Kairos

Avalon 3.1: part 4 of 7, Down Inside

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Lockhart and Lincoln got into a small shouting match in the morning. Which one was up and why didn’t they see the body being removed. Decker, Roland and Elder Stow ignored them and followed the trail of the frozen body. There were tracks. Roland called them goblin tracks, and at least one troll. They lead to where the tree line ended and they faced a stone wall, a cliff, not more than fifteen feet high, but which lead to the peaks above.

Alexis, Boston and Katie stayed out of it. They wisely packed up the camp and were ready to go as soon as the men came back. It was still much too cold to stay at that elevation, and it looked like it was threatening snow.

When the travelers reached the cliff face, Elder Stow asked everyone to keep back for a minute while he turned on his scanner. He estimated about five feet of rock face and a big open cavern behind. He brought out his sonic device and tried to find the right frequency to bring down the wall. A couple of rocks fell from the top of the cliff, but the wall remained unchanged. He tried his weapon and turned it up until it looked hot enough to melt the rocks, but still no effect. He tried several other devices before he backed away.

“It must be protected by a very powerful bit of magic,” he said.

“Let me try.” Boston was the first to ride up and get out her wand. She couldn’t do anything to make an opening, but Alexis was right behind her. Alexis tried several things that Boston, the beginner, would not necessarily know. Finally she called.

“Roland.”cliff face in snow

He came up and tried one thing, and then added his magic to Alexis. Boston also joined her magic to the group, but the three of them together had no effect. The rock wall remained unmoved and looked like it had never been touched.

Lockhart, Katie and Decker were discussing if they could extract enough shotgun shells from the never empty weapon to cobble together into something like dynamite, when Lincoln pushed his horse all the way up to the wall. “My turn,” he said, though the others ignored him thinking, what could he do? Lincoln dismounted and stepped up to where he put his hand right through the wall.

“A glamour,” Alexis breathed.

“A work of art,” Roland agreed.

“I figured it out when the technology and magic were unable to do anything. We had a wall in front of the caves in Emotep’s day, but not nearly as sophisticated as this one, I bet.” He got back up on his horse and rode through the illusion of a cliff. The others slowly followed.

Immediately, the travelers felt warmed. It was still chilly underground where the sun never visited, but it was not nearly as cold as outside. The freezing wind that blew down from the glacier could no longer reach them.

“Where to?” Lockhart asked.

Roland and Alexis made fairy globes of light and let them rise up into the air to illuminate the cavern. Boston wanted to make one as well, but she imagined her pitiful little light would not be much help. It soon became clear that despite the completely natural look of the cave, they were in an entrance hall. There were a half-dozen or more tunnels that lead from the cave into the heart of the mountain.

Major Decker and Captain Harper got out their military lanterns, the ones with a spotlight on the front. They had those alien batteries in them that would keep them running for several days before they needed a recharge in the sun. They looked down several tunnels and also noted several burn spots in the far wall where Elder Stow’s weapon breached the glamour at the front door. They were all kind enough not to point that out to the Elder.

“I’m not getting clear information underground,” Elder Stow spoke up. He had his scanner out and shook it once like maybe it was not being honest with him. “I’m picking up a number of carbon based forms, but which one is the body of the ghost, I couldn’t say.”

“Just track our journey,” Lockhart said. “If we have to, we may need to back out the way we came in.”

“That I can do.”underground tunnels

After examining the tunnels, Roland made his recommendation. “We need to stick to the troll tunnels since they are the only ones big enough to accommodate the horses.” He got down from his horse. “I assume leaving the horses here would be an invitation to the goblins to make horse bacon.” He straightened the fairy weave tent turned horse blanket. “I recommend keeping the blankets on the horses for now and softening their steps. Let me show you.” He separated four small pieces of fairy weave and made them expand and thicken as he caused them to wrap around the horse’s hooves. They became like horse slippers that would protect the horse against rough passages and sharp rocks and at the same time deaden the clip, clip sound of their gate. Everyone did the same.

They determined they had two choices, tunnels that were clearly troll worked. Elder Stow said there were lots of something living down one passage. Lincoln insisted they take the other one.

“Okay,” Lockhart said. “We take the Lincoln Tunnel and maybe end up in New York City. But from here on, only speak if necessary, and whisper.”

Roland took the lead as always. He brought his fairy light down from the ceiling so it could illuminate the way. Boston came next and was followed by Captain Decker and his lantern. He used the spotlight to light up the passages that broke off from the main tunnel. Alexis and Lincoln came next, in front of Katie who carried her lantern and used it in much the same way as Decker. Elder Stow was behind her with his eyes glued to his scanner, and Lockhart covered the rear where Alexis had her fairy light floating along a few yards behind.

For all their efforts, the group made plenty of sound. Lockhart imagined any goblins or whatever would have no trouble knowing exactly where they were. He tried not to think about it. From the first, Lockhart was not comfortable with all of the so-called little ones or little spirits that answered to the Kairos. There was something unnatural about the most natural people. Then again, certain aliens he encountered in the years since did not exactly leave him sleeping nights. They were all what he called inhuman, and he more than once admitted he was xenophobic. He couldn’t help it.

Lockhart looked at the Neanderthal that floated along unconcerned in front of him. He knew that Elder Stow was not a bad person, and he had come to believe the Gott-Druk would keep his word, but there was something about him that simply made Lockhart uncomfortable. That was doubly so to see the Neanderthal in a space suit. Reality was weird, he thought. Who needed fantasy?

cave tunnel

He thought of the first time he met the Kairos. The Storyteller, Glen was a freshman at a small college in Michigan where he did not seem to be succeeding. Lockhart was a young police officer in town, and newly married. There were Gott-Druk there, too, working on a formula they planned to dump into the local reservoir that would completely destroy human will power. His sister took a long time to get over her exposure to the stuff. He remembered that adventure was a wild ride. That was where he first met the Princess, and some other lifetimes of the Kairos. Of course, after that he could not exactly go back to writing traffic tickets.

He went to work for Jax and the Men in Black. He moved his wife to Virginia, and they had children, but his wife never adjusted. She eventually left him and poisoned the children against him. So now he was looking at Katie Harper. He knew he was going to marry the woman, but it wasn’t going to be an easy thing to do .He figured he had to purge some of his old feelings first. That was some ground to cover. Heck, he first met the Kairos over forty years ago, five thousand years in the future.

Lockhart grinned. It was usually the Kairos who said things like that.

“So Bonesplitter. Do you think we can get some good eating off the horse?”

Lockhart was startled to hear a voice so close to his side. He looked and saw the outline of a figure, but was glad the lighting was so dim. Bonesplitter, an obvious troll, and a big one, simply grunted and reached for the horse.

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

Here ends the first half of episode 3.1. The second half of episode 3.1 will be posted Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (April 13, 14, and 15) of next week, same blog time, same blog channel.

Avalon 3.0: part 4 of 4 A New Beginning

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Junior sat down to watch the newly created Niudim eat. He was trying to discern certain more subtle aspects of his making when Lockhart interrupted.

“So where did the imps go?”

Junior nodded and left off his examination to answer. “The Mojave on the other side of the world where the goddess will never find them. The plan might not work, but at least they will be safe.”

“That’s it? You just sent them off?” Lincoln wondered.

“No.” Junior shook his head. “I gave them a lovely thatched roofed house with roses of the desert in their garden and a big pen full of buffalo and big horn sheep and other animals native to that part of the world.”

‘Sounds lovely,” Katie said.

Junior smiled for the first time and it warmed the hearts of everyone present. “Truth is they will eat through that food in a couple of weeks and probably accidentally burn the house down. Then they will be right back to their same old tricks, make a golem out of buffalo hide, and send him into the nearest village to beg, borrow or steal whatever is edible.”

hole in the earth“And what will you and Mister Bacon be doing?” Decker asked.

“We will head down into the underworld this evening at sundown. It would be better if you were not around for that.”

Lincoln shivered. “I can’t imagine not being afraid.”

Junior shook his head. “The Kairos has access to all the underworlds. I have little ones who work down below. I can go down and back up by pledge of all the gods and Hades, Erishkegal and even Hellas have no right or power to prevent me. I also happen to be immune to the food of the dead. A precaution I think, but then I am also immune to ambrosia, the divine nectar, the apples of youth, and of course fairy food.” Junior sighed.

Lockhart looked at Junior for a moment as if trying to figure out something in his own head before he moved. He could not guess, whatever it was, so he spoke. “Okay people, lets pack it up and see how far we can get in daylight.”

Junior and Niudim waved until the travelers were out of sight. The Travelers returned the sentiment, but it was not long before they were beyond of the only source of love in that world. The group moved mostly in silence. When they spoke, it was cordial. They were all trying hard to remember their true feelings, even if they were not feeling that way at the moment.

The sun seemed to take forever to set over that flat land of grass and sand. It was Lincoln who finally came to name the land the desert of Arabia. They were in the Middle East, but a long way from the Tigris and Euphrates. Fortunately, Junior made sure their water skins and canteens were full before they left.

Roland did not have to go far to find a gazelle that appeared to want to be taken for supper. There was also wood in the area for the fire, though no one could imagine where it came from. The animal was cut and cooked, and people ate their fill and drank sparingly from their water. When each person laid down to sleep, Katie started it all.

“Lockhart,” she said. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he responded, and they both turned on their sides, away from each other and not near enough to touch,

“Roland,” Boston spoke up. “I do love you.”

“I know, and I love you too,” Roland responded.

“I know,” Boston said and she took a minute to fluff her makeshift pillow.

Alexis turned to Lincoln and risked touching him. Lincoln faced her and spoke. “I love you too. I followed you to the end of the world, or the beginning of the world as the case may be because I did not want to live without you.”

“I know,” Alexis echoed Boston’s word. “I’m glad, and I love you too.” She turned over and tried to get comfortable on that hot and sweaty night.

The whole group was up in the early light before dawn. “We better move before the day gets too hot horses in the nightagain,” Lockhart said. No one said they agreed. They just went about saddling up and preparing to go.

All that long day was spent in silence, especially when the blazing sun forced them to walk and walk their horses. There was only one brief conversation between Elder Stow and Decker, the two who were unencumbered with immediate concerns about love.

“I do not understand these people,” Elder Stow said. “My people were made to live in just these sorts of small groups. Relationships are encouraged, but so often these appear reluctant, especially among the mother and father of the group.”

“In our tradition relationships are discouraged because they can so easily distract from readiness and from the mission. The brass wouldn’t like this, and people know office romances are generally not a good idea. But in this case, I would like to see these relationships strengthened. It means they will be watching out for each other double hard, and it sets me free to watch the perimeter and deal with whatever may be following us..”

“Exactly, and indeed,” Elder Stow said, and he floated overhead to his place where he could watch the perimeter on the other side of the column.

The travelers walked long into the cool of the night. Though the landscape remained unchanged, full of scrub grass and sand, the night got cold in the wee hours just like a real desert. The travelers had to thicken their fairy weave clothes and bundle up. It was two in the morning when they found the time gate.

Lockhart would have stopped the group by midnight, but Boston kept saying it was just up ahead. No one argued about wanting to stop, and Lockhart thought long about their journey so far. They had been subject to wars, pestilence and diseases unheard of in the twenty-first century. They had been chased by ghouls and demons, trapped and attacked by locals including soldiers, fought aliens, night creatures and a little green man. They twice had their minds and wills taken over by powers in the earth. They once went into a world where the sun never came up, but the group was never so anxious to leave a time zone. A world without love was unbearable.

They broke their informal rule and went through the time gate in the dark. They found themselves in some region of the Alps, as Lincoln reported. There was snow on the fir trees and in windblown piles on the ground, and they appeared to be on a kind of road that wound through the high country. There was a small clearing in that place where they could set a camp.

horse night snowThe travelers dismounted and Roland went straight to Boston. He wrapped her up in his arms and she was eager for his kiss. Lincoln and Alexis hugged first, like old married couples do, but soon they joined the kissing party. Lockhart dismounted and Katie looked at him, but said and did nothing. It was up to him to walk to her and slip his arms around her.

“I’m slow,” he said. “But I will get there.” Katie just nodded as he touched his lips tenderly to hers. She kissed him back, and it wasn’t so tender.

Elder Stow went to hover beside Decker who had yet to dismount when Decker heard a voice.

“Ooo, that is something you don’t see every day.”

Decker looked up. It was a ghost floating just above his and Elder Stows heads. Decker made no sign of surprise. He slipped off his horse and shouted, “Make camp,” though it technically wasn’t his place to say that.

Avalon 3.0: part 3 of 4 Gollum

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Boston and Roland spent most of the night worried about the horses. One or the other was usually about, checking to be sure they were undisturbed. Lincoln hardly slept a wink, being as close as he was to the land of the dead, and Alexis never could get comfortable. Katie worried about Lockhart and wondered if something would ever come of the relationship or if they might just fizzle out. Lockhart spent much of the night watching Decker sleep. The former Navy Seal had mastered the art of sleeping when he could. Elder Stow had his own tent-like shelter that he put up and took down with a click of a button, but even his sleep seemed to be off. At least he did not seem to be snoring as much as usual.

As far as anyone could tell, Junior never slept. He just sat cross legged in front of the fire and hardly ever moved. The hole to the underground closed again at midnight, but to everyone in that place, the night felt exceptionally long and dark. The sun rose wan and pale, and the people hoped it would not be as hot and oppressive as the day before, but then the heat never really went away in the night so they figured it would not take much to get things cooking and sweating again.

The imps slept in a pile where they only complained now and then about a foot in the mouth. They untangled with the sunrise and Magpie set about cooking some morning donkey.

“You know what I need,” Junior said, and Magpie nodded but said nothing. Her sons brought in wood for the fire and the travelers had no idea where they found wood among the sand and scrub grass that ruled the landscape. But the travelers had learned that sometimes it was better not to question things too closely. They found seats around the fire and beside Junior and only Decker made a comment about breakfast.cooking bacon

“This jackass bacon isn’t bad.”

Lincoln and Alexis got elected to clean up the mess from breakfast. The imps certainly knew nothing about cleaning, and besides, they had a job to do. They set about gathering the donkey bones, the skin and the skull and laid them out carefully and in a precise order with Magpie only whacking one son or the other now and then. When everything was in order to Magpie’s satisfaction, Magpie added five stones she collected. She placed them where one could almost imagine hands and feet and one between the legs. Then the imps began to dance and chant and something slowly began to happen.

Snot danced like a man with no bones. He waved his overlong arms, like flags in the wind, and collapsed to the ground now and then, like a piece of rubber, unable to stand, only to get up again and start over. All three imps kept up the chant, but it was not words, just sounds and strange noises no human vocal chords could make.

Puss danced more like a stiff-legged animal, and it looked at first like he was pealing bits of skin off his chest and tossing it on to the donkey skin. The travelers decided it was not what it seemed when they saw, every now and then, all of the imps sprinkled sand and occasionally scrub grass on the skin.

Magpie bounced. She went from foot to foot, flipped her hair back and forth, and worked her way all the way around the skin. Junior later remarked it looked sort of Gangnam Style, but the travelers did not know what that was.

The donkey skin began to move, It jiggled and the bones and stones and donkey skull began to jump and shift positions. Things slowly knitted together and took shape. They could see arms and legs now, and something like a body shape. The donkey skin spread out and covered all of the body shape like human skin and the color changed to a well tanned Middle Eastern color. When Magpie stopped dancing and huffed and puffed to catch her breath, the boys stopped as well. There was a person on the ground, but it looked like a manikin in a shop window with the face and extremities still undefined.

“Good,” Junior said and as he raised a hand, the manikin rose to its feet. Junior took a long walk all the way around before he spoke again. “Now the details.” He touched Magpie on her forehead and she squinted before she shook her head.

“Those are hard details,” she said. “I don’t know if we can do all of that.”

“Do your best,” Junior said and he stepped back to the travelers who were still seated by the fire, watching and fascinated.

Magpie grabbed her son’s hands in a way that reminded the travelers of Boston, Alexis and Roland all grabbing hands to combine their magic. After a moment, the travelers saw something like a ghostly image project from the imps. It covered the manikin and the manikin began to conform to the ghostly form. The manikin grew a smidgen taller as features formed to make a face. The hands and other areas took on definition as the imps swayed and sang off key. To look at the imps, it looked like they were singing campfire songs—kumbaya; but when they were done, there was a man in front of them, and a rather handsome and well built one at that.

The man moved and the travelers tried not to gasp. He opened his eyes and reached up to wiggle his jaw. “Good to have a mouth,” he said. “Got anything to eat?”

“What does he eat?” Alexis asked.

Junior made no response at first. He was walking around the man examining the handiwork. When he returned to face the man, the man followed with his eyes and asked a second question.

“Do I have a name?”

“Niudim,” Junior said. “Niudim Bacon. I was thinking Decker, but Bacon is more appropriate.”

horses-in-desert“Thank you,” Decker mumbled.

“Just one more thing,” Junior said. He raised his hands and showered Niudim with golden sparkles of light. Suddenly Niudim became very attractive to the women who were watching. Junior quickly took a bit of fairy weave from his clothes and covered the man in a blue dress and sandals such as men in that age wore. “And he eats human food. In fact, if done right, he should imitate human behavior very well.”

“Food?” the man said. Alexis got up to fetch whatever was left of breakfast and Boston got up to help, though she wondered if this might be something like cannibalism for the donkey-man.

“But wait.” Lincoln had a question. “Couldn’t you have made the man?”

Junior nodded. “And out of nothing, but he would have had “Made by the gods” stamped on his forehead for all practical purposes. This way I hope Erishkegal will not notice until it is too late.”

“You want the goddess to fall in love with Niudim?” Katie asked.

“I am the goddess of desire’s grandson and the goddess of love’s son. Niudim is as close as I can figure to Erishkegal’s dream lover, but to be sure, I want to break her heart. If she blames love, I hope she will throw Ishtar out of the underworld for good.”

“This is very good,” Niudim said as he ate. “My compliments to the chef.”

“Ahem.” The chef, Magpie was standing with her sons, unnaturally patient for imps.

“Yes.” Junior faced them. “Thank you. I’ll take it from here,” he said, waved his hand, and the three imps vanished from that place.

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

Be sure to visit tomorrow for the conclusion of the first episode of season three

Avalon 3.0:  part 4 0f 4, A New Beginning

Until then … MGK

Avalon 3.0: part 2 of 4, Love by the Fire

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers and the imps arrived together at the place of the Kairos. The sun was ready to set which gave the travelers hope that they might get a break from the oppressive heat. They found the Kairos, Junior, sitting cross legged by the fire staring at the sand and grass in front of him, or maybe meditating. He had something like a backpack behind him, but no sign of a tent. He also made no indication that he was aware of their presence.

“Make camp,” Lockhart suggested, and everyone turned to tend to the horses first. Magpie and her sons pulled up a seat behind Junior and acted like they were waiting for supper to be ready. Decker came up to Lockhart with a question.campfire

“Should we expect to use the fire that is made or make our own?” Lockhart did not get to answer because Lincoln wandered to the other side of Junior’s fire, before it got dark, to get a look at the land they expected to cross in the morning, and Junior reacted.

“No, no. Lincoln, you don’t want to stand there,” he shouted.

The ground began to shake, but only under Lincoln’s feet. He ran and made it to safety before a perfectly round hole opened up and revealed steps winding their way down into the pit.

“What is it?” Katie asked, having noticed the imps scooted further back from that place and always kept Junior between them and the hole. Junior answered without turning around.

“That is the entrance to the underworld, the land of the dead, where Erishkegal rules and Namtar is her henchman who does all her dirty work.”

“Wow!” Lincoln sounded surprised and impressed, but mostly like he realized what a close call he had.

Junior turned and scooted around without getting up. “Are we all here?” He counted heads as they approached. The imps backed up further to make way for the travelers. “This was probably the worst possible time for you to come.”

“Why?” Alexis asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Alexis,” Roland interjected. “I’m surprised you have forgotten. Father told me the story and I had nightmares for years after.”

Junior squinted at the elf, like maybe Roland did not need to say that much. All the same he opened up. “My mother’s father.” Junior paused to think it through and started again. “My grandfather had a mistress who had my mother. The mistress is gone now, I mean dead, not recently, and by cause unknown, or at least nothing proved. But that was why my mother grew up in Egypt, where she could be safe until she matured sufficiently to handle herself.”

“Your mother?” Boston was the one who asked, but Junior waved off the question.

“When my mother came back, my grandfather’s wife tricked her, actually challenged her to take a trip down into the land of the dead.” Junior paused and shook his head. “She and Erishkegal must have planned this whole thing ages ago.”

“But who is your mother?” Boston wanted to know.

“Ishtar.”

Katie bit her tongue. She did not want to say, “The goddess?” again.

“So your mother is dead?” Alexis asked.

“No. That’s the thing. She knew enough to not eat the food of the dead, but she is a prisoner and can’t come back to the world. The gods have insisted that I figure out some way to set her free, and that is what I want to do, so I’m figuring.”

Now Katie could ask her question. “Why do the gods want her free so badly?”

“Because Ishtar is the goddess of love, love and war, but love is the operative part. As long as she is a prisoner in the underground, there is no love in the world, even among the gods.”

The travelers took a moment to look at each other and Lockhart responded. “We can all vouch for the lack of love since we came into this time zone.”

“But it isn’t so bad right now,” Katie added with a look at Lockhart.

“I am my mother’s son,” Junior said. “But it isn’t so strong in me, and the gods know they won’t have me around but maybe sixty years or so.”

Decker suddenly grasped something. “I bet the ghosts down there are having a real good time.” He grinned.underground party

Lincoln asked a different question. He was suspicious. “Who was your grandfather’s mistress—your real grandmother.”

“Innan,” Junior said. “And I don’t want to talk about it. I wasn’t here when she went over to the other side.”

Lincoln nodded. They met Innan, and liked her, the one the Kairos called the goddess of desire. With Innan gone and her daughter trapped in the land of the dead there truly was no love in the world. Junior sighed in memory of his grandmother, and then changed the subject.

“Decker and Harper,” he called them forward, and they came, but with one short, curious glance at each other. “Captain Decker. I have these for you.” Junior held out two gold leafs. “It was supposed to be Major Decker when you started this assignment, but Colonel Weber, the dipstick withheld the promotion. I’ve held on to these for about ten years. Glad to finally get rid of them.”

“Sir.” Decker said as Junior removed the Captain’s bars and pinned on the leafs.

“Lieutenant Harper,” Junior continued. “Your promotion has been long overdue.” He took her single bar and had Decker pin on her Captain’s bars. He let her keep the lieutenant’s insignia in her hand and stepped back to offer a salute. “Belated congratulations to both of you. I understand Bobbi and my Alice self are leaning on the Pentagon to offer another upgrade, assuming you make it back to the twenty-first century in one piece.”

“Thank you sir,” Katie said and turned first of all to Lockhart who offered a sloppy salute of his own.

“Captain Harper,” Lockhart said and smiled, and Katie returned his smile and spoke sweet words with her eyes.

“Excuse me.” Junior whistled and yelled. “Magpie, Snot and Puss.” The three imps appeared out of thin air, standing in the fire with their feet on the hot coals. They jumped for their life, but away from the hole in the earth. Junior explained. “They were getting ready to go for a horse.”

“What?” Several of the travelers reacted, and it was strong enough to inspire Magpie to answer.

“But we been all day and haven’t had nothing to eat.” That was not a lie, but only the truth in the way little spirits tell the truth. They didn’t have nothing all day. They actually had an overly large breakfast before they snuck off.

donkey down“Here,” Junior said, and a donkey, one with a broken leg appeared. Magpie and the boys started to drool to look at it, and Magpie made a comment.

“Donkey bacon is even better.”

“Yes, but just remember, you go near the horses and you will get a lot worse than singed toes.

“Yes Lord, yes,” they all said as they dragged the beast off to slaughter.

“Sacrifice right over the pit of Hell,” Lockhart quipped.

Katie shook her head and Junior offered a correction. “Hellas’ place is up where the Black Sea and the Aegean meet, but I get your point. Erishkegal thinks all sacrifices belong to her. But I don’t believe that is the way to get to her. I’m thinking about what Decker said. Sometimes even ghosts gotta party.

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

Be sure to check back tomorrow for part 3 of 4,  Gollum

Avalon 3.0: The End of Love, part 1 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 3206 BC south of Mesopotamia. Kairos lifetime 33: (Amun) Junior

Recording …

“A woman wants to hear the word love now and then, you know.” Katie gave Lockhart a hard stare and ignored her horse’s footsteps. There was not anything to see except sand, sparse vegetation and the blazing sun overhead.

“Yeah, well, for a man that is not so easy.” Lockhart wiped the sweat from his brow. “I can tell you I admire and respect you. I think you are the nicest, kindest, most thoughtful and intelligent woman I have ever known. I can tell you that you are beautiful and I would not be lying. In fact, you are the only woman in the whole world—in the whole of history I have ever found who I felt I could be happy with. But I can’t say that other word because I am not feeling it right now, and that’s for sure.”

Katie looked away for a minute before she answered. “Everything you just said, ditto to you, but now that I think of it I don’t feel that word either.” She nudged her horse to move out on the flank with Captain Decker and Lockhart threw the sweat from his hand to the ground.

Lincoln leaned over to whisper in Alexis’ ear. “Children,” he said. “Wait until they really start having an argument.”

Alexis pulled her head away and wiped her ear like she was afraid he got something on it. “You mean like—“

“Now don’t you start.”

“Start what? You have no idea what I was going to say.”

“Start anything. I don’t want to hear it.”

Alexis gave Lincoln a Katie kind of hard look. She spoke between her teeth. “Fine.”

“Fine,” Lincoln answered and ignored her look

“Don’t touch me.” Boston’s voice was loud enough for all to hear.

“Who said I wanted to touch you, Princess Little Fire.” The sarcasm in Roland’s words were evident.

“It’s just, I can’t get any peace.” Boston turned her head and shouted at the group. “There is no escaping you people.” She spoke more softly. “I can’t get any rest.”

Roland said nothing more.

When Katie rode to the flank, Elder Stow hovered over to pace Lockhart. He had something to say, and he spit as he talked.

“My Father.” He turned up his nose. “It is only right to give you fair warning.”

Lockhart looked at the Neanderthal.. He did not entirely trust the Gott-Druk, and thought he might never entirely trust him, but he listened.

“I am not happy traveling in your company and I do not care what happens to your people, all of you homo sapiens who stole our homeland and drove us out into the darkness among the stars. It was difficult, but I was finding my way back home to the future just fine without you. I am thinking I could take the amulet and find my way easily and leave you all here to rot.”

Alexis whipped around from in front. “The gods would break the amulet rather than let you have it, and they would break your equipment, too, so you would be left here to rot with us.”

“We have faced things where your super advanced equipment was no protection. You don’t have to love us. You don’t even have to like us, but there is safety in numbers. We watch out for each other and travel together.”

Elder Stow nodded to common sense, even if he did not like it. “The thing is, right now I do not care about my children whom you killed. I do not care about my own people. As you homo sapiens say, they can all rot in hell.” With that thought on his mind, he floated back out to the perimeter.

“Decker,” Katie started to speak sharply but amended her word and softened her voice to offer more respect. “Captain, is there any way you can look up ahead and see if we are getting anywhere?”

Captain Decker looked at her to judge how upset she might be before he spoke. “I loved my wife once,” he said, like he was drawing on a thought from nowhere. “Right now I cannot imagine it, but it must be true or I would not have married her.”

“Where did that comment come from?”

Captain Decker took a moment to adjust his seat in the saddle. He let his hand slip down to finger the stock on his rifle. “It’s just that after a while we found that it really wasn’t love, it was lust. There was no love, and we both knew it even if she would never admit it. Still, I stayed with her for a number of years, even when she got hot and cranky, and believe me, she was an expert at getting hot and cranky, but some of those days were good.”

Katie glanced at Lockhart. “How did you manage that?”

“Do you love him?”

“I thought I did. I don’t hate him, but right now I don’t feel any love at all.”

“Me neither. But I haven’t felt love for years.” Decker unsnapped the strap on his rifle. “I stayed with my wife as long as I did because I made a promise. I did my duty.” Decker pulled his rifle and startled Katie back to task with the words, “We got company.”

Katie rode back over beside Lockhart and pulled her own rifle even as Roland said, “Visitors.” The procession stopped where they were. “They appear to be imps,” he added.

Three dirty, gray skinned imps came over the scrub grass. They were short legged but had arms nearly long enough to drag their knuckles. The women knew at once, but it took the men a moment to realize the one out front was a female.   They all had the same look about them with big mouths with a few sharp teeth showing, big saucer-like eyes and nostril holes that did not quite support an actual nose. They were clearly not human, and in another time and place they might have claimed to be from the planet Zorton and nobody would have questioned it. They stopped when they were a few feet away.

“Elf.” The female said.

“My name is Roland, and these are my companions.”

“Fancy that,” the female cut him off before he got into the introductions. “An elf forced to drag a bunch of short livers around. Must be a curse of some kind.” The female out front spoke to the younger males that hovered over her shoulders.

“You have a name?” Roland was trying to keep things civil.

“Magpie, and these are my boys, Snot and Puss.” Magpie leaned forward, secretive, but she had no ability to whisper. “I tried to ditch them back a ways, but I cook and they eat, so.” Magpie shrugged. “So now we will be taking one of your horses and be on our way.”.

“The horses are a gift of the Kairos. You dare not so much as touch one.”

Magpie paused for a minute to consider her options. “Kairos is that way.” She pointed back the way she came. “He wanted us to do a job for him, but I don’t care about him. I don’t love him no more than I do my own sons, and I don’t care about them, none at all. Besides, I’ve been dreaming about horse bacon.”

“Now hold it,” Lockhart had dismounted and stepped forward. “No one needs to get hurt.”

Decker put a bullet between Magpie’s feet. Her eyes got very big at the sound of thunder and puff of dust as Decker spoke. “I don’t understand. What is everyone’s problem? So you don’t love the Kairos. So you don’t love her. So you don’t love him.” Decker did not specifically point to a person. “I haven’t felt love in years. But I made a bunch of pledges when I joined the service, and I made promises to this group, and I intend to keep them all. Love doesn’t matter. It doesn’t keep me from being loyal and faithful. Hell, I’m a Marine. I take my orders and I do my duty to the best of my ability, period.” He turned to face the imps. “I understand you are pledged to the Kairos, so if he asked you something, you need to do it to fulfill your pledge, to do your duty. Maybe you don’t love him, but love’s got nothing to do with it.”

Everyone quieted to think. The travelers understood very well what Decker was saying. The imps understood, but they were not really persuaded by it. Loyalty, faithfulness and duty were not strong in the imp character, and keeping promises was laughable. Roland understood this of the imps, so he felt it was important to add one thing.

“Then again, if you cause harm to one of us or one of these horses, the Kairos will know, and he has the power to cast you into the land of eternal torment.”

Magpie rubbed her chin as she admitted, “There is that.”

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

To be continued.  Look for Tomorrows post, Avalon 3.0, part 2 of 4 Love by the Fire

Until then … Happy Reaing

MGK

The Travelers from Avalon: Where do they go from here?

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Avalon, the Pilot Episode is now up on Amazon for a whopping 99 cents.

 

https://www.amazon.com/author/mgkizzia

 

http://www.amazon.com/Avalon-the-Pilot-Episode-ebook/dp/B00BYKXNMC

 

When Lincoln’s wife Alexis goes missing, he begs the mysterious Kairos for help to get her back.  The Kairos determines her father has kidnapped her and dragged her unwillingly into the deep past.  He brings Lincoln and his whole mission team to his home on Avalon, a place normally hidden from the human race, and to the chamber of the great crystal called the Heart of Time.  This crystal has recorded all of human history, and it can be used for time travel if one knows how. 

Through the Heart, the Kairos transports the entire mission team to the beginning of history; but there are complications.  In order to save Alexis, the Kairos is required to sacrifice himself.  That leaves the mission team with only one option.  To return to their proper time in the future, they will have to travel the hard way, through the time gates and across the time zones.  This will bring them through all of recorded history, many unexpected and unknown historical details, and some nasty surprises.

Written in episodic form, each time zone centers around a different lifetime of the Kairos, a person who has lived 121 times since the beginning of history.  Each time zone presents unique difficulties.  The travelers have to try not to disturb history, which is hard to do when they are fighting for their lives.  But the Kairos, you understand, never lives a quiet life.  And then, not too many years ago, certain … things where driven into the past.  Some of those things may be content to follow the travelers back into the future.  Most have picked up their scent, but some are hunting them.

Avalon, the Pilot Episode is all you need to begin the journey.

Don’t miss Avalon, Season One COMING SOON.  Same E-read, same E-channel.

Also, look for Avalon, the prequel.  Invasion of Memories, where the Kairos in our day comes out of a time of deep memory loss too quickly.  In order to keep his mind from becoming overwhelmed and incapacitated he tells stories from his past, stories from when he remembered who he was, the Kairos, the Traveler in Time, the Watcher over History.  He knows he cannot afford to become incapacitated, because there are three Vordan battleships on the dark side of the moon, and they are preparing to invade.

 

WORKING: Coming to this blog in the Fall

 

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

 

AVALON SEASON 3 … DON’T MISS IT …

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Avalon, 2.12: The Second Encounter

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            Someone had prepared a spooky nightmare reception, but the bokarus interrupted.  Boston was being drowned, but the group managed to pull her out and singe the bokarus at the same time.  The bokarus did not flee, though, until the goddess came up from downstream, and she was not happy having her nightmare surprise ruined.  All the travelers could think was good, if the bokarus made a goddess mad, maybe he would be prevented from following them.  They could hope.

###

            After a careful river crossing the travelers found the land changed.  There was more sand and stone, more tuffs of grass and less meadow grass.  The gentle up and down of the landscape continued to lead them toward the sea, though it was still at an angle that would not reveal the water soon.  Boston was winded from her encounter with the bokarus, but not injured.  Roland looked relieved.

            “I’m worried,” Alexis said, but she revealed no details of her thoughts.  Lincoln sought to comfort her, believing that the father spoken of was likely her and Roland’s father.  Mingus was still lost somewhere behind them, and he was nowhere near a place where they could protect him from a bokarus or anything else.  All Alexis could do was keep looking back for some sign of him and hope.

            Captain Decker and Elder Stow  had a different take on the matter.  They spoke little as they continued to keep an eye on their flanks while they traveled, but in their few words the message was clear.  For Elder Stow, the mother and father of the group was Katie and Lockhart.  It was a standard designation among the Gott-Druk, and Decker was inclined to agree with him.  They kept a sharp watch for trouble along the path, but kept one eye on Lockhart as well.

            Katie and Lockhart were the least concerned of the group.  They had traveled side by side, protecting the rear guard for some time now.  They were not inattentive, but maybe less focused on potential trouble and more focused on each other.  Lockhart was feeling comfortable and content to wait for things to develop in good time.  Katie was content to wait until Robert was ready.  She was ready, but he had the responsibility of navigating several thousand years to get everyone home safe.  Robert had also been married before, she reminded herself, and maybe she could give him a little more patience and breathing space because of it.

            The travelers came to a halt just before lunch.  There was a man blocking the way.

            “And who are you?  Do I know you?  Why are you blocking the way?  Nice horses.”  The man was not exactly talking to himself, but he night have been.

            People answered him, but he did not seem to be listening until Lincoln said, “We’re looking for Danna.”

            “Ah!”  The man stared at Lincoln and it looked something between a curious stare and a half-mad, frightening kind of stare.  “Do you know the Don?”

            “We know the Kairos,” Lockhart spoke softly as he stepped up to join the crowd,

            “The Kairos!  What does that word mean?  Silly Greek words.  The Greeks are full of silly words.  My grandfather knows how words work.”  The man sighed and shrugged.  “You know my grandfather only has one eye?  He says he sees twice as good out of one as he ever saw out of two.  There’s a riddle for you.”

            “Your grandfather only has one eye?” Katie wondered and risked the man’s stare falling on her.

            “Yeah, but Danna’s got two eyes.  Pretty eyes too.  She is going to be my aunt or cousin or something – sister – something or other.”

            “Sister-in-law?” Boston guessed.

            “That’s it!”  The man was pleased like he figured it out himself.  “She can’t marry my brother yet because she has to kill the bugger across the channel first.  I call her the bugger because every time I say her real name I get mad.  You know what I mean, mad?”

            “But Danna is nice, isn’t she?”  Alexis tried to make sense of the conversation.

            “Yeah, but – hey, are you trying to distract me?  I know what you are doing.  You don’t want me to get mad.  I’m frightening when I get mad, you know.”

            “I thought we were just having a nice conversation,” Lincoln said and looked quickly around the group.

            “You were telling us about Danna,” Alexis prompted.

            “Yeah, but – hey.  We’re having a pleasant conversation here.  Who invited you?”

            Everyone looked to the back of the group and screamed.  A dragon came in for a landing and there was the bokarus riding on the dragon’s back.  The horses scattered.  The people ran for cover.  The man started to protest, but the dragon fire hit the man dead center and for a moment all the others could do was see the flames and feel the heat.  When the dragon took a breath, the man got really mad.

            “That was rude,” the man said, jumped up to the dragon’s face and punched the dragon hard enough to kill the beast with that one blow.  Blood splattered across the ground, the sight of which made the man turn red angry.  More punches followed, as the bokarus fled for its life.

            “Rude, rude, rude,”  The man flailed away on the dead beast until the whole top portion of the dragon became like pulp in the dirt.  Then came the dangerous point as the man started to look around for the bokarus.  He did not seem able to focus very well.  There was the look of murder and the wildness of death in his eyes.  Lincoln bit his finger to keep still and quiet.  The man started toward one of the horses, like maybe it was another dragon of some kind when a man, a very big and well muscled man appeared behind the first and grabbed him around the middle, pinning the man’s arms to his side.

            The man gone mad began to twist in the air in the attempt to break free all while the big one who had him trapped whispered in the man’s ear.  They rose up in the air and slammed to the ground.  They blew across the way and slammed into a tree which snapped the tree in two.  They continued the struggle, disappearing in the distance, suddenly drawing close again, breaking several bigger boulders with the big man’s back until at last the whispered words began to have an effect.  The berserker started to breathe and the madness drained slowly from his face.  The big one looked a bit banged up, but the travelers then caught glimpses of what he was saying.

            “It’s alright, Modi.  These are friends.  Friends.  The danger is over.  It’s okay.”  It went on, until at last the madman could breathe normally, and he looked down as if he was ashamed of what he did or might have done.

            “Forgive my brother,” the big one said as he let the madman go.  “You are strangers to him.  He really is gentle when you get to know him, and loyal and good.”  He turned to his brother and took his hand.  “I think we may have a little nap time,” he said, and as the madman sighed and nodded, the two of them vanished.

            No one said anything at first outside of gathering the horses.  Boston spoke when they mounted.  “That was weird.”  No one contradicted her.

            As they got in line and started out again, Lincoln added a thought.  “I did not know a bokarus could control a dragon to ride it.  I thought they were nature spirits and dragons are not natural to earth, are they?”  No one commented on his thought, either.

###

Avalon 2.12:  The Third Encounter … Next Time

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Avalon 2.11: Joining the Club

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            The question is what can be salvaged in the village and what has to be buried.  And then they can think about what to do about the chidren taken from them, and maybe about just who this runaway Sakhmet is who felt no fear at hitching a ride with these very strange people.

###

            Ka pulled on Emotep’s sleeve.  “How do you know these strange people?”  he asked.  He was staring at Boston’s red hair.

            “From my dreams,” Emotep said. 

            “Oh,” Aha’s voice was full of sarcasm.  He spun around.  “Not like the dream about that skinny girl going around with two goofy gods.  That was a stupid story.”

            “They brought back Osiris,” Emotep said, and then he had to find a place to sit down because he was suddenly feeling overwhelmed.  He just realized his dream people were real, and he not only knew them, but apparently they knew him as well.

            Captain Decker and Elder Stow were left with tying off the horses and getting out the tents.  Roland and Lincoln were at Father’s elbow to ask if some of the men might help them get a better idea of what they could fix in the village.  That gathered all of Father’s attention and the men began to smile.  Lockhart and Katie were doing their best to mingle and reassure the people, but shortly it was Katie among the women and Lockhart wandered back to the horses.

            Decker and Elder Stow had moved back from the center of the village to pitch their camp, not the least to get away from the smell of burnt reeds and wood.  Lockhart helped get the tents up and then he went to check on Lincoln and Roland.  Decker kept guard and turned his binoculars on the river which was just discernible through the nearby trees.  Elder Stow checked his instrument now and then while he built a fire.

            That night, everyone had some meat and bread, and vegetables, mostly onions, provided by the village.  Aha, Ankara and Usersi hovered around or near Sakhmet who seemed to be getting along great with Neferet despite the big age difference.  Ka sat beside Emotep and tried to say encouraging things when Emotep appeared particularly distressed.

            Mostly the people, even Mother Beset and Father Meni were happy, considering the circumstances.  Some of their neighbors whom they already counted as dead looked like they might recover, and all of the wounded had been treated, if not healed miraculously.  Alexis was asleep in Lincoln’s arms during most of the meal, exhausted from doing all that healing work, but there was a most contented smile on her face.

            Everyone got to work in the morning.  Aha-Aa, Ankaret and Usersi got drafted.  The only reason Emotep did not get put to work was because he escaped to the club house.  He had much to think about and needed some time alone.  It occurred to him at ten-years-old that the world was a much bigger and more complicated proposition than he ever imagined.  He was more complicated as well, but some of the things he was thinking, about living other lives in other times, was not something he really wanted to think about.  It was like losing his innocence, and here he was only ten-years-old.  He honestly did not want to think about some things, but he had no choice.  Little Nidjau was a prisoner of Lord Seth and probably frightened half to death. 

            The nominal ruler of the upper lands, the so-called king in Hierakon was worthless.  He would lose the land to Set if left alone.  Thebes was certainly its own city, and Karnak, with the temple of Amun was an independent place – the religious center of the land as Abydos was the place of the dead, but he did not expect help from any of those places either – especially since Abydos was apparently already overrun by the enemy.  And what could he do for poor Nidjau?

            Emotep considered the gods.  Amun scared him a little.  Horus was just a young adult, like Hathor, and could not be expected to do much.  Mut was reported to be sleeping with Set, so no help there.  Most of the rest were in Lower Egypt; Toth at Fayun, Ptah at Memphis and the Place of the Lion, Bast in her city, Aton the Ra – the King of the gods in his city at Helios.  Even his old protector – Phoenix’ old protector, Wadjt was in the delta.  To whom could he turn?

            He imagined Isis might be persuaded to help.  She certainly had no love for Set, but then she spent every day grieving for Osiris, even if Osiris was not quite dead yet.  Anubis the enforcer of Egypt?  Perhaps, but he had no way of getting in touch with either Anubis or Isis.  No, he concluded, getting Nidjau back and setting the children free was going to be up to him, a ten-year-old boy who never wandered very far outside of his own village.  He was going to have to depend on Lockhart and the others, though he hated to put them in harm’s way.  Their job was supposed to be to get home to the twenty-first century in one piece and not go head-to-head with an invasion of the minions of Set.

            Emotep looked up to find Sakhmet and Neferet sitting quietly by the hole and the rope.  He was startled but not surprised.  He did not hear them come up the rope, but then he had his suspicions about exactly who Sakhmet was, anyway.  He looked at her closely.  He was also not surprised that she now appeared to be more like she was eleven, if not his age, though she still had a sense of unnatural attractiveness about her.  It was like Innan, but removed from the source, and he noticed that like Innan when she was very young, Sakhmet appeared to be leaking all over Neferet.  He already liked Neferet, but it felt strange to say that this little five-year-old looked very attractive.

            Sakhmet was studying him in return with a serious expression on her face when Emotep startled her with a question.  “Who is your mother that she should go away?”

            Sakhmet’s eyebrows went straight up before she squinted at him.  “I was just wondering the same thing about you, not your mother going away bit.  I’ve met your mother.  She seems very nice.”

            Emotep sat and they stared eye-to-eye for a moment before he said, “Well?”

            “Ishtar,” Sakhmet said.  “She had to go to that other place for a time since Chaos was overcome.”

            “Tiamut.”  Emotep nodded to that much and pointed to Neferet.  “She knows the story.  But now, who is your father?  You are headed for Memphis?  Don’t tell me.  Ptah.”

            Sakhmet smiled and the sunshine in that was almost overwhelming.  “Why, yes.  That is very good.  How did you know?  But wait, who are you, because as far as I can tell you are just a normal, mortal boy?  Except I can’t read your mind.”

            “I am Emotep, a normal mortal boy, but one day I will be your younger brother, and kind of your older brother at the same time.”

            Sakhmet made her whole face squint, and it was very cute.  “But that doesn’t make sense.”

            “I seldom make sense.  But now, who are you running away from?  Don’t tell me.  Papi Amun.”

            “He won’t let me do anything.” Sakhmet frowned and stomped her foot.  “It is like I am a prisoner at Karnak.”  Emotep understood that Sakhmet was likely older than she appeared.  The gods aged slowly.  She might be a genuine teenager in years, but in her case she would not approach anything near maturity until she was at least a hundred.  Marduk and Assur were more like a hundred and fifty, and they could act like real morons.  But he said none of this out loud.  Instead, he commiserated.

            “Amun can be frightening at times, and strict.”  Emotep could not remember very many incidents, but he knew his impression was accurate, and he also knew he had many encounters with Amun in the past, and some in the future.

            “Emotep?”  Ka’s voice came up from below.  Neferet stood up and went to the hole in the flooring where the rope let down.  She cupped her hand and shouted.

            “We are up here escaping the work.  Sakhmet and Emotep are loving each other.  Come on up.”

 ###

Avalon 2.11:  Plans and Places … Next Time

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Avalon 2.9: Dead and Wounded

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

###

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

###

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “How is Boston?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “Who is the Wicca?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “You are right about that,” Lincoln said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Avalon 2.9  Overstepping Boundaries … Next Time

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Avalon 2.8: The Journey

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Serious war, maybe nuclear looks to be on the horizon, hovering disaster over the poor human race, still living with sticks and stones.  The Kairos has to do something, and meanwhile he has to depend on the travelers to get his people to safety, if any place is really safe.  For the travelers, though, their main job is to get safely back to the twenty-first century, and they understand that sometimes it means they have to move on to the next time gate as quickly as possible.  Sometimes sticking around won’t help, it will just get them all killed.

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            There were ninety three people on the journey that originally started somewhere along the coast of Colombia, South America.  Several died along the way, but there were still a number of older people who were not in the best of shape to be making such a journey.  There was not much the travelers could do when the jungle was thick and passage became a matter of cutting a way through, but when they crossed the meadows and open spaces, which was about half of the first day, they let the older ones ride, and then of course all of the children wanted a ride.  Boston and Lincoln did not mind leading the horses so Lockhart and Katie, Roland and Decker could keep their weapons ready.

            They camped that night at the edge of the trees and in the morning they awoke to a thick mist and a slight rain.  It rained on and off the second day and that made everyone cranky and short tempered.  They stopped early and with the help of Roland and Boston, and Maya of course, they got some good fires burning.  But no one really dried off much and that night they all went to bed early and miserable.

            The sun came out on the third morning and Maya said they were getting close to their destination.  She suggested they might arrive by evening if all went well.  Naturally, within an hour they found their way blocked by some thirty men carrying spears and sporting sharp stone knives.

              The men in the traveling group, which numbered about the same as the opposition, grabbed whatever weapons they had and presented a wall against the locals.  It was obvious Otapec’s people had faced this sort of confrontation before in their long journey.  Thus the two groups of warriors stared at each other, spear to spear and eye to eye.  The people were like statues trying to stare each other down when Decker, Lockhart, Katie and Roland stepped between them.  Lincoln and Boston were a bit delayed because of the horses, but Maya was not slow to arrive.

            “No!”  She shouted at everyone, and the men who blocked the path took a few steps back as she revealed a smidgen of her divinity, before one stepped forward and pleaded.

            “But this is our land.”  The man whined. 

            “Enough people have died,” Maya said softly.

            One idiot who might have been inspired by fear, threw a spear at the travelers.  Maya had her screen up so the spear bounced off that invisible wall and fell harmlessly to the ground.  It did not matter.  No one else was watching.  Instead, they had their eyes on Maya and the man who appeared out of nowhere beside her.  Then the man changed into another man and gave the goddess a kiss.

            “Opi,” Maya smiled.

            “Lockhart, you have a visitor.” Otapec said with a sly look over his shoulder.  It was only a moment before a great snout stuck out from the trees.  The dragon spoke, in the Agdaline tongue of course so no one but Otapec, Maya and the travelers understood what the creature said.

            “Mama.  Hurting.”  The other people all took a big step back because it sounded something like a roar to them.

            “Puff,” Katie said.

            “No fire.  No harm.”  Lockhart spoke quickly as Puff crawled up slowly.  The whole lower half of the worm had first and second degree burns, an oddity on a dragon.

            “What is that smell?”  Boston asked.

            “Leakage,” Otapec said as he left that place and Kartesh once again stepped into his world.   “I’m no healer.  Maya.”  Kartesh stepped to the invisible wall and spoke in Agdaline.  “Friend.  Friend.”

            Puff glanced at her through the tear in its eye.  Lockhart reached out to touch Puff’s nose.            “But I have to keep an eye on these hunters,” Maya said.

            “What hunters?”  Decker asked.  The men that had confronted them were presently running all out across the meadow and away from the travelers and their pet dragon.

            Maya caught up in a second and with Kartesh they healed the wound in the dragon’s side while Kartesh explained something about dragon anatomy.  “Their peculiar digestive system produces a mix of gases, mostly hydrogen, that collects in a bladder that runs the whole length of the worm body.  The hydrogen helps them go aloft, like a balloon, but like the old Zeppelins Doctor Mishka is so familiar with, the gas is highly flammable.  They have to expel some now and then to keep from getting bloated.  They have two things, like bones in the throat, that ignites the gas like a cigarette lighter when expelled.”

            “Why don’t they blow up?”  Lincoln asked.

            “A simple flap,” Kartesh answered.  “Not unlike the one you have that lets you breathe into your lungs but swallow into your stomach.  It prevents the flame from riding back into the bladder.”

            “So if they breathe too much fire they might have a hard time getting off the ground.  Boston was thinking.

            “Yes, but for most the sensation of being bloated is worse.  They hibernate when well fed, sometimes for years.  You can imagine how bloated they get and how much they need to expel when they first awake.  That is why it is not wise to wake a sleeping dragon.”

            “There,” Maya said, smiled and stepped back to examine her handiwork.

            “She will still need healing time.  Some of the burns were very severe, but it won’t be so painful.”

            Puff suddenly opened his mouth with all those teeth.  Lockhart snatched his hand back and wondered what on earth he was thinking to get as close as he was, but only a tongue came out and gave Lockhart a warm and wet lick.  Luckily, the kiss was smeared on Maya’s invisible wall which was still up.

            Opi came back and gave Maya a big kiss before he kissed his children and spoke to the travelers.  “Lockhart, I’m sorry.  I imprinted Maya on the dragon’s mind so she will be her Mama now, and my children will be like dragon babies to Puff.  Dragons naturally avoid flaming each other.  Meanwhile, things are just too complicated now.  Maya will bring the people the rest of the way, and by nightfall.  Your way is North, the way those tribesmen went, so keep your eyes open.”

            “Can’t we help?”  Katie asked.  Otapec shook his head.

            “I will be moving instantly south to try and keep the Sevarese and Pendratti from destroying each other in some cataclysmic way.”

            “My people?”  Elder Stow asked as he lifted from the ground to hover in flying position, ready to go. 

            Otapec asked a question in return.  “Are you learning anything?”

            Elder Stow paused to think.  “That human life on this earth is as you say, complicated, and not so easy.  And maybe some respect for my family group, but I would hesitate to say that.”

            Otapec nodded.  “Your people are best kept out of it for as long as possible.  When war erupts and the Pendratti face the Sevarese and Blueblood alliance it gets bad out there for a long time.”

            “But my people recover.”  Elder Stow made a statement, but it sounded like a question.

            Otapec nodded again.  “As do the Elenar and many of the other, lesser people that get involved, but there is silence in space for hundreds of years except for the homeless Agdaline ships moving slower than light with their dragon guardians.”  Otapec drew in his breath slowly like one who hated killing, death and destruction 

            “Mount up,” Lockhart commanded, and everyone complied. 

            “I will be transporting about twenty miles south so you will find the gate much nearer than you might think.  Blessings,” he said as he became someone else and vanished from that place.

            Boston pulled out the amulet and checked.  They would also be at their destination by dark.

            “Good-bye.”  Kuican shouted from his mother’s arms, and everyone said the same and waved.

            “Chac.  Take care of your sister, Ixchel.”  Katie shouted back.

            “I have two sisters now,” Chac shouted, and they understood that Puff would slither along beside them

            “Good-bye Puff,” Lockhart yelled before they moved out of earshot.

            Puff made an unintelligible sound and let out a bit of fire which barely warmed the grass.  It was a pitiful thing, but the dragon would heal.

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            Bronze was the first true wonder material of the ancient world.  Unfortunately for Flern, she had to travel a long way to get some weapons and now needs to travel a long way home.  This gives the Jaccar warriors who have her village enslaved time to find her and stop her.  The travelers just escaped out of one potential conflict only to get embroiled in another.  It is has Lincoln has said.  The Kairos tends to live in the midst of the hurricane. 

Avalon 2.9:  Army of Invention … Monday …  

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