Travelers

Avalon 7.2 Ides of March, part 2 of 6

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Evan and Millie took the travelers to the house of a friend.  The man, a senator, lived in a big house on the Via Appia, on the outskirts of the city; or what the travelers called the suburbs.  His little girl got terribly sick, and Evan, the Celtic physician, and his lovely wife, Millie, healed her.  The senator called it a miracle.  Evan confessed the girl had a flu-bug and they kept her in bed and fed her plenty of chicken broth.

When they arrived at the house, the girl, now eight, came running and threw herself into Millie’s arms.  Millie smiled and looked at Evan.  She did not have to say anything as Evan put his hands up in surrender.

“Okay,” he said.  “I want one, too.”

The travelers saw their horses stabled in the barn where the senator’s wife offered the horses sweet grain and a dry bed.  The senator was in town on business and would be gone for a few days.  Millie and Evan took their old room in the house, but the big house was not that big, to accommodate everyone.  Though the day stayed overcast and chilly, the travelers did not mind setting up camp in the back yard.  They had the cooking fires to gather around and keep warm.  And they all wore that marvelous material called fairy weave, which they could thicken with a word, or break into layers as might be needed.

Alexis, Millie, and Sukki helped the house cooks prepare more than enough food for everyone.  When the senator’s wife asked if Katie and Boston might like to help, Katie admitted she was not much of a cook, and Boston said, “You don’t want me to cook. Trust me.”

“I wonder if Arias cooks,” Millie said, offhandedly.  “Now that she is going to be a mother, I suppose she will have to learn.”  Clearly, children were on Millie’s mind.  The young girl in the house stayed by Millie’s side that whole time, and ignored her own mother, as some girls do.  The senator’s wife did not seem bothered by that.

“I wonder if the Princess cooks,” Sukki said.

“I am sure she has people who cook for her,” Alexis responded.  “I never saw her cook anything.”

“Sophia probably cooks,” Millie said.

“Yeah,” Boston groused.  “After the priest slaughters the beast on the altar, the priestess has to figure out how to cook it.  Probably gets scullery duty as well.”

“Did I mention?” Alexis said.  “The ones who don’t cook get to do the washing up.”

“What?” Boston sounded surprised.  “Katie,” she called for help, but Katie just laughed as she and the men came to join the women around the fire.

“To me,” Lockhart said, to enter the conversation.  “The interesting thing is the fact that Arias, Sophia, and Althea all lived a second time in the future.  I guess I read about that in the Men in Black records, but it did not register in my mind until I saw it in reality.”

“So, if Arias doesn’t cook, maybe Susan does,” Alexis said.

“English food is too bland, even for me.”  Lincoln shook his head.

“I thought the Kairos was unique,” Decker said.

“The Kairos is unique,” Boston insisted.

Lincoln tried to explain.  “The Kairos got created with enough genetic material to form a complete man and a complete woman, at the same time.  By maintaining a balance between male and female, sometimes living as a woman and sometimes living as a man, the Kairos has been able to live well over a hundred lifetimes back-to-back, without any time break in between lives.  Everyone else, as far as we know, is stuck being a man or a woman.  There isn’t the option of maintaining balance.  In that case, three times as the same sex is enough.  Five times is about the limit.  More than five, and the mind begins to slip.”

“I recall the Princess, or someone, said Rasputin was his seventh lifetime,” Alexis said.

“No argument there about the slipping mind,” Katie said.

“But wait,” Evan interrupted.  “Are you saying I could have another lifetime somewhere in time?”

“You mean where you might run into yourself?” Elder Stow grinned at the idea.

“I doubt it,” Lincoln said.  “And even if you did, you probably would not recognize yourself… or maybe cause the entire universe to implode.”

“But maybe a second life in the future, where we can’t go,” Sukki said.  She looked hopeful about something but did not explain what she hoped for.

“But wait.”  Evan tried again.  “I still don’t understand why the mysterious future friends of the Kairos gave a second life to Arias, Sophia, and Althea in the first place.”

Lockhart explained this one.  “As I understand it, the Seleucids were making guns in a factory in Syria.  The Princess needed the extra hands and certain skills to end that threat to history.  The girls needed to know what guns were and what they could do.  I don’t remember all the details, but apparently, there were several points in the story where those second lifetimes came in handy.”

“The Princess said over the next thousand years, the Masters try to introduce guns and gunpowder before they are due,” Decker said.

“Something to watch out for going forward,” Lockhart agreed.

“I remember something about Soviet operatives, from the old Soviet Union, so the Masters were able to give some of their people another lifetime as well,” Katie said.

“Masters?” Mille asked, only half-listening.

“The bad guys,” Boston said.

“But Wait,” Lincoln borrowed Evan’s term.  He looked excited, like a light just went off in his head.  “The Masters have a way of giving a second lifetime to their servants.  Those soldiers.  The ones by the side of the road when we picked up the Appian Way and left Capua.  I saw those Greeks, the brigands.  Mylo and Philo-crites.”

“Philocrates,” Alexis corrected her husband

“That’s it,” Katie said, nice and loud.  “I have had the feeling since Capua that we were being followed by soldiers.”  She waved her hands to keep everyone quiet.  “I know soldiers have been everywhere, but I mean like stalked-followed.  Philocrates and Mylo are behind us, and they know we are here.  They are not close enough to be watching, but they are not far behind us.”

“Now, that makes sense,” Boston agreed.

“What can we do?” Sukki asked.

“What are they up to?” Boston asked.

“Can’t be good,” Lincoln said.

People thought, and shared, but the only thing they felt safe doing was keeping their eyes open and finding Bodanagus right away and tell him.

Avalon 7.2 Ides of March, part 1 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 104 B.C. Rome, Italy

Kairos 87: Bodanagus, the King

Recording …

“We are somewhere just north of the toe of the boot of Italy, I would guess an easy fifty miles below Capua,” Lincoln said.  He stared at the database and never looked up.  “Via Popilia-something.  We should pick up the Appian Way in Capua.”

“That is interesting,” Evan said to the group.  “When we traveled into the past two years ago, the time gate was in Capua.  That was where Minerva gave us the chestnuts that we used to find the time gates.  Two years later, you are telling me the gate has moved a hundred miles south.  Maybe King Bodanagus is not in Rome.”

“No,” Boston said, as she pulled out her amulet.  It showed a significant map of the two time gates and the major towns and obstacles that lay between them.  “We went over this carefully.  As near as I can tell, the Kairos is in Rome, probably with Caesar.”

Katie glanced at her own prototype amulet.  “The next time gate appears to be around Genoa, well beyond Pisa.”  She thought to explain.  “If you recall, in Diana’s day, last time we were in Rome, the time gates were in Pisa and around Capua.”

“So, the gates are getting farther apart, as you guessed,” Lockhart concluded.

“Well,” Katie said.  “People are moving more and longer distances in this age.  Maybe just Bodanagus is moving more than the Kairos moved in the past.  He is Gallic, right?”

“From up around Belgium, maybe Holland,” Lincoln answered.

“He came to Rome.  That is a long way.  And then where?” Katie asked.

“He went to Spain,” Millie remembered.

“Let’s see,” Lincoln scanned the database.  “Spain, Illyria, Greece, Egypt, Tarsus, North Africa; and lots of trips to Italy in between.”

“So, you see?” Katie concluded.  “We are lucky the time gates are not in Arabia and Great Britain.”

Lockhart added it up in his head.  “But that leaves us ten days to two weeks to Rome, then ten days to two weeks to the next time gate.  If we rest five days or a week in Rome, that adds up to a whole month in this time zone.”

“How many more time zones do we have to travel to get home?” Decker wondered.

“Thirty-four,” Lincoln was quick on the answer.  He kept track.

“Just shy of three years counting a month per zone,” Lockhart said.

“Cuts it kind of close, Princess-wise,” Decker said.  “2007 to 2010 is three years.”

“Three years before the Storyteller gets lost in the Second Heavens and everything goes haywire,” Lincoln said, half to himself.

“See?”  Alexis said.  “Lincoln is worrying for me already.  Food is ready, and I am changing the subject.  I am calling my horse, Chestnut.  How about you?”

Boston frowned.  “Your horse is sorrel colored, not chestnut.”

“I always called that color chestnut,” Katie said.  “Mine is a bay.  I think I’ll call him… Bay.”

“As in, somebody bet on him?” Lockhart asked.  Katie nudged him.

“Mine is Strawberry,” Boston said.

“Well, yours is roan,” Alexis said.  “Not strawberry, exactly.”

“Are we going for colors?” Sukki asked.  “Mine and Elder Stow’s horses are brown, but that is not a good name, and he already picked the name Mudd.”

“Mud?” Katie and Alexis frowned, but Lockhart and Decker smiled.

“I can spell it with a double D,” Elder Stow said.  “His name is Mudd.”

“Works for me.”  Lockhart grinned.

“Well, I’m thinking of naming my horse Dumbo,” Lincoln said.

“Can’t,” Decker protested.  “The ears aren’t big enough.”

Boston also protested.  “Your horse’s color is dun, not dumb.”

“That is a matter of opinion,” Lincoln said.

Katie ignored them and turned to Lockhart.  “You got the gray one this time.  What are you thinking?”

“He is gray like the sea,” he said.  “I think Sea would work.”

“The letter C?  See as in vision?”  Katie thought a moment.  “Seahorse?”

Lockhart shrugged.  Decker chuckled.

“Maybe Dumbo is a good name,” Alexis said.

“Chestnut is a good name,” Lincoln said.  “But it is taken.”

Alexis shoved him a little.

“I haven’t decided,” Decker admitted.

“I didn’t know we were naming our horses,” Millie confessed.

“I’m going to have to think hard now,” Sukki said.  “There aren’t any good brown names.”

“How about Chocolate?” Alexis suggested, and everyone stopped to stare at her with their meanest stares.

“That was cruel,” Boston verbalized.

“What is Chocolate?” Sukki asked.

“A future delicacy of infinite delight,” Elder Stow answered. “I will be happy to introduce you to it when we get there.”

That ended the horse naming time.  After that, people spent the rest of the night reminiscing about the best deserts they ever had.

###

The travelers reached Capua in three days and figured they had another five, or more likely six to reach Rome.  It did not seem too bad, as long as they had good roads.  The trip would be longer if they had to travel through the rough.  In Capua, they shelled out a couple of their coins for rooms and to stable Ghost the mule and their horses.  Lincoln had his doubts about letting the horses out of their sight, but Lockhart convinced him that they had to get used to it.  They would be staying at more and more inns as they moved forward in time.  Of course, they took their guns to their rooms, and Decker had no intention of going anywhere without his rife.

In the morning, they got supplies for the trip, including plenty of vegetables and fruit.  Alexis, Sukki, and Elder Stow were happy about that, not being big meat eaters.  “I wouldn’t mind picking up fish on our way, from one of the villages on the coast,” Alexis suggested.

“I don’t know what to say about that.”  Boston scrunched up her face and looked conflicted.  “I like fruit and veggies well enough, but I grew up on meat and potatoes.”

“You’re young,” Alexis told her.  “Your metabolism is still racing.  But when you get older, keep in mind, too much meat will just make you fat.  No one wants a fat, old elf.”

“Santa,” Boston said, and grinned, but she would have to think about it.

On the way out of town, they filed past a group of soldiers sitting by the side of the road, waiting for something.  Lincoln noticed that two of the soldiers hid their faces when Boston rode by.  He looked closely.  He had a gift for facial recognition, and these two men looked familiar, even if he could not place them.  He paused.  Naturally, he could not place them, not having been in this time zone before.  He supposed if he looked hard enough, he could find plenty of familiar faces, similar to people he met or saw in the past.  Of course, they could not be the same people.  He shrugged it off.

For four days up the Appian Way, Katie felt anxious.  She said they were being followed by soldiers.  Boston felt it too but wondered how Katie could tell.  Elect senses were made to sniff out enemies on the horizon—whatever might pose a danger to family and home.  Boston also felt they were being followed, but she could not pinpoint the feelings to soldiers, necessarily.  She said the road was full of soldiers and groups of soldiers traveling; mostly headed to Rome as they were.

“No,” Katie said a few times.  “It feels like one group is following us, specifically.”

Boston did not disagree, but since neither had any reason to feel the way they did, and since no one else felt the discomfort, they let it go.  It came up on the last night before Rome.

Avalon 7.1 Spirits Alight, part 6 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“I am sorry,” Simeon said.  “I thought it best not to go through Jericho.  This is the road beneath the fortress of Dok.”  He pointed to the top of the cliff and the wall there.  “It will meet later with the Jerusalem road, but meanwhile, we are below the fort that the Syrians still hold.  I am sorry.  I did not think it would be a problem.  They have left us alone and we have left them alone, until now.”

“Major?”  Katie stood, waved and called from the little rise she staked out to hide the wagon and horses.

Decker veered his trajectory and came riding up, Boston and Sukki came right behind.  “About a hundred.  They will be on us, shortly.”  The riders got down and led their horses to the others where Millie and Sukki would do their best to keep the beasts calm.  At least the mule and the horses were no strangers to the sound of gunfire.  “They should come up from that dry riverbed,” Decker finished, as he climbed the rise and took up his position.

“The men sent to the city will be a while,” Simeon said.  “Even if they bring the gate guard and run all the way.  I am sorry.”

“Stop apologizing,” Lockhart yelled, as he checked his shotgun and pulled his police special.

“My guess is one of the gods tipped them off,” Katie said.  “Even if the gods agreed, I bet someone doesn’t want to give up so easily.”

“Who do you figure?” Lockhart asked.

“Baal?  Asherah?” Katie was not sure.

“Maybe Moloch,” Evan suggested.  His voice sounded calm, but his hand sweated around Katie’s handgun.

“Ashtoreth,” Boston shouted from down the rise.  She got out a dozen arrows and she and Alexis prepared them for explosive flight.  They were the nearest thing the group had to an RPG.

“We may never know,” Katie admitted.

“Here they come,” Lincoln shouted over top.  He paid attention.

One of Simeon’s men panicked and let his arrow fly too soon.  Simeon only brought ten men to escort the bones.  Seven stood ready.  He sent three to fetch help from the city.  He left the other ten men in his company to watch the Syrians on the road.  He briefly wondered if he should have brought them all.  But he assured the travelers his men would turn out the whole army of Jericho, if necessary.

“Maybe we should have run for the city,” Simeon said.

“We could have doubled up on the horses, but we would have had to abandon the mule and the wagon,” Lockhart responded.

“Captain,” Decker yelled from the other side of the rise.  He and Katie opened fire on the oncoming enemy.  Men began to fall.

After a minute, Lockhart yelled, “Now.”  Evan, Lincoln and Lockhart added their handgun fire to the mix.  A moment later, Boston began to fire her arrows.  She did not have to hit anyone directly.  Even if her arrow hit the ground, it would explode, and the two or three nearest men, if not killed or injured, would at least be knocked over by the concussive blast.

Once the dozen arrows got sent, and that did not take long at all at elf speed, Boston got out her wand.  Alexis already had her wand blowing the dust and dirt from the road into the face of the oncoming men, with a near hurricane force wind.  Boston added a stream of fire in front of the men imitating something like a flame-thrower.

“There,” Elder Stow shouted.  “Decker’s wall.”  That was what he called a one-sided screen that Decker could shoot through.  Of course, by then the charge had nearly stopped, and it completely stopped when several men ran into the invisible wall and bounced back.  Everyone stopped firing, except Decker.  He got the three that got caught on the traveler side of the wall.

“Here.”  Elder Stow handed his screen device to Boston and pointed to the top of the hill.  “That is the fortress?” he asked.  Simeon nodded, and everyone looked up at the top of the hill where a wall had been built.  They assumed the fortress had wall all the way around, but they only saw this side.  “The screen is only several hundred human yards wide.  They may discover that and come around it,” Elder Stow said, as he rose up in the air.  He quickly went invisible, and no one noticed anything for a few minutes other than the surviving Syrians ran back to hide in the dry riverbed.

Simeon looked at his men.  Not one had fired an arrow, except that one when it did not count.  Katie shaded her eyes and looked up.  Soon they all looked up as Elder Stow fired his hand weapon at what must have been full strength.  The edge of the hillside began to give way.  Soon enough, whole boulders began to fall.  The Syrians in the riverbed scattered to keep from being crushed.  A few large stones rolled up to Decker’s wall, where they kindly stopped.  Then the fortress wall collapsed.  The zig-zag path that led up to the fortress would have to be reworked in spots, but unless the Syrians had a spare wall somewhere, their fortress was toast.  When the soldiers from Jericho arrived, the Syrians would be wise to surrender.

“Time to move out,” Lockhart said.  “Everyone, take one of Simeon’s men for a ride.”

Elder Stow returned and became visible again.  “My father?”

“Can you fly cover and keep the wall beside us and behind us?” Lockhart asked.

Elder Stow wanted to say no.  Everyone saw it on his face, but what he said was, “I can pivot the wall as we move until we are out of range.

Katie hollered.  “Evan.  Are you and Millie okay with the wagon.”

“Okay,” Evan waved them on.

Simeon got up behind Katie.  He looked uncomfortable but did not complain.  Three got behind Lockhart, Lincoln, and Decker.  One got Elder Stow’s horse to himself, and the horse was reasonable to accommodate for a short distance.  The last two borrowed Millie and Evan’s horses while the couple drove the wagon.

Going at a good clip, it did not take long to reach the Jerusalem road.  Lincoln looked back a couple of times, but Evan seemed a capable wagon driver.  He got Ghost the mule to keep up fairly well.

“Walk them,” Lockhart yelled, and everyone got down to walk.  Lockhart’s and Lincoln’s riders tipped their hats and said thank you and excuse me.  Decker’s passenger seemed to want to kiss the ground.

###

The travelers and their escort reached the gates of Jerusalem on the following afternoon.  Simeon and his men went right in, but the travelers had to wait an hour before they were allowed in, and then they had to stay in the gate.  They had room to set their tents and build a fire, and men brought them food and fodder for the horses and mule, but they would not be allowed to visit the city.

“It is much bigger than the last time we were here,” Lincoln remarked.

“That was in Solomon’s day,” Alexis told Evan and Millie.

“We were being chased by a genie,” Elder Stow said.

“A big, bad genie,” Decker agreed.

“I wonder where he is now,” Katie said, not expecting the answer she got.

“Solomon had the jugs of Marid buried with him in his tomb,” a young woman said.  “As long as they are not disturbed, they should still be there.”

Lockhart and Katie looked at the woman, and Lockhart got up first to hug her.  “Daughter,” he said.

“You should not be here,” Katie almost frowned before she hugged Sekhmet.  “We should not be here.”

“Sekhmet,” Boston named the goddess for those who might not know.

“Actually, the Ptolomys have been in control and lost control of this area so many times in the last century, who can keep track?”  Sekhmet shrugged and changed the subject.  “I see you have added to the club.”

“Millie and Evan,” Alexis said.  “And you remember Sukki.”

“Of course.  I saw Sukki at the wedding.”  Sekhmet slipped between Katie and Lockhart and put one arm around each.  “It was nice of my mom and dad to finally actually marry and make Artie and me legal.”

“Wait,” Evan said.  “You don’t mean your real mom and dad.”

Sekhmet said, “As real as Sukki is really Elder Stow’s daughter.”  Sekhmet smiled and then confessed.  “I do try to keep up with your progress when I can, and nice to meet you Evan Cecil Emerson and Millie Ann Smith Emerson.  I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Nice to meet you,” Millie responded.

“Did I do that right?” Sekhmet asked Katie.

“Just about perfect,” Katie said, and they sat by the fire.

Near sundown, Simeon came back with two men, one who shared some family resemblance, and one who dressed like a priest.  The family man carried a four-year-old girl who wiggled to get down.  She ran to the group on her little legs and headed straight to Boston with her arms wide for a hug.  Boston picked her up and hugged her happily.

Lincoln grinned and said, “Judy, Judy, Judy.”

“He never said that.” Alexis set the record straight.

Little Judith stuck her tongue out at Lincoln, gave Boston a little kiss on the cheek, then stretched to hug Sukki.  Sukki did not know what to do, especially when Judith kissed her on the cheek as well and whispered in her ear.  “Take good care of that old man and your sister, Boston.”

“I will,” Sukki said, and put Judith down.  She looked at Elder Stow, and then at Boston, and began to cry.  Both went to her, but it was only a little cry.

“Daddy,” Judith called. “And Uncle Simeon.”  She held out her hands.  Simeon took one, and the one who was evidently his brother Judah, and Judith’s father took the other.

Simeon laughed.  “I should have known little Judith was in the middle of this.  She started it all, you know, sitting in the arms of our father Mattathias, here in the city to be dedicated.  The Seleucids wanted to sacrifice her to Zeus on the pagan altar they built.  Father killed the corrupted priest rather than give up his granddaughter.”

“I don’t think Zeus would have been happy with a human sacrifice,” Katie said, and Sekhmet shook her head for confirmation.

“Zeus-Amon,” she whispered, but Judith noticed and yelled.

“Sekhmet.  You are not supposed to be here.  You bad girl.”  She wagged her little finger and tried to look serious, but only looked cute.  All the same, Sekhmet hid more securely behind Lockhart’s broad shoulders.

Alexis stepped up and totally interrupted everything.  She carried the bag of three femur bones.  She held them out with instructions.  “The bones of Joseph, son of Jotham, the King, and his wife Tama, and daughter Aleah.  They are home to be properly buried in the sepulcher of the kings.”

“Priest,” Judah called, gruffly, and the priest took the bag, carefully.  “It will be done but tell me.  Did you destroy the fortress of Dok?”

“Yes,” Lockhart answered with a glance at Elder Stow.  “But as my wife has explained to me, we cannot help you with Acra.  We will have to leave in the morning.”

“Yes,” Judah said in much the same tone of voice.  “So my wife explains things to me all the time.”

“That is why we have them,” Lockhart said, and Katie slapped him on the shoulder, but gently.

Judah smiled a little.  “I think I like you, big man.”

“I’m getting the hill when Acra falls,” Judith interrupted.  “I am going to plant olive trees, and a garden there.  Isn’t that right, Uncle Simeon?”  She yawned a big yawn.

“Right by me,” Simeon said, as Judah picked up his little girl, and Judith smiled, closed her eyes, and laid her head down on her father’s shoulder.

“Priest,” Judah commanded, turned and walked away.  The priest and Simeon caught up.

Millie turned to Evan.  “I want one.”

When the morning came, Sekhmet transported the travelers instantly to Suez, and said, since she saved them a week of travel through the dusty desert, they should stay with her for a week, and she could be a good girl the whole time.  That was, at least, what the travelers did.

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

MONDAY

The travelers head for Rome and Caesar in Avalon 7.2 The Ides of March.  Don’t miss it.  Until then, Happy Reading

*

Avalon 7.1 Spirits Alight, part 5 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers had no problem that next day.  They saw Seleucids—soldiers from Syria, but no one stopped them or bothered them.  They minded their own business, and the people left them alone.  They did stop, however, well before dark, so they had time to plan for the next day’s border crossing.

“The Syrians and Judeans are essentially at war,” Katie said.  “We should expect the border to be guarded going both ways.”

“In other words,” Lincoln said, as he sat up straight and gazed into the fire.  “The Syrians will want to stop us from crossing the border, and the Judeans will probably arrest us as soon as we cross the border.”

“Crossing should not be a problem,” Decker said.  “They will be stationed around the road.  They won’t be in the wilderness and should not be paying much attention to the local farmers who might have land on both sides of the border.  Boston and Elder Stow can go invisible and fly and run rings around the soldiers to draw them away from our path.  The Captain and I can back them up and cover the flank.  We just need to scout out a farm trail that the rest of you can get the wagon through.”

“Major,” Katie said. “When you say, we back up two invisible people, what are you thinking?”

“We hold the horses and kill as few Syrians as possible.”

“If you start shooting, you will just draw the Syrians back in our direction,” Lockhart said.

“The object is to make them go away from us,” Katie agreed.

“We have to find a farm path first,” Lincoln said.

“Boston,” Alexis interrupted.  “You can give play to your impish impulses this one time, only.”

Boston grinned and rubbed her hands together.  Decker spit.  They had some talking to do.

When the time came, just after lunch on the following day, they found thirty Syrians camped beside the road as expected.  The road went more or less straight at that point, as it had most of the way from Galilee, avoiding the inevitable bends and curves of the river.  Lincoln reported the river flowed for more than a hundred miles, but the road ran about fifty-five miles to that point, and that took them two-and-a-half days.

Up ahead, the road entered a forest of poplar and willows trees.  It looked like a natural demarcation between Judea and the Syrian controlled territory they traveled through.  On the Syrian side, there was not much cover, but Lincoln assured them the gully would hide them most of the way to where the farm trail cut through the trees.

Lockhart and Lincoln went first and took up a position by the woods and above the gully, in case the Syrians had a patrol out scouting the border.  Lockhart had Decker’s binoculars.  Katie, with Evan carrying her handgun, snuck to a place below the gully, where they could see the Syrian camp in the distance.  Decker also pointed at the Syrian camp, but kept well back from the others, near the place where the gully started.  He got behind a hill and spied on the Syrians through the scope on his rifle.

Once everyone got set, Alexis, Sukki, and Millie had to help Yusef drive the mule and wagon into the gully.  It made for a slow, rough passage.  One time, Sukki had to lift the back of the wagon to get it over a rock.  Another time, the wagon could clearly be seen, and Alexis had to pull out her wand.  She caused a swirling wind to pick up the dust, and made it look as much like a natural dust storm as possible until they passed that section.

When the wagon started, Decker said, “Go,”

Elder Stow walked invisibly, straight to the place where the Syrians tied off their horses.  Boston covered herself with a glamour that covered her red hair and made her look like a local.  She also made herself look as attractive, that is, as sexy as possible.  She got plenty of stares as she walked down the road, which was what she wanted. She made a scene when the Syrians finally stopped her from crossing the border.  She screamed and yelled, and all but exposed herself in the process.  Finally, she started toward the trees, away from the wagon.  The guards tried to stop her but could not seem to catch her.  Boston slowly sped up so they could not touch her.  When one man tried to run, to get in front of her, she turned on some elf speed.  She quickly arrived at the edge of the woods, roughly a hundred yards away, where she went invisible and entered among the trees.

At that same time, the Syrian horses stampeded to the sound of Elder Stow’s sonic device.  He had knocked down one side of the makeshift pen.  He used his weapon to set fire to the side of the pen that pointed toward the wagon.  Then he let the sonic device squeal.  The horses bolted away from the fire and the sound, while Elder Stow, still invisible, rose up in the air and chased a few lazy horses.  He set the tents closest to the road on fire, with a judicious use of his weapon.  He figured the Syrians closer to the wagon would be drawn in toward the road to help put out the fires.  He tried not to kill anyone, but briefly felt sorry if there were humans inside the burning tents.  He flew, still invisible, back to the wagon.  They were just ready to enter the forest, and he thought he might fly cover until they were safe.

Decker caught up to the back of the wagon.  Lockhart and Lincoln came down from above the gully, while Katie and Evan came up to the trees.  They pushed in amongst the trees on what looked like more of deer trail than a farm road.  Less than a dozen yards in, and they became surrounded by twenty rough looking men.  The men looked more like farmers, builders, merchants, and teamsters than an army, but they also looked like they meant business.

“Where are you headed?”  The man who appeared to be in charge, asked, but he looked uncertain how to take these strangers.  Two men looked in the back of the wagon but did not touch anything.  Most appeared interested in the horses and equipment.

Lockhart got down and said, “We are no friends with the Seleucids.  We are newly arrived from Greece, though we are not Greeks.  Our home is far in the west, beyond the sea.  We must go to Egypt and beyond to reach our home, but first we have a task.  We told this family we would take them home to Jerusalem.”

While Lockhart distracted everyone’s attention, Elder Stow landed behind the group, unseen.  He became visible and walked to his horse without incident.  Likewise, Boston ran up to the group and became visible, returning to her normal red-headed self, covered in her glamour of humanity.  A few of the men may have looked at her twice when she went to her horse, but they may have been startled by her red hair.

“We cannot help you right now,” the man in charge said.  “The temple and the city are being cleansed of outsiders and outside influence.”

“And Acra?” Katie asked.

The leader paused to stare at the yellow-headed woman.  “You know something… But no.  The fortress on the hill over the city remains in enemy hands.  My brother will not spend his forces on direct confrontation.  Better we cut off their supplies so that they surrender peaceably.”

“But we promised Yusef and his family that we would see them buried in Jerusalem.”

The leader smiled.  “He looks healthy enough, and not so old.  I would say there is time for that.”

“There is no time,” Yusef stood in the wagon.  His wife stood and held his cloak while their daughter stood and held on to her mother’s skirt.  “The time is past and is now over.  Listen Simeon, son of Mattathias.  I am Joseph, eldest son of Jotham, king of Judah.  Son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, son of Amaziah, son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, son of Abijah, son of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, son of David the King.  From David to my father is twelve generations, and I am the thirteenth, cut off from my home for all these years.

“I was sent by my father to Samaria, to speak peace to the kings of Israel and Damascus.  My younger brother, Ahaz, thought the time ripe to rebel.  He and his Assyrian friends locked my father away and demanded my return in chains.  My own servants turned against me, as Ahaz had long since planned.  But I was warned in a letter from the prophet Isaiah, and I took my wife and my child and fled, not knowing who else to trust.  We eventually came to Hazor, far in the north country, but there, the Assyrians caught us.  We were killed along with the city, and we have waited all these years to return home.

“Now these good people have pledged to see us buried in the place of the kings.  See that it is done.  Do not fight against the Lord your God.  The word of the Lord, given to the prophet Isaiah, has been plainly spoken, and now it is done.”  Yusef pulled a very old parchment from his cloak, but it immediately crumbled to dust and blew away on the wind.  “The time is over,” Yusef said to the sky, and he, Tama and Aleah began to glow.  They became too bright to look at before they vanished in an instant.  Everyone heard the clump, clump, clump as three bones fell to the wagon bed.

To their credit, none of the Judeans screamed and ran away, but to be fair, they might not have dared to do so.  The travelers acted much less surprised.  This seemed in line with so many of their other experiences, but not, in a way.  They all felt moved in a different way than the gods might have moved them.  This felt holy.

Katie and Alexis moved first.  Katie fetched the empty bag they had used to carry grain from a village they passed through the day before.  Alexis caused her fairy weave clothing to form gloves for her hands. She carefully picked up three bones, one from the buckboard, and two from the wagon bed.  Being a nurse, she identified them as femur bones.

Lincoln, who stepped up to help Katie hold the bag, commented.  “Probably the only bones they could save after five hundred and sixty-eight years.”

“Simeon?” Lockhart asked.  The man nodded, closed his mouth and looked up at Lockhart.  “We promised to see them buried in Jerusalem.”  Simeon nodded a little but said nothing.

“The City of David,” Evan interrupted.  “He belongs in the sepulcher of the Kings, with his fathers.”  Simeon looked at Evan and nodded again, slightly.

“Now, we need someone to drive the wagon,” Decker pointed out.

Simeon appeared to come to himself.  He waved for two men to take the mule, but the men shook their heads and backed away.  None of them would touch the wagon, especially when Katie placed the bone-filed bag gently in the back.

“That’s okay,” Evan said.  “Millie and I will take the day.”  He looked at Millie to be sure, but she nodded.

“Tama and Aleah seemed very nice, even if they never said anything.”

Katie complained.  “Now that I know his heritage and story, I have so many questions.”

“We all do,” Evan agreed, and Simeon nodded again.

“But now he is no longer available to ask your questions,” Lincoln said.

“Probably on purpose,” Lockhart suggested, and no one argued.

Avalon 7.1 Spirits Alight, part 4 of 6

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Lunch did not last long, and they stopped in a green field when they had plenty of daylight for the horses to feed.  The day remained cold, but the winter there still produced some green feed by the river.

When Lincoln finished his duty, helping to tend the horses, he pulled out the database, and after reading for a bit, he reported his speculation.  “There, on the hill, or in those hills, should be the city of Ephron.  Tomorrow, we should pass Pella in the morning and reach Amathus by afternoon.  They should all be on the other side of the river from the way we are traveling.  We should be able to wave and pass right on by.”

“How close to the border of Judea?” Katie asked.

“Um,” Lincoln figured.  “Based on the information I gathered in Philoteria, I would guess the Maccabees have not yet moved out of Judea.  That narrows the time frame to early in the rebellion.  I would guess we should cross into Jewish territory about lunch on the next day, about a half-day from Jericho.”

Katie nodded.  “That is the day we will have to watch carefully.  Both the Syrians and Jews may have men guarding the border, and they may not be too happy with people crossing over, one way or the other.”

“True enough,” a woman said.  People looked, expecting Tama, or maybe Aleah to appear.  Instead, Anath-Rama, the goddess of the Amazon paradise appeared, though it took the travelers a minute to figure it out.  Katie was the first to speak.

“I’m not dead yet,” she said.  “And I was told I don’t qualify as an Amazon.”

“And you are correct,” Anath-Rama said.  “But you carry three who are dead.  I thought it only right to apologize for burdening you with them.”

The travelers looked at each other and asked, “How so?”

Anath-Rama took a seat between Katie and Alexis before she spoke.  “The Jews are kept in a place apart.  Not even the gods know that place.  Since Alexander, things have become muddied.  Baal, Hades, Erishkegal, and many other cathartic gods from here in the east all the way to Egypt have argued at times on just where some people need to go.  Some spirits have had to wait for years to be placed.  These three, however, were different.  No one wanted them.  No one dared take Jews into their place.  But the source did not take them, either.  No one knew what to do with them.”

“That is terrible,” Alexis said.

“To have to wander that town, without hope, for more than five hundred years.

“Five hundred and sixty-eight years.  But they were not alone.  I broke down and took them in so they would not have to be alone.  Your adopted android daughter, Artie, prevailed upon me, kind heart that she is.”

Lockhart looked up before he turned his head to the flames.  Katie stiffened, before she confessed, “She got her kind heart from her father.”  Lockhart kindly did not say anything.  He remembered how they found Artie crashed to the earth, and how Elder Stow was instrumental in setting her free from all the restraints her Anazi makers placed on her.  He remembered how he and Katie adopted her, long before they actually married, and how she became transformed at one point into a human, so she became like a real daughter to the couple.  But in the end, she transformed back into an android so she could set her people free of their Anazi slave-masters.  He knew she was gone but felt glad to know she continued among the dead.  He remembered Anath-Rama volunteered to watch over the spirits of the android dead until what they called the time of the dissolution of the gods.  He felt grateful to know Artie was in good hands, but thought he better listen, as Anath-Rama picked up her story.

“Once that became settled, the gods prophesied.  These three, a man, a woman, and a child, would be a sign for when the days of the gods would end.  You may have noticed the gods are not around as much as in the past.  It is said, when these three reach Jerusalem, the time will be two weeks and two days.  By dead reckoning, that is one hundred and sixty years.  The Gods have that time to finish their work and go over to the other side.  When the time is up, the day of the gods will be over.”

“Dead Reckoning, good pun,” Decker said.

Anath-Rama smiled for him.  “Thanks.  I saved it for years.”

“But wait,” Lincoln spoke up.  “Not all of the gods are anxious to end their days.  What if one of them tries to stop us?”

Anath-Rama shook her head.  “These three are protected by the full power and might of the gods.  Any attempt would send the offending god or spirit instantly to the other side.  You will be left alone.”

“The other side?” Millie asked, quietly.

“Death,” Alexis explained, with equal quiet.

“So, I am sorry to burden you, but when you came through the time gate, I felt—no—I believed you were the answer we were waiting for.  I am glad you don’t mind.”

“Mom?  Dad?”  The voice came before Artie appeared.

“Artie?”  Katie jumped up and opened her arms.  Lockhart stood and watched Artie the android race into Katie’s embrace.  Katie and Artie started to cry, and Lockhart slipped his arms around his two girls, and without the awkwardness or embarrassment he used to show all those centuries ago.  After a while, Artie talked.

“Mom, my people are all gone now.”

“I know,” Katie said as she took her hand to brush Artie’s hair.  “But you lived a good, long time, and your people lived free.”

“We did,” Artie said, and began a new round of tears.

“But where will you go when the gods have all gone?”  Lockhart had been thinking.

“We are not sure,” Artie said, and with a glimpse at Anath-Rama, she added, “No one is sure.  But most believe it will be a great adventure.”  Artie grinned, and looked at Boston, who returned the grin.  “And mom,” Artie said, and waited.

“I am here,” Katie said.

“My big sister, Sekhmet, wants to say good-bye, too.  She says she will see you at the time gate in Suez.”

Katie, Lockhart, and Artie hugged again, and then Artie and Anath-Rama began to fade, until they disappeared.  Evan waited until they were gone before he asked.

“Sekhmet?”

“The Egyptian lion goddess, defender of the upper Nile,” Katie admitted.

“I’m not sure how we adopted Sekhmet,” Lockhart said.  “I suppose she sort of adopted us.”

Katie nodded, and said, “But I don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind,” Lockhart agreed.  “She is a good daughter.  Both of them.  We had two good daughters.”  Katie nodded in agreement as Millie turned on Evan.

“I want a daughter.”

Avalon 7.1 Spirits Alight, part 3 of 6

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In the morning, when everything got packed up and ready to go, Boston shouted at the trees.  “Yusef.  Tama and Aleah.  It’s okay to come back now.  We are ready to get going.  Come on.  We don’t mind.”

They waited and watched as something like a white mist coalesced into three people.  They looked like they had at first.  Aleah held on to her mother’s skirt.  Tama held on to Yusef, and Yusef looked pensive and worried his hat.

“Very different from the dark mist of the wraith,” Sukki whispered to Boston, who nodded.

“You don’t mind?” Yusef asked.

“Naw, come on,” Boston said.

“We don’t mind,” Katie smiled, and Tama smiled for the first time.

“We carried a ghost once before,” Alexis said, and added her smile.

“Carthair.”  Decker spit.  “The careless,” he said, and rode out to the wing.

Yusef looked curious, so Lincoln explained.  “He lost his body down a crevasse in a glacier.  We had to retrieve his body before we could do anything.”  Yusef seemed to understand something.

“You drive the truck,” Lockhart said, pointing to the wagon.  Tama and Aleah got right up in the back.  Yusef got up on the buckboard, having no trouble understanding Lockhart, even if he did not know what a truck was.

The travelers passed through a few more villages, and a couple of towns along the lakeside.  Alexis, Lincoln, Millie and Evan rode in front, talking away, and sometimes included Yusef in their conversation.  Katie and Lockhart followed the wagon.  It would have been their turn to drive the mule.

“Curious that the people today are not showing any of the fear the people did yesterday.  How do you explain that?” Katie asked.

Lockhart shrugged.  “I don’t know, but they seem to be ignoring us, and I prefer it that way.”

Around ten-thirty, Boston came riding back to the group, and the group stopped moving.  “City up ahead,” she said, and Lincoln got out the database.  Lockhart rode to the front.

“Philoteria,” Lincoln decided.  “That is where the Jordan comes out of the lake and heads south.  Unavoidable,” he concluded.

“City,” Boston told Lockhart.  “Full of army men.  Sukki has her eyes on it.”

“Perhaps we should disappear,” Yusef suggested.

“No,” people said, but he waited to hear from Lockhart.

“No.  We have not had any trouble today, or even notice in the places we have been this morning.  I don’t see any reason for that to change.”  He called Decker and Elder Stow to pull in before he went back to Katie.

The travelers got into the city with no problem.  They stopped in the market and got some things for lunch and supper.  Yusef, Tama, and Aleah stayed in the wagon, but their heads turned here and there as they watched the activities of the living.  Lincoln tried to bargain with the sellers, but Lockhart got the better price.  They were not going to argue with a giant, especially when he had a second, black giant looming over his shoulder.

“That went reasonably well,” Lockhart said.

“They should teach bargaining in school,” Alexis said, as she came to the wagon with twice the take for a tenth of the cost.

Surprisingly, the only time the travelers ran into trouble was in leaving the city through the river gate, where the river road headed south.  They found a dozen soldiers there, and they appeared to be checking everyone headed south.

“The Gulf of Suez,” Lincoln answered, giving the general location of the time gate.  Katie, Alexis, and Lockhart had all yelled at him for being so free with the information that they were headed to Jerusalem.  Presently, Judea and the Syrians were at war.  Mention going to Jerusalem from outside the territory of Judea, and he risked them all being taken for spies, or enemy combatants.

Lockhart and Katie came to the front in time to hear the chief in the gate say, “Ah, Ptolemy bound.  We got no use for those Egyptian scum.”

“They trade,” Katie said, quickly.

“We are simple travelers,” Lockhart tried his line.

The chief looked twice at Katie’s blonde head before he got rude.  “And in what merchandise?”

“Horses and weapons from the Athol, in Thessaly, Greece,” Katie responded.  “We were just there, not many days ago.  You may have heard of that place.”

“I heard of it,” one of the soldiers spoke.

“Best horses in Greece,” Lockhart added.

“I can see that,” the chief said.  “I might let you go for one of your horses.”

“And the mule,” a different soldier said.  “He looks like a strong one.”

Several of the soldiers got to the back of the wagon and got ready to rifle through the traveler’s things.  Yusef turned to the man admiring the mule.

“Not a good idea,” Yusef said, and he distorted his face in a way that made the soldier scream

Tama also screamed, a bone chilling sound, when a soldier reached for her.  Aleah changed into the shape and face of a decayed body.  The soldiers screamed in return and ran off.

“Did we mention the ghosts?” Lockhart said.

“Don’t push it,” Katie whispered.  “I think we can go,” she said more loudly, and they started through the gate.  Yusef got the mule moving, and Decker and Elder Stow brought up the rear.  Elder Stow turned on the screen device he worked on while they were stopped.  A screen wall got projected behind them.  The chief, and the few who did not see the transformed faces of the ghosts, tried to fire some arrows.  They bounced off Elder Stow’s wall, and the chief quickly decided that maybe it would be best to let these people go after all.

When Elder Stow and Decker moved out again on the wings, and Boston and Sukki rode out front, Lockhart sent Lincoln and Alexis to the rear.  They would stop for lunch as soon as they got far enough down the Jordan River to be away from the city, and Alexis and Lincoln would have the afternoon shift in any case.

“You should not lie like that,” Yusef said, once they got in the clear.

“About what?”

“About the Athol, and the Greeks.  I heard about that valley, even in my day, and again, when the Greeks came through to ruin the Persians.  I know what you said about the Athol making weapons and raising horses is real, but that valley is a long way from here, far across the sea.  One of the commandments is you shall not bear false witness.”

“Not false witness,” Katie said.

“We were there just two days ago, and maybe fifty years ago,” Lockhart said.  “It is kind of hard to explain.  You see, we are time travelers, people out of time, and we are trying to get home to the far future.”  Lockhart paused, so Katie added a thought.

“I don’t think the people in the Athol would be upset if we made a few sales while we travel.”

“You need to go to Jerusalem, and we don’t mind taking you there,” Lockhart said.  “Our journey is a bit longer—about two thousand years longer.”

Yusef shook his ghostly head.  “We are dead, but sadly, not gone.  But you people are stranger still.  I do not understand.”

“Don’t let it bother you,” Evan said.

“I don’t understand it either,” Millie said.  “And I am in the middle of it.”

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

MONDAY

The travelers and their ghosts head for Jerusalem and hope they don’t run into any more Seleucids.  Until Monday, Happy Reading

*

Avalon 7.1 Spirits Alight, part 2 of 6

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Lockhart frowned.  He figured the family had probably been stuck there for some time and might know more of what made those creepy sounds.  He stood.

“We have wasted enough time, fascinating as ruins may be.  Pack it up.”

The travelers did not object.  The mule objected briefly to Yusef, but they got Yusef up on the buckboard to drive the beast while his wife Tama and daughter Aleah rode in the back of the wagon.  Until then, they had worked out a schedule for the married couples to take turns driving the wagon.  Lincoln and Alexis had the morning shift.  They tied their horses to the back of the wagon, and Lincoln played at driving a Conestoga across the plains, though he admitted it felt more like driving a chuck wagon for a cattle drive in the wilderness.

With Yusef driving, everyone could ride.  Millie and Evan, who were supposed to have the afternoon turn, volunteered to bring up the rear and follow the wagon.  That left Lockhart, Katie, Lincoln and Alexis to ride in front and get into some kind of conversation.  Boston and Sukki joined them now and then, but they mostly rode further out to scout the trail, while Decker and Elder Stow stayed out on the wings to guard their passage.

In this manner, they came down out of the heights, mostly on a poor dirt road of some sort.  In some places, the road got reduced to two wagon wide ruts, but even that was better than trying to drive through the rock-strewn hillside.  They had to be careful in a couple of places where the road got steep.  But their new wagon had a brake of some sort, and they showed Yusef how to use it to slow his descent.

When they got down from the highlands, they came immediately on the sea of Galilee, which the Greeks called, Lake Gennesaret.  Katie checked her amulet, but it did not help, not showing the details like Boston’s advanced model.  Katie could see the next time gate, where they were headed, but she would need a map to find Jerusalem.  Fortunately, she felt familiar with the area.

“We follow around the lake shore until we come to the Jordan River.  Then we follow the river south to Jericho where we can cut across country to Jerusalem, like we did the last time we came through here.”

Lockhart remembered.

Another half-hour, and they came to a fishing village.  The people there did not receive the travelers well.  Most of the people hid.  A few who were caught outdoors screamed and ran into their houses to peek out the windows.

“Not expected,” Lockhart said.  Lincoln sniffed at his underarm, and Alexis reached over to slap him.

“Gee,” Boston said.  “And we got Roman saddles and everything.”  She and Sukki had moved back to ride at the front of the column.  Decker and Elder Stow moved in to act as rear guard.

“Makes me think my glamour has slipped,” Elder Stow said.

Millie turned her head back. “No.  It must be something else.”

Fortunately, the village was not that big.  They were soon out of it, and on a rough, but better road, which unfortunately, led to several more villages where they got more or less the same reception.  The travelers began to get discouraged.

When they came to a Katie approved defensive place in the wilderness, between the villages, Lockhart called them to stop for the night.  They pulled the wagon off the road and set about caring for the horses and gathering wood for the fire.  Alexis and Lincoln walked back up the road to a farmhouse, where they bought a goat.  When they got back with the beast, and Decker and Boston butchered it, Alexis asked the obvious question.

“Where are Yusef, Tama, and Aleah?”

“We have been wondering that ourselves,” Lockhart answered.

“They seem to have disappeared,” Elder Stow said.  “And don’t ask me to get out my scanner, because I got it out when we went through that first village.  Given the reaction of the people, I wondered if there might be soldiers about causing trouble, and I thought they might have seen us as connected to the soldiers.  But when I checked the area, I did not find anything peculiar.  Then the scanner fell on our group, and I noticed Yusef and his family did not show up as being there.  It is possible the scanner has developed a flaw, but I checked several times, and they don’t register.”

“I know,” Millie interrupted.  “I Spent all afternoon trying to get Tama or Aleah to say something, anything.  They just stared the whole time.”

Boston looked up from her cutting.  “Oh, they’ve gone to sleep until morning.”  She went to wash up and would let Decker do the rest of the butchering, while Alexis and Sukki prepared the meat for the fire, along with what few vegetables they found.

“What do you mean, they’ve gone to sleep?  Lockhart wondered.

“Goat is not off the Jewish diet,” Alexis said.  “I just need to ask if I have to prepare it in a special way.”

“Boston.” Katie said, and put some insistence in her voice.

Boston scrunched up her face before she decided something.  She shouted to the trees.  “Sorry.  I have to tell.  Sorry.  But it will be all right.  You will see.  Everything will be all right.”  She turned to the group and sheepishly said, “They are ghosts.  Yusef asked me not to tell.  He was afraid you would drive them away, and they have to get to Jerusalem, or they will never be able to rest.  And in their condition, they cannot move far unless someone takes them.  It is complicated, but I said it would be all right.  Tama and Aleah don’t talk because they have given everything they have to Yusef so he can talk and drive the wagon.  You don’t mind if they go with us, do you?”  Boston took a breath.

Decker Spat.  “We put up with Carthair.  A few more ghosts should not matter.”

“That’s right,” Lockhart said.  “I forgot about him.”

Alexis worried about Sukki.  “Oh, Boston told me,” Sukki said, having made some peace with the idea.

“That was up in the alps,” Katie explained to Evan and Millie.  “Carthair was an early Celt who died in between the Greco-Roman and the German worlds.  He did not want to go to Hades.  He preferred the idea of going to Valhalla.  We took him into German lands.”

“But then he ended up going into the new Celtic jurisdiction,” Lincoln said.  “And he was not happy about that.”

“I remember,” Katie said.  “It was fascinating to watch.  The Kairos Danna, the mother goddess for the Celts was there, and Odin showed up.  They bargained right in front of us about dividing up the Celtic and Germanic people.”

“The Kairos lived as the Gaelic mother goddess?” Evan said, but quickly added, “I don’t know why that should be surprising.”

Avalon 6.12 The Road Ahead, part 5 of 5

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People stopped firing.  Any soldiers who survived, did so by running away. The roof across the street looked empty of archers.  Li Si, the king’s chancellor stood in the alleyway, but his eyes looked wide and his mouth seemed stuck open.

“Done,” Elder Stow said.  “I have put up a screen wall between the house and the street.”  He looked at the others, saw enough through the window to see the bodies, and he complained.  “The equipment is not designed to make a wall screen, much less a single sided screen. It takes time, focus, and serious reprogramming.  I worked as fast as I could.”

“That’s all right,” Lockhart said.

Decker spit.  “No problem.”

“Are we finished?” a voice asked. Everyone turned and saw Tien Shang-Di, king of the Chinese pantheon, standing there, looking older and wiser than the last time they saw him.

“Lockhart and Katie.”  Meng Shi decided.  “You need to come and collect the outlaw horses, and all of their equipment, and take it with you.  The rest of you need to get the horses and wagon out of the back yard and get ready to ride.”  He walked out of the house, Tien beside him.  Katie and Lockhart followed without a word.

Alexis hurried to the back, concerned about Millie watching all those horses by herself.  Others, especially Boston followed more slowly.

Katie and Lockhart proceeded with the grizzly task of stripping the outlaws of everything, including their pants and shirts.  Lockhart drew the line at the underwear.  Then they collected the guns and horses.

Meng Shi and Tien walked up to Li Si, who still had not closed his mouth.  “Removing the memory of the gunpowder and how to make it is easy.  I would think some memory of explosive magic powder should not be a problem.  Memory of the outlaws will be trickier.”

“Strangers with big horses and magic weapons might work,” Meng Shi responded.  “It fits with the magic powder idea.  The travelers are moving through time on big horses with saddles and magic weapons, and there is not much I can do about that in most times and places.”

Tien nodded.  “So, what do we do with this one?”  He looked at Li Si, who even then had not closed his mouth.

“A day would be helpful,” Meng Shi said. “Maybe twenty-four hours, like lunchtime tomorrow.”

“Lord Meng?”  Li Si did not appear certain what he was seeing.

“Are you planning on running away?” Tien asked, being unable to read Meng Shi’s mind.

“My family,” Meng Shi said.  “I need the travelers to get them to safety, to Xiang’s family around Shu, before I confront the servant of the Masters.”

“I can’t help you with the servant of the Masters,” Tien said, and paused to look closer.  He grasped something, reading minds or not.  “You believe you might not survive that confrontation.”

“I might not,” Meng Shi said, honestly.

“Don’t worry,” Tien said.  “I will watch over your wife and children.”

“I appreciate that,” Meng Shi said.

“Lord Meng?” Li Si asked again, as he, and Tien, and Li Si’s horse disappeared from the street.

Meng Shi turned around. The street appeared full of people carrying water for the fire.  He heard plenty of talking, shouting, and noise, but he caught sight of Katie and Lockhart in the alley.  They had mounted the outlaw horses, and he nodded at their wisdom.  Leading the horses through the crowd might have been difficult, but people would step aside for mounted warriors or dignitaries.

Meng Shi had little trouble getting back to the house where he found his own horse saddled and waiting.  He noticed several of the local houses were on fire.  He felt bad about that, but also felt there was nothing he could do about it.

They started out slowly, but it did not take them long to reach Meng Shi’s house.  They immediately began packing the home and family for a long journey.

Meng Shi’s wife, Lilei, and their eleven-year-old daughter, Aiting, packed their silks, and everything of value around the house, down to cooking utensils.  The women helped, but Lilei felt reluctant to pack her jewelry and the family gems in front of these strangers, until she found out Boston was an elf.  Boston found out something, too.  Later, she tried to explain it to the others.

“I felt the love Lilei had for Meng Shi, and how much he loves her.  And the children, too.  All I wanted to do was help and protect Lilei, and do whatever she asked.  You know, I was a free spirit, inclined to do my own thing, and good at being passive-aggressive, even when I was human. Becoming an elf did not change that much.  I might not have done exactly what she asked, but the urge felt strong to treat her almost like a goddess.  I don’t think I can explain it better.”

“The little ones have always treated the beloved spouse of the Kairos as special,” Alexis said.  “And the children like princes and princesses.  Even close, special family members, family servants and trusted retainers, and close, personal friends have been treated well. It is really self-defense.  Things would not go well for the hobgoblin that played a nasty trick on the beloved spouse of the Kairos, as you may imagine.”

Meng Shi took the men and his two boys, fifteen-year-old Pi and nine-year-old She, to the barn and stables. Meng Shi’s trusted retainer, Ba, showed them the oxen, the two big wagons, and the horses they needed to get ready to travel.  Meng Shi found some shovels and got Lockhart and Decker to take the boys out, to dig up several bronze pots filed with gold and silver.  Elder Stow said he was not much good with oxen, but he had just the right tool for making holes in the ground.  He used the same tool Alexis used to pull the bullet from Boston’s shoulder.

“She, I understand,” Lockhart told the boys.  “Like Meng Shi Junior.”

“Father calls She Junior, sometimes,” Pi said.  “His real name is Shu.  That means third son.”

“Our brother died when he was one,” She added.

“Even though Father sometimes calls me Shu.  It is complicated.”

“Pi?” Lockhart said the name like a question, but Pi understood what he was asking.

“I am Meng-Meng, the first son.  Shu means three.  Father calls me that sometimes, because he says I made a family of two into a family of three.”

“Point one four one five nine, father says,” She nudged his big brother.

“Pi,” Decker said, and snorted.

Once everything got packed, it became too late in the evening to move.  They would relax and leave about two hours before sunrise.

Meng Shi called his children close and instructed them that for the next month, or until he caught up with them, they were not to call themselves by the Meng name. They would take their mother’s name, Xiang.  He explained to Lilei that he had dangerous work to do, and he explained to the travelers that he would hide and watch for three weeks, maybe twenty-five days if he could manage it.  Probably not a full thirty days if he had to act.  He wanted to plan his move where he had the best chance for success, by which he meant survival.  The travelers understood that they had to be gone in that time in case Meng Shi died and the whole time zone reset.

Meng Shi and Lilei went off to spend what time they had together.  Millie and Alexis got to put the children to bed, and Millie confessed that she really wanted to have children.  Alexis said she understood.

Four in the morning, the caravan headed out from Meng Shi’s house.  Meng Shi stayed, and showed himself to his neighbors in the daylight with the hope that they would think whatever travelers headed off in the night, they had nothing to do with his family.  He prayed that by the time his neighbors figured it out, his family might be well on their way, and difficult to catch.

Lilei cried most of the first day, and Aiting cried with her.  Pi kept a stiff upper lip, but She ignored them all and kept running ahead.  Boston finally put the boy up behind Sukki, and the three of them got along great after that.

Ba, and five servants, including one man for each ox-drawn wagon, went with them to watch over the family. Ba got a third ox to carry the traveler’s wagon, which they loaded with all the silver, gold, and jewels, and which also carried all of the cowboy equipment.

Lockhart rode Dog at the front of the line, and Katie rode the horse that had been Reynard’s.  Alexis, Lincoln, Evan and Millie shared the other two cowboy horses, and two horses they brought from Ji, but mostly they walked, since the caravan could not move any faster than the lazy oxen.

Decker and Elder Stow took the wings, but in this case, they kept their eyes open for whatever might be following them, or catching up.  They also watched the dozen horses that got tied to the wagons, including the rest of the ones the travelers rode all the way from Ji.  It would make the beginning of a nice herd once Lilei reached the city of Shu.

Shu proved twenty days down the road, and Boston got nervous.  That had been the limit of Meng Shi’s promise, and the time gate looked to be a few days beyond the city.  They saw Lilei and the children warmly accepted by her family, and heard the family promise to keep the secret of the Meng name.  Lilei’s mother delighted in calling her grandchildren Xiang Pi, Xiang Aiting, and Xiang She.

Three days later, Boston and Sukki stayed out front, and Decker and Elder Stow stayed on the wings. They all had their own horses.  Lockhart rode Dog, sometimes, and Katie rode Reynard’s horse, though she switched it out to use her own saddle.  Billy and Tom Porter’s horses took turns as draft horses to pull the wagon.  They were not sure how long they could keep the wagon, but the paths were becoming roads, and the roads were improving, so they might do well if they did not end up in the middle of a jungle.

Katie and Lockhart often walked with the others.  In a pinch, Katie could double up with Lockhart on Dog.  Lincoln and Alexis could double on one cowboy horse, and Evan and Millie could ride another, which would leave the third cowboy horse to drag the wagon, possibly for miles.  That would not be a good way to go under normal circumstances.  It would be too hard on the horses.

“So that leaves us with walking most of the time,” Lockhart concluded.  The morning sun just touched the horizon, and people started packing to go.

“Have you noticed,” Katie said, and paused.  “Maybe it is just me, but it seems the time between gates is getting longer.  That is not a good thing if we are reduced to a walking speed.”

“How do you figure?”

“Twenty-three days from Meng Shi to the gate.  Xianyang to Shu was four hundred miles, according to Lincoln.”

As Lockhart considered her observation, Tien Shang-Di showed up.  Alexis noticed and figured it out.

“Meng Shi died.”

Tien dropped his eyes.  “I can hold the time gate here for a bit, but I would appreciate it if you hurry.”

“Boston?”

“Heading out, Boss.”

People moved quickly.  Things got thrown into the back of the wagon, and Evan pulled the cowboy horse forward, through the gate.  Finally, Lockhart and Katie, both mounted, were the last.

“Thank you,” Katie said to Tien, who waved.

“Come on,” Lockhart told her.  “We have a long way to go to get back to the twenty-first century.”

END

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TOMMOROW

A brief introduction of what s to come.  We return to familiar faces and one new face in the Kairos Medieval, Book 3 Light in the Dark Ages  (M3) where Festuscato, last Senator of Rome sails to Danish lands and the Halls of Hrothgar (8 weeks of posts).  Then we return to Gerraint in the days of King Arthur and the search for The Holy Graal.  (13 weeks of posts).  And finally, The Old Way has Gone, where Margueritte, grows up on the border of Brittany and Francia, and gets into all kinds of medieval trouble. (18 weeks of posts).  Tune in tomorrow for the preview.

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Avalon 6.12 The Road Ahead, part 4 of 5

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When they reached Anyi, Meng Shi checked with his nephew Meng Yi, the one he left in charge of the city.  No more wagons or barrels of magic powder went up the road on the way to the army in Handan.  That was good, so Meng Shi spent a day interviewing Yi, and others, concerning the condition of the city.  He found things calm and the people far more settled and at peace with Qin rule than he expected.  He told the others that his nephew was a natural.  They headed out for Xianyang, the capitol of the Qin state.  That would be a five or six-day journey.

On one of those nights, they sat around an inn within Qin territory, and the subject of the servant of the Masters and his attempt to develop a plague came up.

“But here is the thing.  This scientist of the Masters has talked about being alive in the far future.  He has the king thinking about immortality, but in the way the gods are immortal, and I have not heard any suggestion that perhaps that is not the case.  The king is superstitious, you know.  He has decided that there must be some kind of magic formula.  He is going to be the spark that sets off two thousand years of Chinese alchemy in the search for immortality.  True, there are some good things discovered in that time; but mostly, what a waste of human skill and ingenuity, and too many good people will die, testing the potions, and in other related ways.”

“But that isn’t what made the people turn against him, is it?” Millie asked.  She had been wondering about that, and did not get a satisfactory answer from Evan, who admitted he knew little about Chinese history, or from Katie, or Lincoln.

Meng Shi admitted.  “I can only read the writing on the wall, so to speak. I have no definitive answer, either; but I would say he will centralize everything, like some two-bit fascist, socialist dictator. He will massively raise taxes, which will crash the economy.  He will redistribute the wealth, mostly to his own pocket, and to his friends, which are those who suck up to him.  He will begin massive government work projects, digging canals, making roads, building the Great Wall of China.  More than a million people will die from overwork and malnutrition.  The people will be miserable, and hate him.”

“What about the nobility?” Katie asked.

“That much is certain,” Meng Shi said. “He is convinced the hereditary nobility is what caused the Zhou Dynasty to fall.  He plans to replace the nobles with an elite class of bureaucrats.  You know how graft and bribery work.  Worse, at least the nobles had a vested interest in what happened to their land, and the workers on their land.  You can’t get rice from a dead man.  National bureaucrats can make the most inhumane, insane rules and could care less what happens to local people, as long as the people keep the rules.  That is all that matters to bureaucrats.”

Alexis complained.  “Bureaucrats are just people, like any others.  They are good people, mostly.”

Several people scoffed, and Lockhart quipped, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Meng Shi said, “You should find the time gate down around Shu, in Qin territory.  Let me say, if you go through the city and stop in the market, I hope you don’t have to sneeze.”

“Why?” Decker asked.

Meng Shi grinned.  “About five years ago, a man in the market sneezed in front of a petty bureaucrat.  The bureaucrat complained that the man made the pomegranates wet.  He went home and wrote a rule that said you were not allowed to sneeze within twenty-feet of a market stall.  He had the man arrested.  He wanted the death penalty, and the judge said his hands were tied, because it was the rule.  I had to intervene.  I took them all to the market, got a feather, and tickled the bureaucrat’s nose until he sneezed.  Then I told the judge to pass the sentence.  Both cases were dropped, but the law is still on the books, so to speak.  So, if you go to the market in Shu, try not to sneeze.”

###

When they arrived in Xianyang, they quickly found the factory and warehouse where they were making the magic powder.  Meng Shi had the authority, being of the king’s court, to commandeer the house next door. Alexis, Lincoln, Millie, and Evan all protested, but Meng Shi already had his purse out.  He later mentioned that he gave the homeowner enough money to buy a new house, if that became necessary.

Elder Stow asked if he should get out his sonic device, but the day was on.  The sun got ready to set, and the factory appeared empty.  Meng Shi said he did not necessarily want to kill the workers, but they had to be sure the cowboys were there.  Lockhart added that this might be their one chance to capture the cowboys and put them out of business, permanently.  So, they waited.  They cooked what food they found, and had with them, and settled in for the night, sleeping on the floor, and watching out the windows.

When the dawn arrived, they watched the workers file into the buildings.  Decker imagined they were making a new batch of gunpowder for the wars ahead.  Katie voiced her reservations.

“I understand we have to catch the cowboys, but if we set off the black powder now, won’t we be killing mostly innocent workers?”

“I have asked Tien, my son, to protect the innocent,” Meng Shi responded.  “I have also asked him to search the minds of the people to see where the knowledge of making the gunpowder may have spread among the people.”

“Will he have to kill those people, too?” Katie asked.

“No, he can clean the memory, but you must understand.”  Meng Shi stepped over to the back door and called.  “Alexis, Sukki, and Lincoln,” he called, and they came in from the cooking fire in the back yard, to listen, so they all would hear and have no excuse. “We won’t always have the luxury of the gods to clean up the mess.  In situations like this, very often the innocent and guilty will die together. It can’t be helped. To delete the work of the masters, or whatever cowboys happen to wander through the field, sometimes the innocent will suffer.  Better you make peace with that thought now.  Alexis, better you get your tears and complaints out now and over with. Going forward, I may need all of you to do what must be done, regardless of who suffers.”

“Understood,” Decker said.

“Understood,” Lockhart agreed.

No one else said anything, except Boston, who raised her voice.  “We got company.”

People rushed to the widows.  They saw the two cowboys and a third man ride into an alleyway as soldiers began to fill the street.  The third man wore fancy silks, and Meng Shi named him.

“Li Si.  He is the king’s counselor.  He should not die.  For the rest of them, you need to defend the house.”

Decker shot out the window.  The soldier that appeared to be in charge and getting the little army ready to charge the house, collapsed.

“The homeowner turned us in,” Lockhart surmised.

“Probably figured to double his money,” Katie agreed.  Katie got her rifle, and Lockhart, his shotgun, and they took up the position to the right side of the door, opposite Decker.  Evan got Katie’s handgun and went to the door, beside Lincoln.  Li Si stood up in the alleyway and yelled at the soldiers.  One of the cowboys pulled him back down behind a box.

“Get ready,” Decker yelled, as Sukki stepped up beside him, holding Boston’s handgun.  Decker switched his rifle to automatic fire.  Katie had already done that.

The soldiers across the street appeared to take a deep breath, and prepared to attack, when Boston, holding Alexis’ hand and dragging her behind, stepped between Evan and Lincoln, and out the front door. She had her wand out, and used it like a flame thrower.  She laid down a line of fire in front of the soldiers, and burned many, including some in the face. The soldiers scattered. Some ran for their lives, but many backed up into the houses across the way.

Several arrows came from the archers on the roof across the street.  They struck the front of the house, but did not come near Boston.  One of the cowboys, however, fired his Winchester. Boston took a bullet in her shoulder and staggered back into the house, as Alexis pulled her to safety.

“Damn,” Boston griped as Alexis got to work.  She had Elder Stow’s device, which she ran over the wound.  The bullet pulled out and clattered on the floor.  Alexis laid hands on the wound, and a golden glow surrounded her hands and Boston’s shoulder.  Right away, the bleeding stopped and the wound began to close up.

“Get ready.”  Katie yelled it this time.  Sukki went back to stand behind Decker, after checking on Boston. Lockhart traded places with Evan. He made Evan back-up Katie with his pistol, while he held the shotgun by the door, ready for the charge.

“That feels better,” Boston said to Alexis.  She grabbed Alexis with her good hand and tried to catch Alexis’ eyes.  “You have to fire the explosive arrows.  You need to get the guys on the roof.”

“Shut-up,” Alexis told her.  “You need to relax to heal.”

“Puts.”

“What are they waiting for?” Evan asked.

Evan got the question out before he threw his hands to his ears.  Everyone covered their ears, and opened their mouths, Katie, Alexis, and Lockhart making a sound of surprise and pain at the same time.  Meng Shi stood by the window at the side of the house and held the sonic device.  He stuck it out the window, but turned it up all the way.

For a few seconds, only the sonic scream could be heard, before it got overshadowed with the sound of a massive explosion.  The warehouse blew up and became splinters, while the roof broke apart high in the sky. Shortly, the workhouse blew up. The buildings, what remained of them, burned in a great conflagration—an inferno that destroyed everything.  A couple of workers staggered out from the fire, but they were on fire, themselves, and quickly collapsed.

Meng Shi turned off the sonic device and handed it back to Elder Stow.  He had a tear in his eye, and Elder Stow accepted the device without a word.

As soon as the warehouse roof fell to the ground, to be consumed by the fire, and the screaming sonic device got turned off, the soldiers across the street vented their anger and fear with screams of hate.  They charged the house.  Guns blazed. Soldiers fell in the street by ones and in groups.  Two made it to the front door, only to be blown back by Lockhart’s shotgun.

The cowboys, Juan Reynard and Tom Porter used their Winchester repeaters sparingly.  They tried to keep back the travelers in the windows and door. Finally, Reynard stood to get a clear shot, and either Katie or Decker got him with three bullets, dead center. Reynard collapsed, and the outlaw, Porter, stood, red anger in his eyes, and emptied his Winchester.  He pulled his six-shooter, but took three bullets of his own, spun, and fell face down in the street.

Avalon 6.12 The Road Ahead, part 3 of 5

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Things did not go quite as smoothly as Meng Shi presented it to the captain.  Wang Jian refused to see him and sent word that if he discovered Meng Shi was in any way responsible for the ruin of the magic powder, Meng Shi’s life would be forfeit.

Meng Shi slowly led the travelers down the line, and found the body of young Billy Porter.  Boston cried.  She said she liked Billy.  Millie offered her thought.

“He was not just young, and innocent in a way. He was simple.  The kind of young man that might have benefited from some institutional help.”

No one said a hundred years after Millie lived, they got rid of those kinds of institutions.  Society no longer liked institutionalizing people, not to mention the expense.  Sadly, the result was such people, instead of being helped, they got discarded—basically, thrown away.  They often ended up homeless and living on the street.

They buried Billy right away, just before Alexis found one last barrel of unexploded gunpowder.  The soldiers driving the wagon became surprised when a giant gust of localized wind knocked that heavy barrel right off the wagon. It hit a rock and split wide open. It dumped more powder after the travelers got finished examining the evidence.  Then it seemed to set itself on fire.  No one could explain that.  It was not even near a campfire.  People ran away. but this time, it did not goBoom. It made something like a big Poof, and that was it.

Meng Wu only saw Meng Shi because they were related, but he said plainly that Meng Shi had to have something to do with the disaster.

“The famine is not an answer,” Meng Wu said, once he stopped yelling.  “Tell King Zheng he will have to do something better to break this stalemate.”

Meng Shi nodded.  “I will send word. Right now, I have to get back to Meng Yi in Anyi.  That is a stubborn, reluctant city, and your son Yi is still young and inexperienced.”

“I have every confidence in my boys,” Meng Wu said, and lifted his hand to the shoulder of his elder son, Tien. Tien at least had the kindness to wave good-bye.

###

Meng Shi and the travelers moved quickly from the Qin camp before Wang Jian changed his mind and the questions became too pointed.  They took Billy Porter’s horse, saddle, and guns.  Nothing from the future got left behind in the Qin camp.  It took a week from there to reach the city of Anyi, even traveling mostly on roads of a sort.  Meng Shi stayed quiet most of the way, but he did tell the travelers a couple of things.

“King Zheng will eventually conquer all of the other warring states and establish the Qin dynasty as the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang-Di.”

“I’ve seen it mostly written Qin Shi Huang,” Katie said.  “Without the Di.”

“That is because he styled himself as a god-like king.  That is not a god-king, like in the Middle East or among some of the crazier Roman emperors.  He isn’t looking for the people to worship him, necessarily.  But he wants to be honored and revered, and his name to carry weight even in distant lands.  And he will not permit his decisions to be questioned.  The thing is, the people that come after him do not venerate him in that way.  His rule is rather harsh and cruel.  So mostly, they drop the god-connection.”

“Just as well,” Decker said.

“But he will succeed?” Millie said, like a question.

Meng Shi nodded.  “I have seen that level of intense, single-minded ambition a few times over my many lifetimes.  Alexander was that way.  Caesar, though he isn’t born yet.  Patton, mostly.  The thing is, King Zheng doesn’t need gunpowder added to the mix.”

“Gunpowder was a Chinese invention,” Evan pointed out.

“Yes, but not for another thousand years,” Meng Shi countered.

###

The next day, Katie woke up with a serious thought.  “I’m confused.  The way it was explained to me, you always have one or more future lives you remember, for example, you remember the twenty-first century where we come from. But the immediate future is unknown to you., or so you claim.  I have heard you say, the next hundred years are a mystery, because they are just now in the process of being written.”

“Your question?”

Katie took a moment to frame the question, and the people around the fire waited patiently.  “Qin Shi Huang will conquer the warring states, as you say.  If I did not know the history, exactly, I could read it in Lincoln’s database.  But that will happen in the next ten years or so, which is far less than the hundred years you say is a mystery to you.  How is it you know this?”

Meng Shi understood.  “Two reasons,” he said, and then framed his own thoughts. “First, I think by the grace of God, I always seem to know what does not belong in the time I am living, like gunpowder. Such things stick out like the proverbial sore thumb, and I get the overwhelming urge to do something about it.  Normally, I understand I am the only one who can do something about it.”

“Like, knowing us when we show up?” Boston said, putting it together in her own mind. “You always know us right away, because we don’t belong in this time period.”

Meng Shi agreed.  “Like knowing you.”  He smiled for Boston, and she returned the same.  “At whatever point in my life you find me, I remember who you are and what you are attempting to do.  I remember the time gates around this time zone; things I normally don’t know about, or at least have no reason to think about.  I remember some of your past journey, and some of your future, which I am not at liberty to talk about, and I remember the twentieth and twenty-first centuries which is your home.  Of course, after you leave, it becomes like real memory.  I remember you being here, and whatever time I spent with you, but I believe the deep past and future memories mostly fade, unless there is some reason to remember.”

“Okay,” Katie said.  “But that does not explain how you know about Qin Shi Huang. As I understand it, he does not take that name until after he finishes his conquests, ten years from now.”

Meng Shi sighed, like he did not really want to talk about it.  “Well, first, when something odd, like gunpowder shows up, I generally get glimpses of the broader picture surrounding the issue.  Maybe the best way I can explain it is I get like two competing visions of the immediate future.  I see one that feels right, even if King Zheng would not have been my pick to win the battle of the states.  Then, I see a vision with gunpowder, and eventually guns, and that feels terribly wrong. That is why I know I have to do something about the gunpowder, for example.”

“And the second reason?”  Katie asked.  “You said there were two reasons.”

Meng Shi frowned and stood.  “Sometimes, when I near the end of the life I am living, I glimpse some of the future, both of the life I am currently living, when work is unfinished, and some inkling of the life to come.”  He stepped away from the fire and toward his horse, and mumbled. “I feel I may be a woman next time. I will have to ask my wife about that.”

###

No one dared ask Meng Shi what he meant about the end of his life until two days later at supper.  Lincoln said Meng Shi could not be over forty. “Thirty-eight or so.  I read the years in the database and did the math.

“Forty is plenty old for this day and age,” Meng Shi countered.  “But I know what you mean.  Still, I am not immune from diseases or accidents.”

“Maybe you will die in battle,” Decker said.

Meng Shi appeared to think about it, but ended up shaking his head, no.  “Not battle, but I sense violence.”

Lockhart added what had been on his mind. “You said even without gunpowder, your king will conquer the other kingdoms in this land.  Some connection to all that fighting would be a reasonable guess.”

“Stop being morbid,” Alexis complained. “You are talking about the man’s death.”

“I am certain King Zheng will find a way to win,” Meng Shi said.  “But I won’t be there to see it.”

“Why do you feel that way?” Alexis asked for his opinion, and people sat up to pay close attention.

“It is complicated.  There is a servant of the masters in the capitol. He is introducing germ warfare. He is growing bacteria—some disease.”

“Any idea what?” Alexis the nurse asked.

“Plague of some kind, you can be sure. But what is worse, he has captured the ear of the king with talk about being alive two thousand years in the future. Now, you know, like me, he will die and be reborn in the future… This is complicated.”

“Who are the Masters?” Millie asked.

“Demons from Hell,” Meng Shi answered, but he grinned.  “No.  Mostly I refer to them as the enemy from the future. I assume some people in the far future don’t like the way things turned out and are determined to change history. Somehow, they know about my many lifetimes, and figured out a way to give a future life to various people scattered throughout history.  These servants of the Masters then train and teach the future life, to give the skill necessary to accomplish certain tasks in the past life, as the two lives link in time and information gets shared between the two lifetimes.”

“Like what?” Millie asked.

“Like assassination, or developing some plague.  Early gunpowder, guns, and weapons of mass destruction is something that the Masters are usually involved with.  And it is all for the purpose of changing history, to make it turn out more the way they want.”

“So, there are people who have another life in history after all,” Katie said.

“And not all servants of the Masters. My own friends in the future, as I sometimes call them, have similarly given a second life, or even a third life to some people who have been a tremendous help at certain critical points in history.  There is, however, a limit on how many times a person can be reborn in that way.  I manage almost a hundred and fifty lifetimes, because there are no great gaps between lives.  At least, I don’t think so.  Also, when I was made, I had all the genetic material for a man and a woman, but all jumbled up in one person, me.  The ancient god, Cronos, figured out how to make that work, so I could be born.  Fortunately, my friends in the future that took over the work decided it would work better if I took turns, more or less, between male and female. I think being both makes me more of a complete person, like the first Adam before the woman and man became separated.  As long as I stay more or less balanced between male and female, like the two sides of the same coin, I might be reborn forever.  God, I hope not.  But for most one-sided people, too many times in a row as the same sex, and a person becomes mentally unhinged, among other things.”

“That would not be good,” Boston said.

Meng Shi shook his head.  “I think Rasputin was his seventh rebirth, and he was loony as a dodo.

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MONDAY

The gunpowder factory needs to be shut down, and the cowboy-outlaws need to be stopped.  Monday.  Until then, Happy Reading.

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