Banshee

Golden Door Chapter 3 Separation, part 1 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Chris felt the presence tromping along beside him, but by a great effort of will, he ignored it. He did speak once. “You divided us and now all four of us are lost and alone in this strange land. David has only just turned twelve and James is only nine. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

The invisible thing, whatever it was, did not respond, though it seemed to back off a little. Even so, with all that concentration on trying to not be frightened, it came as no surprise when Chris made a wrong turn. He did not recognize that portion of the forest. He saw a boulder and a stump which he felt sure he had never seen before, and now, since it was just about dark, he thought to sit and rest with the hope that he might catch his bearings.

“Sorry.” He heard the whisper nearby. “I’m a Pookah.”

A spooka, Chris thought, and he also thought to move on before the hair on the back of his neck, which already stood up, took the better part and started running off without him. Besides, he heard something up ahead and wondered if it might be one of the boys.

“So, what? It’s your job?” Chris mumbled as he started off. He did not hear an answer, but he felt the affirmation come from the Pookah, and he seriously had to struggle to keep his feet to a steady pace.

After a short walk, the sound of snoring assured him that whatever it might be, it was not Beth or one of his brothers. He got extra curious when he got close, and the presence of the Pookah went away. It occurred to him that if this, whatever it was, could frighten an invisible creature, he might not want to get too close. He saw it asleep against a tremendous boulder. It looked as big as the boulder, and snored, just across a small clearing where it looked like someone let a campfire get out of control. Chris saw bits of sheep and sheep bones scattered about. He might have gagged, if the smell of roast lamb did not make him feel so hungry. He took a closer look.

The creature had the body of a giant-sized goat, with a goat’s tail, and it had goat horns on a lion head. The legs and claws appeared lion-like, which suggested the creature might be very fast on the ground; but then it also had great leathery wings and a snake like neck which made Chris think of a dragon. Given what he had already seen in the world, the idea of a dragon did not seem all that strange. He decided to treat this as a sleeping dog—or goat-lion-dragon thing, best left alone, and he started to back out the way he came. But by then it had become quite dark, and he could not help cracking twigs as he walked. After one sharp crack, he considered running, even in the dark. Fortunately, a sudden breath of fire from the creature was more than enough light to show Chris exactly where to place his running feet.

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“Beth.” The voice floated on the wind and moaned as it called her name. “Your days have been numbered, and it is time for you to die.” The voice sounded very certain about that.

Beth crouched down a little lower in the tall grass and shivered. She would have stopped running much earlier if that darn hoot owl had not screeched at her in the dark. She imagined a giant owl to match the rest of the landscape, and she imagined it swooping down on her, like an owl might swoop down on a mere mouse. As she thought about it, she decided that it might have been a regular sized owl. Of course, when it hooted, she had not been thinking at all, just running. Now she found herself completely separated from the others and hiding in an open field in the middle of the forest. She looked up and felt glad for the glow of the half-moon above, and the shine of the stars which seemed countless, as stars can only appear in the wilderness. It seemed as if she had never seen the stars before, and she would have found it a beautiful sight if not for the voices calling her and talking about her death.

“Be-eth.” A second voice called; a distinctly female voice, like the other voice. “Even you cannot escape the banshee call.”

“Beth. We are coming for you,” a third voice called.

Beth hardly knew what to do. She waited to see where these female creatures would emerge from the trees before she ran in the opposite direction, and she used those few precious moments to settle her heart and catch her breath. She saw them soon enough; three women with hair to their ankles and dressed in what looked like floor length nightgowns. They floated a foot or two off the ground and glowed like the moon. Beth stared for a moment, trying to decide if they looked like angels or ghosts. She finally decided neither image described these women. They had something plainly wicked, even demonic in their looks.

“Beth.” One called as she cupped one hand to her mouth.

“Beth.” A second echoed while the third turned her head all the way around without turning her body in the least. Beth got ready to run back the way she had come, when her eyes got distracted by someone who ran on to the field from the other side.

“Chris,” she cried out, but Chris took two more steps before he dove for the ground. A lion head with two great goat-horns got pushed onto the field by a long snake-like neck. The lion roared and a stream of flame shot directly over Chris’ head. “Chris!” Beth yelled again, but Chris got up as soon as the flame stopped and already swerved in Beth’s direction. Beth glanced at the shrieking banshees, a good thing because the lion head also got drawn to the sound. Beth did not have to be told to run. Chris caught her and they ran together as the three banshees began to rise-up into the night sky. The creature brought its great body on to the field, and without even glancing at the two youngsters who disappeared back into the woods, it opened its leathery wings and took to the sky in pursuit of new prey.

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MONDAY

So much for not getting separated. Fortunately there is a light in the darkness and they are all drawn to find out what it is. Until Monday, Happy Reading

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Avalon 2.6: The Battle for Freedom

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Apparently, getting out of the war zone did not get them out of the war.   The enemy is guarding the time gate.  There is no other way around it.  Someone is going to have to move or the travelers will never get home to the future.

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            Katie handed her binoculars to Boston as she spoke.  “If they charge, they will run into a wall of arrows here at the edge of the trees and we will be able to get behind them.  If they dig in we will be here a while picking them off one by one.”

            “And if they do both?  Won’t that put Ivy at risk on his own rear?” Lockhart asked.

            “I can see that,” Ivy said.  “But we can watch for that.  I think this is the most brilliant plan I ever heard of.  Who would think of circling around to hit the enemy from the front and rear at the same time?”

            “War is still a relatively new business in the world,” Lincoln suggested as he put down the binoculars he inherited from Decker.  “Anger, fighting, tribe on tribe sure, but tactics?  This scale of war is probably unknown.”

            Boston lingered.  She was looking at the gate, perfectly framed by two great oak trees.  She guessed one of the gods or titans caused the trees to grow and caused their branches to curve and meet overhead.  The space was three riders wide and twice as tall as a horse.  She could see the slight shimmer in the air under the cloud-filled sky.

            “Boston,” Lockhart called and she scooted down the glacial boulder that was their spy perch.  She knew the plan was good, but it was going to take some timing with untrained people.

            Ivy and Holly got a full hour to explain the idea to their people.  Elder Stow spent that time with the help of Gimble and Linnia pinpointing the lesser spirits among the enemy.  His powerful weapon would be needed to take out as many of them as possible.  When he mounted his horse he expressed his reservations.

            “They would be fools to charge us when they have the strong position.”

            “Then we must hope they are fools,” Linnia said, and then Holly and Ivy were ready.

            The travelers on horseback rode out from the trees at some speed.  They had to act like this was the first time they saw the enemy and also make it look like it took thirty yards or so to get their horses to stop the forward motion.  They wanted to get close enough to present a tempting morsel for the enemy to bite.  Immediately, the travelers began to fire their weapons and men and spirits in the flesh began to drop.  Elder Stow was more deliberate in selecting his targets, but hopefully no one noticed in the midst of the confusion made by the guns.

            It did not take long for the enemy to respond.  They charged full out.  Only a half-dozen men and a couple of spiritual creatures remained to guard the gate.

            The travelers turned their horses and rode.  They knew some of the spirits would outrun the men and only hoped they would not outrun the horses.  When they rode into the forest and turned again, they saw the devastating effect of their plan.  Holly brought twenty-five fee from one side and Ivy brought twenty-five from the other so they met at the rear of the charge.  The enemy became covered with volleys of arrows from the hundred Little Ones at the edge of the trees and fifty at their rear.  Some near the sides managed to scoot out from the trap, but they simply ran for their lives.  Half of the enemy lay on the field, dead and dying, and the two sides never actually met.

            The ones left by the time gate realized they were too exposed by the oaks.  They moved aside to take up residence in a cluster of nearby rocks.  It was a wise move, but it allowed an opening that Lockhart was quick to exploit. 

            “Ride!” he shouted, and the travelers rode full speed for the gate.  They shouted as they went.  “Good-bye, thank you, good luck.”  They zipped through the gate into a world of grass that stretched out before them in small, rolling hills that looked like waves at sea.  Lincoln was content to ride straight on until morning, but Lockhart and Katie knew better.  Roland also knew better so he turned back and Boston followed him, and that left Lincoln and Elder Stow in the rear and grumbling.

            A lesser spirit, a harbinger of death that would one day be called a banshee followed them and three men followed the banshee.  The travelers could not take their eyes off the men as the banshee spoke.  Those men aged at least fifty years in a matter of seconds.  Two fell to their knees in pain and clutched their chests.  One fell to his face like one already dead.

            “The two before you escaped before we came to guard this place,” the banshee whined in a voice that made the travelers open their eyes wide and grind their teeth.  “You will follow me down into the land of the dead.”

            “And where might that be?” Roland asked as he came up alongside Katie. 

            The Banshee paused, floated up about three feet in the air, let her head circle all the way around on her neck like a scene from the Exorcist, and she even turned green.  Clearly the banshee had no idea where it was.

            Elder Stow arrived and fired his weapon.  The banshee was caught in the middle and thrown back through the gate, and if it was not dead, it was near enough.  Meanwhile, the three old men struggled to get to their feet and Lockhart got down from his mount to confront them.

            “I don’t know if you can get back through the gate or not.  If you can, I do not know if you will become young again.  Only this much is certain, that we cannot stay here and we cannot take you with us.  If you can get through the gate, you must surrender yourselves, and hear me.  Domnu and her children hate you and will kill you all.  Tetamon and the gods will give your people land and homes and bless your children.  Make your own choice, which is it you want?

            Lockhart got back up on his horse and turned away.  He led the group into those grasslands and while Boston and Lincoln looked back, he never looked back.

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            Once upon a time the world was full of grass, until the day it became overgrazed and began to dry.  That was when people moved in search of greener pastures.  Great and successive migrations eventually filled the place between the fertile Tigris and Euphrates rivers, but in Beltain’s day, keeping the various tribal groups from killing each other while on the road is the key to a successful migration,  and the headache.  The travelers from Avalon are not much help with this problem.  In fact, they get caught up in the problem, thanks to the thing that is following them.  It is big and powerful, cruel, and hidden in the clouds, and it has an irresistible agenda all its own.

Avalon 2.7:  New Blood … Next Time.

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