Elect

The Elect, the beginning, post 5 of 8: ROTC

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The ROTC freshman class was designed to weed out the ranks. The sophomore class had fifteen and the upper class had just twelve juniors and seniors combined. The freshmen class had twenty-three.

Weeding out the ranks was one of Captain Driver’s innovations. Emily had not met Captain Driver yet, but she spent two weeks in the summer at a kind of boot camp. Thus the short hair. Yes, she put a red streak in it after camp, but that would go when her hair got cut again. Meanwhile, she heard that Captain Driver could be hard but fair. An expert at readiness training, he served a tour with the 82nd Airborne Division in his youth. She also heard he was not a fan of women in the ranks, but she would deal with that if it came up.

Emily did ROTC the last two years in high school, so she knew the drill. She still played soccer then, but had given up on most other sports. She felt an attraction instead to the military and knew she could be good at it. Whether it went further than a couple years of ROTC at the university remained to be seen. She honestly felt interested in nursing.ac rotc 3

Getting into formation in that big, echo-filled gymnasium was not a breeze, but not too bad for a first day. Emily landed in the front row, of course, with the only other woman, Karyn. The class had twenty-one young men, but the odds were worse than biology. More than likely, half would not return for their sophomore year. They stood at attention while Captain Driver introduced his hard, no-nonsense attitude, and then introduced his staff. “Our senior representative is Lieutenant Terrence Williams who most of you will know as tight end for our very successful football team, and our junior is Sergeant Carl Baker. You will take their orders like you take mine. Is that clear?”

“Sir, yes sir.”

Emily stole a glance at the big tight end. He stared right at her while Carl kept his eyes on Karyn. Unfortunately, the captain caught her eye movement, like he just waited for one of the women to mess up.

“Soldier!” He shouted and came right up to her face. Actually, he looked down at her, as most of the people there would. “Is there something about my officers I should know?”

“Sir, no sir.”

The captain waved to the two men and they stepped up while he never turned his eyes from staring down at his captive. Emily kept her eyes straight-ahead, as she should, and only saw Williams and Baker move into her peripheral vision. They all towered over her and all had to be over six feet. Lieutenant Williams alone had to be six-three or bigger.

ac rotc karyn“You are a little girl.” Captain Driver frowned at her. He had to choose his words so carefully. She stood five-six which might not exactly be small for a woman, though not exactly big, either. Karyn stood more like five-ten, and was big besides—not fat, but built more like an athlete than a ballerina.

“You would not even make a tiny, little blip on a radar screen,” the captain went on and lifted his hand to pinch his finger in her sight so she could see how small she was. “You need to listen real good to this. You will receive no special treatment in this command. You will maintain discipline at all times. You will receive no special favors for being a little blip on the radar screen so do not ask for any. You will keep up with the men at all times and in all levels or you will be out. Is that clear?”

“Sir, yes sir.”

Captain Driver shifted his eyes at last to look at Karyn. Emily felt the relief from the pressure but wondered briefly if there might be a hole in the top of her head. “And is that clear to you soldier?”

“Sir, yes sir.” Karyn’s answer came out clear and crisp. She practiced that all summer.

“Well, in that case you two can be our color guard today.” He backed up and the others backed up with him. “Fall out and fetch the flags.” He looked toward the end of the room. Emily ran to the American flag. Karen got the regimental flag, which was just the university flag with ROTC attached. Carl stepped out from the group.

“Right here.” He pointed to the place beside him. “Hustle, hustle.” The girls ran and fortunately neither tripped nor touched their flags to the ground. That may have been what the officers looked for, but the girls were careful and held their flags out at the correct angle as they had been taught over the summer, so Captain Driver had no reason to complain.

Lieutenant Williams brought the company to attention to salute the flags while Carl played a recording of a very slow and drawn out version of the Star Spangled Banner. When the song finished, Captain Driver made the girls remain in place, the flags at a thirty-degree angle, while the rest of the company stood at ease.ac rotc flag

“Lieutenant Williams and Sergeant Baker will remain behind. You two need to hold those flags until told to stop. The rest of you men follow me.” The captain jogged out of the building and the twenty-one sort of bunched up at the door but eventually made it outside. Once they left, Terrence and Carl got out two folding chairs, a card table and a deck of cards. Carl also got the soft drinks. They ignored the girls and passed only quiet whispers between them.

After about five more minutes, Karyn wanted to complain. Her arms were not built to hold steady like that for so long. The flag had not been especially heavy at first but it grew heavier by the second. She finally dared a whisper.

“You all right?”

Emily thought about it. She had gotten herself into a place, mentally, where she hardly felt the weight. She supposed it could be something like a meditative trance. She did not know she could do that, exactly, but as with many things lately, she could look back at high school and see where the seeds had been planted.

“Fine,” she said. “For now.” She did not want Karyn to feel bad if she started to feel the strain.

“I bet you can hold it a long time.”

“What?”

“I heard you took out two men with knives.”

Emily shouted and turned her head. “What?” Who had not heard? She snapped back to attention, but too late.

“One demerit,” Lieutenant Williams said with a click of his tongue.

“Permission to speak, sir.” Karyn spoke right up.

“Granted.” The Lieutenant said as he laid down a card.

“I should get the demerit, sir. I provoked her.”

Carl reached out to the Lieutenant and shook his head. Lieutenant Williams spoke. “Okay, no demerits, only don’t let it happen again.”

ac rotc emily 1“Permission to speak, sir.” Karyn had something more to say.

“What?” The word sounded sharp.

“Where has the rest of the company been taken?”

Lieutenant Williams smiled to himself while Carl spoke. “They have gone to the obstacle course to practice. Don’t worry, you will get a chance at the time trials.”

“Of course, you won’t have the practice so it will be hard for you to do well, but I can’t help that,” Lieutenant Williams said. His smile suggested that he thought the girls not doing well was a good idea.

“Permission to speak freely, sir.” Emily felt the urge to counter that smile.

“What?” The word sounded curious.

“I’ll set the course record, sir.”

Carl laughed, and so did Lieutenant Williams. Then Lieutenant Williams raised an eyebrow, wondering if she might do that very thing.

An hour later, when the troops returned, Karyn had long since given up and sat quietly on the bench. She had put her flag back and taken her demerits with pride. They said she about beat the record. Emily, of course, remained in place at attention, her flag held at just the right angle. Captain Driver looked dumbfounded. He had to call Emily twice to get her attention and on the second call, Lieutenant Williams started to slap her. Emily caught and stopped the man’s hand cold with her own hand. Only one hand remained on the flag, but it never wavered.ac rotc wiliams 1

“Are we done now?” she asked, which did not come out sounding very military, but she only got one reaction from the captain.

“We are done.”

Emily put her flag back, went into the women’s locker room, showered, changed, and walked slowly back to her room. Her arms ached all the way through her shoulders, down her back to her feet. She had a lot to think about. Just exactly what all might be involved in being one of the elect?

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Note: If you missed the first posts in this story, are starting late, or have just discovered the work, the first 4 posts are an easy find. Look under recent posts and you will find parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 listed as clickable links. Happy reading

The Elect, the beginning, post 4 of 8: It’s All About Biology

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Hello neighbor.”

Emily looked up as Maria sat down beside her. Maria lived in the next room over in the dorm with Gloria Sanchez who liked to play dance music at two in the morning. All things considered, Emily decided Jessica might not be such a bad roommate.

“Where’s Jessica?” Maria spoke of the devil.

“Probably in nail painting 101. I think she is majoring in football players.”

Maria smiled. “I’m majoring in biology and thinking about medical school. I did AP Bio in high school, but I hear this class is a bitch.” She wiggled her glasses and got out her laptop.

“Honors Bio. I’m thinking about nursing.” Emily had never associated the name Maria with the word nerd before.ab lecture hall 2

Maria shook her head. “Why nurse when you can doctor?”

“Doctoring doesn’t pay these days. Haven’t you heard? All of the money is in nursing.” Emily sat up when a woman came into the room and placed a soft briefcase on the front table. Emily had been slouching and decided she ought to consider her first impression. “I thought Professor Hilde was a man.” She ran her hand once through her short black hair.

“He is. He’s over there.” Maria pointed and Emily saw an old man with metal forearm crutches who dragged his feet to a chair where he could sit, comfortably. “The instructor is Morgan Granger, Hilde’s teaching assistant. I heard about her. She is hell frozen over.”

“That makes my day.” Emily could not avoid the sarcasm and that time she did not feel the least bit guilty about it.

“You could beat her up, maybe?” Emily looked and saw Maria staring at her. “I heard. Jessica.” Maria did not have to say more. Emily rolled her eyes and wondered who else Jessica told.

“All right people, listen up.” Ms Granger spoke up and paced a little while the auditorium style room quieted. There had to be a hundred students in that class. When she had everyone’s attention, she turned and smiled for the group. It looked to Emily like an unnatural occurrence on the woman’s face and Emily feared it might injure the woman. “I look forward to the day when I get to put a big, fat “F” on a third of your final grade reports.”

“Morgan,” Professor Hilde coughed and the woman took a few steps in his direction, which brought her back to the center of the room.

“If you are serious about biology and do the work, there is no reason you should not pass this course. The truth is every year about a third of the students in freshman biology do not belong here and end up majoring in Art History or something else. I recommend first of all that you consider this. You have until the end of next week to alter your course schedule.” She waved the paper in her hand, which appeared to be the class roster. “After that, it will be too late.” That smile flashed again across that face, but this time Emily thought she saw a bit of evil glee in it.

ab lecture hall 1“Ready or not,” she whispered and began to slouch again.

“Yes,” the woman said and looked right at Emily. She glanced at the paper in her hand and came right back to Emily. “Please stand up.” Emily got up slowly and pulled her shirt down in the process. She looked around the room to see all eyes on her before she looked back at the woman up front. “Your name?”

“Emily Hudson.” Emily could not help the rise in her voice at the end of her name. It reflected her question as to why this woman decided to pick on her, but the woman made a joke of it at Emily’s expense.

“You don’t sound too certain about that.” Some of the room snickered at the old joke. “So tell me, Emily. Why are you here?”

Something rebellious and stubborn rose up in Emily and she responded sharply. “I am a biology major. I am going into nursing. And I am here to learn what you have to teach.” She did not say, “if anything,” but it was strongly implied. Ms Granger clearly did not like the answer. The room fell completely silent except for a brief guffaw from Professor Hilde, which he quickly stifled as he covered his mouth.

Ms Granger picked up a pen and made a quick note on her sheet before she spoke again. “I will teach plenty. The learning it is up to you.” Emily started to sit down but paused when the woman spoke again. “Emily Hudson.” The woman looked right at her before she let her eyes wander around the room. “I heard. I may call on your services if any of these students start acting up or get out of line.” Emily felt stunned to stillness. Everyone looked at her again and a few of them grinned. She wondered who had not heard. “You can sit down.” Ms Granger finished and pulled a stack of papers out of her briefcase.

Emily sat and thought, so much for making a good first impression.

“The syllabus,” Ms Granger announced and began to pass them out.

As soon as the class ended, Emily found two girls at her elbow. They had a flyer. She vaguely ab lecture hall 6recognized them from the dorm and thought they might have the room down at the end of the hall. “Mindy?” That sounded right. Mindy was supposed to be some whiz-kid genius.

“And Connie,” Connie said. “We wanted to invite you to our group. We are starting a club and we think you would be a great member.” Mindy nodded when Connie looked at her. Emily remembered when she met Mindy. She thought of Mindy as the shy and quiet type, a bit of a wallflower. Connie apparently came prepared to make up for it with an annoying, assertive personality.

“You really need to come,” Connie went on. “We are going to meet Friday evening in the downstairs lounge in the dorm. If we get a good turnout, we already have plans to apply for room time in the campus center.” She stuffed a piece of paper in Emily’s hand and added an afterthought for a Maria. “You can come too.” She turned to Mindy. “Come on.” As a parting word Connie said, “See you there.”

Maria leaned in, already peeking when Emily unwrinkled the paper. The group called themselves the Daughters of the Amazon. Maria took the paper and read as they walked. “Daughters of the Amazon are like-minded sisters who are willing to stand up and fight for fairness, justice, and the opportunity for all women to achieve greatness and success in this world ruled by men. We stand against the patriarchic thinking that dominates our culture and keeps women oppressed…” Emily did not hear much more. Something itched in the back of her mind, but out of respect, she waited until they reached the outside walk and Maria finished reading.

“The problem is, I don’t hate men,” Emily said. At that point, she had said nothing to anyone about being one of the elect, whatever that meant. Detective Schromer’s attitude suggested that it should not necessarily be public knowledge. But if what the detective said was true, about her being elected to fight, Emily imagined being mixed up with an Amazon group might not be the best idea.

“I didn’t read anything about hating men,” Maria responded honestly, but Emily stopped walking until she remembered what troubled her. She had an appointment to see her academic advisor after class. She said as much and turned back toward the science building steps but stopped again as a young man ran up.

a science 2“Hey, Maria.” The guy had no eyes for Emily.

Maria made the introduction. “Owen, Emily. Emily, Owen.”

“Hi,” Owen said the obligatory word before his eyes went right back to Maria. “Coffee?”

“Chai latte,” Maria responded and turned again to Emily. “Owen is a sophomore. We both have Doctor Zimmer as advisor.”

“Zimmer?”

“Bio-engineering,” Owen said. “Though I really should be with Hilde. Bio-chemistry.”

“Owen is looking at medical school as well.”

“I need to go,” Emily said and felt glad to see that Maria did not hate men either. “I need to go see my advisor. I got Swenson, the department head.”

“Luck,” Maria said, but Owen said nothing and had already turned Maria toward the student center.

By the time Emily got back up to the second floor offices, she felt anxious about being late. She did not read the signs well and opened a door without knocking. She found a young man rifling through some books on the shelf.

“Can I help you?” He turned to face her. Neither said a word for a good, long pause. The view was enough. Emily had to shake herself awake.

“Oh, I’m looking for Ms. Swenson’s office.”

The young man smiled and Emily felt warm all over. “Next door,” he said.ac pierce 1

“Sorry to interrupt,” Emily responded, though she could not get her feet to move.

“No problem. I’m just waiting for Doctor Zimmer. I’m Pierce Davis. I’m his TA.”

A graduate student, Emily thought. “I’m Emily Hudson, the freshman who is easily lost.”

“I could help you find your way.” Pierce hardly masked any of the innuendo in that statement. Emily felt her face redden at her thoughts when an older man barged rudely into the room.

“What is this?”

“She came here looking for Professor Swenson’s office,” Pierce spoke up for her.

“Next door. Get out.” Doctor Zimmer went beyond rude. Emily did not argue. She backed out but stole one more glance at Pierce as she did. His face seemed to apologize and she hoped hers said, “That’s okay. Lovely to meet you.” She closed the door and paused to think, “I mean it was wonderful meeting you.”

After a deep breath or two she knocked on the next door and only opened it when she heard the words, “Come in.” She sat quietly as the words continued. “Emily Hudson. You are late. I was beginning to wonder if you were coming.”

“Yes. I apologize. I went next door by mistake. I talked with Pierce, er, Mister Davis.” Emily fought it, but she could not avoid thinking Emily Davis, and then she went further to think Pierce and Emily Davis. She refused, however, to imagine names for the children.

Ms. Swenson stared at her. “You and half the women on campus. Take my advice and avoid him. I am your advisor, you know.” Emily just rolled her eyes as if to say it was not like that, even though it was ac swensons office 2exactly like that. “So tell me about Biology 101.”

Emily opened her eyes wide and sat up straight. “I did not make a good first impression.”

“I heard.”

God! Emily wondered how news could travel so fast around campus. “Maybe I should change to Art History and take biology in the spring with you?”

“Not by my advice.” Ms. Swenson looked down at Emily’s file. “I’ll admit that Morgan Granger can be hard, unbending and pulls no punches, but you can learn a lot from her.” Emily sighed and spent the next five minutes hearing all about how she had to stick with what she had and do her best. Then she got dismissed.

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Be sure and return next Monday (T, W, and Th) for the second half of The Elect, the beginning episode. If you miss a post, you can always find it on the side of the blog under the heading “recent posts”. In fact, you can wait until Thursday (F, Sat, or Sun) if you like and read all 4 posts together in one sitting. It is up to you.

After this first episode, all 22 of the regular episodes (chapters in this serialized novel) will be posted in 4 posts (M, T, W and Th) over a single week. Again, you are welcome to wait until Thursday (F, Sat, or Sun) if you want to read the entire episode in one sitting.

Thus far, Emily has been told she is an elect and show some signs of unnatural abilities, but she is not sure what being an elect means. She has to puzzle out what she can. She may not have much time. Something is happening in and around the university campus that has Detective Lisa worried…

The Elect, the beginning, post 3 of 8: The Police Too

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The ride to the police station did not take long and it was not entirely uncomfortable. The officers checked in with Mitzy, the woman at the front desk, before they took the girls to separate rooms. Emily had to wait and sit at a table with four chairs in an otherwise empty room. The room had a mirror, which had to be the obligatory see through glass from the other side. The room also had a window, but the blind was down and closed, and the sill looked so dirty she dared not look at the glass.

Emily ran her hand through her short hair more than once. She twice examined her poor excuse for nails. She drummed her fingers for a while. Finally, she retrieved her English book, the bag having been checked first, and she read until someone came.

A woman, maybe thirty-five, reddish-brown hair, green eyes, and as tall as Emily at maybe five-six stepped into the room. She wore a business suit, gray, with a blue top, and shoes that looked like practical nurse’s shoes, which were probably a necessity for a cop. The man who followed looked about the same age as the woman, but he was brown, like someone from the near east. The woman introduced him as Ashish Mousad and Emily tried not to stare, but the man kept looking at her dumbly, like Tom the football player, or maybe like someone trying to see her insides.ab interview room 2

“Family’s from Kashmir. I’m third generation,” the man said. Emily had no idea what that meant, but that was not why she returned the stare. Mister Mousad’s bulbous nose seemed far too big for the rest of his face, though not necessarily too big for his round middle. She turned her eyes away as the woman spoke, and Emily became aware that the woman had been watching her the whole time, even as she stared at the man.

“I’m Detective Lisa Schromer. Do you mind if I sit?” The man leaned his bulk against the dirty windowsill.

Emily shrugged and closed her book. She pointed to the seat opposite. “It’s your jail.”

The detective smiled, sat and shook her head. “You are not in jail and will not be going to jail. I came to talk. That’s all.” Emily said nothing. She might be willing to listen. It took her mind off of thinking about what she had done.

“You are Emily Hudson?” Emily nodded. “Freshman at the university? From Columbus Ohio?” Emily nodded again. They got that much from her driver’s license. “So tell me, when in high school did you realize you were too strong to be an ordinary girl?”

“What?”

Mister Mousad pulled a little notepad from a pocket and spoke up. “You knocked a big man to his back with one kick. You grabbed the second man and made him stab himself with his own knife. Then you walked to the first man and kicked him to get him to turn around so you could knock his lights out with one punch.”

Emily shook her head. “It wasn’t like that.” The woman detective raised an eyebrow. “I mean it was not as easy as you make it sound.”

ab interview room 3“So when in high school?”

“It was middle school.” Emily paused to think. Any number of high school incidents passed through her mind. They mostly had to do with athletics, and mostly surprised her as much as anyone, but she never did anything like this. “I was the homerun queen on the eighth grade softball team.”

The woman nodded. “Great speed, dexterity, coordination and agility. As strong as any man.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Emily started to interrupt but held her tongue when the woman gave her a hard look.

“An uncanny ability with whatever weapon comes to hand, but just as tough without weapons. Hard to injure or damage and quick to heal. Given to strategic and tactical thinking, always several steps ahead. Great energy, perseverance, stamina, courage…”

“Wait a minute. How do you know all that?” Emily’s tone of voice said she did not believe it, or did not want to believe it.

“You are one of the elect, called to defend the people and the community in time of need, the warrior woman. You are the one in a million.” The detective fell silent and Emily looked at her hands and poor excuse for nails. The man by the window put his notepad away and pulled out a handkerchief to honk that big nose of his.

“What does that mean?” Emily asked at last.

“Every time a girl is born there is a one in a million chance she will be elected. She must have a strong mind and a pure heart.”ab war wo 4

“Well, I haven’t got a pure heart.”

“Do you know what is right and wrong? Can you distinguish between good and evil?”

“Yes,” she reluctantly admitted. “But that does not mean I always do what is right.” Emily leaned back and felt a bit rebellious at that moment. She was not sure she wanted to be elected, whatever that was. “Besides, how do you know I got elected? I never voted for me.”

“Not that kind of election. Called to be a champion for the people might be a better way to put it.”

“Called by whom?” Emily backed off in her mind, but felt terribly curious at the same time.

“Do you know the concept of the woman warrior?” Emily nodded slowly. “Well, it isn’t a myth,” the detective finished the thought and let that sit in the air for a few seconds before she explained. “It begins sometime after the girl becomes a woman, though you won’t reach your full strength and potential until you are between eighteen and twenty-one.”

“I’m eighteen. Woman mature faster.” Emily meant it as a joke, but it came out as sarcasm and she immediately felt guilty about it. She knew this was serious business.

“The elect are only women,” the detective continued. “They say in the beginning, when the men went out on the hunt for days at a time, the ancient council of goddesses chose one woman and empowered her to protect and defend her home and community. You are simply the latest in a long line of warrior women dating back to the dawn of history. If you have read your mythology, you should know about Atalanta and Camilla. If you know your history, you should know about Queen Boudica and Zenobia of Palmyra. Surely you have heard of Joan of Arc. Of course, most of the elect have deliberately avoided fame, and Joan is a good example why. I understand Electra was glad to let her brother Orestes take all the credit. But the truth is, most women in history probably never knew they were elect. They were never needed, thank God.”

“How many elect are there?”

ab war wo 1“Well, one in a million, but that is apocryphal. It may be more like one in ten million people, but at a guess I would say some three thousand women around the world right now are called to champion their people.”

“And you?”

“I never voted for me, either.”

Emily paused to take a breath. “Looks like I won’t get the chance to be anonymous.”

“Looks like,” Detective Schromer agreed. “But listen, there is something happening on the campus and it is not good. We have only hints and rumors at this point, but I hope you will be willing to watch for me. You are sensitive to danger, especially sensitive to unnatural danger, and empowered to meet it head on. It is a gift. You are special.”

Emily found herself clutching and squeezing her own hands as she listened. She resonated with everything being said, like something deep down inside of her confirmed it all, but at the same time, she felt confused again. She did not know how to take what she had been told. Then she heard something that undeniably touched her.

“The two men you injured will both survive,” Ashish reported.

Emily wept.

Detective Schromer came around the table and helped Emily to her feet. She helped Emily put her book back in her book-bag, and comforted her as they walked to the door. All Emily wanted to do was cry, but when they got to the door, Emily stood up straight and wiped her eyes as well as she could. The woman detective got her attention once more.

“Take my card.” She put a business card in Emily’s book-bag. “There have been several incidents at ac Jessica 1the university, young as the school year is. Hopefully your action will put an end to it, but just in case, if something comes up, call me.”

Emily looked at the woman as if for the first time and saw something genuine and caring in those green eyes. She nodded, stepped out of the room and found Jessica waiting for her. Two young policemen hovered over the girl, shared a laugh, and Jessica had some coffee.

The Elect, the beginning, post 2 of 8: The Library Incident

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“So, what’s his name?” Emily felt curious, but not really interested.

“Thomas.” Jessica looked back at the library table where the young man looked up and waved. She smiled.

“And he is in Freshman English?” Emily picked her book-bag up from the ground for the tenth time and tried once again to make the strap stay on her chair. The thought crossed her mind that one definition of insanity involved doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome.

“No.” Jessica sat up but made no effort to open her book. “He’s a sophomore, and on the football team.”ab library at night 1

Emily looked up from her book. Apparently, Jessica went for football players. “I thought you had a boyfriend back home.”

“But I’m not at home,” Jessica said with a straight, albeit blonde face. “Besides, I want to enjoy the full college experience.” She tossed her hair back and snuck another look at Thomas.

Emily nodded and ran a hand through her short black locks. She had a boys’ cut, left over from ROTC summer camp. If she did not have a Mohawk red streak in it, she figured her hair would have no character at all. “But it has only been five days,” she said, and she thought living a whole year with this roommate would not be easy.

Jessica looked at her long nails before she slammed her hand down on her book. “First day of classes and we already have homework. It’s unnatural.”

Emily looked at the girl’s hand on the book and thought, at least that was a step in the right direction. Then she examined her own short, black painted nails and shook her head, sadly. “I’m going back.” She picked up her book-bag from the floor, slipped her English book into the bag, and stood. Jessica mirrored her, but with a glance to be sure Thomas watched her leave. Emily noticed and said quietly, “grumble, grumble.” She did not think she could put her feelings into words, exactly.

The library door closed softly behind them with the sound of a shush. The university campus spread out before them like a gray world punctuated by lamps here and there along the paths. Emily looked up once, but could not see the stars because of the library glare. She might be a foolish freshman to walk across campus in the dark, but she had Jessica for company, such as it was, and the dorm was not far. Trenton, New Jersey might not be the safest city in America, but New Jersey State University had a good safety reputation, as far as she knew.a n campus 3

“Coffee?” Jessica made the suggestion while she tugged on her too short skirt. Emily put her hand in the pocket of her black slacks, found the two dollars she needed for laundry and shook her head.

“I need to rest.” She honestly felt it important to stay on a good schedule, at least at first.

“Well, I can use some,” Jessica insisted.

Emily hesitated before she spoke. “Can’t. I’ll see you back at the room.”

Jessica also looked ready to say something more, but declined. She turned without a word and headed toward the student center. Emily watched for a moment before she turned to her own path. She took two whole steps before she heard a stifled scream come from Jessica’s direction. She did not hesitate. She ran toward the sound.

Two men had Jessica beside a tree. One had her from behind and had a hand over her mouth. The other threatened her with a knife. Emily dropped her book-bag and without a second thought, she leapt. Both feet struck the ribs of the man holding Jessica. He let go and crashed to the brick walkway. Jessica spun around twice at her sudden release. Emily landed upright on the brick walk. The man with the knife lashed out, but Emily caught his hand, turned around so the hand had to follow and that man found his own knife shoved deep into his own gut.ab mugging

Jessica screamed, more than once.

The one on the ground tried to rise, but Emily landed right there. She kicked him in the ribs again before he could stand. He spun around, red faced and spitting. Emily simply made a fist and hit the man in the jaw as hard as she could. His head spun and he fell back to hit his head hard on the bricks. He would not get up again for a while.

Emily rushed to Jessica. “Are you all right?” Jessica could hardly stop screaming as Thomas and his football friend ran up. Jessica immediately turned to the boy. Thomas stared and looked dumb before he slid his arms around the girl. The other young man examined the two disabled men. He gave Emily a curious look since Jessica seemed occupied. With that look, what Emily did suddenly caught up with her and she felt overwhelmed. Her only grace was that it all felt instinctive in a way, as if she did all that without having to think too hard. She had no idea how that might be.

“ROTC.” It was the only thing she could think to say.

“Lieutenant Terrance J. Williams,” the young man responded. “I’ll look forward to seeing you Thursday afternoon.”

“Sir, yes sir,” Emily responded, but her mind was not on her words. She looked at the man, bleeding terribly from the knife in his middle. He used the tree to hold himself to his knees. She felt sick.

“I called 9-1-1,” one of the newcomers reported.

“I called campus police.”

“I called the ambulance.”ac Bernie 1

The campus police arrived first. Just one older African-American man showed up, in a disheveled blue shirt, gray tie, police looking pants, and a jacket that had the University logo and University Police blazoned on it. “Everybody back away,” he yelled, and waved his arm like a traffic cop. “Nothing to see here. Go on about your business.” He took in the two men on the ground. “What the hell happened here?”

“Ask her, Bernie.” Lieutenant Williams pointed at Emily. Emily looked up and felt very confused right then about what exactly happened.

“Hey! Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” Bernie turned to the lieutenant. “Does Coach know you are still out this late?” The campus cop temporarily forgot about the ones on the ground.

“Library?” Lieutenant Williams pointed, as if that explained it all. “Come on Tom, if you can tear yourself away.” Tom let go of Jessica and moved. He followed the lieutenant toward the student center, and the campus cop had one more thing to say.

“Football!” He shrugged before he turned to Emily. “So what happened here?” The man on the walkway chose that moment to groan and put a hand to his jaw, and then to the back of his head where Emily feared the man might be bleeding. Emily tensed up, tried to make sense of what she did and began to cry. Jessica, already into a good cry, reached for Emily, now that Thomas had gone.

“She saved my life.” Jessica managed that much before the women hugged and cried on each other’s shoulders. Emily let her emotions flow, but she could not help the thoughts that came into her mind. She thought that Jessica was three inches taller to begin with, at maybe five-nine, and the pumps added another two inches. She was being soaked from above. The second thought was that Jessica had on too much makeup and now it was running all over her favorite purple shirt. It was going to be a bitch to get it out.ab police at night

To his credit, Bernie the campus cop did not press the issue. He went to the man who had somehow pulled out the knife and collapsed to his seat. The man still leaned heavily on the tree. “Hey! This man is bleeding,” Bernie noticed.

The regular police roared up on the nearby street and came running. Everyone backed up for real. The ambulance came right up the walkway from the student center, and Emily pulled herself together enough to pull Jessica out of the way. She had no illusion that she could simply melt into the crowd and go unnoticed, but she thought at least they could give the medical people some room to work.

Emily felt glad when she saw the man rise from the walkway, and with help, take a seat in the back of the ambulance. She felt grim when they carried the other one out on a stretcher, but by then there were too many police officers around and Emily knew she and Jessica would have to go for a ride and give a statement.

“Not the best way to stay on schedule,” she mumbled as Jessica backed up to wipe her eyes. “Maybe they have coffee at the police station—oh but Thomas won’t be there.” Jessica wiped the drip from her nose and let out the littlest laugh and smile. Clearly, that was exactly what Jessica had been thinking.

The Elect, Freshman Year, the beginning chapter/episode, post 1 of 8

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Two men, a bit old for students but a bit young for professors, walked the campus path in the dark. They avoided the lamps set here and there along the way, coming up from the campus center toward the classroom buildings. They stopped by a big, old tree that still had all of its summer leaves. It provided plenty of cover to shroud the ground with darkness.

“That building is the library,” the big one said. “We should find what we are looking for there.” He paused to watch his friend pull a knife and begin to clean beneath his fingernails. “You would think these days these college kids would be smart enough to not walk alone in the dark. But it is the beginning of the school year and there are stupid freshmen everywhere.”a library steps n

The man with the knife stopped long enough to nod and smile.

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

The Elect, Freshman Year is a serialized novel, to use the classic term, but neatly divided into chapter/episodes like a television show. It is jam packed and fast paced with an emphasis on mystery, intrigue and action ready for film. There are quite a number of characters best imagined on film where they would be easy to remember by matching a face with a name. All you really need to remember, as a reader, are the three elect, Emily (with her college friends), Detective Lisa, and young Latasha. Everyone else is either family (mom, dad, brother), co-worker (detective, police officer, teacher) or antagonist of some sort. Oh, and then there is Heinrich…

The elect are one in a million adult women, maybe one in ten million people. They are women chosen at birth and empowered from ancient days by the goddesses of old, originally, to protect and defend the home when the men went away to hunt or to war. Emily Hudson is an elect who has no idea how gifted she is until she arrives at New Jersey State University, in Trenton, and meets another elect—a police Detective, Lisa. Together they find a third, Latasha, a local high school freshman, and realize that three elect in the same community, maybe even three in the same state, defies all odds. There are not that many elect in the whole world. Then again, maybe three together is by some divine design, because there are things going on in Trenton and around the university that will take every gift they have to give, and then some.

The pilot episode will post (M, T, W, Th) over the first two weeks in November 2015. After that, each of the 22 episodes (chapters) will post weekly (M, T, W and Th) over the following 22 weeks. If you wait until Thursday, you will find all of the posts for the given episode on the right side of the blog under “recent posts”. Some might want to wait until Friday, or even the weekend to read the whole episode at once. That is fine.

If you miss an episode, or find your way to this story somewhere in the middle, feel free to click on the archives button. The pilot episode begins it all at the beginning of November 2015. Happy reading. Lets see how good your visualization skills really are…

Avalon 2.9: Dead and Wounded

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            Bronze.  Four young couples are desperately trying to get the newly discovered bonze weapons home to help liberate their village from the conquering Jaccar, only now they are trapped on a riverbank of the Danube by a hundred Jaccar warriors who want no less that to kill them all.  Little do the Jaccar know, the wagons now sitting idly beyond the reach of the couples are filled with weapons presently more precious than gold … and the travelers are riding right into the middle of it all.

###

            Boston was examining the amulet to check their direction when Roland shouted.  She was slow to react and the result was an arrow in her  gut.  She screamed her surprise before she moaned and doubled over in her saddle.  Roland quickly pulled her to the side and out of sight from the incoming arrows.

            The others dismounted rapidly and stared hard off into the forest, except Elder Stow who floated over to where Roland was gingerly helping Boston to the ground.  Captain Decker and Katie fired their rifles at the same time, before Lockhart could pull his revolver and wave them toward the trees.

            “Go,” he said.  “Lincoln, help me get the horses.”  He preferred not to watch Katie head into danger.

            “Hey Lockhart,” Boston called softly.  Her lips hardly moved and her eyes were half shut against the pain.  “Why am I always the lucky one?”  She tried to laugh, but that just made her grit her teeth and squeeze her eyes shut.

            Elder Stow leaned over her with that miraculous piece of equipment he once used on Katie and Lockhart.  As the equipment softly hummed, the arrow pulled itself out from the wound.  Then the wound slowly closed, or most of it anyway. 

            “I am sorry, my Father.  I have nothing that will really heal her.  I am no physician.  I can only hope she will recover and heal the old fashioned way, and she should, barring infection.”

            Roland cradled Boston’s head as he looked first at the Gott-Druk and then at Lockhart while tears came up into his eyes.  At last he lifted his head and howled a word into the air.  “Alexis.”  He called for his sister whose magic was especially healing magic.

            “Alexis.”  Lincoln could not help but add his voice in a call for his wife.  The difference was Lincoln’s voice was a mere human shout of frustration while the elf’s voice carried, who knew how far.

###

            Katie put her back to a tree and looked over at Decker who knelt by another tree.  Katie signaled with her hand that there were two just out from Decker’s position.  Decker signaled back that she was facing a third.  The men were bobbing up and down and craning their necks this way and that to see the trail the group had been following through the forest.  They were looking for movement and listening for the sound of horses attempting a quick getaway.  One man even had an arrow ready on his string.  Decker pointed.  Katie called out.  

              “We have no quarrel with you.  Can we talk?”  She did not get to finish her thought as the nearness of their voices caused the three men to abandon their bows, lift their spears, draw their knives and charge, screaming.

            Captain Decker pumped his fist.  Katie and Decker burst out from their hiding places.  A few quick shots and all three men lay dead a few feet away.  It all happened so suddenly, there was no time to think about it.

            “They were determined to try and kill us,” Decker said as he checked the bodies.  “I have no idea why.”

              Katie said nothing.  Elect, Marine lieutenant, impossible situation thousands of years from home all meant nothing.  She did not like the killing.

            Beyond that point, the forest petered out and it was all grasslands to the horizon.  Decker stepped out on to the grass.  Katie followed warily.  There were horses near and Katie thought about what Decker said.  She decided she wanted some clue as to why the men attacked.

            “I wonder if there are others.” Katie asked out loud.  “It may be tribal dress, but those three are dressed the same, almost like a uniform.”

            Decker nodded.  “I’ll have a look see,” he said and sat cross-legged on the grass outside the shadow of the trees.  He put his rifle in his lap, placed his hands on his knees and closed his eyes.

            Katie thought to call the others while she waited with one eye on the surrounding area, just in case.  She looked at her wristwatch and took a moment to remember how it worked.  “Robert?”  She had to wait a minute for a response.

            “Katie?  I forgot we had these wrist communicators.”

            “How is Boston?”

            “Elder Stow got the arrow out and the wound is mostly sealed, but he fears infection from the filthy arrowhead.  He has pretty much ruled out poison, which is a good thing.  Roland is with her.  Lincoln has the horses.”

            “Three here, all dead,” Katie glanced around and something in the back of her mind said there was something about the horses.  “They were all dressed the same, like uniforms even though I know we are way too early in history for such a thing.  Decker is meditating to see if his eagle eye can find more of them.”  Katie heard a sound and caught some movement from the corner of her eye.  “Out here there are grasslands for as far as I can see.  I recommend we move out on to the grasses and away from the forest where we can hardly see around the next tree.”  Her mouth paused as her mind screamed.  There were four horses.  She spun and grabbed the man’s knife hand before he could stab her in the back.  They tussled for a second which startled the horses and sent them scurrying out on to the grass.   The man tried to force the knife, but Katie was stronger.  He tried to punch her, but her foot caught the man first in the belly and sent him staggering back.

            Katie pulled her own knife rather than her gun.  She thought a prisoner might be more useful than another dead man.  He came at her again, and she blocked his copper knife with her American steel.  A few more stabs like that and the copper would snap.  Katie looked into the man’s eyes and wondered what was driving him.  What she saw was wild, bloodshot eyes that did not look entirely in focus.  He caught her look and spoke.

            “Give me the girl with the red hair.  She must die.”

            “What?”  Katie easily countered the man’s next move, and noticed his reactions were not the swiftest.

            “The red hair girl must die.  The Wicca has commanded.”

            Katie stepped up and cut the man’s forearm so he dropped his knife, but he managed to shove her back and retrieved his knife from the ground with his other hand.

            “Who is the Wicca?”

            “She is the great and mighty Wicca.  It is her great desire that the one with the red hair die.”  He charged again, and again Katie easily countered, and got her fist into the man’s face.  He staggered, but he would not fall.  He was sweating like a man with a fever.  He screamed, abandon all sense and ran toward her to tackle her, but there was a gunshot.  He spun once and plummeted to the ground.

            Katie glanced at Decker thinking it was him before Lockhart stepped from the woods.  Lincoln and the horses followed.  Elder Stow and Roland came last with Boston on a stretcher that Roland had hastily constructed.  They did not have to carry the stretcher, however, because Elder Stow rigged up his anti-gravity device to carry it on an even keel over the rough ground.

            “Perhaps if she does not jiggle around so much she may heal faster,” Elder Stow suggested. 

            “Alexis,” Roland was still calling and looking off to the horizon, but now the call was a mere whisper of desperation.

            “Robert, I was trying to take him alive,” Katie complained.

            “Sorry,” Lockhart said.  “But the Kairos, my boss said do not hesitate with anyone who is trying to kill you, and I agree.”

            Katie looked down.  “I suppose I might have had to kill him myself.  I don’t think he would have stopped until he was dead or unconscious, and I imagine it is not as easy to knock someone out as it appears in the movies.”

            “You are right about that,” Lincoln said.

            “A berserker?”  Lockhart saw the look in the man’s face and eyes and wondered

            Katie shook her head.  “Slow to react.  More like he was on drugs and maybe could not help himself.”

            “Enchanted?”  Boston suggested, though her voice sounded weak and far away.

            Katie nodded that time.  “Maybe enchanted.  Maybe enchanted by that Wicca person.”

            The others said nothing for a time.  What could they say?  It was not every day total strangers tried to kill them without any provocation and for no known reason.

            Captain Decker took that moment to stir and everyone came close to hear about what he saw, if anything.

            “Eight young people are trapped against the bank of a big river.  I assume the Kairos is one of them since they have a couple of elves with them.  Three wagons, horses hobbled, but they are surrounded by about a hundred men dressed like these.”

            “Flern.”  Lincoln pulled out the database.  “The Kairos is a she,” he clarified.  “If it is a really big river, it is probably the Danube.”

            Captain Decker nodded and got up on his horse.  The others followed and even Elder Stow got up on Boston’s horse, Honey, and with only a small moan of protest.

 ###

Avalon 2.9  Overstepping Boundaries … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Mindless

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            Beltain.  There is an image the travelers don’t want to repeat.  She is rough and bawdy, but still the Kairos on the inside.  She is quick to point out that Katie (the elect) and Boston (the Spell Caster) are not the ones the women are looking for to complete their Amazon council, but then I would guess the great and terrible power lurking on the horizon decided not to lurk anymore.

###

            “What happened?”  Boston shouted her question though the whining sound had subsided.

            The Sybil spoke.  “The other camps are in rebellion.  They think we are saving the best of the meat for ourselves and not being fair in the sharing.  They plan to attack us after the sunset delivery.”

            “Oktapi must be warned,” Katie said as she picked up a nearby spear.  All of the weapons from the future had vanished, and the travelers never noticed.  What is more, their fairy weave clothing was shaped to match the local clothing, and the travelers thought nothing odd about that, either.

            “Oktapi and his people can take care of themselves, but I will tell him when I meet him.  We cannot count on his help or the help of his people.  He would just as soon we all die, but I will ask all the same.”  Beltain tipped her head to Katie.  “Majesty,” she said.

            “Thank you Priestess,” Katie responded before she went into queen mode.  “Lockhart and Lincoln, gather the men, young and old.  Lockhart take the south.  Lincoln take the north.  You must defend the perimeter for as long as you can, but if they break through, fall back to our line.  Star, gather the women.  With our smaller numbers we will hold the reserve post.”

            “The women are not going to like that,” Star admitted.  She already had her bow off her shoulder and an arrow in her hand.

            “The decision has been made,” Katie said in a voice which also said she did not care if the women liked it or not.  “Our place is to defend the children and the fut… fut…”

            “Future.”  Old woman Hannah said it because Katie seemed to have trouble with the word.

            “Hannah.”  Katie turned to the woman.  “Gather the rest of the women in the center with the children.  Your words and stories will have to be strong tonight to keep the children calm and safe.”

            “What about me?”  Boston stepped up.

            “I want you in the center, but not with the children.  It would be best if you could get up high enough to see the edges of the camp.  I do not yet know where your power may be needed, but if you start in the west and we need you in the east it may be too late by the time you get there.”

            “I will find a way,” Boston said.  “But what of the healer?”  

            “Here I am!”  A woman shouted and ran up to them.

            “Alexis, you need to stay near Boston at the center.  If there are wounded, we will bring them to you.  If there are many, we will probably retreat to you in the center.”

            “Pray to the gods there are no wounded,” Alexis said with a glance at Beltain.

            “Amen,” Beltain said, though the word caused the others to start.  It sounded odd.

            “Move it!”  Katie knew they would have to worry about that later.  The sun was already touching the horizon.

###

            Roland looked up when they sky over the camps clouded over.  His good elf ears barely discerned the shrill sound through Elder Stow’s screen.  He was surprised when Gnumma came to stand beside him and the carcass of the beast to look out over the darkening camps.

            “The Djinn.” Gnumma named the cloud.  “But what game is he playing?”

            Roland could only shrug and worry about Boston and his friends.  The greatness of the Genii prevented him from knowing anything for certain and the power was almost unimaginable.  “This one is as close to being one of the gods as a greater spirit can get.”

            “We will find out soon enough,” Gnumma said and walked away again so Roland could finish his grisly work.

            Roland got a steak sizzling on the stone Elder Stow heated with his sonic device.  He was not much of a meat eater and neither was the Gott-Druk.  He imagined the gnome was a strict vegetarian, but they had to eat something and the Elder was also not a big fan of elf crackers.

            “I guess the Djin has no interest in us,” Roland said at last to make conversation.  The gnome was altogether too quiet and Elder Stow seemed glued to looking at his screen device.

            “An elf, a gnome and an old one?  What would he want with us?”

            “Hey!  I’m not that old.”  Elder Stow objected but never looked up.

            “Okay,” Roland surrendered.  “What is so fascinating about your screening device.”

            “Eh?”  The Gott-Druk looked up briefly before he looked again at the box.  “Something came through the screen some time ago.  I have been tracking it.”

            “What?  Where?”  Roland stood and Gnumma sat up straight and looked around.

            “Right here.”  They heard the voice before they saw Mingus walk into the light.

            “Father?” 

            Mingus came to sit and spoke right up.  “I would not say the djin is disinterested in us, exactly.  He covered all the camps but just did not bother to stretch it out this far.  I was almost taken.  Only my mind magic allowed me to hold out until I was out from under.”

            “Alexis?”  Roland asked right away.

            “Completely taken.  She thinks she is an Amazon healer, of all things.”

            “Katie Harper is an elect,” Roland said to catch his father up with more recent events.  “And Boston has shown some magical ability.”

            “Really?  Katie doesn’t surprise me.  I thought there was something about her.  But who would have thought that frivolous little red-head would ever amount to anything.”

            “Father!  Boston is the most brilliant, beautiful and capable person I know.”  Roland was miffed.  Mingus rubbed his chin.

            “So it has gone that far already,” he said.

            “Elder Stow,” The Gott-Druk introduced himself again and nodded his head.  “Yes it has, and I say that as a disinterested outsider.”  The elder stared at Mingus because of what happened the last time they met, but he said nothing so Mingus said nothing.

            Gnumma was obviously not following much of the conversation, primarily because his mind seemed focused elsewhere.  “I wonder what is happening in the camps,” he interjected.

            Every head turned though they could hardly see through the encroaching dark.  Mingus picked up the tale.

            “Well, as I understand it they have a huntress, a wise woman and a Sybil already.  It was the Sybil that found us and saw right through my glamours.  Now with an elect to be their queen, a woman of magic and poor Alexis as their healer, they have the foundation for a real Amazon tribe.”  It was hard to tell, but Mingus appeared to not think much of Amazon tribes.

            “All they need is a priestess,” Roland said.

            “Beltain.”  Mingus and Gnumma both spoke at once.

            “The Kairos?  How can the Kairos be taken in by the spell?”

            Mingus got fatherly.  “Son, the Kairos in this life is simply a human being like any other.  As such, she is subject to the full limitations of the breed.”

            “She is mere mud and blood.”  Gnumma gently stroked his beard. 

            “Then we need to save her.”  Roland got excited again.

            “I have already discussed this with Oktapi.  Yours is mind magic?”

            Mingus nodded slowly.  “I have some skill, but nothing to counter the power of the Djin.”

            “But with my help and your son.  Let me tell you what I was thinking which I did not share with Oktapi.”

###

Avalon 2.7:  The Trenches … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Mind Your Matters

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            It looks like the travelers are going to be allowed to see Beltain.  There is a Sybil, a seer in the camp who has said as much.  But then she also talked about a terrible power looming on the horizon.

###

            Lockhart stepped up to Katie and the Sybil.  “I think you better take us to Beltain.”

            The Sybil looked up in surprise and immediately looked again at Katie.

            “He’s the boss,” Katie said, and the Sybil looked very confused for a minute before she seemed to understand something.

            “Of course.”  She spoke as Katie and Boston helped her back to her feet.  “I must remember you come from a very strange world.  This way.”  She started to waddle off.  “But I advise against seeing Beltain right away.  She is very busy right now.”

            When they arrived outside Beltain’s tent, they were met by two women, one maybe eighteen and one that looked closer to eighty.  The eighteen-year-old jumped in front.  “Hi,” she said.  “My name is Asterasine, but everyone calls me Star.”  She shook Boston’s hand and repeated the same phrase for Lockhart as she shook his hand.  Lockhart laughed and looked at Boston. 

            Lincoln at least said, “Nice to meet you.”

            When Star got to Katie, she was smiling and already had her hand out to shake, but the girl stopped still, and after a moment went down on one knee, lowered her head and eyes and said, “Majesty.”

            The Sybil took over.  “Hannah is our wise woman.”  She pointed to the old lady.  “Asterasine is our hunter.  I am as you have named me, the Sybil.  Beltain is our priestess.  All we lacked was a woman of magic, a healer and our Queen to make the Amazon pantheon complete.  And now you have come.”

            “Oh, no –“ Katie started to speak, but Lincoln interrupted.

            “Beltain is the priestess?”

            “What priestess has ever had a greater claim than one who is herself counted among the gods.  Beltain is a holy vessel –“

            This time Lockhart interrupted.  He pushed passed the women and into the tent.  The others followed and everyone froze.  Beltain was naked and giggling.  A naked man was on top of her and moaning.  And the two appeared to be having a wonderful time.  Everyone turned around, but not before the picture was indelibly etched into their minds.

            They heard Beltain speak.  “Damn it. Grogan get off.  We have company.”  There was the sound of shuffling and cloth being tossed here and there before Beltain spoke again.  “Okay.”  They turned again to face her.  “Sorry ladies, you especially Boston.  Lincoln, close your mouth.  Lockhart, how the Hell are you?”

            “Holy vessel?”  Lincoln whispered.

            “I see you have met Star, Hannah and Anath-Isis.”

            “The Sybil?”  Boston asked.

            Beltain nodded while she tugged on her dress.  She was a short, plump woman, not fat like the Sybil but leaning in that direction.  She had long, light brown hair with a few streaks of gray which she took a moment to put up while she eyed them all through very ordinary brown eyes.  In every way she appeared unremarkable, so much so that Lockhart was prompted to ask.

            “How is it you managed to be the one to lead all these thousands on this migration?  I assume this is a migration.”

            “Right,” Beltain said once her hair was in place.  “The Sahara, Arabia, and even Caana are suffering through a dry spell, like for the last thousand years.”  Beltain rolled her eyes.  “The last ten years have been especially bad in Caana.  Blame man-made global warming.”  Beltain smiled, and it was an inviting smile.  “You know, Anenki built some nice permanent settlements around the Tigris and Euphrates in the east.  Then Cophu finally showed up with his Shemsu people.  They turned those settlements into cities, massive stone walls and everything.  Now we, and hundreds of other migrations are going to fill the places up.  My own people call it the land of green and plenty, but most call it Sumer.”

            “Sumer?”  Katie had to ask.

            “The Ubaidian way of saying Shemsu.  Some of the originals still call the land Ubaidai, but even most of them now call it Sumeria.”

            “Wow!”  Lincoln mouthed the word before Katie could.

            “But you –“ Lockhart started to bring them back to his question, but Beltain waved at him to quiet him.

            “So there are cities in Caana, like from Byblos to Sodom.  You have been to the biggest, Jericho.  But they are in no better shape than the countryside.  It was Astarte that first contacted me.  The gods want the migration.  Enlil and Enki want to see the cities in the east fill up.  They are anxious to see real wars start.  I told them that was stupid, but you know how boys can be.”

            “Enki with his glasses.  He did not seem like the warrior type,” Boston said.

            “Yeah, well, I made him the glasses to see but I have no control over what he sees,” Beltain threw her hands to the side like she was washing her hands of the whole thing.  “So anyway, we are not the only groups migrating.  Some went ahead of us.  Many more will follow us over the next hundred years or so.”

            “But you in charge?”  Lockhart would not let go.

            “Easy,” Beltain responded.  “We travel a day and stop for three or four before we travel another day.  When we stop, my little ones bring what they cull from the herds which we then divide between all the groups.  You know, people will follow anyone who feeds them.”

            Lockhart nodded, but Lincoln thought to say something to the man who was standing by, silent.  “Grogan, is it?  Sorry to interrupt you and your wife.”

            Grogan smiled, but Beltain laughed out loud.  “Grogan is not my husband.  I mean, my husband is probably around here somewhere screwing some young tart.  We don’t have that kind of a marriage.” 

            “Oh.”

            “Grogan was third in line.”

            “Oh!”

            “Forget it,” Beltain said with a final grin at Grogan.  “Oktapi should be here soon.  I suppose we should go out to greet him.”

            As they stepped outside, the Sybil nudged Lincoln.  “What priestess has more direct access to such things as Beltain.”

            “I suppose,” Beltain heard and responded.  “But there is nothing more natural in this time and culture than having a priest and priestess in the ruling position.”

            “How about an Amazon Queen?”  Katie whispered to Beltain as they went outside.

            “Oh yes, sorry.”  She turned just outside the door of her tent and spoke to everyone.  “Listen up.  Katie is an elect, and Boston, I suppose, is a woman of magic, but Zoe says they are on special assignment.  Hannah, Star and Anath, they are not the ones you are looking for.  Just wanted to be clear about that.  Beltain turned again and whispered to Katie.  “And I can hardly be my own priestess.”

            “Exactly,” Katie responded in the same soft tones.  “You are Zoe, or at least you were.”

            “Exactly,” Beltain echoed.  “Right now I am not Zoe, I am Beltain, and while I would not mind loving Artemis, Vrya, Astarte and the others, being Zoe’s high priestess would be too weird even for me.  What is that noise?”

            Beltain asked the last because there was a shrill sound in the air that was growing louder by the second.  It sounded at first like the screech of the bokarus, but this was much, much bigger.  People covered their ears, and still the sound grew until no one could think straight.

###

Avalon 2.7:  Mindless … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: The Way of the Migrants

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            Precautions are good, but to be sure, as wary as the gnomes are of these strange horse riding travelers, so the travelers are of the many tribal campsites scattered across the grassland.  They want to find the Kairos, but are careful to enter that mass of humanity armed, just in case.

###

            The first camp the travelers came to had an old man waiting for them.  They had been seen, though they did nothing to hide.  As they marched down the hill, they took a good look around at what they could see of the camp and were surprised and not surprised.  The camp was full of people in many family groups to be sure, but also full of animals.  There were oxen with the wagons which looked full of grain, sheep and plenty of goats running around in small groups, birds in wooden cages that might one day be called pigeons and chickens and a few strange looking cows in the midst of the domesticated donkeys.  There were also children everywhere which were also running around in small groups.  It looked like sheer chaos, but the travelers imagined there was some sense to it.

            “I can see the way they came,” Katie said and pointed to the distance before they got too far down the hill.  There was a wide swath of the grassland that had been crushed and torn and eaten by the animals all along the way.

            “Hamites,” Lincoln pointed in another direction to where a different camp appeared to be filled with black Africans.

            Katie whipped her head around to look and Lockhart could not resist a comment.  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

            “My doctorate was in ancient cultures and technologies.  Walking into one of these early, massive migrations is a bit like walking into a candy shop.”

            “Just don’t let it distract you,” Boston said.  She had on her determined face.

            “Ah, the other Doctor heard from,” Lincoln mumbled.

            Boston let her frown come to her face.  “My doctorate in engineering, specifically electrical engineering is not going to be much help here.  When we get back, I might want a better look at Elder Stow’s screen maker, but for now I am focusing on my redneck.”

            “Massachusetts redneck.”  Lockhart pointed out.

            “Hey, we have rednecks in Massachusetts too, and rodeos.”

            “You know the last words of the redneck just before he committed accidental suicide?”  Lockhart asked.

            “What?”  Boston looked at the man, her frown still showed.

            “Hey!  Watch this!”

            Katie and Lincoln found it funny, but then they arrived where the old man was waiting, leaning heavily on his staff.  Several younger men also began to gather from the other side, and they carried spears and at least one had a copper knife.

            “Arameans?”  Lockhart said the word like a question.

            The old man turned his head so they could not see his face, but the young men behind saw.  He turned back and began to point toward various other camps as he spoke.  “Jakonites, Amorites, Sabateans,”  He was listing the nearby camps like he was thinking about it and maybe not sure where the Arameans were, or even if they existed.

            “Beltain.”  Katie cut him off.

            The old man looked at her before he lowered his eyes and waved his hand behind him.  The young men that gathered began to go back to whatever they had been doing, and the old man lifted his eyes and pointed near and then pointed further as if to suggest the Aramean camp was two camps away. 

            “Beltain sleeps in the distance and watches over us all.”  The old man said and turned and walked away.  The travelers walked around the outskirts of the camp to avoid any incidents.  They skirted the next camp over as well, though there were plenty of armed young men who watched them.  When they arrived at what they hoped was Beltain’s people, they stepped just inside the camp perimeter where Lockhart made them stop and wait.

            A young man as big as Lockhart came rushing up, with several other young men who hustled up behind.  Older men, women and children also appeared to stop what they were doing to watch.

            “Beltain?”  Lockhart tried again.

            “You have not been called to see her,” the young man growled.  The threat in his voice was clear.  “This is not your place.  Go back to your own kind.”

            “We need to see Beltain,” Lockhart was not put off.  “We are old friends and only wish to say hello.”

            “No one calls the lady.  She calls you as she pleases.”

            An older man stepped up next to the big man and spoke.  “The game is not plentiful in this area, but you will get your fair share with the rest.”

            “Now, go.”  The big man spoke again.  “Or I will be forced to make you go.”

            “Boston.”  Katie moved quickly.  She handed Boston her rifle and tied down the pistol at her side.  She stepped forward, but Lockhart grabbed her arm to stop her.  Katie spoke in English so the locals would not understand.  “Look, if he beats me it is no shame since he only beat a woman.  But if I beat him, we may get to see Beltain without anyone getting killed.”

            “I can live with that,” Boston said and stepped in front of Lockhart so he could not interfere.

            “Besides,” Katie finished her thought as she extracted her arm.  “Being one of the elect has to count for something.”  She turned to the big man who was watching the exchange with a dumb expression worthy of an ogre.  Katie returned to speaking the local tongue.  “So make me leave,” she said.  “If you can, we will all leave in peace.  If you cannot, you will take us to Beltain.”  She put her hands to her hips and waited. 

            The man thought for a moment before he jumped, his fist hooked through the air in what he imagined was a sucker punch.  Katie easily leaned back, caught the man’s arm and shoved, and added only her left foot to the man’s rump at the last.  The man flew several feet and landed on his face.  The young men started to shout, but it was like teenagers shouting “Fight!  Fight!”  They made no move to interfere.

            The big man got up, roared and rushed at Katie with both hands outstretched.  Katie started to roll to her back. The big man’s arms went over her head as she grabbed the man’s tunic.  She threw her foot into the man’s crotch, and when she reached her back she threw the man over her head.  Again, he flew several feet,, but this time he landed with a thump and a cloud of dust on his back.  He did not get up as quickly this time.

            When he did, he saw Katie standing again, unfazed, with her hands again on her hips, waiting.  The man was wary.  He moved just out of reach to her side so she had to turn to continue to face him.  When the man made nearly a complete circle, he stepped in and jabbed with his left hand while his right came from below in an uppercut.

            Katie avoided the jab and caught the man’s uppercut in her hand.  That completely stopped the man in mid punch, and since he was not pulling his punches, he had to have strained his muscles badly.  But clearly she was the stronger, and as she squeezed the man’s hand he moaned and went to his knees.  She easily punched him on the jaw with her free hand as she let go of his hand and he fell to the dirt too dizzy to get up again. 

            That was when a fat, middle-aged woman came barreling in, yelling at everyone to get back.   The people all complied and the travelers wondered if this could be Beltain.  That illusion was dispelled when the woman went to her knees in front of Katie.

            “Elect,” the woman said.

            Katie hesitated and put her hand out to the woman as if sensing something.  “Sybil,” she said at last.  “Please stand up.  I am no Amazon Queen.”

            “But you are,” the Sybil insisted.  “Though you have no tribe except the child of magic, you are.  Zoe herself has spoken.”  The woman drew in her breath.  “You have seen Zoe.  You have been with her.”  The woman began to cry, but the travelers knew they were tears of surprise, amazement and joy at the sight of Katie and Zoe together.

            “But why were you so late in coming?”  Boston stepped up.

            “It is the terrible power that is coming to fall upon us all.  It has been that I can hardly see anything else.”

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Avalon 2.7:  Mind Your Matters … Next Time

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Avalon 2.5: Things of Power

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Only a guess, mind you, but I believe the bokarus is not finished finding new and inventive ways to try and kill the travelers; and if the natives and native village gets crushed in the process I imagine the green man would think all the better.

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            The hillside just outside the camp was clear of trees and covered only in the tall grasses of late summer.  The camp itself was nestled among the trees and the edge of the forest proper.  At the moment, more than a hundred buffalo were careening down that grassy hill in utter panic, a true stampede, and the only thing that stood between the buffalo and the camp was nothing.         

            “Lincoln!”  Lockhart shouted and pulled his thirty-eight.  The pistol might prove of little value, but it was better long range than the shotgun.  Lincoln stepped up beside Katie.  They had the high powered rifles, and Katie started the action. 

            “Go for between the eyes,” Katie said.  “Hit the ones out front.  The ones behind might stumble or turn aside.”  Three of the beasts fell in short order.

            “Easy for you,” Lincoln said as he began to fire.  Five more fell before the buffalo reached the bottom of the hill and the far edge of the camp.  Several were also standing or stumbling around like they were injured from tripping over the fallen ones, but the majority were not slowing significantly.

            “Rapid fire,” Katie said, and she and Lincoln turned a switch on their rifles.  They sprayed the front of the herd with bullets even as Lockhart chimed in with his police pistol.  Boston added her Beretta, though it was pretty useless against such big animals.  Roland retrieved Decker’s pistol from Decker’s old saddle bag and fired as well.

            Another half-dozen went down along with several tents before Elder Stow stepped up and let his sonic device whine.  “Within range,” he said.  The buffalo turned.  They did not exactly race back up the hill, but the high-pitched squeal finally turned them so they roared off at an angle to miss the rest of the camp.  Everyone breathed deeply.

            `While the travelers talked softly and patted each other for reassurance, Huyana reached up and closed Ogalalo’s mouth.  “You see?” she said.  “They could have wiped out your whole tribe before supper if they wanted to.”  She paused and kissed that mouth, and it was a poor-Ogalalo-will-never-recover kind of kiss.  When she was finished, Huyana kept talking like she was uninterrupted.  “Fortunately for you these are good people, like I said.  You should learn to ask.  Asking is good.  Demanding sometimes just makes people mad.”

            “Hey!”  Lockhart interrupted.  “You have fifteen or so animals ready to supply meat and warm skins for the winter.  You better get your people on them before they start to rot.”

            Ogalalo broke free of the trance he was under.  He might have been excused.  He was holding his beloved, and with that in mind, he quickly kissed Huyana again on the lips and then stepped away to begin shouting at all of the men in the camp and most of the women and children as well.

            Huyana raised her eyebrows and touched her lips like this was the first time Ogalalo kissed her.  She looked at Aster who came up and also kissed her, but on the cheek.  “Are you going to introduce us to your friends?”

            “Oh, yeah.”  Huyana was being neglectful in her duties.  She clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention and then she said everyone’s names, beginning with herself and pointing to each one along the way.  “Huyana, Aster, Roland, Boston, Katie, Lockhart, Lincoln, Elder Stow, Tooter, Dingle, Blocker, Digger, Piebald, Picky and Gome, and I’m Huyana.”  Gome was the smallest of the lot, but he had a hard look on his face like he was not going to take any guff from anyone, least of all a bunch of human beings, big as they might be.  Boston imagined with that look he might stare down an ogre.

            “Mostly she calls him Gomer,” Tooter said, “Like Gomer Pyle,” and he snickered.

            “Yeah?” Gome spoke up.  “Well at least it is safe to be in the same room with me.”

            “And what is it you do?” Katie changed the subject.  There had already been a couple of fistfights since the arrival of the dwarfs and she thought a change in the conversation was in order.  Anyway, she was enchanted by the little ones as always.  Lockhart was more the opposite.  He kept one step behind Katie and stared over her shoulder.

            “We’re prospectors,” Digger said.

            “We were prospectors,” Picky corrected the dwarf.

            “What?”  Lincoln stepped up.  “Like there’s gold in them thar hills?”

            “What? Where?  Which hills?”  the Dwarfs got excited.

            “Just an expression.  Not real.  I was kidding.” Lincoln said quickly.

            “No surprise.”  Piebald moped.  “All we find around here is black gooey stuff in the ground.”

            “Oil?”  Lincoln wondered.

            “That’s the stuff,” Piebald said.

            “And granite.  Lots of granite,” Picky added.

            “Hey lady.”  Dingle came up to Boston.  “Want to buy a diamond.”  He pulled a crystal the size of Boston’s fist out of an unseen pocket and held it up to her so she could see the dazzle in the late afternoon sun.

            “No money,” Boston admitted with a shrug.

            “What’s money?”  Tooter asked.

            “Never heard of money,” Picky admitted. 

            “You got trade.”  Dingle was not going to stray from his mark.

            “I don’t think so,” Roland interrupted the bargain as he stepped up and slipped his arm over Boston’s shoulder.

            “Ooo, uppity elfity –“

            “Ahem!” Aster cleared her throat and the dwarf swallowed his words and moved on to Katie.

            “How about you, Lady?”

            “That is not a diamond.  That is quartz,” Katie said and turned her head to Lockhart.  “I took basic geology in college.”

            “Quartz?  I got snookered?”  Dingle put on a good show.  “Still, very sparkly, mind you, and mighty fine to look at.  Make a fine necklace.”

            “She’s one of the elect.”  Blocker tapped Dingle on the shoulder.  “Dangerous trade if you ask me, especially if she feels taken.”

            “Sorry mam,” Dingle tipped his hat wanting no part of crossing Katie.  He went right back to Boston like he had never talked to her before.

            “Mind you, very sparkly.  Make a fine bracelet.  Maybe a wedding crown?”  He smiled way too much.

            “She’s a witch,” Blocker said.

            “Oh, never mind.” Dingle slipped the quartz back in his pocket and quickly faded into the group as Ogalalo ran up.

            “You must stay the night,” he told the travelers who looked around at the camp outside of what was happening in their little circle.  It would be dark soon enough.  Staying was not a bad idea.  “All of you.  Stay.  We will have a real feast.”  Ogalalo looked very happy, and Lockhart and Katie both imagined it was as close as they were going to get to an apology.  “If those Onakatta thought that stampede would hurt us, how wrong they were.”  Ogalalo thought the turn of those tables was delicious.  Lockhart hated to pour vinegar on the man’s treat.

            “I doubt it was the Onakatta.  Probably the bokarus started the stampede.”

            Ogalalo lost his smile and looked again to the sky and all around.  He had forgotten.  He spoke again, but this time with far less conviction.  “You stay anyway.  We feast.”  He ran back to the kill.

            People looked at Lockhart.  “Unpack.”  That was all he had to say and they went for their tents.

            “Aster,” Huyana said and Aster stepped up to walk beside her.  Huyana was going down to the kill site herself.  She wanted another taste of those lips.

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Avalon 2.5:  Getting Out Alive … Next Time

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