Dwarfs

Avalon 4.4: Slave of Babylon, part 1 of 6

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After 2219 BC, Babylon.  Kairos 50: Ulrik, The Slave General

Recording …

“These woods are dark and spooky,” Boston said.

Mingus sought to calm her.  “I smell magic of the little ones, dwarfs of some kind, I believe.  I have no idea why they would put a haunting on these woods, but it is usually to keep something out.  I would say we need to keep watch for whatever it is the little ones are afraid of.”

“Humans?” Lincoln turned in his saddle to make a suggestion.

Alexis looked back with him.  “Hard to believe we are in Iraq.  There hasn’t been a forest like this in Iraq in millennia.”grassland trees

“The database says we are somewhere around 2200 BC,” Lincoln interjected.

Katie overheard from the front.  “I wonder if we are anywhere near the Tigris or the Euphrates.”

“Probably,” Lockhart mumbled as he rode beside her.  He did not take his eyes off the trees ahead.  His police creepy instinct was acting up.  But then, Katie, being a one in a million warrior woman whose intuition could sense an enemy miles away, did not seem bothered.  Maybe they were safe for the present.  Lockhart figured he might just be reacting to the haunting, as Mingus called it.  Lockhart called for a halt while he looked 180 degrees in the direction they were headed.

“What is it?” Katie asked.

“I’m not sure,” Lockhart admitted.

Elder Stow and Major Decker rode in from the flanks.  Decker had seen nothing, but the Gott-Druk shook his scanner like he was not sure what he was seeing.

“There seem to be several different groups of humans wandering through these woods, but they are so bunched up it is hard to say how many in each group,” Elder Stow said and shook his scanner again.

Decker offered his assessment.  “Two whole armies could pass within a few hundred yards of each other in these woods, and never know it.”

They heard voices.  “Halt.  Who goes there.  Friend or foe?”

Dwarf 1“They are already halted.”

“Ouch.”

Lockhart glanced at Katie, but she shrugged to say she did not sense any particular danger.  Lincoln pushed up between Lockhart and Decker.  Alexis, not wanting to be left with Boston and her father at the back, pushed her horse up between Katie and Elder Stow.

“Who are you?” Lincoln asked, and looked quickly at the database which was still in his hand.

“No,” the voice said.  “We asked first.”

Lockhart frowned at Lincoln.  “Friend,” he said.  “And you?”

“Hard to say.  Are you Gutians or Akkadians?”

“Neither,” Lockhart said.

“We are strangers just arrived in this land,” Alexis added.

Mingus and Boston came up beside Decker, and Mingus spoke in his gruffest voice.  “Show yourselves.  You are being very rude.”

“Hey look, it’s an elf.”

“They got one with red hair.”

“Elder elf,” Boston said in defense of her father-in-law, sounding slightly offended.

“Woo-hoo.  Upity.”dwarves a1

“Can’t come out unless you know the password.”

“Passowrd?”” Decker asked.  He also sensed no danger here, but he understood little ones could change in the blink of an eye, so he had his rifle out and cradled it in his arms.

“We are looking for Ulrik,” Lincoln said, pulling his face from the database.

Twenty dwarf-like people stepped out from the bushes and from behind the trees.  A few may have been disguised as bushes.  The travelers squinted, but it was honestly hard to tell exactly what these little ones were.  They appeared to have some imp in them.

“Well, they know the password,” one said.

One of the dwarfs pulled on his beard.  “And why are you looking for Ulrik?”

“Ulrik is an old friend,” Lockhart said.  “We have known the Kairos for a long time.”

“Though we have not known this version, he will know us,” Lincoln said, and turned to Lockhart.  “The Kairos is male in this life.”  Lockhart nodded.

“Ulrik.  Can you take us to him?” Lockhart asked.

“Sure.  Ouch.”  One dwarf hit the speaker.

Boston LF1“How do we know you don’t mean him any harm?”

Boston yelled.  “Just do it.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Fire red head.”

“But you gotta walk your beasts.”

“Nice horses, by the way.”

The travelers got down and led their horses for most of the afternoon.  They came out of the trees around three, and crossed a great plain full of wild wheat, berries and thistle flowers of many kinds.  The sun was hot that afternoon, and Lincoln and Alexis both confirmed the soil was being eroded badly.  They could see how the land became desert-like over the next several thousand years.  Katie agreed.

“You folks stick out like a bad rash,” Pluckman, the head dwarf said casually to Lockhart and Katie.

“Can’t be helped,” Katie responded.

“I haven’t taught Dog how to crouch down and creep along the ground yet,” Lockhart added.

“Dog?”

“Robert named his horse Dog.  Silly, I know,” Katie said.grassland trees 5

“You named your horses?”

“My horse is Black Beauty,” Katie suggested.

“I bet the elves didn’t name their horses.”

“Boston’s horse is Honey,” Lockhart said.  “That is the red head.”

“Mingus’ horse is just Horse, I think,” Katie added, but looked at Lockhart to be sure.

“That’s right, Horse.”  Lockhart agreed, but paused when Katie suddenly looked worried.

“Danger,” Katie said.  Everyone stopped.  Katie grabbed her rifle.  Lockhart unsnapped his holster and grabbed his shotgun.

“Humans,” Pluckman yelled to the dwarfs, and they all found either a bow or a sling in their hands.  “The Gutians are attacking.”

Decker never put his rifle away, and as Katie got out her binoculars, Decker looked through his scope and announced there were about two hundred men with weapons and shields attacking a small caravan.

“Mount up,” Lockhart said.  “Lincoln?”

“Ulrik is Akkadian.”

“Mingus, stay with the dwarfs.”

nat scenery 1“Not a chance,” Boston responded to something Mingus said.

“I’m coming,” Mingus shouted back and yelled at Boston for being stupid and stubborn.

“Alexis?” Lockhart tried again.

“Someone may be hurt,” Alexis responded as she mounted.

“Hell with it,” Decker said and he started to ride.  The other seven took a bit to catch up.

Avalon 4.0: part 7 of 7, Fire

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Gingsu ran to form up his men in the face of the oncoming hill people.  Yuan ran to ready his elves, though elves were much like marines in that respect.  They were always ready.  Bogda sent a mental message to his dwarfs in the rocks to keep down until the human passed so they could come up on the humans from behind and hold the high ground with rocks for cover.

Decker snapped the scope on his rifle.  Katie had her rifle at hand, and found her own scope while Mai-Lyn pulled her bow.  Katie patted her horse’s neck for luck.  The horses stayed back, being Avalon travelers horses 2obedient creatures, each tied to his rider by almost magical strings.  Being mustangs from the American West, they were no strangers to gunfire.  Sadly, they were also getting used to men running, screaming, and dying all around them.

Boston practiced puling her bow from her slip.  It looked to human eyes like she pulled it from nowhere.  Lockhart and Lincoln had their pistols out, and Lockhart fetched his shotgun, again with the hope that the enemy would not get close enough to need it.  Mingus grabbed a half-dozen of Boston’s arrows from her never empty quiver.  He began to rub the arrows and sprinkled some sand from his feet on them to make the magic work.

“We need a few grenades,” Decker said.

“Just working on that,” Mingus replied.  He made Alexis get out her bow as well, over her mild objections, and handed her some of the arrows while he reached for more.

Decker and Katie began to pick off targets on the hillside.  They did not expect to have much impact, except maybe to unnerve some of the men around their targets.

Elder Stow let loose with his sonic device.  The rocks on the hillside rumbled, and some of them started a few small rockslides.  No doubt, men were injured, and some perhaps killed by the rocks, but again, it would have no great impact on the battle other than what the few with broken limbs screaming for their fellows might do to the enemy morale.

dwarves a2“I hope we didn’t catch any dwarfs in the rocks,” Lockhart apologized to the dwarf king who moved up with Lin and Mai-Lyn to stand with the travelers.

“With luck Tuku got hit in the head with a big rock and it knocked some sense into him.” Bogda responded as he cradled his axe and waited.

“Oh, I am sorry,” Elder Stow admitted.  “I was just thinking what I could do.  I didn’t think—“

“It’s all right,” Lin interrupted his litany.

Tien showed up.  “You know, you could set up a one sided screen around the group where we can shoot out, but they cannot shoot in, like you did in Nuwa’s day.”

“Of course,” Eder Stow said in an embarrassed tone.  He got out his scanner and apologized again.  “I am sorry but it will not cover the soldiers.  It will not stretch that far and remain single sided.”

“Just do your best,” Lockhart said.

“Bogda and Mai-Lyn stay here,” Lin commanded, and both the elect and the dwarf groused.  TheyLin Mai-Lyn 2 figured the enemy would not be able to get to them for real combat and they wanted to join the fighting.  Bogda mumbled something best not translated as he got out his bow and a dozen arrows.

“Yes,” Tien said to the Elder.  “I’m surprised you did not do that when facing the ghouls.  They might have been able magically to pass through the screen, but even invisible, you would have known exactly where they were and could have shot them before they got up the rocks.”

Elder Stow looked at Katie who was still firing at the oncoming men, and turned his head to Lockhart.  “My father, I apologize.  I did not think of that.”

“Neither did I, or anyone else, so don’t worry about it.”

“But I should know my own equipment.”

“And Boston should always know who the Kairos is, but it doesn’t work that way.  We just each do our best and hope we survive long enough to get back to the twenty-first century.  That is all any of us can do.”  Lockhart raised his pistol as the enemy broke out from the base of the hill and charged, screaming death.

“Ready,” Lockhart yelled.  “Fire.”  It was pretty quick.  There was not much ground the lead group had to cross.  The elves appeared in front of the soldiers, and they rarely missed with their arrows.  Lin, Mai-Lyn and Bogda also sent some arrows from the small group at the side of the army ranks, but the devastation came from the guns.  Decker and Katie especially switched their weapons to automatic and took down two and three men with each burst of fire.  The guns would never run out of bullets.  It was one of the things the Kairos arranged when the travelers left Avalon to begin this impossible journey, but they still had to be careful not to overheat the weapons.  Parts could break, maybe even melt.

lin army attack

Boston and Alexis also kept up with the archers, but the arrows treated by Mingus exploded on contact, whether they hit a man or the ground, and the explosion was indeed like a grenade, far more powerful than the little firecrackers Boston was firing before.  Men were knocked off their feet and into the air like rag dolls.  And when the treated arrows were gone, Boston had an idea.

She pulled her wand, and this time she grabbed Mingus’ hand to borrow his magic.  She then sent out a stream of fire like a flame thrower.  When Alexis put her hand on Boston’s shoulder, the added air increased the intensity and distance of the flame.  The enemy by then was moving away from the group on the end, which shoved the whole enemy line into the face of the soldiers.

The elves pulled back at that point, and the soldiers in a solid line, five men deep, began to move forward.  The men in front had shields and long knives, not unlike a Roman formation.  The two rows of men behind them carried spears which made something like a spiked wall that moved forward slowly, but inexorably.  The brigands had no answer for that, and they began to break.  Those who tried for the hill found the dwarf axes waiting.  Those who squirted out the sides managed to escape, but they were a broken and utterly defeated army.

“There, I’ve got it,” Elder Stow said, and Mai-Lyn put her hand in front of Boston’s face.  The arrow flamethrowerintended for the flamethrower entered Mai-Lyn’s hand and stopped inches from Boston.  Boston immediately turned the archer into a crispy critter.  No enraged dragon could have done more.  But Alexis let go and immediately took Mai-Lyn aside.

She broke off the arrow and pulled it right out.  “Nice catch,” Alexis said.  She let the wound bleed out the splinters and caught the hand in both of hers,  Her hands began to give off a warm, golden glow, and with some relief from the pain, Mai-Lyn passed out, never having so much as uttered a peep.  It took a long minute before Alexis could let go.  The wound looked completely healed from the outside.  “But there is still internal and muscle damage that needs to heal,” Alexis said to whoever might be listening.  “At least she won’t bleed to death and it won’t get infected.”  She got out some gauze and wrapped the hand tight.

“Hey!” Boston turned on Elder Stow.  “I thought the screen was up that whole time.”

“We all thought that,” Katie admitted.

“That was as fast as I could make it,” Elder Stow shouted back.  “You asked me to make the equipment do something it was not designed to do.”

“Go easy,” Lockhart stepped between them.  “How is she?” he asked, and all eyes turned to Alexis.

“She will be fine with time.  She is an elect, so I expect she will heal completely.”

Lin was watching, but nodded on that word and went out to give the grizzly order.  The soldiers needed to kill any enemy wounded on the field.  It sounded barbaric, but it was actually a mercy.  She came back to the others in a bad mood.Lin 4

“You need to go,” she told the travelers.  “You should be able to catch up with Captain Sushang pretty easily, and I would appreciate if you traveled with them, at least until you reach the next time gate.

“And what will you be doing?” Lincoln asked.

“We will be heading into the hills to end this struggle.  I have sent out two dozen trains to fetch the opium.  This, after eight years, is the second to return.  I do not blame the hill people for all of our loses, but some, yes, some.  The least we can do is secure this north end of the silk road.  I think Gingsu’s family may build a fort and settlement here on the lake.  I think Devya may build a settlement in the center to anchor the road, but that remains to be seen.”

“Who is Devya?” Boston asked.

“Me,” Lin answered, and helped Mai-Lyn walk back to their tent.

“Mount up,” Lockhart said.  They had to ride to catch up and a long way to go to the next time gate, not to mention the trip back to the twenty-first century.

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

MONDAY… Avalon 4.1 A Time for War.  The travelers find themselves in the Aegean area, only this time, it isn’t humans fighting.  Some people just don’t have enough sense to keep their quarrel in space where it belongs.  Happy Reading…

UFO battle 4

Avalon 3.5 part 4 of 5, Defending the Hall

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Decker and Harper began firing when the zombies were still some distance away. Lockhart watched Katie shoot three right between the eyes. They collapsed, but they did not stay down. Whatever animated them got them up again.

Boston calmed her spirit as well as she could before she sent a fireball from the end of her wand. The zombie it struck burst into flames, but that did not stop it. It continued to stumble forward until Roland struck it with an explosive arrow. Back at the dawn of history, Roland showed a talent in entertaining the children of the Stick People. He focused on an arrow and shot a magic arrow into the sky that burst like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Now, using that same technique, he was able to blast zombies to pieces, but it was terribly slow work.

“Thanks. I was afraid it would set the building on fire,” Boston admitted. Roland took a moment to explain how to turn her little fire into a firecracker.

Alexis stayed busy popping the heads off zombies and skeletons. Her magic would have been powerfully explosive if attached to a real arrow, but she did not have that option. With her wand alone, about all she could do was blow the zombie heads to pieces. It did not stop them, but it slowed them way down.zombie 4

Decker noticed what Alexis was doing. He began to concentrate his fire on the zombie necks in an effort to liberate the head. He sent one head bouncing to the ground. A second one leaned heavily to one side but remained attached by some muscle tissue, so the zombie was nearly headless. Neither case caused the zombie to stop moving forward. Decker realized that what they were doing was not working.

“There must be a way to stop these things for good,” Lockhart shouted, having come to the same conclusion as Decker.

“It’s no good. It’s not working,” one of the dwarfs also shouted.

“Why is this equipment not working?” Elder Stow was frustrated.

“Let me see it,” Tara came to him to look it over

“Disarming the people is cheating,” Baga said.

“Right.” Mitra agreed, even as Elder Stow found a spark of life in his weapon.

Outside, Tara’s Shemsu people came to the edge of the village. The zombies had no interest in the village, and the villagers had no desire to assist the giants presumed to be in the great hall. They came because of the sound of gunfire, though they did not know that was what it was, and because it appeared the zombies were not going to attack them. The villagers were content to watch until someone shouted out.

“Tara and the sons of Ahura are trapped in the Great Hall.”

Another man shouted. “Don’t touch the dead. They are diseased.”

That got the villagers moving. The non-Shemsu natives got spears and moved carefully toward the zombies. They clearly heard the word not to touch them, but primarily from behind, they managed to pin a few to the ground. Meanwhile, their Shemsu neighbors had another thing in mind.

zombie 5The unique telekinetic ability of the Shemsu people was such that the more solid the object, the easier it was to lift. Any attempt to lift a zombie would crush the zombie, or make it fall apart. Some did that, and their efforts were effective, particularly when they managed to toss the zombie or zombie pieces twenty or thirty feet up into the dark, threatening sky, and watch it fall back to the ground where it struck and splattered.

Equally effective were the stones that ranged in size from a person’s head to a man’s mid section. The Shemsu could throw the stones without touching them, and several zombies were crushed in that way. Even so, there were some fifteen zombies and skeletons that made it to the Great Hall, and four from the swamps in the back. The reason there were not more on the back end is because once Elder Stow got his weapon to work, he was able to utterly disintegrate the majority of them.

Lockhart used his shotgun to turn one zombie head to mush, but then he and the other people against the walls had to back away from the windows. Zombie arms were reaching inside looking to scratch and infect who they could, and the zombies began to tear at the openings to make them wide enough to get in.

Suddenly, Lord Veregoth and young Lord Visana both stood, their eyes glazed over like men in a trance. Lord Veregoth made a grab for Tara, but she screamed and scooted under the table. She had Elder Stow’s scanner in her hands and held it tight to her body to keep it safe. Mitra and Baga were right there with their spears to strike Lord Veregoth in the thighs. The giant let out a strange sound of pain and confusion, and fell to his knees.

Decker dropped his ineffective rifle and went for young Visana at the knees. Katie leapt and slammed into the giant’s chest, He fell hard with his back to the dirt and the wind care bursting out of him. Lockhart turned his shotgun around and slammed the butt end into Visana’s temple. It took several strikes before Visana stopped moving. Lockhart hoped he didn’t kill the fellow, but the thought passed quickly as Alexis shouted.

“They are up on the roof!”

Lincoln grabbed the chain from the fan and began to pull. The fan stuck fast, and Katie and Roland quickly came to help. Roland leapt to put his full weight into the chain, and there was a snapping sound. An arm fell to the floor where it continued to grab and clutch at anything that came close. Elder Stow disintegrated the arm with a tight beam, and then grabbed Boston from behind.

“Hey!” Boston shouted.zombie 3

“My weapon will surely burn down the building,” Elder Stow said. His anti-gravity belt was working again and he carried Boston up to the rafters. The fan was turning, keeping the zombies out, but beside the fan, one zombie was tearing at the shingles and widening a hole to get inside.

Boston still had her wand, and she tried to think of heat, not fire. It came out like a laser beam, directed at the zombie’s head, and melted the head, but it did not dislodge the body. The body continued to claw at the opening to widen it.

Elder Stow was incredibly strong. Boston felt secure enough in his arms to kick out, to dislodge the zombie from the roof. It worked, but being in shorts allowed the zombie to make a grab for her leg. It did not catch the leg, but scratched it. There was small bit of blood Boston hardly noticed.

“Giant coming to the door,” one of the dwarfs yelled. He had managed a peek out one of the windows and did not like what he saw. While Lincoln continued to pull the chain for the fan, Katie grabbed her rifle and headed for the door, Roland one step behind. Alexis was working on the giant, Visana, to heal him and keep him alive. They did not need a zombie giant inside the building. Mitra and Baga each held an arm of Lord Veregoth. Lockhart held down the giant’s forehead while Veregoth raged and struggled to break free.

Roland grabbed Blinker the dwarf to take his magic and let the magic stream to the latch. He paused after a moment and said the latch would hold, but he could not prevent the giant from knocking down the door. He stationed himself and the two dwarfs to guard the entrance. Katie stood by with her rifle at hand, useless as the rifle seemed to be.

Decker grabbed his rifle and came up to Veregoth. Everyone yelled, “No!” so Decker paused while Alexis spoke. “If you kill him, he will go zombie on us. An enchanted giant we can handle. At least he is not contagious.” Decker nodded and sat on Veregoth’s chest, but kept his rifle in hand.

zombie 2The giant outside slammed into the door. It cracked, but did not give way. Roland and the dwarfs had a magical shield up to strengthen the door against intrusion. There was another crash, but the door held. Blinker put a hand to his head like he was developing a headache. Dead or not, the giant remained half-titan. A third crash loosened a couple of boards when Tara shouted from under the table.

“Got it!” she yelled.

Avalon 3.5 part 3 of 5, Zombies

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“Tara!”

“Mitra. Baga. What is it?” Tara asked and tried to calm the young men so they could speak. Boston, Lincoln and Alexis paid attention. Lockhart, Katie and Decker went back to the arrow slit openings in the wall to see if they could see what was happening.

Lord Veregoth, the giant asked his question while Mitra and Baga caught their breath. “What did he mean, the dead will eat the living?” He was still staring at Lord Visana who was laid out, unconscious, across the entrance way where the door could not be closed.old giant 3

“The dead are rising from their graves,” Mitra said with only a touch of panic in his voice.

“Movement in the graveyard,” Major Decker spoke from the wall at the same time, his eye focused out the narrow opening. Katie and Lockhart went to the side wall to look out on where the graveyard was, and Boston joined them.

“Friends?” Lincoln asked of the young men.

Tara accepted the distraction. “The sons of Ahura, Varun whom we call Baga, and Mitra, his brother.”

“I guessed they were brothers,” Alexis said to the side as Lord Veregoth asked another question.

“What does he mean the dead are rising from their graves?”

“Look for yourself,” Lockhart told the giant and shouted, “Decker.” He grabbed Katie and went to the door to drag ten feet of giant from the entrance in order to get the door closed.

“Maybe we should head for the barn to see if our weapons are there,” Decker suggested.

“No need,” Katie pointed. Roland and a couple of dwarfs were scurrying between the two buildings and they were loaded down with all of their weapons.

“Where is Soma?” Tara asked the boys, like they were one short of their usual gang.

“Probably hiding,” Mitra said.

“He has a crush on Tara,” Baga said with a big grin.

Tara 5Tara blanched. “My children?” she asked.

“Safe,” Baga assured her.

“Brihaspabbi is probably off writing some more stupid poetry,” Mitra added. “And has no idea what is happening.”

“Brihaspabbi?” Alexis asked.

“My husband,” Tara said with a roll of her eyes. “We’re separated.”

“But that is not possible,” Lord Veregoth roared from where he was leaning down and had one big eye trained on the graveyard. “The dead don’t get up and walk around.”

“Roland,” Lockhart said. “Help me get the door closed.” The two of them shoved now that Visana was out of the way. The Marines, Captain Harper and Major Decker checked their rifles and Decker offered a thought.

“A flamethrower would be nice.”

“We have Little Fire.” Katie pointed at Boston who grabbed her wand and went back to stare out one of the narrow openings in the wall.

“I can’t quite reach the latch,” Lockhart complained. Roland looked up and Lockhart was about to jump for it when a big hand reached over his head and latched the door.

“But dead people walking around is not possible,” Lord Veregoth complained.

“It is what it is,” Decker offered the bit of philosophy he adopted back when he finally accepted the fact that this was not all an illusion, and Colonel Weber was not within communication range. He took up a position at arrow slit at the back corner of the building. Katie set herself at the window at the front corner.

There were six windows along each side wall, two up front on each side of the door, and four on the back wall. Roland, Boston, Alexis and Lockhart with his shotgun took the four between the Marines. That left Lincoln out, and Elder Stow who was grousing that his equipment was not working

“I can’t get a screen up. My weapon shows no charge, but that can’t be right. Even the sonic device is drained.” Elder Stow sat on the floor and began to take things apart.

“Excuse us, Lady.” The two dwarfs that came with Roland inched up to the window by the door and Katie took a step back. The dwarfs squeezed in and Katie went to kneel beneath Lockhart’s shotgun.

Lincoln pointed to the narrow windows and asked Tara a question.“Why so narrow?”arrowslit 1

“So people can’t escape out the windows, and zombies can’t squeeze in” Tara explained while she took him to a long chain by the back wall that went up into the rafters, twenty feet above. “This is hot, arid country. There is a big wooden fan in the roof, turned by pulling on this chain.   A fresh breeze gets pulled in through these vents when the fan turns.”

“My grandparents had an attic fan,” Lincoln said. “Of course, it was electric.”

“Same idea,” Tara said. “But we live in manual labor land.”

“She’s so smart,” Mitra praised Tara as if she invented the fan, which she may have.

“Tara,” Baga had something else in mind. “You need to tell us what you see.”

Lord Veregoth took a seat at the table and worried his hands. “Yes, woman. You must say what you see.”

Tara nodded, sat where she was, and closed her eyes. She reported. There were thirty or more people crawling out of their graves, which Tara found surprising because she imagined there were not that many they buried that were uneaten by the giants. Some appeared more like skeletons, so she imagined they were buried before her people became prisoners. Tara looked around for a cause. All she could see was an overhead cloudy and dreary day, which was also odd since it did not rain much and it was not the season for rain. “Giants,” she spouted. There were three coming down from the hillside where the giants were buried in all honor. They were decked out in fine clothes and carried their weapons at the ready. Two living giants who overcame their fear of facing the dead went to confront them, and it was a fight. “They are coming out of the swamps below,” Tara said. “A dozen or so.” She opened her eyes. “Lincoln, Lockhart, Katie and Elder Stow take the other wall. You, too, Blinker.” She spoke to one of the dwarfs.

Dwarf 1“I should have my head looked at for even being here,” Blinker groused, but went.

“Baga and Mitra. You could at least have brought spears.”

“We did,” Baga said, and there were two spears leaning up against the wall by the door. No one remembered seeing them from the first, but the mind just glossed over that fact as the boys went to fetch them.

“One of you on each wall,” Tara said. “Lord Veregoth and I will guard the door.”

“Woman!” Veregoth got ready to say something, but paused when Tara’s clothes vanished and were replaced by the armor of the Kairos, complete with weapons.

“Veregoth. I know you are not afraid.”

“It’s impossible, I tell you. The dead don’t get up and walk around.”

Decker interrupted the giant’s complaint. “Incoming,” he shouted.

############

Be sure to come back next Monday and Tuesday for the concluding chapters of Avalon 3.5, beginning Monday with part 4 of 5, Defending the Hall … against zombies, of course.

Enjoy.

Avalon 3.5 part 2 of 5, The Interview

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The giant was only nine feet tall, though perhaps bent over a bit from age. His hair and beard were gray, and his hands and face showed signs of a long life. There was an ordinary woman in his trail, about five-three, which was tall enough for a woman in that age. She had deeply tanned skin, but she had straight brown hair and bright green eyes which suggested something other than strict middle eastern heritage. The giant took a seat at the head of the table and kept one eye on the people while he gave the appearance that he was ignoring them and did not care one whit about them.

“Lockhart, I am sorry,” the woman spoke in English.

“Tara?” Lincoln asked, but they all knew who it was.Tara 3

Tara nodded. “Roland and your horses are safe for the moment. Roland is in the workhouse, talking with the gnomes about liberating your equipment. The dwarfs are being stubborn. They want to know how everything works. It’s complicated.”

“Are there humans here?” Alexis asked.

Tara nodded again. “Most of the workers are human slaves, including my people who were caught migrating through the no-man’s land.”

“And the giants?” Lincoln wondered.

“Half-breed titans, and they have found it easy to force others to do all their work and they eat anyone who does not cooperate. Somehow, we have to convince them to let you go, without eating you.”

“I thought we were under the protection of the gods,” Boston said.

“Surely,” Tara agreed. “But the gods mean nothing in this place. These half-human children of the titans worship no one in this no-man’s land. That does not mean the gods are powerless. I am sure that after they eat you, they will face terrible consequences.”

“Great!” Lincoln hardly got to start his complaint when the giant at the table interrupted.

“Woman. What are you telling these slaves?”

“Lord Veregoth.” Tara dipped her head in a slight bow toward the giant seated at the table. “I am explaining that they have been fortunate to have been selected to serve the great masters.”

“And you speak in strange words. How is this? I know every word spoken by blood or spirit.”

“They are words that do not yet exist. The words are from the future as are these people. They were headed back to the future when we interrupted their journey and brought them here.”

old giant“Woman.” Lord Veregoth shook his head. “You are speaking nonsense. People cannot travel into the past. You would have traveled into the past and taken your people by a different road, if you could. Do not deny it. And the only way to go into the future is wait until tomorrow.”

“Truly,” Tara began to speak when Lockhart put his hand quickly over Alexis’ mouth.

“Keep it in English,” Lockhart instructed everyone. “He does not need to know that we can understand him.”

Lincoln had his mouth open, and pivoted toward Tara. “Ask him how he knew where we were to capture us.”

“Young Lord Vinasa had a vision that pinpointed your exact location. That was strange since he has never had such a vision before,” Tara responded.

“Smells like a set-up,” Katie said.

“Exactly,” Lincoln agreed.

“Stop.” The giant at the table was getting agitated. “What are they saying? What are you telling them? Speak, woman.”

Tara offered another slight head bow. “They asked how you knew about them. I mentioned young Lord Vinasa and his vision, though he never had such a vision before.”

“Yes. Strange thing that he saw these people, only I see his vision did not show him everything.” Lord Veregoth eyed Lockhart and Decker. “These are bigger than most. They should do a good day’s work.” His eyes turned to Boston and Katie. “And the strange red and yellow hair might interest Lord Hoth. He likes different things.” Lord Veregoth shrugged. “But the ugly one,” he said of Elder Stow. “I do not know what he is. He seems strange to me. Can they explain?”

Tara translated and Lockhart answered, with Tara translating again. “The red and yellow hair are future colors and do not belong here. Elder Stow is of the Gott-Druk, the people who once lived in this land and were driven out to the stars in the days of the flood. We are all from the future and are trying to get back there as quick as we can. The gods have made a way, but it is a hard and long journey.”

“Enough!” Lord Veregoth shouted and stood. “Do you think I am a fool? No one comes from the future. That is impossible. We are all going into the future, but it is day by day. No one can get there faster.” Lord Veregoth looked down on the travelers, and he had murder in his eyes, and maybe supper.

Alexis shook her head and Lincoln whispered. “The brilliant and stupid share the same flaw. Instead of adjusting their thinking to fit the facts, they adjust the facts to fit their theories.”

Alexis responded with a whisper of her own. “I was thinking he is a radical twenty-first century atheist who denies any reality that doesn’t fit with his preconceived worldview.”giant madman

“Quiet,” Lord Veregoth roared and slammed a hand on the table, but then he paused in his anger as a young ten foot giant burst into the room, and left the door open.

“Vinasa,” Tara managed to name the giant before the giant pointed at the travelers and laughed.

“Now your days are finished,” Vinasa said. “Behold the dead will eat the living.” There was a wild look in his eyes, and an insane sound in his laughter. “The great one speaks. The dead will eat the living,” he repeated before he collapsed.

Two young men came running in through the open door, shouting, “Tara! Tara!”

Lord Veregoth dropped his jaw, looked at the unconscious Visana spread across the entrance, and seemed to have trouble framing his question.

Avalon 3.5 Strange Bedfellows, part 1 of 5

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After 2914 BC in the Persian No-Man’s Land. Kairos lifetime 38: Tara of Sumer

Recording …

At the beginning of the journey, back in the days of primeval chaos, at the beginning of history, Lincoln and Alexis, a couple in their sixties, were restored to their youth. Lincoln claimed to be twenty-nine because Alexis appeared to end up closer to twenty-four. Yet, despite their youth, Lincoln and Alexis argued like only old, married couples know how to argue. Lincoln tried to end it by saying Alexis was right, but Alexis did not end it because she knew Lincoln was lying and just trying to end the argument. The first interesting thing about it all was they were arguing about something that was none of their business—the way old, married couples so often do.

“But if Roland becomes human, that would kill father,” Alexis said.

“Your father Mingus has pretty much abandoned us as far as I can tell,” Lincoln responded. “Why should it matter what he thinks?”elf1

“Oh, he is still out there,” Alexis assured him. “He may be watching us this very minute.”

“Good,” Lincoln said, and he reached over and gave Alexis a kiss. “But I just don’t see Boston willing to give up her humanity to become an elf. That is a choice Roland will have to make, as you did.”

Alexis squirmed in her seat. “Boston already has a lot of elf in her, the way she talks and acts and thinks. The physical change would not change her much on the inside.”

“But some. Enough. It would be a tremendous difference on the inside in some ways, and on the outside. I mean, what would her parents and brothers think?”

“There are ways,” Alexis hedged. “She has enough magical ability to cover herself with a glamour. They would not have to know.”

“Ah! But what about children?”

“Elves don’t conceive but maybe once in a hundred years. They might not have any children until after her parents are gone, and maybe after her brothers are gone too.”

campfire 1“Maybe. Might. I just don’t see her willing to give up her humanity.”

“Well, I don’t see Roland giving up being the elf he is. It would kill father if both of us became human.”

“Having second thoughts?” Lincoln used that phrase often enough in all their years of marriage.

“Benjamin, you know I am not,” Alexis responded and gave him the kiss she always did.

Of course, the second interesting thing about it all was they were supposed to be on watch. It was near midnight, the horses were tied and quiet, and everyone else was asleep. To be fair, they had ridden all day and not seen any sign of people. And also, the sleeping potion, a poppy derivative, came wafting into the camp on a gentle breeze and Alexis and Lincoln were asleep even before it worked its way into the tents.

The horses were carted off by gnomes who learned the hard way that these horses were not for eating. Two gnomes tried to cut Boston’s Honey, and a third went for Alexis’ Misty Gray, and they all received electric shocks strong enough to incapacitate them for a good half-hour. It was the hedge of the gods and particularly, the work of the Kairos. They did not try that again.

The tents and equipment were all taken by dwarfs. They tried to take the clothing as well, but found the fairy weave only responded to the person to whom it belonged. They might have taken Elder Stow’s space suit, but they decided they did not want to deal with a naked Gott-Druk. They were content to take the Elder’s artifacts.

The people, including the Gott-Druk, were taken by the Giants who ruled this stretch of land. The gnomes and dwarfs and the human beings who were their slaves dared not complain, or even point out the obvious. Nothing makes a giant angrier than the belief that you are speaking down to them, like they are stupid or something. And nothing is worse, well, little is worse than an angry giant. In this case, the giants thought they had new slaves and horse bacon. The gnomes decided to let the giants learn for themselves about the horses. And the dwarfs, and in fact the little ones in general by then knew something about the travelers. They dreaded the consequences if the giants tried to have their way.desert at dawn 1

Roland woke up in the wee hours before dawn. He woke several hours before the others because he had a high metabolism. It was not the kind of metabolism that made him want to eat second breakfast or thirds at lunch, like a dwarf. But it was the kind that kept him skinny. In this case, the sleep of the poppies wore off sooner than it did for the others.

Roland found himself left where he slept. The Giants did not want the elf. He hummed a little tune as he searched the area. The tents were gone and the horses were missing, not to mention his fellow travelers, and when he reached to his side, he found even his knife was gone. Somewhere out in the dark, he heard the roar of a lion. He stood, thinking it was not a good thing to be alone in the wilderness, especially one that Lincoln had described as a no-man’s land.

Roland had to think. Tracking the group would be easy enough. He was a hunter, after all. But what he might do when he got there, he would have to think hard. He saw the giant tracks even in the dim light of pre-dawn.

The rest of the travelers awoke in a one-room log house made out of whole trees notched like a child’s Lincoln logs and with a twenty foot ceiling over a dirt floor. There were thin cut windows spaced evenly along the walls, barely wide enough to shoot an arrow through, and just the one door that Lockhart guessed was more than twice his six feet in height. There was also a table with three chairs on each side and one at each end. Lockhart, at over six feet, could sit in a big chair and barely reach his chin above the table. He looked like a child.

“Giants,” Lincoln said. “I would guess the ten foot variety.”

“There are houses off to the side here.” Alexis was peering through a window at the far side of the building.

“Barn in this direction,” Boston said. She was looking out the opposite direction, through a window by the door. “It’s a really big barn. I wonder if they have giant chickens or something.”

“I would guess our horses, guns and equipment are in there somewhere,” Katie said.big wooden door 2

“Looks like a graveyard out here,” Decker said, and everyone went to the side wall to look. There were only four slit windows along that side wall, but it was enough to see the graves.

“Between the houses and the barn,” Alexis said. “Like a warning.”

“Like a threat,” Decker countered.

“Do what you are told or end up here,,” Lincoln agreed.

“Visitors.” Lockhart heard the latch on the door and quickly got down from the chair. The others bunched up around him.

Avalon 3.1: part 7 of 7, Carthair Revealed

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“Can I stay and watch?” Vrya asked.

“Of course, mother,” Danna responded, and she clapped her hands. “Boys!” There were three who appeared. Two went straight to the body and hauled the ghost of Carthair out by his arms. He kicked and screamed and protested, but it did him no good. The third one went straight to Danna.

.“No, please,” Carthair protested. “It was Vorgen. He made me do it. I didn’t want to kill anybody. I was enchanted.”

“I was thinking the deepest pit for this one,” the man said to Danna.

Danna slapped the man hard on his cheek. “You were raised better than that. You do what is right, and nothing more and nothing less.”

“Ow.” The man put his hand to his cheek. “Mother!” he protested.

“I like that,” Vrya said. “Do the right thing.” Danna simply nodded.

“All right,” the man said. “But he did commit murder, and he was not enchanted so it won’t be easy on him.” He pointed to his compatriots and they all vanished along with Carthair’s ghost.

“Mother Vrya.” Danna turned to the goddess.

“I’ll meet your friends another time,” Vrya said and she vanished. So Danna also left that time, and Lucas instantly came back in her place, and it was just in time to be smothered by a young girl and her kisses. Lucas did not seem to mind, but when he could catch a breath, he yelled.inside Blacksmith

“Boston!”

Boston nudged Roland with her head. “Is it safe now to uncover my eyes?”

The young girl giggled at Boston’s response and then spoke to Lucas like they did not have any visitors. “I was with Mother Vrya. We were making wedding plans.”

“Really? Who is getting married?”

The girl’s mouth opened wide in pretend shock. She slapped Lucas softly in his arm before she took the arm and turned at last to the travelers. “You are,” she said to the side.

“Oh,” Lucas pretended surprise. “To you, I suppose.”

“No one else,” the girl said and proceeded to introduce herself. “I’m Oneesis. I felt you all day walking down my mountainside. Sometimes it tickles.”

“The oread of the mountain,” Lincoln said.

“Lovely to meet you,” Alexis shook the girl’s hand.

Katie had a different thought and turned it on Lucas. “Do you ever marry a normal woman, human I mean.”

“Yes, yes. Normally. All the time.” His voice trailed off as a normal, human woman came into the blacksmith shop with two small children. The woman fell on Carthair’s body and began to weep. The children did not know what to do, so they stared at the travelers with weepy eyes. Men were coming in to take away the body, so Lucas thought it was wise to move everyone back outside.

blacksmith shop“Maybe we should all go over to Bogart’s,” he said.

After that, it was mostly a liquid supper. The elf bread Alexis offered up did not help much. Elder Stow opted out of the refreshment. He found a place to set their camp and put up his tent to rest. For the others, there was plenty of laughter and good feelings until Decker could not hold back his question.

“So who did Carthair murder?”

The locals grew quiet so the travelers did the same. They looked at Lucas. Oneesis put an arms around him and gave him a squeeze of support. “My father,” Lucas answered. He took a deep breath before he told the story.

“I was just thirteen or so. My father was the worker in metals in our village on the other side of the mountains, you see, and when traders came over the mountains with bronze artifacts, we just had to find out how to make that metal.   It took some convincing, but my older brother got the metal works and Father and I went back over the mountains with the traders.

“We spent almost two years here learning the craft of bronze making. Then we were ready to take our knowledge back to our people. Carthair was a helper in the shop, and he volunteered to go with us. He said he knew the way over the mountains and he could help once we got settled in back home. Father was agreeable.

“The first leg of the journey was the worst. It took a week going around, not through the goblin lair, to get to the stunted forest beside the glacier. We felt invigorated, because no part of the long journey to come would take us to so high an elevation. It was there that father let me hunt for something edible, as long as I didn’t wander too far. I found the goblin lair and made a request for some deer meat. You can imagine.

“Carthair took advantage of my absence to stab my father in the shoulder. Father knocked Carthair into a hole he had trouble getting out of, but then Father saw two men rushing up. They had followed all the way from the village. Father was bleeding badly, but he had no choice but to grab his bow and run.

“Father climbed the ice, thinking the men would not follow him there. He had a good head start and got way up on the glacier. The thing is, ice flows develop cracks as they move, especially when they are generally melting back, and it is. The last vestige of the last ice age. It may be gone in several thousand years. But anyway, he was losing blood and strength and knew they would catch him in time. He turned and shot Carthair in the belly. The men fired back, but it was Carthair’s arrow that pierced my father’s heart.

“Now Carthair was the one lagging behind and losing blood and strength. When he stepped over a crack in the ice and broke through, he plummeted into the ravine and got stuck down some twenty feet. He broke his leg. The other two men had no way to get him up, and anyway, already counted him dead, so they moved on.

“I returned to the camp. I saw the blood and pieced it together in my mind. I hid when the two men came though. They called Carthair no great loss, and said as a young boy I wouldn’t last three days in the wilderness this high up. I am ashamed to say it, but I let the goblins have the men. It was Aphrodite, of all people who found me, freezing, and took me to my father’s ghost. Then Hades showed up, but that is a very long story.”celtic town

The howl of a wolf sounded in the distance and echoed down the mountainside. The locals thought nothing of it since wolves were common in the alps. The travelers recognized the slightly human nuance in that sound, and Roland stepped out to confirm the full moon. They were about to discuss what measures to take when Elder Stow returned to the party.

“I set a screen around the village. The people will not be able to go out tonight, but the wolf should not be able to get in either.” He took a few discs out of a pocket in his belt. “Are there any unaccounted for villagers in the wilderness tonight?”

“By the way, Lucas,” Gunther looked over at the young man. “You did shut down the forge for the night, didn’t you?”

Lucas spilled his drink and jumped to his feet. “Damn!” He ran out. There was no telling what those dwarfs might be doing left to their own devices.

Avalon 3.1: part 6 of 7, Close Enough to Hell

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It did not take long to catch up with the procession where a dozen dwarfs were solemnly carrying the body of Carthair down the mountainside to his final resting place. Not much after the travelers caught up with those somber faces, the whole procession began to follow a stream. By late afternoon, they saw they were headed down into an upland valley where the stream became the beginning of a small river. It wound out of sight around much higher elevations, but the travelers understood it would eventually meet up with other streams and little rivers and become a big river that would flow all the way to a distant sea. Which sea was the only question, whether it would skirt the Alps and fall into the Adriatic, or join the Danube and meander to the Black Sea or head north until it emptied into the North Sea. They debated it, for something to do.

celltic town otherOnce they came further down the hill, they saw huts and tent-like structures here and there which showed every indication of human habitation. They were inspired to ride ahead in their excitement and desire for human contact, but Lockhart held them back. He said first they had to follow to where the dwarfs took the body.

“I am pretty sure that is where we will find the Kairos,” Alexis added.

The travelers dismounted at the edge of the village and walked their horses respectfully behind the dwarfs. They headed toward a big open building with fires burning bright and the sound of hammers against metal. It was a real blacksmith shop, and Hart, the one Kobald that stayed with them as they came down the mountain, made a single remark to Lockhart.

“Puckmein the dwarf drank too much and let slip the way of making bronze. Now these short livers are getting rich.”

“The knowledge is slowly making its way north,” Deepdigger, the chief dwarf spoke for only the third time that afternoon. “Lord Lucas and his father were going to take the knowledge of the bronze back over the alps to his Etruscas people, but there was trouble on the way. The way I heard it, the Lord escorted his father down into the land of Hades and barely escaped back here with his life.”

“Trouble?” Katie asked. “Land of Hades?”

“Murder,” Hart explained. “This one here.” He pointed to Carthair’s body.

“Carthair was murdered?” Lockhart asked.

“No.” Hart said, but before he could say more, they arrived.

There was something of a railing, perhaps like a fence to keep out the curious, but the travelers were able to tie their horses off before going inside. The dwarfs stopped outside with their package and only chief Deepdigger went in at first. Hart followed the travelers.

Two big men, giants in their day, though they were not necessarily bigger than Lockhart or Decker, came up to eye the intruders. The one with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail carried a big hammer. The scraggly blond had a cloth to wipe his hands, though it was hard to tell how that dirty cloth could hold any more dirt. Both men had faces streaked with charcoal, eyes that squinted, and frowns that looked etched in from years of bending over the hot fires.cetic town bar

“Lucas?” Lincoln tried the brown-haired man. The man said nothing, so he tried to blond. “Lucas?”

Lockhart tried a different approach. He stuck out his hand. “Lockhart,” he said, and introduced Katie, who smiled.

“Liam,” the one with the brown hair named himself and took Katie’s wrist. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Gunther,” the blond introduced himself to Lockhart, and shouted. “Lucas!”

A young man, not more than eighteen, came from around the back of the forge. He looked strong, well muscled and without any fat, but he also looked small compared to the blacksmiths. Deepdigger followed on the young man’s heels and stopped when the young man stopped to speak to Liam and Gunther.

“This is your place, and I am grateful for all you have done for me. All I can do is suggest you might want to go and see how Bogart’s new ale is coming along. Things around here are about to get very strange.”

“Oneesis?” Gunther asked.

“Lucas fancies himself in love with the Lady of the Mountain,” Liam confided.

Lucas shook his head. “Go ahead Deepdigger. Bring him in.” Then he spoke to the big men. “Probably Hellas, and maybe the same from the West, in case Liam has no other plans.”

Liam nudged his big friend, but Gunther first wanted to wag a finger at Lucas. “You just make sure you keep the fire hot.”

Lucas nodded, and when the dwarfs set down the body, Liam recognized the man. “Carthair.”

Lucas worried first about his job. “Dwarfs. You heard the man. Maintain the fire.”

“Just maintain it,” Gunther yelled and then he confided to the strangers. “Last time they got it so hot they just about burned the place down.”

“Turned a perfectly good plow blade into a puddle,” Liam added.

The dwarfs were delighted with the assignment and began to sing.

“We love to sing and dance and play, and work our work all through the day, And when we work the work we start, it makes us want to –“

“Knock it off!” Lucas yelled. He mumbled to the others. “This isn’t a Disney movie.” Then he turned to Carthair’s body and spoke sternly. “Carthair, come out of there.”

“No,” came the answer. “This is my body and I am going to live again as soon as I thaw out.”

inside BlacksmithThe travelers were not sure exactly what Gunther and Liam heard, but Gunther left quickly, and Liam suggested the strangers were welcome to join them.

“No thanks,” Decker answered. “I’ve already had a long talk with the fellow.”

“Carthair, there is no hiding now.”

“I’m not hiding.”

“Mother,” Lucas called out

“Where is my feast.” A woman appeared who was half woman and half rotting corpse. The travelers tried not to squirm, but it was a horrific sight as a worm crawled out of the woman’s empty eye socket and reentered the skull where the dead lips were peeled back from the teeth.

“Mother.”

“Helper,” the woman called and a ghost-like creature appeared beside her. “Collect my soul.” The creature said nothing. It merely went to the body and began to suck out the ghost.

“Mother. Oh, forget it.” Lucas said, and he was no longer standing there as Lucas. Danna, the mother goddess of the West, came from the past to stand in his place. She let out a great white light and the creature over Carthair squealed in pain and backed off.

“You have no place here,” the half-dead woman said.

“But I do,” Another woman appeared. “And maybe she does.”

‘Vrya, oh thank goodness,” Danna looked relieved.

“My son, even when you are my daughter,” Vrya said. “You know a murderer has no place in my house.”

“I know,” Danna agreed. “But maybe Odin needs to decide this. Maybe the Celts need to head west even if they are still in the Rhineland for the present.”

Vrya patted Danna’s hand like she agreed in principle. She got out the “O” and the god appeared, one eye covered and all. He made an imposing presence. And the travelers did their best to keep their eyes closed even if it didn’t prevent them from feeling the awe and trembling.

“I get the half-breeds,” Odin said without preliminaries.

“Unless they are married to a Celt or raised in the Celtic tradition to know the gods of the Celts,” Danna countered.

“Agreed,” Odin said and turned to the half-rotted woman. “Go back to your hell hole.” Both he and the woman with her creature vanished, but she managed to send back a word.

“And I would have honored him, considering who he murdered.”

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

Be sure and visit tomorrow for the conclusion of Avalon, episode 3.1, Carthair Revealed.

Avalon 2.12: Looking at Tomorrow

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            The bokarus tried a third time to attack the travelers, but this time he looks to have vanished, the travelers hope permanently.  Riding off the end of a cliff and into the sea would not have been a good thing, but after that encounter it appears someone showed some wisdom.  The goddess Galatea, the one Grubby the dwarf call the Greek is escorting them the rest of the way to Danna.

###

            The travelers came to the top of a small rise in the landscape and stopped.  Tents and people of all sorts along with thousands of primitive boats stretched out for miles along the coastline in front of them.  They looked like an invading army preparing to cross the channel, and they were.  They were simply awaiting the order to go from the one oversized tent that was set up facing the sea, well apart from all the others. 

            Galatea vanished at the top of the rise with the words, “My baby is hungry and probably needs to be changed.”

            “Bye,” Boston and Alexis voiced the word.  The others were too taken in by the view to speak.

            When they started down the backside of the rise, Katie had an observation.  “I was not aware the gods were ever in such close proximity to the mortal world.”

            “New jurisdiction, new rules,” Lockhart suggested.

            Lincoln had the database out and was reading carefully, not paying attention to where his horse was taking him.  “Aesgard, Olympus, a bit from Karnak and who knows what others are contributing to building a new house.  Those children will marry Danna’s children and Western Europe will become its own world.  The Children of Danna.”

            “The Celtic world, before the days of Julius Caesar,’ Alexis said.

            “Eventually, but not for a couple of thousand years,” Lincoln explained.  “The Celts will move slowly out of Central Europe as the Germanic tribes move in.”

            They came to the big tent, stopped and dismounted.  After a bit of a wait, they hobbled the horses to let them graze and waited some more.

            Danna was just standing there, staring out across the water to what would one day be called England.  She had a cat cradled like a baby in her arms.  The only movement she made was to gently pet the cat now and then.  They all thought the cat was terribly patient for a cat, but eventually it wanted down.

            “All right Mother,” Danna said. She set the beast down, but without moving her eyes from the water.  She called, also without looking.  “Lockhart.”  He stepped up as the others kept back and watched the cat move to a rug at the entrance of the oversized ten where she gave herself a bath.  They knew Mother was keeping an eye on the visitors.  “I know you can’t see England from here, but she is out there, plotting and scheming with her children to wrest control of all these lands.”

            “Who is?”

            “Domnu,” Danna said.  “I have issued a challenge to single combat, but I don’t know if she will accept.  I would guess her answer will not come today, but it may come in the night.”

            “One of you must die?” Lockhart asked.

            “Yes.” Danna said softly.  She took a deep breath and turned with a smile for the rest of the group.  “Welcome.  There are some things you need to know right from the start.”  She had everyone’s attention, but paused to look around at faces.  “Goddess though I be, I cannot send you five thousand years back into the future.  Three or four days is the normal limit for stretching time that even the gods must keep.  Besides, Lady Alice remains unsteady as long as the Storyteller remains missing.”

            “Understood,” Lockhart said.

            “And as for all the ones that are following you and mean you harm, there is little I can do there.  I see it foremost in Captain Decker’s mind, and Lincoln of course.  The Djin following you is not in this time zone, and neither are the ghouls.  The ghouls are gathering somewhere in your future so you must keep alert.  Alexis and Katie, as for Bob, your werewolf, there is nothing I can do if he remains distant and in human form.  My authority is not over humans.”

            “Father?” Alexis had to ask.  He was an elf so he was one of hers.

            “Not in this time zone yet.  I am sorry.  Sorry Roland.  But I am sure he is following, not far behind.  I will hurry him when he gets here.

            “What about the bokarus?” Lincoln asked.

            “It made three attempts on our lives just since we have been in your time,” Katie explained and Alexis looked at the ground, embarrassed by one of those attempts.

            “Mother, do you mind?” Danna asked the cat, and the cat appeared to blink.  “Thank you,” Danna said as she held out her arm, and they all saw something like a dwarf materialize, upside-down, with one foot grasped in her hand.

            “A dwarf?”  Boston asked.

            “Not even.”  Grubby was still standing next to Roland and Boston, though no one much noticed.  “This one’s got greenish skin, and green hair with no beard at all, and it is all as skinny as a one lunch, salad eating elf, er, no offense.”  Grubby tipped his hat at Roland.

            “My daughter-in-law, Morrigu snatched him just off the coast up in the direction from whence you came.  No telling what torment she had in mind, but she brought it to me because she thought it might be one of my little sprites.”

            “Not even,” Grubby repeated.

            “Lady Alice has made an island of pristine wilderness in the archipelago of Avalon.  This bokarus will live out its days there, and in time others of its kind will join him, but he will not be able to return here.”

            Danna looked briefly at the bokarus and its mouth opened.  “Help me.  Get me out of here.  This isn’t fair.  This isn’t right.  I’m getting dizzy.  Help.”

            “We had an agreement,” Danna said and she went away from that time and Faya, that was Beauty from long ago came to fill her time and place.

            The eyes of the bokarus got far bigger than humanly possible.  “No.  No.  I didn’t know it was you.”  Danna came back to her own time and place and the bokarus faded like the mist until it vanished, echoing the sound of Darth Vader on a bad day, “NOooooo.”

            Danna smiled again for everyone and waved her arm.  Their tents were all set up for the night.  The horses were gathered in, with plenty of oats to eat and a clean trough to drink from.  The little dwarf lady from the first day was there cooking, except at the moment she appeared to be giving an elder dwarf a few pieces of her mind.  They all guessed it was Gorman. There was spritely music in the distance, and plenty of chairs around a long oak table filed with all sorts of food.  Mathonwy’s tent was there and Ahnyani and Kimkeri came out to get the festivities started.  But Danna had one more thing to do.

            “Boston,” she called, and Boston was obliged to appear in front of her.  “Let’s step over here for a minute.”  There were two chairs by the big tent placed conveniently to look out over the feast.  “Do you love him?”  Danna wasted no time.

            “You know I do,” Boston said.  Her eyes shot straight to Roland while Danna took her hand.  Boston was nervous about holding the hand of an actual goddess, even if it was simply one of the lifetimes of the Kairos.

            “Will you marry him?”

            “I will if he ever asks me.  He’s kind of slow.”

            ‘Boys are slow,” Danna said and she shouted toward the table.  “Mathy!”

            Mathonwy looked over and Danna stuck her tongue out at him.  Mathy grinned.  “That is what I admire most about my big sister.  Her maturity.”  He returned the raspberries to her and went back to his feasting.  Boston covered her giggles.

            “But I sense you will not ask Roland to become human and share your life with you,”  Danna let go of Boston’s hand and stood, so Boston stood beside her.

            Boston looked at the ground and spoke quietly.  “Alexis made that choice to be with Lincoln.  That almost killed her father Mingus.  This whole thing started because he could not stand the thought of losing his only daughter to old age.  I couldn’t do that to him again, to lose his son as well.”

            “You like Mingus, don’t you?”

            Boston nodded.  “I do, despite everything.”

            “But I am not always easy to get along with,” Danna said without explanation as she put both hands gently on Boston’s head.  Boston felt a tingling sensation that went all the way to her feet.

            “What did you do?”

            “Nothing yet,” Danna admitted.  “You have a long way to go to get back to the twenty-first century.  Now we can see what your future may hold.”

            Grubby the dwarf ran up suddeny, tipped his hat to Danna and grabbed Boston by the hand.  He dragged her out to the makeshift dance area where Roland was waiting.  Roland planted a kiss smack on Boston’s lips and she returned the kiss with a willing heart before the dance began.

            Danna nodded and spoke to herself.  “A long way to go is sometimes not very far.”

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END of SEASON 2

COMING SOON:

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Forever, On the Road:  What happened to the Kairos, Glen, called the Storyteller when the travelers from Avalon began their journey?  He sacrificed himself by leaping into the primeval chaos at the beginning of history.  Now he is lost in the Second Heavens, that infinite space between Earth and the Throne of God, and he is trying to find his way back to the archipelago of Avalon, when he remembers who he is.  The Second Heavens is the realm where memories are easily broken and distorted.  It is the place where dreams come true – not just daydreams.  It defies all of the laws of physics as time and space bend and fold back on themselves, and a life relived is twisted beyond recognition.  It is the place of shadow images of living people and disembodied spirits of the dead, where Angels and Demons struggle for eternity, where myth and legend impact reality and it is a very dangerous place for someone who isn’t dead yet.

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Avalon Season 3:  Life in the twenty-first century was never like this!   In the third season, Civilization begins to show its true colors with piracy, slavery and human sacrifice..  Roland and Boston heat up.  Roland may ask Boston to marry him, and his father Mingus will have to do some serious adjusting, again.  All of the “unsavories” presently following the travelers begin to get anxious for fear the travelers may be slipping away.  And they find some new shadow beneath the full moons where Bob, the insane man they showed kindness to – well, they say werewolves always kill the ones they love.  Technological and alien wonders, magic and mayhem, and the struggle to race with the human race and stay alive. 

AVALON SEASON 3 … DON’T MISS IT …

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Avalon 2.12: The Third Encounter

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            There appear to be plenty of people in the path of the travelers, and the archetype berserker is not one that anyone might want.  Also, the bokarus is still on the loose, so maybe the travelers need to proceed with caution.

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            The mist rolled gently over the meadow and Elder Stow confirmed that they were nearing the Channel.  Roland slowed the party to a walk when the mist gathered around their feet.  He urged extra caution when it was two feet deep, thick at the ground and could be seen creeping around the tree branches.  Soon enough the mist rose and turned to a genuine fog, and they had to line up and keep a sharp eye on the horse in front of them.

            Alexis rode up front behind Boston.  She looked back now and then, but she was not looking at Lincoln.  “Don’t tell me,” he said.  “You’re looking for the werewolf.”

            “Ghouls,” Decker suggested up from behind Lincoln.  “It seems to me this is the kind of weather they would love.”

            “No.”  Alexis frowned.  “I’m worried about Father.”

            “He can take care of himself,” Roland spoke up from the front.  There was silence for a moment before Elder Stow spoke.

            “We are very close to the sea,” he said, and then the silence settled in with the fog.

            After a short while, Roland brought the party to a stop.  He heard something.  He described it as a low moan but made no judgment about what it might be.  Elder Stow tinkered with his equipment.  It crackled for a bit, like a bad radio reception before it came in clear.

            Boston commented first.  “It sounds like someone in pain.”  The group began to move again, but carefully.

            “More like a hangover,” Decker said.

            “Or someone with a bad stomach ache,” Alexis said.

            “I’m not sure it is human,” Roland said and he spurred across the meadow and came back to the head of the line without explanation.

            “I cannot say,” Elder Stow admitted.  “I cannot get a scan lock on whatever it is.”

            “Why not human?” Boston asked.

            “We are getting closer but the sound is not getting louder.”

            “I can confirm that,” Elder Stow said as he shook his instrument to be sure it was working properly.  They rode in silence for a bit before Lincoln voiced his thought.

            “Maybe it is a wraith or a ghost.”  When Alexis looked back at him, he felt the need to defend his idea.  “What?  I only said what we were all thinking.”

            “I wasn’t thinking that,” Decker said.

            “Nor was I,” Elder Stow agreed.  “But given some of the things we have seen, it would not surprise me.”  Elder Stow’s instrument crackled again like he was losing the radio station.  He shook it and twisted some dial when at once a voice came clearly from the speaker.

            “Alexis!  Help me!  I need you.  Alexis!  Help me!”

            Alexis kicked her horse to the front of the line before anyone could stop her.  “It’s Father.  He needs me.”  She yelled back as she raced off into the fog.  Roland and Boston rushed after her, but everyone else stopped when Lockhart shouted from the back of the line.

            “Hold it right there.”  Decker butted up in front of Lincoln’s horse in case he was thinking of following the runners.  “Elder Stow,” Lockhart still shouted.  “Can you track and follow them?”

            “Yes, of course,” the Elder said and he floated to the very front.  His pace was a bit quicker than the one Roland set, but it was safer in the fog than riding flat out. 

            Katie looked back at Lockhart several times with worry on her face,   Lockhart looked worried, too.  It was dark, like evening, though it was only the middle of the afternoon.  The fog covered the ground especially like a blanket.  A horse at speed could easily step into a snake hole or some such thing and break a leg, and injure or maybe kill the rider.  Or maybe they could ride right into a pit.

            Alexis thought nothing of that.  She was in a complete panic and raced through the nearby woods.  Roland, her elf brother and Boston, the rodeo rider could hardly keep up.  They could not seem to catch up.

            They could hear the voice now even without the aid of Elder Stow’s equipment.  “Alexis, I need you!  Alexis, Help me!”

            Alexis broke out of the trees and on to rocks where her horse slowed imperceptibly out of self-preservation.  The horse stopped suddenly and all at once when a figure of a person rose up in front, waving his arms.  The horse bucked and Alexis held on by sheer force of will.  Boston arrived and grabbed Alexis’ reigns,  Roland grabbed his sister while Boston looked down at the shadow and spoke.

            “Thank you Grubby.”

            Grubby doffed his hat.  “I say, you was getting too close to the cliff here.”  The cliff was several yards in front of them and dropped a long way to where the sea crashed up against crumbling boulders.  Riding over the edge at full speed would have been certain death.

            “What was I doing?”  Alexis asked her brother in a voice that suggested she was enchanted.  They heard the voice again from twenty yards beyond the cliff, only this time the words were different.

            “Roland, help me.  I need you.  Help me.”

            Alexis quickly grabbed her brother, but he appeared to have enough of their father’s mind magic to shake it off.

            “Fire!” Grubby yelled and waved his hat.  Six fireballs went out from the cliff top and disappeared in the fog.

            A wind came in answer and it temporarily pushed back the fog in the immediate area.  A face appeared floating over the water.  It screamed anger and rushed at them.  It was the Bokarus.  Boston felt Alexis grab her hand, and giving their magic to Roland, Roland let out a far bigger and more powerful fireball.  The bokarus quickly retreated before it burned.

            “Fire!”  Grubby waved his hat again.  Six more dwarf fireballs sprang from the ledge.  They look puny, barely warm, and Boston was not sure any made it as far as the bokarus before they fizzled out.  It was hard to tell as the fog closed in again.

            Lockhart and the others caught up in time to see the bokarus.  Elder Stow was fiddling with a different piece of his equipment when they heard the bokarus speak.  It was not what they expected.

            “No!  Wait!  That’s not right.  That’s not fair.”  It ended in a few mumbles before there was silence.  Immediately the fog began to dissipate.  The sun was out.  It was just after three in the afternoon.  Their spirits lifted as they saw a young women floating over the sea.  She shouted as she came near.

            “Hello.  Are you Lockhart?  I’m supposed to find Lockhart.”

            “It’s the Greek,” Grubby said and made a funny face without explaining.

            “A young goddess,” Katie guessed.

            “I’m Lockhart,” he said when she got close enough so he did not have to shout.

            “Goody,” the goddess said as her feet touched the ground.  “I’m supposed to take you to Danna.  I’m sorry.  She told me all of your names but that was too hard to remember.”

            “Thank you for your help,” Alexis said, assuming she did something with the bokarus.

            “I haven’t helped you yet,” the goddess said.

            “Do you have a name?”  Lockhart was curious.  She was a lovely person, as all goddesses should be.

            “I’m Galatea.  I have a baby.”

            “Really?”  Alexis stole a glance at Lincoln who opted not to return her glance.

            Boston pointed.  Roland and Lockhart started moving so the group started out and Galatea floated along, like Elder Stow but without the need for equipment.

            “Yes,” Galatea continued to talk to Alexis and Boston.  “I have a husband, well, temporarily.  Njord is a bit of an old man, but nice.”

            “He is your old man,” Boston said, and Galatea clearly thought about it for a minute before she smiled.

            “Yes he is, and I have a baby.”

            “So you said,” Alexis agreed.

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Avalon 2.12:  Looking at Tomorrow … Next Time

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