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Avalon 3.8: part 5 of 5, Stories to Be Told

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Nalishayas raised her voice. “Everyone. These are my friends. Treat them with respect, if you value your life, and leave their horses alone.”

“We already covered the horses,” Katie said.

“She told them they were poisonous,” Lockhart tattled.

“You lie like an elf,” Nalishayas said with a hearty laugh, and Boston looked up at the use of that old expression and laughed with her. Nalishayas winked at Boston. “Maybe I should say you lie like a pirate.”

“Pirate?” Lincoln asked.nal ship

“Welcome to the original pirate’s cove,” Nalishayas shouted. “We’re all pirates here.”

The crowd shouted their agreement, and Nalishayas pointed at a man. “Argh, me hearties,” the man said.

“But that was English,” Alexis pointed out.

“Some things don’t translate well,” Nalishayas admitted. “Some things do,” and she shouted, “Ale,” and again, the crowd shouted their agreement with that sentiment, and they all marched into town.

###

There was an inn in town, an oddity in a place that was super secret where no one came to visit, but Nalishayas said it could not be a real pirate town unless they built an inn, so they did. Nalishayas, it seemed, was something like an empress deluxe. Her whim was everyone’s command, and Lincoln suggested as long as she was successful in her piracy, that would not change. So they had an inn, and everyone got a bed, but they only stayed two days because the bed bugs were so bad.

“My story is simple,” Nallishayas said. The people of Akoshia, that is Crete for the geographers, and the Minoan homeland for the pseudo-historians, they are just starting to build the ships and establish the trade routes that will make them masters of the Mediterranean. Some are already rich beyond reason. But they are perverted in ways, morally, that give me the creeps. MeroVirias was a noble and rich merchant. One of the richest. And he decided he wanted to have me in his bed, whether as wife or concubine or to watch me love someone else or to have sex with his dog, I cannot say. My father said no. I was in love with a lovely young man. So Mero killed my young man and made his demand again. My father said no, so he took my family’s property and threw them on the streets. Then he offered a fortune, and my father still said no. So he killed my father, and mother, and brothers, and little sister and came to take me by force. So I killed him and ran away.”

Nal tavern“You killed him?” Katie asked, because Boston was staring at Roland and Nalishayas with googly eyes and Alexis could barely hear the story.

“Dern right. Big bloody mess all over his fancy, expensive carpet. Then Tethys, the goddess, queen of the sea came to me and helped me grieve for all my losses, and for what I did. Then she guided me here, but that is a long story. Then she got the merpeople to give me this cove. Then I found a bunch of runaways from Akoshia. Everyone here has been mistreated in one way or another. Some not as bad as mine, to see their family murdered in front of their eyes. Some worse, who are lucky to be alive.

“So now you are pirates,” Katie said.

“We prey on Akoshian shipping, especially the Virias family. I would call us freedom fighters, but, alas, I know the future. I cannot overthrow the Akos and his perverted nobility. They are destined to become rich and powerful, but I am not going to make it easy for them, at least as long as I am alive.” Nalishayas downed her ale and called for more. She looked around at the group. “Any questions?”

“Yes,” Alexis wanted to change the subject. “Why do all the men call the women Muggys?

“A newcomer raped a woman. For being a mugger, the mugee got to take one thing of his treasure. I nal hangingexplained this to everyone. For being raped she had the option of taking more things, sending him into exile from the community, or seeing him hanged. He was hanged. But ever since then, the men have referred to the women as Muggys.” Nalishayas shrugged, downed a whole cup of ale and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Next.”

“Only one thing,” Katie spoke up again. “You have all these technical advances here on this side of the mountain. You have hoes and scythes and sickles, not to mention copper knives and all. But on the other side of the mountain, they have nothing. They are still working in stone and bone…” Katie trailed off because Nalishayas was shaking her head.

“I dare not share,” she said. “Soon enough the Akoshians will come here and take this island for their own. They might not succeed if the people have copper weapons to defend themselves. It troubles me every day. It breaks my heart, but what can I do?”

“What if the Akoshians come here?” Katie asked.

Nalyshayas 2“These refugees and pirates would be expected to have the tin and copper and all the implements of Akoshia. But they won’t come here unless someone betrays us.”

“A possibility,” Katie said.

“Possible,” Nalishayas agreed. “Now I want to get drunk.”

###

Two days later, Nalishayas came into the inn wearing a dress that looked like silk. “Fairy weave,” she admitted. “But I have been assured by those who know that it imitates silk very well.”

“But you are beautiful,” Alexis said.

“Breathtaking,” Boston squeaked.

“I took a bath,” Nalishayas admitted.Nalyshayas 3

She went with them to visit Coressus in the underground. Lockhart said he did not sleep that whole night, but the rest slept well enough. Then Nalishayas continued with them to the elf haven where the elf king, Issendilus explained that being confined between sundown and sunrise is what they would have done anyway, and so it was no hardship.

“And if it helps Mandible feel good about himself, and avoids a war, all the better.”

They stayed three days with the elves of light, and Boston fit right in with the elf maids who all said how lucky she was and how handsome Roland was. To be sure, she felt awkward, at first, but by the end she was saying she learned so much about being an elf and an elf maid, and about all the things she needed to do, and what was expected of her, and all the rules she had to follow. And when they left, she said, now she knew so much she didn’t know before. And she supposed there was no going back. Roland shook his head and held her hand as they moved through the time gate, but that was fine. She was kidding about going back, mostly.

Avalon 3.8: part 4 of 5, Friends and Such.

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Roland and Boston were the last to leave the underground, and Boston told Coressus that unless there was a way over the mountain, they would probably have to go back through to get to the other side.

“There is a way,” Coressus said. “But it is very difficult. You are welcome to come back through when you are ready.”

Roland barely got out the thank you before they heard a woman scream. They ran through the glamour that pretended to be a rock wall and found a woman pointing at Elder Stow and screaming. The appearance of Roland and Boston could not possibly make her scream louder, but she tried.nal screaming woman

We are friends. We are not going to hurt you. It’s all right.” The travelers said various things. Decker even tried “Shut up,” but nothing worked until two dozen men from town showed up with copper swords and copper knives and a few wicked looking bone clubs with copper shards in the head to make it like a mace. The travelers saw an abundance of tin and copper, on belt buckles and in farm implements, and silver in hair clips and decorative pins, and even some gold and a few precious stones.

“So one side of the mountain is a different world from the other side?” Katie said.

They came out of the mountain beside a small ranch style house with maybe three rooms, and now they were standing in an open space beneath the mountain. The village proper started a hundred yards down the hill and continued with buildings here and there until it reached a bay. A quick three hundred and sixty degree scan showed heights all around the bay, but the few large ships in the docks suggested that somewhere across the bay, there had to be a way to the open sea.

“Thanks Muggy. We’ll handle this.” One man said, and the woman appeared to curtsey before she picked up her water jug and walked toward the town without a word. The travelers saw where the spring came out of the side of the mountain, and Lincoln spoke.

“Figures. Loudmouth.”

Alexis responded quietly. “Timing is everything.”

Nal minoan men“So who are you people, and where did you come from?” the man asked.

Everyone waited for Lockhart to speak. “We have come a long way in search of Nalishayas. She knows us, and should be looking for us.”

“And your beasts?” another man interrupted.

“Poisonous,” Katie said, and no one said otherwise. “Not safe to eat, but they serve us well. The are shy, though. They have been known to bite strangers.”

“Nalishayas?” Lockhart repeated.

The man looked at a couple of other men and appeared to make a decision. “This way, he said, and his men spread out to give the travelers and their poisonous beasts room.

“Do I look all right?” Boston asked.

“You look like you used to look,” a very human looking Roland told her, but Boston was not satisfied.

“Alexis?”

Boston 7“You look just like you used to look,” she said.

“But do you think anyone noticed?” Boston asked, followed by, “I wish you had your mirror.”

The men led the travelers to a building with a long front porch and said they would have to leave their beasts outside. Fortunately, there was a porch railing where they could tie the horses off. Lockhart went first as the men held the door open. Boston came last as the man said, “Wait here,” and he closed the door and lowered the latch on the outside.

“Nalishayas,” Lockhart said again through the door.

“Many people are searching for Nalishayas, and most of them mean her ill. I’ll fetch her, in a day or three. You and your muggys need to just wait.” The man left the porch.

“No windows,” Lincoln pointed to the obvious.

Decker pulled his knife. “I could cut free a few of these stones.”

“No, let me kick down the door,” Katie offered. Being an elect, she had no doubt she could do it.

“But Nalishayas isn’t here,” Boston said. She could tell in her gut.

“I could raise the lock, like I raised the bar on the gate of Jericho,” Roland offered. “Much less destructive.”nal cabin

“But she is coming,” Boston stood, looked at the wall, and formed a true smile of anticipation on her lips.

“Listen to her,” Alexis said. “She is an elf, too.”

Roland took Boston’s hand and smiled with her. “The attraction is very strong in you.”

“Proximity to the amulet,” Elder Stow suggested as he put away the most destructive options for opening the door.

“Quite possibly,” Boston said. “She must have been at sea, but somehow she got the time gate to remain on land in case we came through. Maybe the gods?” She looked at Roland, who shrugged.

“Maybe,” he said.

It was an hour before they heard the towns people begin to shout, “Nalishayas. Nalishayas.” The travelers imagined a whole crowd of people gathered by the docks.

Lockhart stood. “Time to go.” He pointed at Roland and Roland spit on his hands, stepped up to the door, and slowly raised his hands. They guessed two guards, because they heard one call for his mama and run off like he saw a ghost, but the other grabbed the latch and put his weight into it to hold it in place.

“Move,” Alexis said, and knocked Roland to the side. She tried, but had little luck. “The guy is too fat,” she concluded.

Nal cabin 2Katie huffed and kicked the door. The whole thing shook, but the door did not go down until Decker barreled in and put his shoulder to it. Decker said, “Ouch.” The door fell on the man, who was indeed fat. Lockhart whistled, and his horse, Dog, came right up to the opening to stare own the man.  The horse would have stepped on the door and crushed the fat man beneath it if the travelers hadn’t been busy exiting the building and stepping on the fat man themselves.

We might as well leave the horses here, as anywhere,” Alexis said, so they did, and marched off to the docks to stand at the back of the crowd and be inconspicuous.

Nalishayas’ ship was a big single main master, with eight men rowing on each side, a cabin and upper deck in the back where a man stood with the rudder oar, and a cook hole in the front. Being a sailing ship, driven by the wind at their back, it was important to keep the smelly stuff as far forward as possible.

“Nalishayas.” the people waved. Nalishayas stood on top of the cook hole and held onto a pole which might have been used for a small lateen sail to help steer the ship and keep it accessible to the wind. She waved back before she cupped her hand and shouted.

“Lockhart.” She jumped to the deck and marched toward the group that no one knew was standing at the back of the crowd. People made way for her. She was a lovely woman, about five three, with regular brown hair but eyes a deep. rich brown color. “Boston!” she shouted, and straightened her leather jerkin over her leather breaches just before Boston tackled her for a hug.Nalishayas 1

Boston kissed Nalishayas’ cheek over and over and said, “Thank you. I love you so much. Thank you for Roland. I love him, and you are so wonderful to me. And I missed you. and I’m never going to marry if Mingus doesn’t show up. And that makes me so sad.” Boston began to cry.

Nalishayas extracted herself from the hug with a word. “I’m guessing she has been an elf for less than a week.”

Roland nodded. “About four days.”

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Be sure and come back tomorrow for the conclusion of Avalon, episode 3.8  enjoy.

Avalon 3.8: part 3 of 5, Underground

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They marched a long way into the mountain, and Boston was glad to see she did not take to claustrophobia, the way some light elves felt it. She never felt claustrophobic as a human and supposed there was no reason that should change. They picked up a few more goblins along the way, including one group that looked like they just returned from a hunt. They had two deer ready to be butchered and put on the fire, at least as much as goblins and trolls cooked such things. Finally, the group came to a big underground cavern filed mostly with women and children. There were a number of fires around the place, and one big fire up by a raised area. Boston guessed the one who stood up there was the goblin king. He certainly was frightening enough.

“Lord Mandible,” Flintskin spoke up as they approached. Chewy put Boston down, but held her so Boogern and Kraken could tie her hands behind her back and tie a big rope with a heavy weight on one end to hobble her so she could not run off. “Lord, we found this light elf wandering by the woods of the nightshade. She left the elf haven in the dark time so we brought her to you to decide what to do with her.”nal gobin king

Lord Mandible stuck his tongue out and licked his whole face up to his eyebrows. “I don’t like elf. They have a gamey flavor,” he said.

“She is an elf witch,” Boogern stepped forward.

“What flavor?”

“Fire, at least,” Flintskin said. “We didn’t exactly test her.”

“That might make it palatable,” Lord Mandible said. He looked closely at Boston for the first time and drooled, slightly. “Of course, eating the maid is not the only thing I have in mind.”

Boston caught the look. “You wouldn’t dare,” Boston said while two streams of laser light came from her eyes and caused a small explosion of the rocks at the goblin king’s feet. He jumped back while she spoke. “The Kairos would burn you feet off. She would pull out your tongue and blind your eyes. My Lady would make you human for even thinking such a thing.”

Mandible raised his voice. “Lady Nalishayas has said the humans have the light time and we can have the dark time as long as we don’t bother the humans. Light elves have no place on our island. We give them the small haven, but Issendilus knows better than to let his people out after sundown.”

“Who is Issendilus?” Boston asked, and the goblins all stared at her for a second.

nal goblins“Lord Issendilus, your chief,” Flintskin offered.

Boston shook her head. “I don’t know him. I’m not from this island. We came here from the deep past,” Boston said as she pulled her hands free and mentally praised herself for doing so magically without setting the ropes on fire this time. “We are on a special mission of the Kairos and headed to the next time gate. Didn’t you think to ask about the red hair?”

“I thought that was because of the fire inside you,” Boogern said, and Kraken agreed.

“Mandible,” A woman’s voice sounded out sharply from behind.

Mandible grinned suddenly, an awful, Grinch sort of grin. “Yes, Coressus, my dear. Sweetheart. Honey.” The woman stepped up beside Mandible and gave him a quick frown. She leaned down to Boston and spoke kindly enough, despite the frightening eyes and very sharp looking teeth.

“Come here child,” she said, having judged Boston to be very young. Boston was already working on the rope around her ankle, and it only took another second to pull her foot free and walk up to face the woman. She tried not to look at Coressus, but let the woman pull her aside for a private conversation. The woman directed her speech so only Boston could hear, and Boston had to try to do the same.

“Forgive my husband. He likes to think he is in charge and can do whatever he wants. He likes to act all frightening and mean, but he can be sweet.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Boston said.nal goblin queen

Coressus reached for Boston’s chin with her claw, but was actually quite gentle so Boston did not resist. Coressus looked into her face and let go with a word. “You are very young, despite being full grown. It is something I do not understand.”

“As an elf, I am only three and a half days old. I was older when I was a human.”

Coressus shook her head, like that did not make any sense. Then she gasped. “Red hair?”

A voice came from the back of the cavern. “Boston. Don’t worry. The others are coming to set you free.”

Boston responded to the voice. “Roland!”

“Mandible,” Coressus spoke up loud and clear. “This one is not for you. She is betrothed and under the protection of the gods. And so is the other one,” she shouted across the cavern. “You better not hurt him.”

“What?” Mandible, Flintskin and the others did not understand.

“The camp where this one was taken,” Coressus said. “There were humans and big animals that they ride upon, and they all wear fairy weave and sleep in houses that become no bigger than a ball, and they travel with an elder in the flesh and blood.”

“Yeah, so?” Flintskin did not get it, but Mandible did, and he hit the poor goblin hard enough to make him cry. Flintskin hit Boogern in the same way.

“You should have known.”

“Known what?”nal goblin extra

“Whatever.”

Kraken wanted to hit Boogern as well, but Boogern raised a fist to say he would hit Kraken back. Chewy stood like a statue, unwilling to move a muscle, and it made Boston laugh to see him.

“Come child,” Coressus said. “And you, Lord Roland. Your name is known to us.”

Roland came to the raised stone and did not look too roughed up. Then again, a couple of goblins looked like they might have black eyes, so it was about even.

“I am far too young myself to be called Lord Roland.,” Roland admitted, and gave the goblin king a bow.

“Sir Roland, then. I have also heard this.”

“Probably not for a few thousand years,” they heard Katie’s voice at the back of the cavern, followed by a great “ZAP!” A troll and two goblins flew though the air.

“Leave the animals alone,” Coressus shouted.

nal goblin cave“They are horses,” Boston said.

“Leave the horses alone if you value your life,” Coressus shouted, and she directed Boston and Roland to the back of the cavern where there was a cave set up like a comfortable living room, with rugs on the floor and cushions scattered about to sit and relax. “It is for you about breakfast time, I believe.” Mandible and his friends made themselves scarce.

When the rest of the crew arrived, they had a fine breakfast of eggs and some kind of bacon. They even had toast of a sort, but the goblin cooks did not know how to do anything but burn the toast. They had a pleasant conversation as well, but Lockhart, and in general the others, were all glad when the goblins escorted them to the exit.

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Coming next Monday and Tuesday, the conclusion of Avalon, episode 3.8,or, what good is escaping the goblin lair if you end up in pirate hands?  Don’t miss it.  The second half of Pirates Cove.  A free read to start the week off right.pirate cove 5

Avalon 3.8: part 2 of 5, Captive

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The travelers saw some people during the day, and passed by a village, but kept their distance. The lifestyle looked primitive. People dressed in animal skins, the huts barely kept out the rain, and the fields of grain got worked with tools of sticks and bones. It was early spring, and people were planting seeds in the hope of a harvest come fall. There were no guarantees in that world, and Katie made some commentary along the way.

“Back home, these years are spoken of with simple, meaningless numbers, and it feels foolish now to set dates for the end of this era and the beginning of the next. These people, on Rhodes or Crete, whichever island we are on, are still living Neolithic lives. I don’t even see any soft metals, like copper. Yet we have already seen bronze in the Alps ages ago, and even earlier in the Carpathian Mountains. These people hardly have huts enough to form a village—a little hamlet they can pack up and move at cannibal 5anytime. They are hardly a settled people, still mostly hunting and gathering. Yet we have seen the great civilization city of Kish in Mesopotamia, cities in Weret’s Egypt, and even earlier, the city of Jericho. So where does the Neolithic end and the copper age begin and then copper end and bronze begin? Things blend into each other much more than I ever imagined back when I was at the university memorizing exact dates, and they go on for much, much longer than I ever imagined.”

“What did Nuwa say?” Lockhart asked rhetorically. “They did not call it Longshan culture. They just called it life. Same here I suppose.”

They camped that night in a field beside a forest full of tall bushes. Lockhart set a watch in the night. He did not expect that they would be disturbed, but after all this time, he erred on the side of caution. He and Roland took the second shift, around ten o’clock, when Lincoln and Alexis went to bed. Decker and Elder Stow would take the wee hours, when Elder Stow’s scanner would be most useful. Katie and Boston had the sunrise, and usually made some kind of coffee, which Lockhart appreciated. It was a relaxed watch, but a watch all the same.

Boston woke when Roland got up. She closed her eyes right away to go back to sleep, but could not get back to sleep. She checked the moon and saw it was a fingernail, which was good. If Bob the wolf followed them into this time zone, and she did not doubt that he did, at least he would not go wolf on them.

Boston sat up as Lockhart finished putting some wood on the fire and walked off to his place on the perimeter. It was still early enough in the spring to be chilly in the night. Boston blamed the sea nal Rhodes inandbreezes. She spent several minutes listening for the sounds in the night and touching the points in her ears before she stood. She wondered briefly how she might look with a dress like she saw on Avalon before they went though the Heart of Time and got whisked back to the beginning of history. Shaping her fairy weave would be easy enough, but she wished she had Alexis’ mirror to look.

Boston stood. She was always an energetic girl, no doubt why she graduated early from high school and college, and got her doctorate in electrical engineering at such a young age, but that was not all of it. She rode rodeo, and grew up with her brothers as a tom-boy, running around and getting into trouble. Redneck trouble, she thought, but to be sure, it was Massachusetts redneck.

“Psst,” Boston heard the sound and wondered why her human alert system did not warn her a stranger was near. “Psst, elf.” A goblin head poked out from between two bushes. Boston was wary, but she was thrilled that this little one talked to her, and called he elf, which she was. She could not help responding.

“What?” she directed her whisper to the head, almost without thinking about it, like it was a natural thing to prevent waking the others. The goblin pulled out his hands and waved them at her, tossing a bit of dirt in her direction, and a monster of a troll reached out with incredibly long arms and grabbed her. Boston was prepared to scream, but her mouth was magically sealed. As the three goblins and the troll forced her into the woods, she tried to think to Roland, but even that was stymied, and after a minute she passed out from something like lack of oxygen, but it was lack of connection.

Underneath her change from human to elf, Boston did not realize that when she was cut off from the human race, she was connected to the natural world in an absolute way. It was a literal connection to life around the globe that sustained her life and that she helped to sustain with her life. When that na cave entranceconnection was stifled, it was indeed like being cut off from oxygen. Fortunately, she came back after a short way, and the goblin complained.

“I can’t keep it up any longer,” he said, and looked drained.

“It’s all right, Boogern. We are close enough to the mountain. The light elves won’t follow us underground.”

“Hey, Flintskin,” The troll that was carrying Boston had to ask. “Does that mean we shouldn’t take this light elf underground?”

“No, Chewy, ya idiot. This one is our prisoner. We need to teach these light elves they have no business going about in the dark time.”

Boston tried not to laugh. Chewy the troll did look a little like something out of Star Wars.

“Kraken,” Flintskin spoke to the third goblin. Lead the way. They came to the entrance, a cave, and Kraken got a torch from some hidden place behind the wall. He got his flint, but as the torch came to bump Boston in the shoulder, she thought she could help. It was easy to cause the torch to light up. Magic in general was easier for her since she became an elf. As a human, she had to really focus and shove all her extraneous thoughts out of her mind to do anything. As an elf, she just reached into that compartment of her brain where she kept her magic, and there it was. Of course, the goblins were startled, and Chewy almost dropped her.

nal lit torch“Boogern. You didn’t say she had magic in her.” Flintskin hit the goblin who cowered.

“I didn’t know.”

“You know, I can walk,” Boston offered.

“Not a chance,” Flintskin responded. “You can run like the wind, ya mean. But we aren’t letting go until you are safely locked up.”

Boston pouted and looked up at her troll. “Chewy, be gentle with me.”

“Yes mum,” the troll responded, impressed with her little bit of magic

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Don’t miss tomorrow and the conclusion of the first half of Avalon, episode 3.8.  Avalon 3.8 will conclude next Monday and Tuesday.  Help yourself to this free read.  Enjoy.

Avalon 3.8: Pirate Cove, part 1 of 5

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After 2737 BC, Rhodes in the Aegean. Kairos lifetime 41: Nalishayas, pirate beauty

Recording …

Roland and Boston came through the time gate, laughing, and found themselves up to their horses necks in sea water. They had to turn around to get to the beach, and found the rest of the crew stopped part way there. The beach was being guarded by a group of mermen and mermaids. Lincoln was arguing, Decker was arming himself, Katie was trying to sound reasonable, and Elder Stow was floating above the waves, trying to keep his feet dry.

“Hey!” Boston yelled. “Leave my friends alone.” She kicked Honey, her horse, to get closer. The horse moved sluggishly forward, but Roland came right with her. When they came up beside the others, Boston stared. There merpeople were clearly people, like flesh and blood. They were not spirits and certainly did not belong to the Kairos.Nal mermaids

The mermen acknowledged the elves, and the mermen looked twice at the elf maid, much to the chagrin of several mermaids, but they were not inclined to move, and their spears looked sharp.

“Quiet a minute,” Lockhart spoke loud enough for everyone to stop speaking. “We are looking for the Kairos. Perhaps you could direct us.”

One merman pulled in front of the others. “Nalishayas is our friend more than enemy. We have allowed her use of the secret grotto and bay of tranquility for her ships to satisfy the goddess, but her sailors are not friends. They filth the seas with their stink.”

“We have come into the future to find her,” Lockhart continued. “It would be a kindness for all to let us get to shore before our horses filth the sea with their stink.”

“What are horses?”

Katie patted her horses neck. “These are horses. They are plain animals.”

Two mermen startled the travelers when they broke the surface of the water practically from under their feet. They went and whispered to the merman out front, and he eyed them carefully before he spoke. Boston and Roland both heard what was whispered, but Roland prevented Boston from speaking.

“You are not some deformed centaurs trying to invade this land of peace?” the merman asked.

“No, we are human,” Lockhart said.

“Hey, I’m not human,” Boston said sharply, and then she grinned her elfish best.nal mermaids 2

“That is what made us stop and see. Even deformed centaurs would not grow into elf shape. We see you have feet, but do you walk on them? I do not know these horses you speak of.”

“Let one go to shore and they will show you. The rest of us will wait here until you are satisfied,” Lockhart offered.

“We pose you no threat,” Alexis added, and the merman pointed to her. She did not hesitate to take Misty Gray to the shore where she got down and stepped away. The merpeople could all see she was an ordinary human and the horse was a separate animal. Then Misty came from behind and nudged Alexis’ shoulder.

“They are like the dolphins of Amphitrite, but not made to go underwater,” Alexis said.

“They are helpful creatures, but shy and sometimes frightened of strangers,” Lincoln added as one of the mermaids swam up beside the merman in front.

nal mermaid 1“Can I sit on a horse?” she asked.

“That may be hard without legs,” Katie said.

“I can make legs,” the mermaid said.

“Melsaiahsh,” the merman sounded like he was scolding the mermaid.

“But Papa,” the mermaid responded. “They seem so nice.” The merman swam aside and waved the people to go up on shore. Melsaiahsh did not wait for permission. She raced to shore and walked out on the beach as her fish tail went away. Several other maids followed, and two of the younger mermen as well.

“Make camp,” Lockhart called out, since it was already late in the day when they came through the gate. “This fairy weave clothing is amazing.” It was already dry. “But some of the equipment should be checked, including the weapons.” He turned to whisper to Katie. “Not that I’m expecting trouble.”

“But you should be,” Boston interrupted with a grin. “Trouble is the Kairos’ middle name.”

That evening was spent giving rides to all the boys and girls and cooking a fine fish dinner. The merpeople preferred their fish raw, but Lockhart said that he never went for Sushi. Decker shrugged. He was trained to eat whatever was available.

They said good-bye in the morning and headed inland. After a short distance, though, Boston had to pull out the amulet and give it a good shake. She explained.

“I’ve learned to read this thing so I know about where the Kairos is and where the next time gate is. But we are on an island here, and it seems to be acting up. It looks like the Kairos is down along the shore, but we could cut the shore, like go across country and reach the next gate without visiting the Kairos.”

“We can’t do that,” Alexis said.

“I know. I want to see her,” Boston agreed. “I have so much to tell her and to thank her and everything. I’m glad she is a woman again.”

“Why can’t we do that?” Decker asked. “The Kairos knows we are just trying to get home, and if there is a quick route to the next gate, I say we take it.”nal rhodes

Lockhart thought a minute before he spoke. “A visit with the Kairos is nice, but not required. We have never had this problem before. It may be the Kairos herself made the route so we could avoid trouble. Roland, we take the direct route.”

Roland peeked over Boston’s shoulder and nodded. He rode out front, and Boston rode with him.

“But—“ Boston started to speak. Roland interrupted.

“I am just as drawn to the Kairos as you are,” Roland said. “The idea of missing the opportunity to see her is breaking my heart, too. But Nuwa said I had a job, working for Lockhart, and last I looked, you still work for him, too. He is the boss and that is that.”

Boston had tears in her eyes. “Why do I care so much for her. I have not even met Nalishayas.”

“You know why,” Roland said. “You are pledged now to the Kairos, as we all are.” Boston cried, but just a little.

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

Be sure and return tomorrow and Wednesday for the first half of episode 3.8.  The second half, pirates and all, will be posted next Monday and Tuesday, free to read.  Enjoy.

*

Avalon 3.7: part 5 of 5, Day of Transformation

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Boston woke up early. She felt young and strong, and very happy, and did not think even once about it being that time of the month. She was twenty five, but tasted enough of the apple of youth to be more like nineteen or eighteen again and thought maybe that was the cause of her good feelings. Then again, she was in love, and maybe it was hard to feel bad when she was in love. She took that love out from its place in her brain and examined it from every angle. It was real, she understood, and she put it back where it belonged. Roland was her heart, as a fairy would say. She stood and went to Honey, her horse, to be sure he was all right.

“And you have a place in my heart, too,” she told Honey, and kissed the horse on the nose

“Hello demon,” someone spoke and Boston spun around to face a hooper. Her jaw dropped, because it was the first time she heard a hooper say anything other than “hoop, hoop.” The hooper continued. “Nuwa said we are supposed to follow around you until you reach the next time gate, whatever that is.”

“Yes. Thank you.” Boston did not know what else to say. Then as the hooper bounced off, she wondered why the hooper called her a demon. “Wait,” she said, but not loud enough to stop the hooper. She wondered why the hooper told her what Nuwa said. Wasn’t Nuwa still with them. She paused. The thought of Nuwa leaving them made her want to cry.cooking meat 3

Boston rushed to where Nuwa was sleeping and saw that she was gone. “Roland,” she called.

“What?” Elder Stow looked at her, and looked surprised.

“Thank goodness,” Alexis said. The others were all up as well, but they just stared at her.

“Where did Nuwa go?” Boston said in a sad, almost weepy voice.

“She was gone when we got up,” Lockhart said. “She must have snuck off in the night.”

“Why are you all staring at me?” Boston asked.

“You’ve changed,” Roland said as he walked up. “Alexis.” He looked at his sister and Alexis focused and waved her hand. A full length mirror appeared in front of Boston, and Boston’s hand immediately went to touch her own pointed ears. Then she made a comment.

“Wow, I have really lost weight.” That was followed by, “I still look like me. I like the ears. Won’t my mother be surprised,” and to Roland, “What do you think?” The mirror faded, while Roland could only grin. “Okay,” Boston said with a grin to match. She grabbed Roland’s hand and made him run back down the road. They ran at about sixty or seventy miles per hour.

“Pack up,” Lockhart said, and everyone else packed their things and got the horses ready to travel.

Avalon TravelersBoston spent the morning riding beside Roland, hearing all about elf life and about Avalon, a place that made her heart jump to think about it. “But it made my heart jump before,” she said. “So that’s not different.” She was comparing what was different about elf life from human life, and concluded that there was not much that was different, “Only elf life feels a lot cleaner. I don’t know if that is the right word.”

Boston spent the afternoon riding beside Alexis and heard all about life for an elf maid, which Boston was, though she said, “Not for long.” Alexis judged that Boston in her present age was about a hundred, maybe a hundred and ten or twenty, but no older. She also suggested Boston was acting like a fifty-year-old.

“But I suspect things will settle down soon enough.” Then she went on to tell Boston all about elf magic. “But you might not pick up any or much because you already have magic in your blood.”

“Oh.” Boston sounded disappointed.

“It takes practice, that’s all, and experience to see what you can really do.”

“That’s what Roland says,” Boston frowned and she looked very cute, as elf maidens do, and also zipped on to a new topic which removed the frown, in the blink of an eye, the way young elves do. “So my mind seems so clear, I can’t believe it. It is like I have these compartments in my brain, and every thought, and every memory has its place, and my memory is much better.”desert 4

“Yes. That took some getting used to,” Alexis admitted. “When I became human, everything in my mind jumbled together and got mixed up with everything else. I could not think anything without emotions creeping in and my feelings colored the whole world. It was strange for me, but after a while, I saw where that helped humans. Every decision had to be thorough and thought through on many levels. It made life much more complicated, but it made me much more careful in what I said and what I did.”

“I know a few women who have managed to disconnect that thoughtful part,” Boston said.

“Don’t name them. See? You were about to name them without thinking that maybe it would be best if I didn’t know. I mean, we will some day get home and I will have to work around those women.”

“Me, too.” Boston said, and tried to be thoughtful. “Roland too. Maybe I should not talk for a while. I can listen. My hearing is really good now. I can even hear the insects crawling around the nearby rocks, which I suppose is kind of creepy. And my eyes are great, I bet ten-ten vision, or better. And Roland was a good kisser before, but now I kind of taste him, if you know what I mean. He makes my toes curl up to my knees.”

“You are right,” Alexis interrupted. “You should listen and hold your tongue for a while.”

Boston stuck out her tongue and pinched it with her finger and thumb. She turned to Alexis and said, “Thust kidding.”

That afternoon, the travelers went up a steep trail as directed by the hoopers to a path along the top of the ridge. Decker and Elder Stow had to move in, and it was single file in places, but as Lockhart said, “At least they won’t be able to drop the ridge on us up here.”

“No,” Lincoln countered. “Just pull it out from beneath our feet.”

Nuwa silk road 1It was an hour before sundown, and they got word that they were being followed. They were not surprised, since they had to move so slowly all day. The hoopers said there were three hands worth of men behind them and one was in front of the others rushing to catch up.

“Sounds like Qinjong, and a scout sent ahead to pinpoint our location,” Lockhart suggested.

Lincoln disagreed. “Nuwa said the Qinjong were new to this business, just in the last few years. I would not imagine they have figured out things like scouts and such.”

Decker pointed at Lincoln. “What he said.”

“The one out front might be running away from the Qinjong,” Katie suggested, and she stared hard at Lockhart, so he put up no struggle.

“All right. We can wait, but he better hurry. It is going to be dark in an hour and this is not a good place to make camp.”

The travelers did not see anyone until sundown, and then they were sorry they waited.

“It’s Bob,” Katie said, and they all saw the naked, insane man howling and growling, running to catch them.

“And Qinjong on the lower road,” Alexis pointed.

“Where?” Lincoln asked, and several others looked and pointed.werewolf 1

Bob paused, and seemed to follow where they were pointing. He started down the ridge, and they caught a vague glimpse of his transformation to the wolf. No one doubted he was the full wolf by the time he arrived at the bottom. They heard the Qinjong and their ponies screaming as they rode off.

Lockhart kept them riding most of the night, and only let them walk their horses a few times. With sunrise, he let everyone sleep a few hours, but he knew the full moon functioned for three nights as far as the werewolf was concerned, and he wanted out of that time zone before the wolf caught them.

They found the time gate right near sunset. Boston and Roland lingered as the others went through. Boston was testing her senses, several of which she did not have as a human. She thought thank you to the hoopers, and knew her message was received. She searched back the way they had come, but sensed no trace of Mingus, so she spoke.

“Father Mingus, please hurry. Now that we have settled things, I want to marry your son.” She turned to Roland. “Will he get the message?”

Roland shrugged. “The message will linger for about a day before it fades, but he may be too far behind. Then again, he may have snuck around us at some point and be ahead of us. There is no way to tell as long as he keeps himself hidden.”

Boston nodded, and thought about being an elf, and smiled. “Let’s go home,” she said. “I hope the rest of your family likes me.”

Roland raised his eyebrows at a different thought. “I hope your mother likes me.” They went thought the gate, side by side.

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

Beginning next Monday, Avalon episode 3.8, where Boston learns a hard lesson about distrust between goblins and elves, and the travelers confront the human version of distrust when they visit the original “Pirate Cove.”

pirate cove 5

Avalon 3.7: part 4 of 5, Day of the Moon

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“Ambush,” Decker pulled his rifle as Roland came back from the front and Elder Stow came in from the other side.

“How do you know?” Lockhart asked, while he pulled the shotgun and Katie got her own rifle.

Decker looked at Nuwa. “One of your guys came up and said, “hoop, hoop,” and pointed.”

“Any Pendratti?” Nuwa asked. Decker shook his head.

“Not that I saw.”

“Options?” Lockhart looked at the two marines, but Elder Stow spoke first.

“I could set a screen to the side that arrows and such cannot penetrate, that is, if we can ride past them.”

“Can you make it one sided so we can shoot them?” Decker asked. Elder Stow nodded, and Decker explained. “We need to hurt them so they don’t try again, further down the road.”

Lockhart frowned, but he did not say no.Nuwa 4

When the were ready, they did not move very far before the arrow barrage came from the rocks. The arrows all fell short when they hit Elder Stow’s screen. Decker and Katie returned fire, but Katie stopped after a moment. Lockhart had to tell Decker to stop and follow, since he was falling behind. Elder Stow left a parting shot with his sonic device. He loosened some rocks overhead and started a bit of an avalanche. He said something to the group about it.

“It was a good idea when they tried it.”

Nuwa got down from behind Katie once the were in the clear. Katie and Boston walked their horses, with Lockhart near. Roland went back out to the point and Decker and Eder Stow went again to the wings. Lincoln and Alexis appeared to take up where the left off the day before. No one knew what the were talking about, but it felt like a private conversation.

Boston started the questions this time. “So who are these Qinjong?”

“Western people. The live in the Qinghai and the Kunlun Mountains around the headwaters of the He, and they are not Longshan people. They were a quiet, peaceful people all my life until recently. If they were migrating, moving in, becoming part of the people, that would be one thing, but I know of no reason, drought or pestilence or disease or anything to make them change their ways or move out of their place. But in these last few years they have come into our land like a bunch of Saxon raiders, burning whole villages and carting people off as slaves. You don’t understand. They are hunters and gatherers. They have no use for slaves. That is just another mouth to feed. So I thought to find out where the people are going, and I actually did check the mountains first. That is where I found Tien. And now I am checking the south side, on the edge of Tibet.”

Nuwa silk road 2“I think we are close,” Katie said. “If you were off base, they would not be trying so hard to stop you.”

“Not much room here, all things considered. We cross the highland peaks to our right and we end up in the Tarim basin, where the desert is. Go far enough to our left and we run into the Himalayan Mountains.”

“What will you do when you find the Pendratti?” Boston asked.

“I can’t say,” Nuwa answered. “You never know who might be listening in.”

###

That evening, as people relaxed around the fire, Nuwa thought to talk to the couples present. Lockhart was telling old jokes, and Katie was laughing at them like they were brand new. Nuwa thought there was something to be said for the generation gap between those two, but she knew they were simmering and hardly cooked at all, so she moved to the old couple. Alexis and Lincoln were married longer than their present ages. After nibbling on the apple of life, Lincoln turned twenty-nine or so. Alexis could not be older than twenty-five.

“We’ve been married thirty-five years,” Alexis said. “I know it is hard to think this way, especially for Benjamin, but I would like to have another baby.”

“Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad,” Lincoln said, softly, and Nuwa knew she had to intervene.

“I hope you can hold off until you get home,” she said. “Now is not the time to be having a baby. Alexis, you will never make it through your last trimester the way you are moving through time, not if you face any trouble, and more importantly, when the baby is born, it will be time locked in that place. You won’t be able to bring it into the future with you.”Moon 2

Alexis and Lincoln looked at each other like this was something they never considered. then they all looked up at the sound of a distant howl. Lincoln looked for the moon, but Alexis did not doubt it was their werewolf, the one Katie called Bob.

“The sound might travel for miles in this scrub and rocky land,” Lincoln suggested.

“It might,” Nuwa said, and she excused herself to talk to the young lovers.

Roland and Boston were being very quiet. “I thought you two would have walked side by side these last couple of days. What gives?” Nuwa took a seat by the fire where she could eye the both of them

“We’ve been arguing,” Boston admitted. Nuwa said nothing, so Boston looked at Roland and he explained.

“I am now one hundred and twenty-seven years old, if estimates are correct on how long we have been traveling in the time zones, and I have spent months in the company of humans—ordinary humans, an unheard of thing for an elf. What is more, I have had a chance to observe humans and human ways up close, even in these days long before my time, and I have come to appreciate how complex and diverse the human—the homo sapiens race really is, and how fragile it is in the face of a hostile universe. What is more, I am in love with a human and I can’t seem to help it, great sin though it is for my kind.”

“I am ready to become an elf, if you can do that,” Boston interrupted.

“No,” Roland started to protest, but paused when Nuwa held up her hand.

Boston 3b“Very elfishly spoken,” Nuwa said with a smile for Boston. “To interrupt a Bean in the midst of a heart-felt confession.” Nuwa grinned, and Boston grinned with her. “But it is never wrong to be content with who you are. Much of the evil and confusion in the human race is due to people who are unwilling to be who they were born to be.”

“My parents and brothers already think I’m an elf, or a fairy, but I never had a desire to fly. Even Alexis says I have more elf in me than she has.”

Nuwa shook her head. “That is not how you were born.”

“No. I am prepared to become human, and work for Lockhart and the Men in Black,” Roland responded, mostly to Boston. “And no matter how long or short my life, I don’t mind as long as I get to live it with you.” Boston just shook her head and gave Roland an elf grin.

“I’m not going to be responsible for killing your father,” Boston said. “I like him.”

Nuwa held her hand up again to speak. “I accept your application to work for the Men in Black. Report to Lockhart in the morning.” Roland smiled, because he thought she was going to grant his request and make him human. “And Boston, The Almighty, my God will never abandon you, but you are asking for another layer in between your life and Heaven. Are you prepared to have an ordinary human being as your goddess, or god as the case may be, to love you and care about you, and in my own stumbling, fallible human way, to watch over you and direct your steps. You know, I am not Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. I am not always in a good mood.”

Boston nodded. “But I have never met you in any life where I was not drawn to you, and cared about you, and anyway, you are Lockhart’s boss, so I figure most of it won’t change. As for heaven, I trust in the Lord, and I trust in you too, already, so again, I don’t see much changing. And sometimes you scare me already, so that probably won’t change.”

“Everything will be different,” Roland objected. “You have no idea.”

“I’m willing and ready,” Boston said.Alexis 3

“I’m the one to change. I know what I am getting into.”

“You don’t. You can’t” Alexis interrupted her brother. “You have no idea, either one of you.”

Boston and Roland heard, but ran out of things to say, so they stared at Nuwa to make a decision. Nuwa simply stared back before she decided something. “Sleep on it,” she said. “Things may clear up in the morning. Wait until daylight.” She rolled over to sleep, and said nothing more.

Avalon 3.5 Strange Bedfellows, part 1 of 5

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

Recording …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Ah! But what about children?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Like a threat,” Decker countered.

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

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

Avalon 2.9 Healings

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            Obstacles and enemies overcome, and it looks like the travelers may have an open route to the young couples trapped on the riverbank.  Getting them out of there safely is a whole other proposition, especially when there are wounded who do not look at all well.

###

            Everyone looked up when they heard the loud cracks in the distance.  “What is that?”  Vinnu asked.  She was easily spooked and said she felt claustrophobic being trapped between the Jaccar warriors and the Danube.

            Flern stood slowly and walked toward the sounds.  “The cavalry,” she said, and then thought to offer a better explanation.  “Friends of mine, and maybe help to get out of this mess.”  Vilder and Pinn stepped up to flank Flern and they waited, but not for long.

            “Flern?”  The call came from a man on horseback.  Flern waved as the man stopped and dismounted.

            “Lockhart.  Good to see you.  You don’t want to be here.”

            “Lady!”  Roland interrupted and came up quickly.  He dismounted before his horse completely stopped and untied Boston’s stretcher from the back.  He floated it gently towards the waiting trio.  “Lady.  It’s Boston.  She’s been shot.”  Boston was presently delirious with fever.

            “Let me see.”  Flern stepped up as Roland butted in front of Lockhart and stepped down on the small beach. 

            “Elder Stow got the arrow out of her middle, but she appears to be getting worse, not better.  Is it an infection?  Is Alexis near?”

            “Bring her,” Flern said, but as she turned, Kined spoke up.

            “Flern!”  He called to her and lifted a hand to reach for her.

            “He has a bad fever,” Riah reported.

            “Make a place,” Flern said, and Vilder and Pinn helped so Flern could set Boston beside Kined.  “My husband took an arrow in the leg.  Doctor Mishka treated the wound so it can’t be an infection.  I don’t know what to do.”  Flern looked up at Thrud and Kiren, Gunder and Vinnu, but they were keeping back, wary of these strangers.

            “Slow poison?”  Pinn suggested.  “That is all we could think of.”  She looked up at Vilder who nodded. 

            “What is the situation?”  Katie asked as she, Lincoln and Lockhart came up.  Captain Decker was already in among the trees that grew along the riverbank, trying to see some evidence of the enemy.  There were campfires, but well behind a rise in the grasslands.

            While Roland and Riah passed some unspoken elfish words, eye to eye, Flern squeezed Kined’s hand and stood.  “Katie.  We got bronze.”  She pointed to the idle wagons out in the field. 

            “What?  No.”  Katie, the group expert in ancient cultures and technologies was impressed.  This was a big step in the development of civilization.

            Flern just nodded and fought the tears in her eyes.  “We got it to arm our people against the Jaccar.  Our village is captive to the Wicca.”  She broke down and fell on Kined.  “We have only been married a month.  I don’t want to lose him.”

            Lockhart looked at Elder Stow who was the last to vacate the edge of the grasses for the beach.  He just shook his head, sadly, to say there was nothing he could do against slow poison.

            “Alexis could pull it out the way she and Anenki’s daughter did back in that time zone,” Lincoln said.  “Maybe one of the gods?”  He looked at Flern but she sadly shook her head.

            “The gods are not permitted to interfere or Mother Vrya or Artemis would have done so.  And as for me, this is not exactly time threatening.  These are human problems and must be solved in a human way.”  Flern sniffed.  “Or not.”

            Goldenwing chose that moment to rush up.  He fluttered briefly out over the river and returned  “My lady,” he said.  “Beware.”  The water began to roll, and close to shore.  “Black sea snake.”  And the snake rose out of the water some fifteen feet in the air to hover over those on the riverbank.  It began to weave and spread its cobra-like head in preparation for feeding.  The mouth was easily big enough to swallow a person whole.

            Thrud, Vinnu and Lincoln all screamed, and Lincoln added, “I hate snakes.”  But then the snake struck.  It dropped straight toward Vinnu and big Gunder was barely able to pull her out of the way in time for the snake to eat dirt.  The snake tried to move laterally with the young woman, but there were several, sudden loud cracks, and the snakes eye poured out blood.  It squirmed more rapidly than its strike, and even as Lockhart unloaded his shotgun which turned the snake’s neck to mush, the head caught him in the shoulder, bowled him over and scratched his forearm.

            As the snake sank back into the water to die, Katie knelt down.  “Robert.  Are you all right?” 

            “Just a scratch.”  He tried to shrug it off.

            “Oh,” Riah spoke up before Roland could.  “But they are deadly poisonous.”

            Elder Stow shook his head.  “You would think being so big and all they would not need poison.”

            “Wait,” Lincoln and Pinn both spoke at the same time and pointed.  Something green and pussy formed in the cut on Lockhart’s arm.  It dripped to the ground, and then the cut began to close.

            “How is that possible?”  Vilder asked and looked at Pinn.

            “Yes!”  Flern saw and jumped up even as Lockhart explained.

            “I must still have plenty of functioning Gaian healing chits.”

            “And what are Gaian healing chits?”

            Flern took over the explanation as she examined Lockhart’s vanishing wound and his hands.  “The Gaian are humans from a parallel universe and more advanced technologically than you, Elder.  Far more advanced.  The chits are organic and microscopic and were given to Lockhart to heal his crippled back and legs.”

            “They liberated me from my wheelchair,” Lockhart confessed.

            “Lockhart.”  Flern got his attention as she made him get up and follow her to Boston.  Roland looked up at them with tears in the corners of his eyes.

            “She is passing into a coma,” he said. 

            “Do you love Boston?”  Flern asked.    

            “Yes,” Roland said, but Flern was talking to Lockhart.

            “You know I do.”

            “I don’t know if yours can be reprogrammed.  You don’t really have the seeds to grow more when yours are gone, but here is what you must do.  Think about how much you care about Boston and want to see her well.  You want the poison and infection out of her and her wound healed.  You must think that very hard and think that some of your chits go to your pinky finger.  I am going to try a transfer.”

            “Will that work?”  Lincoln was the one who asked what everyone wondered.

            Flern became flustered.  “I don’t know.  I just don’t know what else to do.”

            “I’m thinking,” Lockhart said and held out his hand. 

            “Unwrap her,” Flern told Roland and she pulled out her long knife.  Boston’s wound had festered under the bandage.  It was yellowed and wrinkled like it was too long in the tub.  Flern cut it and set it to bleeding again.  Most chose not to watch.  Then she brought Lockhart’s hand close and told him to keep thinking about healing Boston.  She gave his pinky finger a poke and a few drops of blood dripped into Boston’s wound.

            “Clean bandage.  Cover her back up,” Flern said, before she turned back to Kined and began to cry.  He was delirious, not yet at the coma stage.  She imagined it took longer for the poison to travel up from his leg.

            Lockhart leaned over to comfort her.  “I have another pinky, you know.”

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Avalon 2.9  In the Night, Dark and Light … Next Time

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Avalon 2.9: The Army of Invention

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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After 3440 BC in the Ukraine.  Kairos life 29: Flern

Recording…

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            Flern felt cold hands on the back of her neck.  She shrieked and jumped.  Thrud looked up from her cooking and laughed.  Vinnu, who was leaning back comfortably in Big Gunder’s arms while he leaned against a tree hid her smile.  The boys, Gunder and Kiren knew better than to smile at all, much as they might have liked.  Flern frowned, but as she looked up, Kined bent down and kissed her.  That was fine.  She was suddenly not mad anymore.  Flern and Kined had been married for almost a whole month.

            “Where is Vilder?” Kined asked as he grabbed the seat next to his wife.  Flern took his hand and smiled at her own thoughts.

            “He took Pinn past the trees to the little beach on the river,” Kiren said as he patted Thrud’s butt gently to move her over in order to snitch a pinch of the deer to taste test.

            “It’s not done yet,” Thrud protested.

            “Seems we need to throw a bucket of water on those two,” Gunder spoke up while Vinnu squirmed into a more comfortable position in his arms.

            “The river is cold,” Kined suggested, but with a look at Flern he verbalized, “The Danube,” before he finished his thought.  “Maybe we could throw them in.”

            “You’re talking about Vilder and Pinn?”  Vinnu was half-listening as usual.  No one answered her.

            “So where are Riah and Goldenwing?” Kiren asked as he retook his seat to wait for the deer to be done.  Flern said nothing.  She merely looked at Kined, let go of his hand, took his arm and inched up close beside him.  Kined tried to look serious.

            “Let me see.”  He concentrated despite Flern’s attempt to tickle him.

            Thrud spoke an aside to Vinnu.  “Riah and Goldenwing might as well pair off, too.”

            “But we are all married, not just paired off,” Vinnu responded, not quite sure what Thrud was suggesting, but by then Thrud eyed Flern who ignored her friend to focus on her husband.

            “Er!” Kined started to speak but first he had to peal Flern’s free hand off his knee.  “Riah and Goldenwing went out to hunt and scout ahead for when we leave in the morning.  They are – wait.  What?”  Kined jumped up and shoved Flern to the ground in the process.  Flern let out a shout of protest even as an arrow struck Kined in the thigh.  Kiren jumped up and Gunder deposited Vinnu on her rump in the grass as he leapt to help.

            Goldenwing the fairy zoomed up and got big so the others would be protected behind him and his golden armor.  “To the river!” he shouted as a second arrow hit the log Flern and Kined had been using as a seat.  Goldenwing pulled his bow from some invisible pocket, but Riah already had hers out and the elf maid was coming on faster than any human could possibly run.  She let two arrows fly in the span of a single breath and a grass carpet out in the open field began to rise before it fell back to the dirt to never move again.

            “To the woods by the river,” Goldenwing shouted again as he readied his bow and Riah came up huffing and puffing from her run.  She was elf fast, but she was not fairy fast.

            “Kined!”  Flern yelled her concern as Gunder and Kiren helped Kined walk to the river.  She stuck her head up, but there was another arrow.  It fell short, but Flern put her head right back down.  This time Riah and Goldenwing shot together and another grass rug stopped moving.

            “Now.”  Riah nudged Flern with her foot, but everyone paused when they heard the sound of thunder coming on fast.  Flern stood, but someone stood in front of her.  It was Vrya, the Aesgard goddess of love and war. 

            “My son,” Vrya said and touched Flern’s face gently.  “Even when you are my daughter.”  The goddess smiled and another figure appeared.

            “I don’t belong here,” Artemis said.  “I just came to tell you if you have to escape across the river I could maybe help.”

            “I invite you,” Vrya also smiled for the Olympian.  “As my sister among the Amazon, you are welcome to kill as many of these men as you wish.”  And with that word more than a hundred horsemen came into view, in a full charge.  Goldenwing and Riah could only stare in awe as the two goddesses looked at each other before they let loose a virtual rain of arrows on the oncoming horsemen.  It was only moments before those horses turned toward a distant rise they could hide behind.  They abandoned their dead and wounded as they rode for their lives.

            The goddesses stopped firing at once and their bows disappeared as they turned toward Flern.  Vrya slipped one arm around Flern’s shoulder and Artemis slipped her arm over from the other side.  In this way, the goddesses turned Flern toward the river and spoke as they walked.  Goldenwing, fairy small again sat on Riah’s shoulder and they followed.  The cooking fire with the deer still cooking away also followed them to the riverbank.

            “I shouldn’t be here,” Vrya said.

            “I really shouldn’t be here,” Artemis repeated herself with a nod.

            “But maybe if these Jaccar think we are still here, they won’t try another charge.”

            “I can’t speak for the ones in the grass.”  Artemis glanced around.  It was all grasslands apart from the trees that lined the riverbank.  The three wagons that carried the bronze making equipment and bronze weapons that Flern and her friends were trying to get home to liberate their village from these very Jaccar sat idle in the grass.  All of the horses Flern and her crew rode and with which they pulled the wagons also grazed essentially undisturbed by what just happened.

            “Of course,” Vrya spoke again as they stepped behind the trees.  “Since I am not really here, you will have to find your own way out of this mess.”  She kissed Flern on the cheek and vanished.

            Artemis turned to face Flern.  “Sorry about your man getting shot.  Probably another reason why I don’t want one.”  Artemis smiled for Flern like it was some kind of inside joke.  “But seriously, if you decide to cross the river, I will help.”

            Flern looked back across the grass toward the rise that hid the Jaccar.  “It may come to that, but first I have to do everything I can to keep the bronze from falling into Jaccar hands.  They are a terror with stone and copper.  With bronze they would be unstoppable.”

            Artemis merely nodded and planted her own more tentative kiss on Flern’s cheek before she vanished as well.

            Flern paused and looked around.  She was at the bottom of the four foot river bank beneath the trees.  The deer was still cooking at the top of the bank, above her shoulder in a slight clearing among the woods that she never noticed before.  Kined grinned for her though his pain and the others all looked at her, including Vilder and Pinn who had obviously dressed quickly.  Flern frowned again.

            “Okay,” she said.  “How do we get out of this one and keep the bronze out of Jaccar hands?”  That was all she could say before she stepped over to Kined to hug him and cry all over him. 

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Avalon 2.9:  Dead and Wounded … Next Time

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