Storyteller

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb part 5 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Three hours after meeting with the village elders, Artie, Naman, Hatisuli, and three of those elders met the Mitanni just outside of the village.  Artie did the talking, and she got straight to the point.

“Are you trying to start a war?  Does your king know you are doing this?  Do you think he will be happy when he has to pay compensation to the Hittites for attacking a Hittite village?”

The Mitanni commander smiled and kept looking over his shoulder at the man in the corner.  Artie felt something about the man that rubbed Artie in an odd way.  She felt it as soon as she saw him, and finally put it together in her mind that she felt the same way around Alexis and Boston.  She figured it might be that intuition thing Mother Katie talked about, and she felt thrilled to think she had it.  Then she understood she would only be guessing.

“Elf.  Show yourself,” she said.  The man looked around with the others, like he did not know who she was talking to.  “Elf, in the name of the Kairos, you have no business leading these men into war.  If you are being coerced, then in the Kairos’ name I command that you be free.”

The man stared this time, and began to weep.

“What is this?”  The Mitanni commander demanded an answer.  “Lugos is the one who told me about the gold hidden away in your village.  He is a fine and honest man.”  The commander wanted that gold.  “I will not attack you if you hand it over.”

“Elf, show yourself, or when I see the Kairos, I will accuse you, and the Kairos will know.”

“No.  Please.”  The man transformed into a four-foot creature that looked more like an imp than an elf.  He might have been a gnome of sorts.  Artie honestly was not sure.  The Mitanni and village elders alike took several steps back.  Only Naman smiled, and he kept Hatisuli steady.

“I don’t know what I am doing.  I do not deal with mortal humans.  My place is in the wilderness.”  He looked directly at the Mitanni commander.  “There is no gold in this village.  You have been lied to.”  That was as close as he could come to admitting that he lied.  “May I go?”  He looked at Artie.

“Who told you to bring the Mitanni here?” Artie asked, kindly.

“I…”  The gnome took off his hat and twisted it.  “That big fellow.  The Marid.”

“The Djin?” Artie asked to clarify.

The gnome nodded.  “I think so.”

Artie smiled.  “You can go, my friend.”  The gnome smiled for her, and vanished as Artie turned to the Mitanni commander.  “So, you have been lied to.  There is no gold.  Now, unless you intend to start a war and make your king boiling mad at you, I suggest you take your troop back to the trade road and go home.”

“The gold?” one of the sub-commanders asked.  The commander hit him and started yelling at his men to get moving back to the road.

Artie turned, and Naman grabbed her and hugged her.  Hatisuli and the elders were very pleased.  Artie felt the excitement and pleasure in Naman’s arms.  She just had to kiss him, but it was all too brief before she said.  “I wonder if the Hittite commander got told about the gold.  They would find out.

###

That evening, the whole village threw a celebration.  They knew what a battle woould have done to them, not to mention the soldiers that would have rampaged through the town, looking for gold that was not there.  Artie became the guest of honor, and got tired of saying, “No, thank you,” and “Your welcome,” and “I’m glad everything worked out.”

As the night wore on, people tired.  They began to go home about nine o’clock, and Naman explained.  “It is true.  We are poor dirt farmers not used to late hours, no matter the occasion.  But we are the backbone of the countryside.  All of the kings and nobles would not survive without us.”

After a while, when Naman and Hatisuli wandered off to talk with the young men, Sharina waddled up and took Artie to meet Larsa.  Larsa looked a little afraid.  She heard about the thieves and the lion, and Artie got the credit for driving off two whole armies, even if they barely made up two companies between them.  Artie hugged the girl, which made the girl’s whole face express surprise.  Then Artie asked a question Larsa did not expect.

“Do you love him?”

Sharina encouraged Larsa to speak.  “Oh yes.  He is all I dream about.”

Artie nodded.  “Then you should marry him,” and she explained what only Naman knew.  “My seven companions on their seven big horses will find me.  I am certain.  And then I will go with them on our journey, and be gone from this place.  I thank you for letting me borrow Naman for a few days.  It is very scary to be on your own, lost and alone.  His friendly face has helped me more than I can say.”  She gave Larsa and Sharina both hugs, hugging Sharina carefully around the baby, before she finished her thought.  “I may be here a week or so.  My friends may come for me tomorrow.  I do not know.  But if Naman loves you, then you can marry him, and be happy, and I will not be here to get in your way.”

Larsa began to cry and Artie asked.  “Are you happy to hear that I am going away?”  Larsa nodded, and Artie wondered out loud.  “Why do women cry when they are happy?”  And all three laughed.

As the party wound down, Naman said they should go, and Artie agreed, but because she had to check on Freedom.  He took her hand as they walked to the barn.  She gave Freedom a good brushing and plenty of tender care.  Then she got out her own brush and sat down beside Naman while she brushed her own hair.  They did not say much.

“Do you love Larsa?”

Naman looked away and admitted, “Yes.  I think I do.”

Artie nodded.  Then they kissed.  And then they did everything men and women are designed to do.

As the moon came up, the clouds also moved in.  The rain came suddenly, and it came hard.  Anat crawled down from the barn loft, and she screamed once when the lightning struck.  The wind came up, and the whole barn rattled.  Even Naman looked scared in the face of the storm.

“Twister,” Naman yelled.  They moved to the back of the barn where Freedom looked ready to Panic.  Naman and Artie held Anat between them and made themselves as small as they could.  They expected the barn to be blown away any minute, but the tornado stopped.  It stood in the doorway, and they heard laughter.

Artie was the first to move.  Naman kept two steps back and held Anat so she could not run away.  Artie got suspicious.  Her intuition acted up, and she yelled against the wind.

“What is so funny?”

A face formed on the outside of the tornado and laughed.  “You are despoiled.  You have given yourself to a man.  You can never get your innocence back, or your purity.  Now, no man will ever want you for wife.  You have ruined yourself.”

“What do you mean?” Artie shot back.  “I had a wonderful experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

The face seemed stuck on its own way of thinking.  “All of this went according to plan.”  He laughed again.  “The thieves.  The lion.  The soldiers.  It was nothing more than a ruse to bring you two together.  It worked better than I ever hoped.  Now, your life is over and you may as well give yourself to the brothel and to depravity.”

“Are you not listening?  What Naman and I have and did is special, and I will remember it fondly my whole life.  Mother Katie, Boston and Alexis have told me much about the future.  I am sixteen, and that is more than old enough for hot, steamy sex.”

“But…”

“You made me sick, and now I know what it is like to be ill.  You gave me a boyfriend, and I am grateful for that, too.  We got to sleep together, and it was wonderful.  I am not afraid of you, and I am not angry with you.  You pushed me to experience things I never would have experienced as an android.  I thank you, most deeply.”

The face twisted, and let out a scream.  The roof on the barn began to lift before the tornado vanished and the clouds pushed off.  An older woman stood in the moonlight, and Artie recognized her.

“Hannahannah,” Artie named her, and ran to hug her.  The old woman smiled and turned her right around. She led Artie right back to the barn where Artie saw Naman and Anat sleeping, peacefully.

“You must lie down,” Hannahannah said, and guided Artie to lie so Anat stayed between her and Naman.  “Like your own little family.”  Hannahannah smiled.  “And you have a busy day tomorrow.”

Artie felt warm and content, and she quickly joined her little family in sleep.

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Artie turned and hummed a little tune as she collected rocks to place around a fire.  She collected sticks as well, and then thought to fetch her flint and steel.  By the time Naman came from the trees with his arms full of lumber, the fire was already started.

“How did you do that?” Naman asked.  “It took us an hour last evening to get the fire started.  That was why we were just cooking when you showed up.”

“I had some tinder,” Artie said, innocently.  “I got my flint and steel.  I told you about steel,” she said.

“I watched,” Abinidab said.  “And I can’t tell you how she did that.”

“What do we have that we can cook?” Artie asked.  She got her pot and walked back to the little stream they crossed before the kissing incident.  She smiled at the memory of that.  As she bent down to fill her pot, she heard a roar back in the camp.  She dropped the pot and pulled her knife as she ran.

Naman had his father’s spear and shield, and Abinidab hid behind him.  Naman looked dashing, but he faced a lion, a lone male, from the look of it.  Artie stopped beside Naman and started giving orders.

“Stare in its eyes.  Stare him down.”

“It is Sandan come to take our lives,” Abinidab wailed.

“Show no fear,” Artie commanded.  “Stare him down.”  She growled when the lion roared.  “Lion.  Look at me.”  She spoke firmly and directly to the cat.  “One step at a time, forward,” she said.

“Sakhmet is my sister.”  She took a step, stared as hard as she could, and the lion clearly looked confused. Naman was a little slow on the first step, but he got the idea.

“Bestet is my protector.”  She took another step, and this time, the lion took a step back.

“Wadjt saves the day.”  Artie made no wild moves.  She simply moved, relentless, calm, and determined in her voice, one step at a time.

“Mihos is my friend.”  One more step and the lion backed up.  It roared, a roar of protest, to be sure.  Freedom came racing up to the rescue, and on sight of the big mustang, not to mention the big spear and the annoying woman, the lion thought better, turned and bounded off.

Artie grabbed Freedom by the nose and kissed the horse.  “You are my big protector, aren’t you?”  The horse appeared to like that idea.

“Father fainted,” Naman said.  “And your horse is smarter than Birka, just so we know what we are talking about.”

“A woman like that would ruin you,” Artie said, as she put her knife away.

“I would much rather you ruin me,” Naman said.

“Me too,” Artie agreed.  And they were kissing when Abinidab woke from his faint, and smiled.  He looked like a man determined to get his son a wife, no matter what.

###

Home was a farm, of course.  Basan, age fifteen, watched their few sheep, until he stopped to stare at Artie, up on Freedom’s back.  He saw his brother riding behind her, holding her tight around her waist, and he seemed to be enjoying himself.  Father walked, but that was the only thing not worth staring at.

“Sheep, sheep,” Father said as he passed by.  He waved, and Basan turned to the sheep until father’s back was turned.  Then he went back to staring.

Naman turned Artie and Freedom to the barn.  They were there for over an hour while Artie gave her horse some much needed attention.  They had a small fenced in area where the family kept the sheep in the night.  Artie figured Freedom would not be bothered by the sheep, but she might put him in the barn after dark.  For now, she let him run in the area where the springtime grass grew.

She took Naman’s hand when he took her to the house, but the closer she got, the more nervous she felt.  It finally popped out of her mouth.  “Do you think your mother will like me?”

Naman patted her hand and looked behind them.  “What do you think, Anat?”  Artie felt startled.  She got so anxious; she had not realized they were being followed.

“I don’t know,” Anat said, as they stopped outside the door.  “Mother can be cranky and yells a lot.”  She looked up in Artie’s face, and Artie thought Anat looked precious.  “But I like her,” Anat said, and she even took Artie’s other hand, “So Artie cannot run away,” she explained.

They went in and saw Abinidab sitting at the table, waiting.  Naman’s mother, Amma, stood and walked around Artie, twice, with comments.

“She looks foreign.  Can she cook?  She does not look strong, like a worker.  My son needs a strong wife.”

“Forgive me,” Artie said.  “I just realized, I am not properly dressed.”  She still had on her pink top and her loose-fitting riding pants that looked like a skirt when she stood or walked.  She spoke to her clothes, and they imitated the dress Amma wore, with a bit more flare, and some tatting around the edges.  She also colored it a rich green, like the grass in spring.

Amma sat down, shrieked, threw her apron over her face, and Artie noticed.  “Yes, I need an apron,” she said, and an apron formed out of the fairy weave she wore.  “How’s that?” she asked Doma, who had a broom in her hand and smiled, and Anat, who clapped and grinned.

“Yes, shoes,” she said, and changed hers into sandals, like the girls wore.  “How do I look?” she asked Abinidab, who snickered, because she had showed him about the fairy weave, so he knew she was not a witch.  She also asked Naman, but he appeared to be tongue tied.  That made Artie happy.

“Naman come out here.”  A man knocked on the door.  “There is trouble.  We need you.”

Naman looked briefly at his father before he went out.  Artie was not going to be left alone with the family, at least not so soon.  She did remember something, though, and spoke to Abinidab as things came together in her mind.   “Basan needs to bring the sheep in.  There is a rogue lion in the neighborhood.”

Abinidab looked at her, jumped up, and ran out in front of her.  His head hurt, but his son might be in danger.

“Wonderful to meet you,” Artie said.  “I look forward to getting to know you better,” and she stepped outside to see what the trouble was.

The young man stopped talking when Artie appeared, and rather stared at her.  The obviously pregnant woman beside him also stared at Artie, and Naman paused to introduce everyone.  “Artie, that’s short for Arthur.  This is my friend Hatisuli, and his lovely wife, Sharina.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Artie said, and she did not understand the way Sharina looked at her, until Sharina spoke.

“Larsa is home, crying.”

“I’m sorry,” Artie said, offhandedly.  The boys were talking on the side and she wanted in.  “What?”  she put her hand on Naman’s shoulder, and he did not hesitate to include her.

“There are Mitanni soldiers coming down from the trade route.  A tradesman came into town just an hour ago with that word.  Meanwhile, there are Hittite chariots camped just on the other side of the hill.  It looks like they may meet here in our village, and if they do, they may fight.”

“Damn wingnuts,” Artie swore, using words Decker sometimes used.  “Naman, has it occurred to you that someone is toying with us, trying to get me killed, no doubt, without attracting the attention of the gods, or whoever?  First, we get accosted by thieves in the morning.  Then we run into a lion at lunchtime.  And now, before we can even think about supper, we have two army groups ready to come to blows in front of your house.”

Naman thought about it and nodded.  “But I don’t know what we can do about it,” he said.

“Keep our eyes and ears open, and deal with one lion at a time.  My friends will come, and then, whoever it is, will not dare show his face.”

“So, what do we do about the Mitanni and Hittites?” Hatisuli asked Naman, but he turned to look at Artie.

“We stare down the lion,” she said.  “What is the current state between the two parties?  Are they at war or peace?”

“Peace?” Hatisuli did not sound certain.

“Have you heard rumors of war, or seen any soldiers before today?”

“No.  None,” Naman said, and he grinned, like he was enjoying this.

“Does this village have rulers, like elders of some sort?”

“Yes, but Naman and I are in charge of gathering the young to defend the village in case of trouble,” Hatisuli said, but with a look at Naman, he added.  “It is sort of self-designated, but the young men and boys listen to us.”

Artie nodded.  “We need to meet with the elders.  I propose to talk to the Mitanni and Hittites and see if we can head them off before they meet here.  Also, you should gather your men, especially those good with a bow, just in case.”

Naman and Hatisuli ran off and Artie turned to Sharina, and said, “Who is Larsa?”

Sharina stared at her, but shook herself enough to answer.  “Larsa is Naman’s girlfriend, or she was before you showed up.”

“Why doesn’t he marry her?”

Sharina stared again.  This was not the expected response.  “Because, Naman’s mother does not like her.  She says Larsa does not come from the right sort of family.”

Artie shrugged.  There were some subtleties about human behavior that were not easy to fathom.  “I’ll see what I can do about that.  Meanwhile, we have to try and talk sense to the old people.  Coming?”

Sharina paused, before she grinned and led the way.

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Once again, Artie decided she had to just say it, and he would deal with it, or not.  She could not control his reaction, and inside she realized she did not want to control him.  That was the very reason she fought the Anazi.  People, all people, deserved freedom to make their own decisions and make their own choices. The choices might be good or bad, but they at least should be their own.  Trying to control others was the nature of evil itself, in her mind.

“The horse, saddle, saddlebags, pots, pans and knife are all from the future; many hundreds of years in the future.  I was not there at the beginning of this journey, but apparently, the Kairos knew the travelers would need certain things if they hoped to reach the end of the journey, alive.  The Kairos provided the horses and tied them to the travelers, like with a magical string.  That is why Freedom stays with me, and I love my horse, too.”

Freedom snorted and nodded, and Naman laughed.

She pulled out her big knife, the one Decker said was like a Bowie knife, and she handed it to Naman, who took it carefully.  “It is a carbon-iron alloy called steel, and it is much harder and stronger than bronze, though Decker says it is only as good as the person who uses it.”

Naman held up the knife to see the reflection of the sunlight before he handed it back.  “Decker is another companion?”

Artie nodded.  “He is what you might call a Nubian.  Then there is Alexis and Boston, the elves I told you about, and Lincoln, who is Alexis’ human husband. and Elder Stow.  He is a strange one.”

“Why?” Naman asked.

“Because he is human, they say, but he is an old human…” Artie honestly did not know how to explain this one.  She tried.  “The Kairos says this earth is a genesis planet.  That is what he calls it.  Humans are the only people presently on the earth, but in ages past, other people began here.  Some were like humans.  Some were early versions of humans.  Some were not at all like humans.  They were very different.  But they all learned to walk and talk, to think and feel, and be real people, even if they were not human people.

Naman rubbed his chin.  “Like lions walking around on their back feet, talking about the weather, and coming over for a visit.”

“Probably not lions, but you get the idea. And since this is a genesis planet, the Kairos has made it like a sanctuary, but mostly off limits to people from the stars.  I came here because of the war.  I never would have come here if I had any say over the matter.”

“So, this companion?”

“Elder Stow,” Artie nodded.  “He is from the people who were an early version of humans.  He looks and thinks just a little bit different from us.  As I understand it, in the time of the great flood, his people were saved by being taken off this world and given a new world out among the stars.  Ages later, he returned with some others, when, by an illegal act by one of the gods, he got thrown back through time and landed in the deep past.  He is trying to get back to the future.  How the humans ended up in the past is a long story, but the thing is, this is not a journey like going to your cousin’s house and going home again.  Ours is a journey through time.”  She paused to let him grasp the concept.  “Those magical gates we travel through are time gates.  They are impossible to find, unless you have the right equipment, but by going through the gates, we travel fifty or sixty years into the future, each time.”

“A journey through time.”

Artie knew it was a hard concept to grasp.  “These future things are from the time we are trying to return to.  I said I was in Egypt last night and came here through a gateway.  But the Egypt I was in was fifty years ago.  Tutankamon was Pharoah.  Horemheb was just a soldier.  And I don’t think Ramesses was even born yet.”  She was stretching to explain. She thought she remembered hearing about Ramesses, but she was not sure.

“I heard of Ramesses.  He fought the Hittites around Kadesh, and lost, badly.”

“Mother Katie said it was probably a draw.”

Naman shook his head.  “The Hittites still own Kadesh, don’t they?”

Artie shrugged.  “I don’t really know.  Lincoln has the database. He reads about it and can explain it to us as we go along.”

Naman got quiet for a while.  He looked like he was thinking deep thoughts, no doubt about time travel and what that might be like.  Artie imagined he had a lot of wrong ideas, but she kept quiet and waited, until he spoke again.

“So, you have two elves, one from a near human race, one Nubian and one husband of an elf.”  He paused on that one, and looked put off thinking about it.  “That makes five.  Who are the other two?” he asked.

“My mom and dad,” Artie said, happily.  “My adopted mom and dad.  Katie and Lockhart are their names, though actually, Lockhart is his last name.  His first name is Robert.  Robert Lockhart.”

“A man with two names,” Naman said.  “He must be an important man.”

Artie shook her head before she changed her mind and nodded.  “He is.  And my mom has two names as well.  Katherine Harper is her actual name, but everyone calls her Katie.  That is short for Katherine.”

“Like Artie is short for Arthur.”  Naman said.  “Maybe I should be Na.”

“Nan.”

“Nam.”

“Nama.”

“Man,” Artie laughed, but he stopped talking a minute and looked at her.

“What?” she had to ask.

“So now you are completely human, just like me?”

“Not just like you,” Artie said, and watched him back up a little.  “I’m a girl and you’re a boy.”  That made him smile again, which Artie liked to see.

“Okay,” he said.  “You can be my girlfriend.”

Artie’s grin broadened to where she feared she might hurt her face, but her finger went tap her temple.  “But, am I ready for a boyfriend?” she asked.

Naman stopped, so the both had to stop.  “I thought that was what you wanted.”  He threw his hands up in exasperation.

“Kiya… Where I was in Egypt… Fifty years ago, Sotek proposed to Kiya, and she said, I can’t know how to answer that.  You haven’t even kissed me yet.”

Naman’s grin returned with a little sly mixed in.  He stepped up and they grabbed each other and kissed, and again and again.  Finally, while holding each other so close not even air could get between them, Artie tilted her head back and said, “Wow.”  Naman said nothing.  He could not stop grinning.

Freedom stepped up, gave them a big nudge with his nose, and knocked them right over.  The horse let out a sound which sounded remarkably like laughter.  And Artie and Naman laughed as they let go and got back to their feet.

“Well,” they heard a voice.  “Did you decide on a time and day?”

“What?” Artie and Naman both looked up with dazed looks on their faces.

“For the wedding,” Abinidab said, and the young people jumped.

“Father.”

“Abinidab.”  Artie looked over the saddle.  “Over here.  People get up and down from horses on the left side.”  Naman joined her, and Artie loosened the blanket-straight jacket they had the man in.  They got him down with minimal yelling.

“Be careful.  It is really high up.  Don’t drop me, I’ll bang my head again.  Okay.  Okay.  I’m down.”  And he sat down on the ground, right where he was, and put his hand to his head and moaned.

“How are you feeling?” Artie asked, and checked the bandage.  It was soaked through, but appeared to have begun to crust over.

“Like I got hit in the head with a rock,” he said.

“Naman?”  Artie looked up.

“I figured he would be okay,” Naman said.  “His head is harder than any rock.”

“Ha-ha,” Abinidab did not laugh.

“Hush,” she shushed them both and hugged the old man.  “What say we lunch here?  It won’t make us too late getting home, and I haven’t seen any sign that we are being followed.”

Naman quickly looked back the way they had come, like he had not thought of that.

“Home?” Abinidab looked up and questioned the word on Artie’s lips.

Artie looked at both of them with big, tear filled eyes.  “Please,” she said.  “I haven’t anywhere else to go. I would feel safe with you, until my friends find me.”  She looked back and forth between the two of them.

“Of course you will come home with us,” Naman said.  “Mother and the girls will love her, and we can’t throw a woman out to the wolves…”

“And bears,” Artie said.

“She is not your cousin’s daughter, Birka.”  Abinidab protested and looked like he might get stubborn.  “What was wrong with Birka.”

“Nothing other than she was stupid and ugly,” Naman said.

“Poor girl,” Artie felt sorry for her.

“Don’t misunderstand,” Naman said.  “There are plenty of men who also fit that description.  Let her marry one of them, and I am sure she will live a happy life.”

“Live happily ever after,” Artie smiled again.

“I don’t know,” Abinidab started thinking too hard.

“You will love my sisters, Doma and Anat” Naman said holding out his hands to her to help her to her feet.  She gladly took them and stood, but then she did not want to let go.  “Anat is nine and a scamp.  She likes to run and hide.  Doma is thirteen, and Mother keeps her busy learning how to sew and cook, and all the things Mother says she need to know to get a good husband.”

“Thirteen?” Artie shook her head.  “She is much too young to be thinking about husbands.  I’m sixteen, and I am not ready for anything like marriage.”

“Sixteen?” Abinidab looked up.  “Why aren’t you married already?  My son is nineteen and should be married already as well.”

Artie and Naman looked at each other and shook their heads.  Neither of them was ready for that, or at least that was what Artie thought.  Abinidab must have seen something else.

“On second thought,” he said.  “We would be glad to welcome Artie to the family.”

Artie smiled and still looked at Naman.  “I get to be the big sister?”

Naman nodded, and dropped one hand so he could step close and gently pat her other hand.  “Of course, my brother is fifteen, and he will probably follow you around.  Watch out for him.”

“And a little brother, too,” Artie said, happily before she put on her serious face.  “Oh, I’ll watch out.  I’ll be very careful.”  Her smile came back.  She couldn’t help it.

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

MONDAY (Tuesday and Wednesday)

Artie hardly has a chance to fit into a real family before she is overwhelmed by one trouble or another.  Someone is not going to make it easy for her.  There is a reason she got separated from the others.

Don’t miss it.  Until then, Happy reading.

*

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

In the morning, Artie heard voices outside her tent.  They did not sound like Naman and his father.  These sounded like rough voices, and one man sounded like he swallowed a frog.  Artie got up quietly and strapped on her belt.  She made sure her weapons were available, and thought to listen some before she ventured out.

“It does not look like these have anything worth taking,” one man said.

“This thing of leather is very interesting, only I don’t know what it is for,” another said.

“This tent.  I have never seen weaving so fine.  How is it made?”  That was froggy.

“I do not know.  It belongs to the lady,” Abinidab said.  Artie heard a grunt and a snap.  She feared for the old man.

“That horse would be worth something if we could catch it.”  Another grunt and hands came in the tent.  They grabbed Artie right from where she listened, and pulled her out.  There were four men, shaggy and unwashed, and they looked at Artie like they just found some fresh meat.

“No,” Naman said.  They had him on his knees, hands behind his back.  One man had a hand on his shoulder and hovered over him with a long knife near his throat.

The head man glanced at Naman.  “Is she your girlfriend?”  He laughed.  “Strip her.”

Artie felt repulsed as one manhandled her, until he spoke.  “There doesn’t seem to be a fastener on this dress.  Is it a dress?”

“Well, pull it off her,” the head man ordered.  The man had to let go of Artie’s arms to do that.  Artie went into Dominant mode.  She pulled her knife which cut one man’s hand wide open.  She simultaneously drew her handgun and put a three-inch hole through the middle of the head man.  She knelt and burned the one hovering over her saddle, spun and took half the face off the one that had held her.  When she turned again, she saw the one that had been holding Naman running for the river.  She pulled the trigger on her gun, but nothing happened.

“What?”  She looked at her gun.  It said the charge was completely empty.  “That can’t be.  Not after four shots.  This should be good for a hundred shots, at least.”

“Help here,” Naman said, and Artie turned from the runner.  She turned off her weapon, holstered it, and went to look.  They hit the old man in the back of the head with a rock.  He was bleeding.

Artie fetched her satchel.  She had antiseptic ointment and a gauze bandage.  She checked the man’s pulse and breathing to see if he still functioned, then she put some ointment on the bandage and pressed it against the bloody spot.  “Hold this here good and tight until the bleeding stops.  She stepped into her tent and pulled out her blanket.  She had learned how to take a small piece of her blanket and separate it from the rest.  She did that, and caused the piece to lengthen and widen until it looked about right.  She turned it white and wrapped it several times around the gauze bandage and the man’s head.

“Give me his hat,” she said.  Naman reached for it.  She put it carefully on the man’s head to help hold the bandage in place.  Abinidab made his first sound, a low moan, but he did not open his eyes.  Artie left him in Naman’s arms and called for Freedom.  The horse trotted up and she saddled him without any preliminaries.  When she reduced her tent to a ball and packed all her things, so she was ready to go, she had Naman bring his father to the horse and get him up on the saddle.  She had time to think about it, and had the main part of her blanket ready to go.  He looked a bit like a mummy, but being tied to the saddle in eight directions, there was no way he was going to tip and fall out.  He would remain upright, even if Freedom had to run.

“If he has a concussion, there is nothing I can do for him, and any speed on the horse might yet kill him, but for now, this is what we have.  We can’t leave him here, and we can’t stay here.  Get your things.”

Naman collected his things, but he did ask.  “Why can’t we stay here until he is better?”

Artie showed the back of the hand of all three dead men.  They all bore the same tattoo.   Dominant Artie noticed, even if sixteen-year-old Artie would have never noticed.  In fact, as Artie thought about it, she realized all the Anazi military information and all of the experience on planet after planet that had been fed into her mental system still sat in her memory, and she could reach it.  What is more, now, as a living human without an obedience crystal, she could put that experience to practical use.

“They may be the whole gang, but they may also be the advanced group for a much larger gang,” Artie said.  Naman did not argue.

The ford was not far upriver.  “Can you swim it?” Artie asked.

“Of course,” Naman answered, and Artie sent him out on the downstream end.  If Freedom begins to drift, or your father loses his seat, you need to be able to catch him.”

“I don’t think I could catch freedom,” Naman said with the return of his smile.  “He’s too big.”

Artie responded with the same smile.  “You know what I mean.”

They crossed, and the ford proved no problem.  After that, Naman said they should be home before dark.  Artie smiled at her thoughts as they walked, side by side, Artie leading Freedom.  Naman appeared to be struggling, so she thought to help him out.

“I could be your girlfriend,” she said.

He took a half-step away and looked at her with great doubt written on his face.

“What?”  Artie felt hurt that he did not jump at her suggestion.

He stared, before he built up the courage to ask.  “Are you a goddess?”

Artie’s eyes got big.  “No, no way,” she got loud.  “My sister Sekhmet says you should never even kid about such a thing.  The gods don’t take kindly to imposters.”  She stuck out her free hand.  “I am completely human.  See?  Flesh and blood, though I would rather not show you the blood right now, if you don’t mind.”

Naman looked, and nodded, but he did not come closer.  He had another question.

“Are you a witch?”

“No.  Not even.  I would love to be able to do some magic, but I haven’t got any such abilities.  Boston says she will just have to do the magical things for me.  Alexis, her magical element is air, but mostly she is a great healer.  I wish she was here.  She could heal your father.”

“Two of your seven companions,” Naman understood.  “Are they witches?”

“No,” Artie laughed.  “Though Lincoln calls Alexis a witch sometimes, he is just teasing.  They are elves.”  Naman did not understand.  “They are earth spirits—whatever you call them around here.”  She smiled, but then her eyes got big.  “It’s not what you think.  They are friends.  They both used to be human, and Alexis is like a second mother, sort of, which makes Boston like another sister.  And no, I am not an earth spirit, or a spirit of any kind.”  She put her hand out again.  “Flesh and blood human, remember?”

Naman still found it hard to believe.  “So how is it you have such magical things, like this big horse to ride, and your tent, and can do the magic you do, like the bread?  How can you point… That.” He pointed at her handgun.  “And make a streak like lightning come out, and make a hole in a man?”

Artie looked down.  She realized she had some explaining to do.  “Okay,” she said.  “But you have to listen first before you ask questions.”  She looked into his face, and he smiled, so she smiled; but he also nodded, so she began by looking at the ground for fear she would lose her boyfriend before she ever had him.

“This weapon.”  She patted her sidearm.  “It came here from the stars.”  She pointed up, though it was mid-morning.  “I came here from the stars, originally.  I was not always human… There was a war, and I was injured like unto death, and eight people came along and saved me.  They healed me and cared for me, and I owe them my life and everything.  And I also love them all, very much.”  Artie paused.  It was not exactly a revelation, but near enough.  “I also miss them.”

“Eight?” Naman thought about it.  “But you said seven companions.”

Artie nodded. “One died.  He was an elder elf, father of Alexis and Boston that I mentioned.  At least he may have died.  He disappeared in a great flash of light while we were battling the forces of evil.  We are on a very dangerous journey.”  She looked, and Naman nodded, like he understood something.

“Well,” she said, and paused.  She was not sure how to explain the next part, so she just said it.  “It was the Kairos, an old, wise and wonderful god whose life is impossible to explain…” she looked again.

Naman understood that much.  “Who can fathom the way of the gods?” he said.

Artie nodded again and returned her eyes to the ground.  “So, the Kairos took me out of time.  And she made me human, completely human, flesh and blood, so I could travel with my companions wherever the journey took us.  And I have learned so much.  And I have grown up, I think, human.  And I want to be human and experience human life in every way I can.  And love.”  Artie found her cheeks redden, and Naman reached for her hand, which she gladly gave him, though it made her turn redder.  Good thing she kept looking at the ground.

“You were explaining about your magical things,” he said.

“Right.  Well, the cloth tent, blankets, and even my clothes are fairy weave, which is a material made by the spirits of the earth.  I can shape it, grow it, shrink it, even change its color just by telling it what to do.  It is self-cleaning, and self-refreshing, which means it repells dirt and grime, and does not retain any odors, like if I go to bed all sweaty and smelling like my horse.  But the magic is in the cloth, not in me.  long sleeve,” she said, and Naman watched her sleeve lengthen to cover her right arm.  She held out her arm and said.  “You try it.  Tell it to be a different color.”

He said, “Green.”

She said, “You have to touch it.”

He touched it, looked in her eyes, and said, “Green.”  He saw the material change to green and quickly let go, like he was afraid it might burn.

Artie said, “Pink, back to what I had,” and the sleeve returned to its former condition.  “The bread is the same.  They are called elf crackers, and a little warm water makes them into bread.  I only have one pack, which isn’t very many.  I don’t know how much bread we can get before I run out of crackers, but you can do it next time if you want.”  Naman nodded.  He would like to try that.

“So, what about the pot, and your knife?” Naman asked.  “I have never seen metal like that.  And this horse of yours…”

Artie went back to blushing and looking at the ground.  “That may be a little bit harder to explain.”

Avalon 5.7 Little Lost Lamb, part 1 of 6

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After 1294 BC Kadesh.  Kairos 66: Utumari, the Hittite

Recording…

The travelers tried never to go through a time gate in the dark, but the events in the last time zone necessitated some quick action.  Artie went through first and found herself in a whirlwind that took her up into the sky.  She tried to yell for help but the wind blew too strong and blinded her with dust.  She had to keep her head down, and how she held on to her horse, Freedom, she never knew.

Artie came down in a glade on a hill overlooking a wide river valley.  Freedom, stiff legged, staggered for a minute while she stroked his neck and said soothing words.  Eventually, he seemed to come out of his trance and snorted, twice.  She got down, but held tight to the reins for fear of losing him.

“Freedom,” she spoke out loud.  “Do you know where we are?  I don’t see the others anywhere.  Hello.” she called out as loud as she could.  “Hello.”  the trees seemed to block her sound.  “Hello.  Katie.  Alexis.  Boston.  Lockhart, daddy.  I’m scared.”

Freedom nudged her shoulder and she patted his nose.  “I think we’re lost,” she said.  “I better check the supplies.”  Her things were packed by her sister, Sekhmet, and the goddess may have mixed some things up in the rush, she imagined.  Her one saddle bag had her collapsed fairy weave tent and blanket, with Freedom’s brush, her brush and some other necessities.  The other saddle bag had her small pot, pan, cup, plate, and silverware, with some bread crackers Mother Katie gave her for emergency, as well as some medical things and supplies such as everyone had.

“It looks all right to me,” Artie said.  “We may get tired of eating bread crackers.”  She thought she remembered some plants Alexis showed her that were good to eat, but she did not know if she was in any place where those plants might grow.  She had her handgun, of course, and Elder Stow just charged it, so it was fully charged for the time being.  She did not imagine she could use it to hunt, though.  She had a good knife in with her brushes, but she did not know if she could skin and cut up an animal.  She felt sure she could cook it if someone else cut it up.  Alexis and Katie taught her a bunch about that, and she wanted to learn because since she became human, she found she got hungry a lot more often than she used to.

“I don’t know,” Artie told Freedom.  “I know we should be sleeping, but I’m trying not to think about sleeping, all alone in the wilderness.  We could go down to the river, I suppose.  Then at least we could have some fresh water.”  She mounted and started down the gentle slope, and after a moment, she called out again.  “Lincoln.  Decker.  Elder Stow.  Mom and Dad.  Hello?”  No one answered, so she stopped yelling.  She did not want to attract the wrong sort of creatures or people.

The moon came up, a half moon, but she saw it out over the river when she started, so she knew if she headed toward the moon, eventually she would come to the water.  That seemed easy enough.

Artie scolded herself.  She did not listen when Lincoln read about the place they were going.  She should not have been daydreaming.  Oh, but that wedding and the love.  All that love in one place.  She never imagined life could be like that.  She wondered why her life couldn’t be like that.

“Because I have responsibilities,” she answered herself.  “I have duties, as Decker would say.  I am pledged to set my people free, and that is what I am going to do.” She paused and sighed.  “Oh, but it would be so very nice.”  She turned her mind from such fantasies as Freedom stepped over a bubbling brook.

She thought about when she had been an android.  She was a soldier, and a dominant at that.  She had military training, not the kind that could skin and cut up animals, but the kind that might help her think through troubles and situations if she ever faced troubles and situations.  She hoped she did not have to face such things.

“At least this world does not have banthafars,” she said to herself, and felt a chill that made her look all the way around her as she rode. “No,” she said.  “This world has lions, or tigers, and bears, oh my.”  She remembered Lockhart adding the ‘oh my’, even if she did not know why.

“Lockhart,” she called, not too loud.  “Robert Lockhart, I’m calling you.  I’m scared.  I’m trying to be brave, but I’m scared and all alone… Daddy.”  She was not going to cry.  She refused to cry.  She was going to be brave and not cry.

A half-hour later, she stopped crying suddenly when she saw a campfire in the distance.  She hustled Freedom, but slowed down when she got close.  There was no reason to believe it was her family.  It might be an enemy, or thieves, or something worse.  She stopped in the dark and peered in toward the fire.

“They are camped on the riverbank,” she said to Freedom, and patted his neck to keep him quiet.  “Good eating for you, and maybe I could share some bread for some other food.”  She had to think about that.  She inched closer.  She saw a young man, feeding the fire and staring here and there into the wilderness, though how he expected to see anything in the dark when his eyes were fire blinded, she did not know.

Suddenly, a figure loomed up in front of her and Freedom bucked.  Artie held on and yelled.  “Hey!  That’s not nice.”  Freedom ran, but she got him under control in a moment and after an agonizing moment to think, she turned around and went back to the fire.

“Hello,” she called out of the dark.  “I’m not going to hurt you.”  A young man stood up and an older man had appeared to join him.  “How many are you?” she asked.  She decided if they were a big group, she would ride on.

“Hello,” the young man shouted back.  The older man hushed him.

“Young lady,” the older man said in a voice that didn’t sound sincere.  “We are just two, and we won’t harm you.  We have some meat on the fire if you are hungry, and we promise not to disturb you if you are tired and wish to sleep.  Um…how many are you?”

“Just me,” Artie said as Freedom poked his nose into the firelight followed by her.  She got down and immediately began to take off Freedom’s saddle.  She took out her pot and handed it to the young man with instructions to fill it with water.  Then she finished dressing down her horse and let him trot to the river for a drink.  She honestly should have checked first for crocodiles or snakes, but she felt so tired, she did not think straight.  She put her bundle of a tent on the ground and said, “Tent.”  The tent expanded, and she would get in it in a little bit.

The old man said, “Oh my,” and sat down, astounded by her magic.  After a minute, he added a thought.  “That is some horse you have.  I have seen horses, of course.  The Hittite lords use them to drive their chariots.  But I have never seen one ridden quite like the way you ride your horse.”

Artie watched the old man and nodded at what he said while she got out her big knife and strapped it to her belt on which she also had her handgun.  It was the only thing she wore which was not fairy weave.  She took it off when she slept, of course, but even in the tent with Katie, she kept her weapon close to her hand, just to be safe.

“I’m looking for seven friends who also ride such horses,” Artie said.  “I came into this place from another world, and I seem to have lost them.”

“Another world?”

Artie nodded.  “I was in Egypt an hour ago.  About three days’ ride from Bubastis.  I came through… a magical gate, but I am not sure where I have arrived.  You mentioned the Hittites.  Is this Hittite land?”

“The edge of it, yes,” he said.  “But we are not on the trade route or a city, so they mostly ignore us.”

Artie nodded.  These men did not live in any place of military importance.  The young man returned with her pot, and she said, “Thank you.” And put it on the fire to warm the water.  The young man smiled.

“You are very welcome.”  He sat down by the old man and Artie caught herself glancing at him and his smile again.  “Sorry if Father startled you.  He thought you were a bear.”

Artie stopped what she was doing.  “Bear?”  She did not sound too thrilled by the idea.  “Are there bears around here?”

“Not many,” the old man said.  “Some up in the hills where not many people live.  Many have been hunted out, but it is something to be careful about, when you camp near the water and have meat cooking.”

Artie’s stomach grumbled at the thought of cooking meat.  “I’ll remember that,” she said.

“My son should remember that,” the old man said.

“So, you have heard some of my story.  Tell me, why are you wandering in the wilderness, just the two of you?”

The young man looked at his father before he spoke.  “We went to visit a cousin, a two-day walk.  His wife’s family has a girl…”

“And what was wrong with Minlah?” the father asked.  He did not look happy.  Instead of talking, the young man tried to show by making faces and in mime, but Artie did not get much out of the show other than the impression that the girl was rather large.  For some reason she wanted to laugh.  She did a little, but covered her mouth and sat.  She stared at the fire.  She felt so tired.  Finally, the young man did say something.

“I’m Naman.  My father is Abinidab.  Do you have a name?”

“Artie,” she said.  “That’s short for Arthur.”  She had a bread cracker out, and though the water hardly felt warm in such a short time, she felt famished.  She made a loaf of bread, and she broke it and shared it.

Naman and Abinidab stared at the magic, open jawed, before the old man got up.  “Where are my manners,” he said.  He cut her a generous slice of whatever meat they had cooking and handed it to her, before he cut a slice for himself.  He let his son, Naman cut his own.  It was chewy and full of gristle, but it warmed her, and she chewed as much as she could.

“Thank you,” she said the word again before she went back to staring at the fire.  Finally, she felt too tired to do anything other than sleep.  She stood.  Both sets of eyes lifted to her and stared at her, but she had no more conversation in her.  She called.  “Freedom,” and the horse came close to the fire.  “Don’t wander off tonight,’ she said, and added, “Goodnight.”  She went in her tent and fell into her bed.

Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 6 of 6

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“Apophis,” Kiya shouted again, and more softly added, “Don’t look in his eyes.  They are hypnotic.  Don’t look in the eyes.”  She watched as the giant serpent ground to a halt, and found something more to shout.  “Hey, moron-head, get out of there.”  She waved her arm to the side, so Horemheb backed up.

“Kairos,” Apophis said.  “Why the trouble?  I just came to thank you for preventing the Aten from returning to this world.”

“You could join him,” Kiya said.  Apophis laughed as Elder Stow stepped up, his screen device in his hand.  Kiya was going to say that would not stop Apophis, but she held her tongue. It might well stop the thousand other snakes writhing beneath the shadow of the great one.

“Why would I do that when you have given me the world?”

“Well, you have said thank you, and you’re welcome.  Now you can go back to where you were, locked up in the underground.”  Kiya seriously did not know what else to do but stall.

Apophis laughed again, a very annoying hissing sort of laugh.  “I see you are watching me closely, but for some reason, you will not meet me in the eye.”  Kiya shook her head.  The mouth was the only thing she needed to watch.  “Sutek was the only god that could meet me in the eye, and again, I need to thank you for ending Sutek’s days in the flesh.  Now the Re is mine to command.  Horus remains in hiding, and Amun will not take the power.”

A lion came up the road behind Kiya, and roared.  Two lionesses came out from the house.  One sat beside Kiya and the other bounded over to the far side of the road where she sat, though her tail twitched, nervously.  Then a third lioness came from the house and sat at that edge of the road, pausing only long enough to growl.

“Your friends cannot help you,” Apophis said.  “Even they dare not look me in the eye.”

“No need,” Kiya said.  “All they need to look at is the right place on your throat to rip off your head.”

Apophis laughed for the third time, and appeared to be preparing to strike.  Kiya interrupted him.

“So why have you come here?  You sent the ghost.  You sent the poltergeist.  What was that all about?”

Apophis hesitated before he relaxed and spoke.  “You do not frighten.  And those demons have no real power and do not do as they are told.  I am here to finish things.”

“If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself,” Kiya said.  “But what is it you plan to finish?  Surely you have a boast to share with everyone before you act.”

Apophis grinned an awful snake grin.  “You killed Sutek, and you killed the Aten as he attempted to return.  I decided it would be best to kill you before you imagine some way to kill me.  Hold still.”

The sound of a bird overhead came down to the group.  Apophis struck, and slammed right into Elder Stow’s screen.  Apophis would figure it out in a second, but meanwhile, the Benu bird came streaking down.

“The eyes,” Kiya yelled, before she remembered to change back to Phoenix and repeated.  “Benu.  Take out the eyes.”

Apophis tried once more, the screen being no barrier, but Phoenix raised her hands and the flames of sacrifice, the very fire of the sun drove the serpent back.

Phoenix collapsed as the Benu took one eye completely out with the first strike.  The serpent moved fast, but the Benu could travel faster, and quickly struck the other eye, blinding the serpent.  The lionesses growled and began to move forward, like hunting cats.  The travelers opened fire on both sides of the serpent.  The Benu just about had the second eye out of its socket when Apophis vanished, and thank goodness, he took his thousand snakes with him.

Alexis rushed to Phoenix.  She had a bite in her leg, and her whole leg swelled while the bite area turned green.  The Benu bird squawked, and Alexis paused.  The bird stepped up and let a few tears drop into the wound.  In seconds, the swelling in the leg went down and she was perfectly healed.

“Hurry now,” Phoenix talked to the bird like she might talk to a little child.  “You must get back to your nest.  It must be near the time for renewal.”  The bird squawked again and headed into the sky to quickly move out of sight, and Phoenix said one more word.  “Thank goodness for Harry Potter.”

The unknown goddess that had been the third lioness, butted in front of Alexis and planted a great big kiss on Phoenix’s lips.  Phoenix returned the kiss for a minute before she pulled back.  The goddess helped her stand as Phoenix spoke.  “You know if I had any inkling in that direction, you are the woman I would choose.”

“Wadjt,” Katie figured it out.  She and Lockhart had seen her kiss Phoenix several times, and always with the same conclusion.  Wadjt waved, looked around at the staring crowd, and vanished.  Sekhmet and Mihos resumed their human form, and the lioness in the center, that had stood beside Kiya without flinching, was gone.  Nana Bestet came out from the house and ran to Neferure.  Phoenix thought Bast was getting to be a bit like maybe she needed a telephone booth to change in.  Then she changed back to Kiya, dress and all.  The armor went back to its resting place.

Mihos got to say what everyone thought.  “You know he will find a way to heal his eyes and try again.”  Kiya nodded and looked at Sutek.

“If you still want me,” she said.

“Absolutely,” he said.  “And I will count every moment blessed.”

“Mommy,” Neferure called her by a name she had not called her in some time.  “I like him.”  Kiya nodded.

“Horemheb,” Katie warned.  The man marched in their direction, followed by a dozen or more soldiers.

“I think we should get married right away,” Kiya said.  Sutk liked the idea, but he had curiosity on his face.  Kiya answered his unasked questions.  “I believe Horemheb is going to want me to go back to the palace, and I am not going anywhere near that place without a husband.  My supposed nephew is Pharaoh now, and I don’t want to be on the menu.”

“Tutankaten?”  Sotek said.

“Tutankamon,” Kiya nodded.

“But what if Horemheb wants to hurt you?” Artie asked, seriously.  Several people laughed and Lockhart explained.

“After what just happened here, he would have to be a real moron.”

“That’s right,” Lincoln said.  “Did you call the future Pharaoh a moron-head?”

“An English slip,” Kiya said with a grin and a shrug.  “I was just the Princess, killing snakes.  She doesn’t respond to stupidity well.  Shh, don’t tell.”

“Kiya,” Horemheb said as he approached.

“Why, Horemheb,” Kiya said as she held tight to Sutek.  “How good to see you.  MY how you’ve grown.  Do you know my husband?”  Horemheb stopped and looked confused.  Kiya spoke to the others.  “Phoenix. She has a similar problem.  She doesn’t do polite, pleasantries well at all.”

###

One week later, the travelers sat around a fire, ready to move through the next time gate in the morning.  Alexis spoke.  “We have been to two weddings in Egypt now.”

“Yeah,” Boston interrupted.  “But this one was a real Egyptian wedding.  Not like mine.”

“Yes, but I listened to the words this time,” Alexis said, and with a look at Boston she added.  “Last time I cried.”

“Me too,” Katie said.  “And there is a lot of truth in what Kiya told us.  Egypt is a bit like a land of the living dead.  Osiris died before the first dynasty began.  We were with Eliyawe when she brought the coffin of Osiris back from Byblos.  The next time zone was Emotep.  He was the Scorpion King who defended the graves at Abydos.  Two time zones later, Junior was there in Egypt when Horus threw Set, or Sotek out of the two lands, and two time zones later, we finally got to Weret, concubine of Narmer and mother of Menes.  Only then were the two lands united and it became what we call Egypt.”  Katie took a breath, and Lockhart gave her an odd look.  She explained, “I stayed up last night reading.  Lincoln lent me the database.”

“Okay,” he said.

“So in the first dynasties, and the Old Kingdom, Osiris was still seen as being more-or-less in charge.  They carved his face on the Sphinx.  But he stood between life and death, so Horus was expected to actually be in charge, but the Aton Ra was still around through most of it and gumming everything up.  When he finally went over to the other side, they stopped building sun temples.  But then Horus tried to push some more democratic reforms and screwed everything up in the sixth dynasty.  So then we have the first intermediate period.  I think Horus tried to pull it together, but he could not quite get the puzzle pieces to fit.”

“Okay,” Lockhart interrupted.  “I see what you are saying, but I don’t understand how this fits with the living dead idea.”

“Well, it’s simple,” Katie said.  “Horus leaned heavily on Osiris in the Old Kingdom.  All of those pyramids, some of the greatest works in human history were nothing more than tombs.  Everything in Egypt, and by the middle kingdom, everyone in Egypt focused on dying and where people were going to spend eternity.  It’s like they forgot to live and wasted their whole lives worrying about dying.  By the Middle Kingdom, they all but stopped building temples, like the temple of Bast where we just spent some time.  All they built were mortuary temples.  I think Horus himself was still trying to please his father, and doing things to honor Osiris.  I don’t know.  But it was all focused on death and the afterlife.  Eventually, I think Horus just got frustrated and gave it up.

“I didn’t know the gods could retire,” Decker said.

“Well, I think he tried to palm it off on Amun.  Amun got all the press when the New Kingdom started, but I understand he did not want it.  Maybe that is what allowed the Aten to try and make a comeback.  I think Amun will take it from here, and he is a creative god, but I think it is too late.  After three thousand years, the cult of death has become ingrained in Egypt.”

People shrugged.  Most did not follow what she was saying.  Katie got that and turned the subject.  “So Artie,” she said.  “Tell me.  What did you think about the wedding?”

“I thought it was great.  It was wonderful.  I cried, it was so great.  I don’t understand why you two don’t have a wedding.  You could get married, and then you could adopt me for real, and I could really be your daughter, and I would be happy, and I want a boyfriend.”

Katie looked at Lockhart.  Lockhart raised his eyebrows, and found himself sitting on his saddled horse, all of his things neatly packed away.

“What the…” Decker sounded out from horseback.  Even the tents were all packed up.

Mihos appeared with Sekhmet.  Sekhmet spoke.  “You have to go.”

“We don’t normally go through a time gate in the dark,” Lockhart said, to explain.

“Poltergeist,” Mihos responded with just the one word.

“Artie, go ahead,” Katie said.  “I’m right behind you.”  And they moved through the time gate in the dark.

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

MONDAY

Artie goes missing in Avalon, episode 5.7, Little Lost Lamb.

Don’t miss it.  In the meanwhile, Happy Reading.

 

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Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 5 of 6

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Kiya grabbed Sutek and marched him a small distance from the camp.  “You knew that Mihos is the lion god?”

Sutek nodded meekly.  “He is the son of Bastet, the god in the temple of his mother.  I have been sweating trying to figure out how I was going to tell you.  Believe it or not, he is a good person and a good friend…”

“And?” Kiya prompted and saw Sutek’s mind race, while she raced a little herself.  This was a switch.  She usually had to worry about how she could possibly explain her strange life without causing her love to run away screaming.  She paused.  Did she just say love?

“And he took me to Hathor who showed me your image and asked if I would be interested in getting to know you.  You’ll forgive me if I say Hathor is the most beautiful woman in all the world.”

“She is,” Kiya said, flatly.  “Even back when she was a teenager.  Go on.”

“Well, I was surprised.  I didn’t think the gods ever asked mortals anything.  Mihos said he was trying to do things differently in the west.  I was not sure what he was talking about.”

“In the west, his name is Mathonwy, and maybe someday the lion of England.  He was my brother once.  Go on.”

Sutek paused before he shocked Kiya.  “You mean when you were one of those other people in the past?”  Kiya dropped her jaw, and Sutek continued.  “They showed me about that and said you were a very complicated person and thought they better ask before I got all tangled up in something more than I could handle.”  Kiya could only nod.  “I’m glad I said yes.”  He smiled for her.

Kiya pulled her thoughts together.  “So you know about the gods, and about the fact that I have lived a number of times in the past.  Do you know I have future lives that I can sometimes remember?”

He nodded.  “And I know your job in all this is to keep history on track.  They were very clear about that.”

Kiya had to think.  “And what about the little ones?” she asked.

“Hathor said you were like a goddess, not like a real goddess over people and life, but a goddess for the little spirits of the earth who would otherwise have no one to watch over them.  I’m not sure I understood that part well.”

Kiya looked down and realized she was still holding Sutek’s hand.  He would understand that part well enough in time, if he was willing.  He knew the basics.  The rest would just be details.  She looked up again and into his eyes.

“So what do you propose to do now?” she asked.  She saw his face scrunch up as his brain worked overtime.  She feared he might explode any minute.  Finally, he settled.

“Will you marry me?”

Talk about whirlwind.  She let go of his hand.  “I can’t answer that,” she said.  “You haven’t even kissed me yet.”

“Easily remedied,” he said, and he reached out, held her, and kissed her in the night on this Geb, under Nut’s sky.

Sekhmet turned Katie, Lockhart and Artie to look, and made sure they could see the couple kissing.  “There,” Sekhmet said.  “See how easy it is?”

###

That night, Kiya went into the house to get some things to help clean up.  She noticed the house was a shambles.  Everything looked broken and tossed everywhere.  Kiya sighed and went out to the camp.  Mutemwiya looked tired after all the excitement, and Nephthys said she would help her get to bed.  Kiya shook her head without speaking, but Nephthys smiled.

“I am sure everything will be straightened and back in place by the time two old ladies can get there.”

Kiya shrugged.  She borrowed a tent, either from Alexis or Boston, whichever one they weren’t using, and she tried to make it something fun for Neferure.  Nefer was game, and tried to get excited, but she honestly felt too tired and went straight to sleep.  Kiya worried briefly about Mutemwiya being in the house.  She imagined with poltergeist about, it was better to be around others.  Then again, she decided her worry was silly if Nephthys stayed there with her.

She looked at Sutek, drinking with the boys.  There were some things Sutek did not need to know, at least not right away.  Mihos and Sekhmet, two of the lions of Egypt ought to be enough for one day.  Nana Bestet stopped outside the tent door and stared at her.  Kiya broke.

“I’m not keeping secrets from him.  I’ll tell him.  Just not all at once.”  She made her snooty face at the cat.  “I don’t exactly see you volunteering information about yourself.”  Baestet put her tail straight up and went in the tent with Nefer.  Kiya heard the purr.

Kiya did most of the clean-up.  Katie and Artie helped, and Alexis.  Boston more-or-less pretended to help.  The men were useless, as expected.  Katie spoke to the point.  “The men are not lazy.  They just don’t care if there is a mess.  It is our problem.  We see a mess and a little bell goes off in our head and says, “must clean.”  In our day, some women are learning to not care about messes, and when women make a mess, you know we don’t do anything half-way.  I’m not sure that is a good thing, or the direction the human race wants to take.”  Katie shrugged

When they were more or less done, Kiya stepped over to the men.  She bent down and kissed Sutek on the lips, and went to bed.  It was nothing special or that big a deal, but it was the thought that counted.  That small act spoke volumes.

###

The next morning, Kiya woke up feeling good about the world and everything.  She thought sleeping on a thickened fairy weave blanket, with another thinned blanket on top of her was a treat she would probably never have again in her whole life.  She did not want to get up, but she noticed Neferure had gotten up and gone from the tent, so she sighed and got to her feet.

Kiya stuck her head out of the tent with a word on her lips.  “What is that noise?”  She noticed the sun was up, but just barely.  Still, she slept in, late.  That felt good.

“Seriously,” she looked around to ask what the noise was, and only then noticed no one sat around the campfire.  She looked to the road.  The travelers covered both sides of the road.  they were armed, but they were not firing their weapons.  The noise came from well down the street.  Kiya ran out, and got caught by Sutek.  He had a spear in his hand, but kept back to defend Neferure.  Once she saw Nefer was all right, she looked down the street and saw the most enormous serpent she had ever seen.

“The biggest this side of Ourboros,” she said.  “Just smaller than the Midgard Serpent.”  There were men in chariots with bows and spears, but they did not appear to be having much effect on the snake.  The horses kept trying to balk and run away.  The men had to get down and fight on foot, but they had to do that while averting their eyes.  They could not seem to look into the snake’s hypnotic eyes.

Kiya broke free of Sutek’s grasp and immediately traded places through time with Phoenix, Priestess of the Aton Ra in ancient times.  She carried within her the fires of the sun, a powerful weapon, but she became Phoenix because she needed special help.  She called.

“Benu.  My Benu bird.  Come to me my pet, my friend.  I need you.”

Somehow, she knew the Benu would hear her, no matter where she was in the world.  How long it might take the bird to fly from Heliopolis to Bubastis was another question.

“Snakes,” Decker said.  Rifles and handguns went off, including Lockhart’s big shotgun.  There were cobras, asps and vipers all over the road in front of the big serpent, and they went out ahead of the serpent, until they started to be chopped up by bullets.  Alexis blew many serpents back with the force of her wind.  Boston set several on fire with her wand turned flamethrower.  Phoenix hardly moved.  She stared at the battle, until she felt a snake at her feet.

Phoenix instantly traded places with the Princess, who whipped out her sword and long kniife, and cut one after another.  Even as the giant snake down the road broke through the Egyptian line, the Princess noticed the snakes started to back up, like they wanted to get under the protection of the giant.

“Hold your fire,” the Princess shouted, and changed back to Kiya.  She kept the armor in place, just for the feeling of some protection.  She let the sword and knife put themselves away.  The sword especially shook itself clean before it flew to its scabbard, no doubt an impressive sight for any onlookers; but Kiya could not worry about that.  She stepped forward and named her opponent.

“Apophis.”  The giant serpent came close before it stopped, a thousand smaller snakes writhing under its shadow.

Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers camped in the back yard, on the recently harvested field.  Kiya, with Mutemwiya’s blessing, offered them everything she had.  Curiously, no matter what the travelers ate in the way of fruit, grains and vegetables, her stores did not decrease.  In fact, even the meat she got that day in the market, not only refused to become less, but miraculously stayed as fresh as if just butchered.  Kiya decided it might be best not to question things too closely.

As the sun began to set on that first day, Iset, Pylhia, and Beket grumbled, because they had to go home to their husbands and children.  Nephthys stayed with her friend, but that was not unusual.  Nephthys stayed at the house more often than not, and Kiya did not mind because it gave Mutemwiya some company her own age.  To be honest, Nephthys became almost like a second grandmother for Neferure.  Mihos and Sutek thought they might stay for supper and, “for a while,” Mihos said.  “Just to be sure everyone is all right after the ghost incident.”

Kiya glanced at Sutek, who sat between Lincoln and Lockhart and seemed to have no end of questions.  She looked at Mihos and whispered.  “You and Hathor are really pushing it.”

“And we are not the only ones,” Mihos nodded.

Nefer sat with Boston and Alexis, Nana Bestet always near.  Somehow, Nefer knew they were elves, and she had a million questions of her own.  Alexis did not mind.  It actually let her judge how well Boston learned her lessons.

Kiya thought to sit down next to Katie, but she found herself sitting between Lockhart and Sutek.  Sutek smiled as she sat, and Kiya smiled in return, but she tried hard not to smile.  She could not help it.  Mihos sat with the boys on the end, where both Decker and Lincoln confessed that the beer was the best they had sipped in a long time.  Elder Stow, of course, did not drink.  He could not hold his liquor and always woke with a terrible hangover.

“I understand your friends are from the future,” Sutek said right away.  “They have fascinating stories of strange people living far from the two lands.  But they say they cannot tell me what tomorrow may bring…” Kiya took his hand and he immediately closed his mouth to stare at her.

“I can tell a story that even Lincoln does not have in the database.  It concerns the first days. before the days of history, and it concerns the gods, who were the titans who first came to earth at the time of the fall.”  People settled in to hear.  Katie and Lockhart held hands, and Katie slipped her free arm around Artie, to include her in the family.  Nefer left off asking her questions, and Boston and Alexis toyed with the meat that still smoked over the fire, but stayed quiet.  Mihos sat with Nephthys and Mutemwiya, the old ladies having the only chairs in the gathering.  Lincoln put away his database, and even Decker and Elder Stow quieted, curious.  Sutek just smiled.  He liked a good story.

“Before the first days, Shu, the air, and his wife Tefnut, the dew, met in the morning and fell in love.  They had two offspring, which were Nut the sky and Geb the earth.  Nut, the beauty of a million-billion stars in the night, was taken to be consort to the Aton Ra, the king of the gods, the overseer of all things, including the Re, the sun, who he made rise every morning and set every evening.  But in the night, Nut looked down on Geb and fell in love.  Likewise, Geb came to love the vision of beauty he saw every night…’

Kiya shifted in her seat to be closer to Sutek, and he reciprocated by slipping his arm around her shoulder.  It may have been love at first sight, but Hathor was not one to argue with.  Kiya continued.

“Geb watched the creatures that lived on his face.  He saw the hare dig a burrow, and invite the female to enter in.  He saw the birds build their nests, and invite the female to come and lay her eggs.  In every way, he saw the males make a home and invite the females to come and partake.  So he thought to build a home and ask Nut to join him, and he set out right away to building.  When he finished, he asked her to come, and she came because her heart was already his.  And he showed her the home and told her every bit that was for her.

“I know your stars stretch from east to west and from north to south, so I have made this home with four doors, east, west, north and south, for you.”  She was very pleased.

“When the night was done on that first evening, Nut came down to her home thinking of children, but when she arrived, Geb said he had to go.  “If the Re does not see my face, he will tell the king,” he said, and he added, “See?  I am going out the north door.”  And he left.

All day, Nut waited for Geb to return.  When she heard Geb moving outside, she ran to the north door and waited quietly, thinking of children.  But Geb came into the home and announced.  “See?  I returned home through the south door.”  And Nut was sad, because she had to go into the night sky.

On the second day, when Nut went home, thinking of children, Geb said he had to go.  “If the Re does not see my face, he will tell the king,” he said, and he added, “See?  I am going out the east door.”  And he left.

All day, Nut waited for Geb to return.  When she heard Geb moving outside, she ran to the east door and waited quietly, thinking of children.  But Geb came into the home and announced.  “See?  I returned home through the west door.”  And Nut was sad, because she had to go into the night sky.

On the third day, when Nut went home, thinking of children, Geb said he had to go.  “If the Re does not see my face, he will tell the king,” he said, and he added, “See?  I am going out the south door.”  And he left.

All day, Nut waited for Geb to return.  But when she heard Geb moving outside, she decided not to take any chances.  She tore herself into four parts and place them at the four doors.  That way, whichever door Geb came in, he would find a piece of her, waiting quietly, thinking of children.

Geb knew if Nut was not in the night sky, the king would find out.  So he gathered the four pieces, and with needle and thread he carefully and lovingly sewed her back together.  Then they had children.  And the four children they named, Set, Nephthys, Osiris and Isis, and that is the story of the birth of the gods.”

The travelers stole glances at Nephthys.  They knew who she was, and remembered her from the day Boston got married.  Boston even got up and hugged the old woman, but Nephthys simply said, “What a lovely story,” and Mutemwiya agreed.

“I never heard that one,” Sutek admitted.  “And I have heard most of the stories of the gods—being a priest in the temple, as you can imagine.”

Kiya understood.  That story had been told to her, or rather, it was told to Phoenix in ancient days, back when she became the first priestess of the temple in Heliopolis, the first sun temple of the Aton Re.  It got told to her by Toth while they developed the hieroglyphs and debated the true meaning of the words.

Something wailed, down by the river.  The travelers tensed up.  They heard the same sound before they came into Memphis.  It sounded twice as chilling in the dark.  People got prompted to look in every direction, but saw nothing. The wail came again.  It sounded closer.  Nefer crawled up into Mutemwiya’s lap, and the old woman hushed her, and held her, while Nephthys put one hand on the back of Nefer’s head and brushed her hair, gently.

The shutters on the house rattled.  The wail sounded suddenly like it came from every direction.  The wind rose, and the fire exploded with life, like someone poured gasoline on the flames.  People backed up and shouted their surprise.  The tents of the travelers rattled, but they did not blow down, like they were protected in some way from whatever this was.  The slats of wood on the expansion of the brick house began to buckle.

Something roared, and it came deep and reverberated around the camp.  It appeared to be a lion.

The pots Kiya had brought outside all shattered, and their contents exploded out in every direction.  Katie and Artie became soaked with water.  Decker and Lincoln got pelted with onions and leeks.

“Look out,” Alexis yelled, her wand in her hand.  One of the wall boards broke loose and just missed several heads as it blew toward the river.  The rest of the house caught fire from some source, but a second roar saw a lioness run up and shake her head.  Water droplets came from the lioness’ head, and the fire went out before it could do any real damage.  Then a third roar came, and another lioness came bounding into the camp.

Decker almost raised his rifle, but Lincoln stayed his hand.

With the three lions present, the wind and the fire died down.  The wail came from the distance, and then a moment of silence followed.  One lioness vanished around the house, and no one noticed when Nana Bestet returned from that same place.  They were too busy watching the other lioness become Sekhmet and run to hug her adopted family.  The big lion with the bushy mane also disappeared when Mihos returned, and Kiya saw that Sutek noticed.  And he not only noticed, he did not look surprised.

Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

As she walked up the highway to the temple, Kiya looked at the sphinxes, all with the face of a woman, that lined the road, and she thought of Neferure and her faithful cat, Nana Bestet.

“I hope Nefer is all right,” Kiya remarked.  Nefer stayed with Iset, Pylhia, Becket, and all the children in the neighborhood.  They were celebrating Beket’s five-year-old menace who was turning six.  “Dennis the Menace,” Kiya mumbled.

“I am sure she is fine, and having a wonderful time,” Nephthys said.  She always seemed to know, or at least she always believed the best.  Kiya took a deep breath and did not panic.

When they reached the place of offering, Kiya reached into her enormous bag and pulled out the special package she had made in advance.  She smiled and bowed her head when she presented it to the priest.  He immediately gave it to a young boy who ran off with it.  Then he returned Kiya’s smile, and she took another look.  The priests she dealt with were mostly old and cranky, and the priestesses were worse.  She did not go there in her mind.  This one, the one she had been seeing now for the last three months, appeared young, tall and handsome.  She tried not to go there in her mind, either, because it was such a cliché, but she could not help it.  She felt her lips return his smile, and only got saved by a familiar voice.

“Sutek.  The wait and work of a hundred days.  How has it been?”

“Mihos,” the priest responded.  “This moment makes it all worthwhile.”  The Priest bowed slightly to Kiya, and Kiya blushed, but she could not turn away.

“Ah, Kiya,” Mihos said, and added a tease.  “She is the pillar of this temple.  All we need is to get her to raise her hands to hold up the ceiling and carve the devotions on her back.”  Kiya frowned at her friend.  Kiya figured she had to be five-ten.  She stood head and shoulders above most women, and even stuck out in a crowd that included men.  These two men, Mihos and, she supposed, Sutek, were a couple of inches taller than her.  That was unusual.

“And that makes you two the east and west pillars?” she asked.

“North and south,” Mihos said, pointing to himself and his friend.

Sutek laughed before he turned serious.  “To be honest, I don’t know if I am cut out for the priestly life.  My heart and devotion are in the right place, but my mind wanders.”  He looked again at Kiya and she blushed again.  She couldn’t help it, even if she tried to help it.

Mihon said, “Sutek,” and he slapped the man on the back to dislodge his eyes from Kiya.  “Are we ready to walk to the market?  We have three lovely ladies to escort, you know.”  He pointed, and Sutek, with one more, sneaky glimpse at Kiya, went over to introduce himself to the older ladies.

Kiya instantly hit her friend, Mihon.  “Sutek?”

Mihon nodded.  “Hathor can be mean.”

“But Sutek?”  Kiya gasped.

“Hathor can be cruel.”

“But, Teti had to kill Sutek.  I can’t hardly say that name.”

“Hathor has a sick sense of humor.” Mihon nodded, grimly.

###

“Bubastis,” Lincoln said.  “In the Land of Goshen.”

Lockhart hit him.  Fortunately, Decker rode on the wing, out of ear-shot.  “So how are we supposed to find Kiya in this city since it seems clear the people here have been hiding her for these last nine years?” Lockhart asked.

“Look for trouble?” Katie said.

“Sing cockles and muscles and let her find us?” Lincoln suggested.

“Get in trouble and pray?” Artie said.

“I like that last one,” Boston shouted from the back.

“Boston!” Alexis scolded, and spoke up.  “Ask.  It never hurts to ask.”

Decker came in from the wing.  “We got trouble behind,” he said.

Elder Stow came in as well.  They were traveling on a solid road, and he commented.  “The roads are improving.”

“More traffic,” Katie said, as Lockhart looked first, and then she looked back.

“Dust,” Decker said.  “Chariots, I think.”

Lockhart nodded.  “Off the road.  Elder Stow?”

Elder Stow nodded in the same way as Lockhart, and checked his scanner.  He said, “This way.”

Lincoln said.  “So, this is the Land of…” he stopped when he saw Lockhart’ fist, but it was too late.

“Goshen,” Decker said.

###

Kiya felt happy, sort of giddy walking home.  She never expected to meet anyone and looked forward to a long and lonely life.  Sutek seemed to be as nice as he seemed.  He had great eyes, he was smart, he was kind and caring, and he had a fine laugh.  He actually had a sense of humor.  Her only fear was herself.  After all she had been through, could she honestly respond to a man the way a woman ought to respond to a man?  She did not know, but as they walked and talked, she felt strongly that she wanted to find out.

The gods were not powerless in the face of the Kairos.  Far from it.  Hathor could weave her love spells, and Kiya would be trapped like any other, but Hathor could not force things.  The Kairos could resist and walk away, broken hearted, but walk away.  The gods did not have her lifeline—her fate line.  Hathor could not simply twist two lines together and have it fait accompli.  Besides, the Kairos was too complex a person, and not just Kiya, herself, walking home from the market.  There were other lives stretching through time, deep into the past, and deep into the future to contend with.

“Why the face?” Sutek picked up on her mood right away.  She felt seriously drawn to him in that moment.  He was sensitive.  That felt important to her.

“I’m worried about Nefer,” she said.  It remained her first concern, and she wondered if he knew she already had a child.

“Mihos mentioned it,” Sutek said, and looked thoughtful.  “She is nine, and a cripple?”

Kiya looked down at the dirt as she walked.  How could she explain?  Nefer was not exactly crippled.  She stood a slim and tall child, like her mother, but with big incisors, an overbite and cleft palate to contend with.  Her bones and spine were straight, thank goodness, but her bones were not strong.  She had to be careful not to fall, or she might break like a china doll.  And she had inherited epilepsy from her father which sometimes made her fall, dangerously.  Kiya smiled, sadly.  “She is a sickly child, and not strong.  She has the fits.  But her heart is pure gold.”

Sutek smiled for her because Kiya could not seem to smile for herself.  “I look forward to meeting her,” he said.

That happened sooner than expected.  The women and children at the birthday party came running up the road, screaming.  Neferure came with them, though she lagged behind because of her leg braces, a bit of time tampering, but Kiya thought they were an acceptable risk.

Kiya, Mihos and Sutek all ran ahead, leaving the old women to hobble along on their own.  Kiya hugged Nefer, then oddly put her in Mihos’ hands, the one man Nefer knew.  Kiya stepped forward to where Nana Bestet arched her back, and growled.  Nana looked much bigger than normal, like a wildcat more than a house cat, and her growl sounded much deeper and more threatening than normal, too.  The gutteral sound said don’t come any closer, but somehow, Kiya felt no fear running up beside the beast and barely kept her hand from reaching out to pet the enraged cat.

An apparition hovered around the house, floating about two feet off the ground.  It appeared to be looking in the window, so it had its back turned.  It went inside, partly through the wall, and not exactly through the window.  When it came outside again, it turned to the road, and Kiya knew who it was.

“Beast.  Beast,” the ghost said.  “I will not disturb you, beast.”

“Nefertiti,” Kiya called to the ghost.  “Why do you haunt the land of the living?”

The ghost stopped.  “I know that voice.”

“It is Kiya.”

The ghost strained.  The eyes all but popped out of its head, and though the ghost never actually looked at Kiya, it seemed to see something.  “Why, Kiya.  Little Kiya.  Have you been good and stayed away from my daughters.  Meritaten hates you, you know, with a hate that is pure as can be.”  The ghost appeared to smile.

“Nefertiti.  Why are you here.”

“Why Kiya.”  The ghost appeared to start over.  “Little Kiya.  I know you.  I seem to have lost my way.  Do you know the way?  It is so dark.  Everything is so dark.”  The ghost spun around slowly three times.

“Nefertiti.  You do not belong here,” Kiya said.

“There is this baby, this boy.  He clings to my skirt.  I do not know him.  I do not want him.  But he will not leave me.”

“Nefertiti.  That is all there is and ever was of the human part of your husband.”

“Aten.  Aten.”  the ghost called.  “Why am I in the dark.  Aten, come to me.”

“The Aten is gone,” Kiya said, and the ghost stopped spinning, though it still faced off by a thrity degree angle, so it did not actually look at Kiya.

“That cannot be.  Aten is a god.  He is eternal.  He has given me power.  Why is it so dark?”

“Nefertiti.  Aton has gone back over to the other side.”

“That cannot be.  He made me.  He gave me great power.  I am the greatest living sorceress in all the world.”

“Nefertiti.  You are no longer living.  You have died.  You should go to the land of the dead.”

The ghost circled around once more.  “But I do not know the way.  This baby boy will not leave me alone.  Why is it so dark?” The ghost began to fade until she vanished altogether and the last they heard was the word, “Dark…”

“That was quite a show,” Lockhart said from just down the road where the travelers waited, and watched.

Kiya looked worried, but she opened her arms.  “Boston.”  Kiya spoke softly, but the young red headed elf flew into the hug.  Then she looked up, Kiya, who was a good bit taller than her, and she spoke.

“You’re young again, but very tall.”

“Kiya?”  Lincoln had to be sure.

“My mother,” Kiya said, without explaining to Boston, and with a nod for Lincoln.  She let go and rushed to Nefer, to hug her.  Nana Bestet, back to her normal size, rubbed against Neferure’s leg braces.  Kiya looked up at Sutek, who stayed right there with Mihos the whole time and held the girl back.

“Mother,” Nefer said.  “I was so afraid for you.”

Kiya kissed her daughter, and thought that there was so much about herself that Sutek did not know.

Avalon 5.6 Notes from the Underworld, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers stopped in a grove of trees to rest and snack before they went into the city.  The horses needed extra rest and water to get through the desert.  Sekhmet kissed her sister, hugged her mom and dad, and told them to not take too long—that she would meet them in the gate.  She vanished, and the travelers adjusted their clothes and their minds to being in a hot and dry land.  It made quite the contrast from the chilly wind and rain of Greece, and Alexis said, with the sudden, drastic change in climates every time they stepped through a gate, it was a wonder they didn’t all end up with pneumonia.

The travelers got to Memphis in record time, and as they sat for their mid-morning snack, they talked of small things and tried not to focus on how much further they had to go to get back to their own twenty-first century lives.

“So, that Horemheb was not relate to the Horemheb that was governor of Memphis back in Rachel’s day?” Lockhart wanted to be sure.

“Not an uncommon name in the eighteenth dynasty, I would guess,” Katie said, and placed a hand gently on his shoulder so he would look at her.  All he wanted to do was look at her.  That brought a different thought to Lincoln’s mind.

“So, Major.  What was going on between you and Meriope?”

Decker growled, but softly.  “She’s a virgin dedicated to the goddess, and no way I was going to break that bond.”  Everyone turned to look at him.  Even Artie paused in her staring and grinning at Katie and Lockhart.  Decker took a sip of his tea and completed his thought.  “That was just Aphrodite toying with me.”

A wail came up from the river.  People jumped, Katie, Decker and Lockhart ending up on their feet.  It sounded human, but not exactly human at the same time, and every spine felt chilled by the sound.

“Let us look,” Alexis said, and Boston nodded, but looked like she was not sure if that was such a good idea. They practiced going invisible, and ran toward the water.  The others felt the wind.

Elder Stow got out his scanner and after a moment he announced, “I don’t see anything.  This little scanner is useless.”  He turned it over.  “It is fully charged, but that Anazi equipment I use to keep it charged is on its last legs.”

Boston and Alexis stopped by the water where an odd sight greeted them.  A cobra that had to be nine or ten feet long had a six-foot crocodile wrapped up, like a boa or a python.  They were thrashing around the edge of the water, and it looked like the crocodile was losing the battle.

“That makes no sense,” Alexis said.  “Cobras don’t get that big, and they are not constrictors.”  Alexis and Boston watched for a moment before she turned her head toward Alexis and Alexis added, “I learned something about snakes and poison in nursing school.  You know, venom has medicinal properties.”

Boston nodded, and checked first to be sure the way was safe before she bent down to the water and tapped the surface.  “Little ones.  Water babies,” she called.  “In the name of the Kairos and on the Kairos’ business I would speak with you.”  She tried calling twice before she looked back at Alexis.

“I sense fear,” Alexis said, just before a woman appeared, standing on the water.  The woman looked to be made of water, like a water sprite, but she was clearly more than a sprite. She was a naiad of the river—Boston felt the power in the woman—and she might have been there watching the whole time without their knowing it.

“They are afraid,” the woman confirmed what Alexis felt.  “I am one of the many daughters of the Nile, and I can speak to the questions I see in your hearts and minds.  In the beginning, by decree of the Aten Ra, Sutek became the chief defender of the Re.”  She paused to point at the sun.  “But Sutek became corrupted and got sent over to the other side ages ago.  Horus became the king, as the Aten Ra decreed, but then the Aten himself freely chose to depart for the other side.  In these last years, the Aten tried to return and the gods themselves feared to see it.  The Kairos prevented that return, and the gods are pleased, but in the process, the underworld became torn and shaken.  Chaos has come.”

“Chaos?” Alexi asked.

“A forbidden class of demons your Kairos calls poltergeist have been released from their prison on the other side.  They are formless and shapeless, but they can haunt life and are the very nature of chaotic evil.  Worse, Apophis, the god of chaos himself has escaped from the underworld.  Now the Re is in grave danger, the Aton is no longer able to decree otherwise, Sutek is no longer there to defend him, and Horus is withdrawn into his own safe space and wishes to remain apart from this place.  The world stands in peril.  Apophis may eat this world, beginning with the Re, which is the sun.”  She did not vanish, exactly.  She split into a million droplets of water and blended back into the great river.

“That sounds bad,” Boston said, and Alexis led them back to the others where they reported the news and what they saw.  Lockhart wisely moved them on to the city.  He felt what they all felt, that there was nothing they could do about the trouble, though of course they would help if they could.  Sekhmet met them in the gate, and when they told her what they learned, she shrugged it off.

“Those river girls live to trouble the waters,” she said.

Sekhmet took them to a private home where the horses would be safe and the travelers could sleep well without the need for keeping watch.  By the time they arrived, they relaxed and put the worried thoughts out of their minds.  The man of the house looked to be about forty; and he showed them great kindness before he let it slip that he knew who they were and that they were trying to return to the twenty-first century.

“I am Ptah,” he admitted.  “I am Sekhmet’s actual father, though I don’t mind that you have adopted her.  You two seem to have a good heart for strays as well as for each other.”  Ptah smiled for Katie and Lockhart and added, “Here, my daughter told me that I am supposed to say it is a shame you are not yet married.  You know, we could arrange things easily enough; but honestly, I know you will do what is in your heart when the time is right.”  He turned to his own thoughts.

Katie took Lockhart’s hand, but then asked what put that serious look on Ptah’s face.

“Eh?” he looked up.  “No, I just realized that you are a clue to the mystery of dissolution.  The gods, most of the gods are aware that a day will come when our life in the flesh will come to an end.  We will return to the spiritual realm, and the spirit lives we had at first, without eyes or ears or any way to know how we are affecting life on the earth.  Some, well… Many protest that humanity will not survive without our willful guidance—without the testing of the soul, and pointing the right way.   But here you are.  You come from after the time of dissolution, whenever that may be, and you are mature and intelligent and quite capable of building a good life without our interference.”

In that moment, Boston came running down the hall, followed by Alexis and another elf maid, and she yelled.  “Hey, look.  We got elves.”

“House elves,” Alexis said, over Boston’s shoulder.

Sekhmet and Artie also came in from the patio, looked at everyone, and giggled.

Lincoln came in from the stables shaking his head and holding his nose.  Decker and Elder Stow followed.  Elder Stow kept trying to explain that the expulsion of gas shows that your guest is relaxed and content in your home, like a good burp after eating shows respect for the food.

“You were saying about intelligent and mature,” Lockhart said.

###

Mutemwiya and her neighbor, Nephthys, walked slowly to the town marketplace, two old ladies walking at an old lady pace.  Kiya, burdened with her big bag of vegetables that banged her hip every time she picked up her feet, decided that the slow pace to town was just as well.

Bubastis was a growing, vibrant place.  It became a little city in only the last hundred years, as Kiya recalled from conversations with the palace bookkeepers—what felt like ages ago.  That was one of the reasons she chose to hide in Bubastis. The town had new faces almost every day, so people paid no attention.

The Nile had slowly shifted, as it did, making new arms there and revealing more fertile soil here in its march to the sea.  Bubastis slowly gained land, good fertile land, and people came to till that land, and the city grew.  Kiya imagined the city would grow for another few hundred years before the Nile slowly shifted again and the city started to shrink again.

“We must stop at the temple on the way,” Mutemwiya reminded them, as if they had forgotten.  “We must offer our best to the goddess if we hope to have success in the market.”

Kiya smiled.  Bast served as goddess of many things, but mostly she was goddess of luck.  Kiya had certainly been lucky to stay hidden as she had for so many years.