Astarte

Avalon 1.8 The First City part 1 of 4

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After 4233 BC in Eridu, along the Euphrates River. Kairos 15: Anenki

Recording …

Anenki woke just before dawn. He felt a chill in the air. That did not feel right.  He rarely, if ever, felt a chill in the air along the Euphrates and as close as they were to the Persian Gulf. As he opened his eyes, the feeling passed. Nothing stood out of place in the room, so he shrugged it off and pulled Bashte from her back to her side so she could face him. She responded in her sleep by slinging her lovely arm around his waist. He wanted to kiss that arm—to kiss her, but he did not want to wake her. He could just make out her beauty in the dim light before dawn and he contented himself with that vision. How could he be so blessed? He stared, and then thought he might catch a nap before the sun brought him fully awake.

~~~*~~~

Anenki cupped Bashte’s perfect breast in his hand. She still slept but warmed to his touch and inched closer at his attention. Her breasts were full and firm, and terribly unfair, he thought. He just turned forty. He looked it and felt it. Granted, she was only thirty-three, but she still had the look of someone more like twenty-three. She still had the energy, too.

Anenki shifted his hand to her back and inched closer himself. Then again, perhaps it was just as well that one of them had the energy. Niudim, though twenty-one, remained a special needs child. Lili turned eighteen and always helped with her brother, but she was presently garnering the attention of every eligible bachelor in the city, so she did not have much time to spare. And they were just the two from his first unfortunate marriage.

Anenki shifted his weight to a more comfortable position and Bashte responded with a sigh. He considered Nanna, his daughter with the goddess Innan, the one he called the goddess of desire. Innan was desire itself—far more than a simple love goddess. Nanna got birthed by Bashte, the way the goddess worked it out; and Bashte served as a surrogate mother almost from inception. Nanna called Bashte Mama, like the other children. She called Innan Mother. And at fourteen, she had started to garner some real attention from the boys herself. Takes after her mother, Anenki thought.

Bashte peeped, a sweet sound and pulled up tight against him. That turned Anenki’s thoughts to the five children he and Bashte had. Annie was twelve. The boys Erech and Kish were ten and eight, and the girls, Larsa and little Nippur were five and just three. He ran his finger down Bashte’s side to her slim waist and then let it rise-up her hip. No way she bore six children, he thought. With that, he let his hand slide to her backside.

“Anenki.” Bashte opened her big, brown sparkling eyes and looked up at him. “What are you thinking?”

“I was just thinking about the children,” he answered, honestly enough.

Bashte giggled a sound of pure joy that reverberated down in Anenki’s soul. “I can feel what you are thinking.”

“That? Oh, that is just an automatic reflex every time I am near you.”

Bashte said nothing. She backed up just a smidgen to pull her hands up and then counted on her fingers. “Niudim, Lili, Nanna, Annie, Erech,” she counted one hand. “Kish, Larsa, Nippur,” she stopped and looked up at him again. “I still have two fingers’ left.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“What you are thinking.” She grinned again so Anenki had to grin with her. “We could try anyway,” she said shyly in a most alluring way.

“And for how long?” Anenki asked. He started thinking of the years, but she took it differently.

“I wouldn’t mind forever, or until your reflexes give out.”

Anenki wondered what he ever did to be so blessed, even as his sister Risah came running into the room. The woman looked hot and sweaty, but that was from the cooking fires where she and her best friend Nephat loved to be. They cooked for the palace, such as it was.

“Anenki. There are strangers at the gate, and they are strangers like I have never seen before. One has yellow hair. One has red hair. One is darker than a herd follower, and two of them are your elves. I noticed them right off.”

“Risah.” Anenki said her name to quiet her. “Tell the captain to treat them with his best and I will be right there.” He gave Bashte a peck on the lips, got right up, and quickly got dressed. “Hold that thought,” he suggested.

Before Bashte could say anything, Nippur came toddling in at her fastest speed. “Mama. Mama.” She crawled right up on the bed and pulled the covers over her head. Nurse Hannah came in a moment later dragging Larsa by the hand. Bashte finally said something.

“What did they break?”

~~~*~~~

By the time Anenki arrived, he saw Nanna had gotten there ahead of him. She had wandered down from the market along with a couple dozen other people. The people mostly just stared at these very strange travelers, but Nanna got in the middle of them. She had Katie Harper stand next to Lockhart. Alexis and Lincoln of course went together, being married. She had Roland stand next to Boston, which made Mingus very uncomfortable, and she presently apologized to Mingus and Captain Decker.

“I’m sorry, gentlemen. I seem to have run out of playmates.”

Mingus spoke first. “I am married already. I have a son and a daughter.” He pointed to Roland and Alexis. “And that is quite enough.”

“I was married, too,” Captain Decker said to everyone’s surprise. He looked surprised that they looked surprised. “Why do you think I am so quick to volunteer for hazard pay?” he asked, with a perfectly straight face.

“Captain!” Alexis protested with just the word while Katie and Roland stepped slowly away from their designated places. Captain Decker stared back at Alexis without expression. He meant what he said and felt no need to apologize.

“Nanna.” Anenki called, and she turned at the sound of his voice. Niudim, her watcher, also turned, and Niudim who spoke first.

“I tried to stop her.” Apparently, Nanna’s watcher had been watching.

“Father.” Nanna stepped toward him and planted a kiss on his cheek. She only called him Father when she pretended to be all grown up.

Anenki responded to Niudim first. “That’s okay, son. No harm done. You can smile.” And Niudim did, while Anenki turned to his daughter. “I think your Mama needs your help, unless you would rather help your aunt Risah in the kitchen.”

Nanna made a face at the thought of helping in the kitchen, but Risah jumped. “Oh, the roast.” She shouted and rushed off.

Nanna looked back once.

“You can get to know them over supper,” Anenki said.

Nanna smiled a smile hard to resist. It came from being the daughter of desire. “I think Mama needs me with the little scamps.”

“Not the boys?” Anenki asked. Erech and Kish were notorious for getting into trouble.

Nanna shook her head. “No, father. Larsa and Nippur have been bad, I think.” She started to walk off, but as she walked by, Anenki let his hand give her a soft spank on the rump. Nanna wheeled.

“Daddy!” So now he was Daddy again.

“Don’t forget Niudim. Take his hand.”

“Come along big brother,” Nanna said, and Niudim took her hand and went willingly. Anenki finally turned to the travelers.

“Welcome to the beautiful city of Eridu, population two thousand and something and growing. The biggest and best city in the world.”

“City?” Boston wondered.

“I see they learned to put some straw in their bricks,” Katie noticed.

“Anenki?” Lincoln had the database out.

~~~*~~~

Supper got held in a big, banquet hall, which had plenty of columns to hold up the bedrooms on the second floor. The hall stood next to the outdoor kitchen area so the food could be good and hot. Altogether, there were some fifty adults on a staff which acted something like a government, though the people had no concept of government. These were simply the experts in their various fields. They were the chief carpenters, brick makers and builders, workers in clay, soft metals, and cloth. There were chiefs among the herdsmen and chief farmers who oversaw the irrigation system, and there were hunters, of course.

The children had their own tables out by the kitchen. They were under an awning in case it rained. The children from all the families ate together, but sometimes they were allowed in the big room to eat with their parents. Anenki’s young children were presently out by the kitchen so his family at the adult table included his little sister, Dantu and her husband, his sister Risah and hers, if Risah ever sat down to actually eat something, Bashte with Niudim beside her and Anenki with Lili and Nanna beside him. Nanna just made the leap from the children’s tables, so this was still special for her.

Over supper, Anenki convinced his guests to stay a couple of days and rest. They looked worn and they knew it, so it did not take much convincing. After that was settled, there were the questions, and Anenki and Bashte, who took the travelers to her heart as she took everyone, did their best to answer.

“Actually, Bashte and I function more like a High Priest and High Priestess than King and Queen. We got caught talking with the Gods, you see, like we were old chums.”

“I’m the chum part,” Bashte admitted. “I grew up with Innan except for a couple of years when Dantu became my best friend.”

Anenki leaned over and gave Bashte a kiss on the cheek. “She is friends with them all, too. I’m just the old part.”

“Anenki! That’s not true.”

“True enough. Okay, but some of them don’t like me very much.”

“Varuna seemed to like you well enough,” Lockhart pointed out.

“And Astarte liked Saphira pretty-well,” Alexis added.

“I know Astarte,” Bashte said, “But who is Varuna? Is she nice?”

“He,” Anenki corrected. “And yes, he is very nice.”

“Nagi and Shengi, too,” Boston added.

Anenki thought about it, but he shook his head. “That was only because Dayus, Tiamut and the Shang-Di didn’t like me at all, and still don’t, I might add. Anyway, something much worse is coming here tomorrow morning.”

“What?” Lincoln had to ask.

“My ex-wife. Lili and Niudim’s mother.” Niudim turned up his nose. Lili simply turned to Nanna who looked determined to stay awake.

“I would rather have Mother Innan,” she said. Nanna nodded in mid-yawn but could not respond.

Anenki smiled at his daughters before he turned to Captain Decker. “You are very quiet tonight. What’s up?”

Captain Decker appeared to pull his mind back into the room. “Sorry. I can’t help it. I feel we are being watched, but I don’t see anything.”

“Maybe it is just being in the midst of over two-thousand people, sir,” Katie suggested. “That is a lot compared to what we have been through.” Decker shook his head while Roland added his thoughts.

“I feel it, too.” He spun his head around but saw nothing there.

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 6 of 6

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Alexis had her wand out by then and barely responded in time before the Balok tried the other weapon. Alexis put up a magical shield and while it deflected the heat ray, the ray was powerful enough to knock her back on her rump. She screamed again while Mingus searched frantically for a weapon that might be effective. He found a big stone.

The Balok pulled in its legs and began to slither forward. It moved fast, but Doctor Procter reacted faster. He had his wand out and managed a magical freeze ray of his own. The Balok shrieked in pain and fell to the ground where it began to whip about. Mingus struggled, mumbled something about the beast keeping still, but finally managed to bring his rock down on the Balok head. He managed a glancing blow at first, but the second and third strikes were more accurate. The Balok head became mush from blow after blow as Mingus pounded it into the dirt. Alexis looked away.

Only moments later, Saphira and Katie ran up. The marine went immediately to make sure the Balok was dead while Saphira put her hands on her knees and caught her breath.

“I’m older than I look,” Saphira said.

Alexis looked. Alexis counted her age as twenty-five, or so, and Katie Harper could not have been that much older; certainly under thirty. Saphira was what? “Maybe thirty-five?” Alexis said.

“In my day, thirty-five is old. I should be fat with a dozen kids to do the running for me.”

“Do you have any children?” Alexis asked, the subject being on her mind.

Saphira nodded but said nothing as they saw Captain Decker in the distance. He walked leaning on Coramel’s sons, and Roland walked quietly beside him. Decker had some frostbite, but nothing serious. Lincoln, Lockhart, and Coramel came last, carrying Boston on a stretcher made from two tree branches and fairy weave. Boston complained even as she giggled.

“Ouch. Stop wiggling. Lockhart, I’m supposed to be pushing you around in a wheelchair, you old man. Ouch, it hurts when I laugh. This is embarrassing.”

Alexis immediately went to her, and they put her down on the edge of the camp where Alexis could spend considerable time healing and knitting Boston’s bones.

~~~*~~~

It turned high noon when they all stopped to eat and rest. Alexis and Boston needed the rest. Doctor Procter said he felt better, but he did not look too well, and he kept his distance with the excuse that he did not want them to catch whatever he had. Lockhart stayed beside Boston the whole time. Her bones were completely restored, but her muscles were sore. She would need some recovery time. Alexis stayed beside Lincoln and hooked her arm through his but said nothing. She just smiled. Mingus watched them and frowned. Roland had his eyes on Lockhart and Boston who were laughing and having a good time.

“Wonders,” Coramel said. “This cooking, this bread, things flying through the sky, serpent people and stick people. The things I have seen.”

“The things you felt.” Saphira spoke in a voice of great concern. She sat down beside the hunter and pressed her hip to his. She took both of his once frostbitten hands in hers and drew them to her chest. She sat in leather armor, but it was the thought that counted. “Are you feeling warm now?”

Coramel slowly grinned. How should he answer that question?

“You have no idea how grateful I am for your help.”

“I am glad,” Coramel said, as he took back his hands. His toes were still itching their way back to life.

“Boys.” Saphira turned on them. “How old are you, anyway?”

“Eighteen summers,” one answered brightly. The other sounded glum.

“Just sixteen.”

Saphira thought for a minute before she decided. “This could work.” Everyone knew what she was thinking, but they all had the good sense not to say anything.

“Lieutenant.” Captain Decker pulled her aside to where they could speak in private. “Are you getting all this?”

“The recorder is working. My pin camera is working. I am sure it will all be there when we get back.”

Captain Decker gritted his teeth. “Any ideas how we can transmit the data we have already collected? There has to be some way out of this zoo.”

Lieutenant Harper just shook her head. His mind simply would not accept the truth. “I’ll keep working on it,” she promised. “Meanwhile, relax. We just saved the human race.”

“Just this time zone full of flakes,” he said.

“Yes sir,” Lieutenant Harper agreed and quickly stepped back to the others. Katie was not sure where she fit in with this group of travelers, misfits, explorers, adventurers, and miracle workers, but she knew the marines were not it. She would never be the same, even if Captain Decker never changed.

Alexis looked again at the stick people. She saw such innocence and goodness in them. Not one of them had a hidden agenda. She was not sure if they knew how to lie. She wanted to be reconciled to them, to say we humans are not so bad. She wanted to wish them luck and say good-bye to the children, only she could not imagine a way to do that. They were withdrawn from the travelers, and Alexis could not blame them.

Alexis stared when the woman appeared. She had to be seven or eight feet tall and she stood between her and the stick people to block her vision. Tiamut, the goddess, growled and she did not look happy.

“You!” She pointed at the humans in the camp. Everyone stood and grabbed their weapons, not that they would have been effective against the goddess. “I could have made good use of those creatures, but you destroyed them all like you destroyed my servants.” She pointed her finger at Saphira but took them all in her gaze.

Tiamut paused. They watched her facial expression turn from anger to clever, and that felt worse. “Come,” she said. Mingus, Roland, Doctor Procter, and Alexis disappeared and reappeared a few feet from the goddess. Alexis was right in front of her, looking up into that terrible face and she felt the shiver travel all the way down her spine to her soul.

Tiamut walked once around Alexis to examine her like a person might examine a prize animal. The others either could not move or did not dare. “You did not begin as a human. How is it you came into this state?”

Alexis felt compelled to answer. “My god changed me so I could be with my husband.”

Tiamut glanced briefly at Doctor Procter. “Better than making more half-breeds,” she said. “But I have a job for you spirits of the trees. I would have you back.” She waved her hand and Alexis transformed back into the elf she had been at birth.

“No.” Saphira heard the word escape her lips and felt something surge out from her deepest insides. A force, linked to the very forces by which all things were made, covered Alexis. Alexis immediately changed back to a human woman, and Tiamut’s anger returned.

“How did you do that?” she yelled. She did not really ask. She waved her hand again, but Alexis stubbornly refused to become an elf. “How are you doing that?” Tiamut’s words became mingled with astonishment.

The goddess Astarte chose that moment to appear at Saphira’s back. She also stood inhumanly tall, more than tall enough to look over Saphira’s head. She placed both of her hands on Saphira’s shoulders in a sign of assurance. Two young men also appeared with Astarte, one on each side. They were twins, though the one to Astarte’s left squinted, like he might need glasses.

Tiamut paused. Her face became so distorted it became hard to make out her facial features. Her mouth opened wide, and the travelers saw pin pricks of light in that deep darkness, like people might see stars in the night sky. A roar of frustration came from that maw, loud enough to make everyone throw their hands to their ears. With a wave of Tiamut’s hand, the ship behind her, all the stick people and their children turned instantly to dust. And Tiamut disappeared.

Astarte leaned forward and whispered in Saphira’s ear. “I’m sorry.” Then she and the twins vanished. Everyone could breathe again, but Alexis was the first to go to tears.

It took some time before they were ready to go. Saphira, Coramel and his sons stayed to help clean up, and Coramel had the lone comment that whole time.

“It is like they never were.”

At last, Saphira turned to Doctor Procter. “What is your direction?”

Doctor Procter’s hands shook, and he kept shaking his head now and then like a man trying to throw off the rain, but he managed to get out the amulet and point. Saphira nodded. She would head the other way.

“I’m sorry you won’t get a chance to see the future Sodom,” she said. “We are headed in the other direction.”

“Eh?” Lockhart wanted to know what she might be thinking.

“We have to check the crash site to be sure there were no survivors.”

“I can’t imagine anything survived that crash,” Captain Decker offered, and Saphira nodded.

“Still—” She started to speak but Boston interrupted.

Boston had gotten to her feet and stared at the big pile of dust that the wind had not yet taken. “All that work for nothing,” she said.

“Not for nothing,” Lockhart assured her.

“Besides, you work for me, remember?” Saphira said.

“Yes, lady.” Boston turned and practiced the curtsey the way she had seen Mirowen the elf curtsey in her overalls. Boston knew she was not as graceful, but Roland at least smiled for her. It would be a while yet before anyone else could smile.

“So, that’s it?” Katie Harper looked to Lockhart who caught her eyes and nodded. Saphira started to already move off into the tall grass, flanked by her men. Katie yelled. “Who was that woman?”

Saphira turned to walk backwards and shouted. “Astarte.”

“And the young twins?”

“Enlil and Enki. Enki needs glasses.” Saphira smiled before she added a last thought. “At least I should sleep well tonight.” Then Saphira and her three men got swallowed up by the grasslands.

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

Monday

Episode 1.5 Little Packages will be posted in one week but in 4 (four) parts which means there will be a Thursday post! Don’t miss it.  Until next week, Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 2 of 6

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“Those men that we killed.” Alexis shook her head and folded her hands as she walked. Saphira noted the stress and turned to walk backwards so she could address everyone.

“Those weren’t men. The last vestige of independent thought had long since vanished, or else they would have turned around and fled the minute they saw they were way outgunned.” Boston and Lincoln both looked at her, Boston with eyebrows raised and Lincoln with eyebrows knitted. Both knew their bullets had taken down some of the attackers. “Tiamut can do that,” Saphira finished and saw both faces relax ever so slightly.

“You are a hard woman,” Alexis said, and Saphira just gave her a sideways glance without denying it. “I get the impression you don’t like people very much.”

“It has been a hard life,” Saphira admitted, and then she held her tongue for a second as they stepped out from the forest and on to the grasslands. “To be honest, my last two lives were male and three out of the last four. And Iris did not live very long so she hardly counts.”

“She counts,” Boston insisted.

Saphira frowned. “The truth is I don’t think I know how to be soft. The Baldies killed my family. I married, but they killed my husband, too. I have had to support myself and my children by selling my services.” She flashed a brief grin. “That’s not always so bad.”

“As a warrior? Huntress, I mean.”

“No. As a woman.”

Alexis looked up at her with an expression that clearly said, “I don’t understand.” So Saphira stopped and turned to face everyone. Half were already listening in, so she figured, what the heck. “I’m a hooker. I’m a prostitute. I make my living inviting men to spend the night. Okay?” She lowered her voice as she turned and started walking again. “It was either that or marry a Sodomite.”

“Sodomite?” Alexis asked. Saphira did not answer right away. She looked behind and saw that Boston and Katie Harper had moved up close while the men kept their distance and pretended they had not heard. She shook her head and then she spoke.

“Sure. With most of the men in the settlement killed off, Tiamut encouraged others to take advantage of that. There are Jokantites, Amelikites, Hamerites, but mostly Sodomites.”

“You live in Sodom?” Boston asked.

“Not this early,” Saphira answered. “But I have no doubt it will be called that one day.”

They walked in silence for another hour before Captain Decker reported smoke in the distance. By then the sun had started to set and they thought to camp in the wilderness. Mingus and Roland picked out a spot behind a secluded hill and they set up their tents and invited Saphira to sleep in the tent with Katie and Boston.

“No need to cramp people,” Lincoln spoke up. “It is plenty warm out here. You can stay in the tent with Alexis and I’ll stay by the fire. I am not sure after last night I will get much sleep, anyway.”  Saphira looked at Alexis who kept looking at her, but neither spoke at that point. In the end, most of them slept out under the stars.

Alexis did not sleep well at first. Lincoln turned his back on her and she could not get comfortable. She did not mind at all when Saphira spoke.

“Still thinking about those men?” Alexis shook her head. “Lincoln?” Saphira tried again and saw a few tears fall. “You know he loves you, right?”

“I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Please!” Saphira scoffed. “I like to think I know something about love, given my profession.” Saphira shifted to her stomach and propped up her head to face the woman. “No, actually it is probably because of the time I spent with Astarte.”

“The goddess?” Lieutenant Harper sat straight up. Obviously, she was not asleep, either. Saphira nodded and the Lieutenant had to ask, “What’s she like?”

“Oh, very good,” Saphira said. “As good as Tiamut isn’t.”

“Tiamut?” Boston opened her eyes as well. Saphira placed a hand over Boston’s mouth.

“Hush. It isn’t good to talk about them. You never know when they might be listening in.” But then Alexis started to cry, and the women did their best to comfort her. Not much helped. Alexis wanted to cry and was not in the mood to be comforted just yet. Saphira finished the conversation with, “Maybe all he needs is a little time. He is a good man. My husband was a good man and I lost him all too soon. You hang on to Lincoln. There aren’t many good men out there.”

With that, Lincoln rolled over to his back. Alexis took hold of him, like a child might hold a teddy bear. She curled up and snuggled into his shoulder. Of course, he began to snore, but that only made Alexis smile. She soon fell asleep. Boston had already gone to sleep, and Katie was not far behind. Saphira sighed and wondered if she should count sheep.

In the small hours of the night, while Mingus went on guard at one end of the camp and Lockhart watched the other end, Saphira walked up to Lockhart and plopped down on the grass.

“Can’t sleep?”

Saphira shook her head. “I need some hot sex to sleep well.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“I wasn’t suggesting—” Saphira looked up at Lockhart. “Not seriously anyway.”

“So what then?”

Saphira shrugged. “Alexis and Lincoln are having problems.”

“I noticed.”

“I just spent the last hour with Alexis. They love each other so much but being young again is proving a hard adjustment.” Saphira stopped speaking and Lockhart simply nodded. They watched the stars for a while before Lockhart spoke again.

“What do you think we will find tomorrow?”

Saphira shrugged. “Hopefully, people who have fixed their problem and left in the night. If not, maybe some stick people. I ran into them years earlier.” She shrugged again.

“Stick people?”

Saphira stood and shrugged a third time. “I better go before my suggestions become serious.” She walked back to the fire aware and pleased that his eyes followed her the whole way. She had to lie down and stare into space to settle her thoughts. “Gods, I want to go there,” she said to herself, before she closed her eyes. She was speaking of the stars.

~~~*~~~

“Let me see,” Saphira insisted and reached out for the binoculars.

“Hold on,” Lieutenant Harper groused. “You’re as bad as Boston.” She slipped them from her neck and handed them over.

“Which is why I get them next,” Boston said.

“There are children down there,” Saphira confirmed. “This is much bigger than the stick ship I ran into before. I think that might have been a scout ship.” She handed the binoculars to Boston though Alexis wanted a look as well.

“We’ve been spotted,” Roland said and pointed.

“Where?’ Captain Decker turned his own binoculars to get a look.

“Come on,” Saphira stood.

“Is it safe?” Lincoln asked.

Saphira nodded. “Last time I got the impression that they had no weapons. I’m not even sure they know what weapons are.”

Alexis skipped her turn with the binoculars and joined Saphira in the march down that little hill. She wondered what grace the Kairos might show to what appeared to be refugees. Saphira spoke in an alien tongue, but the travelers understood full well what she said.

“Hey! You can’t park here. I told your people last time. This world is off limits.”

Alexis rolled her eyes but smiled.

Several stick people came up to meet the travelers. They clapped their hands in a kind of nervous twitch. They did look like logs and had no shoulders or neck between the trunk and head and no hips at all. They were skinny as well, anorexic maybe, and their eyes were so close together it was a wonder they could manage stereoscopic vision. They were brown, like the color of wood except their arms and legs, which were gray. Those two arms and two legs looked human shaped with elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles but they were truly thin as sticks. The six toes on each foot and four fingers on each hand, one being a thumb, looked like twigs. It was a wonder they could hold themselves up with those spindly appendages.

Lockhart extended his hand, but Saphira interrupted, speaking in her own tongue. “No, no. Don’t do that. They are like petrified wood—like steel. They might lose at arm wrestling, but in a handshake, they would crush your flesh without realizing what they are doing.”

Alexis wondered again. She now had three languages in her head. The English never went away, only now she had an overlay of Saphira’s tongue and the sounds of the stick people. She had to think about that last one, though, to frame her question. “What happened?”

The stick people looked at each other before one of them answered. “We were attacked.”

“Who is the leader of this ship?” Lockhart asked his question.

“I am.” One of the stick people answered and he let out a wail and began to bob up and down. The sound and action got picked up by others until it had spread its way all around the refugee camp.

“Who attacked you?” Lockhart continued when he could.

After a while, the leader settled down and answered. “They call themselves Balok.”

Saphira suddenly interrupted with a string of words, or actually only one word in many languages: the primal language of Shinar, Pan’s, Iris’, Keng’s and Ranear’s languages. She spouted in her own language, and in English, and not a nice word. “Let me see,” she insisted and began to walk straight for the ship. The others followed including the Stick leader and his people.

“Balok?” Alexis caught up.

“Think of the serpent in the Garden of Eden.”