Avalon 1.10 Kidnapped part 5 of 5

October 28, 2025October 4, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The boat floundered a little in the water. Bruten sat in the back, but he seemed loathe to set down the amulet in order to paddle. He felt a little afraid to put the amulet around his neck, but in the end, he did that in order to keep himself from drifting into the shore.

As soon as the boat stabilized, Faya came down in slow circles while her friends continued to circle above. She landed on the bow, out of reach of the paddle. Bruten stared at the owl and for some reason he did not dare do anything. When Faya changed back into a woman, Bruten shouted his fear and surprise.

“The red hair. I thought. But you cannot.” He dropped the paddle and fell to his face. “Please, mercy.”

Faya spoke without emotion. “These Neolithic days are brutal, and you have certainly shown your worst. Now it will end.”

“Please do not kill me.” Bruten’s voice shook from his fear.

Faya simply stretched out her hand and the amulet vacated Bruten’s neck and flew to her. For some reason, and it may have been an unconscious reaction, Bruten made a grab for the amulet in mid-air. It moved too quick for him, but Faya lost all sense of mercy with that.

Bruten snatched his hand back with equal speed and begged again. “I am sorry. Please let me live.” Faya heard no sincerity in the man’s apology. And she spoke.

“You were driven out of your own village for raping and killing a young woman. You did the same in the village where you traded, and while you tried to cover your tracks, you were found out and had to flee for your lives. Now you have tried the same with my friend. It is clear to me if you did not learn after the first or second time, you will not learn after the third. You are a danger to yourself and others and in this age, there is only one remedy.”

Bruten did not exactly listen. He muttered, “Please, please, please and mercy.”

Faya raised her voice to unearthly proportions. “Bokarus!” The word echoed off the water, sounded through the forests, spread across the plains, and bounced off the mountains, and the bokarus responded. It came in ghost fashion and stared at Faya who called it to come. “I have need of the boat,” Faya spoke in a normal voice. “You may have the man to satisfy your hunger and thirst but then leave my friends alone and stop following them.”

The bokarus circled the boat twice and twice flew up to Faya’s face, as if considering the proposition. It said nothing, but Bruten found himself standing and shoved over into the water. He had no time to scream before his mouth filled with water.

Faya called to her friends who came down to listen. “Bears,” she said, and the birds became bears and plopped into the water. She handed the rope to the lead bear with a word. You must bring this upriver to the place where I will be waiting. With that, she resumed her owl form and grasped the amulet in her claw. She took off into the wind and arrived back with Raini and Roland about the same time Boston showed up.

Faya landed when the unicorn stopped and kept its distance, pawing at the ground. Boston kissed the beast behind the ear and slipped off. She did not appear strong enough yet to stand, but she was awake enough to motion that she would be all right.

Faya resumed her female form and smiled for the unicorn, though she knew better than to approach the beast. It would have nothing to do with her or Raini, being mothers as they were. The unicorn did dip one leg as it had back in the days of Keng when it bowed to the goddess, Nagi. But then it turned and raced off into the distance and disappeared in the dark.

Roland ran forward, picked Boston’s head off the ground, and held her gently. She looked up at him and smiled since it did not hurt too much to do that. He looked ready to cry, but she really felt much better. She felt fairly sure her ribs were healed, and she no longer had that concussion. She imagined her nose might be fixed as well, though it felt like she still had the black eyes and plenty of bruises. Most important, she no longer bled everywhere, even if the wounds were not completely healed.

“I knew you would come,” Boston said through her smile. Roland said nothing so she nudged him from behind and he bent closer until their lips met. Faya and Raini just watched, and Raini smiled like Boston.

“There, that’s better,” Raini said.

“Poor Mingus,” Faya responded. “And you leave my children alone.”

Raini looked ready to protest but changed her mind. “And mine,” she said. “There is nothing a child hates worse than having her mother fix her up with someone.”

“Don’t I know it,” Faya said, and the two women hugged again like sisters and waited for the boat to arrive. They would need it to get Boston across the river. Faya had imagined she might carry the girl across in bear form, but she had no way of gauging how badly Boston might still be hurt, and she could not surround the girl with healing power as she carried her the way the unicorn did.

~~~*~~~

Roland and the Were made a stretcher for Boston and all of them took turns carrying it back up to the mountain village. When they arrived, Faya found her husband, a big man, telling dirty jokes to Koren, Lockhart, Mingus, Lincoln and Captain Decker—and they were all laughing, and drinking beer. Alexis and Katie Harper escaped to the children with whom they appeared to be getting along well.

They were by the upper wall, the one that divided the village from the plateau, as much to keep the villagers from infringing on the highlands, as a barrier to the wolves and others. It was the place where the villagers and the Were sometimes met to discuss matters of mutual concern. There were two campfires lit that night, and two guards to watch during the wolf moon.

“Boston!” Alexis, the first to notice, jumped up to help her friend. She guided the stretcher to a place between the two fires where Boston could stay warm in the chill spring night, and so she could have plenty of light to examine her.

“Alexis.” Faya spoke sternly after she thanked her friends and allowed them to run back up to the plateau. “You will only check her internal organs and for broken bones or a concussion. Her cuts and bruises must heal on their own, in the old-fashioned way.”

“Yes, Lady,” Alexis said, humbly. Faya’s voice sounded so commanding. Alexis hardly knew what else to say. The Kairos spoke, and Alexis had been an elf far longer than she had been a mortal woman. Also, though not an actual goddess, this was a demi-goddess and more than worthy of respect for her father’s sake. With that, she got to work, and Faya turned to Raini.

“If I let her, she will drain herself to exhaustion trying to heal every nook and cranny by her art.”

“I see that,” Raini said. “She is very full of love, though sometimes it interferes with her good sense.”

“Very true,” Lincoln nodded to the women and went to kneel beside his wife.

Raini watched them and sighed.

Faya turned toward her husband; a stern look on her face.

“Don’t worry, dear. Nurse and Bain are both with the children. I expect by the time we get home they will just about stop laughing. You know good old Bain.” He grinned for her, a real pleading bit of a grin.

Faya slowly let the smile cross her lips. “Don’t stay out late,” she said. “Children.” She clapped. “Back to the heights and then back to the hunt.”

The boys jumped up. “Yea!” The girls were a bit less enthusiastic. They were enjoying the adult conversation with Alexis and Katie, especially the fifteen-year-old. But when Faya returned to red owl form, they followed suit and soon all disappeared in the sky.

“Well,” Faya’s husband spoke softly. “She is a keeper, for sure. I knew that when I first saw her.”

“How many children have you got, if you don’t mind my asking,” Lockhart got curious.

“Eight, working on nine.”

“Oh, you poor man,” Mingus commiserated and Captain Decker agreed with him.

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

Tomorrow

Avalon 7 reveal. Don’t miss it.

Avalon 1.9 The Elders part 3 of 4

October 15, 2025August 31, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Odelion found Decker sitting in the chief’s chair by the council rock. Of course, Captain Decker would have no way of knowing it was supposed to be a sacred seat, like a throne of sorts. Odelion did not mind. He just took Balamine’s seat.

“Are you all right?” he asked. Captain Decker spoke but he did not look at Odelion.

“Why did you bring me on this mission? I nearly killed everyone.”

“A-ha! So you admit that lady Alice and Glen and I are all the same person.”

“It would be kind of hard not to admit that at this point.”

Odelion waited before he spoke in case the captain had something more to say. “You are here because of your military background. You are a marine, you have been with the seals, done specialized missions in the field and have the training in both strategy and tactics that may be needed to get everyone home safe and in one piece.”

“But that is why I almost killed everyone. And I could have.”

“But you didn’t, and now that glamour will be much harder for another ghoul to get away with. You are experienced, and with such experience comes a natural resistance.”

“Small comfort.”

Odelion stood, but he had one more thing to say. “Take as much time as you need, only remember your crew needs you, too.”

Captain Decker nodded before he asked his question. “So why are you up?”

Odelion smiled a very broad smile. “I have four wives. You don’t think I get any real sleep, do you?”

Captain Decker nodded but said no more as Odelion walked off.

Roland came back to the hut at the same time. “Ghoul scouts come in threes when they are searching for something,” he said. “And seven in the force to follow.”

“That is two,” Mingus counted. “Anenki’s and Odelion’s.” No one had to say there was another one out there, somewhere, and seven to follow after that.

~~~*~~~

In the morning, Odelion took them straight to the docks. “This is modeled after the ships of the Aristopholas in the south. They regularly make trips to trade in North Africa, so it should be seaworthy for as far as you are going.”

“Look out for the Gott-Druk in the orange jumpsuit,” Lockhart reminded Odelion. “He looked to have a sophistication of devices that your present-day Gott-Druk do not possess. He and his crew called your Gott-Druk weapons primitive.”

“You really think he does not belong here?”

Lockhart looked around before he nodded. “We all think it, and he may yet tip the balance of the coming conflict.”

Odelion nodded. “I will watch. My wild men are out even now on the edge of the village, watching. That was how we knew of the attack in advance.”

“Technology is good,” Captain Decker said, with a look at Lieutenant Harper. “But there is no substitute for a good pair of eyes.”

Odelion just nodded again and he and his wives said good-bye. “I have asked that Oceanus watch over you in your journey,” Odelion added at the last, and he waved while the travelers shoved off. No one saw a small fishing boat with a good sail pull up its own anchor and drift into the wake of the bigger ship. No one noticed, so no one saw that the boat appeared to be empty.

~~~*~~~

The land began to fall away behind the travelers, slowly. They had to row against the wind. The ship, as the marines called it, was just big enough for the eight of them. The rowers sat on two benches, side by side. Lockhart and Captain Decker sat toward the bow, Roland and Lincoln toward the stern. They each had an oar and had very little room between them as they tried to row in unison.

Alexis and Mingus sat on the two benches in the bow where they stowed some of their packs. They had a fairy weave tent and spare oar between them and they were trying to rework the plain flat sail into a sufficient fore and aft style where they could tack in the contrary wind.

Boston and Katie were in the stern on the simple oar that acted as a rudder. They had pulled it up to let the rowers work, so there really was little for them to do other than watch where they were going and watch where they had been. The craft did seem big enough, so they did not worry about standing up, but Captain Decker also pointed out that they only had a short, built-in keel, so there was a chance of tipping over if they were not careful.

Boston kept her eyes on the amulet and kept them generally headed in the right direction. She ignored Lincoln when he complained he could not possibly row twenty miles. Katie watched the land recede and the waves roll. After a while, she thought she saw something different. She reached down to her pack, which got stored in the stern, and retrieved her binoculars. After a look, she handed the glasses to Boston.

“What is that? There,” she asked.

“Another ship,” Boston confirmed. She looked without the glasses and then tried the binoculars again. “It is beyond twenty-twenty sight, but with these…” She paused before she finished her thought. “I would say it is following us.”

“Yes,” Katie confirmed when she got the binoculars back. “Only I can’t see anyone in it.”

“Oars up,” Alexis spoke from up in the front. Whatever she and her father had concocted was ready for a trial. Some of the concoction had been magical. Boston and Katie both expected that. Most of it, though, looked like simple technology. They managed to adjust the square sail rigging to give more side-to-side action so it could be used for more than just downwind sailing. Then with the oar and fairy weave, they made a jib which they erected in the bow.

“Not very strong,” Mingus admitted. “We might not go much faster than the oars, but that is just as well. We don’t want to roll.”

“I have grown the keel a little,” Alexis added. “But there are limits.”

The oars came up and if anything, the ship slowed down, but it continued its forward progress, and the men were glad to think they did not have to row the whole way.

“Roland.” Boston called the elf, having thought of his hunter’s eyes. “Come look at this.” They reached for each other and held one another at the elbows to carefully traded places.

As soon as Roland got to the rear he announced, “Another boat, following us.” Boston concluded that the elf eyes were better than twenty-twenty. She had guessed as much. When Roland took the binoculars for a closer look, he said something they did not want to hear. “Gott-Druk at the helm. One in orange.” He returned the binoculars. “Cloaked. Invisible to human eyes, but not so sophisticated as to prevent my seeing.”

The click they heard came from Captain Decker, attaching the scope to his rifle.

“Hold,” Lockhart said. “He is staying beyond normal human sight. He probably doesn’t imagine he has been seen. We are too vulnerable at sea. As long as he keeps his distance, we can ignore him.”

“I am sniper trained,” Decker said.

“But he is invisible to your eyes,” Roland reiterated.

“Besides, return fire given the weaponry that is probably at his disposal would blow the ship out from beneath us.”

“At least,” Katie agreed.

“We just ignore him?” Lincoln asked.

“For now.” Lockhart nodded. “If he follows us through the time gate, we can probably set a better trap further on.”

“Agreed.” Captain Decker unattached his scope.

Then they sat until the silence became complete.

They sat for a long time with nothing to look at but the sea and each other.

“Hats,” Alexis insisted early on. “We are getting much too much sun.”

They sat and listened to the water splash against the sides of the boat.

“I wish I brought a deck of cards,” Lockhart said.

The Mediterranean smelled especially strong of salt and brine.

Boston fingered her khaki shorts made from that marvelous fairy weave. She began to change the color, tried stripes, dots and flower prints before she changed them back to khaki. That entertained everyone for a few minutes.

The sea looked as endless as the time.

“This database is interesting,” Lincoln said. “Did you know there are whole novels downloaded?” Several hands shot out and slapped Lincoln hard enough to almost make him drop the handheld.

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

THURSDAY

The episode will conclude tomorrow. They are being followed by an invisible man. Good luck with that…

Avalon 1.7 Peace and Prosperity part 3 of 3

October 1, 2025August 30, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Dayni led them all down the grasslands path for a short way before she turned on to a side path and reentered the jungle. The jungle did not seem as thick in that place and the path looked good as well, worn down by years of sheep. The clearing where the house sat looked barely inside the trees, like a border house between two lands. That turned out to be what it was. Dayni was of the jungle people. Vanu was born in the village on the grasslands, and their marriage brought those two tribes into peaceful relations, but neither Dayni nor Vanu wanted to live with his or her people.

“Just as well,” Dayni said, as she closed the gate to the pen where they kept the sheep in the night. She shook her head sadly at the mention of Vanu’s people and turned her nose up at her own.

“Lockhart!” The word came before they saw the young man. Dayni ran to him for a big hug and kiss. Gana ran a little slower, but he wanted to be picked up, and Vanu did just that, as he carried the boy to the door of his house.

“A front porch on a log house,” Katie Harper noted. “Aren’t you playing a little with history here?”

“A little,” Vanu admitted sheepishly. He, above all, was not supposed to do that. “But wait until you taste my barbeque sauce.”

“I could go for some of that,” Captain Decker admitted.

Vanu nodded. “No tomatoes, of course, but a pretty good recipe. I’ll invent it about a hundred years from now.”

“That’s my Kairos.” Lockhart smiled.

It became well after dark by the time they were all fed and ready to call it a night. Some lounged on the porch. Some sat down below on the grass. Gana sat in his mother’s lap and struggled to keep his eyes open. The stars came out by then, bright in the sky. The moon also came up, full. “It is the third and last night of the full moon,” Vanu said.

“What do you mean the last night?” Boston asked.

“I mean the last night with the moon full enough. You see, every time the moon goes full it is not just a one-night deal. There are three nights where there is enough power to make the wolf.”

“Werewolf?” Lincoln asked.

“No,” Mingus objected. “It is way too early in history for a Werewolf. The Were people are still present and haven’t mated with humans enough to pass on the genetic anomaly. And there is no record of the virus this far back.”

Vanu shook his head. “It is the only explanation. Ashtoreth must have thrown the poor man back this far to see if it was possible.”

“Were people?” Katie Harper had a different question.

Lincoln got out the database, but Mingus answered first. “Shape shifters. They were among the many people the gods brought from other worlds to fill the dead spaces. You humans were all bunched up around Ararat and the Plains of Shinar if you recall.”

“But the amulet is gone. Varuna protect us,” Dayni spoke, and looked up into the night sky.

“Ah, the amulet,” Alexis said. The topic had not come up. Vanu took Alexis’ words like a question.

“The amulet of peace and prosperity. My bloodstone ruby fashioned by the dwarfs in the mountains and endowed with the powers of peace and prosperity. It seemed to hold the beast at bay on the first two nights.”

“But you lost one sheep,” Roland said.

Vanu nodded but raised an eyebrow. “Dayni was bringing the flock home just after dark. The wolf caught the straggler. I am just happy it did not catch Dayni.” He reached for her hand, and she squeezed his.

“Let us hope the wolf is far away tonight,” Dayni said. It was not. As they were thinking and preparing to end the night, they heard it close. Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper armed themselves. Lockhart got out his shotgun. It appeared on the other side of the clearing, drooling and snarling, and looking like it was trying to decide which human to kill first.

Decker and Harper both tried to fire at the werewolf, but the guns just went click, click. The same nothing happened with Lockhart’s shotgun. Roland had an arrow, but Vanu stopped the elf.

“It won’t do you any good unless you have a silver tip.” The wolf moved slowly and paced back and forth, looking for the best way to approach this killing spree. As it moved, the answer to why their guns did not work became apparent. The wolf was wearing the amulet.

“Oh that poor man,” Alexis breathed, thinking that surely the wolf killed the man. No one else got fooled. Clearly the wolf was the mad man in wolf form.

“Wait,” Vanu said. “I may be able to do something here.” He held his hand out and called to his stone. “The necklace was made, and the stone cut and fashioned by my little ones. I may have some power over it. He concentrated, and the amulet moved. It did not fly off the wolf and return to Vanu like Thor’s hammer might fly back to the hand of its owner, but it did wiggle. Then it began to glow. The glow in the stone increased, and it warmed.

“It is picking up the moonlight and amplifying it, like a laser,” Boston said.

At first, the wolf paused and appeared to enjoy basking in that glow, but the heat kept increasing, and after only a few moments, the wolf began to howl. It stood up on its hind legs, not exactly like a dog, and not like a man. Clearly, it could stand and be stable, and it could use its front paws like hands. The heat still increased, and they began to catch the smell of burning hair and flesh. The wolf began to scream, like no real wolf ever screamed, and it pushed the chain away as it wriggled its long snout through the necklace.

The amulet fell to the ground. The wolf eyed them warily before it spun around, fell to all fours, and darted back into the jungle. It left only a trail of the smell of burning flesh and hair for anyone to follow—not that anyone was so foolish. Vanu relaxed. He almost collapsed, but Alexis and Boston caught him. Lockhart, Lincoln, and Captain Decker all moved to retrieve the amulet, but there came a distant explosion that caused them to pause and shut their eyes.

The sudden flash of light left them seeing spots. Before anyone could clear their vision, two young men came crashing through the underbrush. They dove into the clearing, screaming. “Help! Save us!” A tiger came, chasing them. Curiously, the tiger stopped at the edge of the clearing and started to lick its paw, while the two young men crawled over to hide behind Vanu and Dayni.

“Dayus ordered me to eat them, you know.” The tiger spoke without moving its lips. Everyone heard clearly, and no one doubted it was the tiger speaking.

“You are welcome to have them,” Vanu said. People paused to look at him and wonder before all eyes returned to the tiger.

“Can’t. The amulet,” the tiger said. “Anyway, I told you once. I don’t like human meat. Too stringy and distasteful.” The tiger made a face. Everyone saw the disgust just before the tiger vanished.

“Look! There it is!” One of the young men shouted, and both made a dash for it as Lockhart, Decker, and Lincoln all jumped. None got it, because a man in ragged clothes stooped down and picked it off the ground. The ragged man eyed the amulet with some concern on his face while Dayni and Vanu went to their knees. The others joined them; the two young men last of all. They made up for their tardiness in reacting by falling all the way to their faces.

“You know, you should really keep a better watch on this,” the ragged man said, as he tossed the amulet back to Vanu. Vanu immediately handed it to Dayni who slipped it around her neck. Then another man showed up.

“What have you done?” he yelled at the raggedy man.

“I returned the amulet to its rightful owners,” the ragged man said, calmly. “Should I have not done that?” He sounded innocent enough.

The new arrival got hot. In fact, they all felt the heat. He turned on the crowd and shouted again. “What are these still doing here?” He pointed at the two on their faces.

“Ah,” the ragged man spoke like this was a question he could answer. “I believe the tiger said he could not eat them because of the amulet.” Alexis at least thought she saw steam rise from the other man.

“And who the hell are all these people?”

“Travelers,” the ragged man said. “They will be gone in the morning and out of our land before two days have passed.”

The other man paused while he looked around at the travelers. None of the travelers lifted their eyes. Then the man spoke to Lockhart, and Lockhart knew it even without looking. “Take these two with you,” the man said, and again Lockhart knew the man meant Vanu and Dayni even if it did not get spelled out. The man left in a flash of light so bright it rivaled the sun. In fact, it was the sun, the sun god, but fortunately, the ragged man did something to prevent everyone from being burnt and blinded.

“You two.” the ragged man spoke while people once again lifted their heads, except the two on their faces who began to tremble. “If you dare to touch that amulet again, I will be very angry. Just so you understand, I am not like Dayus. I do not have to follow the rules in order to maintain my position. I have ten thousand eyes in the night sky. I am always watching. If you so much as touch it, you will regret it.”

“Lord Varuna.” Vanu lowered his head in a bow. He wanted to be sure the two young men knew who was speaking to them.

“For the rest of you,” Varuna spoke in a different, light and airy voice, and he smiled. “Get your rest. The wolf will not bother you again tonight. But understand, none of us are authorized to end its life. You travelers were kind to it after a fashion. You healed it and fed it, and it now has your scent. It will no doubt follow you through your next time portal and beyond. At some point, I do not doubt you will have to deal with the man wolf. May the gods in that place be able to do more than I am allowed.” He vanished, and they were alone apart from the two, now humbled young men who joined them.

“You see. It is a man wolf like I said.” Mingus looked satisfied.

“A rose by any other name,” Alexis said.

“Not a help,” Lincoln countered. “Ghouls ahead of us, a werewolf following us.”

“Don’t forget the Bokarus,” Boston reminded everyone.

“I kind of hoped we lost that one and saw the last of it some time back,” Lincoln said.

“Don’t count on it,” Lockhart spoke quietly as he stood and brushed himself off to ready himself for bed.

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

MONDAY

The First City is another 4-part episode so there will be a post again on Thursday. Anenki and Bashte entertain the travelers but they keep getting interrupted by the bokarus, the ghouls, and worst of all, Anenki’s ex-wife. MONDAY. Happy Reading.

Avalon 1.7 Peace and Prosperity part 1 of 3

September 29, 2025August 30, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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

Recording …

Boston sat by the fire and alternately stared at the amulet and Roland. She did not know what to say to the elf, but she felt she ought to say something. Lincoln inherited the database from Boston and found the place for taking notes.

“Beats my notebook,” he remarked casually. Alexis simply nodded as the howl came again. Her eyes got drawn to the sky while her ears tried to judge the direction and distance.

“Full moon,” Katie noted.

“Don’t start,” Lincoln looked up from his notes. Lockhart laughed, but Mingus waved off the laughter.

“There may be something to that,” he said. “But I would think we are too early for a man wolf.”

“Werewolf, father.” Roland and Alexis both corrected the elder elf.

“Man wolf. Were wolf. Anyway, it is too early in history. The Were people still have a strong presence in several places around the globe. The disease and genetic component responsible for that rarest of troubles won’t connect for a thousand years, maybe two or three thousand.”

The howl came again. It sounded closer, but not by much.

“Well, I do not think there are regular wolves in this part of the world,” Lincoln said.

“Ah!” Mingus raised a knowing finger. “But again, this far in the past may prove different. We might find elephants stretching all the way from Africa to India in unbroken herds, even across the plains of Saudi Arabia, before the land there turns to dust and the elephant herds separate, India to Africa.”

“I recommend we watch in the night,” Captain Decker interrupted.

“Father, you are very talkative tonight.” Alexis shifted her seat to sit beside the elf while Lockhart considered the captain’s suggestion.

“Just thinking of my old friend, Procter. I am sorry you did not get to know him the way he really was. He should have been babbling and rambling and sharing all this sort of information all along. He could be very annoying, but he was a likeable fellow. He was likeable.”

Alexis leaned in and kissed her father on the cheek while Lockhart stood. “Team watch,” he said. He knew everyone felt exhausted from lack of sleep over the past couple of days, but he did not spend all those early years on the police force for nothing. His instincts were acting up. Something did not feel right. Team watch put Lincoln and Alexis up first. Mingus and Lockhart got the dark of the night. Captain Decker and Roland watched through the wee hours and Katie and Boston got the dawn shift. A single watch of an hour or two each through the night would have let everyone get more rest, but something tweaked Lockhart’s nerves. Lockhart glanced at Katie, and she nodded as if to say it did not feel right to her, too.

The howl came a third time, but this time it sounded further away.

The morning arrived without incident, but Lockhart’s feelings would not go away easily. Someone had to be engaged in something criminal and dangerous, and not too far away. Katie handed him a cup of herbal coffee to help. He said thanks, but honestly, the coffee was something he still had to get used to.

The travelers did not go far that morning before they came to a jungle. They had to spread out a bit, as each tried to find the path of least resistance through the thick undergrowth.

“Don’t move out of sight and sound,” Lockhart ordered.

“And watch out for snakes,” Lincoln added. He imagined the place was full of monster pythons and cobras.

An hour in, and the elves stopped still.

“Leopard?” Mingus suggested. Their good ears picked up something the others did not hear.

Roland shook his head. “Tiger, I believe.” Most thought that was worse. Tigers sometimes became man-eaters.

Another hour and the jungle showed no signs of thinning, and thus far only had what Boston called rabbit trails through the brush. They looked promising for a few yards but quickly petered out.

The elves stopped again, and this time everyone else stopped with them, quieted, and wondered what they heard. Then Captain Decker heard and raised his rifle. Then the others heard and became deathly quiet.

“This is a good place.” They heard a man’s voice.

“This is the middle of nowhere.” A second man argued.

“So, no one will look here.”

“But how will we remember to look here?”

Roland moved in absolute silence. He leapt past Captain Decker and climbed the nearest tree in the blink of an eye. No one felt quite sure how he did that, except Boston who chalked it up to him being an elf and young and a hunter. Roland stood on a thick branch and spied on the men. He waved down to Decker, pointed to his eyes, and cupped his hand. Captain Decker tossed up his binoculars. Even the Captain knew that elf eyes were as superhuman as their ears, but clearly Roland wanted a closer look at something.

“It is only until tonight,” the first man said.

“Tonight? But there is the wolf about. Didn’t you see Vanu’s shredded sheep?”

“Ha! I’m more worried about Dayni. If she knew we had this, we would be the ones shredded.”

“But the wolf—”

“You worry too much. You know the day god cannot meet us while the sun is up. It has to be at night.”

“Hey, hey. Do you think he will do everything he said?”

“He is a god. How can you question that?”

“Yeah. I guess Vanu isn’t the only one with friends. But how are we going to find this exact place again?”

“Easy. We just come to the place where that goblin up the tree there is staring at us with boogly eyes.”

A moment of silence followed, before everyone heard two men scream like little girls and the thunder of crashing through the bushes. Roland tossed the binoculars down to the captain and zipped down the other side of the tree. “Over here,” he shouted. He wanted to find whatever it was the two fools dropped.

~~~*~~~

“It appears to be an amulet.”

“Let me see.” Mingus held out his hand, but Roland only held up the amulet. He caught Boston’s eye, but she looked at Alexis, so he handed it to his sister.

“You better hang on to this.”

Mingus followed with his eyes. “There is great power in that amulet,” Mingus announced. “Of course, I have never seen it, but that might be the amulet of peace and prosperity. Reportedly made by the same folk who made Thor’s Hammer and the armor and blades of the Kairos.”

“Peace and prosperity?” Lockhart asked. Mingus nodded, but Captain Decker scoffed. The captain started getting a handle on this Kairos business, but magic still seemed like so much nonsense to him.

“At least there is a clear path here through this jungle,” he said.

“Boston?” Lockhart asked without spelling it out.

“This is more or less the right direction.” Boston pointed. Without being asked, Roland and Decker trotted down the path and out of sight to scout.

“The amulet of peace and prosperity,” Lincoln read from the database. “Made from a stone found by the Kairos and blah, blah. Ah! The greater spirits of Peace and Prosperity willingly filled the stone with a reflection of their own being. Even the gods are restrained from causing disasters and hardship against the owners and their people.” Lincoln looked up at Alexis who gently fingered the stone that hung from her neck. “Sounds very powerful.”

“I can feel it,” Alexis admitted.

“It belongs to the Kairos?”

“Yes.” Lincoln looked again at the database. “In a thousand or so years, it will go north with the Kairos, Devya, and become the centerpiece of the city of Sanctuary that she will build on the silk road.”

“The sun god, Dayus.” Lieutenant Harper remembered and looked at Lockhart. Lockhart nodded and thought like a police officer.

“Dayus was the one who hated Dallah so much he created the Thar desert to get rid of her. Now Vanu is within his grasp again, but he is frustrated by the power of the amulet. So he gets two locals to steal the amulet for him so he can make a desert in the Kashmir to get rid of Vanu.”

“Dayni,” Boston remembered what she heard. “I bet the amulet belongs to him.”

“Her,” Lincoln corrected. “The Traveler’s wife.”

“I read that book,” Lockhart smiled as Roland and Decker reappeared with a man between them. The man looked ragged, cut, and bruised everywhere. He stood stark naked, and he also looked like he was not in his right mind.

Avalon 1.6 Freedom part 4 of 4

September 25, 2025August 30, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

By morning, all nerves were stretched to the limit and hardly helped when Xiang gathered them for her good-byes. “God willing as we move south the gate will catch up to you before the demons do. They are two days behind, but they move faster than we do. My people rested some when the rain came, but we have five days to go.” She shook her head. She all but confessed that they would be caught.

“We could slow them down a little,” Captain Decker suggested.

“No!” Xiang shouted. “That is the one thing you must not do. Killing them will just set the demons free to infest others, maybe you. They cannot possess you without your permission, but the lies and temptations can be very persuasive.”

“But if we can’t kill them…” Captain Decker did not know what to say. He had to think of options.

“A sleeping gas?” Lieutenant Harper suggested.

“Demons don’t sleep,” Xiang said. “That might just make them act like zombies. Come to think of it, killing them might not stop them either.”

“Great!” Lincoln frowned. “So what do we do?”

“Avoid them,” Lockhart said. “Go out of our way if necessary and wait until they pass.” Boston reached for Lockhart’s hand, and he gave it to her. Touch was something they all needed.

“Yes, avoid them,” Mingus agreed, and he put his hand on his son’s shoulder. Roland looked toward the rising sun. It looked pale and wan, though the sky hardly had a discernible cloud since the rain cleared off. Everyone had been hoping for a bright, sunny day. It would have lifted all their spirits, but it was not to be.

Unlike the day before, everyone talked while they walked. Something about hearing a voice, even their own voices, kept them from collapsing in dread of the demons. They spoke about memories and tried to relate the good times. They tried to laugh, but by lunch, even the best of times felt strangely ominous and became harder to recall while the wicked and sinful moments of life bombarded them with pain and regrets.

Mingus, Roland, and to a smaller extent Alexis felt the oncoming evil as a palpable fear. Mingus did collapse a couple of times, but Lincoln and Lockhart were right there to lift him and get him walking again. “It can’t be much further,” he kept saying. They kept walking. Lincoln did his best to let Alexis lean on him. Roland did his best to keep breathing and keep his feet moving.

Boston squeezed herself between Lockhart and Roland and held on to one or the other at times for the comfort of their touch. Roland smiled at first when she took his arm, but by afternoon, his expression turned to pity and sorrow. Lockhart’s expression remained stoic throughout, but after lunch, there came a moment when he reached out for her hand.

Katie Harper felt the sweat on her brow. She felt a chill in the air, like an early mountain spring, but the sweat could not be helped. She felt like she was burning, perhaps with a fever, or perhaps, she thought she was getting too close to the lake of fire that waited for the demons in the deepest pit of Hell. She checked and kept checking to be sure Captain Decker’s rifle had the safety on. He did not seem to mind. He did not seem to notice. His eyes simply darted back and forth between the trees and bushes, like he expected some terror to jump out at them any minute.

“It can’t be much further,” Mingus droned and shook his senses to keep to his feet.

“Shouldn’t we be looking to sidestep soon?” Boston asked. When Lockhart looked at her with incomprehension on his face, she explained. “To get off to the side and hide until they pass us by.” It took a minute for her words to penetrate.

“Doctor Procter?” Lockhart spoke to the man out front.

“This way,” the Doctor said in a voice that sounded too sprightly, like a man becoming excited. Lockhart had been watching the man since the beginning and especially since their visit with the Ophir. He came suddenly awake and sharp at the sound of that voice.

“This way,” he said, and turned the group ninety degrees to the Doctor’s prescription. Doctor Procter clearly wanted to object, but as the group turned aside, a thick fog rolled in, instantly, or as Alexis later surmised, it suddenly appeared in their midst. No one could see more than a foot ahead, and as they were all in the process of turning aside, some turned too far and some not far enough. It did not take many steps for them to separate.

“Hello?” “Where are you?” “Come toward my voice.” They all spoke, but the fog echoed the words and threw them back at the speaker, which made orientation and direction impossible. Instead of finding and getting closer to each other, they walked further apart. Only Lincoln and Alexis held on to each other, and Boston, whose sweaty hand was not about to let go of Lockhart. Then everyone stopped at once. They heard a voice. It sounded raspy, cold, and chilling in a way none of them had ever heard before or hoped to hear again. It sounded like the voice of death. It sounded like the voice of damnation.

“They are here.”

Boston pulled herself into Lockhart’s arms feeling sure they were going to die. She looked up into his eyes as he held her close, and the strangest thought crossed her mind. She did not want to die without knowing, so she kissed him, full and firm on the lips, and he kissed her back. When they separated, they looked each other in the eyes, momentarily oblivious to their impending doom. They shook their heads at the same time and the same word escaped their lips. “No,” and they almost smiled.

The fog began to lift, and Boston saw two things at once. She saw Roland right beside them, still. She was not sure what all he saw, but she felt sure he saw something. She felt overwhelmed with the need to tell him she was sorry and that she didn’t mean it. But she said nothing as the faces became clear not too many yards away. Those faces looked twisted and distorted. Some hardly looked human. She turned her own face and buried it in Lockhart’s chest. She tried to get away from the sight, but she closed her eyes too late. Those images got burned into her retinas and her brain. Alexis screamed. Katie Harper also screamed, but it was words.

“Decker, no! We can’t kill them. That will just set them free.”

Doctor Procter jumped forward, straight toward the faces. He turned and walked backwards in the direction of the demonized people as a smile spread across his own face. Everyone saw the tears form in his eyes as he spoke gleefully. “Kill them. Kill them all and have your supper.” He pointed at his companions, tripped over a root, and fell straight to his back. He began to struggle, but he could not get up. What is more, the demonized people appeared to be unmoving. They looked frozen in place, and the travelers could only stare at them in return.

Doctor Procter screamed this time. They heard the horse before they saw it. It appeared indeed, like a medieval-looking knight from the High Middle Ages, covered head to toe in dazzling armor. The long lance looked deadly, but they saw something of grace, perhaps chivalry in the knight’s demeanor. The knight said nothing. He simply walked his well-trained steed until he stood beside the Doctor. He lowered his lance and touched Doctor Procter gently on the chest where the heart rested. A brilliant white light spread slowly all the way around the Doctor until he became bathed in it.

Now, the Doctor truly screamed and writhed, or something writhed, twisted, and tried to get free. The thing, a pall of darkness, looked devoid of all light, not simply dark or black. It looked like the enemy of light but proved no match for the lance. The darkness slowly separated from the doctor and began to squirm like a wounded snake. It tried to lash out again and again, but the light from the lance contained it. At last, the darkness began to dissipate. Outmatched, it had nowhere to go. It became like smoke from an extinguished fire. It turned pale gray and vanished at last, like that smoke in a strong gust of wind.

Still without a word spoken, the Knight of the Lance turned his horse around and step by step he became insubstantial, until he disappeared, not behind a tree, but simply in the air. The travelers all stepped up to the Doctor’s side. They were heedless of the others for the moment. Doctor Procter smiled and glowed with residual light.

He began with one word. “Free.” Then he pulled the amulet from beneath his shirt. “Boston. You must take this. You understand it better than the others, and I trust you will guide everyone safely home.” He took it from around his neck and held it out. Boston accepted it, but her eyes were too full of tears to see it properly. “Alexis. I am glad you are safe. I still remember you scampering around the workplace, and Roland, you were worse.”

“Eh?” Roland glanced at his sister before he looked down at the man.

“Yes. Always breaking things, isn’t that right, Mingus?” Mingus nodded, but he could not answer. “Anyway, I think Mister Lincoln is a fine man so Mingus, leave them alone. And Mister Lockhart, I am sorry I never really got to know you properly.” He paused to look around at his surroundings and gave the impression in his eyes that this was the first he was seeing of it. “I am sorrier that all those years of study will now be missed, eh Mingus? I would dearly love to actually see and experience the lives of the Traveler.” He began to have trouble breathing and Alexis and Katie Harper both began to reach for him, but in a flash of light that made everyone blink and throw their hands toward their eyes, he vanished utterly from the world.

“God rest his soul,” Lockhart breathed. The elves did not object since after all, Doctor Procter had been half-human.

“We better move before these others come around,” Captain Decker said. He nudged Lockhart. Lockhart looked at Boston and it took her a second to remember and check the amulet. She pointed, and they walked around the mass of men and a few women who were still frozen in place. The time gate turned out to be barely a hundred yards away. Boston slipped the amulet around her neck as they hurried through. They heard the demons behind them begin to stir.

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

MONDAY

Peace and Prosperity as long as the wolf does not get in the way. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

Avalon 1.6 Freedom part 2 of 4

September 23, 2025August 30, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The morning stayed gray and overcast and the travelers were not in the best of spirits. Alexis spent much of the morning arguing with her father.

“I’m telling you it was a man on horseback, and horses have not been tamed yet or I am sure Shengi god would have given us some.”

“So, one man got ahead of the game. That proves nothing.”

“But he was in armor.”

“But it was dark.”

“The moon was close enough to full, and he had a lance besides.”

“Maybe it was a spear that just looked like a lance. All I am saying is the Knights of the Lance arrived mysteriously on Avalon and the innumerable isles when Lydia brought in that legion of demons. God bless her, she could not help it. But there has not been a sighting of a Knight of the Lance for a thousand years. You have never seen one. I have never seen one. I am just saying you might be mistaken,” Mingus sounded firm and tried to end the conversation there.

“You are just saying you don’t believe me.” Alexis was not going to let him get in the last word.

By the time they all stopped for lunch, no one felt in the mood to speak. Even so, the matter between Mingus and Alexis remained heated, and only settled a bit when Boston overheard the argument.

“I saw a knight, too,” she said. “It was on the ridge of the Ophir, by Ranear’s village three time zones back.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Lockhart asked.

“Because when I looked a second time, it wasn’t there. I thought I had to be imagining things.”

Lieutenant Harper inched closer at that point and spoke up softly. “I saw it.” Every eye turned to her. “All the way back on the first day when we were looking down on the plains of Shinar and the Tower of Babel. I caught the glint of light in my binoculars. When I looked close it looked like a knight in armor on horseback. He rode away over the tower hill.” Lockhart just stared at her. “Like Boston,” she defended herself. “I thought I just imagined it.”

Captain Decker jumped and raised his rifle. He held it tight and sweated. “Did you hear that?”

“I’ve been seeing things out of the corner of my eyes all morning,” Roland admitted.

“Me, too. Seeing and hearing things.” Lincoln looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“Now that you mention it,” Mingus looked up. “The atmosphere here is a bit like standing on the edge of the land of the dead.”

Lincoln looked at the elder elf and frowned. “I wish you hadn’t mentioned it.” The silence came after that, and they packed up lunch early.

Doctor Procter led them to the edge of a cliff and said they had to climb down. Lockhart had everyone spread out along the ledge to look for an easier way down. He felt certain someone would get hurt in the climb. Boston thought to go back the way they had come and circle around. Sure enough, she found an easy way to the bottom.

“Hey!” She hollered back up to the top.

“Where the Hell did you go?” Lockhart yelled back. “We thought you were hurt somewhere or who knows what?” He sounded very parental, worried about his child. He seemed happy to see her safe, but quickly scolded her.

Boston explained how to get down, and Lockhart took a good look at Doctor Procter. The half-elf looked disappointed. Lockhart said nothing.

After that, Doctor Procter led them to a stream, swollen by the rain to where it raged more like a small river. It rushed down the mountainside. It did not seem so wide or deep, but it made rapids, and the rocks looked wet and slick. Lockhart could only imagine a twisted ankle if not a broken leg.

Everyone spread out again to look for a better way across. Roland followed Boston’s lead this time and went beyond the allotted time and distance. They found where the river turned one hundred and eighty degrees and saw they could continue on their path down the mountain without having to cross the water at all. When they reported back, Roland spoke innocently.

“If we had crossed the stream here we would have had to cross it again a few thousand yards down the mountain.” This time Lockhart disguised nothing in his stare at Doctor Procter. The doctor spoke amiably.

“I only follow the direction on the amulet. It doesn’t have a setting to help us avoid obstacles.” All the same, Lockhart caught the sense of cursing that came to Doctor Procter’s lips. It began to look to Lockhart like the good doctor wanted them injured for some reason, or worse.

An hour later, about three hours before sundown, if they would recognize sundown when it came, the whole atmosphere around them turned from dark and gloomy to seriously oppressive. They were all jumpy by then and hearing noises and catching things in the corners of their vision. Nothing happened, though, until something fluttered up and said “Hi.” Decker’s gun went off and the fluttering thing vanished.

“Wait. Fairy. Miss fairy.” Boston called out. “We won’t harm you.” She whipped around on Captain Decker and let lose her anger. “If you harmed her you will pay for it.” The look on Captain Decker’s face said he was sorry, that he could not help it, but words were beyond him. Another half-hour down the path and they heard the words before they saw a thing.

“Hello. Is it safe? Xiang sent me to fetch you, but I don’t want more bang-bang scary noises. It is scary enough as it is.”

Several voices answered, but Boston’s voice carried above the others. “It’s safe, miss fairy. No one will hurt you. My name is Boston.” The fairy flew up to Boston’s face and hovered for a moment to examine the girl.

“My name is Blossom,” she said before she fluttered up to examine the others. She gave the elder elf a bow, smiled for Roland, did not appear to even acknowledge Doctor Procter, and returned to Boston again at the end.

“You can sit on my shoulder while we walk if you like,” Boston suggested.

Blossom wrinkled her nose. “You have done this before,” she said.

“Twice,” Boston admitted, and the fairy settled down for a visit. With that, they had good guidance, and everyone felt their spirits lift a little in the presence of the fairy, except perhaps Doctor Procter, who slipped to the rear to walk beside Captain Decker. The captain felt guilty about firing at the poor fairy. He did not know that the chances of hitting a fairy were astronomically slim, even for a marksman.

After another half-hour, they came upon four men in a clearing. One of the men looked up. “Ah, there you are,” he said, before he turned to one of the others. “Go tell the people to hurry up. This is a good place for the night and now that my friends have arrived, we can start making camp.” While two of the men trotted off, the travelers simply stared at this familiar face before Alexis got it.

“Keng?”

Captain Decker looked at Alexis with great curiosity. “He can’t still be alive, can he?”

“Get with the program, Decker.” Lieutenant Harper frowned. “Sir,” she added to be safe.

“It’s all right, Katie.” Keng smiled for them all. “I was just getting ready to leave. The village is not far behind.”

“You’re older,” Alexis said.

“I’m older than I was when I died,” Keng responded. “I guess that sounds a little strange.”

“From you?” Lockhart shook his head.

“Mind if I write that one down?” Lincoln asked.

Keng just broadened his grin and retrieved the crutch the other man had been holding. “See you,” he said, and went away. A woman took his place and several people gasped, except Mingus who merely nodded.

“Keng and Xiang are genetic reflections,” he said. When the others did not appear to understand, he added, “They share the exact same genetic code altered only for male and female. They are like identical twins of the opposite sex.”

Alexis hit her father to quiet him. That was not why they gasped. Xiang arrived bent over. Her spine appeared bent, like it cracked, though it had not yet broken. One knee looked like it had been shattered and healed badly, and her ribs came wrapped and caked with dried blood, like she had a wound that would not close. Above all, her face seemed twisted. It looked raw, as if the flesh itself had been beaten off her.

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 5 of 6

September 9, 2025July 27, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Boston?” That left the three fighters.

“Ready!” The word echoed in the stick ship.

“Zero in on a fighter,” Saphira said, but Katie had already done that.

“Now.” Katie spoke into her wrist communicator, and Boston sent out a plasma pulse. The Balok fighter disintegrated in a crimson ball of fire. Immediately, the two remaining Balok fighters began to move around to avoid being targeted, but Katie and Boston got a second one before the last one dipped below the radar.

Saphira grabbed Katie’s hand and spoke into the wrist communicator. “Lockhart. One fighter landed. Meet us at the front door.”

“Already there,” Lockhart responded. They vacated the stick ship for the firm ground, and a few of the stick people followed them.

The stick leader looked sick. He bobbed up and down a couple of times before he spoke. “You are mad, like the Balok. We did our very best to escape them, but since they found us, it would have been better if we had died than participate in their madness.”

No one knew what to say until Alexis stepped up. “You have the right to live in peace.”

“We have no right to take life,” the leader said, and with that he moved his people away from the travelers.

“I guess we screwed up,” Lincoln said, even as Saphira, Katie and Boston came huffing and puffing down the ramp.

“All right,” Saphira said. “We need to find that ship.”

“They would rather die than be part of the killing.” Alexis summed things up and pointed to the stick people who were keeping their distance. Saphira looked, but she had an alternative view and said so in her own tongue.

“We are protecting my people. We are protecting the human race, even if I am sorry the stick people got in the middle of it. We won’t survive if the Balok come here.” That seemed to satisfy the group. “Now, I want to split us up. Despite the F-whatever-number, single man fighters that are current with your military; most space fighters have two or three occupants. There are too many systems to keep track of. Decker and Roland, you take Coramel’s sons and circle around quietly to approach the fighter on the flank. The rest—where is Mingus?”

“Doctor Procter has taken a fever,” Roland said, and Boston looked at Alexis.

“I do wounds, occasionally help avoid surgery. I don’t do sickness.”

“All right.” Saphira adjusted her thinking. “But still, Alexis, would you stay with your father and Doctor Procter? We should probably leave someone here to watch over the stick people, even if they don’t want our help. Katie and Boston, Coramel, Lincoln and Lockhart. We go straight for the ship.”

“Works for me.” Captain Decker checked his rifle.

“A last thought,” Saphira stopped them all. “We need to kill them. No, there is no alternative, and do not hesitate or they will certainly kill you.”

Roland nodded and led the way into the open fields. They stayed in sight for a time before they dipped down into a gully.

“We go.” Lockhart had judged the time and distance, and they started into the tall grass. There were stubby, non-descript bushes here and there and the occasional tree, but the land held mostly grass to the knees, and sometimes to the waist. They had no way to move quietly, but they spread out and kept their eyes and ears as open as they could. A slim trail of engine smoke still rose into the air in the distance. They headed straight for it.

When they topped a rise, they saw the ship down below, and it looked much larger than they imagined. The grass looked much taller there too, being on the side of a hill where most animals would not bother to graze. All things considered, it should not have come as a surprise when the serpent rose-up and wrapped itself twice around Boston.

Boston screamed and struggled, and that made it hard for the others. They dared not fire at the creature for fear of hitting Boston. The snake kept trying to bite her, but it could not get its head at a good angle. Saphira dropped her bow and waited three seconds for an opening before she brought the butt end of her spear down on the snake’s head. The snake nipped at her, but by then the others were moving.

Lockhart pulled the same stunt with the stock of his shotgun, and the hit appeared to hurt the serpent. Lincoln and Lieutenant Harper still tried to get off a shot, but Coramel came up with a stone between his hands. The snake responded by showing a hand of its own. The hand pealed out from the side of the creature, and it held something. They heard no sound, saw no light, or anything, but Coramel dropped to the ground, stunned and maybe dead.

Then the snake took Boston to the ground while Boston screamed the words, “I can’t breathe.”

Lincoln went to Coramel while Saphira’s next shot with her spear hit the snake in the hand. It dropped the weapon but began to roll down the hill with its captive. Lockhart, Saphira and Lieutenant Harper followed, and when Boston and the creature slowed, Lockhart managed another whack at the creature’s head.

The snake roared from pain and appeared to speak, though no one knew what it said except Saphira. Then it suddenly let go of Boston to slither away in the grass. Saphira, with the snake’s weapon in her hand, went to her knees beside Boston.

When the serpent reached what it no doubt imagined as a safe distance from the primitives, it put its rear legs down and reared up eight feet in the air. It spoke again, more clearly as another hand made itself known, and whether they retained some vestige of the primal tongue of Shinar, or the magic of the Kairos worked overtime, they all managed to catch one distinct word. “Die.”

“Balok!” Lockhart shouted to distract the snake, and Lieutenant Harper’s rifle went off. The creature looked stunned as the bullet tore through its neck. Then Lockhart fired the shotgun and the snakehead shredded. The body fell after a moment.

~~~*~~~

Captain Decker, Roland, and the boys got surprised when the Balok reared-up in front of them. The boys got excited and rushed forward to throw their spears. The Balok easily avoided the stone tips and pulled out a hand and a weapon. To be sure, the hand looked more like seven skinny tentacles than a human hand, and the weapon looked like a small disc but Captain Decker and Roland both saw it.

Roland had his bow out, but he could not get off a shot because of the boys. The Balok clearly recognized the bow as a danger and shot Roland first. Roland froze in place even as Decker yelled.

“Boys! Lie down on the ground. Now!”

One went straight to the dirt. The other knelt and bent down but looked at the captain with questions on his face. It was enough. Captain Decker peeled off three bullets before the Balok shot him and Decker fell. It is likely the Balok would have died shortly. It may have already been dead, but to be sure, Roland shook himself free of his frozen state. He pulled his sword and beheaded the serpent before he turned to see to Decker.

~~~*~~~

Lockhart stepped over to where Boston lay on the ground. She sat up and breathed better, but Saphira thought her ribs were cracked, if a couple were not broken.

“Coramel is fine, but frozen,” Lincoln reported. “His fingers and toes look frostbitten.”

“Frozen?” Lieutenant Harper asked.

“Think like a reptile or amphibian,” Saphira answered. “A heat ray would not be as effective.”

“Lincoln. We need a stretcher,” Lockhart shouted.

“Coramel will be fine in a moment,” Lincoln said. “Oh, you mean—” He patted a groaning, shivering Coramel on the shoulder and got up to search a small stand of nearby trees.

Saphira headed straight for the Balok ship, Katie Harper on her heels.

“Don’t wander off,” Lockhart shouted. Saphira waved, but they ended up closer to the ship than she imagined they would. It would have been too much to ask her not to take a look. When they arrived at the door to the ship, they heard three shots fired not too far away.

“Decker,” Katie said.

“Let’s hope that’s it,” Saphira responded while she examined the outside of the door. It took three hands with pinky fingers and three little sticks to press on the six holes that would have fit a Balok hand very well. The door opened and they could look in if they held their breath. The whole thing smelled like rotten cabbage and decayed meat. Saphira did not have to look for more than a moment before she let out a stream of invectives for the third time. She spun and ran, Katie beside her.

“What?”

“Three,” Saphira said.

~~~*~~~

Alexis spent her time cleaning up the camp and getting things ready to move out. She confessed to herself that being twenty-five again did not necessarily change things. She might be Boston’s age, but she was not wild and free like that girl. She had been a mom too long, and now she had become a grandmother. She liked being a mother and grandmother, and she was good at it, and maybe there was nothing wrong with that. At the same time, though, maybe she did need to let Benjamin get adjusted. She smiled. Poor little Billy, her grandson. He would always be older than his uncle, or maybe his aunt. She had two boys. She decided this time she wanted a girl.

“Daughter.” Mingus startled Alexis.

“Father? How is Doctor Procter?”

“Shivering from fever,” Mingus said. “But he won’t let me so much as touch him. He growls at me every time I try.”

“Growls?”

“He is an old man, far older than his human half should be. Old men growl, haven’t you noticed?”

Alexis looked up into her father’s face. She looked serious at first, but quickly smiled. She reached for his hand. “You don’t growl; you just get grumpy now and then.”

Mingus returned her smile. “I am sorry about the stick people.”

Alexis shifted her gaze to where the stick people were gathering, still repairing their ship, and keeping their distance from the mad humans. “They would rather die than take life,” she said. “What can the human race offer to compare with that?”

Mingus took back his hand and began to take down a tent. “The Kairos was wise all these millennia to keep us from interacting with the human race. Look at me. I have studied human history for centuries and have been corrupted. I sometimes think I must be more human now than elf.”

Alexis said nothing. She screamed. The Balok lifted-up from the grass, only a dozen yards away. It splayed both hands and each held an instrument of some kind. The first, a freeze ray, shot at Mingus, but Mingus easily shrugged it off because of the fires inside of him. He shot back with a ball of flame, and while the Balok backed away from the actual fire, the heat and warmth of the flames appeared to strengthen it.

Avalon 1.3 The Way of Dreams part 2 of 3

August 26, 2025July 27, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Ranear?” Boston tested and the young man nodded. “But didn’t you know we were coming?” Ranear shook his head.

“But Pan knew.” Lieutenant Harper remembered. She kept trying to understand.

Ranear shook his head again. “A little Bluebell told him. That fee used to get around.”

“So, what is the trouble?” Lincoln asked as he got out his notebook. He assumed they would land in the midst of some difficult situation.

“None, I hope. We set off tomorrow.” Ranear turned to the patient elders. “These are friends. Do not be afraid.”

“Angel said that.” Alexis reminded everyone.

“It does come in handy,” Ranear whispered, as one of the elderly men turned and addressed the others.

“If the shaman speaks on behalf of these people, we will welcome them. Make preparations.” The men wandered off and the travelers came into the village.

“Uzen. He is the high chief.” Ranear introduced the old man just before a young woman tackled him. Ranear landed on his back, and she landed on top of him. She kissed him, heartily, and then scolded him.

“Don’t I get to meet your friends?”

“My wife, Azilla.” Ranear introduced the young woman and then he introduced his friends.

Azilla looked at Lieutenant Harper. “You are very white, with yellow hair. And Boston, you are even whiter, and you have freckles.” Ranear, Azilla and their people were dark, Mediterranean looking. “And Captain Decker, you look like a Hivite, but you are not. The Hivites don’t wear fairy weave. I don’t know how I know that. And Mingus, you are an elf. I know that too, somehow. You are an elder elf.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Mingus had his hat in his hand.

“Hello, Roland the elf. You are Mingus’ son. I don’t know how I know that, either. And you,” she turned to Doctor Procter and paused as if studying the man. “You have more beard than face, and you wear covers over your hands. Are you in there?”

“Yes. They are gloves” Doctor Procter raised his hands and spoke softly. “I am trying to protect myself as well as I can. This old body of mine bruises very easily.” That was what he told the others.

“But you are an odd one.” Azilla wrinkled her nose. Ranear thought it was very becoming. He tapped Azilla on the shoulder.

“He is half human,” Boston said.

“Half human, half elf,” Azilla said, and her face brightened. She tried to ignore Ranear, so he had to cough for her attention.

She looked at him sprawled out beneath her. “How can I know these things?”

“You are my beloved wife,” Ranear answered. “Now, can I get up?”

Azilla smiled. “But I was just getting comfortable,” she said, and shifted her position a little to lie more squarely on his chest. He rolled her over with a kiss.

One of the old men who had returned, sighed. “My son.”

“And they have been like this for two whole seasons,” a second man said.

“Two whole seasons,” the third man echoed with a click of his tongue.

“Come,” Ranear’s father spoke to the group. “A place has been made for you near the circle.”

The circle turned out to be the middle of the tent village where they would have neighbors on either side. They made room for the travelers to pitch their tents near the wood they piled in the center. They would make a bonfire and have a feast after their fashion. Lieutenant Harper got very interested in the proceedings since she had never been to a late Neolithic feast before. Lincoln had his notebook out. Everyone felt ready when Mingus made his offer.

“Would my Lord like me to start the fire?”

Ranear looked at the elder elf and smiled. “No thank you, Lord Mingus. Tomorrow we are going north to form a treaty with the Hivites.”

“The Hivites we came across did not seem very interested in peace,” Lockhart said, with only a brief touch to his thigh.

“We will make sacrifices for peace between us. As shaman, I will have to participate in the ceremony. I have been practicing, to get ready.”

“My husband is very powerful,” Azilla said. She looked at Alexis.

“My husband is good at other things,” Alexis smiled.

“Alexis is the witch in our family,” Lincoln said, but he was busy writing in his journal and not really paying attention.

“Really?” Azilla’s eyes went wide with curiosity, but Ranear interrupted her question.

“Watch.” Ranear stretched his hands toward the fire, and it looked very different. With Mingus, the fire was magical. He mumbled and sprinkled some dust on the logs and the fire appeared to rise-up to meet the falling dust. For Ranear, the fire came from his hands and reached the final distance to touch and catch the wood. Ranear tired far more than Mingus from the effort, besides. It looked like the fire was in him in some way, like it came from inside the bogy beast. Now that it got depleted, it would need to be recharged.

“That was very well done,” Mingus praised him.

“That was the easy part,” Ranear responded. “Poor Azilla now has to cook something edible.”

“Not me alone. Would you like to help?” She asked Alexis, no doubt wanting to hear all about her magic. Alexis nodded, and Boston spoke up.

“I can help.” With a look at Captain Decker and then Lockhart, Katie Harper went with them as well.

That night, the travelers felt restless. No one slept well except maybe Doctor Procter. Whatever it was, it was still out there. Fortunately, it seemed reluctant to get too close to the village. But it could wait. That was how Boston described the feeling.

In the morning, Ranear and his troop got ready to head north almost as quickly as the travelers who only had to tell their tents to compress and stick them in their backpacks.

“You are headed to the south,” Ranear spoke, and Doctor Procter nodded. “Of course, I can’t be certain, but I suspect you will find the gate somewhere near the mountain. If that is the case, you should find where we often camp there. If you do, climb the mountain a bit. There is a path, and you will find a cave. It is good for keeping out of the rain and sun and should be big enough to shelter you all for the night.”

“Ranear and I spent our wedding night there,” Azilla said, with the sound of fond memories in her voice.

“Good luck to you in your mission,” Lockhart responded.

“Mountain?” Boston asked.

“Sinai.” Ranear and Mingus spoke together.

“Mount Sinai.” Lieutenant Harper whistled and watched Lincoln write in his notebook.

~~~*~~~

They found the cave easily enough, though it did not seem as big as Ranear described. Still, it would do for the night even if it would be tight quarters. Boston and Katie set up on one side. Lockhart and Captain Decker took the other. The rest laid out somewhere in the middle when they were not on watch.

The fire burned just outside the cave but positioned so it was hard to see from down below. A man might walk right beneath their position and never know anyone was up there. Because of this, Captain Decker called it a good defensive position.

“But do we need to worry about that?” Alexis asked. “There is no evidence of ghouls, and we haven’t seen the bokarus since Iris.” She tried to shrug off the bad feelings they had all day.

“No telling what is out there,” Lockhart said. He looked up at the night sky and wondered. His men in black were practiced in dealing with alien threats. They were not designed to fight nightmares. “Lincoln and Alexis, first watch.”

“Wouldn’t one person be enough?” Lincoln wondered.

“I want two to watch and keep each other awake,” Lockhart responded. “Decker and I will take second watch. Mingus, would you mind third watch with your son?” Mingus did not mind. “Boston and Katie in the morning. Get some sleep.”

Avalon 1.2 Beasts in the Night part 1 of 3

August 18, 2025July 26, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 4465BC in Southern China. Kairos 9: Keng

Recording …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Unicorns are dangerous,” Alexis spoke quickly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~~*~~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

“God of event time.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Avalon 1.1 Hunters in the Dark part 1 of 3

August 11, 2025July 26, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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

Recording …

Boston stepped through the gate and found a hand pressed over her mouth. Lincoln’s hand tasted like sand. Good thing he was there, because otherwise she would have screamed. A wildebeest pressed up against her leg. It begrudgingly moved. Lockhart and the others came through quietly, and the herd made a little room, but that was all.

“Doctor.” Lockhart whispered the word, but Doctor Procter did not move. He appeared frozen in place. Roland stepped up and one beast stepped aside while Roland reached for the amulet.

“No!” The Doctor yelled and covered his chest with his hand, like he had to protect some great secret. Several beasts got startled and reacted. They made more room for the people, but soon settled down again. They all recognized the dangerous moment. They might have all been trampled if the herd started to run. Doctor Procter looked up at Roland and his outstretched hand. He looked surprised by his own word. He pulled out the amulet and both he and Roland looked, and Roland pointed to the south and west, into the setting sun.

They walked slowly, like a little herd of their own, while the sun went down, and the moon rose. Zebras, gazelle, and antelope filled this herd. Just as the last of the light began to fade, they found some elephants, and a couple of giraffes grazing on a small copse of trees. Boston thought it safe to speak if she whispered.

“Sahara grasslands,” she read from the database and spoke as they moved to the far side of the trees where there was some room for them to breathe. They had walked for more than an hour by then and found no end of the herd. “I didn’t know what that meant, but I see it meant Africa.”

“No kidding,” Captain Decker said, softly.

“Before the Sahara turned to dust,” Lincoln nodded.

“But the soil is no good here.” Mingus knelt to touch a handful. “Full of sand already.”

Alexis joined him to look for herself. “Unless this land is getting good rainfall, a herd such as this won’t take long to turn the Sahara into the desert we all know.”

Something laughed in the distance. “Hyenas,” Roland named them.

“Lions and tigers and bears,” Lockhart said. “We better keep moving while we can, and pray we find the edge of this herd before too long.” He looked up. They felt lucky the moon had already risen and looked three quarters full. In that land, with little undulating hills and few trees, the moonlight helped enough see where they were going.

It took two hours to reach a point where the herd thinned out sufficiently for the group to spread out a little and relax. A lion roared a warning somewhere off to their left, and it made Lincoln jump. It took another half-hour before Lockhart finally agreed they moved far enough out of range to pitch camp for the night. They stopped on the edge of another small wood, so they had plenty of wood for the fire. In fact, they built three fires on a small hill out in the open. They placed the fires in a triangle shape far enough apart so they could set up their tents inside the light.

“At least there is no shortage of game,” Captain Decker said.

“Good for attracting lions, I bet,” Lieutenant Harper countered.

Roland simply pulled his bow and trotted back the way they had come. He easily shot a Wildebeest and a zebra and cut rather large flank steaks. He returned to the camp and left the carcasses where they lay in the open.

They ate well that night, though the wildebeest proved to be tough and stringy. The zebra tasted good. Everyone said so, except Boston who declined to partake. She said zebras reminded her too much of Spunky, her horse back home.

After they ate, Lockhart looked at the moon. It kept rising. “Lincoln and Alexis get the first watch. Captain Decker and Roland take the second watch. Mingus and I will take the third watch. Boston and Katie can watch the sun come up,” Lockhart ordered.

“What?” Boston sat up straight. “You want Katie and me up early so we can cook breakfast? Well, forget it.”

“Actually, I want a pair of elf eyes available in the dark of the night, but now that you mention it, I take my eggs over easy.”

Boston made a face.

“What about me?” Doctor Procter asked, not that he sounded like he minded getting a full night’s sleep.

Lockhart looked at the man. Lockhart felt something wrong there, but he smiled as he spoke. “Old man, you just hang on to that amulet and keep it safe for us all.”

Doctor Procter did not argue.

Three in the morning, Mingus abandoned his corner of the watch to speak with Lockhart. “I do not understand my friend,” he admitted. “Procter is usually a gregarious and talkative fellow, but he has been so quiet.”

“I’ve been thinking about that myself,” Lockhart said, as he moved a little so the elder elf could sit on the log they dragged out from the woods. He had started to adjust to being around the elves. “Of course, I didn’t know him before.”

“Strange. You think you know someone.” Mingus shrugged.

“I was thinking that maybe after all those years of studying these time zones, to now finally have a chance to see with his own eyes. It must be overwhelming,” Lockhart offered an explanation.

Mingus shook his head at that. “I studied the lives of the Kairos longer than him. It is exciting, but I would have thought it would make him talk more, not less.”

They got interrupted by the sound of a distant howl. It started out low and rose-up the scale to a scream. They heard no animal.

“Bokarus,” Mingus named the howler.

“It followed us.” Lockhart nodded.

They heard the howl rise-up to a scream three times before they heard something else. It sounded like thunder.

“Everybody up!” Mingus and Lockhart yelled and went to the tents to be sure.

“Stampede,” Boston called it.

“And headed right for us,” Roland confirmed.

“To the trees,” Lincoln said but it sounded like a question. Mingus shook his head. That would not help.

“Roland,” Alexis called her brother. “Split the herd.”

They grabbed hands. “One, two, three,” and the light went out from their hands to form a golden triangle with the point in the distance. The stampede split down both sides of the triangle and away from their camp, but a few animals stumbled through the light.

“Lieutenant.” Captain Decker only had to say that much before both marines raised their rifles and began to pick off the ones inside the light. Boston and Lincoln pulled out their pistols and Lockhart readied the shotgun in case the ones inside got too close.

In the distance, the howls continued until suddenly it cut off in mid-scream. Then they heard it no more.

“Father!” Alexis yelled. The pressure against the outer edge of the triangle of light started to become too much to bear.

“Father.” Roland spoke softly through his teeth as Mingus stepped up and laid a hand on each shoulder. The light strengthened as the elder elf managed to add his magic to the force, and it seemed enough. Once the screaming stopped, the herd soon settled down. The herd was too large to move far and fast outside of a migration.

“The bokarus must have broken off a piece off the main herd,” Lincoln said. “Good thing the screaming stopped.”

“Yes,” Lockhart shouldered his shotgun. “But I want to know what scared the bokarus bad enough to make it stop.”

Storyteller Tales & Thoughts

Stories and reflections on storytelling

Elf

Avalon 1.10 Kidnapped part 5 of 5

Avalon 1.9 The Elders part 3 of 4

Avalon 1.7 Peace and Prosperity part 3 of 3

Avalon 1.7 Peace and Prosperity part 1 of 3

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

Avalon 1.6 Freedom part 4 of 4

Avalon 1.6 Freedom part 2 of 4

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 5 of 6

Avalon 1.3 The Way of Dreams part 2 of 3

Avalon 1.2 Beasts in the Night part 1 of 3

After 4465BC in Southern China. Kairos 9: Keng

Avalon 1.1 Hunters in the Dark part 1 of 3

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