Mermaid

Avalon Pilot part III-2: Myths and Legends

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Lockhart peered out, like from a cave on to a ridge, but he could not see much or very far outside of a blue hazy line in the great distance.  He thought that might be the sea.  He put his hand gently forward until he touched the gate.

“I see the shimmer of the gate in this light,” Boston said, and everyone nodded.  She had come up to the front and looked around at her fellow-travelers.  They could all see it, but not well.

“This would be easy to overlook, especially if we were in a hurry,” Lieutenant Harper said.

“Weapons ready?” Decker suggested, and Lockhart nodded.  Mingus rolled his eyes, but Roland got out his bow, Boston fetched her Beretta, Lincoln checked his pistol, and Lockhart cradled the shotgun in his arms like a baby.  The marines, of course, were always ready.  Doctor Procter pulled a rickety stick from some secret place up his sleeve.  It was his wand, and with that, Alexis felt prompted to look around for something she might use to focus her magic as well.

When they were set, Mingus rolled his eyes again, but Lieutenant Harper saw and threw the elf’s words back at him.  “Better to be safe,” she said, and they all stepped into the next time zone.

The ridge top proved not very wide, and though it did not end in a cliff or sharp drop off, the slope looked steep enough to make them keep to the ridge top in the hope of finding an easier way down.  Lockhart headed them east, toward the rising sun, and Boston remarked how lucky they were to arrive at sunrise instead of the dark of night.

“Of course it is dawn.”  Doctor Procter squinted in the early light.  “The time zones all share the same twenty-four-hour cycle.  They may be different days or different times of year, or on different phases of the moon, but they all have twenty-four hours.”

Mingus added a thought, getting used to making up for what the Doctor left unsaid.  “He means when it is noon here, it will be noon in every time zone.  The only way we will enter a zone at night is if we leave a zone at night.”

“Nine in the morning or so, not dawn,” Lincoln interrupted.  “It is hard to tell with the sun rising behind the mountains.”

“Chain of mountains,” Alexis spoke to her husband.  “And we seem to be fairly-high up, though it is warm.  I would guess near the tropics.”  Lincoln nodded and for the first time he got out his proverbial notepad and pen.  The pistol got put away since there did not appear to be anyone or anything around apart from a few birds.

After a short distance, they found a place where the ridge crumbled and rolled to the bottom ages ago.  It seemed a gentle slope, but instead of being full of rocks and loose pebbles, it had become covered in grass.

“Our way down,” Lockhart said.

“Mmm.”  Boston looked around and half-listened, as usual.  She had her hand up to shade her eyes, and looked up now that they could see several peaks at once above them.  “I like the way the rising sun sets off the peaks like so many islands in the sea.”

“Islands in the sea, indeed.”  Captain Decker pointed across the slope to where the ridge top picked up again.  A large wooden structure looked abandoned there—a man-made structure.  It remained partly hidden behind some boulders, but for want of a better word, it looked like a boat, and a big boat at that.

“It can’t be.”  Doctor Procter said it first.  No one else said anything until they arrived at the site, and then they all said, “It can’t be,” except Mingus, who suggested it stunk.

“Father!”  Alexis protested and Roland stood right beside her.  “You stuff all those animals in a boat for forty days and forty nights and see how much stink there is.”

“The stink is hardly the point,” Roland added.

“Look at this.”  Doctor Procter got everyone’s attention.  The boat had graffiti on one panel near the quadruple-wide door and ramp.  Over all was a picture of the sun and the moon squeezed together so it was a half-moon and a half-sun.  A mermaid had been crudely drawn on one side.

“Half-woman and half-fish,” Alexis said while Lincoln desperately tried to make a rendering of the drawings in his notebook.  He cursed not having a camera.  “And a centaur, half-man and half-horse on the other side,” Alexis finished her thought.  She ignored her husband’s curse and pointed with her finger.

“And the middle picture?”  The captain, lieutenant and Lockhart did not see it, but to their defense, the pictures were very primitive.

“The Kairos,” both Doctor Procter and Boston spoke together, and Boston let the doctor describe it.

“The two persons of the Kairos are attached on her right and his left, so there are only three legs and two hands on a double-wide body.  You can see the two heads clear enough.”

“And she has little boobs,” Boston added, and watched Roland redden just a bit.

“So, you like my work?”  Everyone jumped and looked up.  A man stood inside the Ark, at the top of the ramp.  “You are future travelers.  I thought that sort of thing was not possible—a self-contradicting proposition.”

“We are accidental travelers.”  Lockhart spoke up quickly and just as quickly got Captain Decker to lower his weapon.  Lockhart stood back from the others and still cradled the shotgun.  Mingus stood beside him on the other side and frowned for some reason.  “We plan to move on as soon as we can,” Lockhart finished.

The man nodded and asked for no further explanation.  “I am just glad there is a future.  I have worked hard so what I once saw might not come true.  My wife says I am making freaks.  I said they are her children too.”  He paused to smile, but since no one but Decker joined in the smile, he finished his thought.  “The truth is these offer hope, and there are others working elsewhere.”

“Why centaurs and mermaids?” Lieutenant Harper asked.

“Because the world is empty and needs to be filled.  If the ones who would-be gods have nothing to occupy their time and attention, they will be occupied with each other, and that would be very dangerous.”

“Do I know you?” Doctor Procter asked, and squinted at the man, but the man shook his head.

“But I know you.  I can’t help it.  Boston.  You will live much longer than a human should live.  Alexis, your days will be shorter than they might have been.  Doctor.”  The man paused and scrutinized the doctor.  “There is something different about you—something wrong.”

“He is half-elf and half-human,” Boston suggested.

“Half and half.  No.  But what an interesting concept.  I wonder why I did not think of that.  It would certainly cut down on their wild rampaging through the earth.”

“But wait,” Lieutenant Harper spoke quickly.  She felt afraid that the man might run off, or maybe just disappear.  “I still don’t understand the centaurs and mermaids.  What about human beings.”

The man looked up at the lieutenant and smiled.  “A sharp mind.  They are the future—your future.  But right now, they are all bunched up on the plains of Shinar.  Oh, there are some small groups scattered here and there around the world, but mostly Shinar.”  He pointed.  “I see your way lies in that direction.”  People looked, though there was nothing to see but mountainside.  He waited until they all looked at him again before he spoke.  “I must think on these things you have said, only I fear my children will find me before I can act on my thoughts.”  He vanished.  One moment he stood there, contemplating eternity, and the next moment he disappeared.  Mingus answered everyone’s question when he spat the man’s name.

“Cronos.”

Reflections Wlvn-6 part 2 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Wlvn thought he could see where the river they were following joined to a much larger river in the distance, but he could not be sure. “It’s easier to see from the cliffs.” Badl took a deep breath and stood up straight. “The Desna runs right into the Dnapr which goes all the way to the sea.”

“To the sea?” Elleya asked, looked excited, and grabbed Wlkn’s hand. She very much wanted him to share her excitement, but Wlvn shook his head.

“Njord asked me to take her to the Danube. We can’t just dump her.” Badl looked disappointed.

“Well, there’s a human village not too far down the Dnapr. We should get there by sundown.”

“But what about the night creatures?” Wlkn asked. “Wouldn’t it help to put the big river between us?”

“Yes.” Badl hedged. “But after the rain and the flood, I don’t imagine they will be on our trail all that soon, and Thor did promise to slow them down. We should be good for the night. Besides, they got real food there, bread and eggs and pork and bacon. Lords! I could really go for some bacon right now.”

“I don’t suppose the flash flood might have caught the night creatures and drowned them all,” Wlkn wondered.

“I doubt it,” Wlvn and Badl spoke together as they went to gather the horses.

Sure enough, they reached the village just before sunset, and Wlvn recognized the small, wooded hill that sat up against the river, not too far downstream. “Flern,” he mumbled. “We’re home.”

“Dwarfs trade here sometimes.” Badl explained to the others over supper. “We got craftsmen in wood, stone and bone, and got some that can work in metals like silver and gold.”

“Copper mostly,” Wlvn interjected.

“And precious stones,” Badl said, a bit defensively. “Anyway, these people got beer and all this food and grain and stuff that we don’t always have in stock. We need our bread, too, you know, and our goddess said trading would be much better than stealing. She doesn’t like stealing, you know.”

“And don’t you forget it.” Wlvn felt obliged to put that in.

“Anyway, sometimes the elves trade here too, so I suppose that is why no one was surprised to see me.

“Like the young elf maid that lives with this old woman.” Wlkn pointed to the girl who fiddled with some dishes in the corner. He spoke softly and meant it kindly, but elf ears miss very little.

“My name is Moriah,” she said, as she brought more pork loin to Badl. “It’s not young elf maid. Here you go, glutton.” She planted the plate firmly in front of Badl’s face. “It’s a wonder these others get anything to eat at all with you around.”

Badl just smiled. “Right good cook would be a good name,” he suggested. She snubbed him and turned to the others. No one missed what that meant.

“Anyway, I’m only a half and half.” Wlvn looked closely. She had the elf ears and elf sharpness to her features, and while she appeared skinny enough, she had a good shape and looked well conditioned overall, like an athlete. She did not look terminally skinny the way some elves can look. Her hair fell to her waist, elf black, but her eyes were deep brown, a color hardly found among the elves apart from some deep in the woodlands. Then again, she had some freckles and that was not at all an elf thing. Wlvn guessed that her elf side came from some distance away or she would be with her father, but as soon as he considered that, the hair stood up on the back of his neck. He had a thought he did not want to think.

“I’m sorry,” Wlkn apologized. “I did not mean to offend.”

“Forget it,” Moriah said sweetly as she fetched another pork chop for her glutton. “But my mother died last summer, and my father’s people don’t live around here.”

“I miss my people, too.” Elleya had to say something. Being a talker, she started feeling left out.

“Oh, I have never seen my father’s people. I can’t imagine but it would be a strange thing for me.”

“Moriah.” The old woman called from a back room, and Moriah excused herself and went immediately.

“I understand the old woman was kind enough to take her in.” Badl stared at the girl as she went. “She is not better than a servant in this house, though.”

Wlvn nodded. He understood the arrangement. The old woman had three sons and two daughters who lived in the village, and they were more than well suited to take care of her, but she loved the praise for taking in the poor orphan girl, even if that girl became no better than a slave.

“I say.” Wlkn had an idea. “Maybe her father’s people are on our way. Maybe we could drop her off.”

Wlvn sighed. That was what he was afraid of.

He was not at all surprised later when he woke up in the middle of the night and felt drawn to take a walk outside. Thor asked him to take the half and half, and that did surprise him a little. “Didn’t you just try to drown us?”

“Eh?” Thor had to think about it. “No. You saw Njord first, didn’t you?” He spoke affably enough. “That was to show you the mermaid. You get a choice, see? Personally, I thought you might prefer Moriah, I mean her being half one of your own and all.”

“So, don’t tell me, her father’s people live by the Danube.”

“Oh, not so far. Just on the side of the mountains.” That felt like almost to the Danube, and Wlvn frowned, but Thor kept smiling. He caught Wlvn with his hands, but only because Wlvn had not gotten fully awake. “Now you can have the strength to bust the rocks and trees that get in your way. Why should I have all the fun?” He said this and vanished. Wlvn just groaned and staggered back to bed.

“Badl, you’ve been promoted,” Wlvn said in the morning. “You get to ride Number Two so Moriah can ride Strn’s horse.”

Badl nodded. “I was figuring on that,” he said. “Fortunately, Number Two and I have come to an understanding, and Strn’s horse is a good animal for the girl. I wouldn’t want to see her hurt by a rough one.” He leaned in close and whispered in Wlvn’s ear. “You know; she is not bad looking for a pointy puss.” Wlvn looked up quickly at that unkind description of Elves and he saw Moriah turn a little red around her freckles, so he knew she heard. He guessed she was pleased to be thought of as not bad looking and willingly overlooked the slight against her father’s people, something easy enough for her, Wlvn thought. Moriah did not know her father’s people.

Reflections Wlvn-6 part 1 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Did you like the pyrotechnic display?” the man asked.

No one responded, except Elleya who asked. “The what?”

“The lightning,” Wlvn explained.

“Oh!” Elleya squealed in delight, jumped a little and clapped her hands.

“’S all right,” Badl said at last. Wlkn shook his head. He did not like violent storms.

“One for, one against and one in the middle. How about you?” The man asked, looking at Wlvn.

“You are not allowed to lay hands on my head,” Wlvn said.

The blond giant took a half-step back and Wlvn could almost see the denial going through the god’s mind as the gears in there did not turn too swiftly. “Actually, I just came to say that we are aware of the creatures following you. I am not authorized to remove them, mind you, but I may slow them down a little. I figured you wouldn’t mind. It is sort of a compromise. The whole last week has been exceptionally dry, if you haven’t noticed. Actually, there should be a first snow by now in these climes.”

“Thank you, Thor,” Wlvn figured out who this god was. “Tell Sif hi when you see her.”

“Why should I tell her hi?” Thor asked. “Sif?” But by then, Wlvn moved on, and Badl came right with him. Wlkn and Elleya were a little slower to catch on.

“I thought I handled that rather well,” Wlvn bragged to Badl.

“Slick as an elf, sir.” Badl agreed, “But…”

“But what?”

“Well, it’s just that, you see, Thor is rather easy.”

“Hmm.” Wlvn frowned and began to look around. That little cliff under which they had sheltered grew in height, and what is more, a second cliff rose up on the other side of the river. “We must be going through a little gorge. I am sure it will let us out on the plains again, soon, do you think?”

“This goes on for a bit if I remember rightly,” Badl said. “But I was wondering something.” Badl paused. Wlvn did not say anything, but he looked over, so Badl continued. “Do you think the mist and drizzle we had all morning was just the leading edge of that cloud buster that fell on us at lunch? I was wondering if it rained as hard as that in the uplands, you know, above the swamps, and then in the swamps before it got to us.”

Wlvn still said nothing, but he kicked his horse to a gallop. Badly shouted, “Hey!” and tried to catch up. Wlkn shouted something more substantial.

“Why the rush?”

Hardly a minute later, the horses ran through ankle deep water. The river overflowed its banks. Another minute and it got up to the horses’ knees, and a minute more, and they started swimming in it, or rather being carried along by a greatly increased current. It felt like riding a rubber boat through the rapids, except they were trying to hang on to a horse’s mane. Just when it got up to their necks, Wlvn caught Badl out of the corner of his eye. He saw the dwarf had nudged Strn’s horse up to the cliff side and he grabbed on to something and hauled himself up above the rushing water. Wlvn felt glad to know at least one of them would make it, but then he came around a bend and found Thred ripped from his hands. The water drove him down under, and he gulped a great deal of water. He expected to drown, but the water did not bother him at all. In fact, he found he could breathe under water, and see perfectly well, and that was good because he needed both arms and legs to keep from smashing into rocks and trees in his path. He knew Njord, God of the Sea, had to be responsible for this, and as grateful as he felt for his own sake, he got concerned about Wlkn and Elleya. Drowning was something he did not wish on anyone, even if it was something that now he would never experience.

Wlvn bobbed his head up and saw no sign of the others, but he did see his swan circling overhead, apparently in a panic. He shouted up. “I’m all right. Find Badl.” Then he got pulled under again.

The current stayed very swift through the gully. It pushed him farther and faster than they could have ridden on their own. He wondered briefly if it might obliterate their trail for the night creatures. He decided probably not, but it might slow them down a bit. After another minute, the cliffs fell away, and as he had surmised, he came out on to a broad plain where the water spread out and quickly became merely ankle deep.

“Over here.” Wlvn heard a woman’s voice and he walked back up to the edge of the gully, and up the side of the cliff a short way where he could watch the water come gushing out. He thought it might already be decreasing, but it felt hard to tell. “Here.” The woman handed him a towel and Wlvn gratefully dried himself. “And I thought you might need these,” she said, and she pointed to where all five horses were quiet and contentedly grazing.

“Thank you, um.” Wlvn said, because he did not know who he was thanking.

“Frigga,” she said. There seemed to be a scowl on her lips, but it appeared to be directed toward the gushing water, not toward Wlvn, and he felt grateful for that, too. This looked like one woman that he did not want to cross.

“Majesty,” he called her. Frigga was the queen of the gods. “Haven’t we met before?”

Frigga seemed fine with that question. “You were a woman,” she said. “Now that was a real adventure, not like the foolish and unnecessary game these boys are playing.”

“Game? I’m sorry, I don’t—”

“You are going to kill the Titan, aren’t you?” Frigga asked outright, and Wlvn nodded his assent. At least he would try.

“Foolish and unnecessary.” Frigga frowned again. “But here.” She had her hands on his head before he could blink. “Something useful, I hope.” And she vanished.

“Lord!” Badl clambered down the rocks toward him, but Wlvn got distracted. Wlkn had washed up down below, and he seemed in one piece, except for his holding hands with a mermaid, fish tail and all.

When he reached them, Elleya looked up at him. “That was fun,” she said as he handed her the towel. As she dried herself, the fish tail vanished, and her legs came back.

“Fun for you, maybe.” Wlkn looked spent. “I had to keep her from crashing into every rock, stump and tree in the gully. She wanted to stop and examine it all. Said it was lovely underwater.

Elleya nodded. “But you should see my underwater forest.” She smiled broadly before a look of apprehension quickly covered her face. She looked up at Wlvn. “My Lord, I am sorry. I could only save one. I saved my Wilken. I should have saved you.” She looked down with a look that expressed deep regret and failure.

“But I am fine.” Wlvn said, having recovered some by then.

Elleya looked up again and the smile returned. “And you are, so everything worked out.” She bent over Wlkn who lay on his back, and she stroked his cheek tenderly. “And I saved my Wilken.”

“Lord!” Badl caught up.

“Excuse me, Skinny Wilken.” Wlvn smiled.

Wlkn pushed Elleya’s hand back. “Not now, woman,” he said sternly and stood. She got right up beside him.

“Lord.” Badl caught his breath, his hands were on his knees. “We’ve reached the Dnapr.” He pointed and Wlvn had to turn around and shade his eyes against the sun which appeared to be dropping rapidly.

Reflections Wlvn-5 part 3 of 3

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Wlvn did not stay asleep for very long in that dim light of dawn. The girl had the others help her take his cloak off so she could fold it into a pillow. It seemed a nice gesture, but Wlvn’s arms and legs got cold fast and that brought him back awake. When he opened his eyes, he found the girl sitting beside him, on her knees, staring down at him, and smiling for all she was worth.

“Do you have a name?” Wlvn asked.

“Elleya,” she said.

“Hmm. Not from around here I assume.” Wlvn sat up and put his hand to his head to ward off the headache. He saw Thred there, safe and sound, and Number Two came over and nudged him while he patted the horse’s nose. The girl looked every which way.

“No,” she said at last, while a touch of confusion rose up into her eyes. “I’m not from around here.” She helped Wlvn stand. Meanwhile, Wlkn and Badl had been banished to the fire where they sat cooking several flounders. As Wlvn and Elleya went to join them, Elleya spoke again. “I prefer mine fresh and raw,” she said, and she picked up a fish and took a bite and smiled. The fish had not even been cleaned and they could all hear the crunching on the scales. Wlvn looked at the girl more closely. Though a buxom one, and with plenty of flesh, she did not appear to be what might call fat. She had yellowish hair, though maybe it leaned toward the green side. Otherwise, she looked normal enough. She also looked rather scantily clad, and even as Wlvn pulled his cloak tighter, lest he be asked to give it up, he had to ask.

“Aren’t you cold?”

Elleya shook her head while Wlkn spoke. “I asked her that. She says she never gets cold.”

Elleya took another bite and appeared to nod in confirmation of Wlkn’s words.

“Lord.” Badl handed him a piece of fish.

“Thanks,” Wlvn said. “I don’t know any life when I especially cared for Sushi,” he added, as an offhanded remark.

“Sushi?” Elleya asked. Wlvn pointed at her fish, but she thought he was pointing at her. “No, my name is Elleya.”

“And we’re all pleased to meet you,” Wlkn said, sincerely, which got the girl to smile where they all got a good look at the fish guts and scales stuck between her teeth.

“Could we use her as N. C. bait?” Badl asked.

“Hush,” Wlvn said, but he didn’t say, no.

After breakfast, the newly rejuvenated Wlkn got promoted to Gndr’s horse while Wlvn got Elleya up on Brmr’s mare. Fortunately, she proved lighter than she looked, and when he got her legs around the horse in the right way, he thought he would hand the reigns to Wlkn to bring her along. Meanwhile, she started spouting.

“I have nice legs, don’t you think?”

“Very nice.” Wlvn patted her thigh while he noticed they were utterly hairless, not as soft as they looked, and a bit shiny in a way that felt hard to describe.

“I think you can have me if you want,” she said. “I didn’t know what to think at first, you know. I’m really very shy, but you are very handsome for a man. I would not mind being with you as a wife. Of course, I would like to see my family again, and Wlkn is very handsome, too, even if he is a skinny one. I didn’t know anyone could be that skinny.”

“Wlkn!” Wlvn interrupted her. He handed the man the reigns. “Here you go, Skinny,” he said as he got Number Two’s reigns, got up on Thred, and made sure he rode out front and hopefully out of ear shot. He wondered, what on earth made her think he wanted a wife?

They rode all that day, once again by secret paths that only Badl knew, and in this way, they put some real distance between them and any remaining night creatures. Since they were out of the swampland, they made a good day of it. When they settled in for the evening, Badl announced that even night creatures could not cover that much ground in a single night. That seemed a good thing, because they all needed some real sleep, and would have got plenty if they could figure out how to turn down the volume on Elleya.

The morning came with a red sky in the East. Elleya immediately declared that a storm was coming. “I thought that was only if you were at sea,” Wlvn commented, and that set her off on a whole host of stories about the beauties of the sea, and storms at sea, and how lightning could flash across the sky in an endless display of beauty, and the thunder could make the waves roll and felt where it tickled her tummy. To his credit, Wlkn listened patiently to every word, and Wlvn only thought, better him than me.

Sure enough, the drizzle came by nine that morning and Wlvn immediately started looking for some place where they could shelter. This flatland seemed just the right kind of environment for the swamps. They got out of the undulating hills of the upland, so the land did not have all the rocks and boulders spread here and there. Wlvn knew if a blow really came up, it might not be a good idea to shelter under the trees. He looked hard, and just before noon he got rewarded to find a very short cliff with a reasonable rock overhang. Wlkn almost had to duck to get under since he stood rather tall. Not much they could do about the horses but hobble them, and otherwise let them roam and seek what shelter they could find. But for the people, this rock overhang would do, and they immediately set about gathering as much wood as they could find before it became too wet to burn. It had been raining lightly for a couple of hours by then, and it felt like a cold icy rain besides.

At noon, just as they sat around the fire wondering what they might eat, the sky opened up in all of its fury. The lightening felt like it never stopped, and the thunder echoed continually in their ears.

“Freakish weather this late in the season,” Badl pointed out.

“But lovely,” Elleya said, as her eyes stayed on the heavens, and she even applauded several times. Wlvn could tell that Wlkn did not think it lovely at all. He had his back to the cliff wall and his eyes closed most of the time. Wlvn mostly tried to count the time. He thought if they did not make enough distance that day, the night creatures would surely be on them in the dark.

The whole storm came to an abrupt end around two in the afternoon. Wlvn gathered the horses while Wlkn put out the fire and cleaned up the camp. Badl helped and scattered their unused wood back into the wild. Elleya watched. She was good at watching. Once they were ready, a man came striding out of the mist straight toward them. He looked like a big man with wild looking blond locks kept barely beneath his helmet of horns. The helmet matched the armor the man wore, and the weapons he carried. They were sophisticated weapons for that age, like Wlvn had, so it told Wlvn that here was another one of the gods. He had figured out that the man by the river, the one who saddled him with Elleya had to be Njord, god of the sea; but which one was this?

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MONDAY

Thy run across Thor and Frigga before they find a human village and pick up another young woman to travel with them.  Their journey is getting crowded and they are running out of horses.  until them, Happy Reading

 

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