Avalon

Avalon 1.2 Beasts in the Night part 1 of 3

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After 4465BC in Southern China. Kairos 9: Keng

Recording …

Boston checked the database and read the results aloud. She concluded with her finger on the map and a note that they appeared to be somewhere between the Yangtze River and the southern mountains.

“How many time zones do we have to go through to get back to our own time?” Lieutenant Harper asked from the rear where she and Captain Decker continued to act as rear guard.

“One hundred and thirteen,” Boston answered from where she straggled at the back of the pack. “Glen is the one hundred and twenty-first lifetime of the Kairos.”

“It won’t be anytime soon,” Alexis looked back.

The land appeared to be a mix of forest and meadow with much steeper and taller hills than the Sahara. When they came to the top of one of those hills, a place where rocks stuck out through the soil, Lockhart called a halt. It would be dark soon, and they needed the rest.

“As good a place as any,” Lincoln sighed.

“Yeah,” Captain Decker added. “Something is bound to catch up to us no matter what we do, and this is a defensible position.”

“Chinese deer,” Roland announced, and he got out his bow and jogged back down the hill.

“And some greens,” Alexis said, as she dragged Boston and Lieutenant Harper off to gather. “I was never a big fan of Atkins.”

“Some rice would be nice,” Boston thought out loud. “Too bad we don’t have a wok.”

Once Alexis showed the others what to look for, they gathered as the sun sank in the west. They saw plenty of deer, and Boston felt sure Roland had already gotten back to the camp and had cut the beast for the fire. She stepped around a few trees and caught sight of a light in the forest. It did not look too far away, so curiosity drove her to take a closer look.

An opening among the trees showed sweet grass and flowers in that little place. A bubbling spring made a small stream that flowed by her feet.  A creature that positively glowed a brilliant white against the growing shadows stood beside the spring. Boston put her hands together in delight, but she dared not say a thing, not even to call to the others for fear of frightening off the animal. Thus, she simply watched, enthralled as the sun sank lower in the sky.

“Unicorn.” Roland came up beside her and whispered. Alexis and Katie Harper came with him.

“But no bones have ever been found of such a creature,” Katie protested. “I thought such things did not exist.”

“It isn’t a creature,” Alexis said. “It is a spirit, a greater spirit of purity and virtue, though it behaves much like a creature. There are a few still in our day on Avalon. Certain elf maids pledge themselves to their feeding and protection and do not marry or have relations with men until they retire at age one hundred.”

“You met Mirowen back at the headquarters building,” Boston whispered. “She was a unicorn maid before she met Doctor Roberts.”

“She lost her unicorn on earth, and it got captured. Doctor Roberts helped her retrieve it from area 51,” Alexis added. “I imagined you knew that since you and Captain Decker are stationed there.”

Lieutenant Harper shook her head. “The whole complex at area 51 is strictly on a need-to-know basis,” she said. “Colonel Weber,” she added by way of explanation.

They watched while the unicorn bent down to the spring for a drink. “Unicorns can be injured and even killed when they inhabit this form,” Alexis continued with the information. “But they are very powerful creatures, much more powerful than the form implies.”

“If it chose to charge, we would not escape,” Roland added.

“And it knows full well we are here,” Alexis said. “But I don’t get it. They usually are not seen unless there is an innocent in need of protection.”

“Hey.” Roland reached out, but it was too late. Boston had stepped out on to the meadow.

“Unicorns are dangerous,” Alexis spoke quickly.

“You said it knows we are here,” Boston responded softly.

“Boston,” Roland raised his voice a little. “Don’t you dare.” He turned on Lieutenant Harper because she raised her weapon to the ready.

“You have to be a virgin,” Alexis whispered very loud. Boston paused, turned to look back at them in the bushes and then turned again to continue toward the unicorn. The unicorn raised its head and began to nod, but it made no hostile moves in Boston’s direction. When she arrived, the beast turned its horn away from the girl as Boston reached out carefully to touch the unicorn’s neck. She felt a moment of electric shock when she touched before she felt drawn to do what moved her heart. She put her arms gently around the unicorn’s neck and kissed it right behind the ear. She dreamed about this since she was little.

The unicorn nodded again and broke free, gently. With one more nod, it turned and bounded into the bushes to be lost in the coming night. The light it emitted vanished with the animal, and Boston remained to cry gentle tears of joy.

When the others joined her in the meadow, Boston turned to Alexis. “You don’t mind? It was something I just had to do.”

“It called to you,” Alexis smiled. “I don’t mind at all.” She punched her grinning brother in the stomach before they escorted Boston back to the camp.

“Boston visited with it,” Alexis said, in a cryptic way. She said nothing about the virgin qualification. She imagined Lincoln understood and Lockhart may have guessed. She assumed Captain Decker had no idea, and Alexis was not going to spell it out for him.

“A unicorn.” Mingus understood right away. “Then we may have help guarding the camp against the creatures following us.”

“I see no good in it,” Doctor Procter said, and he looked morose.

“We still set a good watch,” Lockhart insisted. “And if you think you hear or see something, make sure everyone is awake before you go to investigate.”

That night, when everyone else worried about defending the camp from ghouls and the bokarus, Boston dreamed about riding on the back of a unicorn.

~~~*~~~

Boston and Katie Harper had the last watch in the night. They sat side by side as the sun readied to come up and talked about their lives and loves.

“I’m a good Catholic girl,” Boston insisted. “I finished High School when I was sixteen and went to Saint Elizabeth’s, an all-girl’s college. I finished there in three years and went straight on to graduate school where I studied. I mean, I went to parties and all, but electrical engineering takes real work. I didn’t have time for much dating, and then I got drafted by the men in black, I just sort of ended up pushing Lockhart around in that wheelchair for the last two years. That’s all, really.”

Katie Harper looked back toward the camp. “Yes, it is hard to remember him as an old man.”

Boston nodded. “Him and Lincoln, and Alexis who I never met before now. They were all old.”

“I understand,” Katie said as she looked again around the perimeter. “Given the environment, it was a good thing the Kairos was able to make them young again. A bunch of old people and a cripple would never have been able to keep up.”

“Glen,” Boston responded. “He likes to be called by name. Kairos is too formal, more like a title.”

“God of event time.”

“That’s right.” Boston smiled. “The Watcher over history, he calls it.” She looked at the lieutenant and Katie got the impression that it was her turn.

“I did my graduate work in human cultural studies, specifically the technologies of early and medieval cultures. I have a strong background in modern technology as well, though not exactly an engineering degree. Still, I am sure that is why Colonel Weber chose me for this assignment.”

“No doubt,” Boston said, before she jumped. Something roared in the distance. It stayed out of sight, down the hill and hidden by the trees, but it sounded loud enough to wake the camp. Lieutenant Harper stood with her weapon ready. Boston had her Beretta but stayed seated where she was.

“Bears?” Katie asked. She knew it was no lion or tiger sound.

Boston shook her head. “I hunted bears in Canada. That was no bear.”

The roar came again along with another sound. They heard a squeal that dropped to a low roar of its own. The trees swayed. They heard at least one tree crash to the ground. Then they heard a whine and something like thunder. Then silence. Smoke could be seen among the trees, just visible in the dim light before dawn, and the women thought the trees might be on fire, but they saw no light from flames.

Avalon 1.1 Hunters in the Dark part 2 of 3

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The travelers stayed where they were for the rest of that night. It felt hard for them to get back to sleep, but the high ground was a good defensive position, and the trees were there to fall back into in case whatever scared the bokarus decided to show up.

By morning, most of the herd had wandered off and everyone took a deep breath. There were predators in the night that came to feast on the beasts they had shot, and even then, they could see the vultures shredding the remains. That looked far enough away to not cause concern.

Alexis paused in rinsing out her pot when she saw a man in the distance. He stood straight and tall and held a spear that stood half-again his height.

“What do you think he wants?” Lincoln whispered to her. Alexis shrugged and went back to her work. They packed the camp and even as Doctor Procter checked the amulet, the distant man began to trot toward them. Lockhart made them wait.

The man appeared to be tall and dark skinned, which caused Lincoln to comment. “He looks more like a Massai warrior than a North African.”

“No Phoenician, Roman, Visigoth or Arab blood in him yet,” Lieutenant Harper responded first.

“Yes. Very good,” Mingus praised her even as Captain Decker raised his gun to ready position.

“Halloo.” The man called when he was still distant. “You were in the stampede. I hope everyone is all right.”

“Yes, thank you,” Lockhart shouted back as the man came up the rise. He looked once at Captain Decker and his dark skin before he turned to the speaker.

“You are from the land of the Great River?” the man asked.

“We are travelers,” Lockhart said. “And you live in this land?”

The man pointed and Lockhart saw that Doctor Procter confirmed that he pointed in the right direction for them as well. “But it is only our camp. We are also travelers. We follow after the herd.”

“My name is Lockhart,” he said, and this time he forcibly took the man’s hand and shook it. Then he introduced everyone around. After the man got the idea, the man grinned and shook everyone’s hand, except the elves. He merely stared at them, and Doctor Procter did not offer his hand.

“I am Atonis,” he said at last. “If you are traveling in my direction, you must come and stay the night in my camp. You will be safe there from the stampede and the beasts of the night.”

Lockhart simply nodded, so Alexis spoke. “Thank you.”

“My camp is a whole day from here,” the man spoke again after they started to walk.

“Perhaps we can add some meat to your fire,” Boston tried to be cordial.

“Along the way, we will have to do lunch,” Lockhart told her. “And you thought that expression just belonged to your generation.” Lockhart looked back. Mingus and Roland were on the flanks. Decker and Harper were in rear guard position. Lincoln and Alexis were in front of the marines and Lincoln jotted something down in his notebook. Boston came on Lockhart’s heels, or walked beside him, and Doctor Procter wandered aimlessly in the middle, not even looking at his amulet.

“I must ask,” Atonis said after a while. “I heard the wail of the spirit in the night. I was not surprised to see the herd start to run. But tell me, do you know what makes this sound?”

“A bokarus,” Boston spoke right up. “A green man. It is a spirit of the wild. It protects the wilderness and hates any human intrusion that interferes with the natural order of things.”

“And it is following us,” Lockhart added and looked back at Doctor Procter, but this time the Doctor made no objection. More likely, the Doctor did not hear.

“I have heard this once before,” Atonis said. “This spirit is not a good thing.” He said no more about it until lunch. Roland brought in a gazelle after only a few minutes’ chase, and Mingus got a fire started. Alexis made bread but that was the only thing that opened Atonis’ eyes. Clearly, he knew what the elves were and was not going to be surprised at anything they might do.

They had a good lunch but overstayed their time, first because Boston explained why they were traveling with two spirits of the earth, as Atonis called the elves; and then Atonis told the story of his first encounter with the bokarus.

“Three years ago, and my friend Mumbai celebrated the marriage of his daughter to a good man. He wanted to build a great celebration fire, so he had us gather all the wood in the little forest that we could find. It was not enough for him. He took a sharp stone and cut many young trees to add to the fire. They did not burn well, being green, but Mumbai was determined that his daughter should have the biggest fire, ever.

“As we celebrated, we were interrupted in the night by the wail of the angry spirit. It flew like a bird in the sky around and around. The wind became strong, and people fell to their knees, afraid of the sound and the wind. We were all afraid. All at once, the wind picked Mumbai up off the ground and threw him into the heart of the great fire. People screamed and the bokarus left us as we pulled my friend from the fire.

“His clothes were burned to him and could not be taken off him. He had great swellings of white bubbles everywhere that burst and made him smell of cooked meat. Much of his body was charred, like the ash after the fire is done. He was in great pain, and in the morning, he died.

“Many said then that we should go to the village of Neamon and dwell there with the village people. They said the grasslands were becoming too dangerous, but many said no. We have lived well since then, but we have not forgotten. And now that the bokarus is back, I do not know what we will do.”

Everyone said they were sorry, and Boston and Alexis hugged the man while he cried. Lincoln handed him a handkerchief and got him to blow his nose. It already turned late when they started to walk again.

“It will be dark before we arrive,” Atonis said. “But with this host of people, I expect no trouble.” Lockhart and Lincoln both looked back and wondered if what scared off the bokarus might follow them after dark, but neither said a word.

“It was a good thing the bokarus left you alone after that.” Boston had a good imagination and could not get the image of the horribly burned man out of her mind.

“It was my daughter,” Atonis said softly. “Not Hespah, but my little one, Iris. She was only seven. She stood up in the face of that great wind and yelled as loud as her little lungs could yell. “Bokarus!” That is how we know the name. “No! Go away! You do not belong here!” The spirit had just thrown Mumbai into the fire, and it stopped to face my daughter. I felt very afraid for her, but then Iris reached for the ghost, and it raced away before she could touch it. It never came back, until now.

Boston said no more so Atonis said no more. But Boston did take Lockhart’s arm the way Alexis held Lincoln’s arm, and Lockhart did not push her away.

The sun went down while the moon came up bright in the sky, though it looked to be a waning moon. From a distance, the camp appeared to be a well-ordered community with a half-dozen tent-like structures in a circle around a central fire. It stood up on the highest hill in the middle of nowhere. The nearest little woods were some distance, but there appeared to be plenty of deadwood stacked around the camp like a barrier against the wild.

Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper got out their night vision goggles and passed them around. They had to get close to the camp before they heard the shouting and screaming. They started to run when two dark but human looking figures rose-up before them. They paused, but Captain Decker had put on his night goggles, and he opened fire without waiting for the order. Both figures fell.

Roland touched Lockhart’s shoulder before Lockhart could yell. He got all their feet moving with one word. “Ghouls.”

Alexis got out the wand she had been working on and managed a light, like a golden spotlight on their path to the camp. It helped, until the darkness responded. It came out from the camp, put out the light that it followed like a dog might follow a trail, and with a snap, it knocked Alexis back on her rump.

Captain Decker fired in the direction from which the darkness came, and this time Lockhart yelled. “Decker. There are people there!”

They pushed through the firewood that circled the camp and broke into the center space by the fire. Men had spears and women threw stones, but the ghouls did not appear to be bothered by it all. Captain Decker, Lieutenant Harper, and Lincoln all opened fire as soon as they had a clear shot. Three ghouls went down. Another got mauled by Lockhart’s shotgun, and if not yet dead, it soon would be.

Mingus appeared to be counting but came alert as a ghoul grabbed Boston by the back of her collar. He sent a fireball into the Ghoul’s face, which made it let go. Boston fell, spun, and unloaded six bullets into the creature’s chest.

Lieutenant Harper and Alexis were already checking the men, women and children who appeared to be dead. Captain Decker with his night goggles caught another attempting to flee the camp. Then Lincoln heard a scream from one of the tents. Girls were screaming and it sounded like Atonis responded “Aaii-ii.”

Lincoln ran and arrived at the same time as Atonis. They saw a ghoul with a woman in one hand. She looked limp and lifted completely off the ground. The ghoul tossed her away like so much dead meat. Two young girls huddled in the corner, screaming and scared senseless. That was about all Lincoln could see in the second he had to glimpse the action. He opened fire and did not stop firing until the ghoul got laid out flat.

Lincoln watched Atonis run to his children. The ghoul, one of the big ones at about eight feet in height, shriveled up like a beach ball with an air leak. It began to compress until it became no bigger than a hand, and then it melted into the soil and left only a sickly green smudge where it had been.

Avalon 1.0 Neverland part 5 of 5

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It did not take long for the boys to get in position. Pan listened for the birdcalls. Duba’s came last, as usual, but as soon as he got set, Pan put his fingers to his lips and let the whistle scream. It echoed around the Shemashi camp, and then there came shouting, two tents collapsed, and fire sticks got tossed into the crowd gathered around Alexis. Several of the Shemashi panicked. They began to gather the children and run toward their own tents, and shouted at each other, which increased the confusion.

The boys ran through the crowd yelling “Fire!” in the Shemashi tongue. The shaman stuck his head out from his tent and frowned. Hog, Chodo and Shmee appeared to be frozen where they were, beside Alexis, who stood and wiped off her clothes. Then the boys melted back into the woods and Pan said, “Go.”

Mingus, Roland, and Lincoln walked toward the camp while Bluebell and Honeysuckle flew up to Alexis and spoke in English. “Come on, we have to go now.”

“I’m coming,” Alexis responded, as she picked up her medical bag. Shmee threw his hands over his eyes on sight of the Fee. Chodo dropped his jaw. Hog just looked angry, but he did nothing to interfere.

“Miss Bell,” Hog said, and Bluebell paused long enough to stick her little tongue out at the man.

Mingus, Roland, and Lincoln stopped at ten yards and waited for Alexis. The rest stood just visible at the edge of the camp. They were armed, but looked relaxed, except Doctor Procter who stepped forward and pointed at the three men by the fire who had been their guests.

“Kill them,” Doctor Procter shrieked. “Quick. Now is your chance. Kill them all—” The Doctor slammed his own hand against his own mouth as Captain Decker and Lockhart both turned to stare at him. “I don’t know why I said that.” Doctor Procter spoke in all honesty. “I hate killing.” He shook his head.

The shaman came out to watch as Alexis stepped up to Mingus. “Father.” She spoke in Shemashi and kissed Mingus on the cheek. “Brother.” They touched fists. “Husband.” They kissed in a way that made Honeysuckle sigh while Bluebell made embarrassed noises and flew rapidly in circles and back flips.

Then it got dark, or as Mingus called it, devil dark. They heard a scream, much worse than the whistles of Pan and the boys. Most of the people still in sight grabbed their ears and fell to the dirt. A frightening presence entered the pit of the stomach, and a spirit, like a ghost, began to fly in circles around the camp. It quickly built up to a speed that called up a great wind and the sea began to rise.

“Bokarus!” The shaman identified the creature and started to chant, dance, and rattle his necklace of claws and teeth. Honeysuckle, Bluebell and Alexis all got out their wands and began to zap at the sky, though the thing moved too fast to hit. The leaves in all the trees shook quite apart from the wind, and the sea continued to rise.

Pan climbed up on a boulder and shouted. “Bokarus! No!” The thing stopped screaming and paused to face the boy. It had an ethereal, ghost-like quality that frightened everyone except Pan got angry and Mingus stood at an angle to send out a zap of his own. Pan reached out to grab the creature, but Mingus’ ball of flame struck at the same time. The creature screamed again, this time from being struck, and it tumbled off among the trees to disappear in the wilderness.

“You almost singed my fingers,” Pan protested, as he climbed back down. The wind stopped. The sea receded, and the oppressive air cleared and brightened.

After it was all over, Doctor Procter pulled his wand from his sleeve and looked at it like he hardly knew what it was.

“Big help,” Mingus scolded as he walked by.

“Honeysuckle. Bluebell.” Pan called, and the fairies came right away. “You need to stay with our friends and escort them to the next gate,” he whispered. “Do what Lockhart tells you. Watch them along the sides as they walk and don’t let the bokarus near them.”

“Oh, but that is scary,” Bluebell whispered in return.

“We will do it,” Honeysuckle spoke for them both, and Pan smiled and spun around to find his boys gathered nearby.

“Come on, boys. Back to the secret tree.” Pan yelled, and he ran off, followed by the others, Ramina hot on his heels, and the Duba bringing up the rear.

It turned late, but with Alexis’ insistence, the travelers opted to stay the night in the Shemashi camp rather than risk the bokarus in the dark. Alexis and the Shaman worked it out. The people in the village kept their distance, but they appreciated the help rebuilding all the things knocked down by the boys and the wind, and they loved the bread.

“I think the bread-crackers are self-replicating,” Alexis pointed out. “I used my whole pouch but now it is full again.”

“Like the bullets,” Captain Decker said, but he said it in a way that suggested he was sorry he had not used any yet.

“And the vitamins.” Alexis nodded as she handed them out. They had missed their daily dose in the morning.

“You know,” Doctor Procter spoke up. “A bokarus is not a greater spirit. I am not sure it even qualifies as a lesser spirit. I am surprised it has taken an interest in you humans, what with our traveling with the company.”

Mingus explained, as usual. “What he means is a bokarus is not beyond elf magic. We may pose a threat to it. But evidently, the bokarus has judged you people from the future to be a bigger threat to the environment, so it is willing to take the risk to take you out.”

“Yes, I wondered why it followed us,” Lockhart said. He thought it was the same bokarus from the last time zone, and that meant it could follow them from zone to zone. “But how do we take it out? You got a good shot at it, but it did not seem badly injured.”

Mingus shrugged, so Roland spoke. “They are nearly impossible to damage as long as they remain in their ghost form.”

Boston got out her database. “Bokarus or green man is a defender of the primordial wilderness. It is catalogued here somewhere between little and lesser spirit.” She showed the chart, and Bluebell spoke from her shoulder.

“Yes, but they are scary.”

Lincoln thought what Bluebell thought, but verbalized what Lockhart wondered. “But it seems to me the question is whether or not this bokarus is the same as the last one or if we just happened to run into two of them.”

“Yes,” Lockhart agreed.

“Can’t be the same,” Doctor Procter said quickly.

“It must be,” Captain Decker said at the same time.

“It might be, but not necessarily,” Mingus danced between the two opinions.

Boston stood in the silence that followed. “Well, while you argue about it, Katie and I and our new friends are going to get some sleep. I assume we will have to leave about dawn if we hope to reach the gate in daylight.” She looked at Doctor Procter who looked at his amulet. He only shook it once before he spoke.

“Yes. Er, yes.”

Lieutenant Harper stood and followed Boston while Honeysuckle zipped ahead to open the tent flap.

“But what about Pan?” Bluebell picked right up where she left off, which was very unusual for a Fee. “He is my heart.”

“I am sure he is,” Boston responded. “But maybe you just need to back up a little and give him a chance to grow up first.”

“That is what I have been telling her,” Honeysuckle said, as they went inside the tent.

After that, the morning came quick. Hog and Shmee returned in their boat not expecting the village to still have visitors. They avoided the strangers as well as they could, but Chodo looked pleased to point them out. None of the travelers felt obliged to confront the men. Instead, they concentrated on packing and preparing to leave.

They moved as quickly as they could through the wilderness. They took a few rests and stopped only briefly for lunch; eyes open the whole way. Bluebell and Honeysuckle watched their flank along the way, but they never caught wind of the bokarus until the end of the day, as they approached the gate. Then they only heard a wailing in the distance—a mournful song, like the wail of a ghost in torment.

“I hope that thing isn’t the same one,” Captain Decker said.

“You see, Hon?” Alexis grinned at Lincoln. “You did not need to say it.”

“Sounds like you stepped on its toe pretty good,” Lockhart said to Mingus, who merely nodded.

“Here it is.” Doctor Procter did not wait for them. Boston and Lieutenant Harper took a couple of minutes to make the fairies get big so they could properly hug them. No surprise that Honeysuckle appeared as a full-grown woman, and Bluebell appeared as a fourteen-year-old.

“I’m going to miss you, Katie,” Honeysuckle said.

“And I will miss you,” Lieutenant Harper admitted.

“Maybe we will see each other again?” Honeysuckle suggested. Lieutenant Harper looked at Boston who shook her head.

“Maybe,” Lieutenant Harper smiled, and she and Boston went through the gate. Lockhart, Captain Decker, and Mingus brought up the rear.

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

Monday

Avalon 1.1, a single week episode sees the bokarus back off.  There are ghouls in the area. Until then, Happy Reading

 

*

Avalon 1.0 Neverland part 2 of 5

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“Lieutenant.” Captain Decker waved Harper away from the others and then whispered. “Are you getting all of this?”

Lieutenant Harper nodded. “As far as I know the recording equipment is working fine, but I don’t think anything is transmitting.” To Decker’s curious look, she explained. “No GPS. No satellites. I don’t even know where we are.”

“Pacific Northwest.”

“I know that much, but when? Boston’s database suggests between 4492 and 4480 BC.”

Captain Decker shook his head, like he did not believe that. “You just work on getting that transmitter working. That’s an order.”

Lieutenant Harper arched her back. “I know my duty.”

“Fish is ready,” Roland and Boston spoke together in a welcomed interruption.

“Do you got more breat?” Chodo asked.

“Bread,” Alexis corrected, and she made several more loaves. Then their visitors marveled at the lack of bones in the fish.

~~~*~~~

Lincoln got up in the middle of the night. The fish did not agree with him. Doctor Procter sat on the rock by the fire and examined something in his hand in the moonlight. He stared at the hand that touched the wall full of demons, though Lincoln did not pay close attention. The Doctor could have been looking at his empty hand for all Lincoln knew.

Alexis stirred at Lincoln’s absence but did not entirely wake. She easily got taken by three pairs of hands. One bound her legs in leather strips, one bound her hands and one gagged her with a wad of fur stuffed in her mouth and held tight by more leather. Finally, a bag got pulled down over her head to cover her cold stare.

Alexis thought, if these three were in a rodeo they might win the hog tying contest. That unexpected stray thought made her smile on the inside since her lips on the outside could not quite manage it. But really, how far could they take her in a hollowed-out log?

“Quiet,” Hog insisted while Chodo and Shmee did the carrying. “Now she will make breat for the village.”

“Careful,” Shmee whispered. “We do not want to make the witch angry.”

Alexis thought, at least they got that much right.

~~~*~~~

Once Lincoln returned from the bushes, it did not take long to raise the alarm. The problem was there was nothing they could do before dawn. No one could figure out how to track someone across the water.

“You stupid…” Mingus yelled at Lincoln. “You don’t have her back for three days and you lose her again!”

“I didn’t lose her the first time,” Lincoln yelled right back. “You stole her.”

“Hey!” Boston butted between the two, and they held their tongues well enough, but chose to glare at each other.

“Honestly, I did not see anything,” Doctor Procter told Lieutenant Harper. Lockhart raised one eyebrow at the speech, but he could not follow-up, because Captain Decker and Roland came trotting back down the beach.

“They headed north.” Captain Decker spoke while he returned the night binoculars to his pack. Roland nodded his head in agreement.

“I can’t imagine they can go far or stray much from shore in that thing,” Lieutenant Harper added.

“No, but our path goes south and just a bit east,” Doctor Procter started to protest, but when he pulled out his amulet he made a face, like he was not sure what he was seeing. “No, mostly east. Almost entirely east. Not south at all. The direction has changed. How is that possible?”

“Hello!” A young voice came down from a tree branch. They could just make out the figure, and though it did not sound hostile, Decker, Harper and Roland were ready when the boy shouted, “Welcome to Neverland.”

Boston could not make out the figure in the tree. “The bokarus?” She looked up at Roland.

“No, missy.” Mingus answered for his son. “This one’s human, though why he is up a tree…” Mingus shrugged.

“I was worried about Boston so I came ahead. Are you all right?”

“Glen?” Boston squinted in the dim light.

“No.” The young boy responded as a light with a slightly blue tint fluttered up to one side of him and another light with a slightly yellow tint fluttered up to the other. “The boys are following but I flew on ahead. The boys don’t know about my fairy friends, but I told my fairy friends you were okay so they could show themselves. This is Bluebell and this is Honeysuckle. My name is Pan.”

Pan floated down to the fire to warm his hands in the dark chill before dawn. Boston took note of the furs he wore. She expected a green suit.

“Kairos,” Roland put his hand on the barrel of Captain Decker’s rifle to encourage the man to lower his weapon.

Honeysuckle flew up to Mingus’ face and smiled. “Hello elf,” she said.

“Elder elf,” Doctor Procter corrected the fairy.

“And you’re a breed,” Honeysuckle said with disapproval in her voice.

“Bluebell, lovely to meet you,” Boston said. “We girls need to stick together in the middle of all these boys.”

Bluebell hovered a foot from Boston’s face and looked serious. “Oh, I know.”

“Would you like to sit on my shoulder?” Boston asked. “Missus Pumpkin used to sit on my shoulder so we could talk in private.”

Bluebell’s little expression turned from serious to concerned. She never considered such a thing before. She flitted back and forth gently and thought hard.

“I think that would be a good idea.” Pan said, and apparently, Bluebell decided the same thing as she zipped to Boston’s shoulder and made herself comfortable.

“Us girls need to stick together,” Bluebell said, and turned slightly to look at Lieutenant Harper. She quickly turned back to Boston’s ear. “But why is your friend crying?”

“Where is Alexis?” Pan interrupted.

“Lincoln lost her again,” Mingus complained.

“I did not,” Lincoln yelled.

“Hog and his two chums stole her in the night.” Lockhart looked around at the dark sky. The sun would not be up for a while yet.

“And the medical kit,” Captain Decker added.

“Hog and Shmee.” Pan nodded. “Who was the other?”

“Chodo.”

Pan nodded again. “So, you met Captain Hook.” He made a motion, like he had the bone and wood hook in his hands and picked something off the ground.

“Not your tribe, I take it,” Lockhart said.

Pan shook his head this time. “Shemashi tribe. We are Jephatha.”

“We?” Mingus asked.

“Me and my boys. They will be here soon.” He called. “Honeysuckle, Bluebell.” The fairies fluttered up from where they were commiserating with the girls. “When they boys get here; you can stick around if you want as long as you pretend to be with the gang here.” The fairies looked at each other as if they were not sure about that. “Meanwhile, Honeysuckle, would you please fly to the Shemashi camp and see if Hog is going there?” Honeysuckle fretted for a second and looked once back at the girls before she flew off over the sea. Bluebell waited. “Sure. You can go back to Boston and the Lieutenant.”

“Katie.” Bluebell said the lieutenant’s name sternly before she grinned. “Thanks,” and she zoomed to Boston’s shoulder faster than the eye could follow. She whispered, though it was loud enough so the elves caught it. “I’m going to marry Pan when he gets old enough. I love him with all my heart.”

“That’s great,” Katie said, but Boston shook her head.

“I don’t think it works that way. Don’t you know who Pan is?”

“Hey now,” Roland interrupted. He heard with his good elf ears and stepped toward the girls. “No revealing the future. That is still the law. You know who the Kairos is, but the world does not know yet. That won’t be official for a dozen lifetimes. Shhh!” He ended with his finger to his lips.

“So.” Captain Decker squatted by the fire. “Are we just going to sit here and wait for the lost boys to show up?”

“That and the morning,” Lockhart confirmed. “Hurry up and wait.”

“That’s the army,” Captain Decker complained, but it turned out they did not have to wait long.

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

MONDAY

Welcome to Neverland. Pan and the boys have some ideas about how to save Alexis from Captain Hog, Shmee, and Chodo too. Until Monday.

*

Avalon 1.0 Neverland part 1 of 5

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After 4492 BC in the Pacific Northwest. Kairos 7: Pan of the Jephatha

Recording …

The travelers found themselves on the shore of a salty sea. It smelled of brine and fish. The shore looked filled with dark sand and rocks, and the waves crashed strong against the beach. Though not exactly a swimmer’s beach, it looked unspoiled and beautiful.

Boston pointed out over the waves. “The Endless Sea of the Second Heavens, do you think?” She turned her toe in the sand, chilly as it was.

“The Pacific Ocean,” Lincoln countered. “I would guess the Pacific Northwest.” He also stood on the beach, but he looked inland.

“How do you figure?” Lieutenant Harper asked.

“Redwood.” Lincoln pointed, and everyone’s eyes turned from the beauty of the sea to the majestic tree whose top rose out of sight above all the other trees.

“Good call.” Lockhart craned his neck then lowered his head to look at Mingus.

Mingus shrugged. “It seems you don’t need my guidance.”

“Ash.” Alexis knelt and touched the sand. “There was probably some volcanic activity nearby not too long ago.”

“Mount Saint Helens?” Lincoln went over to see for himself, while Boston shivered.

“A bit late in the year.” Boston finally admitted.

“Here.” Roland stepped up with a piece of fairy weave, which he made into a shawl.

Boston looked up at him with a smile and a frown. “Thanks, but a shawl makes me feel as old as Lockhart. A sweater would be just fine.” She changed the shawl to a sweater and colored it to match her red hair.

“Well.” Doctor Procter got everyone’s attention. “If you are finished playing with the scenery, our way points south and slightly inland.” No one moved. Despite Doctor Procter’s protests, the group chose to stay the afternoon and night in that bit of sheltered bay. Boston particularly liked the idea. It left her time to look for shells and walk beneath the cry of seagulls. With the sun out on that sandy beach, she also had time to wade in the water, even if it was freezing cold. She started down the beach and Lockhart and Lieutenant Harper followed.

“I grew up in Oregon,” Lincoln shared. “This all reminds me of home except the people and the distant sound of cars are missing.” He dropped his firewood collection where Mingus built a stone circle and they looked up at Captain Decker.

The captain shook his head. “Charlotte, North Carolina.”

“I like it here,” Alexis said, as she watched her father lay hands on the wood to start the fire.

“Shall I hunt?” Roland asked. He sat cross-legged on a big rock that looked out over the water. He was meditating so his eyes were closed.

“No hurry,” Lincoln said, as he slipped his arm around his wife and watched his father-in-law grimace.

Lockhart, Boston, and Lieutenant Harper walked leisurely down the beach and spoke quietly. With Boston focusing on the shells and with Lockhart and Lieutenant Harper hitting it off, it was hard to say who noticed first. Three men rode on the waves in a dugout log built like an outrigger canoe with two poles to the sides attached to another, smaller log. That gave the craft enough stability to keep the hollowed log from rolling in the water.

“Hello!” The man in the center of the canoe called out and waved.

“They look friendly,” Lieutenant Harper suggested.

“But ugly,” Boston decided, though it may have been, “Butt ugly.”

Lockhart said nothing. He simply helped the men bring their craft up on to the beach.

“You are Jephatha?” The man in the middle asked. He did not exit the craft until he could step out on dry ground. “I am Hog,” he introduced himself, and Boston hid her smile. “This is Chodo and this is Shmee.” They looked Asian, but Lockhart and the others figured they were a very early version of the people that would one day be called Native American. Lieutenant Harper confirmed as much.

“Part of my studies at the university,” she said, and when Lockhart gave her a second look, she added, “Human culture and technology. Mostly history and archeology, though plenty of anthropology as well. Your boss asked for someone with my background, which is why I was surprised at first when he said we could not come.”

“I see.” Lockhart nodded that he understood.

“Jephatha?” Clearly, Hog understood none of it.

“Lockhart.” He stuck his hand out, but the man did not reciprocate. He probably did not understand handshakes. “This is Boston and this is Katie Harper,”

 “You have a fire? We have some fish.” Hog reached into the canoe and picked up a wicked looking bone hook with a wooden handle. He stepped between the poles where a net hung in the edge of the water. He hooked a fish by the gills and lifted it to show. It was a big fish, and there were more. He grinned, then dropped the grin when he yelled. “Chodo! Shmee!”

Shmee touched Boston’s hair and Chodo touched her sweater and marveled at it. These fur-clad men never saw real clothes before. Boston grimaced, but she did not know how to react. She did not want to offend any local customs.

Shmee excused himself as he withdrew his hand. “But her hair is on fire.”

“Not on fire,” Lockhart said, as he and Lieutenant Harper stepped between Boston and the men. Lockhart tried not to growl. Lieutenant Harper tried to smile.

“Please, be our guests.” She pointed the way.

When they arrived at the fire, Captain Decker stood with his weapon ready. Roland had an arrow on the string of his bow. Hog must have recognized the air of guarded hostility because he smiled and held up his catch.

“Fish,” Hog said, and Lockhart gave the signal to stand down.

“We have bread-crackers,” Alexis offered in return. She had water in a pot, ready to boil. She took three crackers out of the pack in her medical bag, crackers she insisted on carrying after the incident on the plains of Shinar, and she laid them out on a rock. A few drops of hot water was all it took to turn the crackers into three hot loaves of bread. They smelled delicious, like the best fresh baked.

The eyes of the visitors got big, but not much bigger than the eyes of Captain Decker, Lieutenant Harper and Boston who saw the effect for the first time in daylight. Lincoln was not surprised by any witchery his wife performed. Lockhart stayed busy watching their guests. Mingus, Roland, and Doctor Procter, of course, knew all about the elf magic.

“May I prepare the fish?” Roland offered, and the locals handed over their catch without argument. Roland expertly filleted them and not long before they sizzled in a pan. Meanwhile, Chodo marveled at their tents, and said so, while Shmee still worried about the fire on Boston’s head.

“You are Jephatha?” Hog tried again, but when he looked at Mingus, he shook his head. “I do not know your tribe.”

“I am an elf from Mirroway on the Long March from Elfenheim.” Mingus responded with a sly grin. Hog shook his head in utter incomprehension.

Hog turned to Lockhart whom he perceived to be the chief. “But you—”

“We are travelers,” Lockhart interrupted. “We are not planning on staying.”

“But we are glad to make friends wherever we are,” Alexis added.

“I don’t imagine this area is overpopulated,” Doctor Procter interjected. “They probably don’t care if we stay or go.”

“Not the issue,” Captain Decker said.

“Migrations?” Hog asked. “This is a good place. Plenty of fish.”

“Thank you for the offer,” Lieutenant Harper spoke up because no one else said it. “But we are looking for something and cannot stop until we find it.”

“Ah, Spirit guide?” Shmee asked. Lockhart and several others just shook their heads. Lockhart imagined no way to explain their quest in the limits of the language. Mingus confirmed that perception in Lockhart’s mind, as they stepped over to check on the tents and their three visitors hunkered down by the fire. The language had limits.

Avalon, Season One: Travelers by M G Kizzia

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Table of Contents

Introduction

1.0 Neverland

After 4492 BC in the Pacific Northwest. Kairos 7: Pan of the Jephatha

1.1 Hunters in the Dark

After 4480 BC on the Sahara Grasslands. Kairos 8: Iris of the Anamites

1.2 Beasts in the Night

After 4465 BC in Southern China. Kairos 9: Keng

1.3 The Way of Dreams

After 4447 BC in the Sinai Peninsula. Kairos 10: Ranear of the Ophir

1.4 Sticks and Stones

After 4400 BC, the Dead Sea Wilderness. Kairos 11: Saphira the Huntress

1.5 Little Packages

After 4364 BC on the Plains of Thera. Kairos 12: Dallah

1.6 Freedom

After 4320 BC in the Mountains of Southern China. Kairos 13: Xiang

1.7 Peace and Prosperity

After 4289 BC in the Foothills of Kashmir. Kairos 14: Vanu

1.8 The First City

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

1.9 The Elders

After 4176 BC on Malta. Kairos 16: Odelion

1.10 Kidnapped

After 4146 BC near the Transylvania Plateau. Kairos 17: Faya (Beauty)

1.11 Dance the Night Away

After 4086 BC in the Italian Peninsula. Kairos 18: Kartesh of the Shemsu

1.12 The Name of the Game

After 4026 BC near Modern Day Moscow. Kairos 19: Wlvn, god of the horses

END

Postscript

~~~*~~~

Avalon Season 1 Introduction

Thrown back to the beginning of history, the travelers from Avalon must get home the hard way—through the time gates that surround the many lives of the Kairos, the Traveler in time, the Watcher over history. The time zones are dangerous. The Kairos never lives a quiet life. And the travelers understand that they are not the only ones lost in time. Other people, beings, and creatures are surviving around the edges of the time zones, and some have picked up their scent. Some are following them, and some are hunting them. The travelers face a long, hard road to get everyone back to the twenty-first century, alive.

The Avalon adventures are written like a television show in story form. A reader should be able to peruse a couple of episodes in the middle of the series and easily grasp the characters, understand how this impossible journey through time works, and get a good story, with plenty of entertainment action. Of course, starting at the beginning is recommended, but there is nothing to prevent a person from binge reading.

Avalon, the Pilot Episode is available at your favorite on-line book retailer. It tells how the traveler went into the past on a rescue mission and became trapped at the beginning of history with no easy way home. The revised and expanded second edition is a quick and easy read, and the best introduction to the characters, the conflict, and the impossible journey to come.

Each season after the pilot contains 13 episodes of monsters and mayhem, and hearts trying to hold on to hope and courage in the face of terrible odds.

In Avalon, Seasons One, Two, and Three, the travelers move through ancient days of myth and legend, when the gods and demons, all sort of spirit, ancient aliens, and nightmare creatures stand in their way.

In Avalon, Seasons Four, Five, and Six, the travelers enter more fully into the human world, from the first days of civilization, to the rise and fall of empires.

In Avalon, Seasons Seven, Eight, and Nine, the travelers move into the common era, where the human capacity for terror and destruction increases exponentially, and the spirits, aliens, creatures, and horrors have not really gone away.

To find these and other books by the same author, visit your favorite on-line retailer and look under the author name: M. G. Kizzia. Also, feel free to visit the website at mgkizzia.com.

I hope you enjoy reading these episodes as much as I have enjoyed writing them. Happy Reading.

–MGK

Cast

Robert Lockhart, a former policeman, now assistant director of the men in black, the one organization on earth in the twenty-first century that deals with strange and impossible things. He is charged with leading this expedition through time though he has no idea how he is going to get everyone home—alive.

Boston (Mary Riley), a Massachusetts redneck, rodeo rider and technological genius who finished her PhD at age 23. A “man in black,” she loves all the adventure, and all the spiritual creatures they encounter, which suggests she may be a bit strange. She gets the amulet, a sophisticated combination electronic GPS and magic device that shows the way from one time gate to the next.

Benjamin Lincoln, a former C. I. A. office geek, now a man in black, he gets the database and keeps a record of their journey. He tends to worry, and is not the bravest soul, but sometimes that is an asset.

Alexis Lincoln, an elf who became human to marry Benjamin. She retained her healing magic when she became human, but magic has its limits. For example, it can’t make her father happy with her choices.

Roland, Alexis’ younger brother, a full blood elf and gifted hunter. He came to keep his father Mingus under control and out of his sister’s face. He discovers there is something in humanity worth saving and protecting. He knows many of the creatures in the spirit world that they face, including the nasty ones inclined to rise-up out of the dark.

Mingus, father of Alexis and Roland, an elder elf. He ran the history department in Avalon for over 300 years. He kidnapped Alexis and took her to the beginning of history, which prompted the rescue party and got everyone stuck in the past. He knows the time zones and the lives of the Kairos but tends to keep his opinions to himself. And he believes his children are being ruined by so much human interaction.

Doctor Procter, a half-human, half-elf who worked with Mingus in the Avalon history department for years. The old man, with the long, white beard, also knows the many lives of the Kairos, but at first, he speaks in half-sentence, and soon, the others can hardly get a word out of him.

Lieutenant Katie Harper, a marine whose specialty is ancient and medieval cultures and technologies. She is torn between her duty to the marines and her desire to be part of this larger universe she is discovering.

Captain Decker, a seal trained marine special operations officer who will do all he can to keep everyone alive, even if it means shooting his way back to the twenty-first century. He is a skeptic who does not believe half of what they experience—even if he does not know what else to believe.

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

Avalon, Moving into the Future

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Avalon is a television series in written story form.

I only have one general rule: that anyone who reads a story/episode, for example, from the middle of season three, they should be able to pick up on what is going on and basically how it all works. If you want to start with the episodes that appear on this website, mgkizzia.com, and then want to go back and read the earlier adventures, that should be fine. Of course, reading them in order will enhance the experience, but I hate accidentally picking up book two of some trilogy and being totally lost. Especially for a TV show, a person ought to be able to come in the middle and still get a good story.

~~~*~~~

 

 

Look for Avalon, Season 1, Avalon, Season 2, and Avalon Season 3 at your favorite on-line retailers. Thirteen Episodes from the beginning of history in each book detail the adventures of the Travelers from Avalon. Thrown back to the beginning of history, the travelers struggle to work their way through the days of myth and legend. They face gods and demons, gothic horrors, fantastic creatures and ancient aliens in this romp through time. They also quickly realize that they are not the only ones who have fallen through the cracks in time, and some of the others are now hunting them.

Seasons 4, 5, and 6 brings the travelers face to face with the worst monsters of all: the human monsters. As they move through the days before the dissolution of the gods, they get caught up in the rise of empires, and the birth of the great civilizations. It isn’t what they think—a grand adventure of discovery. It is dangerous around every corner, and troubles rise up directly in their path.

Seasons 7, 8, and 9 brings the travelers into the common era where the human capacity for violence and destruction increases exponentially. The spiritual terrors and aliens fade into the background, without ever going away, as the world turns to the history of humanity, and eventually world war threatens the travelers with every step of their journey back to the twenty-first century.

~~~*~~~

Free stories are presently being blogged in bite-sized pieces on this website: mgkizzia.com. You are welcome to visit and take a look.

Also, look for Avalon, the Prequel: Invasion of Memories, where the Kairos comes out of a time of deep memory loss and realizes he is the only one who has any hope of stopping an alien invasion. To keep from being overwhelmed with the sudden influx of so many memories from so many lifetimes stretching from the deep past to the distant future, the Kairos tells stories from various times in his own life when he remembered who he was: the Traveler in time, the Watcher over history.

Invasion of Memories is both a collection of short stories and a novel of the Men in Black who struggle to prevent an invasion by the alien Vordan, a species given to shoot first, and that is pretty much it, just shoot first.

All of these books are reasonably priced at your favorite on-line retailer, and are available as eBooks or in paperback copies, so you can hold them in your hands. You can find them under the author name, M. G. Kizzia. Pick up your copy today.

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

Happy Reading.

— MGK

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

MONDAY

The story continues with episode 1.0 of Avalon, Season One: Travelers. Join the fun starting Monday, and as always, Happy Reading

*

Avalon Pilot part III-8: Bokarus

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Roland happily helped Boston into the woods.  Lockhart, Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper kept their eyes open in case any people escaped the trouble on the plains by wandering in among the trees.  Lincoln kept thinking of things to jot down in his notebook and his wife made sure he did not walk into any trees.  Mingus appeared to be thinking hard about something else and stayed quiet.  Doctor Procter walked out front with his eyes glued to the amulet.  He did walk into a couple of trees.

After a stop for a snack and a chance for Boston to rest, they entered a section of the forest that somehow felt darker and more oppressive than before.

“A bit like walking into a goblin’s lair,” Mingus suggested.  That did not help.

Lockhart figured they were far enough into the trees by then so it was safe to shoulder the shotgun.  He offered to take a turn helping Boston.  Roland seemed reluctant to let go of her and Boston hesitated as well.  But after only a moment’s hesitation, Boston gladly let Lockhart help her, though she felt pretty sure she could have handled it on her own by then.  As they walked, she thought about how she liked having Lockhart’s big arms wrapped around her.  But then, she did not mind Roland’s arms, either.  She felt confused.  Lockhart was supposed to be a father figure—a grandfather figure.  Lockhart did not help matters when he reminded her of his previous life.

“I was married once, you know, and I have a granddaughter that is not much younger than you.”

The forest continued to darken until there came a legitimate reason for the darkness.  The sun got ready to set.  Lockhart called a halt, and though he felt certain the elves and probably Doctor Procter could have continued without trouble in the dark, he thought it best to let everyone get some rest.  Alexis showed signs of being tired, drained from the healing magic she performed on Boston, and Boston was not fully healed despite her playful attitude.

“So, what’s for supper?”  Lincoln asked first.

“Bread-crackers and bread-crackers,” Alexis answered.

“Father, make a fire and give me an hour,” Roland said.

Mingus nodded.  “My son has some talents, too.”

“A hunter?” Boston asked, as Roland disappeared into the dusk of the forest.  Mingus nodded.

“Are you offended?” Alexis wondered.

“Not at all.  I grew up with hunters.  I love a good hunt.  I can skin and cut up a deer and everything.”

“Redneck daughter,” Lockhart smiled.  “Matches her red hair.”

“Good of you to notice.”  Boston smiled right back at him.

When the tents were up and the cut-up deer roasted away, people wandered off for firewood and personal reasons, and perhaps to spend some time alone with their thoughts.  Forty-five hundred BC was a long time ago.  Sixty-five hundred years was a long time to travel.

Boston sat beside Doctor Procter and stared at the fire, her mind contemplating the impossible journey they faced.  When she turned to the man, she imagined Doctor Procter had been unreasonably quiet so far.  Her handheld database proved to be full of information about the various lives of the Kairos, but she imagined Doctor Procter knew a wealth of more intimate information, if she could just learn how to tap into it.

“So how far do we have to go?” she asked, casually.  “Do you know who the next life of the Kairos we will meet?”

The doctor took out his amulet and answered her first question with a look.  “We should easily be there by noon.”  He shook the amulet and then repeated himself.  “Yes, by noon.”

“May I see?” she asked, but when he held the amulet out for her, the first thing she saw was a blackening of his pointer finger.  It looked black all the way to the palm.  “What is that?  It looks blood black.  How did it happen?”

Doctor Procter pulled his hand back, quickly.  “It is just a bruise.  It will be fine.  It must have happened when we were escaping the fight back on the plains of Shinar.  I think someone jammed it.”

“Shouldn’t you let Alexis look at it?  Maybe she can heal it.”  Boston felt amazed at how Alexis had healed her.

“No, it is fine.  Look.”  He wiggled it.  “It is not swollen or anything.  I am sure it will clear up in a day or two.  Besides, healing magic takes a great deal out of a person.  We can’t expect her to heal every cut or scrape or bruised finger.”

“But it looks so dark.  Is that blood?”

“No.  It is fine, really.  Now if you will excuse me, I have some personal business to attend to.”  He got up, smiled, and waddled off.  His old legs looked stiff.

Boston could hardly follow him, but she made a point later of mentioning it to Lockhart, privately.  He also said to do nothing and not tell the others just yet.  He said she should keep an eye on it, but when Doctor Procter came back to the fire, she noticed he made some fairy weave gloves that fit right up beneath his long sleeves.

“I thought I better protect it for a couple of days, just to give it a chance to heal,” he said.

That made sense.  It was probably nothing, so Boston decided not to worry about it.

By four in the morning, a good hour before dawn, Boston heard the crack of a great tree.    Someone yelled.  “Everyone out of the tents, now.  Hurry!”  Boston jumped because the crack sounded very close.  Lieutenant Harper, who shared her tent, helped her, and they ran as well as Boston could.  The tree came down on their tent, and while Boston and the lieutenant were brushed back by some branches, they only got scrapes and cuts like Doctor Procter talked about.

“Boston?”  Lockhart was the first one there.

“You shouted?” the lieutenant asked.

“I woke up early, uncomfortable.  I felt someone needed to be on watch and found Captain Decker had the same feelings.”

“Boston.”  Alexis came running up.  “What is it with you?”  She began to tend their cuts.

“This is not accidental.”  Mingus’ voice came from the far end of the tree.  “The tree is old, but not dead, though what could have ripped it up, roots and all, is beyond me.”

“Is everyone all right?”  Doctor Procter came up last of all.  “What happened here?”  No one answered him.

“Roland, Captain Decker, can you watch the perimeter while we break camp?”  Lockhart asked, and the elf nodded and stepped out among the trees.  The captain simply checked his weapon as Lockhart spoke.  “Lincoln, can you get Boston’s tent out from under the trunk?”

“I’ll do it,” Mingus said.  “It is fairy weave, but it will take some finesse in its present position.”

Lockhart nodded.  “Lincoln, you get scullery.  See what there is for breakfast and be sure the fire is out.  Are you able to travel?”  That last question got directed to the women.  The lieutenant, Boston and Alexis all nodded.

“What about me?” Doctor Procter asked.

“Just get us to the gate before the tower falls and this whole time zone resets, whatever that means.”  Doctor Procter nodded like the women and went to help take down the other tents.

Two hours after sunrise, Alexis screamed.  “A face.”  She pointed.  “There was a face, there, among the leaves.”  Everyone looked, Lockhart and Roland extra close, but they saw no one.

“A face?”  Mingus wondered what his daughter saw.

Alexis took a deep breath.  “It startled me.  A man’s face, I think.”

“Well whoever he was, he is gone now.”  Captain Decker came in from behind the bushes.

“No, wait.  I don’t mean a face like on a person.  I mean the leaves shaped themselves into a face, and—and I sensed the presence of something alive.”

“I don’t see it.”  Lincoln squinted.

“No, it is gone now.”

“A face in the leaves.”  Mingus rubbed his chin.  “A green man, do you think?”

Doctor Procter looked up.  “It seems a good explanation, this far back.”

Mingus spoke to the others.  “A bokarus, a spirit of what you humans call the pristine wilderness.  They resent intrusion, particularly human intrusion, and fights against any environmental changes.  That would explain the old tree torn up by the roots.  The tree probably did not have long to live and it became a worthy sacrifice to kill us, or two of us anyway.”

“I read they are especially dangerous around water,” Doctor Procter said in his way, without explaining why.

“They like to drown people and feed off their souls—the life force.”  Mingus did the explaining.  “It is neat and clean, does no damage to the environment, and the dead body feeds those things that live in the river.  But a bokarus can be dangerous on any ground.”

“I understand.”  Boston touched the cut on her cheek.  “But will it follow us through the time gate?”

“Not likely.”  Lockhart said, and looked at Mingus who nodded to confirm that idea.  “Probably native to this land.”

“Probably the reason these woods were considered off limits to the people back on the plains,” Lieutenant Harper suggested.

“No doubt,” Lockhart got everyone moving again, though they did not have very far to go to get to the gate.  When they arrived, Doctor Procter held up the amulet, which glowed, slightly green, but he could not seem to locate the source.

“It is here, I tell you,” Doctor Procter insisted, but no one could see the shimmering air.  “But it must be here.”  He stepped forward and disappeared.

“I guess he was right.”  Lockhart said, and after only a second, Doctor Procter reappeared.

“Good to know the gates are two-way.”

“Good to know,” Lockhart agreed and he encouraged the doctor to go back through once more and everyone else to follow.  They started to move when they heard a rumbling sound like thunder in the distance.

“The tower,” Lincoln said, as he took one last look around, and they all stepped through the gate into the next time zone.

Avalon Pilot part III-7: Kairos

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“Children?  Child?”  Doctor Procter tried to get the children’s attention.

“Kairos?”  Mingus tried, and the children at least stopped crying.

“Glen?” Boston spoke, and the children looked up.  Both sets of eyes got big and both mouths spoke in perfect unison.

“Boston!”  Then both mouths closed and there appeared to be some internal struggle before the boy spoke first and then the girl.

“I am Zadok, a word for rock.”

“I am Amri, a word for love.”

“Glen is here but not,” Zadok continued.  “I don’t know if I can reach him, exactly.”

“Or Alice,” Amri said.  “And I know where she is.

“I am confused…”

“…and I don’t know why.”

“I cannot send you home, either.”

“I don’t even know if the gods can.”

“Hold it.”  Lockhart interrupted.  “Could just one of you speak?  I’m getting dizzy.”

The children looked at each other before they nodded.  “I will talk,” Amri said.

“I will listen,” Zadok finished the thought.

“Wait a minute,” Lincoln stepped forward.  “You are like the Princess and he is like the Storyteller, or…”

“No, dear,” Alexis explained.  “They are one and the same person, only that one person is in two bodies.”

“Actually,” Amri looked briefly at Zadok.  “I am one being, like one consciousness in two persons.”

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Lincoln said.  “How can you be one being in two persons?”

Amri and Zadok looked briefly at each other once more.

“Amri likes to talk,” Zadok said.

“Zadok likes to listen so it works out well.”

Boston inched up close and squatted.  “What are you, six?”  Both heads nodded before Amri spoke again and it sounded like a hurried speech.

“You have guns that will never run out of bullets and vitamins that will never run out no matter how many people start taking them.  But that is all I can do for your health and safety.  That, and remind you that when the demon Ashteroth invaded Avalon and gained access to the Heart of Time, she wanted to change time.  She thought she could do that through the Heart of Time.  It doesn’t work that way, but in the attempt, she let all sorts of horrid creatures into time.”  Amri paused.  Someone had come up to the top of the hill.  The old man, Nimrod, interrupted everyone with a roar.  He looked bruised and bloodied in any number of places.   His face looked pummeled, and included the beginning of a terrific black eye.

“You!”  Nimrod pointed at Lockhart.  “You caused all this.”  Boston moved slightly and that attracted Nimrod’s attention.  The man shouted on sight of the children and raised his spear.  He threw it at Zadok, but Boston jumped.  The spear grazed her side and caused a great gash and a great deal of blood, but its trajectory changed, so Zadok was spared.

Roland’s arrow arrived first in Nimrod’s chest.  A look of utter surprise crossed the old man’s face before Lockhart’s slug from his shotgun and corresponding fire from Captain Decker knocked the man completely off his feet to roll back down the hill, dead.

“Boston!”  Zadok reacted first.

“Alexis!”  Amri seconded the sound of concern, but called for help.  Alexis, already on the way, started to open the medical kit.

“Daughter?”  No one understood what might be going through Mingus’ mind, but Alexis waved him off, locked her thumbs, and placed her hands an inch away from the gash in Boston’s side.  A golden-white glow of magic formed around Alexis’ hands, but when they touched Boston, Boston grimaced for a moment before she relaxed.  Lincoln, Lockhart and the others all watched while the bleeding stopped and the wound slowly closed-up.  The healing was not as fast or as complete a healing as Lockhart’s hand, but clearly Boston would be fine.  All the same, Alexis wrapped Boston in some gauze and tape, and helped her stand.  She then helped her repair her fairy weave clothes.

“I’ll be fine,” Boston said, as she felt two arms encircle her and two heads press up against her, with tears welled up in Amri’s eyes.  “Oh,” Boston returned the hug.  She wanted to squat again and hug the Kairos properly, but she was not sure if she could squat.  “You are cute when you are young.”  She said, instead.

“Of course.”  Zadok looked up with a smile and Boston saw the same smile spread across Armi’s face.  “I’m always cute.”  The twins backed up and looked once around at everyone.  Then Amri spoke again.

“You must go.  Nimrod might have died alone, the tower fallen, and him ever so slightly afraid that something of him might survive death after all.  You may have done him a mercy, but now you must go.  Godfather Cronos must come to see me, and the tower must be shattered.”

Lieutenant Harper, who craned her neck to see the top, nodded.  “Bad bricks.  Straw would have helped.”

“Ahem!”  Captain Decker coughed to get her quiet.

“You better hurry,” Amri said.  “I feel Cronos may come tomorrow, and shortly after he arrives, the tower will fall and I will cease.  Then I don’t know.   This time zone might start again at the beginning—at the moment of my conception.  It would be better if you were not here when it reset.”

“So, we have until tomorrow to get to the next time gate,” the doctor summarized and got out his amulet.  He turned to face the woods, then he turned back to say farewell.

“Will you be all right?”  Lockhart asked.

“Of course,” Amri responded.  “I live here.  But you must hurry.”

“And Lockhart,” Zadok interrupted himself, or rather, herself.  “I am sorry to burden you with having to get everyone back home the hard way, but I believe in you.”  Amri nodded her head in agreement, quite independently of what Zadok was doing.

Lockhart said nothing.  He just turned and followed the others back down the hill, toward the woods.

Avalon Pilot part III-6: Babel

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The travelers and twelve men with great spears, like their leader, gathered on the mound.  The men all looked big and strong, and as Boston noticed, they all looked mean and cruel besides.  The travelers got to walk in between the two lines, which may not have been military lines, but certainly spoke of men who knew how to retain prisoners.  Doctor Procter got to walk up front next to the big old man.

“It’s all right,” Lockhart suggested.  “The amulet is programmed correctly.  You just take us in the direction we need to go.”

Doctor Procter still did not get it, but he made no objection.  They started off the mound, and the people parted before them like the Red Sea parted for Moses.  Lincoln looked around and he did not like what he saw.

“The people.”  He spoke quietly to Alexis, but Lockhart and Boston in front of him and Mingus and Roland with their good elf ears heard.  “They look like people past the tipping point.  The looks they are giving the old man as soon as his back is turned are frightening.  I sense trouble.  I don’t think we will get all the way to the tower.”

“Humans,” Mingus scoffed.

“They look to be cooperating,” Roland pointed out.

“Are you sure?”  Lockhart asked Lincoln, even as he took the shotgun from his back and cradled it with one eye to be sure the marines were ready.

“Oh, yes,” Alexis whispered.  “I trust Benjamin’s nose for trouble.  His senses are excellent.”

Lockhart nudged Boston to encourage her to get ready to run, but she had her eyes on a man who paralleled them in the crowd.  He seemed like one man who did not appear to have evil intentions toward them.  It stood out, an unusual sight in a crowd of people who looked like they would just as soon eat the strangers as look at them.

Then it happened, just below the tower hill, and just before they broke free of the crowd.  A big, burly man full of soot from the fires, one who looked something like a blacksmith stepped forward, supported by three other equally gruff looking men, and they blocked the way.

“What is this?”  The old man looked up from the amulet and stared hard at the blacksmith who responded with what sounded to Lockhart like, “Gubba-dubba-mubba.”

“Gibberish,” the old man spat.  “Remove him.”  He turned to the man with the spear beside him, but that man also said something odd.

“Bullaka Meeko?”

“I think he said, who died and made you god?”  Roland whispered

Still, the intent of the big old man was clear, so the spearman lowered his spear and stepped forward.  The blacksmith stepped inside the stone point of the spear and landed a right hook on the spearman’s jaw.  That one act set everyone free.  Suddenly fists were being thrown everywhere and the scene dissolved into mayhem.

“Gibberish.  Why can’t you speak sense?”  They heard the old man shout even as Boston shouted louder.

“This way.  Hurry.”

The travelers followed Boston, and she followed the man who had signaled to her.  She had no idea what that man wanted, but he led them away from the ever-widening circle of violence.

The last they heard from the big old man was, “You must do what I say.  I am god!”  Then a fist went into the old man’s mouth while the travelers, with no real injuries, managed to break free.  The man they followed led them quickly up the tower hill until they were above the mayhem.

“I am Peleg,” the man said, once they could slow to speak.  “My family is safe.  Come.”  He led them around the base of the hill to where the forest grew up to the back of the rise.

“Peleg?”  Lockhart looked at Doctor Procter and then back at Mingus.

“One of the good guys,” Mingus assured him.

“So why are you helping us?” Lockhart finished his question for the man.

“Because you don’t belong to Nimrod.  You are strangers and deserve no part in the madness that is breaking out everywhere.”

“But what is going on?” Alexis was the one who asked.

They came to the trees and Peleg whistled before he turned to answer.  “Nimrod has told us there is no God.  He has taken the place of God and played on the fears of the people.  He says this monstrous tower of his will be our lasting memorial in case the flood comes again and we are all swept away.”

“But you don’t believe that.”

“No.  Some few of us have not forgotten.”  As he spoke, young men, women and children came out from among the trees to stand beside him.  “We remember the source of all, and the rainbow pledge.  Many people have already escaped, but sadly they have taken to the worship of the powers in this earth.”

“But that was madness back there,” Boston took up the cause.  “I can still hear the screaming and fighting and dying.  Why?”

“Because the people finally realized if Nimrod can be a god, so can they.  They are all being their own god.”

Lieutenant Harper got it.  “And when everyone is their own god, everything becomes relative.  Then even the words you speak mean whatever you want them to mean, whether anyone else understands them or not, it doesn’t matter.”

“So the gibberish.”  Alexis stepped up and took her husband’s arm.

“What a nimrod.  What a maroon.  Yuck, yuck.”  Lockhart smiled.  To Boston’s curious look he simply added, “Just something from my youth.”  Oh.  She curved her lips but made no sound.

“Our way lies along the edge of the trees.  My family is reluctant to venture into the forest.”

“Our way?”  Lincoln asked, and Doctor Procter pointed into the deep woods.

“Thank you.”  Lockhart thought to say it.

“Go with God.”  Peleg responded, and he and his family began to move off the plains.

“Humans.”  Mingus shook his head.  “It is all gibberish if you ask me.”  He started into the woods, and everyone became obliged to follow.  They did not get far, though, before Doctor Procter shouted.

“No.”  He spun around, ran toward the hill.  He began to climb.  He ran elf fast, or half-elf fast, but because of his age, it did not take long for the others to catch up.

“What is it?”  Captain Decker asked.

“He will not leave until he sees the Kairos,” Mingus answered for the half-elf.  “And on second thought, I suppose I agree with him.”  They did not have to look far.  A child, rather, two children sat in the shadow of the tower, joined not along one whole side as in the drawing on the Ark, but only at the wrists.  He had no left hand and she had no right.  They sat in the dirt, turned away from the madness going on across the plains below.  They could not have been older than five or six, and they were crying.

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MONDAY

The rest of the story: The Kairos revealed, and the time gate to the next life of the Kairos is found. Ready? Read it on Monday and Happy Reading

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