Travelers

Avalon 7.5 Ali Baba and the 40 Guns, part 4 of 6

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“So, Hussain has a magic carpet?”  Alexis appeared to know something, but she did not seem sure what was safe to say. Lord Baba resolved that issue.

“Three sons of Sasan.  Hussain, Ali, and Ahmed.  Hussain found the carpet that used to belong to Mithras.  He was a lazy god.  Maybe the god of laziness.  Ali found a light scope left here by the guardians.”  Baba waved off the questions.  “The guardians are people, of a sort, from the end of the fifth age in the universe.  Four and a half billion years of Earth existence fits into the fifth and sixth ages—mostly the sixth age.  Think of it like this.  From an Earth perspective, the fifth age was planetary formation, and the production of water and other compounds.  The fifth age ended with the creation of planets, like Earth, where life as we know it became possible.  The sixth age is the age of life as we know it—material life, you might say.  Life grew from microbes and invertebrates, like single-celled life, to multi-celled life, plants, and animals like fish and amphibians, leading to reptiles and birds, and us mammals.”

“We met all, or most of those as aliens in our travels.” Katie said.  “Certainly, bird people, reptiles and amphibians.”

“Lincoln Jell-O-Blobs were mostly plants,” Alexis added.

“All sixth age people,” Baba said.  “Maybe people from 6B.  The sixth age might be divided.  6A might be eons of singe-cell life, and 6B plants and animals like we normally think of life.  So you can grasp things more categorically, Earth is four-and-a-half billion years old.  Life on Earth covers about four billion of those years, with 6A covering about three-and-a-half billion years and 6B, the last half-billion.  But keep in mind, the universe is nearer fourteen billion years old.”  Baba pause to think.

“The first age was energy, simple energy, expanding from the point of creation.  Natural law began at that point, including the moral law, but I don’t want to quibble about that.  Within that context there were at least three forces that began at the beginning.  We call them time, gravity, and electro-magnetism.  The energy slowed.  No other way to put that.  “And there was light,” as they say.  Photons: little non-particle/particles that were still energy-like or contained the energy within.  The second age, the age of light went on for a long time.  The age of light ended with the formation of the first stars.  The third age, what some call the age of time, when there became night and day, saw the production of some heavier elements, the formation of neutron stars, and so on, and the first mini explosions, what you might call supernovas, like universal recycling.  The universe began to noticeably age, and the third age, the age of time, ended when the first stars died.  The fourth age, the age of gravity, saw black holes and galaxies formed around them, further slowing the energy.  The fourth age also saw the production of heavy metals and ended with the formation of the first planets, basically gaseous giants, like Jupiter planets, somewhere between planets and almost stars.”

“And the fifth age produced the light scope,” Lockhart said.

“Fifth age beings actually, yes, but in the sixth age.”

“So, what age are we in?” Lincoln asked.  

Baba continued.  “The fifth age would be the age of magnetism, or electromagnetism, like lightning, which is a natural EMP.  The fifth age that formed compounds, in particular water and ammonia, continued up to the production of proteins and other life building blocks.  It happened much earlier on older planets and is only happening now on younger planets.  Then the sixth age produced life as we know it, beginning with microscopic life through single cells and up to multi-celled life, to plants and animals, and finally independent movers and thinker, or what we call people.”

“So, intelligent life is a product of the sixth age,” Tony said, though it was really a question.

Baba shook his head.  “Life that is conscious and intelligent has been since the beginning, mostly just not life as we understand it.  The guardians at the end of the fifth age understood the fifth age, from compounds like water to the development of life’s building blocks, like protein, went on for a long time in some places.  They watched the single celled life that formed the sixth age produce some species that we might call people.  The Arania, for example.  But mostly people formed from multi-cellular life.  We might call 6B the age of people rather than simply part of the age of life.  The guardians at the beginning of the age, however, recognized material life as something fragile, in need of guarding, you might say.”

“So, all of the aliens we have run into, including the Blobs, are age 6B people,” Lincoln said, trying to understand.

“Yes,” Baba said. “The ages are not defined by hard and fast lines.  The age we are calling 6B on Earth began about five-hundred and fifty million years ago during a thing called the Cambrian explosion.  Mammals, however, only begin somewhere around one-hundred and fifty million years ago.  The Diplodachus, with many mammal-like traits, but still mostly reptiles, fit about the middle of that frame, say two-hundred and fifty million years ago.  We really don’t need to go earlier than that.”

“Diplodachus?” Katie wondered, having heard that name, but unable to pinpoint the reference.

“The mass extinction event, at the end of the Cretaceous, happened when that asteroid pounded the Yucatan, some sixty-six million years ago—when the dinosaurs mostly died off.  The Diplodachus were moved off the earth at that time.”  Baba shrugged.  He did not need to get into that long story.

“What about the flood?” Nanette asked.  “That event would put us in the seventh age?”

Baba shook his head again.  “I didn’t mean to suggest that universal ages should be determined by transient events on this little backwater planet; not even when the gods went away in the time of Christ.  Earth has been through several extinction events.  I was just suggesting the last big one as an option for pointing to the modern or mammal part of the sixth age on Earth, specifically.  Just so you can get an idea of how long these ages go on   Out there, in space, fifth age planets are still forming, and sixth age life is still developing.  It isn’t a hard and fast line.”

“So, what about elder and younger races?” Katie asked.  “Elder Stow has called his people an elder race.  How is that determined?”

“Again, not hard and fast lines.  The Gott-Druk and Elenar barely qualify as elder races, even to us Homo Sapiens.  There are many, even before the Diplodachus, that are much older elder races produced on this genesis planet.  Some consider all mammalian derivatives part of the younger races related to the 6B animal life, and some suggest 6B as a seventh age, though six ages are fairly well accepted, universally.  Personally, I hope the seventh age might be an age of rest, when we get there.”  Baba paused to let that idea sink in.  “Anyway, Ali found an abandoned guardian light scope.  With it, we can see what is happening anywhere on the planet.  It isn’t hampered by solid matter.  It sees through trees, rocks, underground, to the bottom of the ocean, or whatever.  The remarkable thing is, after a half-billion years, it still works.  It is how we saw you heading toward the Wolv trap, which you managed to avoid.”

“Lucky us,” Lincoln said.

“So, Hussain found a magic carpet and Ali an eye piece,” Alexis said, wanting to get back on topic.

“You said there were three sons,” Katie remembered.

“What about the third son?” Lockhart wondered.  He could not remember the name.

“Ahmed,” Baba said.  “He found a medical device from the end of the 6A age.  I thought Devya rounded them all up and sent them to Avalon, but he found one.  It is just a round little thing.  They call it an apple.  It has an extensive learning and diagnosis program and heals with a combination of sound and radiation.  It kills viruses and hostile bacteria, typical 6A age life, and regenerates good tissue—healthy single cells—among other things.”

“Cure cancer?”

“Easily,” Baba said.  “The point to remember is it does not belong here in this age.  Something like this can distort the whole course of natural history.  The deeper law says we mammal-like people, us primates, have to make our own way in the universe, discover our own understanding when we are good and ready, and fight our own fights.  People need to learn and earn the future for it to be worth anything.  Just to be given things, free this and free that, is always damaging to the soul.”

“But when something can do so much good,” Alexis began, and seemed to shake her head.  “It must be hard.”

“You have no idea,” Baba said.  “There is room in this universe for miracles, but for the most part, even if the gods have gone away, the rules of the gods still apply.  The gods could lead, guide, encourage, support, and point to the source so people were without excuse; but they could not do it for us.  Too little encouragement and the human race sinks into hopelessness and despair.  Too much, and we become like sheep, unable to think for ourselves, or care for ourselves or one another; expecting everything to simply be done for us.  Too little leads to things like suicide, and floods.  Too much, and we remain two-year-olds for eternity, expecting to be taken care of, always wanting more stuff, never satisfied, and throwing temper tantrums when we don’t get our way.”

“That must be a fine line to have to walk,” Lincoln said, and Alexis agreed.

“The narrow way,” Nanette called it.

“We live by faith, not by sight,” Lockhart said, and Katie agreed.

Avalon 7.5 Ali Baba and the 40 Guns, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

They moved an hour away before they made a camp in a hollow beside a hill.  Ali Baba sent Hussain back to his own camp with the word that he hoped to be there by noon tomorrow.  He made Schaibo stay with him, had Elder Stow put his full screens around the camp so the horses and mule would not wander, and he got down to examining the equipment before dark.

When supper arrived, Lord Baba and Elder Stow came to agree.  They imagined no remote way to short out the personal screens of the Wolv, having had only one afternoon to work on the problem; but they agreed an electromagnetic pulse would do the trick nicely, and short out the Wolv weapons besides.  The ships, with their stronger screens, would likely be shielded from the pulse, if their screens were activated.  That would be just as well.  Lord Baba planned to send the survivors, if any, back into space.  He acknowledged that the Wolv were not known to surrender, so all he could do was shrug.

“Where are we, exactly?” Katie asked, even as Lord Baba and Elder Stow came to the fire.  She and Lincoln had mostly figured it out, but they remained unsure.

“Wait,” Boston interrupted.  “What about Sukki?”

“Armenia.  Near the border of Osroene,” Baba answered Katie’s question, but looked at Boston and Sukki, showing some sense that he would address their questions in a minute.

“That does not explain much,” Lincoln said.  “We figured that out, but when?”

“Trajan died almost a year ago,” Baba said.  He put down the last piece of equipment he played with.  He had a small knife and tried to pry the thing open, but it was being stubborn.  “Hadrian is emperor now, and this is all Roman territory, but not for long.  Mesopotamia and Assyria will be traded back to the Parthians, if they aren’t already.”  He took a bite of supper and decided he better explain something.

“Trajan got guns.  He conquered all the way to the Persian Gulf and burned Susa, but we blew up his factory, cutting off his supplies, and effectively disarming him.  The Persians, Arabs and Parthians then combined to stop his progress.  The Arabs, under Lord Sasan, originally a Zoroastrian priest, sort of took over a very weakened Persia.  As usual, it is complicated, since they all still answered to the Parthian King of Kings, as he calls himself.”

“So, where are we in this mess?” Lockhart asked.

“I figure you came in around Lake Van,” Baba answered.  “That river you crossed this morning was the Tigris.”

“Yesterday, Late afternoon,” Tony interjected.  He drove the wagon at the time.

Baba nodded.  “A Wolv scout-transport with fifty or so Wolv, and three or four small craft, like the three-man scout ship we encountered, is parked on the Chaboras River, a tributary of the Euphrates, this side of Edessa.  I figure the next time gate is on the other side of the actual Euphrates, somewhere on the road between Edessa and Antioch in Roman Syria.”

“Hadrian is Emperor,” Tony said.

“He was less into conquest and more into building walls and forts and making solid borders,” Katie explained to Lockhart, but so everyone could hear.

“I suppose,” Baba said. “Now that the weapons of Trajan, the guns, have been taken away, his options for conquest are greatly diminished.  Besides, he will have to contend with the Wolv, and probably see some of his legions decimated.  There is a full Wolv battle fleet parked on the corner of Superior Moesia and Inferior Moesia, and Thrace.  That is about six thousand Wolv, like a full-strength legion of Wolv.  By the way, I haven’t detailed that for the others, so I would appreciate you not saying anything about it, when we get there tomorrow.”

People agreed to keep their mouths shut, but Boston could not help interrupting.  “But what about Sukki?”

“Sukki,” Baba said, kindly, and reached for her hands.  She slowly took his hands, afraid of what her own hands could do.  “You have nothing to be afraid of.  The goddesses who were kind enough to make you human, all wanted to give you something to help you fit in with the human race, though I can’t understand how some of the gifts might help.”

“But I had something come from my hands.  That poor Wolv got blasted.  I’m not safe,” Sukki spouted.

Baba said, “Hush, hush… You can be sure the goddesses did not give you anything without also giving you the ability to control it.  That may take some learning, or practice, but you can control it.”

“But what has she got?” Boston said, excited.

Baba turned to look first at Nanette.  “And you are learning how to lift some things?”  Nanette also looked scared.  “Telekinesis, I think, not strictly magic, or maybe some magic.  It was hard to tell, judging from the evil twin.  Nothing to be afraid of, but the ability will come and go as the Other Earth phases in and out of conjunction and you move through time.  Learn what you can do when you can, because in 1905, or whenever you get home, you will have the ability for the rest of your life.”

Nanette nodded slowly, and turned to look at Alexis, who paused in her own thoughts to hug the girl.

“Now,” Baba returned to Sukki.  “Let me see if I can list things.  Athena, or Minerva, is the only one who stuck to the plan.  She gave you what she called a fundamental understanding of physics and astrophysics, if you should be tempted by space, and the math to go with it.  Knowing Athena, you probably have doctorate level understanding of those things.  At least you should be able to understand what Elder Stow and Boston talk about.”

“That’s great,” Boston shouted, while others congratulated her.  Sukki did not look so sure.

“Mother Bastet felt concerned that you not lose track with your roots.  She let you retain your Gott-Druk strength, and enhanced it a little, I am sure.  She also gave you a glamour, like the glamour you used to have that made you look human.  It works the same, only now you can look Gott-Druk anytime you wish.”

“You should try it,” Nanette said, before anyone else could say it.  She felt a bit shy at briefly having been the center of attention and wanted everyone to focus on Sukki instead.  She decided that perhaps she and Sukki were alike in that respect; not wanting people to focus on them.  The Romans said that made her all the more fetching and fascinating, but she could not help it.  She did not like being the center of attention. She looked at Decker, but he did not look at her.

Sukki put on her glamour and sat there for a minute looking like a perfect young Neanderthal girl, though she could not see herself, she saw Boston raise her eyebrows at the change.

“Here,” Schaibo said, and pulled out a mirror as tall as himself from a little pocket in his vest.  “I got used to carrying it around for my sister.  She is a little on the vain side.”  He turned the mirror to Sukki but turned it away again when Sukki began to cry.

“It is all right,” Elder Stow spoke to comfort her. “Now, you are truly my daughter.”

Sukki nodded and wiped her nose as she let go of her illusion of being Neanderthal.  Schaibo put that big mirror back in his little pocket, without a word.

“Okay?”  Baba asked, and she nodded before he continued.

“Mother Doris wasn’t sure what to give.  Honestly, she is probably least connected to the human world and human things.  She let you keep your lung capacity, and enhanced it some, like a dolphin, she said.  You can hold your breath a really long time; and then she thought to let your body handle the cold and pressure of the deep, and sudden changes in pressure, too.  That does not make you invulnerable.  Far from it.  You may be puncture resistant, but don’t think you can’t be shot by a bullet or an arrow.  You will feel the hit, too, if someone takes a swing at you and connects.  But the bullet or arrow might not penetrate far, and you should be pretty hard to crush.  Also, I imagine the snowy cold won’t be as bad as before.”

“I don’t see how that will help her fit into the human world,” Alexis said.

“Maybe the fish world,” Lincoln said before he could stop the words from coming out of his mouth.

“Amphitrite’s mother,” Katie reminded them all.  “Doris of the sea.”

People nodded that they understood, even if they could not see how it helped Sukki be more human.

“But what about the laser blast?” Boston said, and Sukki nodded.

“Yes.  Well.  The last two, mother Frya and not-my-mother Ishtar searched your heart.  They saw the things that you wished you could do and filled you with those things.  They are both, in their own way, goddesses of love and war.  They put a weapon in your hands.  I think you can turn it down to stun people and not have to turn them to dust and ashes.  And they filled your heart with love.  Mother Frya said the capacity for love is the only thing that truly makes us human.”

“I don’t feel any different in that way,” Sukki confessed, and looked to the side like one thinking really hard.

Lord Baba nodded.  “I honestly don’t know what filling your heart with love means.”

“You said things,” Katie pointed out.  “Is there more?”

Baba shrugged.  “I am not sure.  There may be more.  I know you are stronger than human, with extra lung capacity in a self-pressurizing and cold resistant body.  You have a powerful weapon in your fingers which you can learn to control with practice.  But you also have been given some human knowledge, a way to remember your roots, and a big capacity for human love.  If there is more, we shall see.”

People paused to consider Sukki.  She quickly felt on the spot and got up to check on the horses.  After a moment, Elder Stow and Boston got up to join her, and Alexis changed the subject.

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

MONDAY

The travelers are not out of the woods yet… I always wanted to say that. I saved it for years. Monday, the rest of the story. Until then. Happy Reading

*

Avalon 7.5 Ali Baba and the 40 Guns, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Lincoln walked up from the wagon.  He had the database out and spoke as people got down from their horses.  “Apparently, the Wolv did to the Humanoids what the Androids once did to the Anazi.  They learned to be organized, developed a command structure, and learned enough to run the technology before they rebelled against their Humanoid masters.  Most… eventually all of the Humanoid houses will be torn down, and the Wolv will rampage, eating planet after planet for a thousand years before the equipment breaks beyond their ability to repair it.  They are not dumb beasts.  They are clever and capable soldiers.  But the physics of space flight, weapons and the rest, not to mention higher mathematics, is beyond them.”

“An F-15 might develop a fault and land in the desert,” Decker said.  “But it is not likely the pilot has the expertise to repair the plane and take off again.  Much less create a spare part for whatever broke.”

“A bit more complicated than that, I imagine,” Katie said.  “But probably the right idea.”

People looked at Lincoln.  He read a second longer before he answered.  “It is more like me and the microwave oven.  I use it, but if it broke, my only option is to throw it out and get a new one.  I have no idea what microwaves even are.”

“That’s easy,” Sukki said.  “They are on the short end of the radio spectrum.  These wrist communicators are microwave transmitters.”  She smiled at the one she got when Candace gave out presents.  It made her feel included, and that made her happy.  When she looked up, she saw the others staring at her.

“Way to go Sukki,” Boston praised her.

“Must come from you,” Sukki said, shyly.  “Doctor in electrical engineering and all.”  She looked away.

“There,” Elder Stow interrupted.  “The screens are up while we discuss what to do.” He got down from his horse.

“Decker screens?” Decker asked.

“Yes,” Elder stow answered with a sigh.  “Now that I have stretched this little screen device beyond all capacity, it is a small thing to make their activation one-sided, so to speak; though that is ship to ship technology on much better equipment than this toy.  Be that is it may, they should deploy that way automatically from now on.  Sadly, I have admitted that we often need to be protected when we end a threat to ourselves and to the innocent.”

“It is a sad world we live in,” Alexis said, as she and Nanette walked to the group.  “Tony has Ghost and the wagon,” she added for Lincoln.

“My dad is the best,” Sukki said, to encourage Elder Stow.  He smiled for his adopted daughter, as a stream of white light came from the edge of the woods and reflected off the screens.

People reacted by hurrying their horses to the wagon, which they used as a hitching post.  Sukki brought Elder Stow’s horse, while he stayed up front and analyzed the readouts on his scanner.  Decker went to one side, and Katie went to the other, right up to where they could feel the screens.  That tingling feeling prevented them from walking through the screens and then not being able to get back inside the protected area.

“They are in the grasses, left and right.  One is staying behind the trees up ahead.”

“I see mine,” Decker said.  He fired.  He did not miss, but the Wolv did not appear to be hit.  It stood and returned fire, though its handheld weapon had no chance of penetrating Elder Stow’s screens.  Decker fired again and nothing happened.  The Wolv got ready to charge.  Decker flipped to automatic and fired a three-round burst.  The Wolv stalled before the charge and staggered, but the bullets did not appear to penetrate.

“Try concentrated fire on the same spot,” Katie suggested.

“Just coming to that, Major,” Decker said, shortly.

“Sir,” Katie acknowledged him and turned to her own Wolv that had gotten up to charge the group.  Decker let his rifle rip, and roughly nine bullets in, something shorted out on the Wolv.  The Wolv seemed stung by the electrical discharge, but not for long as three more bullets put it down.

At the same time, the Wolv from the trees charged the group.  Elder Stow continued to fiddle with something on his scanner.  “They seem to have developed some personal screen technology,” Elder Stow said.  He pulled his weapon which Lockhart was glad to see.  Lockhart had his shotgun but figured the Wolv would have to be right up to the screen for it to be effective.  Boston also had her wand, but she could not shoot her flamethrower very far, either.

Elder Stow let the beast-person come really close before he pointed his weapon and nothing happened.  He said something like “Oops,” and fiddled with the weapon while Lockhart let off a shotgun blast and Boston sprayed it with fire.  Katie and Decker turned and added some automatic rifle fire.  Sukki put her hand up as if to ward off the claws and teeth of the beast, even if her head told her the beast could not get inside the screens.  Something came from Sukki’s hand.  A bright-white light, much stronger than the Wolv weapon.  It looked more like Elder Stow’s weapon.  The Wolv head turned instantly to dust and ash.

“What was that?” Sukki said, staring at her own hand.

“Wow,” Boston said, and added, “Let me see.”

Sukki held both hands out, a combination of curiosity and horror across her face.  People looked, not knowing what to say.  Fortunately, they got interrupted by a voice from overhead.

“Lockhart.  Not a good time to visit, as usual.  Elder Stow, please turn off your screens so we can land.”

The words sounded muffled, coming through the screens.  “Apologies,” Elder Stow said.  “I let the air circulate through the screen, the simple gaseous elements, but I minimized the circulation to muffle the growls and roars in our face.”  He worked a second longer before he added, “There.  Screen is down.”

“Ali Baba?” Lincoln called up, as the magic carpet came down to the ground.  No one answered right away as the three people who rode on the rug had to hang on until touchdown.  The driver looked like a sage, but one just thirty.  He would have to double that age before he had the expected long gray beard.  The dwarf looked like the smallest dwarf they had ever seen, but he appeared to make up for it by growing the long beard that he had to wrap around his shoulders.  He also looked like so many short people, that he did not take guff from anyone.

“Yes, Lincoln,” Ali Baba confirmed, as he stepped from the carpet, holding a primitive looking rifle.  He handed it to Decker to examine, who quickly passed it on to Katie.  “I have forty of these rifles for twenty Romans, ten Parthians and ten Arabs, some of whom are from Persia.

“Schaibo.  please make sure the Wolv are dead.  Thanks.”  He opened his arms.  “Boston.” And she rushed into the hug.  He kissed Boston’s head, like a father might hug a daughter, and turned to Sukki, but she backed away.

“No,” she said.  “It isn’t safe.”  She held up her hands covered in fairy weave gloves, to hold him off.

“Lord Baba,” Schaibo called.  “This one is missing his head.”  The dwarf held an iron club much too big for him, but he held it like one who knew how to use it.  The travelers watched the dwarf shrug and move on to the other Wolv in the grass.

“Lord,” Boston got his attention.  “Sukki has something in her hand, like a Lockhart heat-ray.  She disintegrated the Wolv head.  You have to help her.  She scared herself.”

“It is nothing to be afraid of.  You can learn to control it,” Baba said.  “But first thing’s first.  Elder Stow, would you help me gather the Humanoid personal screens from the Wolv?”

“Yes, of course,” Elder Stow said.  “I am curious about them, myself.”

“Then we need to move on to where the scout craft came down in the woods.  I need to strip some of the equipment out of it, and we need to move on again before the Wolv send a recovery crew.  Hussain, you can pack your carpet in the wagon for the time being.” He turned on the first Wolv in the grass and briefly gagged.  Apparently, Schaibo’s version of making sure they were dead was to smash the head to a pulp.

“A real magic carpet?” Nanette asked, some awe in her voice, and Hussain nodded.

“Hussain?” Alexis asked.  Lincoln and Nanette looked at her as they walked to the wagon, so she explained, sort of.  “I read a thousand and one nights as a child.”

It did not take long to reach the scout ship.  Ali Baba went away so Martok the Bospori could come and take his place.  Being a life from the far future, Martok knew and understood the equipment even better than Elder Stow.  Between the two of them, they stripped certain systems from the inside of the ship.  They loaded up the wagon that poor Ghost would have to haul.  When Ali Baba returned to his own time and place, he got Elder Stow to turn his weapon on the ship, inside and out.

“Hopefully, the Wolv won’t realize anything was taken, or what was taken, or what might be done with what was taken.”  Lord Baba shrugged.

Avalon 7.5 Ali Baba and the 40 Guns, part 1 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 72 A.D. Syria

Kairos 90: Ali of Arabia

Recording …

“Baba,” Ahmed called and came running.  “Lord Baba.  Prince Ali has his tube working again.”  He stopped outside the tent.  “Ali Baba, are you there?”

Three women poked their heads through the tent flap.  Almeria, Ali Baba’s young wife smiled for Ahmed.  Princess Nuronnihar, Prince Ali’s wife, wondered what was happening.  Peribono, Ahmed’s own wife spoke.

“Husband.  The Lord is meditating in the woods.”  Peri stepped out to give her husband a kiss.  “He will be back shortly.”  Peribono used to be a fairy princess but became human to marry Ahmed.  She still referred to Ali Baba as her lord, though he claimed he no longer had that responsibility.  Ahmed did not mind, though.  He often called the rich, older man Lord Baba.  They all did.

Almeria spoke, a sharp tone in her words.  “He is praying that his first wife, Shayrin, not learn terrible ways from the cobbler’s wife while he is away.”

“Speaking of the cobbler…” Peri said, looking over Ahmed’s shoulder.

“Prince Ahmed,” Maruf the cobbler called.  “Your brother wants to know what is taking so long.”  He also ran to the tent.  “Antares, the Parthian and Scipio the Roman are looking at all the area around.  They have seen a strange group of people headed our way.”

Ahmed reluctantly let go of his wife to concentrate.  “Have they located the Wolv?”

“They are afraid to look in that direction,” Maruf admitted.  “Scipio says the strangers on their big horses are enough to worry about.”

“Strangers on big horses?”  A gray-bearded man of some forty-six years stepped from the nearby trees, followed by two dwarfs that had a Mutt and Jeff look about them.  The one with the extra-long beard, Schaibo, stood less than two feet tall.  The other, Boffo, looked more ogre sized, but bearded, and with a bulbous dwarf nose.  He walked hunched over, not because he had to, but because he felt embarrassed by the way he towered over his fellow dwarfs.

“Yes, Lord Baba,” Maruf said.  “Antares the Parthian says if they stop for the night, they will be only half a day away, and they are headed right toward us.”

Ali Baba sighed and walked to the meadow where the tube had been set up.  They all followed.  Prince Ali stared through the eyepiece.  Aemir the elf chief, Antares the Parthian, and Scipio the Roman all stepped back when Baba tapped Ali on the shoulder.  Ali looked, and stepped back while Baba raised the stand that held the tube to accommodate his five-foot, ten-inch height.  He turned the tube the opposite direction before he looked.

“The main Wolv fleet is parked for the moment on the Oescus river.  I think that is what it is called.  They are on the triple corner of Thrace, Moesia inferior and Moesia superior.  They are no doubt waiting to see what their scouts report.”  Baba stood and looked around.  “Your lucky day, Antares.  The Romans, not Parthians will be bloodied.”  He paused and added, “Probably to the point of being a bloody mess.”  He sighed briefly imagining all that blood but spoke differently to the group.  “No telling how many scout ships or scout-transports they sent out.”  He looked again through the tube.  “The local transport has about fifty Wolv, and unlike in the past, these appear to have some weak sort of personal shields.  The shields are certainly strong enough to deflect arrows and swords.  How they will fare against the guns will be seen.”

“I saw the shredded Parthian soldiers, and the few remains of that village,” Antares said, and shivered at the memory.

“We are only forty,” Scipio said.  “Twenty Romans, ten Parthians and ten of you Arabs.  Even with forty guns.  You say they are fifty?”

“Estimate.  Based on typical transport ship size,” Baba said.

“You got us to help,” Schaibo the dwarf said, gruffly.

“How can we hope to defeat fifty of these Wolv creatures?” Antares asked.  “We should call out the army… armies.”

Scipio agreed.  “This is one where Romans and Parthians might work together.” 

“Not going to happen,” Baba said, and swung the tube the other way.  “But my friends may help.  Let’s see.  Look.  Boston and Sukki are riding back, yelling something.  Oh, shit.  A three Wolv fighter-craft just landed in their path.”  He stood and yelled.  “Hussain.”  He turned to Ali and Ahmed.  “Where’s your brother.  Hussain.”  He spoke to the rest.  “Schaibo, stick with me.  We need to get Hussain to drive his carpet.  It is an emergency.  Hussain!”

###

“Alexis did the math,” Katie said, as she and Lockhart rode in front of the line.  Alexis and Lincoln were presently driving the wagon.  Nanette and Tony stayed with them, talking about magical things.  Since entering the time zone, Nanette learned she could levitate some small things.  She got excited and scared at the same time.

Lockhart had his eyes on the flank where Colonel Decker rode.  He could not see Decker, but he thought he saw something in the sky.  He scanned the line of trees they headed toward and briefly glanced at the other flank where Elder Stow watched, before he turned to his wife.  “Sorry,” he said.  “I got distracted by… I don’t know what.  A flock of vultures, maybe.”

Katie repeated herself.  “Alexis did the math.  Christ ministered for three years before he was crucified, and we missed the whole thing.  That was eleven years before we came into the last time zone.”  Katie stopped her horse, so Lockhart stopped, and the others halted, but Lockhart did not stop the conversation.

“Probably on purpose,” Lockhart said.  “I know there are things the Kairos has kept hidden even from us, and no doubt for good reasons.  But this is one of those things where I imagine a higher power got involved.  One of my mother’s favorite expressions was we live by faith, not by sight… what?”  He finally noticed and asked.

“I’m not sure,” Katie responded. “I sense danger ahead.”

Boston and Sukki raced back from the point.  Elder Stow came riding in from the flank at the same time.  Lockhart looked, but saw no sign of Decker.  “Decker?” Lockhart spoke into his wristwatch communicator.  He got no answer before Boston arrived.

“A ship,” Boston reported.  “It landed right in our path.”

Sukki rode up.  “We did not stick around to see what kind,” Sukki confessed.

Elder Stow came from the side, his scanner barely clipped to his belt to keep it from bouncing while he rode.  “A ship,” he shouted, and when he arrived, he unclipped the scanner and turned his eyes to the screen.  “I would guess a three-man scout ship with fighter capabilities.”

Eyes turned as Decker appeared on the other flank, riding hard, though he did appear to slow a bit when he saw the group had stopped.  People waited to hear his report.

“Humanoid ship,” Decker said.  “I caught sight of two Wolv.  I didn’t see any Humanoids, but I didn’t stick around.”

Lockhart had to think.  “One thing about roads,” he said.  “While they don’t run in a straight line, they do make it possible to have a wagon, and are easier on the horses, in general.”

Katie nodded.  “But they also make it hard to detour without risking damage going across country.”

“Sukki and I could find a way through the woods,” Boston offered.

“What is the point?” Lockhart countered.  “I imagine they landed in front of us because they found us on their long-range scanner.”

“Well said,” Elder Stow offered the compliment before he confirmed the thought.  “I am sure they are studying us at a closer range.  Probably a scout ship.”

“Maybe we could talk to them, and see what they want,” Katie suggested.

“Lunch,” Decker responded.

“They want to eat us,” Sukki agreed.  “They are just being careful first.”

Avalon 7.4 People in the Middle, part 6 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“My mistress has the nicest, but strangest friends,” Varina said, and she stepped up to hug Boston and Sukki with her own arms.

“I don’t know,” Sukki said.  “Ever since I became human, I really like hugs.”

“You were human before,” Alexis said, gruffly.  “And touch for every animal is very important.”

“You might say, the Gott-Druk lost touch with that truth,” Decker said.

“Ha, ha,” Elder Stow said, not laughing, but he added, “That may be why so many Gott-Druk get so grumpy.”

That evening, Lydia and Varina sat around the campfire with the travelers.  Gan Ao came, because Zhang She would expect a full report.  Presently, Zhang She, Captain Ban, and the merchant chiefs with him, and Djo-Djo, who kept begging for information about the layout of the western lands, were all in conference.  Valerion, David-Marcus, Aritides, Shehan and others were also meeting.

“I suspect they will be at least a few days, negotiating.  Then again, the local king might well get involved, and then it may be a week to ten days.  The Emperor Claudius and the Emperor Guangwu both have representatives here, though I doubt Zhang She knew this was going to happen.  But then, after the exchange of goods and the writing of letters of mutual friendship and all that stuff, I suspect we will turn and head back the way we came.”

“Zhang She will also return, I suspect, to get this news delivered as soon and safely as possible,” Gan Ao said.

“Besides,” Varina said to Lydia.  “The king’s porch has the only three rocking chairs in the world.  I am sure they will all enjoy them.”

“How would you know that?” Alexis asked, vaguely remembering their first time in Bactra back in the days of Devya and commenting on the rocking chairs she had made.

Varina looked at Gan Ao, who nodded.  They both closed their eyes and appeared to meditate, the way Decker meditated to release his eagle totem.  Both people appeared to go into a trance, and two spirits stepped free from their bodies.  The goddess Varina, daughter of the god Varuna of the Indus, and wife of the Kairos Amon Junior, came from Varina.  The god Tien Shang-Di, son of the Kairos, the Nameless god, came from Gan Ao.  They smiled for the travelers, having met them several times before in the past.

“I knew it,” Boston said, though no one was quite sure exactly what she knew.  The gods sat beside the humans they borrowed for this time, and took turns explaining themselves.

“I will be here for a time,” Tien said.  “Those possessed by the evil one will not interfere in this place.”  Tien slowly turned to a mist and somehow fit himself back into Gan Ao, who appeared to blink and come awake.

“Most of my family has gone over to the other side, and most of the Shang as well,” Tien said.  “As Captain of the ship, I will be the last.  I will travel with Gan Ao by the northern route from Kashgar until Dunhuang, which is safely in Han territory, then I will return to the Tian Shan for the last of my days.”

Lydia said, “My son.  You did well.  I am proud of you.” People understood that was not Lydia talking.

Varina said, “Sadly, I must leave my mistress, who is also my husband.  From here, I will follow the caravan trail to Kashmir and the waters of my birth.  If my father and mother will be there or not, I cannot say.  But there I will end my days.”  Varina sniffed, like one about to cry.  “But listen, my friends.  Since the days are short and the one eternal and most high may soon return, the demons have come rushing out of the pit to torment and lie to the people.  In these last days, those who steal, kill, and destroy will not be restrained by the gods as in the ancient days.  I do not know what will happen to the human race.  I do not know.”

“What did I miss?” Gan Ao said, before he saw the goddess and appropriately trembled.

“I am being called,” Varina said.  “I must go.”  Lydia stood and gave the goddess her best hug.  The goddess did cry, but just a little, before she bent down and kissed the maiden’s cheek.  As Varina the goddess slowly vanished, Varina the maiden came awake.

Varina the maid looked around at everyone.  She looked at Lydia and said, “Mistress?”  She began to cry, and Lydia hugged her and hushed her saying everything would be all right.

###

The travelers got up early, before dawn, and got ready to travel.  They stopped two nights earlier, just a few miles from the time gate.  They hoped they would have at least one day to relax. They got up early enough, as was their habit, but found the time gate moved away from them on that day, and it took them most of the day to catch up to it.

“Lydia did guess ten days,” Katie reminded everyone.  “Yesterday was day eleven.”

“They must be moving in our direction,” Boston said, as she got out her amulet to check the time gate location.  “The Romans appear to be going home, having barely gotten to the half-way point.”

“Not even,” Lockhart said.  “I was told Kashgar would have been half-way.”

“Fortunately, the Romans don’t leave first thing in the morning, unless they are on a forced march,” Tony said, and people looked at him, because he had not said much up until then.  

“What do you think will come from that meeting?” Nanette asked.

“Not much,” Lincoln spoke up.  “According to the database, it will be fifty-five years before the Han, around the year ninety-seven, send someone to try and reach the Roman Empire.  He gets about as far as the Persian Gulf.  Then another sixty-five or so years, around one sixty-six, before the Romans, by the sea route, try to reach China.  They get as far as North Vietnam.  That is in the time of Marcus Aurelius.”

“I wonder who tells Marcus Aurelius about the land of silk and how to get there?” Alexis asked as a joke, but then added, “Unless one of us has a big mouth.”

“Don’t go there,” Decker said, and mounted to ride.

“My horse is definitely Cocoa,” Sukki said.  “I’ve never had any, but I can’t wait to try it.”

“Cocoa and Strawberry,” Boston said.  “Works for me.”  Boston and Sukki were the first to go through the time gate.

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

MONDAY

The travelers run into guns before their time, the wonders of Arabia, and Wolv beginning their invasion of the earth. Don’t Miss Ali Baba and the 40 Guns beginning on Monday. Until then, Happy Reading

*

Avalon 7.4 People in the Middle, part 5 of 6

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Lydia and her Romans got to Bactra before the Travelers and Zhang She’s slow moving train.  They had a meeting before entering the town and opted to remain disguised as Greco-Syrian merchants with hired mercenaries to guard the goods.  The Roman armor and weapons filled two of the wagons, covered over by tarps.

The Romans made their way to a field beside the marketplace where caravans regularly came and rested.  Of course, in town, they dared not make an identifiable Roman camp, but David-Marcus set guards through the night, just in case.  They did not expect trouble, but all the same, in the dead of the night, Lydia woke.

She kissed David’s cheek.  He mumbled and turned on his side, as she rose from her bed and slipped into her dress.  She stepped out by the well-kept fire and found Varina sitting, staring at the flames.  Lydia turned her head at the distant sound of a howl.  It sounded human, and not human at the same time.  She felt the chill in the air and put her hands toward the fire as she sat.  One of the night guards walked past before Varina spoke.

“The gods have gone away.  The demons are out of the pit, and the children are afraid in their beds,” she said. “The rulers are pretending that nothing is happening, but the people know better.  Some have fallen to the seductive darkness and become possessed with evil.  Some have been killed.”  Lydia looked up when she heard another howl.  Varina looked at Lydia.  “You may rest safe, mistress.  The demons will not come here.”

Lydia nodded and got up to step into the tent; but she only went to fetch something she could wear as a shawl against the chill in the night.

Bactra got one or two caravans per week, and most were headed for more distant locations, so the Romans hoped to hide and rest for a few days without revealing themselves.  That plan did not work, of course.

On that first full morning, Kushan soldiers came into the marketplace and expected them to offer gifts to the king.  That happened in several places, and Tribune Valerion began to fear they would arrive at the Han capitol with nothing to show for it.

“A token of respect,” Lydia suggested.  “A rug.  Some more glass beads.  And a small bag of gold and silver coins should do it.  Just make sure there are no coins that might be identified as Roman coins.”

In front of the king, Shehan spoke in Aramaic with David and Aritides.  They avoided speaking in Greek which would certainly be understood.  They absolutely avoided any words in Latin, and that was why Valerion did not go with them.  Valerion did Latin and Greek, but he stumbled on Aramaic.  They spoke casually, like men who did not expect anyone to understand them.  But their words were carefully planned, assuming that even in Aramaic, someone would understand and later translate for the king.

“We are poor merchants from Syria and Armenia who had to spend too much of our money on cheap mercenaries to guard us in the wilderness.  We are not rich Parthians who come bearing gifts for kings.  We hope only to reach Kashgar and find a merchant of the Han who may have precious silk for us to carry into the west.  That would make this trip worthwhile and help feed and care for our families when we return.  We have traveled for one hundred and fifty days and are dusty and weary.  We will travel a whole year before we reach home again.  Presently, we are grateful to the Bactrian people, to the Lords of the Kush, and to the king of this wonderful city for providing a place to rest in our journey, and we are glad to offer a token of our gratitude.  The rug, soft for your feet, has golden threads woven into the fabric by the lovely women of Armenia.  The glass beads and jar are from Syria, made with great care under the searing heat of the desert sun.  And let us humbly share a fair bit of the gold and silver, what little we have, with which we hope to buy the silk to bring to our home.  Perhaps, if we are successful, on our return, the king might accept a roll of silk for the kindness you have shown us.”

The king was in a good mood that day, and said he appreciated the gifts and wished them well.  It was always touch and go in such situations.  One king in a bad mood, and they might lose everything.  Then again, kings sometimes offered gifts in return, so it became more of an even exchange.  The king of Bactra offered nothing, so he could not have been in that good a mood.

The next day, the travelers with Zhang She came into town.  The Romans needed to make room in the field, but it was not too bad.  Two caravans at once was not normal, but not that unusual.  A third might be a tight squeeze.

Boston wanted to run off and find Lydia right away, but Lockhart made her, and everyone else, bring the horses and Ghost with the wagon to a secure place.  Then he insisted they make camp before they ran off shopping.

“Hey!” Alexis protested the obvious sexist comment.

“Not a bad idea, actually,” Katie said.  “I haven’t been shopping in a long time.”

“Might be fun,” Nanette agreed.

“Can I go now?” Boston whined, like a teenager, and Sukki giggled.

“Yes, you can go,” Katie said, but when Boston turned to run off, she saw two women already standing there.  The trouble was, Boston did not know which one was Lydia.

“Hello, Boston, dear,” Varina said, and Boston ran to her but stopped short.  Varina was a goddess, but not her goddess.

Boston lowered her eyes and heard clearly in her head, “Don’t say it out loud.”  She looked up and saw Lydia had her arms open.  She rushed into the hug.

“You almost fooled me,” she said.

“I said it would not work,” Varina admitted.

Lydia said nothing.  She gave Sukki a much-appreciated hug, and then introduced her followers.  “Varina takes care of me in this wild land.  My husband, David-Marcus, is with Tribune Valerion, the Decurio, Aritides, and Shehan the merchant chief meeting the Han, with Crumbles the imp-head to interpret.”

Lincoln, Decker, Tony, and Elder Stow walked up to hear what the women were saying, and to watch the two men with them.

“David insisted I be escorted by these soldiers around the strange looking men.  Tobias is the Staff Sergeant or Master Sergeant of the company.  Jonathan is the signifier, which is the standard bearer, and he doubles as paymaster.”

“Good to meet you,” Lincoln said, and introduced the travelers.  Only Jonathan had something to say, and it got directed to Boston.

“I love your red hair.  Are you Gaelic?”

Boston looked at the man, and his smile, and said, “I’m an elf and married.  Sorry.”

Avalon 7.4 People in the Middle, part 4 of 6

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Boston, Sukki, Captain Ban and a dozen of his soldiers rode back from the point with a warning.  The ones out front stopped, and eventually, the whole train came to a stop.  Yuezhi bandits were hidden in the grass and small hills of the open land, ahead, just on the other side of the trees.  They could not say how many, though certainly thirty.  No doubt many more.  The hill suggested a small army.

“Not good,” Zhang She said.  “I had hoped we lost them once we got free of Pamir.”

“Elder Stow, can you get a fix on them?” Katie asked.

“I’ll take a look,” Decker volunteered and stepped from the group to sit and meditate.”

“Captain Ban…” Zhang She started to give orders, but Lockhart interrupted him.  

“Wait until we see what we are dealing with.”

It did not take long for Elder Stow to report.  “The scanner says three hundred and seven human life signs.  There appear to be less than a hundred horses ahead.  Here, let me show you.”  He held up his scanner and projected a holograph of the area ahead.  “See.  We are in blue, here, on this side of the group of trees.  I am green.  Boston does not appear, but I would make her red.  The bandits are all in yellow, which is the color of danger.  See the dots, here, just on the other side of the trees.  They are on both sides of what you call the road, and on this side, up this hill.”  He paused to let Gan Ao and Zhang She stare.

“No,” Elder Stow said before Katie or Lockhart could ask.  “I could put a stationary screen around this big a group, but not one we could move with.  Too many obstacles to account for on such a large projection.  Trust me.  And a Decker Wall will not stretch nearly far enough to cover even one whole side of the group, in case you were thinking of those things.”

“They are not moving?” Boston asked.  “I figured they would move, once they were seen.

“No,” Elder Stow shook his head.  “Not moving.”

“Because they certainly saw us,” Captain Ban said.

“They tried to shoot us,” Sukki added, with a little huffing and puffing, like she ran away, personally.

Katie pointed at the projection.  “They appear to be settled down.  My guess is they are arguing.  They probably believe you saw a few bandits, like thirty at most, and you will expect them to flee once your big group appears.  There is no reason you should expect three hundred and seven ready to spring an ambush.”

“They are probably also mad that some jumped too soon,” Captain Ban said.  “We escaped unharmed.”

“Decker?” Katie called as Alexis, Tony and Nanette came up to ask what was happening.  Decker also came, and he had a plan, having seen the land ahead through the eye of his eagle totem.

“Captain Ban.  You already have your troops divided to march along the left and right sides of the train.  Send one group to where the trees end, and then follow the far side of the trees to the back of a hill.  The enemy is hidden in the rocks on the other side of the hill, but it does not look steep.  You should be able to climb up and easily see them.  You can fall down on them from above and drive them out on to the road, then use the rocks and the height as cover for your own troops.”

“And the others?”

“Send your other group three hundred yards the other way.  That is, three hundred large paces.  Send them through the woods and have them spread out in the grasses and stay hidden.  Tell them to get their bows and arrows ready and try to not be seen.  If the bandits want to stay off the road to avoid soldiers and civilians, they will have to run through the grass where your archers will be waiting.”

“You got it all figured?” Lockhart said.

Decker nodded.  “Elder Stow can put his screen around us in the front.  We will move to the exit from the woods and a little way out into the open area beyond.  The train can move up some but stay behind us and stay in the woods to not be exposed.  We can occupy the bandits’ attention while Captain Ban gets his two groups in position.”

“Will you not fear to risk your lives so?” Zhang She asked, concerned about his guests.

“Elder Stow’s screen will protect us,” Katie said, only to be interrupted by Alexis.

“Nanette and I will bring up the wagon.  We will send Lincoln to you, but I have no intention of participating in killing people if I don’t have to.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nanette agreed, and they wheeled around and rode back down the line to their wagon, gently nestled behind the wagon for Zhang She’s things and the wagon for the map maker.

Captain Ban sent six men off to get each column to do their job, but he and a half-dozen riders stayed with him in the front.  Gan Ao rode down the line to tell the wagon drivers to stay in line, move up, but stay on the road and in the woods.  Zhang She stayed close, not willing to miss what this screen business was all about.   They waited a half-hour, to allow the troops time to get in position, then they moved slowly through the woods.

Elder Stow had his scanner out and kept one eye on it.  He had his screen device hooked to it, as usual, and spoke.  “A few more horses than expected, but I have programmed in the trees and ground, so they will not be disturbed by our passage.”  They got partially exposed when Elder Stow said, “Stop.  Stop moving.”  The group stopped moving.  “There is a boulder underground ahead.”  He flipped a couple of switches and slid his fingers on the device.  “A bit larger… Around the boulder… Okay.  Move on.”  The people moved until they became completely exposed.  They stopped again when they saw the first head pop up from the ground.

Decker fired.  The man spun and fell.  A rain of arrows followed.  Zhang She and several horsemen wailed before the arrows struck and bounced off Elder Stow’s screen.  Two dozen men rushed up with long spears.  They also bounced off the screen, and Lockhart ordered Decker not to kill them unless they went around and headed toward the wagons.

“Now,” Captain Ban said, looking up at the top of the hill.  “Now, already.”

About eighty horses came from around the hill in a cavalry charge.  Elder Stow got quickly down and set his screen device against the ground.  “if I did not set this in a solid location, the horses would have pushed me right off my horse and thrown me back some distance, with the screens driven back as well.  But by setting the screens, they should bounce off like the arrows.”

Katie imagined letting the horses break on the screens would be cruel.  She flipped her rifle to automatic and Decker saw and did the same.  Katie, at least, imagined shooting and killing a few horses in the front to stall the charge would be kinder.  She and Decker opened fire.  Horses certainly went down.  The charge stalled as expected, then Decker actually stopped firing first.

Lincoln fired behind them.  “Tony and I are watching the rear.”  Some bandits were trying to find a back door to the screens.

“I’ll help,” Boston said, and she pulled out her wand and shot a stream of fire to one side and then the other.  No bandits got badly burned, but they all decided to run.

Then the men sent to the hill came pouring down on the enemy among the rocks, and things happened very fast.  The men in the rocks tried to escape down the hill.  The men in the grass on that side of the road got caught up in the panic.  The horsemen, utterly confused, rode off across the field, which got the men in that field to abandon their position.  They ran into a wall of arrows, and Boston thought it looked like more arrows than she expected.  She got mad and yelled, full volume.

“Brusher.  Cut that out.  If any of you folks get hurt, Lydia will yell at me, now, come on.”  She did not notice any slack in the number of arrows, so she decided not to look.

Plenty of bandits, in particular, the ones on horseback, made it through the line of archers and escaped.  Plenty escaped by turning and running down the road until they got far enough away to head across country.  But quite a few bandits got put down, and they only had to wait a while as Captain Ban’s men made sure the ones left behind were indeed dead.

Boston got a quick visit from Brusher and his band of gnomes.  They wanted to assure her that none of them got hurt, so maybe she would not mention it to Lydia.  Boston wondered why they got involved in the first place.  Brusher said the god, Tien Shang-Di ordered them to.

“No good can come from avoiding what the god says.  The law says we have to listen and obey the gods.  It is part of our job, you know.”

Boston nodded and said she would not tell Lydia, but then pointed out that Lydia probably already knew.  As she watched the gnomes disappear back into the wilderness, she wondered what they would do when the gods finally and fully went away.  That was happening very fast, from her perspective, traveling though time the way she was.  She feared briefly that the little spirits of nature might run amok, being suddenly set free without the gods looking over their shoulders.  But then she remembered that her god, the Kairos, would still be active in the world.  Besides, the little ones, like the human race, had over four thousand years of learning, training, and growing up.  Hopefully, they had matured enough in that time to stick to their tasks and not run wild.

“Time to grow up and start adulting,” she said out loud, without explaining to anyone.  She called Sukki to join her out on the point.  Captain Ban and some of his soldiers also joined them.

Avalon 7.4 People in the Middle, part 3 of 6

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Lydia felt very happy, hard as this journey had been.  They made it out of Merv and beyond the Parthian Empire with most of their goods intact.  They assumed the disguise of a Syrian merchant caravan, and certainly, the thirty Syrian and Armenian merchants they had with them, the ones who presumably knew the road, helped.  A company of one hundred legionnaires with thirty cavalry men in a support troop would not have gotten far across Parthian lands without the disguise, even if they were mostly Greeks.

Of course, they started with the full quota of a hundred and forty legionnaires, counting the ten who brought the two scorpios.  Presently, they had a hundred and thirty Romans, a few of whom were wounded and assigned to the scorpios, and only twenty-seven merchants remained, but the road was not easy, and full of bandits.  Five wagons with a dozen mules and a dozen merchant camels filled the complement.  The mules and horses had the roughest go of it, but twenty miles per day was not too difficult.  That was a distance that legionnaires in full gear trained to travel in five hours across all sorts of terrain.

“David.  David-Marcus,” Lydia stuck her head out of the tent and called.  When she heard no answer, she turned to her maid, Varina.  “Do you know where my husband has gotten to?  I need to know if he wants these rugs back in the wagon or tied to one of the camels.  I assume he doesn’t plan to carry them on his poor horse.”

Varina looked up at the top of the tent, like she might be thinking about it.  “I believe your centurion is with the Tribune Valerion and Master Shehan discussing the route ahead.  Shehan, the merchant, says we are in Kushan territory now, and fourteen days from the next big city, Bactra.”

Lydia sighed.  “Fourteen days and stop for a week.  Then fourteen more days and stop for a week.  I have been away from my children for a hundred and forty days already.  Maybe Valerion was right.  Maybe I never should have come.”

“I am sure David’s mother and family are taking wonderful care of your children.  You need not worry,” Varina said.  “Besides, after Bactra we will only have a month to get to Kashgar, and Master Shehan says that is more than half-way there.”

“Grr,” Lydia said, and pulled her small wooden cross from beneath her dress.  It hung from a golden chain around her neck, and she never took it off.  She held it, dearly, and stepped out of the tent where she could see the rising sun.  She knelt and prayed for her children.  Then she prayed for David-Marcus, and for his family.  Then she started to pray for the members of this expedition and thought the Emperor Claudius asked too much.  Well, with Artabanus, the Parthian dead, and his two sons preoccupied with fighting for control of the Parthian Empire, there might not have been a better time to sneak through to the land of silk.

Varina watched Lydia pray, and got a small tear in her eye, thinking it was time for her to go away, forever.  She caught sight of the mounted men, Scythians on the horizon, but they were an hour away.  She decided not to interrupt her friend.  Unfortunately, Bogtan the dwarf had no such qualms.  Bogtan, Crumbles, and a whole group of what Lydia called “Imp-heads” followed them up from the Zagros mountains.  They swore it was their duty to see the caravan safely to its destination, though they had been no help so far.

“Psst,” Bogtan hissed for Lydia’s attention.

“Yeah, Psst,” Crumbles said.

Lydia frowned before she looked up.  “What?”  Her word sounded sharper than she meant.  So much for prayer time.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Bogtan said.

“Yeah, sorry,” Crumbles echoed.

“You got horsemen, about two hundred coming down out of the hills, headed right toward you.”

“Kushan bandits?” Lydia asked.  Bogtan shrugged.  Varina, who had stepped out to stand beside her mistress, suggested otherwise.

“Scythians, from the north country, about an hour away.”

Lydia got up from her knees and spoke to the point.  “Varina, please finish the packing and get the squad to take down the tent and pack it in the wagon.  Rugs in the wagon, too, I guess.  Thank you Bogtan.  Thank you, too, Crumbles.  I will have to get the rest of the camp up and packed and tell Valerion he has company.  We shall see what the Scythians want.”  She did not doubt what Varina said.  She walked straight to Valerion’s tent.

Tribune Valerion did little to beef up the defenses in the camp.  They did not have the trees, but between what palisade they could build and the trench they dug, it would be enough to stop a cavalry charge.  David-Marcus gave the orders to be prepared to form up outside the palisade.  They would use the camp as their fallback position, if needed.  The men at least dressed to look like soldiers.  The fourteen velites with their darts and twelve Armenians out front all had bows and arrows as well, as may be needed, and the scorpios were set to catch the enemy in a crossfire.  They could not do more.  They waited the hour.

The Scythians stopped out of bowshot, like a well-disciplined troop.  They watched.  Valerion signaled the trumpeter who blew the call.  The legionnaires marched out of the camp and formed the characteristic three lines.  The soldiers said nothing, and the silence spread across the way.  Suddenly, Tobias, the optimo, shouted out, “Repellere equites.”  Without a word, the formation shifted to an open square to repel horsemen.

Valerion did not wait long.  With the Centurion David-Marcus, Aritides, who was the cavalry Decurio, and Shehan the merchant chief to translate, he rode to the center of the field and waited.  Five men rode out from the Scythian lines to talk.  Valerion introduced himself, his officers, and the chief merchant, and ended by saying, “We have no quarrel with the Scythian people and would rather move on with our journey without the needless spilling of blood.”

One of the Scythians rubbed his scraggly beard and said, “Roman.”  Shehan translated.  “You fight good.  I have seen Romans fight.  You are not so many, but you have horses hidden behind the rocks.  Not many, but enough to sting.”

“We are headed to Bactra and Kashgar.  We would rather go in peace.”

“You have big bows on the rocks,” the man said, and pointed at the two scorpios set up on rock outcroppings where they could fire over the heads of the legionnaires.  “You would never hit a man on a swift horse with those.”

“No,” Valerion admitted.  “But they can kill horses pretty good.”

The man paused, like he had not considered that.  “But I see women.”  He pointed again.  Lydia and Varina had crawled up on one of the outcroppings beside a scorpio where they could see, and Bogtan could hear and report what was being said.  “And I see little men.  What are those men?”

David laughed as Valerion shook his head.  “They are our friends,” David-Marcus said.  “More than you can count.”

The man turned to his men and had a quick conversation in his native tongue.  Shahan probably did not know the tongue, but if he did, he opted not to translate what the man said.  When the man turned back to Valerion, he looked shaken, but determined.

“All Romans are rich with gold and silver,” he said.  “Maybe for some gold, we go on our way.”

“Crumbles?” David looked down, so everyone looked and saw the dwarf standing in the grass as he answered in Latin, which Shehan did not know and could not translate.

“The lady says no coins or amber or drugs.  She says nothing that will entice them to want to come back and take the rest of it.  A couple of rugs and glass beads will be a fine token of friendship and enough so the chief does not lose face.”

Valerion frowned at David-Marcus.  “Your wife is annoying,” he said, also in Latin.  “But smart as a whip.”  He spoke in Greek so Shahan could translate.  “So, go and fetch a gift for our friend, here.”

“Crumbles,” David said, and reached down to haul the dwarf up behind him.  “Hold on.”  They rode back into the camp where other dwarfs had already piled some of the trade goods.  David-Marcus got three cavalry men to carry the gifts, and they returned to the impatient Scythians.  Crumbles immediately explained the gifts and their inestimable value, as he called it.  And he spoke in the Scythian tongue so Shahan could not to translate, and the Romans would not have to hear his lies.

“Alas, these poor and humble soldiers do not have the gold and silver you seek.  You know how badly soldiers are paid.”  Crumbles was a convincing liar.  “But this special rug has some gold threads woven into the fabric.  See how it shines in the sunlight.  And this glass jar is from Rome itself—you can see right through it.”  It was from Syria, but why quibble?  “It contains many glass beads so highly prized by the Han.  I bet your wife, er, lover would be very grateful for a necklace made of the beads.  Oh, and that is asbestos cloth.  It is not fireproof, but fire resistant, so, you know, any fire you might start, you could wear that and have some protection.  A very rare and special commodity.”

“Hey, Crumbles,” Crumbles’ group of dwarfs seemed to appear right out of the grass.  “That rug was supposed to be for the Han emperor.”

“Oh, well, I am sure our new friends here will enjoy it more.”

The Scythian chief stared at the dwarfs but managed to signal his men to gather up the things.  They all turned without another word and the whole two hundred rode off down the road toward Merv.  Crumbles and his dwarfs disappeared, and Valerion turned to David-Marcus.

“What did he tell them?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“You speak Scythian?” Aritides asked.

David-Marcus shook his head.  “But I seem to understand dwarf pretty well.”

“Your wife?”

David-Marcus nodded, and grinned.

Up on the rock, as the soldiers helped Lydia and Varina get down, Lydia asked a pointed question directly at Varina.  “Did you convince the Scythians to go away?  You know, you are not supposed to interfere in that way.”

Varina shook her head.  “I didn’t have to,” she said.  She did not say she would not do that.  Even Bogtan caught it.

“Slick,” he said.  “Slick as a skinny elf in a grease pit.”

Valerion stopped by the women to complain.  “My men are getting fat and lazy.”

A few of the soldiers heard and laughed, though they tried to not be seen laughing.  But honestly.  Marching twenty miles a day over the past five months with hardly a half-dozen weeks of rest was not making them fat.

Avalon 7.4 People in the Middle, part 2 of 6

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Inside the tent, Lincoln pointed at the map Zheng She got out and laid over top of the new map they were making. He said it was a copy of the map made originally for the Emperor of Han by Zhang She’s ancestor, Zhang Qian.  

“Bactria,” Lincoln said, checking the map against the one in the database.  He pointed.

“Soon to be called Balkh,” Katie said.  “Avestan, mostly, I would guess.  Mostly folk religion and Zoroastrian.  I don’t know how far Buddhism has penetrated.  It could be all Buddhist by now, but I doubt any Nestorian Christians have gotten there.  Not yet.”  She looked up and saw the Chinese men in particular staring at her, like women should not speak in the presence of men.  “Sorry,” she said, and Lincoln continued.

“Here, where it is marked Dayuan.  That is as far as the Greeks under Alexander reached.”

“He got that far?”  Lockhart was impressed.

“Up here, marked Kangju, is Sogdinia.

“Where Roxana, Alexander’s wife came from.” Katie tried to whisper.

Lincoln ignored her.  “Back here, across the Tarim Basin is where the Yuezhi come from. They have pushed down into all this area and pushed out the Parthians, more or less. Merv, here, is on the edge of Parthian territory these days.”

“The Anxi?” Zheng She asked, seemingly unsure who the Parthians might be.

“The Arsacid dynasty of Parthia,” Katie spoke up again.  “The Chinese name an area after the people, usually after the king’s or emperor’s dynastic name, being generally applied to the people.  China is presently the land of the Han, though eventually, the name China sticks.”

“But here?” Captain Ban got interested and did not hesitate to ask the woman.

“The Yuezhi form a confederation of five?  I think five tribes.”  She looked at Lincoln who started to look it up in the database before she waved him off.  “The important tribe is the Kush.  They eventually take over the old Greco-Bactrian empire, push up into Sogdinia and eventually all the way to the Hindu Kush, and they form the Kushan Empire between China and the Parthians.  Pushing from their end, and with the Romans on the other end, they weaken the Parthians who eventually fall to the Sassanids.  A Parthian civil war doesn’t help.  The Scythians invading from the north and killing a couple of Parthian kings doesn’t help, either.  To be honest, the Kushan empire is never strong, being made up of various loosely connected tribes.  But they do control the road, here, between the Tian Shan and the Taklimakan desert.”

“Not at all,” Zhang She said.  “That whole area has been made the Western Protectorate of the Han.  It was a hundred years ago the great general Zheng Ji drove the Xiongnu out and made the land a protectorate of the Han.  That is another reason for our journey.  After these hundred years, much has changed in the west, and the great Han emperor wishes to know what has transpired.”

Lincoln made a knowing sound before he spoke.  “There was a rival dynasty set up some years back and the Han got involved in their own civil war.  The Han won and reestablished the dynasty about five, or less than ten years ago. My guess is, now that things have settled down, the Han want to know what has happened in the west, which is a long way from home.”

“The Western Protectorate,” Captain Ban nodded.

“Protectorate, yes,” Katie agreed.  “But you do not live here.  The Yuezhi have moved in with many western peoples.”

“So I have seen,” Zhang She said.

“Our primary trouble these days remains with the Xiongnu, not the Yuezhi.  The Xiongnu pushed the Yuezhi out of the western lands and across the desert,” the captain said.

“The Mongols,” Katie named them.  “But look.  The Tian Shan, the mountains in the north, and the Kunlun Mountains in the south with the desert in between make an affective barrier separating the Mongolian tribes from the Yuezhi.  And in the steppes, the Scythians have moved in and make an equally affective barrier against the Mongolian hordes.  It will be twelve hundred years before the Mongolians build enough strength and numbers to break through those barriers.”

“What is down here?” Gan Ao asked, sort of changing the subject.

“That points to India,” Katie answered.  “Shendu,” she read the name on the map.  “Probably Sindhu, a name for the Indus valley, roughly modern Pakistan.  It is an area still heavily influenced by the Greeks, like Bactria and Sogdinia were.  The actual India, of the Ganges, is further over.”

“My great ancestor. Zhang Qian failed to find a safe way from the Han to the Shendu people,” Zhang She said, out loud.

“The Himalayas.”  That was all Katie had to say.

“The Hindu Kush.  From the Kushan of the Yuezhi people?” Gan Ao asked.

“No doubt,” Katie said, and looked at Lockhart.  “And it occurred to me I am probably saying too much.  Most things are best to find out on your own.”

“I wonder if Tien is still around,” Boston said, pointing to the Tian Shan on the map.

“Tien?” Zhang She asked, while the four men of Han stared at Boston’s red hair.

“Tien Shang-Di,” Boston said happily.  “A really nice guy, and a good friend.”

“You mean, the god of heaven?” Gan Ao asked.  He grinned again, like he knew something.

“I guess so,” Boston said, confirming the guess, but not committing to it.

“Boston,” Katie scolded her.  “You know perfectly well that is who you are talking about.”

Boston grinned and shrugged.  “Yeah, but I’m ready for breakfast, and you will just stand around talking maps and history and stuff till the cows come home.”  She left the tent.

“Food must be ready,” the map maker, Djo-Djo agreed, and they all piled out of the tent to where the cooking fires burned.  Nanette complained.

“They are all eunuchs.  There are no women at all in this camp.  Only broken men.”

“The eunuchs serve, as is their duty and right,” Zhang She said, not exactly understanding the complaint.

“The Romans and Egyptians have slaves,” Decker said again, as the others came to the fire at the same time.

“Yes,” Lincoln said.  “But in Rome a man can earn his freedom.”

‘But we treat our eunuchs well, and if they serve well, they can win titles and lands with great honor,” Captain Ban said.

“But in Rome, a man can earn his freedom with titles, lands, and honor, and still have his manhood, to have children to pass down his prosperity to the next generation,” Lincoln said.

“Stop it,” Alexis said.  “There are eunuchs even in our day, the result of cancer, and other things.”

“There were Greco-Roman Eunuchs too,” Katie said.  “And in the middle east and Egypt, for centuries.  They are all over the world.  It probably started as far back as Sumer.  The Persian empire was full of Eunuchs in imperial service, and Alexander did not end the practice.  You might as well get used to the idea because we will probably run into eunuchs several more times during our journey.”

Lockhart turned up his nose and shivered but said nothing.  Decker remained stoic, but he looked at Nanette, and she looked at him with a look that said she could deal with it if he could.  He nodded slightly, but they also said nothing.

“And what does the one with flaming hair say?” Djo-Djo asked.

“Yes,” Zhang She said.  “I have seen yellow hair among the Yuezhi, though only once or twice.  I have seen blue eyes, but I have never seen hair the color of the flames.”

“I say we should eat and get moving or Lydia will get to the city ahead of us.”

Avalon 7.4 People in the Middle, part 1 of 6

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After 14 A.D. Bactria on the Silk Road

Kairos 89: Lydia, the Prophetess

Recording …

The travelers came through the time gate early in the morning.  The sun just hit the horizon at their backs.  Anyone watching might have thought they came right out of the light.  And there were about two hundred people watching; at least the ones that were awake.

“Company for breakfast,” Boston announced, seeming more her affable self, now having forgiven herself for getting carried away in the last time zone.  Boston and Sukki came through first and stopped to stare at the people watching at them.

“What do you think they want?” Sukki wondered, as people came to the other side of a rough road, to stare.

“That is probably what they are wondering about us,” Katie said, as she and Lockhart came through next, followed by Elder Stow and Decker.

“No guns,” Elder Stow reported, looking at his scanner.  He looked up at Lockhart.  “Unless the Masters changed the composition of their metal.”

 Decker spit.  To Lockhart’s disgusted look, he said.  “Last piece.”

Lockhart and Katie got down to face the people, some of whom found weapons of some sort or other.  At the same time, a fat and sleepy looking middle-aged man, still slipping into his jacket, came to the other side of a road.  People made room for him.  A young man of about twenty years came with him, to help him dress and present himself properly.  The fat man whispered in the young man’s ear, and the young man nodded and turned to face the travelers.

“My master, the great lord Zhang She of Xi’an, servant of the Great Emperor Guangwu of Han asks, who are you to disturb his rest at such an early hour?”

“Hold that thought,” Lockhart said.  “Decker and Elder Stow.  You need to step back to let the wagon through.”

“Of course,” Elder Stow said.  Boston and Sukki also stepped back on the other side as Ghost the mule crossed the threshold of the time gate.  The wagon followed, driven by Tony, his horse tied to the back.   Lincoln, Alexis and Nanette all came through on horseback, but stopped short when they saw the men across the way.  Some of those men now looked like soldiers.

The fat man, Zhang She appeared to open his mouth and stare as the wagon and riders came out of nowhere.  His young servant stayed more composed, even when Lockhart, the giant man, and Katie, the woman with yellow hair, stepped across the road to talk to him.

“Do you have a name?” Katie asked.

“I am Gan Ao, your humble servant.”  He bowed, but he smiled for some reason, almost like he might have been expecting them.

“Zhang She?” Lockhart asked and pointed at the fat man.  Gan Ao nodded.  “Tell Zhang She we come in friendship.  We humbly apologize for disturbing his slumber.  Where are we headed?”  He directed the last to Katie, but Gan Ao answered while Katie pulled her amulet from beneath her dress.

“To Lanshi, home of the Daxia people.”

Katie pointed while Lincoln and Boston came to add their two cents.  Lincoln had his face in the database, and Boston had hers in her amulet.  Lincoln spoke first.

“Lanshi is Bactra, and the Daxia people are the Bactrian people.”

“Boss,” Boston said.  “We are about ten days, maybe two hundred miles from a small city. The thing is, maybe we can take our time.  It looks like the Kairos is moving, except he is coming toward us instead of away from us this time.”

“She,” Lincoln said.  “Lydia of Tarsus.”

Boston confirmed Katie’s direction.  Lockhart turned to Gan Ao.  “We thank you for your kindness.  It was good meeting you, but if you will excuse us, we will be moving on and out of your hair shortly.”

Gan Ao put his hand to his head to feel his hair.  Zhang She shouted. “No.  Wait.  We are headed in the same direction and there is safety in numbers on this miserable excuse for a road.  Please stay with me and break your fast.  I have many questions.”  He turned to the people, many of whom still stared in awe.  “These strangers are “Hands off.”  If you have something you must say or ask, come and tell me or my faithful servant, Gan Ao.”  He turned to Lockhart.  “Come.”

“Free breakfast,” Boston said.

Lockhart shrugged when Lincoln said they appeared to be on the Silk Road, and Katie said, “Safety in numbers.”

They came to a big fire outside a semi-circle of tents with one extra big tent in the middle of the group.  “Come, come,” Zhang She said, as he went into the big tent.  Eight people could stand comfortably there around a table covered in paper.  Someone appeared to be making a map of their travels.  Lockhart, Katie, Boston, and Lincoln all pushed inside.  Besides Zhang She and Gan Ao, a fat, one might say, blubbery old man by the name of Djo-Djo sat by the table with ink and brushes.  Evidently, the map maker.  A Han soldier, the commander of the soldiers, came in to keep a wary eye on the strangers.  He got introduced as Captain Ban.

“Paper,” Katie noticed right away.  “Real paper.”  She said no more.

Outside, Elder Stow and Sukki helped Alexis and Tony get the wagon off the road and into a position where they could ride as soon as they were ready.  Decker dismounted by the fire outside the tents where he could keep one eye on the tent and one eye on the wagon.  Nanette came to join him, sent by Alexis to see what might be cooking for breakfast.  There appeared to be several men running around in a panic, trying to figure out how to cook enough and stretch the food to feed so many strangers.

When Nanette tied her horse with the other horses, and she came near the fire, Decker stared at her and said something unexpected.  “I heard you could have married anyone in Rome you wanted.  Why didn’t you?”

“I was something strange and different, like a toy.  I never would have been accepted. and they never would have understood the experience of my people.”

“They have slaves.  They had plenty of people uprooted from their homes and carted off to Rome as slaves.”  Decker spit.  “On this journey, I have come to realize that back home we have some people that make such a big deal out of an historical no big deal.”

“Is that what you think?  It has nothing to do with slavery.  I know nothing about that beyond stories from my grandmother.  I am talking about being dark skinned in a light skinned world.”

Decker nodded.  “We got rid of segregation in the sixties, though we are far from a perfect world on that score.”

Nanette affirmed what he said. “When I marry, it will be to a dark-skinned man, like myself.”

Decker and Nanette stared at each other until Decker spit.  “I’m thirty-six.  Maybe old enough to be your father.”

“I’m twenty-six.  You could not be my father unless you had a child when you were ten.”

“At ten, I wouldn’t have known where to stick it.”  He spit again.

Nanette looked shocked and disgusted.  “Where were you born?  In a barn?”

“In the hood.  Low-income housing in Charlotte, North Carolina,” he said.  “Besides, I was married for five years.  It didn’t work out.”  He turned and Nanette watched him walk away to help with the wagon, and he mumbled. “Aphrodite is as cruel as I always imagined her to be.”

Nanette shivered at her thoughts, but she could not take her eyes off the man as he walked away.