Avalon

Avalon 7.0 Brigands, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“They are off the scanner,” Elder Stow admitted in the morning.  He gave the scanner a little shake, but it did not help.

“They must have moved in the night,” Lockhart said, what many thought.

“I should have anticipated this,” Arias scolded herself.

“With luck, they went into Larissa at first light,” Althea suggested, trying to sound positive.

“Not lucky,” Arias countered.  “Larissa is a real city, with a number of gates and a number of roads that lead off in every direction.”

“I wish the Princess was here,” Sophia said.

“Why is that?” Alexis asked.

“Hunting and tracking is what Princesses do best,” Sophia responded with a big grin.

“Gifted by Artemis,” Arias explained.

“Artemis would help,” Katie said.

“Can’t,” Arias said.  “The gods can’t interfere in that way, you know.”

The travelers and Amazons crossed the river bridge at Metropolis where they picked up some food for the journey.  Only Boston looked for the Daily Planet building.  When they actually stopped for lunch on the path they called a road, Elder Stow got excited.

“I got them.  They are in the city ahead of us.”

“Great.  Wonderful,” people said.

“They appear to be alive, as far as I can tell.”

“Thank God,” Alexis said.

“Have they stopped moving?” Lockhart wondered.

‘Let me bring this up,” Elder Stow said, and the scanner projected a three-dimensional map of light.  He zoomed into the city, but when he got to the street level, the map became fuzzy to look at.  Only two red dots stood out against the cityscape.  Arias and Sophia looked as carefully as they could and agreed.

“They are in the warehouse section by the river,” Arias said.  “We need to enter the city and bypass them to talk to Leodis first.”

“Rachel will help,” Sophia said.

“Leodis?” Alexis asked, and Lincoln got out the database to see what he could find out.

Arias nodded.  “Larissa is a democracy with a king.  The legislature is the city assembly, but the executive is the king.  That would be Leodis’ ancient father, but Leodis and his wife, Rachel, run most of the operations these days.”

Decker shared his thought.  “If they are in a river warehouse, they might be looking for riverboats to lose us on the water.”

Lockhart agreed.  “If we bypass them to go through channels, they might escape.”

“We can set some guards while the rest of us go to the palace,” Arias said, and they spent the rest of their lunchtime planning to do that.  The only interruption came when Arias asked Althea a question.  Althea did not answer the question.

“I’m drooling over that scanner.  We don’t have anything nearly so capable or sophisticated, even in 2160.”

“This toy?”  Elder Stow shook his head.  “This is only a little thing such as a ship’s officer might carry on his person to play with when he is bored.”

“Where on Earth did you get that?” Althea asked.

“Not on Earth.  It came from the Gott-Druk new home world.  My planet.”

“You are Gott-Druk?” Althea’s eyes widened.  “I—Erica me—has only heard rumors.  You are like legends.”

“Gott-Druk?” Sophia asked.

“Neanderthals,” Lockhart said and left it at that, but Katie thought she better explain.

“Elder Stow and Sukki’s people were taken into space at the time of the flood.  They were given a new home world where they could survive and prosper.”

“The flood?” Sophia asked, but quickly figured it out.  “Oh.  Noah.  The flood.”

“Yes,” Elder Stow huffed.  “And it has only taken us ten thousand years to figure out the new home world is a good place, and we were not cursed by being taken away from Earth.”

“And Sukki?” Sophia asked.  “They don’t look Neanderthal.”

“Thanks,” Sukki said.  “I was practicing being human.”

“And you do it well,” Alexis said.  “They wear a glamour.”

“And Boston?” Arias asked.

Everyone paused.  Boston also wore a glamour to make her appear human, but clearly, Arias noticed something.  Boston did not mind.

“I’m an elf.”  Boston lifted her glamour briefly to show her pointed ears and all, but put it back on after a few seconds.

“Little one,” Althea said in a reverential tone, and lowered her eyes.  “The little ones have always been a sign of good fortune for the Amazon nation.”

Boston grinned.

“Fair enough,” Lockhart said.  “But now we need to figure out how to divide our forces and make sure the brigands don’t escape down the river.”

###

Inside the warehouse, Evan and Millie sat beside each other and nibbled on the bread Philocrates procured for their sustenance.  Chloe and Libra, ten and twelve-year-old girls, sat behind them for protection.  They did not talk much, but mostly they encouraged each other to hold on.  Have faith.  The others would find them.  Chloe and Libra insisted Queen Arias would save them.  Evan and Millie felt sure the travelers would find them, and Elder Stow might already have them on his scanner.

Mylo stared at Millie from across the room, but Philocrates slapped him in the arm.  “Hands off,” Philocrates said.  “You know used goods don’t fetch nearly so much in market.”

“If they catch us, we may never get to market,” Mylo countered.  “And I will have left a prime female untouched.”

“Chief,” one of the men spoke.  “Why are we dragging around the man?”

“He will fetch something at market,” Philocrates hedged.  “Besides, if they catch us, as Mylo suggests, we may need him for bargaining.”

“I don’t like hurting a servant of the gods,” a second man spoke, and several men nodded in agreement.  When Philocrates looked at him, the man explained.  “Where else would they get those Seleucid weapons? I heard after Athens, they all got rounded up and destroyed.”

“Gumbs,” one of the men tried to remember the name of the weapons.

“A quick strike to steal the temple gold and race out of town did not work too well,” Mylo teased a little, and Philocrates slapped his arm again.

“We had no idea those people would be there, or the Amazons.”

“Maybe that village was not such a good idea,” one man dared to say it.

“We had no idea it was an Amazon village,” Philocrates raised his voice.

“But now we got no money.”

“We are going to be caught,” one of the men said.

“Now, just hold on,” Philocrates raised his hands to calm the men.  “No one knows we are here.  And since Phillip V and the Romans made peace, the whole city has relaxed.  The prince of the city isn’t out looking for spies or enemies.  Larissa is a big place, with plenty of gates and roads.  We just need to keep quiet, and by the time they get done checking all the ways out of the city, it will be dusk, and we can steal a riverboat and be gone.  They don’t know we are here.  Just don’t be loud and stupid today, and we will get away in the dark.”

“Then what?” Mylo asked.

“Then…”  Philocrates had to think a minute.  “We take the road off the river and make our way to Herakleion, where we can sell our wares and get some new horses.  Then we just follow the coast road around to Chalkidiki.  I have some family there and we should be safe enough.”

The men grumbled, but no one objected to the plan.  As the men returned to their lookout duty, Philocrates slapped Mylo’s arm again.  “Hands off,” he said.

At that same time, Althea, Meriope, and some thirteen Amazons climbed on to boats and scrunched down behind ropes, barrels and boxes of merchandise on the dock where they could cut off the brigands from the riverboats.  Decker watched the front door, while Elder Stow kept one eye on his scanner. Boston and Sukki found a side door, where all the brigand horses had been tied up, out in the sun.

“We found the horses,” Boston spoke into her wristwatch communicator.

“Front door covered,” Decker said.  “Amazons have the river.”

“Good,” Lockhart responded through his wristwatch.  “Hopefully, we won’t be long.”

“Boston,” Alexis spoke into her own wristwatch.  “You are not allowed to go invisible and try to sneak in to see Evan and Millie.  You need to wait until we get there, or until we get the go ahead.”

“Oh, puts,” Boston said, but into her wristwatch she said. “Roger.  Out.”

They sat in silence for a minute before Sukki asked, “Are you going to do it anyway?”

“I’m thinking about it,” Boston answered.

At the palace, Lockhart grabbed his shotgun and Katie grabbed her rifle.  They did not expect trouble, but they did not want the palace guards playing with the equipment.  Lincoln carried the database, and Alexis carried her medical bag, and her own wand, if she needed it.  Arias and Sophia got down, and with an honor guard of six Amazons, they all marched into the palace.

A woman ran to Sophia and gave her a hug.  “Leodis was just asking about you.”  The woman appeared obviously pregnant.  Alexis and Katie wondered about Sophia, and Katie especially wondered about Arias, because Arias did not appear to be in the kind of perfect shape Katie expected from an elect.  Sophia could not keep her mouth closed.  She explained.

“Rachel is in her sixth month.  I’m just starting my second.  Arias is in her third.”

“The Princess is in her seventh month,” Arias said.  “She is ahead of us all.”

“No,” Sophia said.  “Rachel is ahead.  She has a three-year-old son.”

“Jacob.”  A man down the hall yelled for the three-year-old boy that escaped his hand and went running to his mother.  Rachel paused, and moaned while she picked up the boy who wanted to hide his face in his mother’s shoulder in front of all these strangers.

The man, Leodis, Prince of Larissa arrived, and Arias immediately began to explain their situation.

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

MONDAY

Millie and Evan appear to be safe, but the brigands have them prisoners in a warehouse, so nothing is for certain.

*

Avalon 7.0 Brigands, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The priest passed out beside the altar.  Alexis could not wait.  She pulled the arm with the arrow away from the chest, so the arrowhead slipped out from the man’s side.  He still had an arrow through his arm, but Alexis felt one wound at a time.  The chest began to bleed, terribly.  Alexis pressed both hands against the wound and the whole area began to glow with a golden light.

The Priestess ran up.  She paused when she saw the magic glow around Alexis’ hands.  “Sophia.”  The priestess gave her name before she knelt beside Alexis to look at the man’s arm.

“Alexis.”

The priestess pushed the arrow further through the arm where she could snap off the arrowhead.  Alexis watched as Sophia carefully pulled the shaft from the arm.  The man moaned but did not wake.  Alexis almost said something.  She could not turn her magic on three wounds, and she dared not let go of the man’s chest until the wound closed up.

As the blood began to ooze from both sides of the man’s arm, Sophia covered both holes in the arm with her own hands.  A soft, white light surrounded the arm, and Alexis went back to concentrating on the chest wound.

Lincoln arrived by the altar and asked what he could do.  “Gauze and tape from my medical bag,” Alexis said.  “Better get me a couple of pain relievers.  Just give me the bottle.  The wounds will stay closed, but the pain relief magic will wear off fairly soon.”  Alexis saw Sophia nod.

The priest woke.  He spoke through his groggy state.  “Tell me again how you are simple travelers and not of the gods.”  The healing appeared pretty god-like to him.

Twenty warrior women came from the back of the temple to check on the enemy dead and wounded.  Three women came to the altar, not threatening, though they held long knives in their hands.  They appeared to want to be sure their priestess remained safe.  Lincoln grinned sheepishly for them and knelt closer to Alexis.

Three more warrior women jogged to the entrance even as Elder Stow and Sukki arrived.  Elder Stow carried his scanner and spoke to the travelers.  “I have Millie and Evan specified in the scanner.  We should be able to track them if they don’t get too far ahead of us.”

Althea perked right up.  “A real scanner?  Where did you get it?  It’s so small.  How can you specify two individuals?  Can I see it?”

Elder Stow looked at the woman, and looked willing, but Decker spoke.  “Probably not a good idea,”

“She is from about a hundred and fifty years in the future from us,” Lockhart said, and Elder Stow pulled his hands back with a word that said he would trust Lockhart.

“My father.”

Althea looked disappointed but nodded and backed off while Katie and Arias sized each other up.

“Elect,” Arias identified Katie.  Arias was also an elect, a one-in-a-million warrior woman, gifted with strength, agility, a sense when danger came near, and an ability to fight like a she-bear to protect the home and family. The ancient gods designed them that way.

“Second in all the world after Zoe,” Katie admitted.

Arias lowered her eyes briefly.  “I thought that might be the case.  The Princess would know.”

“Princess Cassandra?”  Katie asked, and Arias and Althea snickered.

“Just Princess,” Arias said.  “She hates her name, Cassandra.”

Althea added, “You call her Cassandra, and she will punch you in the arm, real hard.”

“I remember.  Princess, not Cassandra,” Lockhart said.  “From meeting her in the future,” he explained.

“Boss,” Boston interrupted.  “They all got horses.  How are we going to catch up with them when some of us are on foot?”

“Take their horses,” Arias shrugged at the obvious solution, but then the three warrior women could wait no longer.

“Majesty,” one of the women spoke.  “What are your orders?”

“I get to be the Amazon queen,” Arias whispered to Katie.

“Zoe says I’m not allowed to be an Amazon queen,” Katie responded in kind, as Arias turned to the women.

“Help the guardsmen clean up this mess, and then Meriope, you need to lead the women back to Amazon land.”  Meriope, an older woman, looked like she wanted to be stubborn.

“But Majesty, we haven’t caught the brigands yet.  There may be hundreds of them.  We don’t know how many.”

“Fair enough,” Arias said, not willing to argue.  “You can help us retrieve the ones kidnapped by this little breakaway group, but you must camp apart from these people, and after we save their friends, you must go back to Amazon land.  I will be traveling with these people to the Athol, and I don’t want to debate about it.”

Meriope looked like she might say something anyway, but all that came out was, “Yes, Majesty.”

###

Cleaning up took time.  Boston and Sukki got anxious, but there were seven dead and three badly wounded prisoners for the city guards to haul away.  Alexis said one of those prisoners would not last the night.  Sophia said good, but then she apologized.

Sophia also had another life in 1976, a young Lebanese woman named Lydia.  Lydia escaped Beirut in the early seventies to get away from the bloodshed.  She could not stand the bloodthirsty Greece Sophia lived in.  There were armies everywhere fighting each other, and everywhere in between, there were brigands, warlords, pirates, and you name it.  To be fair, Sophia had limited tolerance for bloodshed as well.

Arias later explained.  “That is why so many women, widows and children, have run away to the north where we made a small enclave of Amazon women.  We protect and defend each other from the madness all around us.  That doesn’t always work.  Some years ago, a half-Celtic, Macedonian general pushed a whole army through our land.  He had help from the Gallic people up by the Danube.  That was when the Emperor Phillip of Macedon was thinking of invading Epirus, and he wanted to clear the land to send through supplies.  Hundreds died.  Now, the warlord Xitides came through from Epirus.  God knows what he stole in Dodona.  But they burned, looted, and raped through one Amazon village.  I think Xitides knew better, but he could not stop the sex-starved men.  Now he is racing to Thermopylae, so he can get lost in central Greece and not have to worry about Phillip turning out the Macedonian army to chase him.”

“But he must have known you would chase him,” Katie said.

Arias nodded.  “But I know Xitides.  He will give me the ones responsible, or tell me where I can find them, and that will be that.”

Lockhart and Katie got a mule to pull the wagon, so Katie, Lincoln, and Alexis all got cowboy horses.  The twenty Amazons brought the warlord horses that used to belong to the dead and wounded men.  Two would be available for Millie and Evan, once Millie and Evan got rescued.

The travelers and Amazons left the temple and the city before noon.  They rode as hard as the mule could handle.  They got close, but finally had to stop before dark.  The horses needed to rest and eat, and so did the humans.  Arias assured them that they would catch up before the brigands reached the city of Larissa.  Elder Stow more or less confirmed that.

The Amazons set up their own camp in the wilderness as instructed.  Katie, Boston, and a curious Lincoln had questions, but they refrained when Sophia explained.

“The Princess says the less exposure to future things, the better.  Too much information in the hands of smart people could change history in unpredictable ways.”

“She says knowledge of the future can be as dangerous as guns,” Althea added.

Heads nodded as Arias changed the subject.  “Let me get this straight.  You say Lady Alice, the Kairos we know as the Princes, has a crystal on Avalon that is recording all of human history.  And you were able to travel through the crystal to a point deep in the past.”

“The Heart of Time,” Alexis named the crystal.

“The Tower of Babel,” Katie mentioned where they ended up.

Arias responded with a nod.  “Then you say something like a time zone surrounds the Kairos—whichever life she is living at the moment.”

“Or he,” Lincoln said, and got quiet.

“And you say bracketing the time zone are two of what you call time gates.  One gate, the one you came through on Mount Olympus, brought you from the previous time zone, in the past.  The other will shoot you to the next time zone, in the future, and that might be a year, or it might be more than sixty years into the future all at once.”

“Yes,” Katie said.  “And we are trying to get home, one time gate at a time, but in every time zone we run into one snag or another.”

Sophia smiled about it.  “The Princess does tend to live in the eye of the hurricane, while everything dangerous swirls around her.”

“I hear that,” Decker said, and got up to cut another piece of lamb.

“Hey, I know,” Sophia continued.  “Why don’t you let the Princess send you back to Avalon?  Can’t you go back to the future through the crystal, the same way you came?”

“The Heart of Time only records what has happened up to the present,” Lincoln said.  “It doesn’t have a record of the future.”

“That hasn’t been written yet,” Arias understood.  “Even if it has been written in the future.”  It sounded confusing, but people grasped the concept well enough.

“No way back through the Heart,” Lincoln concluded.

“Actually,” Lockhart shared a thought.  “I believe the original plan was for Lady Alice in the future to reach back through the Heart and pull us out, sort of like she sent us into the past in the first place.  Unfortunately, the only way we could succeed in our task was for the Storyteller to leap into the void in the second heavens, back before history began.”

“The void?” Sophia asked.

“Sort of a swirling, pastel colored cloud of stickiness about the consistency of cotton candy,” Boston said.  “I didn’t taste it.  I should have tasted it.”

“Glen went missing?” Arias asked.  “But the Princess can still access him, you know, like make contact through time and even trade places with him through time.”

Althea interrupted.  “Her contact with him right now is to the year 2007.”  She turned to Katie.  “You said you came back into the past from the year 2010, and you have been traveling over three years so it is now 2013 for you, estimated.”  Althea paused to look at the others.  “My future life works records and such.  She is good with numbers and dates.”

“But that means the Princess is about three years behind,” Katie said, doing some figuring of her own.

“Six years,” Lockhart said.  “You say it is 2013 back home. From 2007, that is six years.”

“No,” Katie said.  “I meant three years behind 2010, the year the Storyteller disappeared into the void and everything got confused.”

Alexis had a thought.  “Maybe all of the persons of the Kairos are a little off time sync with each other.  That may be why Alice can’t bring us home the quick way.”  She explained for the others.  “That is why we have to get home the slow way, by way of the time gates.”

“But that gives us three years,” Lincoln said.  “And maybe more like two and a half years to get home before everything goes haywire and maybe everything shuts down, and we can’t get home at all.”

“What can we do?” Sukki asked, the fear and worry evident in her voice.

“Don’t worry about it,” Alexis said to comfort her.  “Two years from now I will let Benjamin worry about it.  He is a much better worrier than I am.”

“Thanks.”  Lincoln groused and Alexis kissed his cheek.

Avalon 7.0 Brigands, part 1 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

If you are new to the Avalon series, you can click on the tab above marked About Avalon.  You will find a page that will give you the table of contents for Season Seven as well as a one paragraph introduction to the season.  You can read character intros and a short introduction to the series itself.  Or, you can skip all that and just enjoy the story.  Happy Reading

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After 228 B.C. Athol Valley

Kairos lifetime 85: The Princess & Friends

Recording …

The travelers from Avalon came through the time gate among the rocks at the foot of Mount Olympus, even as the sun rose to light their way.  Lockhart and Katie, the leaders of this expedition through time, got down from Lockhart’s horse.  Lockhart led the horse.  Katie turned to help Evan guide the cowboy horse through the boulder-strewn side of the mountain to what looked like a road, and hopefully, without catching or wrecking the wagon that horse pulled.  The wagon held their equipment, including the unused cowboy saddles.  Overall, Katie imagined this journey had been easier when they all had horses of their own, but in this case, it seemed just as well that they had to walk.

The two Gott-Druk, which is to say, the Neanderthals on the expedition, Elder Stow and his adopted daughter Sukki, had to dismount right away for fear that their horses might slip on the uneven, rocky surface and break a leg.  “Careful,” Elder Stow said even as Sukki started to slip.  She caught herself before she banged her knee.

Major Decker, the Navy Seal trained Marine, took a good look at the surrounding countryside before he got down.  Lincoln and Alexis also got off the cowboy horse they shared even as Millie got down carefully from hers.  Millie shrieked a little as her horse stepped on a loose stone and wobbled.  Alexis caught the horse, but Millie looked like she feared she might be the one to fall.

Boston the elf, the former Massachusetts redneck who rode Rodeo in her youth, was the only one able to guide her horse to the road without mishap.

Evan, a doctoral student in antiquities, and his wife, Millie fell into the past from 1905.  Best estimates, given their years in the past, suggested their world had moved on to somewhere around 1912, if they ever got back to their own time.  Evan led the way, and held Millie’s hand through the rocks, offering his help where he could, a help she graciously accepted.

Lincoln, a former spook for the CIA, and Alexis, a former elf who became human to marry Lincoln, were the older couple in the group, having been married for over thirty-five years; an odd confession considering they looked to be in their mid-to-late twenties in age.  In truth, they got regenerated at the beginning of the journey.  Now, Alexis wanted another baby.  She said it would not do, to be younger than their children.  Lincoln rolled his eyes and said he would think about it.

Lincoln and Alexis came from the twenty-first century where men and women were not supposed to be treated differently.  As they brought the horses, Alexis had to find her own way through the rocks.  To be fair, Lincoln kept one eye on her, just in case.

Once on the road, an older man rushed up to meet them.  He seemed to want to bow between sentences while the half-dozen young, teenage-looking girls that followed him kept their eyes lowered, like they were fascinated with their own sandals.

“Praise the gods,” the man said.  “Thanks be.  How great a good fortune to see you step from a hole in the mountain where all the great gods reside.  How blessed to glimpse the land of plenty and glory from which you came.”  The man tried not to cry for joy.  A couple of the girls did cry.  “I must know.  Are you of the gods, or sent as messengers?”

Lockhart explained that they were simple travelers, and not gods or messengers sent by the gods. Even so, it took some time to convince the priest that he could stop bowing, and the young girls, who were acolytes, that they could look up without fearing a lightning bolt.

Meanwhile, Katie pulled out the prototype amulet she carried to check their direction. Boston came over, got down from her horse, and pulled out her more advanced amulet to compare.  Katie’s prototype projected a map, hard to see without excellent eyes, but one that clearly showed both time gates and suggested some of the objects, like mountains and rivers, that stood between.  Boston’s amulet map projected more details, showing cities and towns, sometimes farms, villages, and roads, and it also suggested where the Kairos might be, half-way between the two time gates.

“South,” Boston said, and looked up.

“Uh-huh,” Katie agreed.  “Welcome to Mount Olympus.”

Lincoln stepped up from one direction with the database in his hands.  Elder Stow came from the other direction with his scanner, but Lincoln spoke first.

“Of course, it is just a guess, but assuming we are in Greece, and judging where the little Athol Valley is located, this might even be Mount Olympus.”

“I wonder if Artemis is around,” Katie said, ignoring Lincoln and looking up at the mountain.

Decker came up to ask what was taking so long getting started.

“I wonder if Aphrodite is around,” Boston said, plenty loud.  Decker was presumably on Aphrodite’s list, whatever that meant.

Decker pointed at Boston.  “That was mean.  You are getting more elf-like by the day.”

“Thanks.”  Boston took that as a compliment and gave it her best ear-to-ear elf grin.

“My mother,” Elder Stow tried to get Katie’s attention.  He counted Katie and Lockhart as the mother and father of the group.  The Gott-Druk lived in a very family-oriented society.  Even military groups had a mother and father, elders (officers), youngers (non-coms), and children, who were the privates.  “My mother,” Elder Stow tried again, but Lockhart interrupted when he turned his head toward the group.

“Which way are we headed?”

“South,” Katie said.  She, Boston, and Lincoln all pointed in the same direction.

“Okay,” Lockhart told the priest.  “We will visit the temple, but only to see.  Then we have to go.”

“What?”  Katie kindly turned to Elder Stow

“I was just going to say, there is a settlement, a big town, or I suppose what these people might call a city.  It is just down the hill and around the corner, but apparently, we are going there.”

Katie nodded, but thought to shout to everyone.  “Wagon up front.  Horses to the rear.  We have guides out front.”  She looked at Lockhart, and he briefly nodded.

Pythion proved to be a nice little city, dedicated to Apollo Pithius, the name of a temple up on one of the summits of the mountain.  They also had a big temple to Apollo in the city, and held games dedicated to Apollo; but being at the foot of Mount Olympus, they naturally had a big, eclectic temple to all the Olympian gods.

When they arrived at the temple gate, they saw a couple of dozen horses tied up outside.  Boston commented that it looked like a regular parking lot.

“Tourist season,” Decker joked as they went in.

The half-dozen young women went straight to a back room, while the priest showed off the beauty of the temple.  The travelers thanked him but studied the fourteen statues.  Hades and Poseidon had their own alcoves, which left twelve Olympians in the main room: Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Hestia, and Zeus’ eight offspring.  The travelers could not help themselves and their comments.

“That does not look like Artemis,” Boston said.

“I can see Athena a little bit around the eyes,” Katie said.

“I don’t suppose you can really capture Aphrodite in stone,” Decker decided.

“No,” Millie said.  “That does not look like Vulcan.”  She used the Roman name that felt more familiar to her rather than the Greek Hephaestus.

“I see,” Evan agreed.  “They made him much too handsome.”

“He might appreciate that,” Lockhart suggested.

Only Lincoln, and mostly Alexis recognized the dropped jaw of the priest.  He looked undecided between scared and offended.  About the time he appeared to decide that these people were from the gods, despite what they said, Alexis caught his attention with a handful of gold and silver coins.  Alexis carried an emergency stash in her medical bag, which rarely left her side.  She thought she might need the coins at some point, though she honestly had not planned to give them away.

“Here,” she said, and handed them to the priest, whose eyes got big when he considered the value of the coins.  They were mostly Greek and Roman coins, though she might have had a couple of Chinese ones in there that she picked up from the last time zone.  “Consider this a contribution to the temple on our behalf.”

What could the man say except thank you.  He looked up at Alexis, and at the door, and ducked, but not fast enough.

“Incoming,” Lincoln yelled, just before a woman in the back yelled, “Fire.”  The travelers quickly pushed up among the statues, even as a dozen arrows sped toward the door.  There were men coming in the entrance, but no one imagined they came to worship.

Alexis pulled the priest to the ground behind the altar.  The coins scattered across the floor.  The arrow shot from the front door went through the man’s upper arm and poked into his chest near the heart.  She yelled, “Elder Stow, I need you.”

The men in the entrance ducked, though a couple got struck by arrows.  Then guns started going off, and men began to fall.  Decker had his rifle.  He rarely put it down.  But the others began to regularly wear their gun belts, so all except Millie and Evan came armed after a fashion.  Boston gave her Beretta to Sukki, since Boston had her wand, and a bow of her own from which she could fire magically explosive arrows.  Elder Stow, of course, had his heat-ray handgun, as Lockhart called it, and an assortment of other technologies on his person.

As the guns blasted, another volley of arrows came from the back.  Even so, two of the men grabbed Millie and Evan, who were closest to the front.  Millie screamed, briefly, but quieted as the gunfire stopped and she found a knife at her throat.  The man who grabbed Evan hollered.

“Everybody out.  We ride.”

The men, most of whom barely got inside, rushed back outside to their horses.  They dragged Millie and Evan with them.  Three women ran up from the back, though one, a priestess, stopped to help Alexis.  Katie, Decker, and Lockhart ran, and Boston ran elf fast, and they all got to the doorway in time to see the men ride off.  Decker raised his rifle, but Lockhart made him lower it.

“We want Evan and Mille in one piece, not to give them an excuse to hurt them.”

The taller woman in the door turned to the travelers and commented.  “Nice Pea-shooter.”  She said that in English, and the travelers had to pause to recognize their native tongue.  “Arias, the Amazon,” the woman said, and held out her hand to shake—a normal twenty-first century handshake.  Something happened, and at least Boston recognized right away that this woman changed to a different woman, even if she looked similar.  The others picked up that understanding when the woman spoke in a terrific English accent.  “In 1976, my name is Susan.”

Katie and Decker both shook the woman’s hand.  Decker paused, but Boston shouted out her revelation.  “Like the Kairos.  You have another life in the future.”

Susan nodded and changed back to Arias while she introduced her companion.  “Althea.”

Althea also changed, but obviously so.  She went from dark hair to blonde.  “Erica,” she said, and shook hands.  She added something that caused the travelers to seriously pause.  “2160.  Mars Station security coordinator.”

“Lockhart,” he said, as he shook Erica’s hand.  “Good to have another policeman around.”

“Police officer,” Erica said, as she changed back to Althea.

“Police person,” Katie agreed, and Arias grinned.  “Captain Katherine Lockhart, United States Marines.  2013 by our best estimate.  We left the future in 2010.”

“You left the future?” Arias asked.  Clearly, both sides had some explaining to do.

M3 Margueritte: Epilogue and Sneak Peek

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Margueritte took her time walking down the aisle in the new church built where the chapel had once been.  She never honestly thought of herself as better than plain looking, though many would have called her pretty; but on her wedding day, she was beautiful, as all brides are.

The thought of Abraxas came only once, unbidden, into her mind.  She knew she would have to do something, but not on her wedding day.

Charles stood as the best man and Tomberlain stood with him.  Elsbeth was the maid of honor and Jennifer stood beside her.  Bartholomew gave his daughter away, and Brianna cried, and Father Aden presided over a perfect ceremony. And when he got to the part where he asked her the question, she said, “Oui.”  Though it might have been “Weee!”

END

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MONDAY

We will be taking a break from our regularly scheduled program to present Avalon, Season Seven.  The season will run for 24 weeks, from March 22 through September 1,  Consider it summer vacation reading, as if we haven’t all been home and on virtual vacation for the past 12 months.

To those who have not read any of the Avalon stories before, let me assure you, they are written like a television series.  It is good to read the earlier episodes, but not imperative.  One episode, and you will get the idea, know who the characters are, and learn that they are trying to get back home to the 21st century while disturbing history as little as possible.  They travel through time gates that surround the various lives of the Kairos, a most peculiar person, who has the job of trying to keep history on track.  But you can figure that out easily enough, even starting with Season Seven.

Season Seven finds the travelers face to face with a monster who would like nothing better than to literally frighten the travelers to death in order to feast on their souls.  The wraith, a refugee from the land of the dead, has followed in the background since 3600 BC, waiting for the time of dissolution, when the gods go away.  Now, the travelers step over the line into the AD, the common era, and the wraith feels it is her chance.  She will have a few surprises for the travelers, who will have to fight to stay alive.

The second to last episode and the last episode in the season feature two people you may be familiar with.  Festuscato, the last Senator of Rome, where things don’t exactly go to plan.  And Gerraint, son of Erbin in the days of King Arthur.  The last episode is called The Guns of Camelot.  Something to look forward to.

Come September 6, just when everyone is getting into the return to school, assuming people will return to school this year (yes, plans are always subject to change), we will continue with our saga.  The Kairos Medieval 4 (M4): Saving the West.

First (6 weeks of posts) we will follow Festuscato, the Dragon, as he tries to return home, to Rome and his villa on the Appian Way, and to his comfy chair.  He just has one problem to deal with first, a Hun named Attila.

Next (6 weeks of posts) we will join Gerraint, the Lion of Cornwall, now older, in the last days of Arthur where everything leads to the final battle.   Don’t miss it.

Finally, Margueritte will return for 18 weeks of posts in The New Way has Come.  While she tries to help Charles Martel end the days of civil war, bring order out of the chaos that is Francia, and prepare for the inevitable showdown at Pontiers, she also watches the old Roman world dissolve and become the Middle Ages.  The change isn’t as hard as you may think.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that you can read all of the chronicles of the Travelers from Avalon.  The books are available at Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, Apple, Kobo, or wherever fine E-books are sold.  Please consider buying the book to support the author and remember, reviews matter.  Don’t forget to also pick up your copy of the prequel Invasion of Memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Season Seven, Wraith begins Monday.

Happy Reading.

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M3 Margueritte: Protect, Defend, part 3 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Margueritte knew the sword at her back was much too heavy, but Defender, the long knife that rested across the small of her back was just as sharp.  She drew it.  The blade looked nearly as long as her forearm.  “Babies.  Nest.”  She repeated herself, her eyes turned on the Irishman and his one surviving rogue.  “Protect.  Defend.  Babies in Nest.”

Three babies, one being runt, hesitated.  “Babies, Nest, Now!”  Margueritte yelled with her last ounce of strength.  They obeyed.  The babies had to obey, and Margueritte decided that Finnian McVey did not need to know she had nothing in reserve as long as she could hold the blade steady and stay on her feet.

Only then did she hear the horses.  They were nearly up the rise, and she had heard nothing sooner.  Finnian made a mad dash to grab her, risked the return of the baby horde, but a horseman arrived even as McVey grabbed the back of her hair.  Margueritte did not even have the strength to swing her blade.  Fortunately, Runt rushed there to take a chunk out of McVey’s hand, and then the horseman tackled the man.  It wasn’t much of a struggle.  McVey surrendered without a peep, and as Lord Bartholomew and Tomberlain arrived with the others, Roland turned to a fainting young woman.  Runt chirped a warning and Roland backed up, no fool.  He saw the dead men.

“Runt.  Friend.”  Margueritte said as she fell again to her knees.  “Babies.  Friend.  Babies.  Come.  Friend. Friend.”  Margueritte went nearly unconscious as she saw Runt and several of the babies sniffing Roland, and then not objecting as he went to lift Margueritte’s head from the ground.

All this while, Festuscato, Gerraint and many others volunteered to take Margueritte’s place for a time.  She refused.  She saw no point.  They would have simply become dragon food; but now she had a last thought.  “Alice,” she called out.  “Lady Alice.  Help me.”  She got dizzy and passed out.

Lord Bartholomew, Tomberlain and the half dozen with them kept a respectful distance from the dragon’s lair, even with Margueritte in distress in the entrance.  They jumped, though, when they heard a rumbling in the rocks.  Many looked up and around for fear the dragon returned.  They jumped further away, and some backed down the hill when a tunnel, or archway of some sort formed on the cliff face directly across from the cave entrance.

“Babies.  Friend.”  Margueritte breathed.  Runt came up real close and whined, almost cried, and laid its head near Margueritte’s face and uncomfortably close to Roland’s hand.

“Hush,” Roland said.  “Everything is going to be all right now.”

Clearly, Roland had no prophetic skill as Mother dragon chose that moment to return.  The horses had long since scooted down the hill to safety.  The men were less fortunate, having to scuttle and scrunch down behind the nearest boulder, not that they had any prayer of escape.

“Mother.  Friend.”  Margueritte tried to speak, but her words were hardly audible.  Only Runt and Roland heard her.

Roland stood and pulled his sword.  He became determined to at least try and protect Margueritte, and he honestly did not know what else to do.  Flames scraped up and down the rocky cliffs along with the tremendous roars of the enraged beast.

“Runt.  Friend.”  Margueritte said at last.  She did not imagine the beast would understand.  It seemed a difficult concept, but then Runt surprised her.  Dragons were so much smarter than normal, earthly animals.

Runt fluttered up in front of Roland to get between him and Mother.  “Friend.”  Runt said.  Mother might have fried Roland in any case, perhaps mistakenly frying Runt with him.  She looked that angry.  But then several other babies caught on, and they came up beside runt and added their voices.  “Friend.  Friend.”  Then they heard a sound none expected.  It was a woman’s voice.

“Friend.”  The voice said, and it penetrated to the core of every mind present.  “No fire.  No harm.”  The woman said.

Alice came out of the archway.  Margueritte sighed and almost gave herself over again to unconsciousness.

Mother dragon was not inclined to listen, so Alice pointed something at the dragon which looked like a mere stick, or maybe a magic wand.  The dragon froze in place and appeared unable to move a muscle.

“What magic is this?”  Margueritte heard her father’s voice.

“Powerful,” a man said.  Margueritte thought it might have been Chief Brian’s voice.

“Not magic.  A simple device.”  Alice spoke with such sweet joy in her voice it made everyone feel like smiling.  Yes, Margueritte thought, that was right.  Alice had no natural magic.  She had the technology, though.  Then Margueritte paused and puzzled.  How would she know what Alice had or did not have?

“Mother.  New Home.  New Nest,” Alice said.  “Babies, come.  New home, new nest.”  Alice pronounced the words exactly right and in the Agdaline way.  The babies came and flitted through the archway against the rocks to disappear from this world altogether.  Only runt paused long enough to lick Margueritte’s face once before departing.

Then Alice shook a stern finger in Mother Dragon’s face.  “No fire.  No harm.”  She insisted with the tone and inflection of the Agdaline.  If the creature had not gone completely wild, it had to respond.  “Follow babies.  New home. New nest,” Alice said, and she set the beast free.  It understood well enough but paused to look in Margueritte’s direction.

“Baby?”

“Good-bye, Mother.”  Margueritte said, and the dragon went through and left one acid-filled tear to splash on the rocks and steam into the air.  Even with Roland once again holding her head, Margueritte could barely see into that other world.  It looked dark, like night, and full of rocks and with distant flashes of light which might have been lightning but might also have been a distant volcano.  Then the archway faded away and only Margueritte, Alice and the men remained outside the now empty tomb; the place that had once been the dragon’s lair.

“Lady Alice.”  Margueritte’s father spoke again.

“Those were words you were speaking to the dragon.”  She heard Thomas of Evandell.

“They were,” Alice said, as she stepped toward the men.  They had Finnian McVey tied by then and his man, whose finger refused to stop bleeding.

“And the dragon answered you.”  Thomas the bard said, intuitively learning something that even the druids only suspected.  “What a marvelous tone and how impossible to repeat,” he concluded.

“Unless you’ve got dragon lips,” one man said, softly.

Alice merely smiled and put something on the man’s bleeding finger.  It immediately stopped bleeding and skin grew across the cut not leaving so much as a scar.  He would never have a finger again, but he went to tears all the same out of gratitude.  Likewise, Alice treated Finnian McVey’s hand and several who had been burned, a couple rather badly, and they also healed instantly.  She called the horses, and they came, though they remained skittish, at the edge of the hill.  Alice only had to point, and several men, Tomberlain included, scooped up the dead men and tied them face down over three of the chargers.

Roland picked up Marguerite like a paper doll.

“Sir Roland.”  Alice spoke, and he gave the Lady his full attention.  “Give her this.  One tablespoon every four hours until it is gone.  She should recover.”

“But she is skin and bones.  She must be starved to death.”  Roland said in a desperate voice.

Alice paused and turned to Sir Bartholomew to give him the potion.  “It is Heinrich’s meal.  It is what they give men who have been stuck in lifeboats or without proper food for long periods of time.  See that she takes it properly.”

Lord Bartholomew nodded and accepted the jar like it was crystal, though it would not have broken, no matter how roughly handled.

“Wait.”  Margueritte spoke up as she just figured something out.  Alice was her in another life, she remembered.  “But how can I be in two places at once when I am only conscious of one at a time?” she asked.

“It is a trick,” Alice said, with her warmest smile.  “But you have been thus divided in every life, though you almost never know it.”  And she vanished, to the amazement of all.  And Margueritte, securely in Roland’s arms thought it was time to go ahead and go seriously unconscious.

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MONDAY

Things get back to normal, or as Margueritte calls it, “Dull, dull, dull, and Latin every Wednesday,” but the condition doesn’t last for long.  The Breton decide to take a census, and the trouble begins. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

*

M3 Margueritte: Year of the Unicorn, part 3 of 3

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Owien did not move.  He could not believe seeing a real unicorn, and when he saw the fairies, he almost fainted.  They were holding hands and dancing in a circle about five feet from the ground, chanting.

“Hurry, hurry Avalon

Under moon and under sun

Make a way to Kairos hold

Make a door for travelers bold.”

The children imagined listening to a bear thrash through the woods, the growl of the cat and the serpent slithering through the leaves, but with that chant, Margueritte perked up.  “How many miles to Avalon?” she asked.

“Three score miles and ten.”  The fairies answered in unison.

“Can I get there by candlelight?”

“Yes, and back again.”  The fairies, oblivious to the danger they were in, fell back and laughed and laughed, an enchanting, infectious laughter, and it cheered them all.  And then the door opened.  A mere shimmer in the air at first, it quickly became an arch, high and wide, that touched the ground.  The children saw another world altogether, with a carefully manicured lawn so richly green it nearly hurt the eyes to look at it, and a sky so blue that Owien claimed after that he never really saw a blue sky again.  On a hill in the distance stood the greatest castle any of them had ever imagined, with more towers and pinnacles than they would have guessed possible.  Near at hand stood the most beautiful woman any had ever seen, and she glowed all around, ever so slightly, like a true, angelic vision.  The woman stepped into this world, looked around and took in the whole scene with one sweep of her eyes.  The fairies bowed and backed away.  Margueritte just had to step forward.

“Lady Alice,” she said, for she knew who it was.  “Is it time for me to come home now?”

“No, my little self,” Alice said.  “You have much yet to do here, but soon enough, and you may come.”  She turned to Elsbeth who thought it only right to curtsey.  “Do not be afraid, child.  Your days, too, will be long and happy.  And what do you say Owien son of Bedwin.  Will Sir Owien and Sir Tomberlain, the best of friends, not come into this high adventure?”  She stepped aside first for the unicorn and invited the beast to enter in.  The unicorn did not hesitate.  It reared up once, the earth shook, and lightening pierced across the sky.  Then it dashed through the door and quickly became lost in the distance as it raced across that sea of green.  “And my children,” Alice said to the fee who fluttered passed the door.

“Come on, come on-ey.”  Goldenrod prompted the others.

“Yes, hurry.”  Little White flower added.  Margueritte started and that got everyone’s feet moving.  Tomberlain came last with his horse.  When they turned, they could not see a door at all, and Alice was also not with them.  Looking out across the pasture, they saw great fields of perfect, golden grain not far from a river which ran deep and wide, and which seemed to come from the castle on the hill.  Behind them was the sea.  Indeed, they were almost on the golden shore and it seemed as if the drab world from which they had come must be buried beneath the waves.  Beyond the pasture in one direction and beyond the fields and river in the other, there were deep forests.  The one past the pasture looked like pine and fir and rose in great procession to where it undoubtedly became cliffs fallen off into the sea.  The one past the fields looked like oak, birch, maple, elm, and a thousand species they could hardly name, and it seemed to stretch off into the distance without end.

They felt reluctant to go too far for fear of disturbing the pristine perfection that they saw.  Even the fairies, who seemed at home, hardly dared move from the moorings of the children.  Then they saw someone come from the fields and river. They waited, because they felt they could hardly do anything else.  At last he arrived, a man, deep bearded and hard to look upon, but with a kindly face and a warm demeanor.  He came barely clothed, wore only the least cloth such as the Romans once wore, and in his hands, he held a sword.

“Caliburn,” Alice said.  They all spun around and saw that she had somehow come up behind them.  “It was made for a princess by the gods of old, but it has been carried by others since.”

“Would that I could carry a weapon like that someday,” Tomberlain said with a sigh.  Owien nodded, but Alice laughed.

“You gentlemen will have swords a plenty,” she said.  “But true and proper will be the swords carried by you men.  Even Arthur, who once pulled this sword from the stone, later gained another sword from the Lady of the Lake that he could bear with honor.  I said this sword was made for a woman, but there is a man who will bear it.  Margueritte, dear, you will know him when you find him.  Now you must go home.”

“Oh, Lady, must we?”  Little White Flower whined.

“Of course.  Your father will miss you.  But you may come again.”

“Promises?”  Goldenrod asked.

“Promises, my sweet,” Alice said, and she waved her hand to open a door to another place.  Tomberlain and Owien stepped out first with the horse.  The girls took hands and followed with the fairies.  The door vanished.  They stood in the triangle and their mother ran to hug and cry over her children, before she sent a man to find their father.  The man did not have to go far.

The king left without his tents, and only sent men back to fetch them.  Lord Bartholomew told the story that evening.

“There we were, racing for the site where the girls had been left.  I was obliged to follow, not knowing the location.  Fortunately, I had sent Tomberlain ahead to search as soon as I knew of Urbon’s foolish plan.  And, I must say, when I explained to Urbon what he had done, he was most reluctant to let the girls be harmed by whatever beasts might be driven to the center of that circle.  He did not say he was sorry, but I could tell he hadn’t thought things through very well.  So, we raced ahead of the people and arrived in time to see a rather incredible and unexpected sight.  If I say she was the most beautiful woman my eyes have ever beheld, you must forgive me, dear wife.  She was angelic, glowing even in the daylight and floating some two feet above the ground.  Neither would I have had those dainty sandaled feet muddied by the grime of this world to which she obviously does not belong.”

“Poor Urbon fairly fell to his face and trembled before her, and Duredain the druid went right with him.  I kept to horse, but only because I was so astounded at the sight of her.  The Irishman also stayed up, but I believe it was shock that froze him.  He is like a man who uses words for his advantage but does not actually believe in anything but himself.  I am sure he never believed there was a unicorn.  The woman fairly froze him in his saddle.”

“The children are safe,” the woman said.  “And I will see them safely home.  Do not be too hard on yourself for putting their innocence in harm’s way.  The unicorn is out of this world now and out of your reach.  Alas, the old ways have gone and the new has come.  Embrace the new, but also remember you must show grace to those who still see things differently.  This universe is bigger than you think, and always remember there is more you do not know than there is that is known to you.”  And she vanished.  It’s true.  She utterly vanished off the face of the earth.”

“Alice,” Tomberlain said.

“Huh?”

“Her name is Alice,” Tomberlain said.

“And she was most very beautiful,” Elsbeth added.

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MONDAY

The years go by, but finally some questions just need to be asked, and Margueritte has to answer them, if she can.  Until Monday

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M3 Gerraint: Epilogue

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Gerraint, and all of the people with him, took the last ship from Avalon of the Apples.  They made a turn toward a stable harbor on Avalon proper.  Water sprites danced on the sea as they approached.  Mermaids and mermen made fast the ship at the docks.  Elves helped them disembark and dwarfs gave the ship the once over, Luckless waving to one of them like an old friend.  An ogre stood guard at the door and in the shadows, a goblin waited to record the names of all the visitors.  But despite all of these wonders, every eye looked up the cliff face to the castle of the Kairos, the palace of limitless spires and towers where the great kings and queens of all the little ones lived and rested from their labors.

“Castle Perilous,” Lancelot called it.

“Castle Turning,” Arthur said.

“Lunch,” Luckless had a different name.

“That’s not what we’re here for,” Gerraint said.

“I’ve heard it said the castle turns to always present a different face to the enemy,” Bedivere said.

Gerraint shook his head.  “Alice realigns things now and then, but that is really like rearranging the furniture.”

“And why shouldn’t she?”  Enid came up with Guimier who was delightedly pointing out everyone, including the ogre.

Gwynyvar could not look at the ogre, or the dark elf behind the book.  “And why have we come?” she asked.

“I have to speak with Guimier’s brother of a sort,” Gerraint said, and he took them to a comfortable room where they could have some privacy.  Then he called, and he put plenty of emphasis in it to be sure he got obeyed.  “Talesin.” The fairy who had just enough blood of the goddess in him to be immortal and to not be uncomfortable being big for long periods of time, appeared in a corner.

“Were those your hands that carried the cauldron across the round table?”  Gerraint started right in and did not make nice first.

“Maybe,” Talesin said.

“Was this search for the cauldron your idea, or did some other put you up to it?” Gerraint asked.

“My idea, some, maybe.  Maybe not, no, not alone,” Talesin hedged.  He started sweating.  Gerraint turned toward the others in the room.

“Has the search for the Graal been a good thing for the kingdom, or not?” he asked the others.

“Mostly,” Gwynyvar said.

“It has given the young ones some taste of adventure and kept them off our backs for a time,” Lancelot spoke straight.

“It has given the headaches to the church for a change and left my meager bits of a treasury alone,” Arthur admitted.

“Overall,” Uwaine said.  “Though we’ve been through a bit to keep it from going the wrong way.”

“Very true,” Trevor said.  Gwillim stayed quiet, still trying to swallow all that he saw and had seen.

Gerraint nodded and turned again to Talesin.   “Come here.”  Talesin swallowed like Gwillim but came like one who had been through this often.  He even turned around and presented himself.  Gerraint gave him one whack on the rump, but it was a good one.  They could see it on Talesin’s face and several winced when they heard the slap.  “Get thee to a,” and Gerraint had to pause.  “Monastery,” he said, and added, “Now we go home.”

“That’s it?”  Talesin protested.  “Aren’t you going to do any more than that?  I sweated all this time and that’s it?”

“Anticipation son.  It is the worst.”  Arthur gave some hard-earned advice.

Talesin walked out, red with embarrassment.

“Monastery,” Gerraint shouted after him.  Then he made two archways appear in the room, or Alice did.  It felt hard to say, exactly.

“Two ways?”  Bedivere asked.

“Luckless and Lolly.”  Gerraint nodded and pointed to one.  “A way back to the Continent.  “You have things to do ahead that don’t involve lying about with Rhiannon and her court.”

“Lord?”  Lolly wondered, but Luckless took her hand.

“I’ll explain it to you when we get there.”  Luckless said, and they vanished with the door.

“This other door?”  Gwillim wondered.  He finally, honestly, questioned everything.

“Cadbury Castle,” Gerraint said.  “I think Arthur owes us one good meal before we go home.”

“And a hot bath,” Enid added.  Gerraint nodded, but Guimier turned up her nose.

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Tomorrow:  In anticipation, a sneak peak at The Kairos Medieval, book 3 (M3), A Light in the Dark Ages, the story of Margueritte: The Old Way has Gone.  It is the story of a young girl growing up in the middle ages, the dark ages, and… Well… Wait and see.  Happy Reading

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M3 Gerraint: Tara to Avalon, part 4 of 4

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The door shut and the two sides drew swords and went at it, Gwillim kept himself and Trevor in reserve, to step in where they might be needed.  Certainly, Gwillim knew Trevor was no soldier.

Peredur and Bedivere together disarmed Pelenor and Ederyn soon enough.  The hearts of the old men were not in it.  Uwaine and Lancelot dispatched the two men at arms, wounding them, one grievously.  Arthur disarmed the druid. who clearly had little practice with his sword.  Gerraint noticed Mesalwig when Mesalwig looked ready to stab Arthur in the back, but he got too busy with Urien to do anything other than shout.  Fortunately, Macreedy caught Mesalwig first, before he could strike a blow and before Arthur knew what was happening.  Mesalwig would not get up again.  Arthur seemed surprised, but not surprised, and chided himself for not recognizing the traitorous signs ahead of time.

Gerraint stopped.  Urien stopped.  They were the last, and Gerraint apologized.

“I’m sorry,” he said.  “I swore.”  Gerraint went into the time stream and Danna took his place.  Urien did not even have time to scream before his flesh simply turned to dust.  Danna began to cry.  Uwaine stood right there to throw his arms around her and let her cry on his shoulder.  Manannan also appeared, and after a moment he took his mother to a seat.  She patted his hand.  He was a quiet boy, stoic and stubborn, but a good grandson.  Llyr and Pendaron’s son, she remembered.  Manannan nodded and vanished before Gwyn and Pwyll came back in with the others.  Gerraint returned, but he felt very heavy.  He stayed seated.

“That didn’t take long,” Gwyn almost complained.

“And I missed it all,” Luckless did complain.

“Lucky for them,” Lolly said as she took his arm.  They could almost see his head visibly swell.

Gwyn had Guimier and went back to trying to explain that her name was his in the feminine form.  Guimier didn’t care about that, but she liked his yellow beard.

“So you see.”  Pwyll explained to the ladies.  “I am bored beyond words.”

Enid spoke in response.  “When Gerraint first mentioned you, I was frightened, just a little, but now I see you are really a very nice man.”

“Indeed.”  Gwynyvar agreed and the ladies each took one arm.

“How about you, druid?”  Pwyll looked up.  Bedivere was currently tying up the man with the ropes that had once held Enid.  The druid looked over, but he looked scared almost to death, now knowing who he was looking at.  “Perhaps you should go with me.”  Pwyll lowered his gaze just a little and the druid let out a little whimper.

“But why?”  Peredur sat at the table with his old friend.

“I am old,” Pelenor said.  They were seated.  “How could I resist a chance at the Cauldron of Life?  I would give anything not to get old.”  Ederyn nodded slightly, but it was clear that he came mostly to support his friend.

“But it is not so bad to get old,” Arthur said.

“It is the way of things,” Trevor said.

“You don’t know.”  Pelenor’s voice rose.  He put out his hand and they watched it shake.  “But someday you will understand.  Someday.”

“Even dying is not so hard,” Gerraint said.

“How would you know?”  Pelenor shot at him.

“Because I have done it nearly a hundred times,” he said.  “Besides, it is the way of things, as Trevor said.”

“And for us all, apparently,” Pwyll said as he seated the ladies.  Everyone looked at him, so he continued.  “I have grown tired of beating Gwyn at chess.”

“What?  Never.”  Gwyn protested, but it was kindly spoken.

“I have decided it is time to make the journey over to the other side.  I would be honored if you would join me.”  He spoke this last to Pelenor.

Pelenor looked up.

“It would be a great adventure,” Macreedy said.  Some looked his way, as he clearly had something in mind.

“It might not be so bad,” Ederyn said.

“I could go with you,” Peredur suggested, and his hand went once more, unbidden to his lips.

Pelenor looked around the room, and at last nodded.  “Perhaps it is a cure,” he said.  “Even if not, I could use the much-needed rest.”  Then his whole countenance fell.  “I am tired.”  He spent his last word on Gerraint.  “God, son, how can you stand it more than once?”  He stood.

Peredur stood as well, and after a moment, Ederyn joined them.  “We’re ready,” Peredur said.

“And me,” Macreedy walked over to stand beside them.

“Macreedy, don’t be daft.”  Gwillim spoke loud and clear, and Trevor nodded, but the druid also spoke.

“They’re all mad,” he said.

Pwyll shook Gerraint’s hand for them all.  “It’s been great, but as I explained to the Ladies, I’ve been terribly bored since my livelihood was taken.”  Gerraint traded places with Danna once more and gave Pwyll a great hug.

“Gwyn?”  Danna looked at the other.

“Not just yet, mother,” Gwyn said.  “I think I’ll watch over Macreedy’s daughters for a time.”

“Bridgid has been sent on,” Danna said.  “And I have told her I will be closing the door.”

“Aye, but there are ways,” Gwyn said with a smile.  He turned to go.

“Ahem!”  Enid held her hands out.  Gwyn pretended embarrassment and handed her Guimier.  To be honest, he would have been happy to have the little girl accompany him back to Tara.  He paused at the door.

Pwyll put his arms around Pelenor and Peredur.  Ederyn and Macreedy followed behind as they turned their backs on the world and walked into the hall.  They began to fade.  None, except perhaps Lolly with her good ears could quite hear what Pwyll said as they faded from sight.  Everyone caught a glimpse of light and smelled something like Hyacinth.  Then they were gone, and Danna went to tears again.

Gwyn left quietly and headed toward the boat.

“Pardon.  His job?”  Bedivere had to ask.

Danna and the druid answered together.  “God of the dead.”

“And you are?”  The druid asked in a very surly voice.  Danna said nothing.  She just looked at the man.  She said nothing until all at once when his eyes got big as he realized who he was looking at.

“I am Gerraint, son of Erbin,” she said.  “And a Christian, though my wife claims I have never been especially devout.”  Danna looked at Enid, smiled and went home.  Gerraint returned without pause, but the smile never left his lips.

One of Urien’s men died.  The other, with the use of one arm, brought the druid.

“Time to go home,” Arthur said, and they all felt the same.

“One child, two ladies, two dwarfs, two prisoners, and seven men survivors.”  Bedivere counted again.

“Not bad, considering we stormed the gates of Heaven,” Lancelot said, and he put a friendly hand on the young man’s shoulder.

M3 Gerraint: Tara to Avalon, part 3 of 4

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Gerraint came around when the sun returned, but this time it came as a more normal sunrise.  Granted, the sun reached near noon in only a couple of hours, but it appeared relatively normal all the same.

“Land!”  Lolly was the first to shout.

“Land!”  Trevor echoed from the helm.

“Make ready to come ashore,” Macreedy shouted.  “Lower the sail, and be quick.”  Everyone helped, and not especially quick, but from the way the land grew in their sight, it seemed as if they were in a speed boat.  Before then, no one knew how fast they were really going.

“We’re going to crash.”  Gwynyvar hid her face in her hands.

“Keep her dead on.”  Macreedy ordered.  Trevor did not argue, but he closed his eyes.  Gwillim already started praying.  Arthur and Lancelot had Gwynyvar between them in case they were needed to cushion her fall when they crashed.  Uwaine came up to stand in the bow beside Gerraint.  Bedivere and old Peredur followed.  Gerraint, however, turned and got Luckless’ attention.

“Keep watch over your charge,” he said and made sure that Lolly also heard.  Arthur and Lancelot were both hard in battle, but they were fish out of water themselves, and could hardly be counted on to protect the Lady.

“Lord,” Luckless acknowledged the reminder.

The dock came up fast.  Uwaine and Peredur involuntarily squinted, expecting a terrible crash.  Bedivere had to look to the side, but as it turned out, they missed the dock and it now looked as if they were going to crash right up on the shore.  Everyone held on to whatever they could grab, but the ship came to an instant and absolute stop, their momentum and inertia rose up in something like a bubble and rushed into the sky, while not one of them so much as leaned forward at the stop.

“You missed the dock.”  Gerraint pointed out that they landed nearly a foot away.

Macreedy and Gerraint went to throw ropes around the posts and heave the boat closer to the planks.  “Amateur at the rudder,” Macreedy said.  “And don’t rub it in.”

Gerraint laughed, while the others came up to help, and soon enough they were up on the dock and headed toward the shore.

“Keep together and watch your back.”  Arthur gave some general instructions as they began to walk down the dock.  They stopped a few feet before the end.  Two men waited there.  One looked blond, middle aged and dressed like a king.  The other looked dark, dressed in black, and as old as Peredur.  No one knew them until Gerraint squinted.

“Gwyn?”  He guessed at the younger one.

“And Pwyll.”  The older man gave his name.  Gerraint would have never guessed since he had aged so much.

“Enid?”  Gerraint asked

“At the house.”  Gwyn smiled.  “Safe enough.”  He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

“The treasures?”  Arthur asked.

“Safe,” Pwyll answered.

“That Formor wanna-be, Abraxas left when he knew you were coming,” Gwyn said, and he added a word.  “Coward.”

“And Talesin has gone into hiding,” Pwyll said, but he smiled.

“The ghostly hands and cauldron.”  Uwaine put two and two together.  Arthur and Lancelot looked up, stern anger on their faces.  But Pwyll and Gwyn laughed.

“Fat lotta good it will do him,” Gerraint said.  He began to walk up toward the house and everyone followed.

“How many are there?”  Bedivere asked.  Lancelot looked.  He should have thought to ask that question.

“Well young squire,” Gwyn said, affably.  “I should say eight, but I suppose you mean six.  There is old Pelenor and his friend Ederyn, the Raven and his druid, and two men at arms who follow the Raven.”

“Nine on six is not bad,” Arthur said.

“Eleven,” Macreedy corrected him.

“Ten,” Luckless said without explanation, but he and Lolly were side by side with Gwynyvar, and Luckless fingered his ax.

The house appeared a simple thatched cottage from the outside.  It seemed an idyllic scene, like the home of a gentle fisherman and his wife, set out to overlook the sea.  There were even flowers in the garden.  Gerraint knew better.  He opened the door without knocking, and they stepped into a vast hall where they saw row after row of great oak tables and a vast, distant fire burning in a great stone fireplace in the center of the room.

Enid looked tied to a chair at a nearby table, and gagged.  Guimier was allowed to play at her mother’s feet.  Four men sat around the table on all four sides, like men arguing four different propositions, which they were.  The two men at arms held back, but kept an eye on the mother and child.

As the company entered, Pelenor looked up, but his eyes looked defeated already.  Ederyn smiled, briefly.  The druid stood suddenly, having been seated across from the lady. His chair fell back and clattered to the floor while the druid fingered his sword, but he did not draw it.  Urien quickly drew his knife and placed it at Enid’s throat.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” Urien said through his teeth.

Arthur and his men spread out.  Luckless and Lolly kept Gwynyvar by the door.  Her impulse had been to run to her friend, but of course, that would have been foolish.

Gwyn and Pwyll stepped up beside Gerraint.  “Cannot interfere, you know,” Gwyn whispered in Gerraint’s ear.

“I would like a visit with this lovely child, though,” Pwyll said.  Guimier began to rise from the floor.  The men at arms looked at each other, but did not know what to do.  Gummier giggled and floated into Pwyll’s arms.  Everyone stared, but Guimier shouted.

“Daddy!”  Gerraint touched his daughter and smiled.

“Thank you Pwyll,” Gerraint said, and Pwyll nodded, tickled Guimier in the stomach and looked on her like a grandfather might look on a favorite grandchild.

“Now tell me about this doll of yours,” Pwyll said, as the stepped back outside.

“Yes,” Gwyn said, eyeing his brother god.  “Now that he mentions it, I would like a little talk with this woman of yours.”  He winked at Gerraint.  “Maybe she can tell me how to blunt a mother’s anger.”

Urien grabbed Enid by the hair and pressed his knife close to the throat, but it did no good.  Enid simply vanished out of his hand and appeared beside the blonde God.  He whispered in Enid’s ear, and Enid giggled with a look at Gerraint.  Then they walked out, Enid and Gwynyvar hugging, and Luckless and Lolly following.  Luckless alone glanced back once.  He was going to miss it.

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

MONDAY

Don’t you miss it.  The end of the story… Until Then, Happy Reading

*

M3 Gerraint: Tara to Avalon, part 2 of 4

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Gerraint led them through a door and they came to a Grotto carved out from beneath the rocks with only a cave that led out into a gentle bay.  There were several ships tied to a dock there, but none of them looked big enough to carry them all.

“Gobinu’s work,” Macreedy said.

“And we helped,” Luckless interjected.

“One will do,” Macreedy finished.

“For this great company?”  Arthur began, but then decided not to doubt.

“Will you be joining us?”  Gerraint asked the elf.

“Aye,” Macreedy said.  “But not the ladies.  They have decided to keep Tara for a time, with their Lord’s permission.”  Gerraint nodded slightly, but said nothing.

“Oh.”  Peredur sounded sad.  He had yet to let go of his elf maiden’s hand.  The other maidens backed to the door, but Peredur’s maid paused to kiss him as a lovely granddaughter might kiss her kindly grandfather.  Then she seemed to think about it, and planted one right on his lips.

Most smiled, and a couple of the men ooed and awed before the maiden finally let go and went to join the others.  Peredur could hardly shake himself free.

“Another kiss like that could kill this old man.”  Peredur mumbled and Macreedy grinned.

“So here we are,” Bedivere spoke at last.  “One Lady.  One elf, two dwarfs and nine men to invade Avalon.”

“Not much of a force at arms,” Lancelot said.  Like Bedivere, he was thinking in military terms.

“D-day, certainly,” Gerraint quipped, and invited them all aboard the first ship.  It had appeared no bigger than a lifeboat from the dock, but once aboard it was found to be spacious, with a central mast as big as an oak, and even a below deck to store their things.  They shoved off, and under Macreedy’s direction, the sailors, Trevor and Gwillim set the sail, with the help of Luckless who had sailed in the days of Festuscato.  The men said there was no purpose in raising the sail inside the cave.  All the same, the wind came and nudged them out into the bay.

“Well I’ll be,” Trevor said.  Only the sailors were surprised.  The others either knew what to expect or did not really understand that a normal sail would have been useless until they got out in the open where it could catch the wind.

“I feel sick.”  Bedivere complained almost immediately.  Gwynyvar looked green and Arthur and Lancelot appeared about to join her.  Uwaine laughed, because for once he did not feel the least bit sick.

“We have passed out of the world altogether.  Welcome to the endless sea in the second heavens.”  Gerraint held up his hand to forestall questions.  “It is that divide between the first heaven that covers the Earth like a blanket and the Third Heaven wherein is the throne of God.”  He pointed behind and all heads turned.  The hills, perhaps cliffs if not the cave that they expected to see were nowhere in evidence.  All they could see was the dark waters of the sea, stretching off to the horizon in every direction.

“Are we dead?”  Gwillim asked as the feeling caught up with him.

“Hardly,” Macreedy said as he checked the sail.  “But we may die if we lose the current.  This sea is boundless.  It has no shoreline, though there are shorelines everywhere.”  Macreedy went to stand with Trevor at the rudder.

“But say, that doesn’t make any sense.  Either there is a shoreline or not.”  Gwillim objected and tried to come out of the feeling of having died.

“There is and is not,” Gerraint said.  “Normal rules don’t apply here.  The place folds in and back on itself and even turns inside-out.  It is utterly unstable.”

“Apart from Lady Alice,” Macreedy spoke up from the helm.

Gerraint nodded.  “She tries to keep Avalon and the seven isles and the innumerable isles beyond in a more stable condition, but it is like living in the eye of a hurricane.”

“Olympus?”  Arthur said the word, but made it a question.

Gerraint nodded again.  “Aesgard, Vanheim, the Mountain Fastness and all.  All once found in the Second Heavens.  All gone now,” he said.

“All but Avalon,” Mesalwig said.  Gerraint looked at the man.  Mesalwig had been silent almost since arriving in Tara.  It was impossible to tell what the man might be thinking.

“Avalon of the Apples,” Bedivere corrected Mesalwig.  He started feeling better.

“Give it up.”  Uwaine teased Peredur who still stared at nothing in particular and touched his lips.  “She is undoubtedly too old for you.  May be five hundred years too old.”

Gerraint shook his head for a change.  “Only three hundred,” he said, and Gwynyvar giggled.

Gerraint went to stand at the bow.  It was not that his eyes could see any better than the others, though they could, but he was really getting anxious and trying hard not to show it.  He did not know if Rhiannon’s aura of protection around Enid and Guimier would hold up in the Second Heavens.  He did not know what Urien and Pelenor might have found on the island, nor where that Abraxas might be, nor where that most disobedient of all of his children, Talesin might be.  He tried not to think of these things, but he could not help it.  His stomach churned from worry.

“They will be all right,” Gwynyvar said.  She had come up alongside him and offered him a cup of water and a bit of bread and cheese.  Gerraint thanked her for the water, but turned down the solid food.  He did not think his stomach could handle it.  He turned and they looked together.  Arthur paced the deck.  Lancelot sat with his back to the mast and watched Arthur pace.  Peredur leaned on the railing to look out over the water, and Bedivere stood beside him.  Their conversation was quiet.

Gwynyvar nudged him.  Uwaine finally leaned over the opposite rail, responding to the sea in his accustomed manner.  Gwillim appeared to be supervising and offering his supposed cures.  Mesalwig sat apart.  Gerraint wondered about the man again, but again Gwynyvar nudged him and pointed to the stern.  Trevor appeared to be having a hard time keeping the rudder in the current and not touch the elf at the same time.  Macreedy enjoyed teasing the man.

“How long is the journey?”  Gwynyvar asked.

“Long as a wolf takes to finish howling at the moon.”  Luckless said as he came up alongside them.  They spied Lolly trying to get some flavor out of the bread and cheese.  Gwynyvar thought for a moment.

“But how does a wolf know when it is finished?”  She asked.

“When it stops howling,” Luckless said.

Gwynyvar turned a very confused face toward Gerraint.

“An instant, a week, a month?”  Gerraint shrugged and turned his eyes ahead.

“Then again,” Luckless said.  “We might have arrived ten minutes ago, only we haven’t realized it yet.”

It got dark.  They had no sundown, no dusk, and no chance for their eyes to adjust.  One minute it was light and the next it was dark apart from the infinite stars and a perfect full moon that appeared fully risen in the sky, directly ahead.  The moon seemed exceptionally large, like it rose a bit close to the earth.

“How lovely,” Gwynyvar said, once she got over the sudden change in the time of day.  She looked confused again when Gerraint pointed to the stern where a half moon followed them.  She shook her head and went back to Lancelot and Arthur.  Arthur needed to stop pacing.

“Better go see to bedding down,” Luckless said.  “It has been a tiring day today, or yesterday, or tomorrow, whichever it was or is.”  He wandered off and began to turn people toward sleep.

Gerraint could not sleep.  He knew it was foolish.  He would need to be well rested and more than likely he would need all of his strength and wits to deal with whatever they might find, but he could not sleep, no matter what.

Soon enough the others were dozing.  Luckless took a turn at the rudder and promised to wake Macreedy before long.  Gerraint was the only other one awake when an image appeared beside him.

“The woman is fine.  And the child,” the image said.

Gerraint paused before he spoke.  “Thank you.”

“I imagined you might want to rest after the Tor,” the image spoke again.

“I don’t think I can,” Gerraint answered honestly.  “I was thinking about having to kill Urien.  Such thoughts always twist my insides.”

The image manifested.  The god of the sea.  “Not your promise,” Manannan said.

“’Twas,” Gerraint insisted.  “Even if the words came from your Mother’s lips.”

Manannan nodded, slowly, and then the two just stood there for hours feeling the wind and the spray and watching the waves.  Gerraint could not be sure, but he suspected that under the hypnotic swells in the water, he may have slept for a while standing up.