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Avalon Prequel Invasion of Memories Vordan 1 part 2 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The high-pitched wail that came from the parking lot caused them all to hold their ears. Apparently, there were some Vordan still on the ship and they were taking off for the skies.

“Get them. Can’t you get them?” the woman lawyer asked.

Bobbi shook her head. “We were lucky to find them on the ground. Despite appearances, our vehicle is just a modified stealth bomber with Harrier capabilities. We are not a space corps.” The Vordan vehicle had already moved out of sight. Glen turned and once again held out his hand, but this time the woman balked.

“Do you have a name?” Glen asked.

“No. I’m not getting in that ship-thing,” she protested.

“I need a lawyer. How are you with treaties?”

“I’m a lawyer,” Bobbi protested.

“When was the last time you practiced, or dealt with binding contracts?” Glen asked, and Bobbi said no more. Glen turned again to the woman. “What do you say we hire you. Name your fee. After all, I assume there is not time to send this out for bids. By the way, are you any good?”

The woman stood up straight. “I am very good,” she said, proudly. “But wait.”

“Oh, come on,” Bobbi said. “Glen won’t bite.”

“Not hard anyway.” He and Bobbi shared a knowing look.

The woman lawyer still hesitated. “How long?”

Bobbi shrugged, but Glen responded. “One day at a time,” he said. “You can go home anytime you give the word.”

“Promise?”

Glen crossed his heart. “See? On the left, just like you said.” That got the woman to smile as they walked up to the ship entrance.

“So, who are you people?” she asked.

“Men in Black,” Glen answered.

“I am not a man,” Bobbi said.

“But you are black,” Glen countered as they stopped in the doorway. Bobbi slapped Glen in the elbow where the short sleeve of his armor did not quite reach to the long gloves he wore.

“Don’t you ever get tired of that joke?” Bobbi asked.

“It’s always like the first time for me.” A serious expression came and went across Glen’s face, but then his smile returned as he stepped aside to let the women in first. “So, what is your name?”

“Alice.”

“Well, Alice. Welcome to wonderland.”

The inside of the plane looked more like a corporate jet than the inside of a military bomber. Bobbi took Alice by the arm and pulled her to the front while Glen fell in behind. They had to wait for the men outside to bring the dead Vordan into the hold. The live ones got away.

“Let me introduce you.” Bobbi pointed to a middle-aged pilot and a co-pilot who looked close to Ms. Brook’s age of somewhere in the early or mid-sixties. “Captain Stoloyovich is an ex-cosmonaut who went twice to the International Space Station.”

“Fyodor,” the man said. He turned his head briefly and smiled but did not move his hands or take his real attention from his tasks.

“Alice Summers,” Alice responded, kindly.

“Alice is a lawyer the Traveler picked out.”

“Congratulations, I think,” Fyodor said.

“Hi, I’m Glen, I think.” Glen spoke in a strange tone of voice, and as he looked at Alice, he added a thought. “Was I someone else back there?” Alice nodded, not knowing what else to do. “Diogenes.” Glen gave the young man a name, but when he looked at Bobbi, he added another thought. “I think.” He shook his head. “Too much memory coming back to me too fast. Maybe I need to sit down.”

“Who are you?” Alice finally asked, now that Glen reminded her that he had briefly been a completely different person.

“WhoamI?” Glen ran the words together. “Maybe you should just call me WhoamI for now.”

“Can’t.” The old copilot flipped a switch, looked up, and turned toward the group. “Jackie Chan already did that one.”

“Lockhart!” Glen yelled. He shook the old man’s hand, vigorously, even as he noticed that the man sat in a wheelchair.

“How’s the Princess?” Lockhart asked, and Bobbi had no trouble slapping the old man in the shoulder despite the wheelchair. Lockhart looked appropriately humble for about three seconds.

“We’re not supposed to tell Glen about lifetimes he does not remember for himself.” Bobbi explained to Alice who nodded but felt very confused. Glen, meanwhile, had no trouble answering Lockhart’s question.

“She is great. Good as ever. Still young, too.”

“It isn’t fair, you know,” Lockhart complained, though he looked like he would not mind seeing the Princess again, young as she might be.

“Unfair? Tell me about it.” Glen also complained and rubbed his lower back as he stepped over to a table where a chair seemed to be calling to him. The table looked full of papers, and three people, two men and a woman, who were working their way through some rather large files and typing furiously on computer consoles in their off moments.

Glen sat heavily and ignored them all. Bobbi and Alice came over to sit in comfortable chairs where they could watch him. Bobbi only paused briefly to speak to the three at the table.

After the plane lifted straight up into the sky, Lockhart followed them and brought his own chair with him.

Alice had been thinking that whole time, but Lockhart’s arrival finally broke her out of her introspection. “I would say you all have some explaining to do.”

“Actually, we know nothing about the Vordan.” Bobbi responded. “We do not even know if they are hostile.”

“I imagine she is thinking of something else.” Lockhart pointed at Glen.

Alice agreed. “Look, I get the Men in Black bit. I saw the movie. So, we got aliens on the moon. So, I look good in black, but I am engaged. Actually, all of this sounds like a show my fiancé would love, if only it had some football in it. Anyway, I was talking about him.” She also pointed at Glen.

“That is a little more difficult to explain,” Bobbi said.

“Is he an alien too?” Alice asked.

“No,” Bobbi said emphatically. “He is one of us and that is what makes it so difficult.”

“Not so hard,” Lockhart disagreed, as they watched Glen put his head in his hands. Glen appeared to be mumbling to himself but otherwise withdrew into his own little space. They spoke around him.

“I tried Vordan under every possible spelling.” One of the paper shufflers interrupted. “All I can find is a reference that says see Gaian, but when I looked under Gaian it said, mind your own business.”

Neither Bobbi nor Lockhart knew what to make of that, but they heard a little chuckle from the cockpit, and Glen paused briefly in his introspection to grin. “Keep looking,” Bobbi decided, and Alice took the stage again.

“Well?” That was all she had to say.

Avalon Prequel Invasion of Memories Vordan 1 part 1 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Glen looked down from his perch. He stood on an upside-down milk crate to adjust the butter, which would not fit correctly on the top shelf. The girl was blonde, very pretty, and about half of Glen’s age, which would put her under thirty, but not by much. Glen ran his fingers through his gray and mostly missing hair and felt very old.

“Excuse me.” The woman repeated herself and attempted a smile, though it seemed a very poor attempt. “I would like one of those,” she pointed. Glen tried not to sigh as he stepped off the crate so she could reach around him. She still tried to smile when Glen grabbed her. The butter landed on the old tile floor, the woman landed on the butter, and Glen landed on top of the woman.

She screamed. “What is wrong with you? I am a lawyer—” she growled but did not finish the sentence as the margarine above their heads exploded in a flash of blue-green light.

Glen grabbed the woman by the hand and dragged her around the corner, into the bread aisle. She still screamed but sat and watched as the old man in her face vanished and a well-built young man with a terrific smile appeared in front of her. He came dressed in chain armor that looked ancient, like something medieval, if not Roman, and he had the sword to go with it, slanted across his back, with the handle up above his left shoulder.

“N-no. Ex…” The young man tried to say, “Excuse me” in echo of her words, but his stutter got in the way, and he had other concerns. Keeping low was a big one. The young man peeked around the corner of the aisle and whipped out the long knife that rested across the small of his back. He sent it flying with his left hand. It entered—whatever it was—and the thing shrieked a thoroughly alien sound and collapsed.

“You missed.” The woman leaned over his shoulder, more curiosity than fear in her face. “My fiancé is a doctor. Heart is on the left.”

The man in armor shook his head as he stood. The—whatever it was—sprawled on the ground, its weapon having clattered across the dirty tiles. The young man pointed at the thing and then at the right side of his chest and smiled a smile that pierced the poor woman’s heart. Her heart on the left skipped a beat; but then the young man vanished and the old man came back. Curiously, he kept the armor, and in fact, the armor adjusted in size to fit the shorter man, belly and all. He took her hand to bring them close. The woman gave her hand without hesitation.

“Vordan have their heart on the right side,” Glen said. “But what on earth is it doing here… on Earth?” Glen cleaned and returned the knife to its place and picked up the alien weapon. He held it in a way that suggested he knew how to use it.

“Vordan?” The woman looked at the green colored creature on the floor. It looked like it might double for a swamp monster. “Vordan.” She repeated the name and looked at the old man. “I would guess it is not from around here.” She smiled a genuine smile for the first time.

“Come on.” Glen pulled on her hand to move them to the front of the store, but the woman balked and yanked her hand free. One side of her lip turned up as she spoke: not a flattering expression.

“Who the hell are you? You’re just a grocery clerk.”

“Actually, I work for a national merchandising company,” Glen said. He started to walk.

“But wait! What is with that chain mail get-up? Who was that other man?”

“Later.” Glen turned to walk backwards. “Are you coming or not?”

The woman did not hesitate for long. She had on a soft summer dress, and though Glen imagined jeans would have been a better choice, she had on running shoes instead of flip-flops so it took nothing for her to catch up. “Where are we going?” she asked above the screams that echoed around the supermarket.

 “To find the rest of them.” Glen thrust his arm out to hold her back while he let loose with a shot from that alien weapon. One was coming in the door, but it got distracted for a moment when the door automatically opened. The Vordan collapsed in the doorway and Glen rushed outside, right over the body. He kept low the whole way to stay below the front windows. He scooted up against one of the big columns in the shopping center and the woman stayed right on his heels. He pointed.

An alien ship about the size of a tractor-trailer sat in the parking lot, and three more Vordan hovered around the perimeter. One spotted him and fired. Glen turned and held up his cape between the woman and the blue-green energy beam—a cape that he had not been wearing a moment earlier. The shot hit the column, and while the façade melted, the steel beam at the center remained solid enough.

As soon as the enemy fire paused, Glen spun and returned fire. He did not appear to do any better than the Vordan. He missed all three and hit the alien ship instead. “Bad aim,” she said. Glen paused and looked at his gun as if something might be wrong with it.

“Communications array,” Glen responded, absentmindedly. “I don’t want them calling in reinforcements.”

“Too late.” The woman tapped Glen’s shoulder and pointed to the sky. An odd airplane-like vehicle looked to be closing in, fast.

“Cavalry,” Glen said, as he clicked something on the Vordan weapon and turned to fire again. The Vordan that had been creeping up close turned on sight of the oncoming ship. They ran back to their ship. Glen shot the mechanism that would delay their ability to open the door, and in a few seconds, the saucer vehicle came overhead. It emitted a greenish light that encompassed the Vordan ship and everyone around it for twenty yards. Both humans and Vordan in that section of the parking lot collapsed, and Glen grabbed the woman’s hand once more. “Come on,” he said, and this time she came without question.

After a few moments, the plane landed, but it had to crush one car to do it. The only thing the woman could do was gasp. The plane looked much bigger than it appeared in the sky. A door opened in the side and a ramp shot to the ground. A dozen armed people poured out and most headed for the Vordan and their ship. Three headed toward Glen and his woman follower.

“At least these look human,” the woman quipped, but Glen let go of her hand without responding. He reached out and hugged a big, African-American woman and she hugged him right back.

Glen smiled at the greeting but turned his head. “There’s another one by the butter,” he shouted toward the man who was examining the Vordan in the automatic door. The door kept trying to close but opened every time it bumped the body. Glen kissed the black woman on the cheek before he let go and turned to the blond. “You’re a lawyer?”

The woman nodded to the word but her eyes darted around. She gave the impression that all of this suddenly caught up to her and she might be feeling a bit overwhelmed. “Corporate contracts and such.” She managed to say that much.

“Good. My name’s Glen.”

The African-American woman pulled out a thin billfold. “Roberta Brooks, FBI.” She showed her I. D. but the woman lawyer shook her head.

“The FBI doesn’t have flying saucers.”

“Sanchez is with the State Department.” Ms. Brooks pointed at the man who still worked in the doorway. “Carlson here is with the ATF.”

Glen handed Carlson his car keys. “Glad you didn’t crush my car. It’s that silver Ford. Tell my wife I’ll be late for supper, will you?” Carlson looked briefly at the black woman. She nodded her head and Carlson smiled.

“I’m only sorry I’ll miss it,” Carlson said, as he headed toward Glen’s car.

Glen returned the smile as he once again took the pretty blond by the hand. He began to pull her forward as he and Ms. Brooks started toward the ramp and the saucer. “So, Bobbi, what are the Vordan doing here?” Glen asked.

“Vordan?” Ms. Brooks said the word as if tasting it for the first time. “We did not even know who they were. You tell me.”

“Mister Smith not around?”

“No, and that concerns us as well. There are three battleships on the dark side of the moon, and we only found out that much by accident. Normally, Mister Smith shows up with that kind of information, but no one has seen him.”

“Can’t be time for…” Glen stopped walking. Clearly, he did not finish his sentence. “Still, this is a Kargill planet by treaty. The Vordan have no business being here.”

Avalon The Prequel, Invasion of Memories, M G Kizzia

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Avalon, The Prequel: Invasion of Memories is a book worth buying and reading before entering into the Avalon Series. To buy this book Click Here

Over these last six months of 2025 I have shared Avalon, the Pilot Episode, and Season One of the Avalon series. They were well received, but I feel some had trouble with the number of characters–not quite like a Russian novel, but still…

Without the visual clues of an actual television series, live action or anime, I understand it can take a few episodes to really follow along and sadly, too many do not have the patience these days. The solution is to back up a bit and share the prequel. The prequel introduces the Men in Black and several of the Avalon characters on their home turf (so to speak)

Robert Lockhart, in his wheelchair, is the assistant director of the Men in Black organization. Boston is the young woman that pushes Lockhart around. (Take that as you will). Lincoln is mentioned and appears at the end of the story with mention of his missing wife (Alexis). These four form the foundation of the Travelers from Avalon that  move from time gate to time gate in the effort to get back to our century.

What is more, Avalon, The Prequel: Invasion of Memories introduces the Kairos the Traveler in time, the Watcher over history. It tells of some of the lifetimes he has lived, and shows how he can ‘trade places’ with various lifetimes when the need for certain skills or abilities arrises. It also tells that the current lifetime of the Kairos has memory problems rooted somewhere in the deep past.

When the alien Vordan threaten to invade the earth, a potential history shattering event, the Kairos is overwhelmed with a sudden influx of memories. He needs time to straighten it all out. He cannot afford to be incapacitated in the face of an alien invasion. Thus he tells stories of his current life when he remembered who he was: the Kairos, the Traveler, the Watcher.

Avalon, The Prequel: Invasion of Memories is a tale of the Men in Black facing an alien invasion punctuated by short stories of the early life of the Kairos. It not only sets the stage for the Avalon series, but it also introduces the Kairos in a way to make good sense of the larger Kairos Book that will soon follow. AND it suggests the stories of the Heart of Time, when the demon-goddess Ashtoreth invaded Avalon and the children of the Kairos struggle to overcome her. The first book in the Heart of Time series, The Golden Door will also be published soon. Look for it from your favorite e-book retailer.

Enjoy and Happy Reading

Table of Contents

Avalon, the Prequel: Invasion of Memories

Vordan 1: Beginning

Happy Hill

Vordan 2: People in Black

Pumpkin Seeds

Vordan 3: In the Night

Moira

Vordan 4: Museum Piece

The Big Bad Wolv

Vordan 5: Prisoner Release

A Worm’s Tale

Vordan 6: The White House

Dawg Days of Summer

Vordan 7: The Killing Part

Gaian, Across the Universes

Vordan 8: Fetching Mister Smith

Nazi Hunters

Vordan 9: In the Dock

Werewolf?

Vordan 10: Layers on the Cake

END

*****

Look for all the Avalon books at your favorite e-book retailer, as an e-book or a paperback if you want to hold the books in your hands…

Buy Now when the price is low: $4.99 (less than $5 per e-book). Buy them for yourself. Buy them for the holidays. The price will go up after the new year. (Not exactly by my choice)…

If you want a paper copy, you can get the Pilot Episode included with Avalon Season One. Also, Free stories are presently being blogged in bite-sized pieces on my website: mgkizzia.com. as you see. Keep in mind, buying a book and leaving a review helps this author keep the free stories coming.

Avalon Season One, Season Two, and Season Three include thirteen Episodes from the beginning of history in each book and detail the adventures of the Travelers from Avalon. Thrown back to the beginning of history, the travelers struggle to work their way through the days of myth and legend. They face gods and demons, gothic horrors, fantastic creatures and ancient aliens in this romp through time. They also quickly realize that they are not the only ones who have fallen through the cracks in time, and some of the others are now hunting them.

Avalon Season Four, Season Five, and Season Six, bring the travelers face to face with the worst monsters of all: the human monsters. As they move through the days before the dissolution of the gods, they get caught up in the rise of empires, and the birth of the great civilizations. It isn’t what they think—a grand adventure of discovery. It is never what they think. It is dangerous around every corner, and troubles rise directly in their path.

Avalon Season Seven, Season Eight, and Season Nine bring the travelers into the common era where the human capacity for violence and destruction increases exponentially. The spiritual terrors and aliens fade into the background, without ever going away, as the world turns to the history of humanity, and eventually world war threatens the travelers with every step of their journey back to the twenty-first century.

All of these books are reasonably priced at your favorite e-retailer and are also available in a paper copy. You can find them, and other books by the same author, under the author name, M. G. Kizzia.  Pick up your copy today.

I hope you enjoy reading the Avalon stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

Happy Reading.

— MGKizzia

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

MONDAY

Invasion of Memories begins. Until then, Happy Reading.

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Avalon, season 9 ready to buy

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To buy this book Click Here

Avalon, Season Nine: Introduction

The travelers came to Avalon in the Second Heavens to be transported instantly through the Heart of Time to the beginning of history. They went on a rescue mission, but things did not go as planned. The Kairos—the Storyteller had to jump into the void before history to become lost in eternity. Now, in order to get home, the travelers must return the slow way. They follow the Amulet of Avalon that points the way from one time gate to the next, and cross dangerous time zones that center around the many lives of the Kairos, the Traveler in time, the Watcher over history, a person who never lives a quiet life.

They have unlimited vitamins and elf crackers for their health; and unlimited bullets, which are needed far too often. They ride mustangs brought back from the old west, and wear fairy weave clothing that they can shape and change with a word in order to blend into the local culture. By a special gift of the Kairos, they can understand and be understood no matter the local language. Inevitably, they have to deal with thieves and brigands, armies and empires, gods and monsters, spirits and creatures, space aliens and the great unknown. They try hard not to disturb history along the way. That is not easy.

To be sure, all they want is to get home in one piece, but they are not the only ones lost in time. Some people lost in time might want to follow them, or even go with them. But some people are not so friendly, and not everything lost in time is a person. Some want to fight the travelers. Some want to hunt them.

~~~*~~~

Season Nine brings the travelers into modern times and to home in the twenty-first century. They travel through the renaissance and the reformation, the age of enlightenment and exploration, the industrial and other revolutions. They just want to get home, but the Masters seem to be everywhere trying to send the human race off course and destroy the future. If the Masters can turn humanity to despair, and make the human race desperate enough for safety, security, and solutions, then with kind words and empty promises the Masters can take over. That would ruin and destroy all people—a fate worse than slavery.

CAST

Robert Lockhart, a former police officer, is now the assistant director of the Men in Black. He was in charge of the rescue mission that left from 2010 and traveled through the Heart of Time to the beginning of history. Something went wrong. The Kairos, the Storyteller had to jump into the void before history began in order to save their charge. Now, everything on Avalon is out of sync, and the travelers are forced to return to the future through the time gates and across the dangerous time zones that surround the many lives of the Kairos. Lockhart is now charged with leading this expedition through time, though he has no idea how he is going to get everyone home alive.

Major Katherine Harper-Lockhart (Katie), a marine and an elect—a one-in-a-million warrior woman, whose doctorate is in ancient and medieval cultures and technologies. She is torn between her duty to the marines and her desire to be part of this larger universe she is discovering, though since she married Robert, her path seems set. She carries the prototype amulet first used to travel the time zones.

Benjamin Lincoln, a former C. I. A. office geek who keeps the database and a record of their journey. He tends to worry and is not the bravest soul, but sometimes that is an asset. His wife, Alexis, was kidnapped by her own father Mingus and dragged back to the beginning of history. This prompted the rescue mission which got everyone stuck in the past with the time gates in the time zones as the only option to get home—the long way around, as they say.

Elder Stow, a space traveling, technologically advanced Gott-Druk (Neanderthal) from the future who got thrown back into the past. He is forced, at first, to make a truce with these ‘humans’ to join them in their journey. He has since adjusted to the idea, and believes it is his only chance to get back to the future. His technological toys, as he calls them, have come in handy.

Sukki, a Gott-Druk from the before time who got taken off planet to a new world at the time of the flood. She joined a small group determined to return to Earth. She is the sole survivor. The travelers take her with them, knowing she cannot survive alone in the past, and she is learning that these travelers are now her new family. Though adopted by Elder Stow, she begged the Kairos to be made human, like the rest of her family. The goddesses who did that got a bit carried away and left her empowered like a superhero.

Lieutenant Colonel Decker A navy seal trained marine special operations officer. He will do all he can to keep everyone alive, even if it means shooting his way back to the twenty-first century. He is a skeptic who does not believe half of what they experience. An African American, he got gifted in the deep past by his eagle totem and can see beyond normal vision.

Nanette Jones Decker A student from 1905. She is an African American who once worked as Professor Fleming’s Administrative Assistant. She only willingly left the professor back in the time of Julius Caesar when the professor got diagnosed with cancer and insisted. She has magic, rooted in telekinesis, when the Other Earth phases in and leaks magic energy into our universe. A brilliant woman, she fell in love with Colonel Decker, thanks to Aphrodite and the Colonel had no power to resist the goddess.

Tony (Anthony) Carter A graduate student in Antiquities in Latin and Greek. He also got pulled into the past from 1905 and lived seven years with Professor Fleming and a few classmates in the days of Julius Caesar. He joined the travelers because it seemed his only chance to get back home. He has since learned that he will likely get home in time for World War One. Something to look forward to.

Plus, as always,

The Kairos. But that is a different person in each time zone.

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

Tomorrow

Preview of December posts and on.

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Avalon 1.12 The Name of the Game part 4 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Three in the morning, the lights came on. It looked like several spotlights and strong enough to cast light over the top of the hill and boulder. The light shone white and bright, and made their campfire look pale and yellow. Then they heard a repeated sound which Boston identified.

“Some kind of energy weapon.”

“But what are they shooting at?” Everyone wondered and went to the top of the hill where they could lie down and peek over.

“I don’t see anything,” Lincoln confessed.

“They are firing at something,” Captain Decker said.

“I can smell them,” Mingus turned to Alexis. “Eldrich fire.” He pointed at the dark night sky. Alexis nodded and got out her wand. Both she and her father let globes of light rise in the sky, out over that long open field. At once, under that magical light, eight figures appeared. One of them, almost in their faces, and Lockhart barely rolled and fired his shotgun in time.

The ghoul got knocked off his feet and left only a puff of smoke and a green stain where it had once been.

“Looks like four, now three headed our way and the other four going after the Gott-Druk,” Roland said. The humans all squinted in the light from the shuttle. It felt like looking directly into high beam headlights.

“I can’t see a thing,” Boston admitted.

“Decker and Harper, go to the sides and down the edge of the field. You should get a shot when they pass your position.”

“Sir,” Katie said and scooted off. Decker had already gone.

“Like here, there is one out front and three following about a hundred yards behind. Wait. One stopped.”

A thin black line stretched up from the ground and put out the eldritch lights. Fortunately, that was all Lincoln needed to fire at the bottom of the line—at the origination point. Alexis and Mingus quickly put up two more lights. The ghouls who had blinked into invisibility came back into focus, at least for the elves.

“The Gott-Druk appear to be turning their weapons on each other.” Roland shouted and at the same time, the lights on the shuttle shot to the ground. Suddenly, they could see, and Lockhart pulled his pistol. It appeared to be a long way, but he fired, twice. The ghoul nearest the Gott-Druk collapsed, and the Gott-Druk turned again to fire on the three still coming on.

All that while, Lincoln, Boston, Roland, Mingus, and Lockhart had the distant battle in sight. Alexis alone saw the ghouls drawing closer. They all jumped when they heard the crack of the rifles. At least the threat against them got neutralized.

They looked again in the distance. For whatever reason, the energy weapons of the Gott-Druk did not appear to have any effect on the ghouls. Lockhart felt inclined to help them, but there came a sudden flash of terrifically bright light, and the ghouls vanished altogether. At least, so Mingus and Roland said. Again, the humans squinted, rubbed their eyes, and saw spots. It felt like they just looked directly into a professional photographer’s heavy duty flash bulb.

When it was over, and he could see again, Lockhart stood. Boston wanted to pull him back down for a second, but that would have been pointless. Certainly, the Gott-Druk now knew where they were. Lockhart raised his hands like in surrender, but he held the pistol in his hand, so it felt more a position of truce. Boston jumped up to walk beside him.

“Boston!” Lockhart only got the word out before Roland joined them as well and he changed his words. “No one else! Harper and Decker, stay where you are and cover.” Somehow, those two had found some cover—bushes or boulder, so they were not easily seen. Then Lockhart walked with Boston and Roland beside him.

They did not walk many steps before three Gott-Druk came out from the other side to meet them in the middle. They all stopped ten feet apart. The first word from the Gott-Druk was telling.

“You belong to the rebel.” He pointed at Roland. Apparently, the Gott-Druk had been informed that certain little spirits were under the special charge of the Kairos.

“He is with us, not the rebel,” Boston said, and quickly stepped in front of the elf. He gently moved her back to his side.

“The rebel sent these terrible demons to attack us. You sent them.”

“They attacked us as well. I am sure you saw,” Lockhart said.

“The ghouls do not belong to the rebel,” Roland added.

“Huh!” One of the Gott-Druk huffed and turned to his companions. He spoke in the Gott-Druk tongue assuming he would not be understood. “These are not the one we are looking for. They are useless to us.”

“But maybe they are hiding the one,” the first said.

“I say we should kill them and move out,” the second said.

The speaker paused to consider before he turned to the travelers and spoke again in what he thought was their tongue. “Where is the rebel?”

Lockhart looked at Roland. He considered a lie when Boston perked up. She checked the amulet and found the gate quite close. That meant Wlvn had to have been moving to the southwest as they circled around the forest to the northeast.

“Northwest,” she lied hastily. “He said something about Thor’s hammer.”

Lockhart changed tactics and thought hard about the Gott-Druk tongue. “As for killing us,” he said in their language. “You might not find that so easy.”

The Gott-Druk said nothing as a man appeared in their midst. He had a long, hook nose, a pointed chin, and walked like one bent and broken, but with a subtle grace and fluid motions that belied his crooked looks. They all knew it was Loki without the need for introductions.

Loki shot to one side and stared at Lieutenant Harper. He shot to the other side and stared at Captain Decker and snarled. He shot to the top of the hill and looked down on Lincoln, Alexis and Mingus who were holding the fort. Mingus and Alexis immediately got up and went down the hill to begin to strike the camp. Lincoln stayed where he was to watch. Then Loki shot back to the three in the field and examined each one of them in turn. He finally stopped moving in front of Lockhart.

“I see no one in the southwest,” he said with a glance at Boston. “But I see no one in the northwest either. You do not belong here. Go away.” He did not make it a request. He spun, then and stared at the three Gott-Druk. “Forget these ones. Find me the rebel.” His words sounded as sharp as his looks, and he vanished. The Gott-Druk seemed visibly shaken. Boston, Roland, and Lockhart would shake later.

“As the Lord commanded, we are going away,” Lockhart said, and turned without a look back. Boston and Roland came a bit behind but caught up. The Gott-Druk also turned and walked back to their vehicle.

When they reached the others on the hill, Lockhart sat down and appeared to let out his breath. “We need to go, now,” he said. Lincoln nodded and they went together toward the fire to down their tents and saddle up.

Katie and Captain Decker returned at about the same time as the others, and no one noticed until Lincoln called out into the dark, “Alexis.” There was no answer. “Alexis.” He tried a little more volume, but still did not see her.

Boston looked to the horses and spoke in a hurry, “Her horse is gone, and Mingus’ horse, too.”

“What?”

“Their horses are already gone.”

“Not again!” Lincoln yelled at the sky.

“What do you mean?” Captain Decker did not get it right away.

Lockhart explained. “Mingus. He feels he has lost his daughter, and now he thinks he might lose his son in the same way.” He nodded at Roland and Boston.

“No, I would never…” Boston stammered and looked at Roland.

“I…” he did not know what to say. “We are not talking that way. We just get along, that’s all.”

“Yeah, that’s all,” Boston agreed with Roland’s statement even if everyone knew that was not all.

“Shit!” Lincoln rarely swore, and after that word he said no more. They hurried to collect their things and get up on their horses.

“They can’t have that much head start,” Captain Decker said.

“This way,” Roland read the signs and led the group. The trail brought them straight to the gate. When they arrived, it became clear that Mingus and Alexis had gone into the next time zone ahead of them. Lincoln did not repeat his word.

“I don’t like going into the next time zone in the dark,” Katie said, honestly enough.

“Only eighty left,” Boston thought of the ghouls.

Captain Decker and Roland still imagined they might catch Mingus and Alexis. It seemed hard to tell what Lockhart thought. No one really payed attention as they nudged their horses through the gate and an orange-clad Gott-Druk stood from behind a boulder and followed them.

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

TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY special

Tomorrow

Avalon 9 reveal

Wednesday

A look ahead to posts beginning in December…

*

Avalon 1.12 The Name of the Game part 3 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

At three in the morning, Lockhart woke Roland and Captain Decker to take their shift and the horses got restless. Boston and Katie jumped right up.

“Better than watchdogs,” Boston said, as she started with her own horse and worked her way down the line.

“Something is moving around out there,” Mingus reported. Lockhart nodded and spoke.

“Decker, that side. Roland, this side. Mingus and I will watch from the camp. Don’t engage, just try to find out what it is and where it is headed.” He knew Decker, the marine and Roland the hunter were the two best suited for the work. They nodded, both instantly wide-awake, and headed out, silently.

The quiet returned for a few minutes, which felt like hours, before something stood only a few feet from Lockhart. The bear growled, an exceptionally big bear, and it looked like it wanted their leftovers. Lockhart had his shotgun and did not hesitate, but it only appeared to make the bear mad. It roared. Alexis shouted.

“Get out of there!”

Boston grabbed two horses to keep them from running off. Lincoln shrieked and shuffled away from the beast. Mingus ran back as several shots came from a marine rifle and put the beast down. Lockhart needed to empty another shotgun slug to finish the job. Then he looked around. Boston, Lincoln, and Alexis had the horses. Katie Harper stood right beside him with her rifle.

“Thanks,” Lockhart said.

“Anytime, Robert,” Katie responded with a look up at his face and in his eyes.

Roland and Captain Decker immediately came back, of course, but their reports brought no comfort.

“I guess this is what I heard,” Mingus pointed at the bear. Both Roland and Captain Decker shook their heads in response.

“I saw a man, essentially naked, who ran off into the distance at the sound of the gunfire. I could not catch him and come back here at the same time,” Roland said. “My guess is the wolf man.”

“I saw movement near the trees,” Decker said flatly. “It appeared to be human in shape. It might have been orange, but I did not get a good look.”

“Great!” Lincoln said, once they dragged the bear carcass downwind and the horses settled down again. “Something to look forward to running into tomorrow.” Mostly, they ignored him.

Everyone went to bed after that, except Captain Decker and Roland who went on watch. The captain headed to the tree side of the camp so he could keep an eye on the forest. He got out his night goggles just in case. Roland pulled his knife to skin the bear and cut what he could for the next day. The bear turned out to be a tough old beast, so they left most of it for whatever animals might stake a claim. Probably the night creatures, he imagined, if any of the bear was still there the following night.

It turned four-thirty when the horses became unsettled again. Boston huffed, “Now what?”

Captain Decker walked out on the perimeter. He felt something he felt before and growled silently. He slammed on his night goggles and headed out toward what he believed was the source. Almost at once, he dropped to a knee and fired. He felt fairly sure he did not hit anything, and then it was gone. Naturally, when he got back to the camp, he found everyone awake.

“Ghoul.” That was all he had to say.

“Good, that’s everybody,” Lincoln said. “Now I can get some sleep.”

“That’s the trouble with being so popular,” Alexis said.

~~~*~~~

The next day, they traveled in a slow but a steady pace. The horses walked, and sometimes they walked the horses. Boston commented that it looked to her like the Kairos had to be moving south because they were getting closer to the gate faster then she calculated they should.

Mingus said nothing that day. He stole occasional glances at Alexis who rode contentedly beside Lincoln, and Roland, especially when he nudged forward to ride beside Boston. Lockhart noticed, but he stayed quiet as well. In fact, since Captain Decker had taken the mantle of occasional quips, he found he had little to say. He did not mind the conversation when Katie rode beside him, but otherwise he stayed as quiet as Mingus, so he did not think much about it.

For lunch, they sheltered in a hollow full of trees. The horses were left to wander for the first time, but they needed the grazing time and at some point, they had to trust their instincts. They knew they were each tied to their horse. The horses would not wander off on their own, and since all around the hollow they had good pasturage and open fields, where no predator could sneak up on them, they let them lunch as well.

“I’m only sorry we don’t have something more scrumptious, like oats for them to munch on.” Katie felt like talking, though she directed most of it toward Lockhart.

“Apples would be nice,” Boston suggested.

“Or a sugar cube,” Lincoln decided. “I could really go for a chocolate bar right now. Alexis?”

“I think you’re mean even bringing up chocolate. I’m trying to break the habit.”

“Well, I think I’ve decided,” Captain Decker said. When they all looked at him, he spoke again. “I think I’m going to call my horse Weber.” Everyone understood that was commentary on the man, but Mingus spoke first.

“You are naming your horse?”

“Why not? The women have all named theirs.”

“Misty,” Alexis said, of her gray.

“Beauty,” Katie said. “I liked Black Beauty when I was a child.”

“Honey,” Boston said. “Because he’s sweet.”

The women looked at Lincoln. “Cortez,” Lincoln mumbled the name before he spoke up. “It was the name of a horse I once rode.”

“Valiant,” Roland said with a look in Boston’s direction. Mingus erupted.

“Elves don’t name their horses.” He stood. “What is wrong with us? Alexis, what is wrong with you, and Roland, too. We are elves, not stinking mortals. What are we doing here, hanging out with humans? We are becoming just like them, foolish, stubborn, and stupid. I studied them and their history for centuries, and sure, some of them had to rub off on me. Not to my betterment, mind you. But I never expected it to pass on to my children. Okay, so everything I studied was wrong—”

“Not wrong, father,” Alexis interrupted.

Mingus raised his hands. “Okay, but terribly incomplete. Most of what I learned is in the database there that pinhead is carrying.”

“Father!”

“He was a pinhead when you married him. I don’t see any great changes since then.”

“Father!”

“Oh, Alexis. Someone needs to wake you up.” He threw his hands down and stomped off.

“Roland,” Alexis spoke sharply, and Roland hesitated halfway through standing up. “He just has some steam to blow off. Leave him alone. It will pass.” Roland sat down, and they all got quiet until Katie nudged Lockhart.

“So, what are you naming yours?”

“Dog,” Lockhart said.

“Dog?”

Boston laughed. “You can’t name a horse Dog.”

Lockhart whistled and Dog came trotting right up to him. “Any questions? Time to go.”

That afternoon, they paused because of a distant sound of engines. Lockhart thought they had better play it safe. “Cover,” he said, and they made for a stand of trees. They dismounted and walked their horses into the stand and waited, eyes on the sky. After a moment, they were not disappointed. A shuttle of some kind passed overhead.

“A step up from the one we saw in Odelion’s time,” Lincoln whispered, though he hardly had to whisper considering the whine the shuttle made.

“What do you think?” Lockhart turned to the marine captain with something else on his mind.

“Definitely landing. It is coming down somewhere ahead of us.”

“Probably intend to cut us off and catch us just before dark,” Katie added.

“They have made us,” Lincoln said, and stepped out from among the trees.

“I would guess, yes,” Lockhart said, as he followed and mounted.

“Roland and I need to take the point to try and find them before they find us,” Lincoln finished his thought, and added another. “I’ve done this kind of work before.”

Lockhart looked at Captain Decker, but the captain shook his head.

“I would be no help on horseback,” he admitted.

Lincoln nodded, leaned over, and gave Alexis a fat kiss on the lips before he started out. Roland stared back at Boston but waited for Lincoln. “The man is full of hidden talents,” Alexis said with a grin. Mingus looked like he had not finished steaming yet.

Lincoln came galloping back after only two hours. They still had a couple of hours before dark, but he had a report. “They are up ahead at the end of a long, open space. At this end is a small hill and a great boulder. Roland and I figure we can camp at the bottom of the hill, on this side of the stone. We can tie off the horses with their backs to the boulder to protect them better in the night, and the hill should hide our camp and campfire. Maybe we can meet the Gott-Druk in the morning.”

“Maybe when we don’t show up, they will come out to find us,” Captain Decker suggested.

“And maybe they will leave because it isn’t us they are looking for anyway,” Lockhart countered. “It’s a good plan, as far as it goes.” So that is what they did.

Of course, Lincoln had to have the final say for the night. “You know I won’t sleep a wink knowing that they are there.”

Alexis just pulled him down to the blanket, pulled her blanket on top of them, curled up half on top of him and said, “Good night,” thereby getting in the actual final words.

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

MONDAY

Battle and Loki. Don’t miss it. Until then, Happy Reading

*

Avalon 1.12 The Name of the Game part 2 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

They had traveled that way before—by divine fiat—so the feeling of disorientation did not last long. When they vanished from one part of the globe, they knew they would arrive elsewhere instantly and only had to adjust their mind and eyes to the change in scenery. In this case, it was easy, because they remained on the undulating landscape, though a great forest sat to their right, and a man nearby went down on his knees. Only one thing caused all of them to wonder. The field they were on looked full of horses, and a number of them had western style saddles and saddlebags.

“Oh, you just made it,” the man said, as he got up from his knees. “Mother must have sent you, and good thing. I was about to pass out.”

“Nameless?” Lockhart remembered the man, or rather the god from a past encounter. He was the Kairos.

“Good to see you again,” Nameless said. “Good to see all of you, but now you must listen carefully before I go away and let Wlvn gift you.”

“Gift?” Lincoln asked.

Nameless waved off the question and waved them in close. “First, don’t go into the forest. That area for miles belongs to the Titan at the center, Loki assisting. They have the territory ringed by forest and a one-way electric fence. It is like a dog fence that keeps in dogs, but you don’t have to wear a collar. It is keyed to humans. You can pass through from this side but will get scorched trying to pass through from that side. You can see the old man,” Nameless pointed and some, for the first time, saw a man sleeping peacefully on a fine mattress.

“Nice Mattress,” Katie whispered. Her eyes were always on the technology of the times.

“Compliments of mother Vrya,” Nameless nodded his head. “He went unconscious racing through the fence on horseback. The horse felt nothing, but the fence nearly killed him.”

“And Wlvn?” Lincoln asked.

“He should be out cold,” Nameless admitted. “But you first. Now listen, here is the kicker, or two. The Titan at the center has made an agreement, or Loki has, with the Gott-Druk. They are his strong-arm helpers, and have the ships, shuttles, and firepower to enforce the slavery of the people.”

Several eyes looked around as Lockhart spoke. “We may have a Gott-Druk from the future following us through the gates. Maybe not. That has not exactly been confirmed yet.”

“We found him in Odelion’s time.”

Nameless nodded. “I remember, only it is the ones from this time that are your immediate threat. They will be out in force looking for me—I mean Wlvn, and might pass on you, but no guarantees. Then also, there are night creatures around. They won’t bother you at all unless they are given your scent and you become their prey. Then they won’t stop until they eat you. And no, they are not native to this earth, though I have yet to fix a planet of origin.”

“God help us if one of them starts after us through the gates,” Mingus said.

“They can be killed,” Nameless assured them with a look at Captain Decker and Lockhart. “But they are very dense creatures, almost all muscle and cartilage, so the bullets might not penetrate as much as you would like. Also, they are smarter than any earth animal, so keep that in mind.”

“And?” Boston wondered if there was more.

Nameless shook his head. “Just the zombies chasing Wlvn, but I suspect they won’t bother you. Oh, and watch out for Loki.”

“Now the horses,” Alexis said. She had her eyes on a gray.

Nameless nodded, tossed some dust in the air, and traded places with Wlvn so the dust fell on Wlvn’s head. “Just a little godly magic to keep me conscious until we are finished.”

“God of the horses?” Lincoln payed attention. “But you are just human.”

Wlvn nodded. “Long story short. When Poseidon lost the contest for Athens to Athena, he was not going to give the Athenians the horses for nothing. He brought them to me. He figured I would know what to do with them. Then he laid hands on me and filled my mind with everything I needed to know about the care and handling of the beasts. And he allowed that I could lay hands on others as well to spread that information quickly. Knees, please.”

No one understood what he was asking until Alexis got down on her knees. Everyone followed her example. Wlvn only said one more thing as he went from person to person and laid hands on each in turn. “This is very draining. If I was not due to go unconscious from the electric fence, I would certainly need to pass out after this.” When he finished, he stepped back and let Nameless return in his place. Everyone else marveled and tried hard to integrate this sudden influx of new knowledge.

“Now don’t worry. Wlvn already laid hands on the horses too. They will recognize you all and know which of you they belong to. Yes, Mingus,” Nameless spoke before Mingus could register his protest. “You and Roland have horses as well, and you will ride with the others, so get used to it.”

“But the saddles,” Lockhart started to speak, paused to consider his words, and spoke with sure and certain knowledge. “They are from the nineteenth century. Aren’t they a bit out of time?”

“The horses are from the eighteen-seventies. The saddles are a concession since hopefully you won’t be staying in a given time period for too long. The horses are all sturdy mustangs, stallions from the old west—Marshal Casidy’s days. He got them from a horse trader in the Dakotas. Then Alice and I managed to bring them back here to this point. Horses and the use of horses spread slowly across the old world, but it begins here on the edge of the steppes. These particular horses should not be startled by the sound of gunfire, hopefully never needed, and since they are also from the future, they should be able to go with you into the future.”

People went to their horses, also knowing which ones were theirs. Lockhart got fancy. He whistled and the horse went to him.

“One more thought,” Alexis made everyone pause. “How is Lady Alice?”

“Confused.” Nameless shook his head. “My Storyteller is still missing, not dead so most everything is in confusion. Avalon is whole,” he assured the elves. “But she can’t just bring you home and I can’t send you there. I’m sorry. You will just have to get home the hard way.”

“Understood,” Lockhart said, and he walked his horse north where Boston waited so he could check the direction.

“Now, you all need to move on at least an hour from here,” Nameless continued. “It would be better if old man Wlkn woke up none the wiser. And me? I have to pass out for a while.” He watched the party mount, not expertly by any means. “Good luck with your butts and legs for the first couple of weeks. Knowing how to do something and doing it are two different things. Good luck.”

As they rode off, Nameless went back to his knees, traded places through time back to Wlvn who immediately ate dirt.

~~~*~~~

It became nearly dark when the travelers stopped for the night. They just had time to build a fire and rub down the horses, using Captain Decker’s rope to tie them off for the night. Everyone felt tired, but excited about the horses. The women had all ridden before; Boston especially, who rode in a rodeo. Lincoln had ridden some during his time with the CIA, though he was not at liberty to say where or why. The elves, of course, were more than capable riders, though they preferred their own two feet. Only Captain Decker and Lockhart had never ridden other than Lockhart’s one trip down the Grand Canyon on a donkey’s back.

“I expect we will all feel it tomorrow,” Lockhart said.

“Why wait for tomorrow?” Captain Decker asked and rubbed his backside.

Still, they were happy knowing they would not have to walk all the way back to the twenty-first century. All seemed well with the world, and though Lockhart insisted on the two-person watch, they all felt they would get a good night’s sleep. Naturally, they got nothing of the sort.

It started about midnight when Alexis woke up to the sound of a baby crying. It sounded far away and faint, but she heard it clearly. She had just gone to sleep an hour earlier from first watch, so she knew it could not be a dream. It came again, and she shook Lincoln.

“What?” Lincoln sounded groggy. He had just fallen into a deep sleep.

“Listen,” Alexis said. “Can you hear that?”

They listened but heard nothing. Just before Lincoln said, go back to sleep, you were dreaming, the sound came again. It sounded louder and still sounded like a baby’s cry, but there was something different about it—something off. Alexis jumped up and found the two on watch, Lockhart and Mingus had heard it too. They stood side by side and stared at the line of trees in the distance.

“It’s coming from inside the forest,” Lockhart pointed as Katie and Boston came up from the horses and Roland jogged in from the dark.

“Night creatures,” Mingus named them. Roland only had to nod to confirm.

“They appear to be guarding the perimeter of the trees,” Roland reported. “But whether that is to keep people out or keep the slaves in, I cannot say.”

“Let’s hope they don’t catch wind of us or the horses,” Katie spoke from behind. “So far the horses don’t appear spooked by them.”

“I don’t think they recognize that sound as a danger,” Boston suggested.

“Catching wind of us won’t matter,” Lincoln said. He read about them in the database earlier that evening. “I skimmed through their information when I was on watch. It appears they eat what is handy, like scavengers. I’m glad we did not camp near the trees. They only kill what is handy when they get hungry enough, but it also said they can go for a long time without eating. Mostly, it said they get or are given a scent and then they hunt, and they don’t stop hunting that one thing until they catch it or die.” He looked up. “When they are on the hunt, they generally ignore everything else.”

“Given a scent?” Alexis had to ask.

“The text was unclear about that,” Lincoln admitted. “My guess is whichever god brings them here from wherever they come can lay out what or who they want hunted.”

“And god help the hunted,” Mingus concluded, as the sound appeared to fade again in the distance and people returned to their beds.

Avalon 1.12 The Name of the Game part 1 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 4026 BC near modern day Moscow. Kairos 19: Wlvn, god of the horses

Recording …

Lockhart, Lincoln, Captain Decker, Alexis, and Katie all collapsed after passing through the gate. It only turned noon, but they were not going any further that day, and maybe the next as well. Mingus and Boston set up the camp and got the fire started while Roland went out to hunt and gather what he could. That evening over the fire, the five were still caught up in exhaustion. They ate, not so frantically now, and spoke in quiet whispers.

“When I fantasized about dancing naked under the moon, I imagined something a bit more romantic,” Alexis said, as she snuggled up to Lincoln’s side.

“I never imagined such a thing,” Lincoln admitted. “Now even less.”

“I feel like I lost ten pounds,” Katie said. She was young and in marine shape, so she hardly had ten pounds to lose. “Not the way I imagined going on a diet.”

Alexis nodded. “The dance and starvation diet. Not recommended for anyone over thirty.” Captain Decker chose that moment to snore.

“What about you, Lockhart. You are very quiet.”

Lockhart shook his head. “Just tired.” He looked at Roland who sat close to Boston. They were not holding hands, but they should have been. “You saw signs of no one,” he repeated an earlier question. Roland had reported when he returned from the hunt, but he did not mind repeating himself as well.

“No one,” he said. “At least not recent. People certainly passed through this valley at some point, but the fire remains appear very old—perhaps fifty years or more.”

“I imagine the earth population is still rather thin after Shinar,” Katie said. “That was only five hundred years ago.”

“Not even,” Lincoln spoke up.

“Not even,” Katie nodded. “Why?” She directed that at Lockhart.

Lockhart took a moment to look around, though he really could not see much in the dark beyond the firelight. “Nothing,” he said, though clearly it was not nothing.

“Never fear,” Mingus interrupted. “My son and I will watch in the night, all night. Elves can handle a night without sleep better than humans. Besides, you went three days and two nights without any rest. You need to recover, or we won’t get very far.” Lockhart nodded his agreement and thanks for the offer. Roland objected.

“Father.”

“Besides,” Mingus finished his thought with a hard look at his son. “Roland and I have some talking to do.”

Alexis stole a glance at Boston, smiled, and settled down beside her husband.

No one and nothing bothered them in the night. The moon did not come up right for the wolf. They saw no orange clad Neanderthals sneaking around. And probably because two elves working together could be a problem, the ghoul scout, if out there, and the bokarus, if still following them despite Faya’s bargain, did not show themselves. That did not mean the night was absent of fireworks. By morning, Roland had stopped talking to his father, which was fine because Mingus had stopped talking to his son, too.

“We have to move, today.” Lockhart decided. There were several groans, but he knew, as did Captain Decker, that another day of just rest could be psychologically damaging. They had a long way to go to get back to the twenty-first century and they did not need people dragging their feet.

“Besides,” Captain Decker added. “People are always capable of more than they think they are.”

They walked slowly in the morning over rolling plains, pastureland, and through occasional bits of trees. Everyone thickened their fairy weave clothes, and Lincoln made the only substantial comment in the group.

“It says European Russia, but it feels like late fall in New England.”

Other than that, the only conversation were the whispers between Boston and Roland, and everyone assumed that was private. The others felt too busy to talk, conserving their strength for the walk, except Mingus who steamed about something. They all guessed it was Roland and Boston.

Lunch was also a quiet affair. People were still recovering and gathering their strength, but all thought the walk did them good. Roland and Boston sat apart from the others and continued to talk softly, and it looked to be getting serious.

“So, you finished school in record time,” Roland said. It came out something like a question.

“I don’t know about record time,” Boston responded. “I went to college when I was sixteen, after my junior year in high school, but I am not the only person who has ever done that.” Boston looked down at her legs. They were sitting on a bolder where she could let her legs dangle off a flat edge that dropped three feet to the ground. “I finished college in three years  which is not unusual either. Then I got into a program where I could do both my masters and PhD classes in another three years. It was set up that way. True, most people take four since they take a year to write their Master Thesis between the first and second year of classes. I wrote mine over the summer. Actually, most people take six years since it is two years after the last classes to do a dissertation. I did that in one year so I really took four to go through that program.” Boston suddenly stopped talking. She had started babbling, and about herself. She never did that.

“And you never got involved with any boys during all that time?”

“Boys? I had—have some friends, sure. I went out a few times, but who had time for that? I was too busy studying my little brains off.”

“If you had your PhD by the time you were twenty-three, I would say your brains are not so little.”

“Twenty-four,” Boston said, honestly. “I guess I am a smarty-pants.” She slapped her palms against her thighs and Roland followed her hands with his eyes. Boston watched him and her eyes got big when he smiled. She slipped off the rock. “I think I better go,” she said, and sought the security of the other women. The kind of thoughts she started having scared her, and at the moment, it felt doubly bad since Roland obviously started having the same sorts of thoughts.

“Hi, Alexis,” Boston said.

“Sit down,” Alexis said. “We need to talk.” She made Lincoln go over and sit by Lockhart and the marines, all of whom snickered. Lincoln just shrugged and pulled out the database.

“I think you and I can be good friends.”

Boston’s eyes got big. “Oh, I don’t know. I am totally conservative and you are totally liberal. I don’t think we could agree on anything.”

“What are you feeling?” Alexis asked.

“Scared,” Boston admitted.

“It is totally scary, and wonderful at the same time,” Alexis agreed.

“But…” Boston was not sure what to say. She looked at Roland and thought of nothing bad, only, “he can be such a doofus.”

Alexis also looked at Roland and then back at Boston. “He’s my brother. It wouldn’t be fair for me to comment. But look at what I married.” She nodded in Lincoln’s direction. Boston looked briefly and had a question.

“What is wrong with us?”

~~~*~~~

They stopped a couple of hours early, but the point was made for them all. They would move in the morning and get back to the routine of regular days soon enough. It looked like a good site, being in a sheltered hollow with trees on two sides. The wind had picked up and it had turned chilly. The boulders made a good windbreak.

“And plenty of fuel for the fire,” Mingus said, about the first thing he said all day.

“So we stop,” Lockhart agreed, and he just got his backpack off when they had an unexpected visitor. A woman appeared out of nowhere. No one doubted she was a goddess, though she had her divine nature toned down sufficiently, so no one felt obliged to drop to their knees. What is more, she held a young girl in her arms and had two young boys of maybe nine and eleven years in tow, and the children all looked human enough.

“You can’t stop yet,” she said. “My son has something to give you.” She raised a hand and everyone vanished from that spot.

Avalon, season 8 ready to buy

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

 

***To buy this book Click Here

Avalon: Season 8 Introduction

The travelers came to Avalon in the Second Heavens to be transported instantly through the Heart of Time to the beginning of history. They went on a rescue mission, but things did not go as planned. The Kairos—the Storyteller, had to jump into the void before history and became lost in eternity. Now, to get home, the travelers must return the slow way, following the Amulet of Avalon that points the way from one time gate to the next. They cross dangerous time zones that center around the many lives of the Kairos, the Traveler in time, the Watcher over history, a person who never lives a quiet life.

They have unlimited vitamins and elf crackers for their health and unlimited bullets which are needed far too often. They ride mustangs brought back from the old west and wear fairy weave clothing that they can shape and change with a word in order to blend into the local culture.  By a special gift of the Kairos, they can understand and be understood no matter the local language. Inevitably, they have to deal with thieves, brigands, armies and empires, gods and monsters, spirits and creatures, space aliens and the great unknown. They try hard not to disturb history along the way. That is not so easy.

To be sure, all they want is to get home in one piece, but they are not the only ones lost in time. Some people lost in time might want to follow them, or even go with them. Other people are not so friendly, and not everything lost in time is a person. Some want to fight the travelers. Some want to hunt them.

~~~*~~~

Season Eight brings the travelers into the common era where they find the Masters are actively trying to change history to come out to their liking. At the same time, it is a difficult time in the heavens where several wars in space spill over on to the Earth. The travelers have to defend the Earth before the space aliens break out in a nuclear war or worse. Aliens are at least something the Men in Black understand. Whether or not they can keep the Earth from being destroyed is the question.

CAST

Robert Lockhart is a former police officer, now assistant director of the Men in Black. He commanded the rescue mission that left from 2010 and went from Avalon, through the Heart of Time, to the beginning of history. He is now charged with leading this expedition through time, though he has no idea how he is going to get everyone home alive. They have already lost Doctor Procter their guide, Mingus the kidnapper, and Mingus’ son Roland.

Major Katherine Harper-Lockhart (Katie) is a marine and an elect—a one-in-a-million warrior woman, with a doctorate is in ancient and medieval cultures and technologies. She is torn between her duty to the marines and her desire to be part of this larger universe she is discovering, though since she married Robert, her path seems set. She carries the prototype amulet once used to kidnap Alexis.

Boston (Mary Riley) is a Massachusetts redneck hunter, rodeo rider, and technological genius who finished her PhD in electrical engineering at age 23. She carries the Amulet of Avalon, a sophisticated combination electronic GPS and magical device that shows the way from one time gate to the next. She became an elf to marry Roland; but now Roland has disappeared, and may be dead, though she insists the Kairos managed to grab him at the last minute and brought him back into the future.

Benjamin Lincoln is a former C. I. A. office geek who keeps the database and a record of their journey. He tends to worry and is not the bravest soul, but sometimes that is an asset. His wife, Alexis, was kidnapped by her own father Mingus and dragged back to the beginning of history. This prompted the rescue mission which got everyone stuck in the past with the time gates in the time zones as the only option to get home—the long way around, as they say.

Alexis Lincoln was an elf, Roland’s sister, who became human to marry Benjamin. She retained her healing magic when she became human, but magic has its limits. It could not make her father happy with her choices. She was the one who got kidnapped and dragged into the deep past where she needed to be rescued. Unfortunately, the Kairos had to surrender his life to the void so she could return from the void. Now they are headed home the only way they can.

Elder Stow is a space traveling, technologically advanced Gott-Druk (Neanderthal) from the future who got thrown back into the past. He is forced, at first, to make a truce with these ‘humans’ to join them in their journey. He has since adjusted to the idea, and believes it is his only chance to get back to the future. He carries highly advanced technological devices that he calls trinkets such as a ship’s officer might carry. They do come in handy.

Sukki was a Gott-Druk (Neanderthal) from the before time. She was taken off planet to a new world at the time of the flood. She joined a small group determined to return to Earth. She is the sole survivor after thousands of years in cryogenic sleep. The travelers take her with them, knowing she cannot survive in the past. She prevailed upon the Kairos to make her fully human (Homo Sapiens) so she can fit in with her new human family but the goddesses who did the deed got a bit carried away and empowered her almost like a demigod

Colonel Decker is a trained navy seal, a marine special operations officer who will do all he can to keep everyone alive, even if it means shooting his way back to the twenty-first century. He is a skeptic who does not believe half of what they experience. An African American, he got gifted in the deep past by his eagle totem and can see beyond normal vision. He also got threatened by Aphrodite when she promised to find him a wife. At least he took it as a threat.

Nanette Jones got pulled into the past from 1905. An African American, she worked as Professor Fleming’s Administrative Assistant. She only willingly left the professor to go with the travelers when the professor got diagnosed with cancer. She has magic, rooted in telekinesis, when the Other Earth phases in and leaks magic energy into our universe. A brilliant woman, she is in love with Colonel Decker, thanks to Aphrodite. The Colonel, however, is resisting He was married once before and, as he sees it, he is reluctant to make that same mistake twice.

Tony (Anthony) Carter was Professor Fleming’s graduate student in Antiquities in Latin and Greek. Also from 1905, he lived for seven years with the professor, Nanette, and a few other classmates in the days of Julius Caesar. He joined the travelers because it seemed his only chance to get back home. No one has spelled it out that he will likely get home in time for World War One, but he suspects. And the fact that there will be a World War Two some years later does not surprise him.

Plus, as always,

The Kairos. But that is a different person in each time zone.

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MONDAY

The final episode of season one brings the Travelers to European Russia where there are horses… and night creatures, ghouls, a host of Gott-Druk, and Loki (who has an army). Until Monday, Happy Reading

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Avalon 1.11 Dance the Night Away part 5 of 5

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Saturn had become regular, human size when he threw-up, thank God, Kartesh thought. She made a wet washcloth in her hand and then risked everything. She traded places through time with a woman—an ordinary, human woman with long red hair brushed back from her forehead to keep it out of her eyes.

“There, there,” the woman cooed to Saturn, and she gently wiped his forehead and cleaned his face.

“Woman.” Saturn looked up expecting to find Kartesh, but instead he found someone else, someone he had never seen before.

“Valencia,” the woman gave her name softly as she put her free hand to Saturn’s cheek and put her lips to his in an equally gentle kiss. Saturn’s eyes went wide for a second. He saw the look in her eye and suddenly wanted to do more with this woman than merely kiss. Sadly, vomiting took precedence.

The woman never left him, and Saturn was never so grateful. In fact, he never had reason to ever be grateful to anyone or anything ever before. It all felt new to him as was being sick to his stomach, even if every feeling he felt was not new. She held his sides to keep him steady. She wiped his face and cooled the back of his neck with her soft breath, blowing away the rise in temperature he felt as he emptied his guts.

When she leaned over him to wipe his brow once more and coo in is ear, Saturn caught sight of her young, full, and inviting breasts and decided he had enough of this throwing-up business for a while. “Who are you?” He only thought it polite to ask.

“I am a woman you will know well many centuries from now after I am born.”

“But you are human. Wait, after I am born? You are the Egyptian?”

Valencia let her lips turn up just a little. “I am the woman Kartesh will become someday if you let her go. There is no telling who I will become if you keep her trapped here much longer.” She could almost see the gears grinding in Saturn’s head. He put a hand to his head and squinted.

“Why does my head hurt?”

“That would be the hangover, lover.” Valencia raised her free hand and gently brushed back the hair from his eyes. He looked at her again.

“I think I’m in love.”

“We may talk about love someday,” she conceded that much. “But right now, I think you are in lust.”

“That too,” he said. He leaned forward to kiss her and the hand in his hair went to the back of his head so Valencia could draw him in and kiss him back with all the passion in her heart. Saturn responded as any man would.

~~~*~~~

Back in the camp, five people appeared, laid out on their own blankets, unconscious, but alive. No one dared to wake them, nor could they if they tried. Those five remained unconscious and passed into a deep sleep as the sun set. Close to ten the next morning, the first one finally woke.

“Food.” Captain Decker reached out. Boston and Roland were cooking up a feast and the smell of it had finally reached the sleepers.

“Slowly. Chew slowly,” Boston scolded. “You haven’t eaten in three days.”

“That was the strangest dream,” Lockhart said, with a quick glance at Katie. Roland and Boston had turned everyone’s clothes back to the way they had been before the incident, so they had no embarrassment from nakedness. What they might remember from what they saw when in the dream state, though, was hard to tell.

“Like a dream,” Mingus nodded. “But completely real.”

Alexis gasped. “What power could do such a thing? That would take enormous, almost ultimate power to completely overwhelm me—no offense to Katie and the men.”

“She does have the magic,” Roland reminded everyone before Mingus answered his daughter’s question.

“Pan.” He only had to say one word.

Alexis nodded. That had to be it.

“So, what is it with Saturn?” Lockhart asked. He was still processing his experience.

Mingus answered him. “As I understand the story, When Zeus and his siblings rose-up and killed Cronos, Saturn, who was Cronos’ father and who Cronos already overthrew, got trapped.”

“I thought they were the same person, Saturn and Cronos I mean,” Boston said.

Mingus shook his head. “Saturn is Zeus’ grandfather, he is the father of Cronos,” Mingus repeated the thought more precisely. “Anyway, he was given Italy since it had been relatively depopulated, but he is trapped here. He is the master of passive-aggressive behavior, though. He insists when anyone comes to Italy, they have to have different names. Zeus, he calls Jupiter. Poseidon, he calls Neptune.”

“Hera is still Hera, mostly,” Katie pointed out. “She is only Juno sometimes.”

“I said he was passive-aggressive,” Mingus responded. “I did not say he was stupid.”

Kartesh chose that moment to appear in the camp. “Can you walk?” That was her first question.

“I don’t honestly know,” Lincoln said and dragged himself to his feet.

Kartesh waved her hand, and everything got packed and ready to go. “Unfortunately, you have to walk,” she said. “No, Boston, I didn’t miss anything. Lest you forget, I was the one who packed your things in the first place—or Alice was. Anyway, Saturn and Silenus are plotting. I am going fifty miles south to be beyond Pan’s reach and that should bring the gate fifty miles in your direction. Boston?”

Boston pulled out her amulet. “That should just about do it,” she said.

“Good, hurry.” Kartesh finished her thought. “Before Saturn changes his mind. And I can’t escape this place until after I am sure you are all safe.” She vanished again. Boston kept an eye on the amulet as it adjusted the distance. She stood when the gate arrived only a hundred yards off.

“Come on,” she said without removing her eyes from the amulet. “I think we better hurry.”

There were groans, but everyone got up well enough to stumble, and Truscas had a comment as they walked. “I am sorry I won’t be able to go with you. But I have more than enough to think about and teach to my younglings.”

“You mean about being so close to the gods?” Mingus asked.

“You mean about the wine, or about the Kairos?” Roland wondered.

“No.” Truscas lifted his head and looked at Boston. “About the wisdom that can come from the human mind and heart of even a very young woman. You are Sophia.”

Boston appreciated the compliment. Katie Harper, and perhaps Lincoln imagined that Sophia had not yet been born.

Boston stopped when she bumped into Roland. Roland looked down at her and agreed with the centaur. “You are Sophia,” he said, and he kissed her, and she kissed him right back in front of everyone. Some smiled, but Mingus turned red. The words, “not again” lit his face, but at least they did not come out of his mouth.

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Tomorrow

Avalon 8 reveal.

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