Avalon

Avalon 7.9 The Inns and Outs, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Boston noticed around ten in the morning.  She got her amulet out to check the direction and had to ask Lockhart and Katie.  “I don’t get it,” she said.  “I checked against the maps Lincoln has in the database.  If we are in the gulf, or bay of Nicomedia, or whatever, the Kairos in Nicaea should be off to our right, inching to due right.  But the amulet shows him off to the left, like we missed the bay and headed down the coast.”

Katie pulled out her prototype amulet to check.  “Mine is not that sophisticated, but I see the next time gate shifted further east, rather than east-southeast.  I supposed, in Nicomedia, it would have shifted more to the south, not more to the east.  I assume the Kairos is still in Nicaea.”

“Elder Stow,” Boston called.

Elder Stow frowned at having to pause his repair work but got out his scanner to check.  He looked first and described what he saw.  “We missed the bay or gulf or whatever you call the body of water headed toward Nicomedia.  We are headed down the coast of Anatolia, instead…  Anatolia?”  He asked about the name.

“That’s right,” Tony said.  He and Sukki were keeping the old man company.

Lincoln and Alexis stepped up to see what was happening, but Lockhart and Katie turned to find the captain.  “Captain Ardocles,” Katie called.  “We appear to have missed the Gulf of Nicomedia.”

“Gulf of Astacus,” the captain called it.  “Storms.”  That seemed all he intended to say, but Lockhart, the former policeman, noticed the quivering mouth and shifty eyes of a liar.  He would not look them in their eyes.

“Wait a minute.  Explain.”

Captain Ardacles looked up at the big man, as most in that age did, and thought to give a further explanation.  He enhanced the lie.  “The Gulf of Astacus is very narrow.  To be caught in a storm there is very dangerous.  A ship can be driven up against the rocks.  We will sail down to Apamea, instead.  You can take the road from there to Nicaea easily enough, and it won’t have nearly the traffic as between Nicomedia and Nicaea.  The road between Nicomedia and Nicaea is dangerous with thieves these days, what with all the rich priests on the road, and all.”  He turned to Katie and condescended to the woman.  “Don’t worry.  I know this coast very well.  I grew up in Cyzicus.”

“Liar,” Boston said to the captain’s face.

“We got three ships on the horizon,” Decker interrupted, as he and Nanette stepped away from the railing.  Decker held his binoculars.  Nanette wore a frown.  Lockhart borrowed the binoculars.  They looked like warships the way Katie described them.  They had their oars out and came on fast.

“Probably just the Roman patrol ships,” Captain Ardacles lied, quickly, and squinted in the direction Decker pointed, but the ships were beyond the sight of his naked eye.

“Arm up,” Lockhart ordered, and no one argued.  “Just to be safe,” he told the captain as he handed back Decker’s binoculars.

Nanette turned to Alexis and Sukki while people went below to fetch their weapons.  “Rich priest should be an oxymoron.  No reason a priest should not live comfortably well, but anything over his living should be shared with those who have no comforts.  Priests have no business stockpiling riches for themselves.”

Again, no one argued.

They waited.  They kept their weapons at hand, and watched the warships draw closer.  Elder Stow went back to work on his screen device, though it did not take long for the ships to approach, as their own ship headed straight for them.  The ships came in a line which Decker called war formation.  Only the ship in front presented a face to the enemy.  The ones behind remained hidden, and their distance was hard to judge.

Pinto came out from hiding to stand behind the captain and watch.  Nanette and Alexis joined Sukki in watching over Elder Stow.  Then the ship in front tipped their hand, or as the others said, made a mistake.  They sent a small boulder from a catapult, like a warning shot to get their ship to lower the sails and surrender.

“Idiots.  They are risking damage to the horses,” Pinto mumbled, and Boston heard with her good elf ears.

The rock sailed toward the deck, near where Elder Stow worked and tried to ignore everyone.  Nanette caught it with her telekinetic magic and shoved it into the sea.  It hit the water, and unfortunately, the splash hit the deck.  Elder Stow let out an angry shout.

“I will never get this fixed with all these interruptions.”  He slipped the device in the appropriate pocket of his belt and took to the sky.  Sukki followed him into the air, concerned for his safety.  The others watched, closely, through rifle scopes and binoculars, and Boston’s elf eyes.

“Kick their butts,” Boston shouted.

Elder Stow pulled his weapon and burned the mast down to cinders, burning a hole all the way through the hull to the sea.  Sukki thought to take out their ability to move.  She used her own goddess-given heat ray to slice through both sets of oars that drove the bireme, on both sides of the ship.

That did not satisfy Elder Stow.  He turned his weapon on the length of the ship just below the water line.  He made a great deal of steam but cut open the whole length of the hull.  The ship went down quickly, and men had to swim for their lives.

“Maybe the ships in the rear will stop and pick up their fellows,” Elder Stow said.

Meanwhile, Tony, Lincoln, and Alexis, convinced the men on the rudder to turn the ship around.  The captain said they could not outrun the warships, that the wind would be against them, and their only real option was to lower the sail and surrender; but he got overruled.  Lockhart, the former police officer, got out the handcuffs he carried all the way from the twenty-first century.

Pinto began to yell to the crew to take the sails down and prepare to surrender.  Nanette threw a shield of telekinetic force around the sails as they turned, so the crew could not touch them.  Lockhart hit the mate in the face and knocked him down.  He cuffed and gagged the man, and tied the man’s legs together, so he could not go anywhere.  He left Captain Ardacles free, to help, as long as Father Flavius and Deacon Galarius kept an eye on him, and as long as he helped.  Then he got ready to repel boarders.

The second ship in the line went around while Elder Stow and Sukki attacked the first ship.  They got close but could not exactly come alongside while the ship was turning around in a wide arc.  They settled for close enough and fired three grappling hooks with ropes from three ballistae they had on their deck.  The one out front splashed in the sea, but the other two struck.

The one in the middle hit the main mast, bounced off, and scurried across the deck.  Crewmen leapt out of the way for fear the hook might grab them and knock them overboard.  It finally caught on the railing, and the rope. which reached to the warship. got pulled taught by a dozen men who began to pull the two ships closer together.

The grappling hook in the rear busted through the aftercastle wall and caught on something.  The men on the other end of that rope began to pull as well.  Soon enough, the two ships would be close enough to lay down planks and cross over, and the warship appeared to have two dozen mean looking men ready to do that very thing.

“Open fire,” Lockhart shouted.

Katie, Decker, and Boston, all found some cover against the archers on the warship’s aftercastle.  Lockhart and Lincoln, with their handguns, went after those archers while the others opened up on the enemy.  Katie took one group on a rope.  Decker took the other group, and Boston fired on the men that planned to cross over and board their ship.  She had treated three arrows so they would explode on contact.

Boston’s first shot fell a bit short.  She hit just below the railing.  She blew a hole in the railing and the deck and side of the ship.  She may have caught a few men with splinters, but that was about it.  She growled and let her second arrow fly.  She over compensated.  She would have sent her arrow over the far side of the warship if she had not scraped the mast.  The explosion cracked the mast, but the men ducked, and Boston really growled.  Her third arrow finally hit the deck, but by this time, the men backed away.  She blew a gaping hole in the deck, and several enemy men fell, either injured or knocked silly from the explosion, but it did not have the affect Boston wanted.  She got really mad.  She grabbed her wand and sent a giant fireball across the gap.  It cleared the deck of men who ran for their lives and set the enemy sails on fire.

By then, Katie, Decker, Lincoln, and Lockhart were picking off any enemy who stuck his head up or dared show himself.  Elder Stow and Sukki returned from sinking their ship.  Elder Stow settled down by Tony and the men at the rudder, mumbling that now he might get some work done.  Sukki burned through the ropes attached to the other ship from overhead, which set their ship free.  She also sliced through the oars on one side, in case they were foolish enough to follow, before she landed on the deck beside Boston.

Alexis shouted to the rudder.  “Hold it steady.”  She shouted to Nanette.  “Can you raise the front end of the ship a bit, so it doesn’t drag so much?”  Nanette had to think about it, but nodded, that she would try.  Alexis raised the wind and the ship jerked forward before it settled into a steady pace, far faster than the ship had ever flown.

They soon left the third bireme behind, and saw it turn around, probably to pick up survivors from the other two warships.

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

MONDAY

Having escaped the pirates, the travelers move to the gulf where there is a storm brewing, but not a natural one.  Until Monday, Happy Reading

 

*

Avalon 7.9 The Inns and Outs, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Captain Ardacles seemed a rough man, but gregarious in his way.  He liked to talk and laugh, though usually he laughed at the expense of others.  His mate, Pinto, was more the skinny and slick type who kept all his thoughts and feelings to himself and maintained the outward appearance of a stoic.  Boston did not like the mate, but she said it might be a personality thing and not necessarily that he was a bad man.

Captain Ardacles sailed what people in the Middle Ages would call a belly boat.  It appeared roundish, with a big hold where they could squeeze in all those horses.  When loaded, it sat low in the water, so it was not very fast.  It had oars, but mostly moved dependent on the wind in the sails, and to that end, it had a lateen sail in the bow to catch whatever wind might be blowing.

When the tide came in, the ship rose beside the dock until the door to the hold ended up in line with the dock.  The horses could walk straight into the ship, only a little downhill to the hold where they could be safely tied for the voyage.  They had food and plenty of water for the animals, so that would not be a problem for the couple of days they expected to be aboard the ship.

Lockhart and Katie got up a couple of hours before dawn to supervise the loading of their horses, Ghost the mule, and their wagon.  Tony and Boston helped. Tony, from 1905, grew up in a world of horses, and probably had more practical experience with them than any of the other travelers.  Boston, being an elf, proved invaluable.  The horses listened to her.  Besides, she rode in several rodeos in her youth and teen years.  She was probably the second most experienced horse person in the group.

“Come on, Cocoa,” Boston yelled at Sukki’s horse.  “Strawberry is already on board, so it won’t be so bad.”  Strawberry was Boston’s horse, and the two horses often rode side by side.

Lockhart followed.  “Elder Stow’s horse, Mudd?”  He was not sure, but Boston and Katie nodded.  “You would think he is the stubborn mule.”

“Use the carrot, not the stick,” Tony suggested.  He got some fodder to entice the hungry horse, and in that way, led Mudd to the trough.

Later, when the sun came up, Katie remarked on how many merchant ships were in the port, and how many Roman warships were also present.

“How can you tell which is which?” Lockhart asked.

Katie pointed.  “The long ships, like there, and there.  They are the warships, and fast oared ships, triremes and biremes.  They don’t depend on the sails so much.  Besides, they have mounted ballistae and catapults that you can see.”

“I thought catapults were medieval, or maybe for cities.”

“The ram, the big tree that sticks out in front of the ship, just below the water line, is still the main weapon.  It makes the ship like a manned spear.  It is connected to the spine of the ship, so when you ram another ship, the impact is spread more or less evenly throughout your whole ship.  Hopefully, the other ship sinks when your oars pull your ship back.”

“Must be hard to hit a moving ship at sea with a catapult,” Lockhart guessed.

“Not much harder than hitting a ship with an eight-pounder such as they used on the Spanish Main,” Katie responded.  “A good naval artillery man knows how to mentally adjust for speed, pitch, and the rest, to know just when to fire for the most likely hit.  It takes practice.  Not all artillery masters are good at it.”

Lockhart nodded, while Lincoln and Alexis came aboard with Decker and Nanette.  They would take the day watch, not that they distrusted Captain Ardacles and his crew, but they did not want to let the horses and equipment that far out of their sight.  Once Boston, Tony, Katie and Lockhart went ashore, Pinto and the crew moved the ship out into the deeper waters of the port so another vessel could pull up to the docks.

Father Flavius and Deacon Galarius came aboard after morning devotions.  The deacon promptly took a nap.  Decker and Nanette stood apart, by the rail, whispering.  That left Father Flavius, Lincoln, and Alexis to carry on a lively conversation.  They talked mostly about history and current events, and the peace that Constantine finally brought on the empire.  They talked about how the day seemed to be dragging on.

Finally, around mid-day, Lockhart, Katie, Boston, and Tony returned in the long boat which brought very little in the way of supplies that day.  Katie and Lockhart brought lunch, and food they could have for their supper, not imagining the ship’s cook could wring much worth eating out of the larder.

“Where are Sukki and Elder Stow?” Alexis asked.

“Elder Stow says he is at a critical point in his repairs,” Katie responded.  “He says it has been hard enough trying to make repairs while we are moving all the time.  He has not had that much free time to work on his device, but if the makeshift part works, we may have our screens back.”

“And if it doesn’t work?” Lincoln asked.

“Back to the drawing board.”  Katie shook her head.

“Sukki is staying with her adopted father to keep him company, and make sure he is not disturbed in his work,” Boston said.  “They will be along later this afternoon.  Meanwhile, I have to go pick on my sister Nanette.  She is getting too comfortable with Decker.”

The others knew enough to leave Decker and Nanette alone to work out whatever they worked out.  “But try telling an elf to mind her own business,” Alexis said with a laugh at the thought.

The afternoon dragged on.  Captain Ardacles showed up around four, but went straight into his cabin, to check the charts, he said.  The little castle in the back of the boat held the cabin that belonged to the captain.    The forecastle cabin held the larder and the kitchen.  It also had something of a bathroom, right next to the food.  The travelers tried not to think about contamination.  The crew quarters were below, squeezed extra tight because of the horses taking so much room.  The passengers were expected to sleep on the deck and hope it did not rain.

Six o’clock, the captain came barreling out of his cabin shouting orders.  “Get that sail up.  We have a favorable wind,” he yelled at Pinto.  “The tide is beginning to go out and we can ride it straight to the Bosporus.”

“Wait.”  All of the travelers yelled.  “Elder Stow.  Sukki.  Wait.”

“We have to go now,” Pinto told the group.  “Otherwise, we have to wait until the morning.”

“Elder Stow,” Katie spoke into her wristwatch communicator.  “The ship is pulling out into the straight.  You need to try and catch us.”

“I just talked to the long boat people at the dock,” Sukki interrupted.  “They said it is too late to catch the ship.”

“It is okay,” Elder Stow responded.  “We can fly out to the ship.”

“What?  Wait,” Lockhart said, but he did not say it into his communicator.

Elder Stow hooked his screen device to the other devices he carried on his belt—the belt Boston called the Batman belt.  “Are we ready?” Elder Stow asked, and held out his hand.

Sukki shook her head.  “I would like to try it on my own.  The goddesses gave me a Lockhart heat-ray power, super strength, pressurized skin, and one gave me the gift of flight, though I am not sure which one did that.  But I haven’t had much chance to practice.”  She lifted herself about five feet above the dock and smiled at the feeling of being weightless and being able to control it.

The long boat men ran off, except one who appeared frozen and staring.  One screamed as Elder Stow touched his anti-gravity device and rose up to join her.  In only a moment, they headed out over the water and would reach the boat in a few minutes.  When they got near, they found Nanette had risen up to join them in their landing.  All three flew, but in different ways.  Sukki had been gifted, and Elder Stow had a device.  Nanette had her magic, which was rooted in a telekinetic ability to move objects with her mind, like a Shemsu, Katie said before she changed her mind.  The Shemsu lifted things in a fourth way, because their genes had been manipulated to give them that ability in the ancient days.

They landed on the ship, Sukki still smiling and happy, but tired.  She had not been gifted to fly long distances.  “Me neither,” Nanette confessed.  

“I can’t fly at all,” Boston grumped.

“But you are speedy girl,” Sukki said, and Nanette nodded.

“Only with Roland,” Boston answered, and both the true cave woman, Sukki, and Nanette from 1905 covered their mouths and looked embarrassed, while Boston grinned her best elf grin.

Elder Stow ignored the girls and went back to work on his screen device, while he still had some daylight. Alexis stepped up and made a comment.

“I think you scared Pinto half to death.  He escaped to the kitchen and may hide down in the crew quarters.”

Lincoln, who never let Alexis get too far away, added, “Captain Ardacles looks pretty pale, too.”

Lockhart, Decker, and Katie all looked at the captain and wondered what he might be thinking.  Father Flavius explained to Deacon Galarius.

“These folks are from a future full of wonders.  Be glad they are friends with his grace.”

Deacon Galarius tried to smile and swallowed.

Avalon 7.9 The Inns and Outs, part 1 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 293 A.D. Nicaea

Kairos 94: Bishop Veritas

Recording …

“Over here,” the man said.  “Follow me.”

Lockhart looked at the man who dressed in a simple brown robe with only a rope for a belt.  The man wore sandals that appeared to be falling apart, and the travelers would have ignored him as one of the uncountable number of poor and destitute people they had seen through their journey, except for two things.   For one, he wore a leather necklace, which held a hand-sized iron cross, and which bounced off his ample belly as he walked.  Rather than a Greek or Thracian from the Roman Empire, it made him look more like a medieval monk—at least the Hollywood version.  For two, and more to the point, when they saw him, he first said to them, “Welcome, friends from the future.”  The man waited while Lockhart considered what to do.  The man spoke again after a moment.

“I know an inn where you, your horses, and equipment can all be safe in the night.  And I know a Ship Captain that will sail all of us to Asia for a reasonable price,” the man said, and he went back to waiting.

“I sense no evil intent in him,” Katie tried to whisper as she held her horse steady.

“I think he is one of the good guys,” Boston spoke up from the rear, making herself heard and directing her voice to Lockhart’s ears only.

Lincoln pushed his horse forward to speak to the man.  “We are looking for Bishop Veritas.  Do you know him?”

“I do, indeed,” the man said, and smiled.  “He is the one who told me about you and asked me to keep watch for you while I worked here in Byzantium.  He said, after the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, when the emperor had a vision and the cross appeared on the hill in Constantine’s face—and you did not come then—this is probably the worst time for you to arrive.  He said to expect you any day, and here you are.”

“And where is the bishop?” Alexis asked.  She had followed Lincoln to the front where their four horses presently blocked most of the street.

“He is in Nicaea, where all the bishops argue day and night in front of the Emperor, Constantine.  They gave me a headache, so his grace kindly sent me to Byzantium to see to the construction of the church of God’s Peace.”  The man shook his head.  “It will be ten years in the building, but it will be worth it.  Constantine has brought peace on the whole empire, and in God’s name, it is only right to celebrate that.”

“I see,” Katie said.

“And do you have a name?” Lockhart asked.

“I am Father Flavius of Apollonia.  My companion, whom you will meet, is Galarius, Deacon of Barke.”

Before anyone could introduce the travelers, they got interrupted by a group of soldiers.  “Hey.  Move on.  You can’t park here.  You are blocking traffic.”

“Follow me,” Father Flavius said, and with one more glance at his fellow travelers, Lockhart, with Katie, followed, and the rest of the group trailed behind.

###

When the horses were well stabled, the wagon put up for the night, and the travelers settled into the inn beside the port, Father Flavius, Deacon Galarius, Captain Ardocles and his mate, a skinny fellow named Pinto, that Decker called Beans, ate their fill.  They all enjoyed a fish supper that the priest, his deacon, and the sailors gladly did not have to pay for.  Lincoln had become treasurer for the group, and he had plenty of gold and silver, a gift from Odaenathus and Zenobia.  The coins held the likeness of the Emperor Gallienus, so they were fifty years out of date, but gold and silver held their value no matter whose likeness they had.

“You can’t park here,” Boston repeated the phrase, and giggled.  It was what the Kairos Sophia said to a group of aliens several years earlier, near the beginning of their journey.  Katie and Lockhart both grinned at the memory.  Tony had not been there.  He ate his supper.  Those four sat across the table from the four locals.  The other travelers sat at the other table.

“Sophia,” Deacon Galarius responded in the Latin they all spoke.  “It means wisdom in the Greek.  Was your Sophia a wise woman?”

Those who remembered looked embarrassed.  Sophia had been a whore, but Boston spoke up and said, “Yes.  Very wise,” and that was certainly true enough, so no one argued.

“Yes,” Father Flavius spoke up.  “I argued for Hagia Sophia, the Church of God’s Wisdom.  Galarius, here, argued for Hagia Dynamis, the Church of God’s Power.  But the bishop overruled us.”

“Dynamis?” Lockhart asked.

“Think dynamic, dynamo, or maybe dynamite,” Katie whispered.

“Maybe those other churches will be built one day,” Tony said, and looked carefully at the others, especially Katie, in the hope that he did not speak out of turn.

“But maybe one at a time,” Katie said.  “Hagia Eirene, the Church of God’s Peace seems a good place to start.”

“That is exactly what Bishop Veritas said,” Deacon Galerius exclaimed.  “One at a time.”

Father Flavius nodded, knowingly.  “I don’t know what future you are from, but clearly you know some things we can only guess.  I got that impression that his Grace is connected to the future, too, somehow.  He can quote the holy books word for word, even the Hebrew scriptures.”

“He says the Storyteller reads it to him,” Deacon Galarius interrupted.  “He says he has the hard part translating it all back into Latin and Greek.  Don’t know what language he hears it in.  He has never said who the Storyteller is.”  The man shrugged.

“How did he become a bishop, anyway?” Lockhart asked, with a glance at Lincoln.  That is the sort of question Lincoln usually looked up in the database.  “He usually does not insert himself into local positions like that.”

Lincoln took that moment to put a few coins in his pocket and dump his bag of coins back into his saddlebag, with considerable clinking sounds, and an “Ugh,” as he lifted the heavy saddle bags from the bench to the floor.  Everyone looked.  No one paid attention except Captain Ardocles, who glanced at his mate.  Pinto stayed stone faced.

Lincoln did not notice the others.  He stayed too busy keeping up a lively conversation with Alexis.  They sat across from Decker and Nanette, who sat next to each other, but looked at their plates and scrupulously did not touch each other, or say much of anything beyond yes, no, and I don’t know.  Sukki sat next to Lincoln, across from Elder Stow who ate little and mumbled as he worked on his screen device.  After three days, he did not appear any closer to fixing the device than he was when the wraith busted it.

“So, at the battle of Adrianople,” Father Flavius said.  “Constantine marched under the Labarum, the banner of Christ, and Licinius fought with the pagans, and even hired some pagan goths.  Licinius thought to counter Constantine’s Labarum by putting known Christians in the front of his lines, including a couple of bishops.”

“My old pagan bowing, statue worshiping bishop of Cyrene was there,” Deacon Galarius said, with some disgust in his voice.  “He said paying homage to the gods and making sacrifice to the emperor was the only way he could keep his position and property during the persecutions, but honestly, no telling what he actually believed.”

“Now,” Father Flavius took the conversation back.  “Veritas was a soldier, a young centurion who served in Constantine’s inner circle.  They say he killed the old pagan bishop with his own hand.  The emperor had an idea—always a dangerous thing.  He decided to make Veritas the new bishop of Cyrene.  Veritas swore he was a soldier, and what did he know about being a leader in the church?  Constantine countered that he was also a soldier, and what did he know about being emperor?  He said they would learn as they went along.  The bishop responded with the word, “crap,” though later he said it was the word “carp.”  I don’t know what language that was in, but he explained that a carp was a fish particularly hard to catch, and he got caught.”

“Oh, crap,” a grinning Boston could not resist repeating the word.  Lockhart and Katie grinned with her.  Tony looked more stoic, but none explained the meaning of the word, as Captain Ardocles and Pinto interrupted by standing.

“Lovely stories,” Captain Ardocles said.  “But we have high tide before sunrise.  Me and my mate need to get some rest, so we can load your horses, mule, and wagon straight from the dock when the tide is up.  We will stock the ship during the day and be ready to sail when the tide returns in the late afternoon.”

“Mighty fine-looking horses you got,” Pinto said, as they left.

Tony scooted around the table so everyone could have more room.  “Probably uncomfortable with the talk about the bishop.  They are Christians?” he asked in a casual tone.

Father Flavius paused before he answered.  “Yes, of course.”

“No telling these days,” Deacon Galarius said more honestly.  “Since Constantine’s victory last September, it seems everyone claims to be Christian.  Who knows how much of it is real?”

Father Flavius nodded.  “Bishop Veritas says the church will have to teach every day and twice on Sunday, and maybe the great-grandchildren will actually be people of faith.”  He looked again at the door with some uncertainty on his face.

Deacon Galarius added, “Right now, we are just digging up the hard, crumbly soil and planting seeds.  We are gentle persuasion, prayer, and hard work.  God will bring a harvest in his good time.  We can wait and pray for it, but it will probably come after our time.”

Katie nodded.  “It will be centuries before Europe can be called anything like Christendom.”

Avalon 7.8 Ambush, part 4 of 4

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“Boston!”  Sukki’s voice echoed down from overhead.  A line of laser-like heat and light, reminiscent of Elder Stow’s weapon, came from overhead, and turned the front few rows of horses and men to charcoal.  Lincoln chose that time to set off Elder Stow’s sonic device, and the horses behind had enough.  They did not seem to care what their riders said.

The cavalry ran off.  The battalion of foot soldiers followed them.  Decker shot one more man off the city wall in the distance before the wall got deserted.  People wanted to cheer, but they still had to contend with the forty or so men across the street that continued to pelt them with rifle fire.

“Elder Stow,” Lockhart shouted into his wristwatch, as Katie grabbed a now visible Boston and dragged her behind the makeshift fort.

“No time soon,” Elder Stow responded.  “The wraith busted the device, a pretty thorough job.”

“Why is it always me?” Boston complained.

“Move,” Katie commanded Boston’s fairy weave clothes, and the fairy weave moved aside to expose the wound.  Aleah snuck up as Prenner and the boys came with their bows and arrows.  Prenner still had Decker’s handgun and looked determined not to miss the fight.  Aleah tore a strip off her dress and folded it carefully to hold against Boston’s bleeding side.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch,” Boston said, as Katie turned her rifle back on the enemy.

Word came from Decker, overhead.  “They appear to be gathering.  Probably going to charge.  I think they have bayonets.”

Just then, Sergeant Vespavian, the old Roman soldier that somehow survived and stayed in town after the fall of the city, came up with his local men.  They spread out behind the makeshift fort, bows ready, and with sword and knives if needed to repel the attack.

“Get ready,” Katie shouted, as a great flash of light and a clap of thunder made everyone pause.

A man appeared in the street.  No one recognized him at first because he had his back turned to the fort.  He lifted his arm and every enemy matchlock, all the powder and shot appeared in a pile beside him

“Amun,” Arman identified the man first.  Amun Junior, usually just called Junior, was the son of Amun and Ishtar, and also the Kairos from long, long ago.  Arman turned to his wife.  “Yes, Aleah,” he said.  “This is one of the gods.”

She mouthed, “Oh,” and went to her knees.

Amun waved his hand again and every weapon and item in the hands of the enemy that did not belong in that time period vanished, while all of the enemy riflemen appeared.  The men looked frozen in whatever position they had been in.  A few looked like they were trying to run away.

One man faced Amun, standing in front of all the others.  That man’s eyes got big, and his jaw dropped, which told everyone that he was not completely frozen.  “You should not be here,” the man protested, and he closed his eyes, like he dared not watch.

Amun waved his hand one more time, and all of the riflemen disappeared.  Katie and Lockhart vanished and reappeared on either side of the god.  Katie figured out who the man was that faced them, though he had aged, significantly.

“Ramin Lajani,” Katie said, as Arman walked up to stand beside her.

“He did not age well,” Lockhart said.  “Arman aged well.”  He acknowledged the man.  “But Ramin Lajani looks like the stress caught up with him about ten years ago.”

Ramin Lajani opened his eyes to see who talked about him.  He recognized the couple.  He tried to scream.  His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Amun waved his hand once more and Ramin Lajani went away, but another, similar-looking man stood in his place.

“No,” the man shouted.  “You should not be here.  The gods have all gone away.”

Amun said nothing.  He simply pushed his two fingers together, and the man curled up into a ball about the size of a soccer ball.  Then Amun spoke.  “Ramin Lajani’s future lifetime, the one in contact with the Masters.  Now, Ramin Lajani will be cut off from future information and not be able to make any more guns, or anything else from the future… What?”  Amun paused, before he said, “Xalazar says it must be handled in the right way.”

The god waved his hand once more, and the ball that used to be a human being went away and Ramin Lajani stood in that spot again facing his accusers once again.  Amun himself went away so Xalazar could return from the past and take Amun’s place.  Xalazar stood in the armor of the Kairos and held tight to his sword.  Ramin Lajani did not know who this relatively young man was at first, but when his eyes adjusted for the age difference, his eyes got very big.

“No,” he shouted, sounding like an imitation of his future self.  “You should not be here.  I killed you.”

“Yes, you did,” Xalazar said, and thrust with his sword, right into Ramin Lajani’s middle.  Xalazar yanked the sword back out, and Ramin Lajani collapsed.  He would not live long.

“But you killed my future self.  I am cut off from the future,” Ramin Lajani said and coughed.  “I killed you.  You are dead.  How are you here?”  Ramin Lajani gasped and died.

“That is actually a very good question,” Arman said.

Xalazar nodded and said what the others supposed was safe to say.  “I regenerated my body, and mostly sleep in a kind of cryogenic suspension when I am not going somewhere into the past or future.  See?  I am young again.”

Arman looked at Katie and Lockhart.  “Did he say that in your tongue?  I didn’t understand much.”

Katie and Lockhart smiled and Xalazar continued.  “It is remarkable how my mind—thoughts, emotions, knowledge, memories, personality—and body things like skills and abilities are all connected, like one package, like one person.  Only my spirit, my Kairos spirit moves on from life to life.  But here, I should let the one who is alive in this lifetime explain, only, don’t say anything about her future, or whatever.  Stern warning, Katie.  And tell Lincoln, Tony, and Nanette to keep their mouths shut as well.  Got it?”

Katie nodded, and Lockhart wondered what they might say.  Xalazar shook his finger at them and disappeared, while a beautiful woman, roughly in her mid-twenties, appeared, still wagging the finger.  She stood about five feet-seven, and had long brown hair, and startling green eyes which looked very alive.  She put her hand down, with only a curious glance at her finger, and said, “Hi, Lockhart and Katie.  Don’t think I am going to let my new husband go off to war without me.  Hello Lincoln,” she shouted.  “It’s me, Zenobia.  Where’s Boston.”

A sad little voice came from behind the stones.  “I’m here.  I’m hurting.  I got a big ouch.”

“I’m coming,” Zenobia shouted back, and started toward the voice.  The others followed.

“But what about the Sassanid army in town?” Lincoln interrupted her walk.  She stopped and turned her head away from the city wall.

“They left.  They will probably burn the bridges across the river.  I am sure they will meet up with the rest of the Sassanid army on the other side of the Euphrates and prepare for a big battle.  But Odaenathus should not meet any resistance crossing the river, thanks to you guys.”  Zenobia finished her walk to where Alexis had Boston standing on one foot.  Zenobia hugged the elf and added, “I don’t know why you are the one who keeps getting wounded.”

“I know,” Boston, now a happy elf responded.  “That is what I keep asking.”

“Bringing Nanette down,” they heard Sukki say over the wristwatch communicators.   She landed with Nanette carried easily in her arms.  Alexis went there to check on her work.  Zenobia dropped Boston to go coo over the girl.  Boston would have fallen from her own wound, but fortunately, Arman’s wife, Aleah was there to catch her.

Decker clambered down the outside of the wall and came around through the hole in the collapsed front of the building, where Tony sat with Prenner and the boys, watching everything.  Old Sergeant Vespavian and his men stood around, not quite certain what to do, when Zenobia threw her hands up in the air and raised her voice to get everyone’s attention.

“I know.  Let’s have a party right here in the street.  Let’s have a street party.  We need to celebrate driving out a whole Sassanid army before my husband even arrived.  Prenner, get the dwarf wives cooking up a storm.”

“Odaenathus is your husband?” Katie wanted to be sure.

Zenobia nodded, as Lockhart spoke up.  “I see smoke rising in the distance.  I guess the Sassanids are burning those bridges.”  Zenobia nodded for him, too, as Elder Stow walked up.

“I will be able to fix it,” he said, about his screen device.  “But it will take serious time.  I will have to test all the miniature circuits and pray none are broken.”

Four hours later, a centurion, the Roman spy, went meekly into his general’s tent to report.  “Lord Odaenathus.  We entered the city, as you commanded, and found the streets deserted, but signs of Sassanid military occupation all over the place.  We hurried to the other side of the city and caught the rear guard of the Sassanids crossing the river and preparing to burn the bridge.  Most of the men remain there, holding the bridge for your arrival.  Meanwhile, a few of the men followed me to one street where the people were having a celebration.”  He cleared his throat before he continued.

“A strange young woman grabbed me, and said, “Tell Odaenathus my friends broke the Sassanid ambush and drove off the enemy.  Now, you will have no resistance in crossing the Euphrates.  Tell him to hurry so he can meet my friends before they have to move on and remind him, he is not allowed to go off adventuring without me.”  She let me go.  The food was really good.  She said the dwarf wives outdid themselves.  I don’t know what that means.  I felt very confused with some of the things the people said.  Lord, it seemed such a strange encounter, I hurried here to report with the hope that you might make sense of it.”

Odaenathus stared at the city, called for his horse, his guard, and his second in command, before he turned to the centurion and offered what explanation he had.  “My wife, who I left back in Palmyra.  She is the definition of strange encounter.”

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

MONDAY

Back to the regular 3 posts per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) and 6 posts (two weeks) per episode.  Next week the travelers arrive in Constantinople where there is peace in the empire if not in the church.  Avalon 7.9 The Inns and Outs.  Happy Reading

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Avalon 7.8 Ambush, part 3 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Sukki used her goddess-given powers and Nanette used her magic to float up to the roof where they found Decker.  He lay at the edge of the crumbling roof where the wall would help to hold him up.  He had his rifle tucked into his shoulder and his eye in the scope.

“How many,” Nanette asked, without spelling it out.

Decker knew what she was asking.  “Four riflemen and one regular soldier after the riflemen disappeared from the wall.”

Nanette curled her lip at all that killing, but she sat beside Decker and even laid a hand gently on his back.  It was something she would just have to get used to.  He was a soldier after all.

Sukki watched the archers climb up on to the roof next door, just outside Elder Stow’s screens.  “Arman’s men,” she called them for Decker.  “Katie said if we draw men to the street, they can get the enemy in a crossfire, whatever that is.”

Decker paused to look across the street where he saw other men crawling up on top of the ruins.  “Good plan,” he said, flatly, and returned his eye to the scope.

Down below, Elder Stow said Boston was ready.  Boston complained, but Elder Stow would not trust his screen device with anyone other than her, or Sukki, but Sukki was needed to go up and inform Decker what was being planned.

Katie, Lockhart, Arman, Prenner, and the boys moved the rubble around to make the front end of the collapsed building into more of a fort.  Alexis, wand in hand, kept back with Aleah and the young ones.  Aleah did not know what to expect, but she knew it would be dangerous.

When everyone got as ready as they could be, Lockhart spoke into his wristwatch communicator.  “Okay, Boston.”  Everyone heard, and Boston responded.

“Turning off the screens, now.”

One of the three Sassanid soldiers sent to examine the invisible wall, suddenly put his hand through that space.  He stepped through and one of the three immediately ran back to the Battalion commander to report.  A company of Sassanids started up the street to take out the enemies in their rear.  They moved cover to cover, wary of the rifle fire from this unknown enemy.  Clearly, they knew about rifle fire.

“Wait,” Decker said through his communicator.  “Hold your fire.  Wait until they get into position.”  People waited for what felt like a long time, and the enemy got close, some felt too close, before Decker said, “Fire.”

Guns blasted.  Arrows came from the roofs beside Decker, and then the roofs and buildings from the other side.  Sukki and Nanette were reluctant to kill anyone, but Sukki, with her heat-ray hands, and Nanette, with her telekinetic magic, were able to take away the enemy’s cover and drive them into the street where they could be targets for others.

The company did not last long.  The few survivors raced back down the street, and Decker got ready to tell Boston to turn the screens back on, but Katie made him pause.

“Wait until they bring up the cavalry.”

“The screen device is well anchored,” Elder Stow said.  “Even a dozen horses crashing into the screens should not move them.”

Lockhart nodded.  They saw the horses moving up.  They saw something happening across the street among the archers hidden in and on the buildings, but they could not focus on it as they heard Boston’s panic.

“The wraith.  She broke the screen device before I could stop her.  Help.”

Elder Stow, in a moment of quick thinking, handed Lincoln his sonic device and ran with Lockhart just ahead of him.  Alexis kept Aleah and the children in their place and made them put their heads down.  Katie, Lincoln, and Tony had to hold the front.  Sukki took the time to float down to join them while Decker and Nanette stayed over their heads.  Sukki handed Decker’s handgun to Prenner.  She briefly instructed him to point and pull the trigger, but she could not tell him exactly how it worked.  Arman helped.  He had Katie’s handgun, and had also learned how to use it.

Lockhart arrived in time to see the wraith up by the roof.  Boston had her wand in her left hand and her Beretta in her right.  Boston fired her handgun once and burned a couple of spots on the ceiling.

“You must all die,” the wraith said in her chilling voice.

“Why?  What did we do to you?” Boston asked, and the wraith paused to consider her answer, even as Lockhart pulled the trigger on his shotgun.  The wraith screamed and got slammed back into the ceiling.  She appeared to start bleeding.  Elder Stow pointed his weapon at her, and she screamed again and flew out a hole in the roof.  Elder Stow put his weapon away.

“Let me see,” he said, and Boston backed up, but kept her eyes on the roof, just in case.  “I think I can fix it,” Elder Stow said.  “But it will take time.”

“I thought you had the scanner tuned to give warning if the wraith showed up,” Boston protested.

“Only in physical form,” Elder Stow responded.  “Apparently, she can still elude us if she is invisible and insubstantial.”

“Boston.  I hear gunfire up front.”  Lockhart waved her to follow, and they ran to the front, leaving Elder Stow to work.

While the cavalry got ready to charge, Decker picked two more off the city wall in the distance.  He paused to wipe the sweat from his eyes.

“I think I hate the killing,” Nanette said, as she rubbed Decker’s soaking wet back.

“It is not my favorite thing in the world,” Decker said, and Nanette nodded, like she could accept that. 

“The archers across the way have abandoned their post,” Katie said over the communicators.  “Cavalry ready to charge.”  Three hundred horses and men with spears, like Samartian lances, made neat lines in the street, about six across in the front.  The rest of the battalion of foot soldiers looked ready to follow the horsemen.  “Get ready.”

Katie stood, her rifle and scope ready.  She fired two quick bursts of five bullets on automatic fire.  Three of the horses in the front of the line went down, and a fourth lost its rider.  All the same, some Sassanid gave the order. and though the horses had to start by going around or over the fallen horses, they quickly charged.

Overhead, Nanette stood and pointed her wand at the street.  Decker hardly had time to tell her to get down, before a bullet came from a building across the street.  Nanette concentrated.  She made an invisible screen of her own in the street, and the front horses slammed into the screen, got tangled up, and broke legs and backs as they fell to the ground.  Decker had to grab Nanette as the sudden push of the horses against her invisible wall almost sent her flying.

“Equal and opposite reaction,” Decker said.

Nanette held tight to her wand, seemed to have no idea what Decker might be referring to, and collapsed in his arms, a mini ball in her hip.

“Alexis,” Decker yelled, as he carried a fainting Nanette behind a chimney.  He remembered and spoke into his wristwatch.  “Alexis.  Nanette’s been shot.”

Down below, the horses began again once Nanette’s invisible wall vanished.  A few pushed around the pile-up and the rest followed.

“Determined,” Tony said, but by then, he, Lincoln, Prenner, and Katie were returning fire to the building across the way.  Arman kept an eye on the horsemen.   Apparently, the riflemen abandoned the wall to take on the unknown guns that were devastating them from behind.  They managed to overwhelm the archers across the way, and now used their cover to fire on the travelers across the street.

Alexis stepped up to raise a great wind in the street.  All the dust, dirt, small pebbles, and less pleasant things got swept up into the face of the oncoming horsemen.  That stalled them again, but after only a moment, Sukki grabbed Alexis around the middle and lifted her with herself, up to the roof where Decker held Nanette.

Alexis did not argue.  Sukki was worried about her sister.  But Alexis shooed Sukki and Decker away with a word that Sukki should not go far.  Alexis feared someone down below might end up also needing her healing skills.

Decker grabbed his rifle and sprayed the oncoming horses with several bursts of automatic fire.  Men shouted and fell out of the saddles.  Horses stumbled, making yet another block against a charge.  Some of the horsemen at the back began to peel away, but most of them continued to come on, despite all the obstacles.  The battalion of infantry stalled every time the cavalry faced a new obstacle, but most of them kept coming.  Only a few began to back away as they saw what they were facing.  Both the cavalry and infantry commanders of the Sassanids counted on their own riflemen to rout out the travelers.  But the travelers had built a good fort, and those single shot matchlocks were not very accurate at a distance, even if the barrels were rifled, which Katie imagined they were not.

“They are massing for a final push,” Arman shouted, even as Boston came.

“Prenner,” Boston shouted.  “Watch Aleah and the children and keep their heads down.”

Prenner groused.  “Yes Princess,” he said, and turned invisible to walk back to the family.  Boston had not thought of that, so she turned herself invisible before she stepped up and pulled out her now invisible bow and arrows.  She did not have much time to treat the arrows, the way Roland and Father Mingus taught her, but they would do.  She also had not practiced much with her bow, but the horsemen were less than a hundred yards off, not too far, and she only had to get close to them.

The arrow became visible the minute it left her bow, and she moved.  She figured some smart enemy rifleman might figure out where she was shooting them.  The arrow landed a little short of the front horses, right before they got ready for their last effort to charge.  It exploded, like a rocket propelled grenade.  This will work, Boston said.  She fired one more, moved, and fired the third at the buildings across the street.  She moved again and pulled out three more arrows to treat.

“Nice RPGs,” Katie said.  “But it doesn’t appear to have stopped them.  It looks like you just made them mad.”

“Like a hornet’s nest,” Lincoln said, as he ducked, and a mini ball careened off the stonework he hid behind.

Boston got mad and grabbed her wand.  She sent a fireball toward horses.  She did not move, and sure enough a stray bullet scraped her hip.  Boston screamed and shot a second fireball at the ruins across the street.  It appeared her biggest and strongest response.  A couple of explosions suggested she caught some of the enemy gunpowder, but then Boston’s leg collapsed and took her to the ground.  She shouted into her wristwatch, “Alexis,” even as the cavalry began to charge.

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

Tomorrow

Remember,Avalon 7.8 is a four-part episode. Part 4 will post tomorrow, on Thursday. See how it turns out…

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Avalon 7.8 Ambush, part 2 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Lockhart, with Tony’s help, moved the wagon through the time gate, and then through the hole in the wall and into what looked like stables.  Boston directed them with hand signals toward the back of the building where she said the roof supports remained solid.  She could not vouch for the front of the building.

“This is the exact same place” Alexis whispered, as she and Lincoln came next.  “We moved forward in time from a vibrant city to ruins but stayed in the exact same place as far as I can tell.”  They immediately dismounted and began to gather the horses while Tony set Ghost, the mule, free of the wagon.

“Some years later,” Lincoln responded with a nod.

Lockhart looked around at the condition of the building.  “I would guess the Romans lost the city to the Persians.”

“Sassanids,” Lincoln corrected him.

“Must have been some battle,” Boston said.

“Where’s Katie?” Lockhart asked, as Sukki and Nanette came in.  Elder Stow had to stay in the shadow of the hole in the wall to keep the particle screen in the time gate in order to keep them from being followed.  They had seen time-locked men try to step into the future and age fifty years in a matter of seconds.  It was not pretty.

“Keep to the back of the building,” Boston told her sisters, and added, “Come on.”  She led Lockhart to the front, one eye on the ceiling, until they came to a rubble-filed front end where the ceiling had collapsed.  Katie hid in the rubble and watched the activity in the street.

The buildings across the street were almost entirely rubble.  They looked like they had been burned down at some point, and after some years, now appeared as mere ruins.  Without those buildings blocking her way, Katie could see to the city wall, and the holes someone made in that wall.

Lockhart and Boston snuck up carefully, and Lockhart asked, “Where’s Decker?”  Katie pointed up, as if to say he somehow crawled up on the roof.  She handed Lockhart her binoculars and got out the scope for her rifle.  He took a look.

A whole battalion of soldiers sat in the street down toward the city wall.  He guessed they were supposed to be hidden, ready to repel invaders when called.  On the crumbling wall itself, he saw defenders with spears, probably bows, and he definitely saw some rifles, which were utterly out of place in that time period.  He imagined they were single shot, muzzle loaded matchlocks, like they ran into before.  Individually, they would not be much more effective than bows and arrows—less effective when he considered the time it took to reload.  But they had stopping power arrows did not have. Bullets could punch right through enemy shields and armor.  If they massed a volley, or managed several volleys against a marching army, they might turn them away.  They also had better range.  Much better than a shower of arrows.

“Where did they get the rifles?” Lockhart asked.

“Ramin Lajani,” Boston said.  “He was the young merchant boss that survived when Xalazar got killed.”

“I think I see where the cavalry is located,” Katie spoke, without taking her eye from her scope.  “They must have cleared a road down by the wall, near that gate there.”

“Someone is walking into a trap,” Lockhart concluded, even as they heard trumpets in the distance.  All eyes, including Boston’s elf eyes tried to see through the spaces in the wall.  Word came down from Decker over the wristwatch communicators.

“There is a Roman army marching in the distance.  They will probably send spies, or a small troop to check out the city before getting too close.  At least, I would.  But they probably won’t have any idea how big an ambush they are walking into.”

“Why come here?” Lockhart asked.

“The city looks abandoned,” Katie answered.  “And if they are crossing into Sassanid territory, this place still has bridges across the Euphrates.”

They heard the crack of a rifle overhead.  Lockhart and Katie got on their wristwatches to admonish Decker, but Boston looked with her good elf eyes.  She saw a soldier with a rife fall off the wall.  She softly mouthed her own Wilhelm scream

“Decker,” Lockhart said, as Tony came to join them.  Tony had a message but had to wait.

“People with guns are enemy combatants,” Decker responded.

“It’s all right,” Elder Stow interrupted.  “I have managed a full Decker screen around the stables.  Young Boston is correct.  The front-end load bearing pillars are weak, probably from years of weathering.  To compensate, I had to enlarge it enough to take in the alley and the houses on both sides.  It is stretched, but manageable.”

“People?” Katie asked, without spelling out the question.

“There are seven life signs in the house across the alley,” Elder Stow responded.  “And a half-dozen below the house, like in the basement, perhaps.  Alexis and Lincoln have gone to check it out.”

Decker fired again, and another man with a rifle fell off the distant wall.

“Decker,” Lockhart yelled into his wristwatch this time, even as Alexis and Lincoln exited the hole in the stable wall.  They saw a woman, maybe in her late thirties, in the door of the house across the way—a house which surprisingly still looked in good shape.  The woman gasped on sight of Lincoln and Alexis and fell to her knees.

A young girl, maybe six, and a boy about ten came to stand behind their mother.  “What is it?” the young girl asked.

“It must be the gods,” the woman said.

A man in his early forties and a dwarf came to the door, and the man smiled and spoke first.  “No, dear.  It is Lincoln and Alexis.  I remember.  Where is the rest of the crew?”

“Where is that red-headed elf?” the dwarf asked, recognizing the travelers for who they were.  Having their home caught inside Elder Stow’s particle screens sort of gave it away.

“It’s not Zenobia,” Lincoln whispered and put his arm out to prevent Alexis from running forward.  But Alexis had already paused.  She squinted at the man before she came out with her thought.

“Arman?”

The man nodded and helped his wife up from her knees.  “I have aged.  You haven’t.  I was wondering how this time travel thing you talked about worked.”

“But I remember you,” Arman’s wife spouted, and pointed at Alexis.

“My wife, Aleah.  My younger son, Loran, and my younger daughter Leah,” Arman introduced them.

“Prenner,” the dwarf introduced himself.

Arman nodded.  “My older boy is down in the dwarf house with the dwarf boys.”

“Messing up the place, no doubt,” Prenner said.

“My older daughter is with Bitsies making super.”

“Bitsies?” Alexis asked.

“My wife,” Prenner answered.

“Lockhart,” Lincoln got on his wristwatch communicator.  ‘We got Arman living next door, right where we left him.”

“Arman,” Katie answered.

“Keep him there,” Lockhart responded.  “It isn’t safe out here.”

Three soldiers from the battalion came up the street to see what was making that noise.  Decker ignored them.  They carried nothing more than spears, or javelins, and he figured they would stop at whatever point the edge of Elder Stow’s screens reached.  He fired once more, and another gun toting man peeled off the distant wall.  The men there began to seek cover, so he would not likely get another clean shot.

Katie arrived at the hole in the wall the same time as Sukki.  Sukki spoke softly.  “Nanette and father have the horses, but they wanted to be sure Arman and his family were safe.”

“So far,” Katie responded.  “But not if Decker keeps shooting enemy riflemen.”

“What?” Lincoln needed to know, and Katie told him.

“The Sassanids have an ambush planned in the city.  A Roman legion is marching right into it, and the Sassanids have riflemen on the city walls.  Probably matchlocks, but effective enough.”

“Sergeant,” Arman yelled.  “Sergeant Vespavian.”

A grizzled old man limped around the corner and stood at the end of the alley.  He put his hand up to feel for the edge of Elder Stow’s screen, like he was familiar with the concept.  “So, your friends came back,” the sergeant said.  “You know, the governor wants to see you, twenty years ago.”  He laughed.

“You heard?” Arman said.

“I heard,” the sergeant answered.  “The problem is, the enemy has every exit from the city covered.  There is no way my few men can ride out and warn the legion.  As for attacking them, even from the rear, even by surprise, even if we had bunches of Prenner’s people with us… why, that would be just plain mad.”

Katie did not hesitate.  “Can you get your men up on the roofs?”  She pointed at the top of the house and a building across the street that still stood.  “You will need a way of escape if your position is about to be overrun, but in the meanwhile, if we draw some of the soldiers to attack us, you can catch them in a crossfire.”

“But what if they send the whole army after us?” Lincoln objected.

“They won’t,” Katie said, confidently.  “Their first concern is the oncoming Roman army, but we may be able to help by drawing off some of their troops and sting them from the rear with our guns.  Plus, the sound of our guns may alert the oncoming Romans to the pending ambush.”

The men paused to think it through, until Arman said, “Vespavian?”

The old sergeant nodded.  “That might work for a couple of volleys in the right circumstances.  If they bring up a whole troop, though, we may have to run quickly.”

“Do it,” Lincoln said.  He was not sure how that would work, exactly, but he had learned to trust Katie’s military instincts.

“Do it,” Arman echoed.

The old soldier nodded slightly, and still thinking about it, he disappeared around the corner.  A moment later, they heard him yelling.

Katie turned, and Sukki mumbled that she would be up front as soon as she and Nanette secured the horses.  Lincoln followed, but Alexis paused to say, “Stay here, in your home, where you are safe.”

Arman turned to his wife, Aleah.  “Stay here.” 

Aleah turned to Prenner the dwarf.  “Keep the children here and safe,” she said, even as the little girl took hold of her dress, and the boy ran ahead.

Prenner turned in time to see his two boys and Aleah’s fifteen-year-old boy come tumbling out of the side door and follow the others.  He paused.  Whatever his wife, her mother, and Aleah’s daughter were cooking sure smelled good, but he turned to follow the others and only mumbled about how he might starve to death if this took too long.

Avalon 7.8 Ambush, part 1 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 236 A.D. Syria

Kairos 93: Zenobia, the Queen

Recording …

The travelers arrived at the time gate in the late afternoon.  They found it in the town of Dura-Europa, on the Euphrates River.  Fortunately, the time gate rested down an alleyway and not inside a building.

“Should we find rooms for caravans and travelers, or go through the gate now while we can?” Katie asked from where she rode in the wagon.  Lockhart drove the wagon and thought about it.  Though not their first thing in the morning routine, the time gate temporarily vanishing had them all spooked.

“Go now,” Boston said, as she came back from the front and steadied her horse.

“Go now,” Decker echoed, as he pushed up from the rear, followed by Nanette, who pulled Sukki’s horse with her.  “The guards in the gate had a seriously suspicious look about them.”

“This is a military town.  The Romans here hold it almost like a fort, to protect the trade routes,” Lincoln spoke up from behind the wagon where he read from the database while Alexis temporarily held the reigns of both Katie’s and Lockhart’s horses.  “But mostly to protect against Sassanid armies.”

“We came from Sassanid territory,” Alexis said.  “We might look like spies for some reason.”

“Soldiers coming,” Tony shouted from the rear.

“Father?” Sukki wondered what Elder Stow was doing with his screen device in his hands.

“Just working on it,” Elder Stow said, and glanced up at the others.  They all looked at him.  “I need to set a screen wall in the time gate behind us, so some innocent person does not stumble through before the time gate deactivates.”

“Of course,” Alexis agreed.

“Soldiers definitely coming here,” Tony shouted.

“Can you set the wall at the end of the alley first?” Katie asked.  “Maybe pull it into the alleyway behind us.”

“Everyone; move into the alleyway,” Lockhart said, not waiting for an answer from Elder Stow.  “Decker and Boston.  Scout out the other side of the time gate.”

“One minute,” Elder Stow said.

“Come on, Sukki.  Let’s get our horses,” Katie leapt from the wagon and mounted.  Sukki followed and thanked Nanette for bringing her horse to that point.

“They’re here,” Tony yelled as he pulled his horse’s tail into the alley alongside Lockhart’s horse which was tied to the back of the wagon.  Lincoln and Alexis scooted over to make room.

“Friends,” a young man shouted for the traveler’s attention.  He appeared in a great flash of light that made the soldiers in the street cover their eyes and take several steps back.  He called to them.  “Friends.”  A great clap of thunder followed the light.  The horses hardly flinched, but several soldiers fell to their knees, two ran and at least one wailed.

Nanette recognized the man who appeared right away.  “Arman.”  He was the young Magi that followed Xalazar to Hatra.

“Arman.”  Several others named the young man.

“Quick.  Into the alley” Katie yelled back, and Arman came up alongside Tony and Elder Stow.

“There,” Elder Stow said, as he turned on his screen device that set a virtual wall at the end of the alleyway.  The soldiers would be blocked out for the moment.

“Lockhart, Xalazar got stabbed” Arman said, as he walked up past Katie, and Alexis to reach the wagon.  He repeated himself, nice and loud.  “Xalazar got stabbed.”  He looked at the concerned faces of the travelers and reported the story as quick as he could.  “Sarkis, the Armenian betrayed us.  He led us into a trap, and Ramin Lajani, the gun merchant, stabbed Xalazar.  Marona, the Assyrian, is dead.  Junior Amun, the god, says Xalazar should be dead, but he traded places with Xalazar at the last minute.  Do you know what I mean, traded places?”

Lockhart nodded.  “The Kairos tends to borrow a lifetime from the past or future as needed, yes, we know.  He actually, temporarily becomes another person as near as anyone can tell, though inside, he is the same person, still the Kairos.”

“Junior.  Amun Junior,” Lincoln said.  “Son of the god Amun and the goddess Ishtar.”

“It must be important,” Alexis added.  “The gods don’t normally interfere in life and death circumstances unless there is some cosmic significance.”

Arman also nodded and picked up the story.  “Junior Amun saved my life, and he sent me with an urgent message.  He said he cannot come and tell you himself because the time gate will move as he moves.  He said he can hold the gate stable for now, but he cannot hold it for long.  Xalazar must die so his spirit can move on to his next life.  He said you must move on now and not wait until morning…”

Three things happened at once.

“You need a place to hide,” Alexis said.  “You can’t go through the time gate with us because you will age as many years as the time difference, maybe fifty or more years.”

Her words got overshadowed by yelling from the soldiers who came up to Elder Stow’s screen and could go no further.  “You people come out of there!  The governor would like a word with you.”

For the third thing, Boston came back through the time gate to report.  “It’s full of soldiers, like an ambush.  The city is destroyed, whatever city it is, and there are soldiers camped all around the place, and Decker says some of them got guns.”

“Is there room for the wagon?” Lockhart asked.  “Can we go without drawing attention to ourselves?”  Lockhart had to wave at Boston to get her attention.  She was staring around the alley, like she saw it for the first time.

“Huh?  Yeah.  It looks mostly—exactly like this alleyway, except that wall is missing.  You can pull the wagon right in there.  I think it is a stable of some kind.”  Boston’s engineering brain kicked in.  “I didn’t give the structure a stress test.  The load bearing logs look sturdy, but they might not hold the roof up if they get disturbed.  I’ll check it out.”

“Wait,” Lockhart interrupted.  “Katie.  Tony, go with her.  Katie, check the perimeter and see if it is safe to come through.  Send Tony back when the wagon can come, but don’t take too long.”  He waved them off and turned his attention to Arman.  “Lincoln and Alexis, find a safe place for Arman to go.  Elder Stow get ready.  Nanette and Sukki, watch out for Elder Stow.”  That seemed to cover everyone.

Lincoln turned to the door in the wall that would still be there in the future, if he heard correctly.  He could not imagine an exit time gate and an entrance time gate being in the same place, but it had happened once before.  He jiggled the door, but it was locked.

“Alexis, see if you can blow the door down.”

“Wait.”  Arman butted up front.  He closed his eyes and placed both hands on the door.  They heard a scraping sound of wood on wood, like a bar being lifted from its place.  They heard a clunk as the bar fell to the floor.  Arman pushed the door slowly.  They saw an older couple and a young woman, obviously their daughter, standing back, staring at them.  This had to be their home.  The young woman, about sixteen or seventeen, had the Roman Empire equivalent of a rolling pin in her hand, and looked prepared to defend her home, whatever the cost.

“May we come in?” Arman asked, politely, before Alexis and Lincoln butted in front of him.  Alexis raised her hands like a true witch, and the wind rose up inside the shelter of the house.  It shoved the young woman and the elderly couple back a couple of steps and blew everything off the table.  Lincoln spoke up.

“This man needs food and a place to rest.  He is a good man.  You need to protect him and do not let the soldiers get him.”

“Don’t make me come back here,” Alexis said.  “He is a good man,” she underlined that point.  “He deserves your help, and I will be very cross if I have to come back here.”

“The wagon is moving,” Lincoln interrupted.  “We need to go.”

Alexis hugged Arman before she and Lincoln went back out to get up on their horses.  Arman turned in the door to watch.  He said, “You might want to see this.”  The young woman stepped right up to look around his shoulder.  Eventually, the mother and father also came to see, and the old man mumbled.

“Horses of the gods.”  They were not surprised to see Alexis and Lincoln slowly vanish as they stepped through the shimmering hole in the air.  The last thing they saw was a swipe of the horse’s tail before Nanette, Sukki, and Elder Stow came last in line.

Someone banged on the front door.  The family quickly closed the side door to the alleyway as three soldiers forced their way inside the front.  The young woman still held the rolling pin, and Arman pulled a small knife he had hidden in his cloak.  They stood side by side to protect the house, but the old man pushed to the front and spoke right up.

“Sergeant Vespavian.  What is happening in the street?”

The sergeant stopped, so the soldiers with him stopped.  “Who is this?”

“My son in law,” the old man said without blinking.  “Come all the way from Palmyra.  He could not wait until we came to fetch him in the fall.”

“Aleah?” the sergeant looked at the young woman, like he had an interest in the girl.  Aleah looked at the ugly soldier, glanced at Arman, smiled, and took Arman’s arm while Arman put away his little knife.  The sergeant growled, and with his soldiers, he threw open the side door.  The rest of his soldiers were already in the alley, with his centurion unable to push his hand through the shimmering hole in the air.  That shimmering hole in the air quickly disappeared, leaving only alleyway and soldiers milling about.

The sergeant growled again, and he and his two men left the door open.  The old woman closed it carefully as the old man turned to the couple where his daughter still held on to Arman.  The old man smiled as he spoke.  “Well, priest,” he said, having recognized Arman as a Magi.  “I guess you will just have to marry my daughter and make it legal.”

Aleah glanced again at Arman before she looked away and turned slightly red.  She did not let go of him, so it seemed as if she would not mind.

Arman did not know what to say.

Avalon 7.7 Guns Between the Rivers, part 4 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

In the dark of night, the wraith got frustrated by Elder Stows screens.  She bounced off and could find no way around them—even by going underground.  They seemed to make a complete bubble around the people, to protect them.  If she had a brain, she might have realized they had to let air and such inside the screens, and being a lesser spirit, she could shape herself like the wind.  In fact, Boston, only being a little spirit, could phase through the screens.  Certainly, the wraith could do the same, if she could figure out how.  To be clear, sophisticated screen technology, in manipulating natural forces, made even the gods pause, and some never did master it.  But in this case, the wraith got frustrated, so she flew off to the next time gate, thinking, if she got a few days ahead of the travelers, she might set something up.

Not long after the wraith left, a lone gunman, the sole survivor, slammed his foot into the screens and fell forward on to the screens.  He planned to get one of the horses and go hide in Hatra, but there seemed to be an invisible wall between himself and the horses.  He paused to think about what he was doing.

The gun makers in Damascus were long put out of business.  He and his group had to be one of the last gun groups.  He could not be certain.  There might still be others.  He vaguely recalled his captain saying something about the gun merchants meeting up with Master Lajani in Hatra.  In any case, his captain insisted on tracking and killing the one responsible for destroying the gun factory.  That did not work out too well.  The man figured he had some shot left, and a rifle, for all the good it did him.  He frankly ran out of range and hid when the others got killed by the strangers with real guns.

“Guns to put my rifle to shame,” he mumbled, as his hands felt out the invisible wall he ran into.  He figured it went all the way around the enemy camp, and maybe underground, too, for all he knew.  He decided he would not be getting a horse, so he turned and began to walk.  With luck, he might be half-way to Hatra by morning.

###

When the morning came, Elder Stow got up early to check his screen device.  No one came down the road in the night.  That felt understandable.  In that day and age, only armies moved at night, and only if they were headed to a battle.  Elder Stow said good morning to Boston and Sukki, who had taken the early morning watch so they could rate the sunrise.  That morning got a seven, whatever that meant.

“Shouldn’t you be building up the fire and setting the water to boil for Lockhart’s fake coffee, as he calls it?” he asked.

“Yes, father,” Sukki responded.

Boston asked, “Why are you up so early?  What are you doing?”  She looked over Elder Stow’s shoulder.

“I was curious to see why we didn’t have any night visitors, but it seems we did.  Both appeared to stay away from the road, which is why the watchers did not see them.  Here.  See?  One came in about twenty feet above ground.  Checked around to the back and underground.  It must have been the wraith.”

“Can you track her?”  

“Yes, I believe I can.”  He fiddled with the settings on his scanner.  “See?  The signature plays out about a half-mile away, but I believe I can set the scanner to give us warning when she gets within range.”

Boston’s big elf eyes got extra big.  “Oh, she is not going to like that surprise.”

Elder Stow nodded.  “There is another, a human.  He did not stay long and headed off towards that city we came through.”

“Hatra,” Boston said, and when she explained it a couple of hours later, Xalazar responded.

“No, you can’t come with us. This is one situation I have to deal with myself.”

“I don’t understand,” Tony said.  “How is it we keep running into people with guns.  They should not be invented yet, should they?”

“Damascus,” Xalazar said, and nodded.  “They tried twice before Jesus was born—the obvious target if you intend to change all of history, and for the worse.  Bodanagus destroyed one factory and wouldn’t let Caesar have any guns.  You destroyed the factory and got the gun maker in Candace’s day.  They have tried twice since.  They gave Trajan guns, and that almost ruined everything.  Fortunately, in Ali’s day, the last of the guns got used to help fight off an invasion of Wolv, as you know.  Now, this time, they are trying a new tactic.  Instead of making weapons for the purposes of murder and assassination, or giving them to one power, like the Romans or Sassanids, who have taken over the old Parthian empire, they seem to be giving them randomly to merchants and traders on both sides.  It is like they are deliberately spreading them out to cause as much chaos as possible.  It is a headache.”

“We have been up and down the Tigris and the Euphrates,” young Arman said, with some excitement in his voice.  “We’ve been as far away as Antioch.”

“We barely stopped a shipment from going to Rome,” Sarkis, the Armenian said, and Marona, the old Assyrian soldier, nodded his agreement and lifted his eyebrows; like that was a story worth telling.

“The point…” Xalazar took the conversation back.  “We have narrowed it down to three merchants, three Magi still living, that I happen to know, personally.   They are meeting up in Hatra.  The thing is, the leader of the group is a young magus named Ramin Lajani, and I am ninety percent sure he is working for the Masters.  In which case, he has a life in the future, and if I can’t stop him, he may start to make more guns.”

The travelers all reacted, but Lockhart held up his hand and responded for them all.  “We saw Lajani in Hatra, last night, at the inn.  Katie and I were both bothered just to look at the man.  Now, what you say makes sense.”

Xalazar nodded.  “Good to have that confirmed by human eyes.  We will head that way.”

“We sent the caravan on ahead when we tried to ambush the group that was following us,” Sarkis said.

“That did not go too well,” Marona, the old soldier, admitted.

“Lucky you folks came along,” Sarkis agreed.

“The point is…” Xalazar tried again, and gave his companions hard looks to be sure they had finished interrupting.  “The point is, we sent the caravan ahead.  We will disguise ourselves and sneak into the town.  Hopefully, we will be able to find the guns, the merchants, and Lajani secretly, before they realize we are on to them.  You folks would probably put the magi on high alert.  They might all slip out of town and go who knows where, and we would be back to square one.”

The travelers understood well enough.  Even doing all they could to disguise themselves, like using Roman-style saddles and shaping their fairy weave clothes to imitate the local dress, they were a strange crew wherever they went.  Boston could cover her red hair with a glamour, but Katie’s blonde locks stood out in most places.  Decker and Nanette’s dark skin often stood out as well.  Decker and Lockhart were intimidatingly big.  Their horses were also bigger than normal and would be until the Middle Ages when people started breeding horses for size and strength—to carry those medieval knights.  Most of all, with six or seven on horseback, and one little wagon, they did not appear much like a merchant caravan, no matter how much they claimed to be.

 “Our job is to get home in one piece,” Lockhart responded to Xalazar, and no one objected.

###

Five days later, in the morning, less than a day from the time gate, Boston squawked.  “It moved!  The whole gate moved, right off my screen.”

“What?”  Lincoln shouted.  He whipped out the database for a quick look to see where it might have moved to.

“Let me see,” Katie said, and pulled out her proto-type amulet as they heard from Elder Stow.

“The time gate has disappeared from my scanner.  Have we lost it?”  He rode in from the wing.

“Setting it to maximum range,” Boston said.  “Wait.  Zeroing in.  It is back where it was.”

“Yes,” Elder Stow said when he arrived.  “It has reappeared.”

“I wonder what could have happened,” Katie said.

“It blinked,” Boston said.

“Keep moving,” Lockhart decided.  “Before it blinks again.”

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

MONDAY SPECIAL

Avalon 7.8 will again be a four part episode and be posted in a single week. Yes. Again there will be posts on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, AND Thursday, so don’t miss it. The travelers go through the time gate and come out in the same place, except 20-25 years later. Perhaps at the end of episode 7.7 I should have said To Be Continued… Avalon7.8 Ambush begins on Monday. Until then, Happy Reading

*

Avalon 7.7 Guns Between the Rivers, part 3 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Katie crouched behind a tree, and Lockhart leaned against his tree, a hand on his own shoulder.  “Not broken,” he said.  They surprised three gunmen in the trees.  Katie shot two of them before they could move, but the third one spun and used his primitive rifle like a club.  He gave Lockhart a glancing blow on his shoulder even as Lockhart pulled the trigger on his shotgun and blasted the man back about five feet.  That man would not be moving again, but meanwhile, Lockhart rubbed his shoulder.

“Later,” Katie said.  “I sense two more up ahead.”

Lockhart nodded, only squinted a little as he carefully shouldered his shotgun and pulled his police special 38.  He nodded to say he was ready, and the couple inched forward through the trees.  After a dozen yards, Katie shouted.

“Down,” and she shoved Lockhart behind a tree.  Two of those primitive rifles fired at more or less the same time.  Katie scraped her leg, either by a bullet or fallen branch from the tree.  The men had swords and charged, screaming murder.  Katie, from her seat, and Lockhart from behind the tree quickly put the men down.

“A one-shot, muzzle-load rifle isn’t much good after you take your shot and miss,” Katie said.

“Good thing they didn’t invent the bayonet,” Lockhart agreed and held out his good arm.  She took his hand, and he helped her to her feet.

###

Boston and Sukki imagined they had the easy job.  They were invisible, and all they had to do was make sure none of the gunmen tried to escape on horseback.  They went to where the enemy horses had been tied off, and sat, and talked.  Of course, four of the gunmen quickly realized the men in the rocks were protected from their bullets, and some unknown enemy had gotten behind them.  They ran to the horses.

Two of the gunmen got up on horses before Boston and Sukki could react.  Boston reached in her slip, went right over her wand, and pulled her Beretta.  She shot one of the men, and he peeled off the back of the horse and fell to the ground.  Sukki did not know what to do.  She had a big knife, the best she ever saw, but she did not have a gun.  She raised her hand.  She tried to lessen the power of her heat-ray, as Lockhart called it, but all she did was spread it out.  A great white light came from her whole hand.  The man and his horse fried, and two other horses, one on either side of the man, got burnt.

“Sorry.  I didn’t mean it,” Sukki shouted to the horses, and she clenched her hand into a fist, once again afraid of the power within her.

One of the other gunmen pulled up his rifle and fired at the source point of the white light.  He figured it out, and Sukki, though invisible, shrieked and fell.  Boston whipped around but had to shoot the one man that got too close to her and the horses.  Someone else fired a handgun.  Three bullets took out the gunman that shot Sukki.

Boston looked.  “Lincoln, hurry.  Sukki’s been shot.”

Lincoln ran to Boston’s voice, but he could not see anyone.  “Where is she?” he asked, even as Boston became visible.

“Here,” Boston yelled before she spoke in her normal voice.  “Over here,”

Sukki sat up and grimaced.  She held her side where a few drops of blood pushed from the hole to redden her fingers and drip on the ground.  Sukki appeared out of nowhere and commented.  “Elder stow must be watching on his scanner,” she said.  “There must not be any more gunmen around.”

“Good thing Alexis sent me to check on you two,” Lincoln said, as he and Boston got Sukki to her feet.  “We need to get her to Alexis.  Sorry we don’t have Elder Stow’s device handy to pull the bullet out cleanly.”

“Here.  It fell out.”  Sukki handed the bullet to Boston.  “It did not penetrate very far, but, oh, it hurts.”

Boston grinned.  “Pressurized fish skin,” she said.  “Thank you, Mama Doris.”

“She can’t hear you,” Sukki said, as they began the walk to where Alexis could practice her healing arts.  “The gods have all gone over to the other side.”

“Still,” Boston grinned some more.  “They made you like Supergirl before they left.”

“Hush,” Lincoln said.  “You are still bleeding.  We have to get you to Alexis.”  He helped her walk for a minute before he added, “Besides, bullets bounce off Supergirl.”

A few minutes later, Alexis got Sukki up in the back of the wagon and laid her hands on Sukki’s wound.  They heard from the others.  Katie called.

“Boston.  Report.  Alexis, what is your condition?”

Boston shouted into her wristwatch communicator.  “Sukki got shot.”

“What?”  They heard Elder Stow.

“It is minor,” Lincoln interrupted.  “The bullet hardly penetrated her skin and fell out. There was a little bleeding, but Alexis has stopped that. What?”  After a slight pause, he continued.  “She would rather not move Sukki and the wagon across country.  She says you should come up here, and we can camp by the road tonight.”

“Boston.  What about the enemy horses?”   Katie spoke, but they heard others speaking in the background.

“We left them there,” Boston admitted.  “My sister got shot, and Nanette and I have been crying.”

“Stay where you are,” Katie said.  “We will pick the horses up on the way.  Out.”

Nanette looked miffed.  “You didn’t have to tell them I was crying.”

“Yes, she did,” Alexis said.  “She is an elf, and a blabbermouth.”

Boston ignored them both and stared at Sukki.  “But Sukki.  What are you crying for?  Does it hurt?”

“No,” Sukki said.  “I just never had sisters before.  I love having sisters.”

“Nanette’s the eldest,” Boston said, happily.  “We have to listen to her, sometimes.”

“I’m the youngest,” Sukki said.  “There is still so much I have to learn about being human.”

Nanette smiled and placed a hand on Boston’s shoulder.  “So, sister blabbermouth and I need to get a fire started and see what there is to cook for supper.”

Boston nodded and stepped off to gather some wood.  She said, “Blabber, blabber, blabber,” and added a couple of “Hoop, hoops,” just for old time’s sake.

###

“My companions, yes,” Xalazar took a stick and stirred the fire as the sun began to set.  All of the travelers looked at him, and his companions stayed silent, wondering what he might say.  “Sarkis, here, is Armenian.  A trader in fine cloth, and a fine negotiator.  He is also a Christian, and not a thief, despite what you may have heard about Armenians, in general.  He is definitely not a thief.”

Sarkis lowered his eyes and sighed.  Most of the others laughed, softly.

“Marona,” Xalazar put a hand on the old man’s shoulder.  “He is Assyrian, an old soldier who doesn’t like the Parthians.”

“Not too fond of the Romans either,” Marona said.

Xalazar nodded in agreement.  “I believe he is looking for one last hurrah—one last adventure before his age catches up with him.  I am just sorry hanging out with me might get boring.”

Marona laughed.  In fact, most of the people laughed and snickered, as if the life of the Kairos could ever be boring.

“Arman,” Xalazar pointed to the young man.  “He is Persian, or Sasanian as they are being called these days, and a Magi, a priest in training you might say.  He follows me around, waiting for words of wisdom to drop from my lips.  He may have to wait a long time for that to happen.”

This time, people simply smiled as Arman spoke.  “Your words are wiser and more real than anything I ever heard from my teachers.”

Xalazar raised an eyebrow.  “Arman is also a magician.  I am technically a Magi, but there is little magic in my bones.  Just so you know, Arman; Nanette, Alexis, and Boston also have magic in their blood.  Maybe they could teach you something useful.”

Arman reached his hands out, and the fire log lifted from the fire to float a good foot above the rest.  He smiled, like he was showing off.

“Put it down,” Marona said, gruffly.  “You are going to mess up our supper.”

“I can do that,” Nanette interrupted, and returned Arman’s smile before she concentrated.  A second log slowly rose from the fire, but it didn’t look too steady.  Boston shot a short stream of flame from her hand to the fire.  It startled the two magicians, and the logs fell back into the campfire.  Alexis and Katie quickly kept the logs contained, so they did not roll out from the circle of rocks.

“Cut it,” Boston said. “Alexis and Lincoln are working hard on supper, and I’m hungry.”

“Of course, Boston is not exactly human,” Xalazar said.

Sarkis and Arman paused to stare once more at Boston and her red hair.  Marona did not sound surprised.  “One of yours?” he said, casually to Xalazar, and both men nodded at the same time.

Something in the darkening wilderness howled.

“Not to worry,” Elder Stow spoke right up.  “I have the screens set around us, with enough room for the horses to graze, but not get lost.  It blocks the road, though.  We will have to watch in case some travelers come along in the night.”

“Standard watch,” Lockhart said.

“But that reminds me,” Lincoln said.  “Ever since the goddess took away the wraith’s ability to make giant predators, we haven’t heard from her.”

“The bridge at Nineveh,” Alexis countered.

“Yeah,” Boston blurted out in an excited voice.  “She tried to make the water babies flood the bridge while we were on it.”

“And I missed it?” Xalazar responded, in the same tone.

“I know,” Boston said, and turned to Xalazar’s companions.  “The water babies are so cute.”  People felt warm on the word, cute, but Xalazar had to answer.

“Basically,” he began, and paused to think a moment.  “Basically, the gods are gone.  The wraith was right about that.  But she has no real power to harm you, directly, at least that I can think of.  And since she cannot get into your heads anymore, all she can do is set the circumstances to try and frighten you to death.  I imagine that would be very hard to do.  You can defeat her with courage, plenty of magic, or maybe Elder Stow’s weapon.  Mostly, I would say, stick together.  Where is Tony?”

“Right here,” Tony said from the other side of the fire. “Last time I checked on Ghost by myself, she caught me and turned me into a giant, with no will of my own.”

“I’ll check on the mule and horses with you,” Decker volunteered.  “I’m getting hungry and would rather do something to distract my attention.”

“I’ll come,” Marona said, as the old soldier stood with them.

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

Tomorrow

Don’t forget Avalon 7.7 is a four-part episode. Part 4 of 4 will post tomorrow, on Thursday. Enjoy

*

Avalon 7.7 Guns Between the Rivers, part 2 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers crossed Mesopotamia to near the mid-point, spent one dull night in Hatra, and left Hatra on the morning of the fourth day since entering that time zone.  Apart from that one incident at the bridge in Nineveh, the journey had been quiet and peaceful, and maybe overall dull.  They had no trouble getting in and out of the city, strange looking caravan though they were.  Boston, Alexis, and with help, Nanette, all wore glamours that made them look like young, beardless men.  Decker and Nanette rode side by side and claimed to be Egyptian, which no one doubted.

Lockhart and Tony took turns driving the wagon through the towns, while the undisguised women, Katie and Sukki, rode in the wagon, like any women would in that day and place.  They agreed and disguised their movement through populated areas to reduce the number of questions they got from strangers and soldier on the way.  Of course, having an elect and a super powered cave woman guarding their things was not a bad idea in a place like Hatra, a city big enough to have thieves.  Besides their supplies, the wagon carried their spare horseshoes and nails, and mostly the western saddles they were not allowed to use for another thousand years.  These were things covered with a tarp and best not shown, much less closely examined by a thief, or for that matter, a soldier with a brain.

Lockhart drove the wagon into the city of Hatra.  They found a place to stay for the night, and for the first time, Lockhart got Elder Stow to put a disc alarm on their things.  If anyone disturbed them or even touched them in the night, the travelers would know.  Katie put her rifle in the wagon but kept her sidearm.  Lockhart added his shotgun to the pile, now that they did not have to worry about giant rats.

Supper was quiet.  Most watched the three men that sat in the corner.  Two looked middle-aged, like in their late thirties.  One looked considerably younger, like in his mid-twenties, but he seemed to be the one in charge.  Men came in and out of the inn several times during the meal.  They all appeared to report to the men at the table, and the young one gave them instructions and sent them back out.  

“Wonder what that is all about,” Lockhart said, quietly.

“Nosey?” Boston asked.

Lockhart shook his head.  The young man gave him uncomfortable feelings, like maybe his police instincts were acting up.

“I feel it too,” Katie admitted.  “Something is not right there.”  Katie’s elect instincts were highly refined but made to recognize dangers to home and family.  Home was presently mobile, but all of the travelers were like her family.  She shook her head, not quite understanding the message she was getting.  They looked at Boston.

Boston squinted.  “I feel something wrong with them, but I’m not sure you can trust my feelings right now.  I’m starting to find most human beings creepy.  I wish Roland was here.”

The men got up and left the inn.

Tony leaned over from the other table. Apparently, they noticed, too, though it would have been hard not to notice as the men kept staring back at the travelers.  “The young one is Ramin Lajani, if that name means anything to you.  Alexis asked the innkeeper.”

People shook their heads.  The name Ramin Lajani did not ring any bells, so thy let it go.  

The beds were full of bugs, and Katie pointed out that they would probably be full of bugs right up until the twentieth century.  Lockhart only nodded and tried not to snore.

In the morning, Tony had another turn with Ghost, and everything went well, until they got about three hours out of town.  They heard gunfire.

Decker, Boston and Sukki all raced to the others.  Elder Stow came more slowly, glancing at his scanner as he rode.  Everyone waited until he arrived and spoke.

“There are four people trapped against a rock.”  Elder Stow pulled up a holographic image of the area.  “There are four red dots here, people trapped against this rock, with rocks and trees for cover.  About a dozen men with primitive rifles have them surrounded.  You see the yellow dots.  Yellow is for danger.”

Lockhart understood, and his immediate concern became the people trapped beside the rock.  “Elder Stow, can you fly invisible to the red dot people and throw a screen around them to protect them from the bullets?”

“They may freak out when I appear out of nowhere,” Elder Stow said, and added, “Did I use the right expression?  Freak out?”

People nodded.  Boston grinned deeply and patted the Gott-Druk on the shoulder while Lockhart spoke.  “Stay invisible if you feel that is necessary.  We have our wristwatch communicators. Let us know what you find.”

“It may be the Kairos,” Boston said, flipping instantly in her attitude, the way fairies and young elves do.  She changed from pride in Elder Stow to deep concern in her voice.

“I could go with you,” Sukki caught Boston’s concern and volunteered for Elder Stow.

“Can you go invisible?” Katie asked.

“I don’t think so,” Sukki answered.  “But I still have the disc father gave me.”

Lockhart nodded and pointed at the holographic projection.  “Go invisible with Boston.  Their horses are here on the right, at the edge of the trees.  You two need to prevent the gunmen from escaping, and Boston, if they resist you, you do have permission this time to end their resistance.  The Kairos was clear about that. Any artifacts or people out of time need to be dealt with.  End of story, only, try not to set the woods on fire, you two.”

“The Kairos said anyone with a gun before guns are invented should be considered an enemy combatant,” Katie added her assurance.

“He said they should be eliminated,” Decker spoke more to the point.  “I’ll come in from the left.”  He looked at Nanette.  “Do you want to come?”

“Yes…no,” she decided.

“I’ll take Tony,” Decker said.

“Lincoln and Alexis?” Lockhart raised his voice.

“We have the wagon,” Lincoln responded.

Katie turned to Nanette.  “Better you stay and help Lincoln and Alexis guard the wagon and our horses.”  Nanette nodded her agreement.

“Why take me?” Tony asked, and pulled his revolver to stare at it with uncertainty on his face.  Decker put a hand on Tony’s shoulder and turned him to start walking.

“I looked at the timeline Lincoln calculated. You better start learning now.  You are going to need it when you get home.”  Decker did not say, because Tony would land somewhere at the start of a world war.  He definitely did not say World War I.

“Best go,” Elder Stow said.  He put his scanner away and went invisible, which made Sukki invisible as well.  Boston, who could still see the invisible Sukki walked with her before she also went invisible, as elves do.

Lockhart and Katie took a minute to help Nanette and Alexis secure the horses to the wagon, while Decker turned his fairy-weave clothing to camouflage fatigues and got Tony to do the same.  As those two walked off, Decker looked like he wished he had something to chew on.  Tony still looked uncertain.

“You know, a couple of months ago I was happily sculpting things in clay and playing with my potter’s wheel,” Tony said, a bit loud, and sounding nervous.

“Shut-up,” Decker responded, even as Katie and Lockhart started down the middle, rifle and shotgun at the ready.

Elder Stow arrived first at the four men in the rocks.  “Xalazar,” he shouted to the men who were busy keeping their heads down.  They all had bows and arrows, and a variety of knives, spears, and swords ready when needed, but then, they all looked the same.  The Kairos was not wearing his easy to identify armor.

“Over here,” one of the older men said, and Elder Stow set down next to the man while he fiddled with his screen device.

“Should I become visible?” Elder Stow asked.

“Please,” the man said.  “Good, or bad timing as usual, depending on how you look at it.”

Elder Stow turned on the screen device with an apology.  “It was done in haste.”  They heard several trees snap in half, and a few rocks got sliced with a razor clean cut.  They watched one tree hit the screen bubble and slide slowly to the ground.  “I did not trap any of the gunmen inside the screens,” he added, as he adjusted his invisibility device.  He became visible, but he wanted Sukki to stay invisible until she finished her task.

“Decker screens?” Xalazar asked.

Elder Stow shook his head.  “That will take a bit more work in this case.  Personal screens are not made to cover a whole area, much less to deploy one-sided, so we can shoot out and they cannot shoot in.  Arrows won’t make it out through the screen in any case.  It has to do with force, speed and mass…” he paused in the explanation.  “Well, Boston and Sukki would understand the math.”

As the four men and Elder Stow stood, a half-dozen guns fired from the trees.  Of course, the bullets bounced off the screen, even as Elder Stow and Xalazar heard a different gun fire in the distance.

###

Decker found a boulder outside the line of trees.  He climbed up and saw three gunmen sneaking around behind the trees, clearly trying to get to where they could come up on the flank, or maybe get behind the men in the rocks.  

“Keep your head down,” Decker said, as he snapped his scope on to the rifle.  He shot the man in the middle in the shoulder, which caused all three men to turn and face the sound.  Decker fired three shots in rapid succession, hitting all three men in the chest.  They went down.  Whether they were dead or would soon be dead did not matter.  They would not be sneaking up on anyone.

Tony fired his pistol, twice.  A fourth gunman tried to sneak up on them.  He had shouldered his primitive rifle and held a long knife in his hand.  Tony fired twice, thinking he may have missed with his first shot.  He got startled by the man, but the man did not get close enough to use that knife.

“Don’t dwell,” Decker said, as Tony stared at the man and at his pistol.  He got Tony moving as they heard more rifle fire in the distance, and Lockhart’s big blast of a shotgun.