt Chen said.  “I never expected to have things when I married a fisherman.”

“Do what is right, and the gods will smile upon you,” he said.

“Now, I can put that in a fortune cookie,” Feyan said, as she slipped into the water and threw her soaking wet pants up to the deck to be hung to dry.

“Very wise,” Aunt Chen said.

Avalon 5.11 The River Circus, part 1 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 1057 BC The Wei River.  Kairos 70: Shang Feyan

Recording…

Katie waited by the time gate, her rifle at the ready.  Decker and Elder Stow came through last, and Lockhart yelled for them to ride.  No one moved.  Decker and Elder Stow swung around, so Decker and Katie could get the night creature in a crossfire.  The creature came through.  The marksmen did not miss.  The creature roared and jiggled back and forth, slammed by the bullets, but it did not stop until Elder Stow fried it with his energy weapon.

“Now,” Decker yelled.

“That was the scout,” Katie also yelled, and they started to ride.

They rode, but slowly.  The sun touched the horizon and looked ready to rise, but presently, it remained dark enough to require care.  It also felt dark enough so when the main body of night creatures reached that point, they could come right through the gate before they needed to go to ground.

“Damn,” Lincoln said, as they rode into a ravine.

“Who are you thinking?” Alexis asked.  Clearly, the night creatures had help from one of the Greek gods to catch up with them.  Thrace was a long way from Troy, and across the Bosporus besides.  They covered that distance instantly with Aphrodite’s help.  No way the night creatures covered that same distance, and crossed the water, without help.  So she asked who her husband thought the traitor god might be, without spelling it out.

“Eris or Hecate.  Probably not Ares.”

They came to a place where they could gallop, so talking got put on hold.

“Sukki,” Boston reached a hand out toward the Gott-Druk.  As an elf, Boston could make herself heard even over the thunder of the horses.

“I’ve got her,” Elder Stow responded, though it was not exactly clear in what way he had her.

When the travelers came up out of the ravine, the sun broke above the horizon and bathed them in light.  Lockhart did not let them stop, though they had to slow to a trot.  Lockhart merely looked at Katie, and she got out the prototype amulet, and pointed.  They weren’t too far off, but adjusted their trajectory accordingly.  They headed toward a forest where they finally had to walk the horses.

“Down,” Lockhart said, and the travelers grabbed the reins and led their horses through the brush and into the shadows.  Most kept their ears open for sounds of a baby crying in the dark places.

“So, Eris or Hecate?” Alexis asked.

Lincoln nodded, and took a couple of minutes to get out the database.  Alexis took the reins to Cortez, Lincoln’s horse, so he could use both hands to access the relevant data.  Then he spoke.

“We are in China,” he said, to begin.

“Hecate,” Alexis reminded him of what she asked, as the others listened in.

“I just wanted to be sure we were out of range of the Greek gods,” Lincoln said.  “Yes, Hecate.  She has no love for the Kairos after Althea beat up Madea, her pupil.  Then Eris is discord.  She was the one with the golden apple that began the family argument that started the whole Trojan war.”

“Diomedes said it was a political thing,” Alexis reminded him.

“I am sure it was, on a human level,” Lincoln agreed.  “The database suggests the Hellene invaded Greece just after the war, when so many of the Dorian Greek heroes were dead, and their sons were not yet grown.  It also says the iron made a bloody mess of everything.”

“You said probably not Ares?” Alexis asked.

Lincoln shook his head.  “The Amazon queen was his granddaughter, and Diomedes wounded Ares on the same day he cut Aphrodite, but Ares is in the thick of the war and Zeus is too likely watching him, especially, since he is the god of war and on the Trojan side, which as you know, was decreed to lose the war.  Ares would not dare.  Besides, Ares knows the gods have set a hedge around us, and he has nothing against us, personally.”

“Neither do the others,” Boston spoke up.

“No,” Lincoln agreed.  “But Eris is discord, and proved she would not hesitate to do something that would cause the gods themselves to be at odds with each other.  And Hecate is just ornery.  Think Tiamut.”

People understood, and stopped, because Katie stopped.  Something roared.  No one saw it, but everyone recognized the sound, and Lockhart yelled.  “Ride,” though they were still among the trees.

The travelers rode, and kept riding until noon, when Katie finally got them to try walking the horses again.  She had a thought that no one wanted to think.

“Maybe one of the Chinese gods is also working with the djin.”

Lincoln got the database out again and read before he spoke.

“The Shang-Di went demonic-crazy, and Nameless had to kill him.  I won’t read the details, but the hierarchy of the Shang gods over the people collapsed.  Tien is now the king of this jurisdiction.  Many are calling him Tien Shang-Di.  You may remember back in Yu-Huang’s day, the Shang-Di was already threatening the west and south, and Tien, with his brothers and sisters, and some rebellious Shang gods set up a hedge to prevent the Shang-Di from breaking out of his place.”

“I remember Nagi and Shengi-god were on the side of the Kairos, and they said some others were secretly ready to rebel, and declare back then for Tien.” Alexis said.

“Yes,” Lincoln said.  “Well, Tien Shang-Di is now in charge, and I am sure his brothers and sisters, as well as some others are giving their full support, but you know any such transition has got to have rough spots. I’m thinking there may be some old Shang gods that may be willing to gum up the works in a passive-aggressive way.”

“Or maybe rebel indirectly by assisting the djin against us,” Boston said, before Alexis got ready to say the same thing.

The travelers did stop for some lunch, but then rode through much of the afternoon.  They stopped near sundown, but only to eat a meal.  The moon had come up, nearly full, so they rode through most of the night, until moon set.  Even then, they walked their horses until the sun began to glimmer again on the horizon.

All along the way, they passed houses, farms, and villages, but they never stopped until daylight.  A village lay up ahead, and though they were tired, they thought shelter, like a barn, would be preferable to being out in the open.  The sky had clouded over, and it looked like rain.

The travelers got the usual slack-jawed, staring reception in the village.  They had shaped their fairy weave to imitate the local dress for men and women.  There was not much they could do to disguise the big horses, the saddles, or their equipment, but they did what they could.  Boston and Alexis could put up a glamour to make themselves appear Chinese, but there was nothing they could do about the others.  Katie’s blond hair stood out, and Lincoln remarked that at least Sukki and Elder Stow had glamours to make them appear human.

Some of the locals ran away when they approached.  Some of the men grabbed old spears and farm implements, and kept a wary eye on the travelers.  It took three tries before they were able to explain that they rode in the night, all day, and all night again, and all they wanted was a roof and a chance to rest during the day.  One old man finally agreed that they could stay at his farm, but it was some distance from the village.  From the looks of the locals, everyone imagined that was for the best.  They walked the old man home.

“This is not a good time.  These are dangerous days,” the old man explained to the group as they walked.  “The king, Di Xin, and his consort Daji play in their palace in Yin.  They care nothing for the people, and it is said they kill and eat those who displease them.”

“Human sacrifice,” Katie mumbled, with a nod to the others.

“Lord Wen?” Lincoln asked, without actually asking anything specific, but the old man shook his head.

“It once looked like Wen of the Zhou might rebel against the Shang, but he died, mysteriously, about three years ago.  His son, Lord Wu is raising an army, and the Zhou are strong in battle, but the Shang have ruled forever.  They claim to rule by right, being descended from the gods, and no one has ever successfully escaped their hand.

Lincoln nodded and said to the others, “I’ll tell you later.”

Avalon 5.10 Family Feud, part 4 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Alexis and Lincoln took the first watch, though people stayed up and talked until about nine, and there was not much need to watch with Elder Stows screens running.  Decker said they were better to keep to the pattern, regardless, and Katie reminded everyone about the djin.

“Though I don’t suppose he would dare show his face to the Olympian gods after he set that volcano off in the last zone.”

“I don’t know,” Diomedes hedged.  “What we have here is a family squabble among the gods.  The Greeks and Trojans are just playing out the reflection of that, not like mindless pawns on a chessboard, but with willing hearts, shall we say.”

“So, Helen?” Katie did not know what to say in front of Nestor, even if he appeared to be already sleeping.

“The last straw,” Diomedes explained.  “You see the Dorians, for want of a better name, came down into Greece from the north and conquered the cities and the land, all the Aetolians. Achaeans, Mycenaeans, Corinthians, Eubouians, Boeotians, and so on.  The Dorians became like a ruling class over the rest of the people.  I was involved in the final work, when we overran Thebes, so it was that recent.  Well, plenty of people did not like being ruled and having their independence taken away.  They rebelled, mostly by escaping to Asia, that is the coast of Turkey in your day.  Troy opened her gates to the rebels and became like the central city of the rebellion.  Helen, one of the original Achaeans, got forced into marriage to Menelaus, brother of the high king, Agamemnon.

“High king?” Katie asked.

“Yes.  Right now, under Dorian rule, Greece is as close to being a united nation as it gets up until the twentieth century.  Even under occupation by the Macedonians, the Romans, and the Turks, the various cities hold on to as much independent power as they can.  The idea of a Greek nation has to be ground into them over a couple of thousand years.”

“Sounds painful,” Lockhart said.

“Yes.  But when Paris convinced Helen to join the rebellion, and she ran away with him to Troy, that became the last straw.  I’m not discounting Aphrodite’s work in the mess, but this war is really a political thing, mostly.  It is like most wars, I guess.  It is trying to decide who is going to rule and be in charge here, if you know what I mean.”

“I get it,” Katie said.  “There is more at stake for the Hellenes than meets the eye, or the history books.”

“No, actually…”  Diomedes had to pause to think what he could say.  “The Hellene are another people group altogether; one that is more of a loose confederation of tribes, like brigands, like the Huns, or Mongols.  They kill with abandon.  Shortly, after the Dorian Lords get home, for those who get home, the Hellene invade the land, and they have something that the Greeks don’t have.”

“What is that?” Lockhart asked, while Lincoln pulled out the database.

“Iron,” Diomedes said with a sour look.  “And a thirst for blood.  You see, after we took Thebes, I was fifteen, and got married off to the princess of Argo.  I ruled for only a couple of years before raising the army again to come on this adventure.  Who would have guessed ten years of war?  I just turned twenty-eight.  I look older, I know.  It’s the stress.  But I don’t know.  My wife—even having a wife at fifteen was weird.  We kind of bonded, but not really, since she was older and way more mature.  I don’t know.  With the Hellene coming, I may go to Italy.”

“The iron age begins?” Katie was surprised at the early date.

“Not exactly,” Diomedes said.  “With the arrival of the Hellene, the country eventually takes the name of Hellas, as a general idea or description, but otherwise, they plunge into two or three hundred years of dark ages, and don’t emerge until Homer writes about this mess we are in right now—and really not until Socrates in the five-hundreds.”  Diomedes lay down, and said, “Good-night.  I wonder if Italy gets snowy cold in winter.  Maybe the southern coast.”  He went to sleep.

Alexis and Lincoln got up and went into their tent.  They were like newlyweds, now that Alexis turned human again.  Katie and Lockhart were actual newlyweds and did not do much watching between nine and midnight.  The others were glad that Elder Stow had his screens up.

Elder Stow and Decker had the wee hours, and Boston and Sukki agree to take sunrise.  When Elder Stow woke Sukki for her turn, she surprised him with a question.  “You don’t want to marry me?”

Elder Stow’s eyes got big.  I have three wives and plenty of children.  I already have a big family group.  And I am old, I’m thinking too old to be a father again, he thought, but he said.  “You don’t want to be my daughter?”

Sukki considered it, and nodded.  “I can, but I won’t always be a good girl,” she said.

“Expected,” he agreed and gave her a small kiss on the cheek to seal the agreement.

Sukki sat happily with Boston, and opened-up about many things.  She found it hard to talk to the humans, but the crazy elf seemed easy to talk to.  She was just explaining how children spoke to their parents, when Boston told her to be quiet.  She got quiet for a second before she started again.

“Hush.  Listen.”

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Listen real close,” Boston stood and walked to the edge of the campsite.  They waited a long time before Sukki finally spoke.

“A baby?”  It sounded so far away, she could not be sure.

“I have to wake the others.”  She started with Diomedes.  “I hear a baby crying.”  She woke everyone, Nestor last, and he commented.

“Many babies are crying in the night now that their fathers have been lost to them.”

“It isn’t that kind of baby,” Boston said, and Diomedes understood. Fortunately, Athena showed up before he could swear.

“It is the djin that has been following you,” Athena said, quickly.  “He is not in this time zone, but I believe he contracted with one of the gods to bring the night creatures here.  There appear to be nine of them.”

Diomedes stepped close and gave her a soft kiss.  “Clever girl to slip through Elder Stow’s screens like that.”  On seeing the others did not understand, he briefly explained.  “Particle, energy, and radiation screens function in the realm of matter and energy, the same that the gods manipulate by divine fiat.  Flesh and blood, even godly flesh and blood, have limits that have to be figured out to get around.  I’m not explaining it well.”  He turned to Athena.  “No, no.  Some things mortals just have to take on faith.  I am sure Athena could explain it, but that is not why she is here.”

“Quite right,” Athena said.  “Someone is protecting them, so I can’t just wipe them out of existence.  I don’t know if they can follow you through the time gate, though, so I figure if I send you to the next gate, you can at least have a three to five-day head start.”

“No, no.” Diomedes made Boston put her amulet away.  “Athena keeps track of where the time gates are.  She is the most-clever person, ever.”

“See?” Athena said, without explaining what they were supposed to see, and she returned Diomedes’ kiss.

“Traveler.” Aphrodite and Artemis appeared.  “You have company coming for dinner.”

“They know,” Athena said, and the icy stares that shot between the girls nearly put the fire out.  Diomedes bravely stepped between them.

“Girls, girls.  You are sisters.  Sibling rivalry is fine, but please remember deep down you care about each other.  We have guests right now who need our help.  You can fight later.”

“You cut me,” Aphrodite yelled at Athena.

“You made me fall in love with the most annoying person in… in… history,” Athena shout back.

“And I love you, too,” Diomedes said to Athena, who backed off a little.  “And I am sorry I cut you.  I was just trying to do my job.”  He changed to Diogenes, Alexander the Great’s cousin, and focused on Aphrodite.  “Show me,” he said.

Aphrodite looked up at him and pouted, but lowered her sleeve to show a small scar in her shoulder.  The other men nearly lost it to see just her shoulder, not to mention her pouty face, but Diogenes leaned over and kissed it.

“There,” he said.  “Now it will get all better.”

Aphrodite huffed a little, but tried not to smile.  Diogenes smiled for her and changed back to Diomedes and he slipped his arm around Athena’s waist.  Athena responded by grabbing on to him like a possessive woman saying, this one is mine, you get your own.

Aphrodite smiled then and turned to point at Decker.  “And don’t think I’ve forgotten you.”

Artemis removed the grin from her face and spoke.  “I got my Amazons.”

“I’ll take the Greeks back to their ships,” Athena said.

“That leaves me with the travelers,” Aphrodite said.

“Thrace.  Across the Dardanelles,” Athena told her.

“Ah.”  Aphrodite’s face lit up.  “I know just the place.”

And everyone vanished.

###

Diomedes and Nestor appeared beside Odysseus and a dozen other men who had evidently spent the night mapping out the extent of Elder Stow’s screens, as Diomedes guessed they would.  “So, did you leave me any beef?” Diomedes asked.

“No,” Odysseus said.  “We ate it all.”

Sthenelus came running up.  “Diomedes.  come on.  We saved you some of the cut-up rump.”

Odysseus shrugged.  “You have loyal men.  After ten years of following your orders, it is a wonder.”

“You missed Althea and Diogenes,” Nestor tattled.

“You didn’t let Diogenes do your fighting for you again?”

“One time.  I borrowed him one time,” Diomedes shouted.  “They never let you forget.”

###

“Time gate dead ahead,” Boston reported.

“Come eat your breakfast first,” Alexis and Sukki insisted.  Aphrodite transported everyone and everything as is, including the campfire, still cooking away.

Aphrodite spoke once more before she left them.  “This is the land of the Hellene.  I suggest you go through this morning and not wait until tomorrow.  They are a bloody lot.  Ares likes them.  Better they don’t find you here.”  She disappeared.

“Thank you,” Katie said.  Everyone said, “Thank you,” to the air, assuming Aphrodite would hear.

“Eat first,” Alexis added.

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

MONDAY

The travelers find themselves in China just before the end of the Shang dynasty, and the rise of the Zhou.  But they hardly have time to examine the evidence.  They need to reach the Kairos as fast as possible, because the night creatures of the djin follow them through the time gate…

Happy Reading

*

 

Avalon 5.10 Family Feud, part 3 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

When the women got back to the camp, they came loaded down with a full quarter of the beast, including some ribs and half of the prime rump portion.  Three Amazons came with them, and brought baskets filled with fruit, vegetables and greens.  Antandre and Bremusa acknowledged the men politely, but bowed their heads to the women, especially Katie and Little Fire who they knew perfectly well from their legends.

“I never thought I would live to see you,” Bremusa said, and Antandre’s hands shook a little from the awe she felt.

The third Amazon, Hippothoe, carried a big double-headed axe that looked well sharpened.  She preferred to give the men hard stares and the cold shoulder, as if men in general were contemptible.  She did not mind the women, though she was not overly impressed by them, either.  After pleasantries, she insisted the others return with her.  They had a duty to guard what remained of the herd.  “And we had better do a better job of it,” she said.  “Or we will have nothing to bring to the relief of Troy.”

When the Amazons left, Nestor spoke up.  “Remarkable.”  He said the one word and stared at Sukki and Boston, like a man unable to decide which woman fascinated him more.

Alexis immediately got to cooking some of the meat and vegetables, with a comment.  “We should have enough to carry us to the next time gate, if we don’t dawdle.”  She added the last for Katie, and Lincoln, who would likely want to see the array of Trojan and Greek armies on the battlefield, dangerous as that might be.

“Let me help,” Sukki volunteered for the first time, and Alexis smiled for her and gave her something to do.

“Since we are going naked…” Elder Stow said, and removed his own glamour of humanity.  He gave Nestor a start, but he clearly shared characteristics with Sukki, whom he had already seen.

“Remarkable,” Nestor repeated.  “I apologize, but I do not know who your people may be.”

Elder Stow smiled as a thousand options, no doubt, passed through his mind.  He clearly decided to tell a very short version of the truth.  “We are of an elder race who began to grow grain and domesticate some of these animals while you homo sapiens were just starting to use bone and stone.”  The travelers understood, even if Nestor did not.  “Our present home is out there.”  Elder Stow pointed to the night sky.  “We have a home among the stars, and how Sukki and I came to travel with these people are long stories.”

Nestor shook his head.  He honestly did not understand, but he had another question.  “Are you two married?”

Sukki’s eyes shot to Elder Stow, and if the women read the look correctly, not always guaranteed for Gott-Druk, she seemed to say she would not mind.  But Elder Stow shook his head again.

“We are different generations,” he said.

“I have taken a young wife in my age,” Nestor said.  “She is very good to me.”

Elder Stow still shook his head.  “More important, we are separated by some twelve-thousand years, and that is a chasm hard to breach.”

“Build a bridge,” Boston interrupted.

“We are,” Elder Stow admitted.  “But I believe Sukki may be like a daughter to me, if she is willing.”

“You are all family, in the way the Gott-Druk understand family,” Althea also interrupted.  “I ask only that you love and care for one another.”

“We don’t leave our people behind,” Decker said, and inched up to see what Alexis might be putting in the bar-b-que sauce, since she got her hands on some spices.

“Elder Stow,” Althea took the floor.  “I need to see your equipment.  All of it, please, including your weapon.”  Elder Stow did not hesitate.  Sukki watched and began to underatand.

Sukki remembered Althea from the last time zone, and it came as a shock when she realized they were actually traveling through time.  She saw Diomedes when he arrived, and almost shrieked when she saw him disappear and become this woman from the past that ought to be long dead.  Althea even talked about her own death like it already happened, though she was clearly not a ghost.  Sukki realized then that the Kairos was a special and complicated person, and maybe a very special person.  She recognized the goddess when she arrived.  She wanted to worship this goddess, and she felt the holy terror that only the gods could create.  At the same time, she watched as Althea and the goddess fussed and hugged like two best friends with a long history between them.  Maybe the Kairos was a goddess herself, or a god in this life, as the others spoke of it.

“There,” Althea said.  “Your equipment is fully charged until the next time.  Normally, I would say use it wisely, but in this case, I recommend a screen against intrusion.  You don’t want Trojans or Greeks, or even the Amazons to come stumbling into the camp.”  Althea yawned.  “That took a lot out of me.  I think it is time for Diomedes to come back to his own time and place.”  She waved, and went back into the past so Diomedes could sit on the log in her place.  Diomedes also yawned, and then checked the bar-b-que sauce himself, with a comment.  “Cattle rustling always makes me hungry.”

“Remarkable,” Nestor repeated himself, and Sukki nodded in agreement.

“Welcome back,” Lincoln said.  “It is Diomedes, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Diomedes smiled.  Lincoln always had to ask.

“Are you a god?”  Sukki could not contain her question.

“Only for me,” Boston said, and she scooted over to give Diomedes another hug.

“And the fairies,” Nestor said.  “I recall Alder and his wife, Perdy were a great help in building the Argo.”

“All the sprites of the earth, air, water and fire,” Boston said with a smile.

“I did not even know there were fire sprites until the last time zone,” Sukki said, and looked at Alexis, Katie and Elder Stow to see if she said it correctly.  Elder Stow got busy with his equipment, but Alexis and Katie assured her with their smiles and nods.  “There are air and water sprites too?”

“Way too many for one person to handle,” Diomedes admitted.  “It gives me a headache, thinking about it.”

“And what are you thinking about?” Lockhart asked Katie, who seemed to be deep in thought.

Katie shook herself free to respond.  “It appears that I know all sorts of things about the Amazons and Amazon law that I never learned.  It feels instinctive, like down in my gut, like about what I can and cannot do being an elect.”

“I was wondering how you knew about the Amazon right to her kill,” Alexis said, as she licked her finger to test the sauce.

“I don’t know.  It feels strange.  I just know things, and I don’t know how or why I know them.”

“A gift from Artemis, I would bet,” Lincoln suggested.

“I have that feeling sometimes,” Diomedes said, and paused before he amended his statement.  “Who am I kidding.  I get that all the time.  Normally, the past and future slowly open-up in my mind, around puberty, and usually the influx of knowledge comes gently, but sometimes it comes, wham! bang!  Usually it is an emergency, and I have to scramble to keep from being overwhelmed with all the things I suddenly know.”

“I can only imagine,” Katie said.

“It gives me a headache thinking about it.”

“Maybe you are getting an illness,” Nestor suggested.

Diomedes smiled.  “If only life were that easy and straight forward.”

Alexis licked her finger again and announced.  “Food.”

“So, what are you now, a dwarf?” Boston asked, before she shouted.  “I miss Pluckman.”

“And his eighty-three stooges,” Decker mumbled and got his plate ready.

After supper, Alexis and Lincoln set the rest of the meat up to smoke in the night.  They had a bag of salt and salted much of it.  Nestor helped, knowing a thing or two about preserving meat in the world before refrigerators.  Diomedes sat and put on his most serious face; the one that always got Agamemnon’s attention.  He spoke when they were ready.

“From here on out, it would be best to avoid the obvious historical events.  You can find me at the center of the time zone, if you are careful about it, but you have to make the effort not to interfere with events without permission.  For most things, it would be best to fade into the background and not go there.  The chance of an innocent question or comment spoken in the wrong ear at the wrong time…the risk is just too great.  I really want you to get back to the twenty-first century.  I really do.  But I want it to be recognizable, not one that you have inadvertently changed beyond all recognition.”

“So, no questions about the Greeks or Trojans,” Katie said.  “Or about the war, even general questions?”

“It is safer that way,” Diomedes nodded.

Nestor interjected.  “And I understand you are originally from three thousand years in the future?”

“Yes,” Lincoln said.  “But I suppose we have to be careful at this point talking about that, too.”

“Even if it is something like computers, like the database you hold in your hand,” Diomedes said.  “It might give a sharp mind like Nestor some ideas and to pursue a line of thinking that might eventually mess everything up.  Sorry.”

“We will be careful,” Alexis said.

“We have to be,” Katie showed that she understood.

“Fine.”  Diomedes looked at everyone around the circle.  “Now it is a warm night.  Do you mind if Nestor and I stay and lay down by your fire?  I ate too much to walk all the way back to the beach.”  People said that would be fine, but Nestor had a thought.

“They will be looking for us,” he said.  “Odysseus will certainly come hunting.”

Diomedes just looked at Elder Stow, and the man spoke.  “He won’t find us, I think.  I have finally got the screens connected to the invisibility disc, I think.  Unless he has a sky ship, he should not see us at all.”

“He might bump his nose into the screen,” Lockhart said.

Diomedes agreed.  “And he might spend the whole night tracing the outline of the screened in area, but he won’t understand what it is, I hope.  He is clever.”

“Worry about that tomorrow,” Nestor said.  “We have had enough worries for one day.”

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

TOMORROW

Episode 5.10 ends with a special post tomorrow, Thursday.

Don’t miss it.

Avalon 5.10 Family Feud, part 2 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Howdy folks.  You got room at your fire for a cattle rustler and an old man?”

“Diomedes?” Lockhart asked.  Diomedes nodded, as Nestor interrupted.

“Who was that woman?”

“Athena,” Diomedes said to the side, before he spoke up.  “And you remember Nestor from Jason and the Argonauts.  The old man is eighty or so years old now.  You remember these people?”

Nestor looked around, caught sight of the horses, the tents, and the faces before he let out his surprise.  “Why, you have not aged one speck since the last time I saw you.  You swore you were not gods.”

“We aren’t,” Alexis said right away.  “We are time travelers.  The last time we saw you was hardly ten days ago for us.”

“I don’t understand.  I understand Diomedes, as the Kairos, he travels, as he says, through time.  He borrows a person from the past who shares his soul, so in this way time is not disturbed.  I know Althea did the same thing in her day, but…”  He did not know what to say.

“We move through the Heart of Time.  As far as we know, there is only one in all existence.”  Katie looked at Diomedes.

“On this genesis planet,” he said, then paused, as Boston raced into his arms.

Boston paused.  “You are Diomedes, aren’t you?”

Diomedes looked at Nestor.  “Yes, he is,” Nestor said.  “Though I would not mind a hug from a pretty young woman.  It has been a long time since I have seen my daughters, I should say, my granddaughters, if not my great-granddaughters.”

Boston obliged him with a hug and then stepped back.  “I remember you.  You used to make Iolaus jokes.”

“I was young and brash,” Nestor admitted.

“All right.”  Diomedes rubbed his hands together as Decker and Lincoln came into the light.  “Katie, Alexis, Boston, and Sukki.  You get to go with me to fetch what we can of the cow Decker shot.”  He traded places with Althea all grown up and continued speaking without an interruption.  “You men get to stay here.  You are not permitted to talk about the events at Troy or after Troy, but you can talk to your heart’s content about Jason and the Argonauts.  And Katie, you can ask all you want about Heracles, later.  Right now, we have a job.”

“Right,” Katie got up, with a quick kiss for Lockhart, and she was ready.

“Wow,” Boston said to Althea.  “You aged,”

“Hey, I’m not that old.  I’m just twenty-something, I think.  Anyway, I aged the normal way.  Want to know when I died?”

“You know that?” Alexis asked.

“Yes.  From this point in history, it has already happened.  I know how, why, when, and too many details like it is happening now.  I would rather not talk about it—oh look, we just came out of the trees and the herd of cattle is still there.”

“Sukki?” Boston asked what was the matter.  Sukki looked stressed.

“Why did you want me to come along?” she asked.

Althea stopped, so everyone stopped.  Althea faced the girl, put her hands on her very large shoulders that supported muscular arms, and spoke softly.  “Because this is now your family, and all the girls in the family are invited.”  Althea smiled.  Sukki looked at the ground.  “Do you understand?  You are part of the team.”  Sukki nodded, but did not look up, so Alexis and Katie got on either side of her and hugged her.  She started to cry, softly, and Boston started to cry softly with her, empathic elf that she was.

Althea turned.  “Penthesileia,” she called, and made herself heard.

Three women trudged down from the edge of the herd, as Althea and the travelers made their way up the small rise.  They met on level ground and one of the Amazons spoke.

“We did not expect to find women here,” she said as the others raised their spears to not be threatening.  “I am Alcibie.  My sisters are Antandre and Bremusa.”

“I am Althea from long ago, come with friends to apologize for shooting one of your aurochs.  They did not know you were herding the wild cattle and thought they were part of a wild herd.  They are ten hungry people, but a single aurochs is more than they can consume.  I am sure they will be glad to share it with the Amazons.”

“How can you be Althea from long ago?” Bremusa interrupted to ask.

Althea smiled for her.  “I visited your people in the last days of Otrera, when I was young aboard the Argo, and I yelled at Ares because he is supposed to stay away from my Amazons.”

Alcibie and Bremusa ducked and looked up for fear that such sacrilege might bring the wrath of Ares on them in an instant.  Althea continued.

“I came again with Heracles when Hippolyta gave her girdle to Heracles.”

“That was stolen,” Antandre said, sharply.

“The story changes over time, but I was there.”

“We have a right to our kill according to Amazon law,” Katie said.  “Even if it was accidentally shot from a herd of wild beasts.”

“Who are you to tell us what is Amazon law?” Alcibie demanded an answer.

“I am Katie.  The second elect in all the world after Zoe.”  Alcibie backed off, noticeably.  “If my friend Artemis was here, she would vouch for me.”

Alcibie and the others looked down in something like a head bow, and Alcibie spoke.  “I should have recognized you by your golden hair.”

“Company,” Boston reported.  People looked in the light of the newly risen moon.  Two women came, side by side, and a half-dozen more followed, keeping well back from the couple.  One of the women was in tears.  That was Penthesileia, the queen.  The other woman was Artemis, and she spoke as they arrived.

“And I do vouch for you, Katie.  And Little Fire, and Alexis, my friend.  And I see you have added a new friend to the family.

“This is Sukki,” Alexis said through her smile.  Being called a friend by a goddess is a powerful aphrodisiac.

“I think we can dispense with the glamours for now,” Artemis decided, and raised her hand to reveal Boston, the elf, and Sukki, the neanderthal.  Antandre and Bremusa shivered at the sight of the Gott-Druk, and at the sight of a little one, but in the presence of their goddess, they almost did not notice as they fell to their knees and covered their eyes.  The women who followed their queen from the camp were also on their knees in the mud, and Artemis spoke loud and clear.  “I think sharing the aurochs is a wonderful idea.  Boston, would you do the honors?”

Boston nodded.  “I could use help.  The women might want some of the innards that we normally waste.”

“Alcibie can help,” Artemis said, since the Amazon was the last one on her feet, with her mouth and eyes wide open, staring.  Boston turned her from the sight of Artemis, and accepted Katie’s knife, which she offered for Alcibie to use.  They went to work on the beast, and Althea finally spoke.

“You’re not mad at me, are you?”

Artemis looked at Althea for a long minute before she spoke.  “I don’t think I could be mad at my best friend forever, no matter what.  I don’t think I could hate you no matter what form you took.  I’m sorry you got stuck with Athena, and I think it is terrible what Aphrodite did to you.  I know you cut her, but I know you denied Athena and refused to finish her.  Dite is not mad at you, I think.  Anyway, it was the result of her own meddling.”

“You’re rambling.”

“I feel awkward.  I don’t do awkward.”

“I love you, no matter who I am.”

Artemis nodded.  “Even when you are a male.  I know.  It took me a while to figure that out.  I love you, too.  Without you, I would have no real friends at all.”

“Me too.  Not forever friends.  And you have always been so good to me.”

“You, that is, Nameless, warned me not to pay attention to any golden apples that had writing on them.  I am so glad I believed and trusted you.”

“Me too.  I’m sorry this time we are on opposite sides.”

“Me too.  But this won’t go on forever.”

Althea started to cry, and Artemis and Althea hugged like long-lost, broken-hearted friends.  Then Artemis said one more thing.  “I better go.  I feel like I am going to cry, too, and it would not be good for mortals to see a goddess cry.”  Althea nodded, and sniffed; and Artemis vanished.

Avalon 5.10 Family Feud, part 1 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 1116 BC Troy.  Kairos 69: Diomedes, the King

Recording…

Diomedes rolled in aurochs dung, and made the others apply it as well.  When he saw the Amazons ride in, driving a herd of some thirty wild cattle, he imagined cowgirls with whips and spears driving cattle along the trail.  He shouted, “Yee-haw,” and then had to explain to Odysseus what yee-haw meant.  Now, he figured if the women were cowgirls, the least he could do is be the Indian when he went to steal some of those beasts.

“You are disgusting,” Odysseus said as he scooted up and whispered.  “Old man Nestor says he will have to bathe the entire day tomorrow to get rid of the smell.

“Is that a threat or a promise?” Diomedes asked, as he pulled his cow hide further up on his shoulders.  “Thersites could use a bath.”

“Wash his mouth, maybe,” Odysseus whispered.

Nestor scooted up with Sthenelus’ help.  He giggled like a schoolgirl.

“Diomedes,” Thersites called out in his loudest whisper, before he saw them.

“Hush,” Diomedes hushed him.  “No scare-um buffalo.”  He turned back to Odysseus and Nestor.  “Aurochs have a bad temperament.  Spook them, and they will run, but startle them, and they will just get angry and charge.”

###

Two sets of eyes tried to pierce the darkness.  One looked back and spoke softly.  “Where is that girl.”  She turned to the one still beside her.  “Now that the sun has set, we need all eyes on the herd.”

“Lady.  I don’t see anything but mud and cattle.  Not much for the cattle to eat.  We best get them in to the city in the morning and to the butchers before they become too skinny to bother cutting up.”

“Quiet Bremusa.  Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth closed.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Alcibie.”  The call came from behind, and it sounded nice and loud.  “What is the problem?”

The girl ran up, followed by the queen.  Alcibe spoke softly after she removed the palm from her face, an affectation the Amazons learned from a young woman who visited them in the days of the queen’s grandmother.  “Antandre.  You move that way.  Bremusa, move slowly the opposite way.  Keep quiet, and keep your eyes and ears open.”  Alcibie turned to the queen and deliberately whispered.  “Penthesileia.”  She nodded her head.  “I sense something in the cattle.  Something is not right.  Maybe, for all our precautions, the Achaeans have come up into our midst.”

The queen put her own hand over her own mouth.  She should have known better than to shout ahead.  She looked intently, but saw no movement but among the cattle.  Alcibie had her bow out and strung.  She fingered her arrows.  The Amazons were hard to see in the dark of night, but they were not the only ones who mastered that skill.

###

Diomedes and his crew stood together and wailed like banshees.  They waved their cow hide cloaks like they were the dead cows, returned from the dead.  The wild cattle were certainly startled, but they were not spooked to run until everyone heard a loud crack in the distance, and one of the cows fell to the ground, mysteriously dead.  Everyone imagined Zeus and a thunderbolt, except Diomedes, who knew the sound all too well.

Ten of the herd, the group Diomedes and Odysseus agreed would likely split off the easiest, ran in the expected direction.  The Greeks saw the torches lit, which formed a nice tunnel to the sea.  Diomedes and his crew did not wait around to be caught, but they kept yelling, giving their position away at every step.  One of Diomedes’ men got an arrow in the thigh.  It was a good and lucky shot, and Diomedes almost turned back to confront the shooter, but Odysseus turned him to pick up the man and help get him to safety.

Antandre and Bremusa realized too late that they could do nothing with their spears.  Alcibie shot three arrows, but two missed and the third only wounded one who still got away.  Antandre and Bremusa had to quickly turn to keep the rest of the herd from running, and other Amazons came up to help.  The women were well trained and disciplined, so they succeeded without anyone getting hurt, but Alcibie yelled, “I knew it,” and Penthesileia growled and felt like kicking herself.

As soon as Diomedes got the wounded man to where he could hand him off to Sthenelus and his men, he grabbed old Nestor, who was still giggling, and pulled him aside.  He practically dragged poor Nestor to the edge of a stream and together, they got in to wash.  All that while, Diomedes did his best to think to Boston.  Don’t let Decker go out on that field.  Stop him.  Tell Katie to get ready to join me.  I’ll be there quick as I can.

Boston had to run to stop Decker and Lincoln, though the two had stopped.  With the night goggles, they saw what was happening better than any Greeks, Amazons or Trojans could hope to see, and while they might not have understood the full dynamics of what they saw, they decided not to interfere.

“I only looked at the beef,” Decker admitted.  “I assumed these were wild cattle.”

“They are,” Lincoln said.  “Aurochs are a wild breed.”  He wilted a little under Decker’s stare.  “It is too far to tell, even with the goggles, but I am guessing we are closer to Troy than we thought.  I was trying to make out the city and missed the people completely.”

Decker nodded as Boston ran up at super elf speed.  “I guess we both need to be more careful from here on out.”

“That, or we need to stop before dark, no matter how much someone wants to see the fabled walls of Troy.”

“Can’t see the walls in the dark, anyway,” Boston said, as she caught her breath.  “Amazons,” she added.  “We’re supposed to wait for Diomedes, and then Katie is going to fetch the beef.”

Decker and Lincoln said nothing as they turned to head back to the camp they had set up in the woods.

###

Diomedes crawled out of the water and saw the love of his life standing on the shore, waiting patiently.  How unlike her, he thought, and he stepped up to her and kissed her passionately.  She responded with her whole heart, but when they parted, she stepped back and spouted.

“Now I’m soaking wet.  Thanks a lot.”  she waved her arms, and all the water that covered her vacated her clothes and went back into the river.

“I just wanted to give you something from my heart and ask you to remember later where we left off.  Sadly, I have work to do that just came up.”

“I know.  I’ve been watching them for the last couple of days.  This is not a good time for them to show up.”

“I understand.  And there is a crisis here, already.  I was thinking I may have to trade places with Althea and let her handle it.”

The woman turned up her nose at the thought.  “And you drag the sweet old man with you?”

“Ah, yes.  They met Nestor on the Argo, if you recall.  Volcano day.”

The woman nodded.  “Well, you can start out as yourself.  Who you become is your business.  You have your own work as we have our work, even as you said.”

The woman waved her hand again and Diomedes and Nestor disappeared from that place and reappeared beside a nice, cozy campfire.  Diomedes thought, don’t forget where we were.  He heard the answer, Never.

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

Remember:

4 posts in this episode.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and THURSDAY.

Don’t miss it…

Avalon 5.9 Mythes Interruptes, part 6 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

No one could see well in the fog, smoke and ash cloud that covered everything.  They managed to bring the ship alongside something, but armed men were waiting and jumped the ship.

“Pirates,” Jason yelled, and men who rowed with shields and weapons ready to come to hand, grabbed their swords and spears, and fought back.  The group that jumped the ship was a small number, easily defeated; but the men found themselves on a dock and saw many more torches coming.

“Get ready to fight,” Meleager shouted, and the men on the dock got into some hastily formed ranks.  That was when Althea recognized where they were.  She shouted over and over, but no one listened to her.  Finally, she did what she so rarely did.  She cried out to others.

“Athena.  Apollo.  Father Zeus.  You are about to lose all your heroes.”

The fight started.  Some men died before a flash of light and some force separated the fighters.  A figure appeared between the two sides and the yelling got intense, though Althea could not hear what was said.  A beautiful young woman with long golden hair that matched her golden wings appeared beside Althea and her father.  Argus kept his eyes on the happenings on the dock and did not appear to notice the stranger, or hear the conversation.

“You are a young one,” the woman said.

Althea struggled before she came up with a name.  “Iris.”

Iris smiled at being recognized.  “Young and cute.”  She hugged Althea like an old friend, and kissed her like a sister.

“You have a message for me?”  Althea did not know what else to say.

“Indeed,” Iris became serious.  “Zeus says you are welcome to call upon the gods, and in your case, maybe one in ten times we will answer; but you should know in every lifetime, it has been the policy of the gods to let you handle most situations yourself.  I think it comes with the territory.”

“I thought of that,” Althea said.  “But I feared some divine intervention would be necessary.  I suspected the eruption of the mountain was not a planned event.  I feared some god might be working behind the scene to transport the ship back to the Doliones port; like someone had it out for King Cyzicus or something.  I had no right to interfere with that, and besides, I did not know who I could call on, legally speaking.  I supposed Junior, if he was willing, but then this is buffer zone land, so maybe Nameless would not be out of line.  With the Greeks, I almost called Amphitrite.”

“My cousin,” Iris said.

Althea nodded.  “But then I figured everyone was watching, and I didn’t want to interfere, you know…”

“Young, but as usual, thoughtfully wise.  You were right in one way, that King Cyzicus is dead, and his wife may also die before the fog is lifted.  And you were right, that this eruption was not planned by the gods.  The djin following your friends broke the natural crack in the earth at this spot, and let loose plenty of your fire sprites who may not cooperate with your djin, and woe to that djin if he should return to this jurisdiction.  Some on Olympus have long memories.”

They stood and watched the events on the dock for a moment before Althea spoke again.  “There is more?”

“Yes,” Iris smiled again.  She placed her hand to Althea’s forehead and tapped gently, like she was turning the switch to the on position.  “The gifts of certain gods were place within you when you were a child.  They have been hidden, but are now revealed, now that you are becoming a woman.  The gods of the gifts may come to mind when you discover and begin to use the gifts, I cannot say.  But you follow Heracles, and some are concerned about him.  The unhappiness of Hera is strong, and she has made Heracles the symbol of her unhappiness.  She does not dare attack him directly, but there are other ways.  Some feel there may be a time when extraordinary help may be necessary.”

“You mean to help Heracles do something?” Iolaus stuck his nose in.

“Yes, Iolaus,” Iris smiled for the boy.  “You must help Heracles, whatever his task may be.”  Iris vanished.  Althea figured Iris smiled for the boy because she did not have to put up with him.  Then she felt sorry.  She wanted to see Iris use those wings.

“I think they have stopped fighting,” Argus said.

###

“It is not over,” Alexis said to Lockhart and whatever travelers might be listening.  “There will be aftershocks.  When a fault line ruptures like this, it will take a while before it will settle down again.”

“Yeah, but you mean over the next few days,” Lincoln suggested.

“I mean at any time,” Alexis spoke honestly.

“What?” Lockhart interrupted, directing the question to Boston.

“We found Opuker, but he says the way we need to go is cracked.  He is not sure what that means.”

Lockhart thought for no time at all.  “We go with it.  It is still the quickest route out of the area.  Lincoln, watch Sukki.  Elder Stow, let us know if you need to stop and shut down the screens.”  The screens were collecting the dust and ash, but fortunately, the prevailing winds were blowing most of it out to sea.

The travelers walked their horses, but following Opuker on dwarf ways, they traveled twice the distance in an hour they might have traveled at a full gallop.  Neither Alexis nor Boston could explain it.  The others just had to accept it on trust.

When they reached the place of the crack, they found it formed a crack in the earth, and red lava flowing down seemed about to swallow their path.  People made fairy weave scarfs to cover their mouths and noses against the toxic fumes.  They paused to make similar scarfs for their horses.

Elder Stow admitted.  “The screen is not strong enough to keep out a relentless river of lava, and I dare not harden it enough to keep out the toxic fumes.  Ash and dust are tangible, but I cannot keep out gasses, at least not without time to fine tune the device.”

“Boston?  Alexis?” Lockhart asked, without asking an actual question.

“I would just make it hotter,” Boston said, about her fire magic, though it was doubtful she could make molten rock hotter.

“I might cool the end,” Alexis said.  “But it would just roll over and keep on coming.”

They stood on a ridge and looked down on the path.  It remained open, but the lava looked to be getting too close for comfort.

“Sorry to say, any detour would be a long way around and with no guarantees that the new way not be blocked,” Opuker said, and tugged on his beard.  Then he confessed something the travelers had not expected.  “I had family down in Bear Mountain.  We had no warning about this one.  I can only hope they got out in time.” He sighed and everyone felt sorry for him until the elves returned with a couple of friends.

“These are scorch and char, a couple of fire sprites,” the elf said.  “They are going to turn the lava flow back east.  We can crust the end of it near the path.”  They went to work, Alexis adding her wind to the mix, while the others all marveled to see the lava river turn uphill to get over a hump in the path and start in another direction.

“That has to be harder than making water flow uphill,” Lincoln said.  Sukki and Decker both nodded, and Elder Stow suggested that science could do much the same thing, if given the right equipment.  No one argued with him, they just moved on.

Once they got free of the fault area, Opuker, the elves, and the sprites said goodbye.  The sprites confessed they got the dwarfs out of the mountain before it blew its top.  Everyone felt glad for Opuker, and Boston even hugged him and ignored the turned-up noses from the elves and from Lockhart.

They camped that night and the next without further incident.  Decker suggested the djin got his pants burned by the local gods for setting off the mountain.  Boston, Alexis and Katie all said probably Zeus, given the proximity of Jason and the Argonauts.  Sukki, as usual, said nothing, but she spent plenty of time looking around.  Both Lincoln and Lockhart tried to reassure her with the notion that the djin probably escaped into the next time zone to escape the gods.

“Hush,” Katie said.  “You are suggesting it will be there waiting for us.”

Elder Stow managed to keep Sukki grounded until an hour before sunset on the last day in that time zone.  They made it to the next gate, and set camp, unwilling to enter the next time zone in the dark.  The djin showed up, and this time, everyone saw him.

He came in the cloud, and only formed a face where the setting sun would be at his back.  It gave his face an eerie, glowing, enflamed look.

“The ash should have burned you.  The dust should have blinded you.  The smoke and gas should have choked you.  The lava should have buried you.  But now, even the small spirits of the water, earth, wind, and flame refuse to do as I command.  Even so, I will find a way to kill you all.”  They watched him move, like flying on the wind, and he vanished into the next time zone.

Boston remarked.  “He looked sort of like Voldemort after he drank the unicorn blood.”

“Not a good image,” Katie told her.

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

MONDAY

Avalon, episode 5.10 will be posted in 4 parts

That is, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and THURSDAY of next week

Don’t miss Avalon 5.10, Family Feud, where the travelers find themselves outside Troy…

Happy Reading

*

 

 

Avalon 5.9 Mythes Interruptes, part 5 of 6

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The earthquake did not last long.  No one fell, and none of the horses were injured or panicked.  The people panicked a little when Alexis reported the message she sensed in the wind.

“There may be several small quakes before the big one.”

“Are you sure?” Lincoln asked.

Alexis nodded.  “We are on a fault line.”

Lockhart started shouting orders as Decker and Elder Stow rode in from the wings.

“Sukki in the middle.  Lincoln, keep her in the saddle.  Boston and Alexis out front.  Use what magic and elf sense you have.  Find us a path for hard riding.  Decker and Katie, protect the flanks, but don’t spread out.  Elder Stow, watch the rear and think of something.  Do your best.  Be prepared to stop and dismount when the ground shakes.  Go.”

Boston put her amulet away and started them at a trot.  She sensed elves up ahead, only a small way off track, but she figured they might know some elf paths that could take them out of the area much faster than she could lead them.  She mostly hoped they would not have to backtrack too much.  Even with her full concentration, she could not guarantee the route.

Boston felt something in the pit of her belly and Alexis turned to her and said, “Get down.”  Alexis turned her head and shouted.  “Get down.”

The ground started to rumble and shake.  This felt like a bigger shake than the last one.  Sukki held tight to her horse’s reins, and Lincoln yelled at her.  “Let go.  Let go.”  He had to yell it twice, and Sukki let go just in time.

A big, old and rotten tree gave up the struggle and came crashing down on the group.  Sukki jumped in one direction.  Her horse backed up in the other direction.  The tree trunk fell between them, and people gasped and shouted, but no one got hurt.

“We need to ride before the next one,” Lockhart yelled.

Lincoln held the horse, and Sukki got right up.  She looked inspired.

Boston led them toward the elves.  She sensed the elves knew of their predicament and were willing to help the travelers in any way they could.  Alexis stayed at her side, and as they came into a swampy area and slowed, she spoke.

“You’re sensing little ones ahead.  Will they help us?”

“I think so.  How did you know?”

“I was an elf, and not that long ago.”  Alexis smiled for Boston.  “You’re doing great.”

Boston returned the smile.  “I hope so,” she said, and focused on the trail.

After ten minutes, the ground began to shake again.  It was a bad one, but fortunately, they were in an open field with no trees to collapse on their heads.  The horses bucked and ran some.  The people fell to the ground and tried not to get trampled by the horses.  The sky itself appeared to shake.  Then it stopped, suddenly, and the travelers had to scramble to get to their horses.

“Go easy,” Boston instructed everyone.  “The horses are very jittery and nervous now.  Almost anything will spook them.”  And she started them moving at a gentle pace.  After a short way, Boston saw two elves and a dwarf of some sort, standing at the edge of a tree line.

“Opuker says the trail magic works best in the woods,” one of the elves shouted.  “It works on open ground, but only if you get distracted.”

“Like multiplication magic, like for the elf crackers,” Alexis said.  “It really only works, and works best when you are not looking.”

“Like the watched pot.”  Boston nodded.  Alexis was her teacher.  She could not help it.  Even if Boston fully understood travel magic and multiplication magic, Alexis still had to make a teacher-comment.  That could get annoying, but presently, Boston did not mind, and in fact, she paid little attention to the lesson being preoccupied with worry about the ground moving beneath her feet.

“So, what’s in it for me?” Opuker asked, expecting to bargain.  The second elf present carried a wooden staff, and he used it to hit the dwarf over the head.  The dwarf did not seem phased by the bonk, and everyone heard the hollow sound of his head, but he dutifully said, “Ow.  All right.  I was just getting to it.”

“Everybody down,” Alexis yelled.  “This may be the big one.”

No one argued.  The elves and the dwarf went invisible, and probably insubstantial, just in case.  Boston had not thought to do that, but then, she decided she needed to finish this journey with the others, at least human-like.  When they got home, she would have six or seven hundred years to do all the elf things she wanted and could imagine.

It hit.  It was bad, as bad as Alexis predicted.  The open field developed a small, collapsing chasm and several boulders pushed up from below in a couple of places.  Several trees in the woods ahead of them let go and crashed with great noise.  People screamed and yelled, but it was soon over.  The top of bear mountain exploded, and dust, smoke, and ash rose in a great cloud to waft over the whole countryside.

Elder Stow sat and pulled out his scanner.  He shouted to Lockhart.  “I got a screen up around us and the horses.  Wait, wait.”  He played with the controls.  “I can keep it up while we move, if we don’t move too fast.  It will let in normal atmosphere, and act like a filter for the ash and smoke.  It will also allow living organic matter and solid objects like earth and stone through so we won’t drag a bunch of weight with us.  We can try to move with it on, as I said, if we don’t move too fast.

Lockhart, Lincoln, Decker and Katie looked fine with that idea.  Sukki thought Elder Stow was the most brilliant Gott-Druk of all time.  Alexis and Boston did not pay attention.  They were too busy with the elves, trying to find Opuker.

###

The ship had not gone far to sea when the mountain blew.  The red fire lit up the afternoon, and the black cloud that followed appeared ominous.  Men panicked.  Althea grabbed her father’s hand and yelled at the steersman.

“Euphemus.  Turn toward the mountain.”  She yelled it several times, and Jason and Meleager both only glanced at Althea before they yelled the same thing.  Against his better judgment, Euphemus turned toward the mountain as the men tore down the sail.  The ship barely turned in time.  The water rose beneath the bow until the ship, like the proverbial cork on the water, rost a hundred feet in the air.  It slid down the other side, and several smaller waves followed.  By then, the black cloud obscured the coastline, and the leading edge caught the ship with the sail only part way down.  The ship spun in the water several times.  Then the cloud blotted out the sun.

“Below deck.  Below deck.” people yelled, and the crew crammed into the larder while still burning ash coated the upper deck and the whole outside of the ship with hot gray soot.  Soon enough, men had to brave it to put out several fires that broke out on the deck.  Most threw on whatever cloaks and blankets they could grab, but some were burned, several badly, and all the men became covered in smut and dust until they could hardly tell who was who.

“Make for the shore,” Jason yelled.

“Where is the shore?” Euphemus asked, as he and Heracles rigged up a steersman’s oar.

“Look for lights,” Peleus yelled, and several men echoed that phrase.  The port and starboard railings became filled with men trying desperately to pierce the cloud and glimpse something alight.

The seconds became the longest minute ever, before Asclepius shouted and pointed.  “Light.  Off the port side.”  No one else saw it, at first.  Some said his father Apollo helped him to see it, or at least they prayed that was the case.

Althea came up with a scarf around her face to filter the smoke and grit in the air.  She had tied one around her father’s face as well.

“It’s on the wrong side,” Iolaus pointed out, haveing finally come back up from below.  “It should be to starboard.”

“Maybe it is an island,” Heracles suggested.

“Maybe we got turned around,” Althea said, under her breath.  Men could see some light by then, and the ship headed for it, but it looked like torchlight.  Only a dozen on each side got down to row, so they drew slowly toward the light, in case it was another ship.

Avalon 5.9 Mythes Interruptes, part 4 of 6

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“Gegeines,” Althea named the six armed giants.  “King Cyzicus neglected to mention them.  All he said was the hunting on the other side of Bear Mountain should be good.”

“I expected bears,” Jason said.  “I told the crew to stick together in groups of three and not get separated.”

“A wise precaution,” Decker said.

“Lions and tigers,” Althea said.

“And bears,” Boston shouted.

“Oh my,” Lockhart shouted back from down the way where he and Katie were getting friendly with Heracles and Asclepius.

Heracles laughed softly.  Asclepius did not follow, but that was all right.  Asclepius knew plenty of things about Heracles and Althea that the others did not know, but he hardly knew it all.  Heracles spoke.

“I get to be born when the Princess is around, and then again in the twentieth century.  It hardly seems fair to struggle so hard, to die and not be able to go to heaven.  God makes me stick around to go through the whole process again, and twice more at that, that I know of.”

“God?” Katie asked.

“My guess,” Heracles nodded.  “I can’t imagine any bug-eyed aliens that are that smart.”

“None that I know of,” Lockhart said.  “And I do aliens for a living.  Lincoln thinks they all should be Jello-blobs.”

Katie pointed to Lincoln and Alexis who sat around a fire with Jason, Decker, Althea and Boston, where Meleager, Atalanta, and Argus arrived.  Argus took a seat beside his daughter.

“Dear Althea,” Argus said, as he took and patted her hand.  “You have no idea how scared I felt for you.  You know, it was never my idea to leave you behind on the shore.”

Althea frowned, but then she hugged her father with a word.  “Were you scared?”

“For you,” Argus said, and glanced at the others.

“I was scared for me too,” Althea said.  “Lucky I had such good help.”

“I didn’t see anyone fluttering around,” Jason quipped, referring to her fairy friends without saying it out loud for those not in the know.

“Jason,” Althea scolded.  “I would never put such in danger.”

“She is right about that,” Boston said.  “We are perfectly capable of getting in trouble all by ourselves without any help, thank you very much.”

“I was talking about help from the men of the Argo, and my friends from the future,” Althea said.

Jason gave a nod that said he almost believed her.  Meleager turned to Argus.  “Do you know what they are talking about?”

“No,” Argus said.  “But her mother was that way.  She could talk for hours and not say one intelligible word the whole time.”

“Well,” Atalanta stood on that sour note.  “I have an elect to talk to before she disappears.  Excuse me.”  She walked over to Katie after one long look at Lincoln and Alexis, who were kissing and ignoring everyone, like two people in their own little world.  She glanced a Meleager as she walked.

“They are making up for lost time,” Boston explained.  “Husbands and wives can do that, you know.”

“Yes,” Meleager said.  “And exactly why it is so difficult to have women along on an adventure like this.  Men are so easily distracted.  Women should stay home so a man has something to come home to.  Absence sharpens the mind.  Yes, women should just stay home.”

“Ahem,” Althea cleared her throat.  “I’m sitting right here.  I can hear you, you know.”  Meleager smiled for her, but Althea had something to add.  “I won’t be little forever, you know.  Someday I’ll be a big distraction.”

“I am sure you will,” Meleager kept smiling, and tried to back out of the conversation gracefully.

“Why wait?” Lincoln looked directly at Althea.  “Every time zone, you do a pretty good job.  It is always something to distract us.”

“I hear that,” Decker agreed.

###

In the morning, Althea said good-bye to everyone, and then took Sukki aside to talk.  She worried about her.  Sukki was fully grown, about eighteen, in a world where forty had been a good long life.  With Elder Stow’s help, she might double that expectation and live to be eighty.  But that would be a long time alone.  If she insisted on staying on the earth, she had better adjust to being around homo sapiens.

“You are surrounded by good people.  Never mind what kind of people they are.”

“I understand,” Sukki said.  She looked at her feet, and Althea shook her head.

“You have to get over being so shy,” she said.  “The travelers have all said they like you and are glad you are traveling with them.”

“That isn’t it,” Sukki said, and paused for a long time.  Althea pulled up several handfuls of grass while she waited.  “They are all so smart, and powerful people.  They have instruments of power, and magic.  I am as nothing.”

“Not true,” Althea interrupted.  “I am a twelve-year-old girl in the midst of some of the greatest heroes in history.  If anyone should be nothing, it should be me.”

Sukki looked at Althea like she was crazy.  “Not true.  You are special beyond all of them.”

“I would rather be loved,” Althea said, and Sukki began to cry softly.

“My love died…”  Sukki whispered, and Althea hugged her.  It seemed a big confession, and Althea hoped it would also be a big step.

She did not tell the others, though she encouraged Sukki to be open and honest with her companions.  What she did say was she hoped the ship would move further east, and since the travelers were headed toward the time gate in the west, they might reach it sooner than expected.

Katie sighed.  “Jason and the Argonauts.”  She waved to the ship, and felt like cursing, because there were so many questions she had not been allowed to ask.

###

As the travelers rode around the base of Bear Mountain, Katie kept turning her head back and all around like she was looking for something.  Lincoln and Alexis dropped back to engage Boston and Sukki in conversation, even if Sukki said so little, so Lockhart finally guessed.

“You are still worried about Artie?  So am I, but I have to believe she is all right.”

“No,” Katie said.  “That’s not it.”  She looked again over her shoulder.

“Okay.  What is it?” Lockhart had to prompt her.

“The djin,” she said.  “He told us he stopped playing around.  He told Artie and me that he intended to kill us.  He said the gods had eaten some of his power, but he had more than enough to kill us.  That was when Anubis showed up.  Remember?  And after we left the field of the basilisk, we got surrounded by gods.”

“The Valkyrie,” Lockhart nodded.

“But none here, and yet I haven’t seen the djin.”

“Hercules…” Lockhart started.

No, I thought of that.  The gods followed Jason and the Argonauts, so maybe we were safe when we were with them, but we are not with them right now.”

Lockhart frowned and nodded.  “I talked to Althea and Hercules, both.  They said the Gangrines…”

“Gegeines.”

“Whatever, the giants, that they would watch, but not attack such a well-armed group, no matter how protective they might be of their territory.  Something had to motivate them, and the djin is the likely suspect.”

“That is what I heard,” Katie said.  “Nice theory, but that doesn’t explain where he is now that we have left Jason behind.”  She looked around once more as the ground beneath their feet began to shake.