Magic

Charmed: A Disney-Like Halloween Story (Without the Singing) Part 1 of 11

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Chapter 1

Every town in America has one house on one street where no one dares to go. In Bridges, New Hampshire, that house was 317 Bleeker Street where old man Putterwig lived alone in the dark. The grass in the yard stayed brown and never quite got cut. The gate in the picket fence let out an excruciating squeak when opened. The paint, dingy and faded on the old wooden slats and shingles, looked chipped here and there in uncountable places. The floorboards in the long wooden front porch creaked with every step. And when the wind picked up, the walls in that old house had enough cracks and holes to make the whole house moan, an ethereal, unearthly sound.

Now and then Mister Putterwig could be seen on that porch, sitting in an old rocker, taking in the life that hween greely 9passed before his eyes. No one ever saw him leave that house, but no one wanted to look. The adults all said they felt sorry for old Mister Putterwig, widower that he was, but when he was out front watching, they hurried passed the house, afraid of the glare in the man’s squinting yellow eyes. The kids knew better. There was something more than just odd about Greely Putterwig.

Bleeker street was a good, solid neighborhood full of fine middle class citizens, with plenty of kids to fill the schools. Jake Simon, a high school junior, lived there with his parents and his seven-year-old surprise little sister, Elizabeth, whom he had to watch every day after school because mom and dad both worked. Jake wanted to play soccer. He wanted to join the Sci-Fi club at school. He imagined all sorts of thing he might have done if Elizabeth never came along and ruined his life. When Jake thought like that, he would say to himself, “What life?” and he would sit down at the game console and tell Elizabeth to go to her room. It all would have been so much easier if Elizabeth was a brat instead of the kind, loving and purely innocent child she was. Dad said Elizabeth got her good nature from her mother. Mom blamed Dad. All Jake said was she didn’t get it from him.

Jake imagined most of the time that things might have been different if he was really good at something. His childhood friend, Robert Block, the one they all called Blockhead, made the football team. Tommy had money, that is, Thomas Kincaid Junior, the one who had not been seen without sunglasses in several years. Mike Lee was a nerd who could not only win every video game, but he could fix the console if it should break. Jake had no special skills, talents, or abilities. He was average, normal, middle of the road, in the middle of the class, or as he described himself, boring. No wonder Jessica Cobb was not interested in him.

hween school busIt was late in October, the leaves showered the streets and lawns. and the air got almost crisp enough to frost, when Jake picked up the mail and found a note from Vanessa Smith inviting him to a Halloween party. Jake was thrilled because Vanessa and Jessica were good friends so he felt sure Jessica would be there. He fixed himself some food, dreamed about Jessica, and waited for Elizabeth to come home on the school bus. Someone knocked on the door.

Sunglasses Tommy and Mike the nerd were there, and they brought their magic decks. They wanted a three-way game. Jake got taken out first.

“My deck’s too big. It needs work,” Jake said. While he watched, he casually mentioned the invitation. Mike and Tommy immediately had to spoil it by saying they got invited too.

“Everyone got invited. The whole junior class,” Tommy said.hween mike nerd 1

“I’m going as a nerd,” Mike said.

“Thomas Kincaid Junior, mister Cool,” Tommy shook his long hair and hween tommy 1adjusted his shades. “What are you going as?”

Type casting, Jake thought, and he decided to stick with the theme. “A babysitter,” he said, as he heard Elizabeth come in the back door.

Tommy and Mike packed up and headed for the front door and Tommy’s car. Tommy’s parents had the money to buy him a car, even if it was an economical model.

“Mister Donut?” Tommy asked and offered. They all knew the answer. Jake had Elizabeth, and as they left, Elizabeth came into the living room and switched on the television.

Jake turned with a touch of anger in his voice. “Don’t you have homework?”

“Not in the second grade,” Elizabeth said, as she found the cartoon channel.

“You know that will rot your brain,” Jake said, and instantly thought of several good comebacks. Are you speaking from experience? Is that what happened to you? Or even the proverbial, “Like you should know.” Elizabeth said none of those things. She looked up with an innocent, trusting face.

“It is only cartoons. Would that be all right?”

Jake regularly disliked himself. He did have homework and took himself up to his room.

###

hween porch 2

When Halloween rolled around, Jake found he could not go to Vanessa’s party anyway. Mom had cooking and cleaning to catch up on and Dad would not be home until later. Jake had to take Elizabeth out so she could trick or treat. He really resented her for that.

They planned to follow Jake’s old route which wound around the neighborhood in a way where they did not miss any houses and did not have to backtrack. The well designed plan put Bleeker Street first on the list.

The one hundred block, mostly businesses and buildings, had a group of apartments set back from the road. Jake always found the apartments to be slim pickings. They did not go there.

The two hundred block was where the houses began, and Jake took Elizabeth to the first couple of hween porch 1doors. After that, he stayed on the sidewalk and let her go alone, now that she knew what to do. They came to the three hundred block.

Elizabeth went up to 315 when Tommy’s car roared to a halt out front. Mike rode shotgun. Jessica and Serena Smith squeezed in the back with Blockhead who wore an old football jersey in keeping with the type casting costumes.

“Lookin’ for you, dude.” Tommy sported a new pair of shades.

“Nice costume,” Jake let the sarcasm flow. Mike at least looked like he ironed his white nerd shirt. Jessica and Serena made an attempt. Jessica had on a plaid shirt and jeans that fit her well, but over the shirt she had the orange vest of a hunter. She even wore a ball cap with a gun of some kind as the logo. Serena, the glam-girl, was supposed to be a zombie, albeit a cute one that was not too rotten.

“I was going to say, what are you supposed to be?” Serena asked.

“Babysitter,” Jake answered with a straight face. “I’m taking my little sister trick or treating.”

“You’re going to miss the party,” Blockhead had party on the brain. He slipped his arm over hween tommy's carSerena’s shoulder but she shrugged it off.

“I know,” Jake responded glumly. “I sometimes wish Elizabeth would just disappear. Then maybe I could have a life.” He looked straight at Jessica.

“You don’t mean that.” Jessica stared right back at him.

Jake looked to the side. “I don’t know what I mean anymore.”

“Hey dude.” Tommy got their attention and pointed. “Your sister is with old man Putterwig.”

“What? No.” Jake turned in time to see the old man take Elizabeth’s hand and walk inside the haunted house. “No!” Jake screamed and started to run. Jessica popped out of the car and ran right on his heels. The gate out front closed on the others who needed a moment to get it open again. When they reached the porch, the last touch of the sun dipped below the horizon and the front door slammed shut. Jake and Jessica managed to dive inside, but the rest got stuck outside of the locked door.

hween forest floor 1When Jake and Jessica leaped into the house, they became very confused. Instead of a downstairs hallway, they came down on pine needles and pine cones, enough to litter the ground beneath their feet, several inches thick. Somehow, they fell into an ancient pine forest. The last of the purple sunset faded and the stars came out bright and twinkling above their heads. They caught a glimpse of the doorway they came through, but before Jake or Jessica could react, the door shrank and disappeared altogether with a loud Snap!

“What the —?”Jessica mumbled. Jake had something more pressing on his mind.

“Elizabeth!” he shouted. “Eiliza-BETH!”

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

Charmed is either a very, very small book or a long story offered in eleven parts over this October, 2015, leading up to Halloween. The posts will be put up on the blog on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, October 5, 6 and 7; 12, 13, and 14; 19, 20, and 21; 26, 27, and an extra note on the 28th. If you miss a post, or want to go back to the beginning, they are easy enough to find. Just click on the archives and select October 2015. Charmed is the only posting for the month … So after the 28th, I say to you all, Happy Halloween, you know, Boo!

hween a ghost

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

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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.”

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

Be sure and come back tomorrow for the conclusion of Avalon, episode 3.8  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 3.6 part 2 of 5, Separated

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It took an hour and a half to reach the river crossing, and Decker at least was not surprised to see twenty men there with spears. No one was surprised when Sinab got carefully down from Cortez’ back and went over to join the men, a big grin plastered across his face. Obviously, they were his men, no doubt the ordinary thieves he was talking about.

“An interesting experience,” he said. “I should like to have those beasts for my men, and Kay-tee for myself.” The men began to spread out to encircle the group. “I am thinking your beasts can go faster than we have gone, faster than camels, maybe. With such beasts, I could do so much more.”

Lockhart slid from his horse with a look at Katie. “My turn,” he said. He had his shotgun. Katie and Decker pulled their rifles and Roland held Boston’s Beretta. As usual, Elder Stow appeared to be fiddling with some piece of equipment. “Do you have a champion, of should I just kill you,” he said to Sinab. Lockhart stood, an imposing six feet, as near to a giant as a human in that age could get.Etana warrior

Sinab frowned and waved to a man who was nearly as big. The man held a long spear and grinned, like he thought this might be too easy. Lockhart basted a slug into the man’s leg, and the man went straight to the dirt, moaning and crying like his leg might come off.

“Next,” Lockhart said, and all of the men turned to run. They stopped suddenly when they appeared to run into an invisible wall.

“Like the sphere I have placed around the camp on several occasions,” Elder Stow said. “But a small area. They will not go anywhere until I turn it off or we move out of range.”

“A few minutes earlier to keep them out would have been nice,” Katie mumbled. Then as Lockhart mounted and they started across the river, Katie could not help speaking up. “If Boston and Alexis were here, they would be yelling at you for acting like Decker.” Lockhart made no response, so she looked at Decker, but he seemed like he had no trouble with what Lockhart did.

###

Boston, Alexis and Lincoln all had their hands tied behind their back with a strong rope. Their feet were left free to walk, and the spears the men carried made it clear they had to walk and keep on walking until told to stop. The men made no indication about where they were going, or why. Boston suspected the men were slave traders, and she was imagining what she would do to avoid being sold into some harem. Lincoln supposed they were drug dealers and would hold them hostage for a big ransom. He dealt with those sorts of men back when he worked with the CIA, before he came to work for the Men in Black and met Alexis. Alexis did not imagine much more than whatever these men wanted, it would not be good for her, Benjamin and Boston. She thought to speak, and kept her words in English so the men would not understand.

Etana captives“I think I can get my hands free by magic,” she said. “We just need to wait for an opportune time.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Boston said. “Why don’t we try right now?”

“Nowhere to go,” Lincoln said. “We get loose now and they just chase us and catch us. Then they tie us up again, or kill us if they think we are too much trouble.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,” Boston admitted. “I’m still too new at this magic business.”

“You still find it exciting,” Alexis said. “You need to see that it is just a natural part of you, like breathing. You need to let it be normal for you.”

“Yeah, but wow. I never imagined doing magic.”

“Hush,” Lincoln interrupted. “Looks like we are headed toward that hole in the hill. My guess is their base is underground. Now listen. Elder Stow has probably zeroed in on us with his scanner, but if not, I am sure Roland is tracking us, and probably telling everyone to hurry. And on horseback, they should find us soon enough, so let’s not do anything stupid before the cavalry gets here.”

“So we wait and do stupid things after they get here?” Alexis asked.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Boston said.

###

“You’re right,” Lockhart admitted. “I’m just worried, and I didn’t think we had time to talk sense into a grassland cliff 2bunch of highway robbers.” Katie did not buy it, so he tried again. “It’s just that I spent those years on the police force and saw thieves get away with murder. I guess I couldn’t help myself.” Katie shook her head, no. “You’re right. I was wrong. I’m sorry,” Lockhart said and dropped the subject.

“I’ve lost them,” Elder Stow said, suddenly. “They were clearly there, and then they were gone.” He lifted his eyes to look around as if they might pop up in the distance.

“This way,” Roland pointed. His hunter senses were working overtime.

“I can take us to where they were last.” Elder Stow shook his scanner as if that might help.

###

The underground cavern was massive. It felt bigger than the hill they were under, or at least the roof of the cavern had to be very thin. The men left their spears at the entrance and came to the center where a stone altar stood in front of a massive stone statue of a snake. The snake had red eye. Both Boston and Alexis imagined they were rubies. Lincoln imagined something more like cameras, like overhead in the pharmacy where the red light indicated they were working. The men all knelt before the idol while a man in the distance droned in a strange chant that made no sense. Boston thought she might get away with a whisper.

“I’m not going first,” she said before Lincoln hushed her.

Etana serpent statue“Listen,”

They heard the faint sound of retro rockets overhead. Everyone quieted, the droning chant stopped, and they heard a thump. Some dirt broke loose from the ceiling and fluttered to the floor.

The men looked up, briefly, got off their knees and dragged off their prisoners. One man slapped Boston, and growled at her. Boston let the fire come up into her eyes, but the man had already looked away.

Weekly Roundup for January 10, 2014

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.

For Friday, 1/10/14

Goal: 2,000 word per day, six days per week or roughly 10,000 to 12,000 words per week

This week:  10,700 word.  woo-hoo.

###

            I gave one final review this week to The Hole in the World, a young adult fantasy which is ready to make the rounds.  At the same time, I have begun to track the use of names.  I mean, how many Bobs and Bills or Marys and Sarahs can I honestly write about?  More about the name game in a future post.  Meanwhile, here is  the story of The Hole in the World, and a snippet from chapter 1.  Enjoy …  

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            Duke Gregor and Princess Tanis make a hole between two worlds to escape the encroaching Empire, and in this strange new world, in our world, they find themselves adopted by the good people of Hardway Virginia.  You see, Tanis is pregnant, and it is Christmas Eve, and there just has to be room at the inn.

            Eighteen years later, the Empire sends an army to bring them back.  The Duke and the Princess reluctantly surrender when their eight-year-old son is taken captive, but they say nothing, because what the Empire does not know is there are two older siblings. 

            Now Davi and his sister Kyla need to go to that other earth. They need to rescue their parents and little brother, and more. They need to raise the armies in the East because the Empire is preparing to go to war. To succeed, Davi and Kyla are going to need help.  Fortunately, in eighteen years the family has made plenty of friends.  But what can even the United States military do in a world where magic rules and dragons are real?

            The Hole in the World is ready for print.  Somewhere, deep in the archives of this blog, is the beginning of Chapter 1.  The following is the middle of the first chapter, but I feel it is sufficiently independent to be worth the read …

###

            “Put her on the couch.”  Virginia Robinson shouted.

          “No, the bed.  The bed!”  Mary Elizabeth McBain shouted as well.  Darcy Lewis pointed to the bed, but said nothing.  Her hand was on her phone.  Sheriff McBain was lucky to get the woman through the door without banging the woman’s knees or dropping her altogether.

          “Bill Cullen!  You’re a slob!”  “Get it clean.”  “Pull back the covers.”  The women all yelled.

          “Where’s the Doc?”  The Sheriff spoke over the din as he set the woman as gently as possible on the sheets.

          “Ungh.”

          “I’m calling!”  Darcy yelled at the phone.  “Taylor!  Pick up your cell!”

          “Boil water!”  Mary Elizabeth shouted.

          “What for?”  Virginia Robinson asked.  She pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed to hold and pat the woman’s hand.

          “I don’t know.  You’re supposed to.”  Mary Elizabeth looked confused. 

          The woman on the bed mumbled something in a strange language and Sheriff McBain ran back to the garage.

          “Where is this place?”  The man in the garage was dressed in chain mail and sported plenty of sharp weapons.  He looked all around the inside of the garage, but lingered on the electric lights.  He touched his horse, a familiar comfort in a strange land.

          “You.”  The Sheriff pointed at the man as he came out from the house, but he explained to everyone.  “His wife is saying something and we don’t understand.  I think she is calling for him.”

          “Come on.”  Tashi took the man’s arm.  Tom Robinson and the Sheriff followed. The others watched except Mister Beasley who still sat, held tight to his cards and sweated.

          “Ablus!  Ablus!  Gregor, te na pecosta deek nas.  Ablus.”

          “Tres gan dees,” Gregor answered as he came into the room, still looking, still wary of his surroundings.  He was glad to see Tanis being properly cared for.  He imagined there might be a price later, but he could not worry about that at the moment.

          “Gut daimen chee,” the woman said.

          “Yes,” Gregor answered in English.  “I still remember my tongue as well.”

          “This is good,” the woman also answered in English, and she smiled, satisfied.  “Ungh.”  She started another contraction while tires squealed outside and a car door slammed.  Doc Lewis bounded in as Tashi pushed on the medieval man’s chest.  She did not imagine her little self could move the mountain, but the Sheriff and Tom Robinson each took a hand and pulled and the man did not resist.  He knew men were not welcome at the birthing.

          “Bill Cullen.”  Bill met the man at the door with his hand out.

          “Duke Gregor of Galistra.”  The man took the offered hand.

          “Feels human enough.”

          “Hush!”  Tom Robinson pushed his glasses firmly up on his nose before he extended his own hand.  “Tom Robinson.”

          “Pleased to meet you,” the Duke said.  “I have known dark skinned men before.  When I was young we traded in Istallia and all along the Boran coast.  That was before the days of Empire and the rise of Emperor Kzurga.”

          “Well, Mister Duke,” Bill Cullen patted the man’s back in a friendly manner.  “Now that Doc Lewis is here, I’m sure Missus Duke will be just fine.”

          “Sheriff Ian McBain.”  The Sheriff put out his hand.

          Gregor paused and rolled his tongue as if tasting something.  “Law enforcement,” he said as he took the offered hand.  Then he thought to see to his horse.  The saddle and equipment were already removed, and a big man was rubbing the horse with a brush found in one of the satchels.

          “Ugly Bird.”  The man held out his hand.  “Fine animal.  Hard ride?”

          “Uh?”  Gregor became confused again.  He knew the words, but he could not imagine a man bearing the name Ugly Bird.  “Yes, and thanks.”  He patted the horse’s flank once again for reassurance.  “Where is this place?  Where am I?”

          “Cullen’s garage.  That’s me, Bill Cullen.  Hardway Virginia, USA.”

          “Definitely an illegal alien,” Tom mumbled and fiddled again with his spectacles.

          “You didn’t call an ambulance and you explained to Darcy?”  Ugly Bird looked at the Sheriff.

          “No ambulance,” Sheriff McBain confirmed.  “But I’ll be daft if I know what to do with them.”

          “Heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains,” Bill Cullen finished his introduction.  “Stupid slogan.  The Chamber came up with that thirty years ago.  Didn’t matter.  No one comes here.  Skyline drive is thirty miles that way.”  He pointed out into the dark.

          “I still think it was a good idea.”  There was a voice from the table.

          “Oh, yes,” Bill said.  “The old weasel is Mister Beasley, owner of Beasley’s Hardware here on Main Street.”

          “You play poker?”  Mister Beasley asked.   He had nearly crumpled the cards in his hand.

          “Give it up Mister Beasley,” the Sheriff said and Tom and Bill laughed.  “We know you got a winner.  Just take the pot.”  Mister Beasley nodded and started to do that, but Ugly Bird interrupted.

          “Full house.”  Ugly bird turned his cards face up.  “Trays over sevens.”  Mister Beasley set his cards down.  His full house was jacks over nines.  He grinned when he raked in the chips.

          “Christmas cookie Mister Duke?”  Bill held out the plate.

          “Gregor.”  The man insisted and he took one snowman shaped cookie gingerly in his fingers.  Bill picked up a Christmas tree and took a big bite.  Gregor tried his, and did not complain.

          “Eats human food, too,” Bill Cullen pointed out.

          “Where’s Galistra?”  Sheriff McBain figured it was time for some questions as the men began to settle once more around the table.  Gregor sat in the Doc’s chair for the moment, after he took off his various weapons and set them down.  He set them on a stack of old tires and took the seat where they would be near to hand.

          “Tanis?”

          “Don’t worry about her,” Bill said.  “Doc Lewis is the best and Darcy, his wife, is an RN.  And Virginia and Mary Elizabeth are there, too.  They’ll take good care of her.”

          “Virginia takes good care of me whenever I’m sick,” Tom pointed out with a look at the Sheriff.

          “I don’t get sick.”  Sheriff McBain countered.

          “The brown woman.”  Gregor tried to understand.

          “Black or African-American,” Tom said kindly; but Gregor shook his head in wonder.

          “And the one with the strange eyes?”

          “Tashi.”  Three men spoke at once.

          “She’s from Japan, I guess,” Tom said.

          “I thought she was Chinese,” Mister Beasley interrupted.

          Tom shrugged.  “Anyway, it’s a long way from here.”

          “So, where is Galistra?”  The Sheriff asked again to get back to the point.  Gregor imitated Tom’s shrug.

          “A long way,” he said.

          “Just north of the reservation.”  Ugly Bird retook his seat.  “No, really.  It’s the first train stop on the way to El Dorado.”

          “How did you get here?”  Tom ignored the joker and touched Gregor’s hand.  Gregor paused before he answered, but at least this was a question he could answer.

          “The Priest, his Eminence, Marchant of Baria conscripted the monks of Ghosh from the monastery on the island in the sea of Ghosh.  They made a hole in the world, a space, a door between Baria and this place.”  Gregor waved his hands to animate the vision.  “I don’t know how.  I know Anise, the witch of the forest observed from a distance but did not interfere.  Maybe she knows how.”  Gregor shrugged again and closed his eyes to better focus on what he was saying.  “Before we could get through, we were attacked by the Emperor’s minions, though they have a treaty with Baria as with Galistra and most of the eastern lands.  The Empire generally leaves us alone, but I guess our escape was enough to abrogate the treaty.”

          “You were attacked?”  Tom asked in a soft voice.  Everyone leaned forward, even if they did not understand everything about the story.

          “Vergeshim.”  Gregor nodded.  “Man-wolves.”  He wondered if they would understand.

          “Werewolves?”  Ugly Bird asked and Gregor nodded again.

          “Werewolves.  And the monks were not fit to defend against such.  To my shame, we ran.  Three followed before the door closed.  I believe I lost them, though, when we got to the black road and the high light without fire.”

          “I got werewolves running around the countryside?”  Sheriff McBain widened his eyes and began to sweat like Mister Beasley.  “Tell me you’re joking,” he pleaded, but somehow they all knew better.

          Tashi came out and pulled up a chair.  She appeared all bubbly and grinning.  “Mister, um,” She interrupted.

          “Mister Duke,” Bill spoke up.

          “Gregor,” he said and smiled for his nurse.

          “Is your wife a witch?”  Tashi asked.

          Gregor’s face contorted for a moment.  He raised his hand to strike Tashi on the mouth, but stopped his hand just as suddenly.  “I’m sorry.  You don’t know, but no.  Her art is most favorably given by blood of the royal line.  She is the Princess Tanis, heir to the throne of Aven, an island in the eastern sea and one of the few kingdoms still independent of the Emperor’s thumb.”

          “Oh,” Tashi said.  “Because she is floating about two inches off the bed, and glowing.”

          “Tanis.”  Gregor started to get up, but Tashi stopped him again.

          “She’s only four centimeters.  We have time to wait.”

          “Courage,” Ugly Bird said.  “I remember when Two Faces, my daughter was born.”  He laughed at a private thought.  “I thought I would have a bud while I waited.  Labor was eight hours and I was stinking by the time the baby was born.  God is my witness I will never do that again.”  Ugly Bird lost his smile.  “’Course, my mother says that is why Two Faces married a drunk.”

          There was a howl outside.  They all heard it. 

          Gregor whipped out his sword a moment faster than the Sheriff could pull his revolver.  Ugly Bird jumped to grab the horse.  Bill Cullen ran for a tire iron.  A wolf, bigger than any wolf ought to be, crashed through the glass front of the bay door.  A second followed.

          Tom Robinson’s chair slipped as he tried to push it back.  He was lucky not to crack his head on the concrete.  Tashi screamed, and so did Mister Beasley.  One wolf got beheaded in one stroke of Gregor’s sword.  The other got three bullets from Sheriff McBain’s gun and collapsed. 

          “Only two,” Gregor shouted, still crouched, ready for an imminent attack.

          Bill Cullen came back with his tire iron and thought quickly.  “Inside,” he shouted.  “Lights out and go to the windows.  Look for movement when I turn on the outside lights in the lot.”

          “Right!”  Tom got up.  Tashi ran back inside the house.  Gregor and the Sheriff followed her.  Ugly Bird stayed with the horse but managed to pull a wicked looking knife from somewhere.  Bill clicked off the garage lights and waited a minute to give his eyes a chance to adjust before he threw the breaker that turned the lights on all around the building.  He heard the women scream, shots fired, and then silence.

          Tashi ran back into the garage as Bill clicked the inside lights back on.  “Mary Elizabeth got it with a kitchen knife, and then her husband shot it,” she reported.  “Gregor is with Tanis.  Virginia stopped screaming.  Doc Lewis and Darcy are examining the creature.”

          Mary Elizabeth came out as Ugly Bird and Bill dragged the two dead beasts back out of the bay and on to the lot.  She sat down beside Mister Beasley who was wringing his hands like a man in prayer and sweating more than usual.

          Tom and the Sheriff dragged the one out of the house and tried to get as little blood on the carpet as possible.  Gregor wiped his sword clean and returned it to its’ place.  Virginia helped as they loaded all three dead bodies in the back of Bill’s pickup.  Bill got the shovels.  McBain followed in the police car and brought Tom, Tashi and Gregor.  Ugly Bird stayed with the horse, and Virginia stayed with Mary Elizabeth who was terribly traumatized by the whole thing. 

          There was a deep ditch in the woods out behind Mister Beasley’s store.  It had a few old tires, a broken toaster and other odds and ends dumped in it over the years.  It took time to empty the space, not the least because of the cold, but then the bodies went in, a mass grave, and the ditch was finally filled in with dirt and gravel.  It was long, hard work, but when it was over, Bill thought to say a word.

          “And may God have mercy on their souls.”

          “Amen.”  Tashi, Tom and the Sheriff spoke in unison.

          Gregor said nothing, but nodded.  They still looked like wolves, even in death, but no one doubted that they had once been men.

###

          Back in the garage, Bill got the cardboard out and Tom found the duct tape.  Mister Beasley spoke to turn his mind from the wolves.  “One thing you better learn up front if you’re going to stick around here, Mister Duke, duct tape fixes everything.”

          “Amen.”  Tom and Bill spoke together, and Ugly Bird snickered.

          “I should stay here?”  Gregor wondered what they were suggesting.

          “Where else you gonna go?”  Bill asked.

###

            Happy writing …

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Avalon 2.12: The First Encounter

M G Kizzia 1 Comment

            It is a strange and varied group of people preparing to invade the land across the sea.  War is in the air, but the various groups appear to be unconcerned with the travelers.  This is good, if the people let them journey unmolested.  Unfortunately, the people through whose territory they are traveling are not the problem.  It is the ones following.

###

            It was not long into the morning before they began to smell the sea.  Lincoln decided they were definitely headed out the peninsula of Brittany, but at an angle that would eventually bring them to the shore.  Boston looked back several times to see if Grubby and his crew were following, but she never saw anything.  Alexis also looked back several times.

            “I hope Father has come to his senses and is following.”  What she meant was she hoped her father was safe.  Lincoln looked.

            “I hope the Djin and the ghouls have lost the trail,” he said.  That triggered Katie to look.

            “I hope Bob is okay.”

            “I’m not looking,” Lockhart said.  “Whatever is following, I don’t want to know.”

            “This be dragon country,” Roland spoke up from the front where he heard everything with his good ears.  To Boston’s curious look, Roland pointed at the sky.  An Agdaline scout ship passed overhead, and Boston remembered the Agdaline kept dragons as pets when they were young and small and ejected them from their ships when they got big, lost their feathers and would no longer obey simple commands.

            “Thanks,” Lincoln looked at the sky without further comment,

            By mid-morning they came to a small river that was swift but not too deep.  Sometimes, the party had to go miles out of the way to find a safe ford, but in this case if they were careful, Roland imagined they could navigate the crossing well enough.

            Roland and Boston dismounted while the others caught up, and Boston paused to spy the woman downstream.  She appeared to be washing her clothes on a boulder that split the stream.  She used a rock to pound a tunic which had some sort of red stain, but it was some distance so it was hard to tell exactly what she was doing.

            “The water here is cold, I bet.”  Roland got Boston’s attention.

            “Let me see,” Boston said, and put the washer-woman out of her mind.  She bent down to touch the water and yelped.  Something grabbed her hand and pulled her in.

            “Roland!”  Boston managed his name before whatever it was pulled her under.

            “Boston!”  Roland grabbed for her but she was already too deep.

            The others came up quickly to the shore and spread out and tried to grab her when she bobbed up and down, gasping for air  They were yelling things like “grab her” and “there she is.” She appeared to be swirling around a jetty and luckily not rushing downstream.

            “Roland!”  Alexis grabbed her brother’s hand and had her wand out.  Roland was in a bit of a panic, but her touch steadied him and she drew on her power and his as she caught Boston by the shoulder.  Boston lifted and grabbed several breaths of fresh air before they heard the sound,  It was a wailing with which they were familiar.  It was the bokarus, and it was fighting to drag Boston back under.

            Elder Stow tuned a piece of equipment and he managed to stop her spinning.  She was ready to throw up.  Then the elder caught her in an anti-gravity bubble which would have shot her a hundred feet into the air, but the bokarus was still dragging her down.

            Roland suddenly took over the action from his sister as soon as he realized Elder Stow had Boston stabilized.  Roland was not feeling kind when he borrowed a play from his father’s playbook. It was a shock of lightning, and while it shocked Boston slightly where she was still hanging with her boots in the water, not able to rise higher but no longer in danger of being dragged under,  it fried the bokarus, and fried a few fish as well.

            The bokarus let out a monstrous howl and let go.  Elder Stow almost lost Boston when she skyrocketed up, but he quickly got her back down into the arms of Katie and Lockhart where she claimed she felt like pulled taffy.  The bokarus looked ready to attack, and Roland was ready to go toe to toe with the beast when the bokarus suddenly rushed off.  Lincoln noticed.

            The washer-woman from downstream had somehow crossed over the river without getting wet.  She walked up the riverbank with a shirt that looked full of blood in her hand and she had a cross expression on her face.  When she got close, the bokarus fled for his life, and Lincoln asked.

            “Can we help you?”

            The woman looked steaming mad.  “And I had my scary voice on, too,” the woman said.  “Guaranteed to scare your spine.”

            “What?”

            “But no.  That stupid green man had to cut in line.  What has he got against you folks anyway?”

            “We haven’t been able to figure that out yet.”  Lockhart shook his head.

            The woman paused, now that she had everyone’s attention.  She slowly scanned the group ending with Elder Stow and Alexis.  She lifted the shirt and shook it which sent red droplets of blood to the grass.  “The blood of the father.  Not too long from now.  That’s all you get.”

            “What?”

            The woman faded until she disappeared altogether, but she spoke while she vanished.  “I may go hunt that little bugger.  Ruin my surprise and everything.”

            There was a moment of silence before Roland broke the spell by going to see to Boston.

            “Morrigu?” Lincoln asked out loud.

            “One of the future Irish,” Katie said.  “Or Welsh gods.”

            “But what did she mean the blood of the father?” Alexis looked concerned.  Elder stow looked at Lockhart and wondered the same thing.

###

Avalon, 2.12:  The Second Encounter … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Friend

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            The travelers appear to have walked into a world of madness, a derivative of LSD poisoning all the water in the area.  The experience is surreal, but one thing is most curious.  A local fisherman calls to them, “Friend, friend,” and it is in twenty-first century English.

###

            “Friend.  Ride horse.  Come.  Follow.  Friend ride horse.  Come.”  The man pointed up the lakeshore and repeated the word, “Friend.”  No one had to guess that he wanted them to follow.  After a moment Lincoln said that it must be Alexis and everyone was surprised at how calm he sounded.  Everyone was also annoyed at how slowly they moved along the edge of the lake.  They offered the man a lift and promised to use Captain Decker’s rope to bring the boat, but the man refused to leave the lake.

            “Good water,” he said and pointed toward the depths.  “Water good.”  Elder Stow agreed.  He checked and shared that it would take a long time to contaminate such a large body of water.

            The evening was quiet apart from Lincoln’s impatience.  They butchered a cow when Elder Stow suggested there were only traces of the drug.  “But I would not recommend such a diet for more than a few days.”

            Their fire could be seen for miles, but they were not worried.  The only thing they imagined they might attract would be crazy people and animals under the influence.

            “I don’t get it.”  Boston spoke up from the security of Roland’s arms.  “How can all the streams feeding into the Sea of Galilee be tainted with LSD?”

            “Human intervention,” Lockhart suggested.  He looked at Katie who was beside him, and she nodded her agreement before she spoke.

            “The phenomenon is too wide-spread for a natural occurrence.”

            “As I am thinking,” Elder Stow said.  “The formula is too complex and enhanced to be natural, the way it defies light and air and holds together in the water instead of being diluted and dissipating.”

            Lincoln grabbed a piece of beef from the fire and chewed slowly as he read from the database.  The horses were tied for the night so they would not wander off in search of a cool drink.  The tents were not set up.  Everyone expected to sleep around the campfire.  He looked at the simple boat of Atonas the fisherman, which he finally pulled up on shore when he agreed to join them for supper.  It was hardly bigger than a row boat.  It had a simple sail, and Atonas had a long pole which he used to move the boat along the shoreline.  He went back to his book as Atonas spoke.

            “The gods are all asleep.”  It was not in English.  It was his native tongue, but everyone understood what he said.  It was one of the gifts given by the Kairos just before he jumped into the void of the Second Heavens.  He gave them the ability to be understood and understand, whatever the local language along with a never-ending supply of vitamins, elf bread crackers and bullets.  Lockhart felt they had depended on the bullets far too much, especially for people who were trying to skip through history to get back to the future without disturbing any more than they had to.

            “What do you mean, asleep?”  Lockhart asked with another glance at Katie.

            “The man in his own world would be sensitive to the disposition of his own gods.  You remember Faya’s people.  Her whole world went to war when the gods of Aesgard and Vanheim went to war,” Katie responded.

            “I mean asleep, like you and I will do soon.  They tasted the water and fell asleep.”

            “Good thing they are not hallucinating,” Lincoln said as he switched off the database and prepared for sleep, now that the subject had come up.

            “I was thinking the drugs might be because of the gods in some way,” Boston suggested.

            “I don’t think they work that way,” Captain Decker said as he checked his rifle.  He was taking the first watch in the night.

            “I can’t imagine any of them being so incompetent as to put themselves asleep,” Katie responded.

            “Tiamut might.”

            That made everyone pause before Lockhart spoke again.  “But I cannot think of what she is doing that would risk the ire of all the gods by putting them to sleep, even temporarily.”

            “It does give one pause,” Elder Stow said as he laid down in fetal position to sleep.

            “But tell me.”  Atonas had something on his mind.  “This most beautiful woman, Alexis.  You know her well?”

            “She is my wife,” Lincoln said as he turned his back on the fire.

            Atonas looked disappointed.  “You are the most fortunate of men.”  No one said much after that so it was not long before the rest got on their blankets.  Boston stayed right where she was, in Roland’s arms.  Atonas walked back to the shore to sleep in his boat.

            It was mid-afternoon when the travelers reached the far Northern end of the Sea of Galilee.  The Golan heights were ahead on their right and the hills of Lebanon were several miles yet straight ahead of them.

            “Eliyawe is still off to the left, likely near the coast,” Boston reported as she checked her amulet.  “But she appears to be headed this way, probably headed home after whatever it was she was doing.”

            “Probably knows her only source of clean water will be Galilee,” Roland suggested.

            “This does not look good,” Katie Harper said softly as she handed her binoculars to Lockhart.  Captain Decker lowered his binoculars and retrieved his rifle.

            “What?”  Lincoln asked, but no one answered, and no one handed him binoculars to take a look. 

            Atonas had gotten ahead of them when they stopped to check the lay of the land and which way to go, but when Lockhart said, “Ride,” they rode right passed his slow movement along the shore.

            There was a camp up ahead where Alexis and her father Mingus had settled in either for the night or, less likely, to wait for them.  The camp was torn up, the fairy weave tents collapsed, the campfire kicked around, Alexis’ medical bag was dumped and the vitamins and elf crackers were spread all over.  The pot Alexis used to boil water to turn the elf crackers into bread was there and dented.  And Alexis and Mingus were not to be found.

            “Alexis!”  Lincoln only shouted her name once before he dismounted to look for signs of passage.  Roland was also on the ground looking at the signs.  As a hunter, he understood more of what he was looking at.

            “Eight or ten people.  No more than a dozen.  They appear headed for Lebanon, or at least the coast.”

            “Right direction,” Boston said as she dropped the reigns of Roland’s horse, jumped up on Honey’s back and headed out across the grasses.  There was a horse out there, attracted to movement in the camp.  It was Alexis’ horse, Misty Gray.  Boston had no trouble catching the animal.

            “Alright people,” Lockhart got everyone’s attention.  “Pick up everything you can find, all the equipment and let’s get it loaded first.  Then we can follow and maybe find them.”

            “No dead bodies near.”  Elder Stow had his scanner out.

            “No sign of much of a struggle despite the disarray of the camp,” Lincoln noted.  He had worked for the CIA before joining the Men in Black so Lockhart accepted that he knew what he was talking about.

            “Good reason to believe they are still alive,” Katie spoke up from where she was gathering and compressing a fairy weave tent.

            “The Lady?” Atonas spoke up from the lake as his boat arrived.

            “Tell me,” Lincoln confronted the man as the man came ashore.  “How did you meet her.  What did she say.”

            “Please, please.  I know nothing of this,” he insisted.  “I saw the campfire three days ago back where we camped last night.  I came to warn them about the water, but it was too late.  The woman had already taken the poison.  Her father did great magic and I saw the poison escape her with my own eyes.  It was red, like blood and yellow, like piss.  It came right out of her mouth.  I swear.  Then her father slept from such effort while the lady instructed me.  She said you were following and I should look for you.  She said she would delay her father at the head of the lake, here.  Please, I left in the morning to look and found you, but I know nothing of this.”

            “Fair enough,” Lockhart stepped up and put a hand on Lincoln’s shoulder.  Lincoln said nothing.  He returned to his horse.  “We are going to find her,” Lockhart told Atonas.

            “I can come?  Do you promise the big beast will not bite me?”

            “He could ride Misty,” Boston suggested as she came up close.  She was still on Honey’s back and managed to miss the whole clean-up operation.

            “I have clean water,” Atonas said, and he lifted two wineskins filled with lake water.  There were more.

            “All right,” Lockhart agreed.  “Elder Stow, help me get these water skins and see that everyone gets at least one.  Elder Stow said nothing, but Boston had something more to say.

            “Hold on with your legs, try not to bounce too much and hold on here to the saddle horn.  I have Misty tied to my saddle so you won’t have to worry about steering or anything.  That’s it.  And trust me, you will only be sore for the first two or three days.

 ###

Avalon 2.10:  Eliyawe and Company … 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.

 ###

Avalon 2.9  Overstepping Boundaries … Next Time

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Avalon 2.8: Encounters

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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After 3498 BC, somewhere between Guatemala and the Yucatan.  Kairos life 28:  Otapec.

Recording…

            The jungle they traveled through was not too thick at ground level, but the canopy above cast their journey into shadows, and there were other, deeper shadows moving among the trees.  Roland and Boston thought it best to stop and watch as the shadows stopped with them.  Lincoln, who was not paying attention would have run into them, but his horse knew better.  Elder Stow watched Lincoln’s horse buck as it stopped and he laughed.  The Gott-Druk had not laughed much since joining the group, but he was learning. 

            “What’s up?”  Lockhart’s voice spoke softly from the rear.  Katie got busy retrieving her rifle.

            “Not men,” Roland said.  “I do not recognize the scent.”

            “Let me try,” Boston said.  She was all excited because in the last time zone, when she was under the spell of the genii, she did all sorts of magic that she never imagined she was capable of doing.  She pulled out the leg bone of a doe that Roland was helping her carefully shape into a proper wand, and she focused.  The tree branch lifted and they saw two reptiles, clothed and standing upright like ordinary people, and they were arguing.

            “But are they tagged?”  Everyone heard that because the gray reptile raised his voice.

            “Yes, sir.  Yes, but can’t we find a way to bring one of them now?  The supreme one would be most pleased.”

            “There will be time for experimentation later.”

            “But sir.”

            “No!  We haven’t the room nor the capacity.”  He turned toward the travelers and saw the branch lifted.  “We have been seen,” he said and stepped out to face them all.  The one with the electronic equipment followed, and Boston was glad because she could not have held up the branch much longer.

            “Can we help you?”  Lockhart said, or hoped that was what he said.  The language of these reptiles was all tongue slurps and guttural growls.  The human tongue and vocal chords were not designed to make those sounds.  Of course, thanks to the gift of the Kairos, they heard the whole conversation like it was in English, but being able to respond was another matter.

            “Remarkable.”  The gray one stepped up.  “It is almost as if this one is trying to speak.”

            “Sir,” the other interrupted.  “My equipment is unable to get a lock on this one.”  He referred to Roland, the elf, but before the gray one could respond, Elder Stow pushed up between Lockhart and Boston.

            “These are under my protection,” he said in his own Gott-Druk language.  The gray one squinted and put something like an ear bud in one ear.  He tapped the box on his belt. 

            “Ah, yes,” he said.  “One of the lesser helpers against the Balok all those years ago.”

            “From the lesser ship that followed us?” The other suggested, but it was like a question.  The gray one made a face, stuck out his tongue and snarled which Katie interpreted as he did not care if he was or wasn’t.

            “I said, these are under my protection,” Elder Stow repeated himself.

            “Yes, I heard.”  He turned to his colleague.  “Notice how the less intelligent feel the need to repeat what has already been plainly stated.”

            “I wonder if these beasts have a form of communication.”  The other pointed at the horses.

            “Worth finding out,” the gray one responded.  “Beasts of burden, certainly, and the first we have seen in this unsophisticated place.”

            Lockhart tried again, this time in the Gott-Druk tongue.  “Can we help you?”

            Again, the gray one turned to the other, and this time he showed his great rows of very sharp teeth.  Katie and Boston both imagined it was a reptile kind of smile.  Lincoln was not so sure.  “You see?”  The gray one spoke.  “They are capable of learning.  This world might not be the total waste we imagined.  It would take a great deal of time and energy, but the natives can be trained.”

            “We need to get this information to the supreme one,” the other said with a hint of excitement.

            “Quite right,” the gray one agreed and placed a claw on the shoulder of his companion.  They turned their backs on the travelers and stepped back into the trees.  A moment later, something like a real flying saucer, though a very small one like a scout ship lifted into the sky.

            “That was weird.”  Lockhart said what everyone felt.

            “This way.”  Boston had the amulet out and pointed their direction.  They had to dismount and walk the horses because the jungle got thick again.

###

            On a small hill in a wild meadow there were a number of shelters which one might call tents if one wanted to be kind.  There were also a number of camp fires, children running free, women cooking and men lazing about.  It might have been a scene from anywhere at any point in history, and certainly fit 3450 BC Central America, but for two things.  Half of these people looked more African than Native American.  They were dark skinned and had none of the expected slightly Asian look about them.  Then also they carried a stone sarcophagus with them and with no visible means to move it.  How it came to be in that meadow, no scientist in our day could ever explain.

            One woman, beautiful and young looked up from the meat in the fire when her middle-aged, gray haired man came up to her.  She kissed him because she wanted to.  He kissed her because he loved her.

            “Your friends are near,” the woman said.

            “Then perhaps we should go and greet them,” the man responded, but the woman shook her head and made him sit down and share the meal.  When they were done, she took his arm and walked him to the meadow’s edge as six horses emerged from the jungle.

            “Hey, Lockhart.”  The man waved.

            “Otapec?”  Lincoln asked.  He had the database out and was trying to read.  It was something he had not really been able to do in the jungle.  Otapec nodded and smiled until the woman tugged on his sleeve.

            “Opi, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends.”

            Otapec patted the woman’s hand, gently and introduced the travelers.  Lastly he introduced his wife, Maya.

            “Hello Maya.”  Boston said.  “My real name is Mary Riley, but everyone just calls me Boston.”

            Maya did not respond as expected.  In fact she reminded the travelers of the reptiles in the jungle as she turned and spoke only to Otapec.  “You are right, she is a dear one.”

            “Come,”  Otapec waved for everyone to follow.  He turned to walk and the travelers dismounted and fell in line.  Otapec spoke up.  “Maya has made a treat for the horses, and then I have a surprise for you as well.”

            Katie looked at Lockhart, but all he could do was shrug.

###

Avalon 2.8:  Revivals … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Death and Life

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            The travelers did their best to lead the defense of the camp, but unless they got help, divine help, it will be a short lived defense.  Fortunately, the compulsion laid on the gnomes allowed them to set Beltain’s mind free of the control of the Djin, even if only for a moment.  It is enough for the Kairos to reach back I time and bring the goddess into the present.  Divine help arrived.

###

            Up on the hill, Roland and Gnumma were completely taken in by the events transpiring in the camps.  Roland did not see his father sneak away.  Once it appeared that his ruse would work, Mingus quietly shuffled off.  Elder Stow saw, but said nothing.

            “Look at Boston,” Roland said with some pride in his voice.  “That is really some powerful magic.”

            “Not bad for one made of mud and blood,” Gnumma agreed.

            The light went out and Roland drew in his breath, sharply.  “Father?”  He was afraid Boston might have been seriously hurt.

            “Gone,” Elder Stow spoke at last.  “I was surprised you did not go with him.”

            “What?”

            “I figured as exhausted as he was, he went to see if he could help.”

            “Father!”  Roland turned and shouted, but there was no answer.  Before he could follow up, a stroke of lightning hit the center of the Aramean camp.  “The Djin!”  Roland shouted and again drew his breath in, sharply.

            “No, boy,” Gnumma explained.  “That bolt went from the ground into the sky.  I would guess our ruse worked and the Kairos is restored.  No telling which life she borrowed.  One of the gods, I suppose.  But I would say she burned the bottom of that Djin and now I think the Djin is running for his life.”  He pointed and the cloud over the camp rapidly cleared.

###

            Down in the camp, the combatants paused at the lightning.  They trembled when they got a look at Zoe, and a few fainted.  The glow around her was very different, and in a way much stronger than the bit of sunlight Boston had produced.  This glow said holy, awesome power of the sort that men and women might be inclined to worship.  It also said you have really made me mad, and the men trembled, not for their lives, but for fear as to which hell she might cast them into; and they did not doubt that she could.

            “Go home!”  Zoe shouted in a voice that demanded a hearing and demanded obedience.  “Go back to the camps you came from.” She waved her hand and the attackers all disappeared at once.  Whether they reappeared in their respective camps or were sent all of the way back to Caana, Syria and Lebanon remained to be seen.

            “Katie!”  Zoe called and Katie ran up.  By her own volition she went to one knee.

            “Queen of Queens,” Katie said.

            Zoe frowned, but only a little.  “Would you get up, you’re embarrassing Beltain.”

            “I know.  I remember myself, but your way is to keep history moving in the right direction.  There are many women here who need to see this.”

            Zoe thought for a second.  “One point for you, but really, you can get up now.”

            Katie did and spoke frankly.  “I am worried about Boston.”

            “Boston is fine,” Zoe said, but before she could add, thanks to Alexis, Lockhart ran up from one direction and Lincoln from the other.  Star and the Sybil also approached, but much more carefully.  The Sybil especially was in tears.

            “Quickly.”  Zoe spoke quietly to the travelers before the others arrived.  “I have taken away the genii’s ability to sap the will.  He will not be able to put you under again, but he lives and I have no doubt he will follow you into the future.  Let us hope he has learned his lesson.”

            “The Djin is from the future?”  Lockhart asked.  Zoe nodded as Lincoln spoke.

            “Odelion.”  They all remembered the encounter with a Djin in Odelion’s day, but they all thought it was local.  They would have thought the same this time if Zoe had not said otherwise.

            “Now, I must go and speak to the leaders in the other camps.  Men have died, and if they try anything so stupid again, more men will die.  They must trust Beltain and be grateful for what she shares.  That is all.”

            Star came up, mouth open but without words.  Zoe acknowledged her.  “Hunter.”  Star fell to both knees and trembled, and more so when Zoe laid her hand gently on the girl’s head.  “My best friend Artemis is not native to this jurisdiction, though I do convince her one day to take part ownership in a temple in Ephesus.  Still, the little sparks of her spirit do tend to get around.”  Zoe spoke tenderly and let out a precious bit of laughter before she took back her hand.

            “Sybil.”  Zoe acknowledged the woman who fell all the way to her face before her goddess, the Queen of all her goddesses.  Zoe’s tone was not quite so tender.  Rather, it was stern but not unkind.  “Always speak the truth or say nothing at all,” she said, before she added, “Later,” and vanished. 

            “Boston?”  Lockhart asked.

            “She is fine.  Alexis is with her,” Katie said and paused for all of a second before she shouted, “Alexis!”  Lincoln’s shout was one second behind, but he ran faster.  Two women were there, helping Boston to sit up.  Boston immediately put her hand to her head like she had a whopper of a headache.  Lincoln noticed, but he could not hold back the shout.

            “Where is Alexis?”

            The women were shocked, but looked up at Katie and one answered.  “A man came for her.  He brought two beasts, and the two of them got up on the backs of the beasts and went off in that direction.”  She pointed.  Lockhart and Katie noticed.  Lincoln just went into a string of invectives which, fortunately for the locals, was mostly in English.

            It was not long after that when the Sybil guided them back to Beltain’s tent.  Star was particularly anxious to see if the priestess was alright.  They found Beltain at the tent door and were a bit surprised by her first words.  “Did you bring Gorman with you?”

            Lockhart shook his head.  “He is still with the men on the perimeter.  But I don’t think he has stopped smiling yet, if that is any consolation.”

            Beltain got a look on her face, but refrained from swearing by simply saying, “What Lincoln said.”  She heard all the swearing.  In fact, Roland later insisted he heard it all the way up on the hill behind Elder Stow’s screens.  “So how many did we lose?”  No one answered her, because the Sybil shrieked and threw her hands over her eyes.  There was a flash of light and a man appeared facing Beltain.

            “I need Doctor Mishka,” the man said.  “It is urgent.”

            “Ask much?”  Beltain responded.

            “The babies are due.  She is in labor, but something is wrong  They are joined together, here.”  Enlil put his hand to the top of his head.

            “Enlil, these are my friends.”  Beltain would have to think for a minute.  This was not good.

            “Hello.”  Enlil barely turned his head before he made his demand.  “The doctor?”

            Beltain looked around.  “Star, tell Gorman to wait for me.  I wasn’t finished.”  Star nodded.  “Anath, be sure these people get whatever food and supplies they require.  I will be back.”  The Sybil nodded as well, though she never uncovered her eyes.  Beltain took Enlil’s hand and said one more thing.  “Doctor when we get there.  Here and now you get me.”

            With that Enlil actually took a moment to look around.  He spoke to Lockhart.  “Not much of a war.”

            “War!”  Beltain tried not to spit.  “I should invent football.  Boys are stupid.”  The word “stupid” floated on the wind as Enlil and Beltain vanished

            Lincoln looked up.  “What did she mean boys are stupid?  We are not stupid, are we?”

            Katie, Boston, Star and the Sybil answered in unison.  “Yes.”

###

            In ancient days there were a few places on the earth where the human race met with … “visitors,” like the place of the Lion where the Shemsu people built those three great pyramids in Egypt.  In the new world, that common ground was the jungle that covered the Yucatan, Guatemala and southern Mexico.  One alien landing can keep the Kairos busy trying to limit alien contact and influence on human development and history.  But when the travelers arrive in the next time zone, they find four species, and they are picking sides and talking war.  For the late Neolithic humans caught in the middle, contact will be explosive; a struggle just to survive.

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Avalon 2.8:  Encounters … Next Time

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