Avalon 4.0: part 5 of 7, Ambushing the Ambush

April 26, 2016April 18, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“I don’t see them,” Lincoln said, referring to the caravan that should have been on the road drawing the attention of the ghouls.

“We just have to go with it,” Lockhart decided what everyone knew.

The marines, Katie and Decker, took the center with their special issue rifles. Lincoln, with his pistol, backed them up where he could also keep an eye on the horses. Eder Stow went out on one wing to get a different angle on the ghouls. Lockhart took the other wing, and pulled his police revolver as well as his shotgun. He might need the shotgun if they got close enough, but he hoped they would not get so close.

“Remember, they can grab your mind and make you see and hear things that aren’t real,” they all reminded each other.

“If they get close, defend yourself,” Lockhart instructed the crew. He patted the Patton saber he wore at his side. They all carried one, except Elder Stow who had a good charge in is hand weapon. “But don’t attack since you can’t be sure who it is you are seeing.”

Lockhart wished they had time to practice with the sabers, like about six months to a year, but he figured they had a sharp point and side with which they could slice and stab, and to be sure, not much else was needed.

When they were in position, Lockhart picked up his pistol and waved. They all had their first targets picked out. If they could take out five before the ghouls responded, the rest would amount to one on one. Still not good odds with seven or eight foot ghouls, but better than if they had been ambushed. Thus far, Lockhart had seen no ghoul weapons other than the wicked looking knife they carried.

Lockhart waved, and the gunfire was ragged, here and there, but ghouls fell, and two fell quickly when Elder Stow turned his weapon on the enemy. Elder Stow’s hand weapon all but vaporized the enemy.

Then it started. Katie, Decker and Lincoln all shouted and put their hands up to their heads. Lincoln and Katie turned around to look on the horses that stomped nervously behind them. Decker fought it. He had ghouls in his mind before, and as he had been told, they were having less and less affect on him, like he was slowly building an immunity. Eder Stow down the way, used his anti-gravity belt to float up about ten feet to where he could look down on the enemy. He thought he would fire again as soon as he saw an enemy, but the ghouls appeared to go invisible. Whether they did or whether it was part of the illusion they were casting, Elder Stow could not say.

As far as he could tell, Lockhart remained free of ghoul influence. He saw four of them moving down below and figured the fifth went to ground, which meant it became insubstantial and sank into the earth to come out later, probably after dark, to track them and send mental messages of their movements to the main body of ghouls in whatever time zone that might be located. That was not good, but he could not worry about that just yet.

Lockhart grabbed his shotgun and headed back toward the others, even as Decker sprayed a bush with bullets. A ghoul shouted and fell. Decker was thinking. The ghouls were still down below the little rocks they were on, and though invisible, they were rather clumsy. Any movement of bushes other than by the wind indicated the enemy in his mind.

“I’m free, Lockhart shouted.

“I’m free,” Katie said after a shake of her head.

“Decker and Lincoln, keep your eyes closed,” Lockhart commanded even as the two ghouls out front topped the rocks. One went for Lincoln. The other went for Katie who drew both her sword and pistol.

The invisible ghoul took a swipe at Katie, who being an elect had the fine tuned senses to move and respond. Her sword slashed through the air, and cut something. Lincoln yelled. Lockhart shouted as he raised his shotgun.

“Katie, move out of the way.” He was afraid if he fired where he thought the ghoul was, and missed, he might hit Katie. She did not hesitate to back away from her invisible assailant, but she kept an eye on the purple blood that became visible as it dripped from the creature.

Lincoln yelled again and got knocked down. He tried to back up on his seat, but something big was right there. Lockhart fired, and they heard the ghoul squeal in pain. It could not maintain its invisibility, and Lockhart finished it with another slug as soon as he could see it.

Katie fired some six or seven shots from her pistol at the point of dripping blood. The ghoul, which had been ready to charge her, fell to its knees and also became visible. Lockhart finished that one as well before he went to check on Lincoln. Lincoln had wisely hardened and layered his fairy weave to approximate Kevlar, like in a bullet proof vest. The result was his fairy weave got shredded, and he had a couple of scratches, but nothing more.

“Still one or two out there,” Decker got their attention as he flipped to his back, pulled his wicked army knife, and reached up to grab an invisible hand which no doubt held an invisible knife. Suddenly, Decker stopped moving.

A young man appeared out of nowhere. The ghoul also appeared, hovering over Decker and equally unmoving. Lincoln, Lockhart and Katie were reaching the point where they could tell one of the gods just by the feeling in the air. They said nothing and waited for the young god to speak.

“I am half tempted to let the marine finish the fight,” he said with a look over his shoulder and a grin. “The ghoul has all the size, strength, weight, and everything, but I bet the marine would win.”

“No bet,” Lockhart said.

“Tien,” Katie named the young god, who nodded, as Lincoln looked toward his horse where the database was carefully put away.

“Mother Lin sent me,” he said, and another ghoul appeared beside him, also unmoving. “I see you had things well in hand, but I agreed to come because these ghouls do not belong here. You don’t either, by the way, but at least you will be moving on. These ghouls, though, don’t seem to get the message. I’m sorry to say I don’t know where the main tribe is. Some future time zone, I suppose.”

“Something to look forward to,” Elder Stow said as he floated up to stand beside the others.

Tien made no direct response. “This one went to ground, as Lockhart guessed. Now, he won’t be following you to bother you.” He touched the ghoul and it melted to a small green and purple smudge on the ground which would wash away in the first good rain. The one hovering over Decker joined his fellow in death by melting. “All’s well as ends well,” Tien concluded, before he explained. “Mother Lin says I shouldn’t go around quoting Shakespeare, but she leaks the future. She can’t help it. Most times, the Kairos leaks something or other, usually from the twentieth or twenty-first centuries, some times from the days of Alexander the Great or around two hundred BC when Greece was a mess and Rome was still a republic.

“Mother Lin?” Katie asked, as they vanished from the rocks and found themselves and their horses transported instantly to within a few hundred yards of the army camp.

“Better not to show up right in the middle of everybody. They wouldn’t be surprised to see me appear out of nowhere, but to be honest, you folks are a little strange,” Tien said as an aside before he answered Katie. “Well, it wouldn’t do to call her father.”

“I see,” Katie nodded, and to Lockhart she said, “The Nameless god of Aesgard is his father, another life of the Kairos,” in case Lockhart forgot who Tien’s father was.

Avalon 4.0: part 4 of 7, Run for Cover

April 25, 2016April 20, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“I’m not making myself look like a man,” Boston protested.

“I’m not worried about that,” Mingus responded. “You can make yourself appear human easily enough, as I have seen, but in this case, you need to show oriental features and change your red head to dark brown.”

“Like this,” Alexis showed her own features. She still looked like Alexis, but the Chinese version. Boston tried to copy her work, and also came out looking like a Chinese version of Alexis.

“I don’t have a mirror,” Boston complained, as Alexis put her hand over her mouth to hold back her laugh.

“It will do,” MIngus said. “Now the clothes.” That was easy enough, since they were all wearing fairy weave which they could shape and color with a thought. Alexis, being human, had to speak out loud to get her fairy weave to change, but it all came out fine since they could see what they were doing. “And now the horses,” Mingus added.

“I don’t have that kind of power,” Boston protested, as she turned her robe to a light blue, just to be different.

“None of us do, alone,” Alexis said, and took her father’s hand. Boston touched his shoulder so they could both give him their magic. He took it and immediately cast his hand over the horses, flinging a bit of sand in their direction to make the magic work. At once, all three horses looked like shaggy Black Sea ponies, with blankets and small packs in place of their saddles. Honey and Horse did not bat an eye at the change, but Alexis’ horse, Misty Gray, bucked a little, once.

“We are ready,” Mingus turned to Shanjo, who again stared, dumbfounded at what just happened.

“Close your mouth,” Boston repeated her earlier statement along with her laugh.

Shanjo shook his head. “I recognize the fire headed voice, but you do not look like the woman.”

“Still me,” Boston said as she stepped over and grabbed Alexis’ arm. “But now I look more like my sister,” she said.

“Sisters?” Shanjo was curious. “I see, like twins.”

“And I am the father of two daughters,” Mingus interrupted. “Who plans to get them safely to the protection of the army camp as soon as possible. Can we go?”

“Of course, of course,” Shanjo said, “Shuz, shuz,” and they started walking.

They stopped early that evening, well before the ghoul ambush, so they did not get very far that day. Alexis and Boston shared a tent while Mingus slept out by the fire. The women did not get much sleep as they stayed up late, talking about being an elf and growing up an elf maid.

“I haven’t practiced much with my bow and arrows,” Boston admitted. “I mean, I practiced with a hunting bow when I was growing up. It was part of my redneck training.” She grinned. “I know where it is, in my own personal slip. I mean I haven’t gotten it out to practice since I became an elf.”

“Don’t let father push you into learning to kill,” Alexis said. “Some elf maids are bloodthirsty, warriors, who can fire two or three arrows with deadly accuracy in the time it takes a human to fire one, but most are not. Some are weavers, true artists, like the makers of this fairy weave. Some care for the spiritual creatures left in the world. In our day, in the future, there are elf maids that care for the remaining unicorns of the world. Mirowen, Doctor Robert’s mate back home, was a hundred years a unicorn maid before she got tangled up with Emile. I, actually worked for the science department on Avalon. I had my hands on a laptop computer almost fifty years before they appeared in the human world.”

“I know,” Boston said. “I’m impressed.”

“Don’t be. I was a secretary and file clerk, about what I still do to this day for the Men in Black, truth be told.”

“Still. Who would have thought the elves of Avalon would even have a science department. I mean, we are spiritual creatures, are we not?”

Alexis nodded. “Spiritual people, but not necessarily ignorant ones. Swords and knives and bows and arrows in our day are an affectation, you know.”

Boston nodded and said, “Tell me about growing up, about Father Mingus and about your and Roland’s mother, please. I never hear about your mother, much.”

Alexis did, but it quickly became stories of her childhood and youth, covering the first hundred to hundred and fifty years or so of her life, and mostly humorous stories, the way such memories go. So the dawn came without much sleep, but in human terms, Boston was maybe twenty and Alexis was at most twenty-five, so it did not bother them so much, having the strength of their youth.

That day would tell what the ghouls were after. Ideally, Lockhart and the others got behind the ghouls on the previous afternoon, and would open up even as the ghouls were distracted and watching the caravan travel beneath their noses, as Mingus said. They had no reason to suppose the ghouls had any interest in the merchants, or the opium they carried. Everyone assumed they would only be looking for the travelers. As it was, things did not work exactly that way.

Mingus rushed everyone, so the caravan moved by the ghouls in the early light before Lockhart and company could see well enough to get a clear shot. It was not the plan, but Mingus was anxious to get his two daughters to the safety of the army camp, as he saw it, and he wanted to reach there by that evening. That meant hurry, hurry. He had no intention of spending another night out in the unprotected wilderness.

While Lockhart and the others were ready by dawn, having found a large clump of rocks on the edge of the desert that they could hide behind, and more importantly, keep their horses from giving away their position. Mingus already drove the caravan beyond the narrow point. He did not let them stop often to rest, and he hardly let them stop for lunch. He felt justified when he caught a glimpse of the brigands attempting to cut them off before they reached the army camp.

This time, there were twice the number, or about sixty men that came off the hillside. Mingus actually wondered why so few, unless the brigand chief had in mind to save most of his men to take on the army group. As an elf, Mingus knew the mind of the brigand chief was calculating the odds, and decided sixty men was more than enough for a merchant caravan, now that those people on their horses were nowhere to be seen. Normally, the chief would have been correct, but Mingus had something else in mind.

“Alexis. Miss Riley. Split the herd,” he said. Alexis understood right away. Boston remembered when Alexis and Roland did it, but she was not sure of herself.

“I’ll direct it,” Alexis said as she grabbed Boston’s hand. They swung their hands as Alexis counted. “On three. One, two, three.” Boston felt the power surge out of her. It struck the brigands in the center of their charge, knocking down about ten to mumble, shake their heads, and crawl away. Of the rest, about twenty-five headed to the left where there were trees and brambles. They would be busy for a while until they figured out they were headed in the wrong direction. Then it would take some time to get back through the bramble bushes.

The other twenty-five headed for the front of the caravan, and were more inclined to notice right away. Fortunately, Shanjo and his twenty men had the numbers to meet such a force and started right away with a devastating barrage of arrows. Clearly, the men were practiced at fending off bandits, and in fact, Shanjo had told the group that they began the journey a year earlier with a full company of fifty men. They were all that was left.

“But every one a real fighter at this point,” Shanjo said to compliment the men before he confided more softly, “If not, they would be as dead as the others.”

By the time it came to hand to hand, Shanjo’s hardened men had the numbers reversed and met the enemy two to one in Shanjo’s favor.

A half dozen of Shanjo’s men came to Mingus’ side, at the back of the caravan, by the time the other half of the brigands made it out of the briars. Mingus started the fireworks as he lobbed several fireballs toward the enemy. A number of bushes, a couple of trees, and a couple of men caught fire. Then the half dozen of Shanjo’s men fired their bows, and Boston belatedly reached for her own bow. Alexis pulled her wand, but then they stood there for a minute, not sure of what to do.

Boston and Alexis moved together, but in opposite directions. Boston pulled out an arrow and fired it, not imagining to hit anything, but she remembered how Roland used to fire his arrows. When it reached the front of the charging enemy, it exploded right on cue. She grinned and fired two more, even as Alexis said, in the time it took Shanjo’s men to fire a second arrow.

Alexis turned toward the men they had knocked down when they split the herd. They were getting up and looked angry. She waved her wand and lifted her arms, and a great wind rose up. It picked up pebbles, twigs, leaves, and plenty of insects and slapped the men in the face. Those men had to cover up, and backed up to get away from the howling wind. By then, Boston turned and fired two more exploding arrows. Mingus also did not let up with his fireballs, and the rest of the brigands had enough and headed back up the hill.

Shanjo lost two men, but he did not complain. With sixty against his twenty, he should have lost all his men and his cargo besides.

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

If you have come late to the episode, don’t panic. Parts 1-3 are here on the blog under ‘recent posts’ and you can read them in order you wish. Be sure and stick with the blog on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to get the complete episode, Avalon 4.0, The Impossible Journey.

Avalon 4.0: part 3 of 7, The War on Drugs and Others

April 21, 2016April 20, 2016M G Kizzia 3 Comments

“Alexis, Katie, Lincoln, and Mingus, see if any enemy wounded might be saved,” Lockhart ordered. “Decker, watch them. Elder Stow, see if your scanner can pick up any more in range, and let me know which way they head. Boston, with me.”

People moved, and Lockhart lead Boston back to face Shanjo. His old police instincts were acting up. “So what exactly do you have in those bags of yours?” The twelve donkeys had a double bag slung over their backs so they had one bag on each side for balance. Those twelve bags looked exactly alike. The travelers assumed they did not all have the same thing inside—but maybe they did.

“Close your mouth,” Boston began with a laugh. Shanjo and his men were staring with their mouths open at what just happened.

“A powder,” Shanjo said. “It is a powerful medicine we are bringing on command of the Lord Hsia.”

Lockhart opened one satchel and found dozens of smaller bags inside. He pulled one out, opened it and found it was indeed a rough ground powder, like some spice. He looked toward Alexis to identify it, but she was needed on the field if they hoped to save any of those men.

“What is it?” Boston leaned over Lockhart’s shoulder.

“A powder made from a flower. That is all,” Shanjo swore.

Lockhart licked his finger and took a small bit to touch it to his tongue, but it was rough and raw, and he could not identify it right away from smell and taste. Boston tried a small lick and began to sing.

“Camptown ladies sing dis song …”

”Poppies. Opium,” Lockhart named it immediately. He knew it had an odd affect on elves. They had been through this once before with Mingus but unlike Mingus, Boston was not the least embarrassed by it. When Mingus and Lincoln ran up to see what was the matter, Boston spread her arms, twirled around, and sang.

“The hills are alive …”

“Opium,” Mingus did not hesitate to name the substance, even without seeing it.

“At least Boston can carry a tune,” Lockhart nodded.

Lincoln looked around at the donkeys and their packs, and calculated. “There must be a billion dollars’ worth, street value in our day.”

Lockhart, the former police man, nodded again.

Alexis came up and took a pinch. Once she heard and saw Boston singing, she also knew what it was. She added her pinch of raw, ground poppy seeds to a cup of water and offered a word. “Two are dying more slowly than the others. You people were pretty thorough. This much may kill them, but at least they shouldn’t feel any pain.”

“Elder Stow?”

“There,” Elder stow pointed generally at the hills in the direction they were headed. “But they are at a distance that makes it hard to tell numbers, or really anything about them.”

“Not much help,” Major Decker said. “I better have a look.” He stepped off to where he could sit quietly and meditate. His horse, Weber, followed him, but did not bother him, being content to munch on the scrub grass that covered the area.

“I am not equipped for such an expedition,” Elder Stow sounded defensive. “I have only such small things as an officer carries, including my weapon. This scanner is practically a child’s toy.”

“Don’t let it bother you,” Lockhart said. “You are doing fine and have been a great help so far.” He considered giving the elder a reassuring pat on the shoulder, but got interrupted. Lincoln plugged into the database music library and turned on Born to be Wild. He turned it up, and Boston sang along, and danced like a wild woman as well. The opium compelled her to sing until it worked out of her system. It did not necessarily compel her to dance, but she did not let that stop her. She was always one with too much excess energy. Becoming an elf and gaining elf metabolism only exacerbated that problem. Lockhart expected her to start running up and down the road at about fifty miles an hour any minute. He saw Decker move further away for some quiet.

“It is used for medicinal purposes,” Alexis explained over lunch. “It at least numbs the pain. If Lin, the Lord Hsia, is still fighting battles with nomads and such, she was probably willing to risk a small side bar of history to bring her people some relief.”

“Nuwa did tell us the Silk Road was used mostly for drugs, slaves, and occasional armies,” Lincoln added.

“Not much of a road,” Boston interjected. Her voice sounded a little rough, but at least she did not have to sing it.

“Mine is not the first expedition to retrieve the seeds of the poppy,” Shanjo offered. “But most of the others never returned.”

“And I can see why,” Lockhart said.

Katie had a thought. “I would bet the brigands burned the first stuff and got hooked on the smoke.”

Lockhart nodded. “Something like that, and I would guess we haven’t seen the last of them.” He paused as Decker walked up and grabbed a piece of deer. It was beginning to turn in the heat, but Shanjo had men smoking what they could to save for later. The evening meal would be something like deer jerky.

“We got bigger troubles than thieves,” Decker reported. “My eagle totem showed me three groups in the wilderness. The thieves are camped above a valley, about a thousand of them, and they are keeping a sharp watch on the people down in the valley. It looks like a small army, about two hundred men, with dragon flags and other banners. They are camped along the edge of a big lake. Very Chinese looking men and banners. I would guess our friends here need to make it to the protection of the army group, though the thieves have them outnumbered at least five to one, so that might not help.”

“And the third group?” Elder Stow wondered.

“Right in our path, on the edge of the desert, in the next place where it gets narrow, about where we should stop for the night. A good place for an ambush,” Decker said, and when he had everyone’s attention, he said, “Ghouls.” He took a big bite of deer meat, and added, “I am guessing the next ten.” That got everyone talking at once, but eventually, talking led to planning.

“As far as I know,” Mingus said. “The ghouls ability to see through a good glamour is no better than humans.”

“The database confirms that,” Lincoln said without looking up from his reading. “It specifically states that while they are masters of making others see things that are not really there, and can cast glamours over their enemies to make them appear and sound like someone else, their own ability to see through glamours is surprisingly stunted.”

“The dragon is the emblem of Gingsu, the governor of the far west and defender of the border,” Shanjo said, not really keeping up with the rest of the conversation. “I am sure if we can get there, he will grant us safe passage the rest of the way, though I worry that he is so far from the border. There are many days yet to travel with the army before we can be truly safe.”

“One problem at a time,” Lockhart said.

“Let me take Alexis and Miss Riley,” Mingus pressed his suggestion. “We can disguise ourselves to look like these merchants, and our horses to appear as shaggy ponies, and walk beneath their noses. And we should have enough firepower between us to hold back the brigands, should they try another attack.”

“And the rest of us can circle around and come up behind the unsuspecting ghouls and pick them off from the rear,” Katie understood what Mingus was suggesting.

“For the record, I don’t like it. I don’t like dividing us up,” Lockhart said.

“We still have these wrist communicators,” Lincoln pointed out, and raised his wrist to show the watch. Everyone else simply looked at Lockhart.

“But I can’t think of anything better,” Lockhart said. “We go with it, provided Mingus gives the prototype amulet he took from Avalon to Katie, in case we get seriously separated.”

Mingus paused, smiled and pulled the amulet out from an inner pocket. “It is not as sophisticated as the other, and harder to read accurately,” he said. It had a gold chain that fell to the ground as he held it. Lincoln spoke as Mingus handed the amulet to Katie.

“Captain Harper has the brains to figure it out while the rest of us stand around and look at it, dumbly.”

“Those are your words,” Mingus said with a grin as Katie slipped the chain around her neck.

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

To Be Continued…

Be sure to return Monday (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) for the concluding posts of Avalon, Episode 4.0. Happy Reading.

Avalon 4.0: part 2 of 7, Caravan in the Wilderness

April 20, 2016April 20, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The men were dressed to look like Arabs, in long white robes and with scarves for their heads, but their Asian features suggested a more local origin. Boston put the amulet they used to find the time gates under her shirt, a natural precaution, while Lincoln pulled out the database.

“It says here, the Kairos in this time zone is Lin, Empress and founder of the Hsian Dynasty in China. Before that, though, it says she fought off thieves and nomads and other murderers. The problem with this database is there is no telling at what point in Lin’s life we have arrived.”

“The Hsian Dynasty is still like mythology in our day,” Katie whispered to Lockhart.

“So these could be peaceful merchants under the protection of the rulers, or they could be thieves and murderers,” Decker said.

“Pretty much,” Lincoln agreed, but by then they were too close to discuss the matter, without consciously reverting to English.

“Hello. Friend. Stranger on the road.” One big man stepped forward and attempted a smile. Everyone understood him. It was a gift the Kairos granted the travelers when they began this impossible journey, to understand and be understood by the locals, whenever and wherever on earth they might find themselves.

“Friend sounds like a good choice,” Lockhart responded. “But it would be more believable if your people there put down their bows.”

“Shuz, shuz,” the big man spoke to the men behind him and waved at them to put the bows down. The men lowered their weapons, but did not put them away. “We were just thinking of hunting for our meal, now especially with so many to feed.” He excused his crew, even as his crew became excited and began to point some distance back the way the merchants had traveled. A small herd of deer wandered down the hillside, well out of bowshot range. They seemed headed slowly toward a stream the travelers had crossed, but the deer eyed the men and looked prepared to run at the slightest provocation.

Decker clipped on his scope, lifted his rifle and squeezed the trigger while Katie pulled her rifle. The deer jumped at the sound, but they did not know enough to run. One at the back of the herd fell, but it would be a few breaths before the herd took flight. Both Decker and Katie managed kills before the cracking sound and collapsing deer finally caused the remaining deer to run.

“It’s too easy these days,” Decker said quietly. “The herds are wary of humans and keep their distance, but they have not yet learned to hide from humans.”

Katie nodded and turned to Lincoln. “Whose turn is it to butcher?”

Lincoln got the database back out. Along with a library that catalogued all of human knowledge up to the twenty-first century, including an historical record far more thorough and accurate than any history book, being downloaded from the Heart of Time itself, plus all that information about alien species and the spiritual world that humanity knew nothing about, the database also included several more libraries, like a science library, a complete music library, and a note taking program that was actually easy to use and cross reference—what smart phones claim to have. The database had a scanner that would work well once paper was invented, but even before paper, it could scan stone and bone carvings and would produce something like photographs, but the database did not have a camera. It could not scan or take pictures of faces, and Lincoln figured that was on purpose. On the other hand, it was easy to find the butcher list.

When people agreed to take turns with that grizzly task, after exempting the more or less vegetarians Mingus and Elder Stow from the task, they formed three pairs. Lockhart and Katie worked well together. Lincoln and Alexis would have been a useless pair, so Alexis agreed to work with Major Decker, the navy seal turned marine for special embassy-type work, who could do most of the actual butchering, while she kept watch and occasionally offer some magical help. Lincoln watched for Boston who was raised with brothers and a father who were all hunters. She knew how to clean and cook deer, elk, bear and birds, and was getting good with cattle, goats, sheep and pigs. Boston also rode rodeo in her youth, and becoming an elf did not change any of that. Lockhart still called her a Massachusetts redneck now and then, and she was.

Lockhart interrupted before Lincoln could read from the list. “We have friends,” he said. “How about letting them do some cutting and cooking?” He got down from his horse and Katie followed his example. “You have a name?”

The big man waved, and a half-dozen young men rushed off to carry in the three deer. “Shanjo,” the man said, and looked up at Lockhart’s six feet in height with some concern, while he added, “I see why you rode so uncaring through the wilderness. What man or beast would dare approach without permission?”

“Yes,” Lockhart did not want to discourage that thinking. “But we can be good friends, and for the record, we have no interest in your merchandise so you better not have any interest in our things.” Lockhart offered a friendly smile. Shanjo slowly returned the smile and they shook hands after a fashion.

Lincoln, Alexis, and Elder Stow got down, the Elder with a mumbled prayer of thanksgiving, but Decker interrupted.

“I suggest we move over to the base of that hill to make camp. Just because we are not interested in the merchandise, that doesn’t mean there are no others on the road.” Katie agreed, so that was what they did.

###

Around ten o’clock the next morning, the travelers and merchants found the hills to their left were pushing them closer and closer to the desert sands on their right. There was still some green where they traveled, due to runoff from the mountains and hills, but the way was getting rough. Shanjo explained.

“There are three places where the foothills of the Tian Shan press us toward the Taklimakan desert. The Lord Hsia explained this to us when we set out on this journey, that this might be the case. Even so, we were told there would be a way through, and it was so on our way to the edge of the world. It must also be so on our return; do you think?”

“He means we won’t have to go out across the dunes,” Katie translated. Lockhart nodded, and smiled for her, though he understood well enough.

“Hey Lockhart,” Lincoln stepped up, his horse Cortez nudging his shoulder all the way. He spoke, now that Lockhart and Katie were leading and Mingus and Boston had been relegated to rear guard. “I think the mountains to our left are the Tian Shan, and the desert is the Taklimakan.” He was reading from the database.

“I think we got that,” Lockhart confessed.

“But you know what that means? That means we are actually on the silk road, at last.”

“The northeastern tip of it,” Katie nodded and grinned. Unlike Boston, who had her doctorate in electrical engineering, not always the most help in 2400 BC, Katie’s doctorate was in Ancient and Medieval cultures and technologies. Serving as a Captain in the Marine Corps, a family thing, she always felt her life was split in two. The Pentagon had little use for someone with her expertise, until this job came up. Now, she was living ancient cultures and technologies, and she also had Lockhart, as soon as he got his own head together on forming a new relationship. She paused as Major Decker rode up from the flank.

“We have company,” Decker shouted.

Katie grabbed her binoculars as she thought, sadly, on this job, her marine training was needed all too often.

“Mount up,” Lockhart yelled to his people

“Arm yourselves,” Shanjo shouted, and his people showed that this was not the first time this sort of thing came up.

Thirty men came yelling and screaming off the nearby hill. They had swords drawn, spears, and bows ready to shoot once they got within range. An ordinary merchant caravan of twenty men would have been caught and hard pressed to survive the onslaught. Decker and Katie got their rifles. Lincoln, Boston, and Lockhart had their pistols, while Mingus shot a fireball ahead of them all. It startled the enemy, but did not slow them. Alexis had her wand, but mumbled her usual, “I’m a healer, not a wounder.” Elder Stow had his sonic device out as he was trying to save what charge he had in his weapon for when they might face some serious trouble.

Elder Stow let loose his sonic device, and the enemy grabbed for their ears, and several fell to the ground, which probably saved their lives, because then the guns opened up. Seven of the thirty went down rapidly, soon to be dead, if not already dead. The terrible cracking of those weapons was as bad, in its way, as the sonic device. The thirty, now eighteen, turned and fled before they ever got into bowshot range. Decker and Lockhart picked off the two that were a little slow to turn, and it hurried the others, but then Lockhart called a halt, and they watched sixteen men head back up the hill as fast as they could.

Avalon, 4.0: The Impossible Journey, part 1 of 7

April 19, 2016April 17, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 2455 BC near the Tian Shan. Kairos lifetime 46: Lin, Empress of the Hsia

Recording …

Elder Stow rode in from the flank where the trees thinned out and the sun gave no mercy. He tugged on his fairy weave vest, a habit left over from when he wore his space suit. He bounced in the saddle like an old man on a trampoline. He had the appearance of an old man, so he competed the image, but the old man image was a glamour designed to cover his normal Neanderthal look. The Kairos told him from this point forward in history, it would not do to have a Gott-Druk riding through the streets of wherever.

“My Mother and Father,” the Gott-Druk spoke to Lockhart and Katie as the two in charge of this expedition through time. “Would it hurt anything if I were to forego the glamour at this time, out here in the wilderness?”

“Not in the daytime,” Lockhart said flatly. “No telling where there might be eyes watching from a distance.”

“It’s not like they have binoculars,” Katie looked at Lockhart before she spoke to the Elder. “As long as your scanner doesn’t show anyone around,” she said.

“And as long as you make sure you are covered as soon as there is someone around,” Lockhart interrupted with an unhappy look behind Katie’s back. His wife contradicted him all the time, back when he was married.

“But what is the matter with wearing a glamour? You should not even know that you have it on,” Katie asked, because she felt Lockhart’s unhappiness even if she did not see his face.

“I understand, and I am sure I will get to a point where I don’t think about it, but right now I feel it is stifling, like I can’t breathe, just knowing that I am walking around looking like a human.”

“I know what you mean,” Boston shouted back from the front and put on a big elf grin.

“Miss Riley. You must pay attention,” Mingus said sharply to Boston. “Never have I seen an elf maid so easily distracted.”

“Not true,” Alexis spoke up from behind. “You had me.”

Mingus turned back his head. “You were a handful at least until you were a hundred and fifty. And then, after two hundred, you lost it altogether and became human to marry a human.” He turned his head a bit further to give Lincoln a hard stare. Lincoln put his hands up like he was surrendering and kept his mouth closed.

“Hey, I’m only twenty-five. And after that bite of golden apple, I’m probably more like eighteen or nineteen.”

“Nonsense. In elf years I have judged you to be about a hundred and ten.”

“Hooray!” Boston yelled. “I have forty more years before I get to one-fifty and have to be grown up. That’s what you said. Alexis was a handful until she was one-fifty.”

Mingus looked back again as Alexis spoke. “She is a mathematician and engineer.”

“But we are supposed to be working on making an acceptable fairy light,” Mingus turned back to Boston where he could ignore the others.

Boston shook her head. “Honey doesn’t like the fire and light.”

“You mean your horse?” Mingus shook his head. “Elves don’t name their horses.”

“I thought you named your horse, horse,” Alexis said.

“You say, horse come here, horse go there, and horse does it,” Lincoln interjected, but softly.

“Hey. Elder Stow,” Boston shouted again. “Have you decided on a name for your horse yet?”

“They won’t let me call it torture beast,” Elder Stow said as he bounced along.

“Hey! I like My Little Pony,” Boston still shouted.

“There, see?” Katie said.

Lockhart simply shook his head. “After my time.”

“My favorite is Doctor Hooves,” Boston added.

“That’s a modern one,” Katie shouted back, though she did not need to shout for Boston to hear with her good elf ears. “I was talking about the original series.”

“And another thing young lady,” Mingus garnered Boston’s attention again. “You now have ears that will hear many things you never heard before, and much better than a human. But it is not always wise to say what you hear, especially among humans. And it is not polite to butt into other people’s conversations.”

Boston lowered her head and took her scolding graciously. Then she noticed her red hair was starting to get long, and she shook her head several times to see her hair move. “You’re right Father Mingus, I’m sorry,” she said, in case Mingus thought she was shaking her head in disagreement.

“There, there. That is perfectly okay. You did not know. Everyone has to learn these things.”

“Hey!” Alexis borrowed Boston’s word. She said no more, but the sour look on her face suggested Father Mingus never said nice things like that to her when she was growing up and messed up.

Major Decker took that moment to ride in from the other flank. “Anyone watching where we are going? Captain Harper?”

“Sorry sir.” Katie sat up straight. “We were just talking about childhood, growing up, unimportant things. Sorry sir.”

“I also apologize,” Mingus said.

“We were having a kind of family discussion,” Boston said.

“You must always make time for family,” Elder Stow added with a smile and some volume.

“I mean, I am not the hunter my son is. My senses are sharper than human senses, so it is right I should be out front, but I do not have my son’s instincts.”

“I miss him,” Boston got very sad, very quickly, but when Alexis reached out to her, she jumped. “He’s not dead. I know that. I would know if he was dead. He’s just 4500 years in the future, that’s all. I just want to get there as quick as we can, that’s all.”

“So, people, and especially those with sensors,” Decker said, with a look at Elder Stow. “What do you sense about three hundred paces in front of us?”

Elder Stow took a quick look at his scanner. Everyone else looked at the caravan. There were twenty men, and a dozen heavily burdened donkeys standing in their path, waiting patiently for them to catch up. Obviously, the men decided that the travelers were peaceful people, since they paid so little attention to where they were going and what they were doing.

“Glamours everyone,” Lockhart raised his voice.

“Now, Miss Riley, just like we practiced,” Mingus said kindly to Boston. Boston made her glamour so she would look human. “Yes. Very good. Good girl,” Mingus added, and Boston smiled at the compliment.

“Hey!” Alexis said again, and this time Lincoln caught the sour expression on her face.

Avalon: Season 4 Preface

April 18, 2016April 16, 2016M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers came to the beginning of history on a rescue mission. Now, in order to get home, two elves, two marines, one Gott-Druk (a Neanderthal from the far future) and three ‘Men in Black’ must follow the amulet of Avalon. They move from one time gate to the next, through time zones that center around the many lives of the Kairos, the Traveler (in time), the Watcher (over history), a person who never lives a quiet life.

They have unlimited vitamins, elf crackers, and bullets, ride mustangs brought back from the old west, and wear fairy weave clothing that they can shape and change with a thought in order to blend into the local culture. It helps that they can understand and be understood no matter the local language, because they inevitably have to deal with the human element, along with gods and monsters, spirits and creatures, space aliens and the great unknown. They have to try hard not to disturb history in the process. To be sure, all they want is to get home in one piece, but they are not the only ones lost in time.

From the Pilot Episode

It was Doctor Procter who explained.

“I spent the last three hundred years studying the lives of the Kairos. Now that we have the opportunity to walk through those lifetimes, one by one, and in order I might add, I am not going to miss that opportunity. Isn’t that right, Mingus?”

Mingus shook his head and sighed, and in that moment everyone got a good look at the difference between Mingus, a full blood elf and the Doctor who was half-human. The contrast was not startling but obvious. No plain human could have eyes as big, features as sharp or fingers as thin and long. “If you say,” Mingus muttered as he took the amulet and shook it once himself.

“What says the Navy?” Lockhart turned to look at the two who were armed and bringing up the rear.

“I’m to follow orders,” Captain Decker frowned.

Lieutenant Harper smiled. “I would not mind exploring a little while we have the chance.”

“Besides,” Roland spoke up while Lockhart faced front again and encouraged everyone to resume walking. “I have a feeling the Kairos would not mind if we rooted out some of the unsavory characters that wandered into the time zones without permission.”

“Oh, that would be very dangerous.” Alexis said it before Lincoln could, and she grinned for her husband.

“All the same…” Roland did not finish his sentence. He fell back to walk beside Lockhart to underline his sentiments to the man.

“Hey.” Boston came up. She had been straggling near the back.

“Boston, dear.” Lockhart backed away from the elf and slipped his arm around the young woman. “So what do you think? Do we run as fast as we can or explore a bit and maybe confront some unsavories along the way?”

“Explore and help the Kairos clean out the time zones. I thought that was obvious.”

“Well for the record,” Mingus said as he turned and walked backwards. “Though it may kill me to say it, I agree with that Lincoln fellow.”

“I haven’t offered an opinion,” Lincoln said.

“No, but I can read the mind of a frightened rabbit well enough.”

“Father!” Alexis jumped and there was some scolding in her voice. “I vote we explore and help.” She looked at Lockhart, and so did everyone else except the Doctor who was still playing with his amulet.

Lockhart nodded. “Okay,” he said. “But the number one priority is to get everyone home alive and in one piece, so when it is time to move on, we all move, no arguments.”

“You got that right,” Captain Decker mumbled.

Everyone seemed fine with that except Mingus who screwed up his face and asked, “And who decides when it is time to move on?”

“I do.” Lockhart spoke without flinching. The two stared at each other until Doctor Procter interrupted.

“Anyway,” he spoke as if in the middle of a sentence. “I would not worry about hunting unsavories. I don’t imagine it will take long before they start hunting us.”

CAST

Robert Lockhart, a former policeman, now assistant director of the Men in Black. He is charged with leading this expedition through time though he has no idea how he is going to get everyone home—alive.

Boston (Mary Riley), a Massachusetts redneck, rodeo rider and technological genius who finished her PhD in electrical engineering at age 24. Since the disappearance of Doctor Procter, she carries the amulet, a sophisticated combination electronic GPS and magic device that shows the way from one time gate to the next. She became an elf to marry Roland, but now Roland has disappeared, and may be dead, though she refuses to think that way.

Benjamin Lincoln, a former C. I. A. office geek who keeps the database and a record of their journey. He tends to worry and is not the bravest soul, but sometimes that is an asset. His wife, Alexis, was kidnapped by her own father Mingus and dragged back to the beginning of history. This prompted the rescue mission which got everyone stuck in the past with the time gates in the time zones as the only option to get home—the long way, as they say.

Alexis Lincoln, an elf who became human to marry Benjamin. She retained her healing magic when she became human, but magic has its limits. For example, it can’t make her father happy with her choices.

Mingus, father of Alexis (and Roland, making Boston his daughter-in-law) is an elder elf. He ran the history department in Avalon for over 300 years. He knows the time zones and the lives of the Kairos but tends to keep his opinions to himself. And he believes his children are being ruined by so much human interaction. He kidnapped Alexis in the first place to save her from being corrupted by the human mortals.

Captain Katie Harper, a marine whose specialty is ancient and medieval cultures and technologies. She is torn between her duty to the marines and her desire to be part of this larger universe she is discovering. She now carries the prototype amulet that Mingus once used to kidnap Alexis.

Major Decker, a navy seal, now a marine special operations officer who will do all he can to keep everyone alive, even if it means shooting his way back to the twenty-first century. He is a skeptic who does not believe half of what they experience—even if he does not know what else to believe.

Elder Stow, a space traveling, technologically advanced Gott-Druk (Neanderthal) from the future who was thrown back into the past and is forced to make a truce with these ‘humans’ to join them in their journey. He believes it is his only chance to get back to the future in one piece.

The Kairos. But that is a different person in each time zone.

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Avalon Season Three coming soon to an Amazon and Smashwords (Barnes and Noble, Apple , E-reader, etc.) near you……………………

Tomorrow, Episode 4.0 begins the season. Happy Reading

About Avalon, and Help for the Hard Days and Winter Nights

September 23, 2015September 23, 2015M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After posting a whole season of Avalon adventures, it remains to post at least one advertisement for the books. Please bear with me. It will all be over in a minute.

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Another season of Avalon is ready to be shelved — put up on the book sites, ready for purchase. Season 3 is 13 episodes (3.0-3.12) long. It is roughly 87,00 words of adventure and mayhem in the ancient world. Hopefully, I will get it up before Christmas so those who have enjoyed reading these stories on the blog can share them with family and friends (hint hint).

I am also working on getting this material (the prequel, the pilot and all three seasons of Avalon) up on CreateSpace, so those who wish can get a print on demand copy and hold an actual book-looking item in their hands.

All of this will happen when I get around ………

Avalon, the series, is like a television show written in story form. Like any good TV show, one or two episodes is sufficient to meet the characters, understand what is happening and how this all works. That is, if you watch (or rather read) the entire episode. I encourage you to sit back and enjoy.

For the purists, the Prequel, the Pilot Episode, Season One, and Season Two are all available on line. Look for the e-books by M G Kizzia on Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, Sony, Apple, and other fine retailers. Happy reading.

Look for Avalon, Season 4 to begin posting in the spring. The travelers will just about reach the half-way point and have good hope that they might actually make it home, if they don’t get caught by the ghouls and other horrors that are following them. And I promise not to ‘Game of Thrones’ you. I won’t kill off your favorite character … well, maybe one more. Wait and see.

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Meanwhile, on this blog, from now to the other side of winter, I hope to post some thoughts on the writing process and maybe a vlog or two (if I get that new laptop). I hope to keep you up-to-date on the progress of selling a book or two to the publishing powers that be, perhaps a superhero origin story, a tale of the other earth, a piece of science fiction and/or fantasy, a middle grade, young adult or new adult tome.

Of course, there will be stories on this blog. I can’t help it. And the first will be a story for Halloween, beginning on the first Monday in October, the 5th, and continuing (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday only) for 11 posts through Tuesday, October 27th — which by chance is also the night of the full moon. Go figure.

The story is about a young man, Jake, whose unthinking words causes his little sister to be kidnapped. He has to get her back from … whatever might be lurking on Halloween night. The story is called:

Charmed: A Disney-like Halloween Story (Without the Singing).

Stay tuned, and don’t miss it.

Michael

Avalon 3.12: part 5 of 5, You Have the Power

September 22, 2015September 13, 2015M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“You have the firepower to deal with the wolf, if necessary,” Barak explained.

“No silver bullets,” Decker complained.

“Not needed,” Barak said. “The wolf has some wolverine type of healing ability. It can eject several bullets and heal if it can find a place to get away and hide.”

“You mean like the X-men wolverine,” Boston said.

“Yes, but that ability is not absolute. Stick it with enough arrows and spears, and you will kill it. Just good luck sticking it before it sticks you. But in your case, you can turn your rifles to automatic and riddle the beast. There is no way it will survive that. And as far as I know, a shotgun blast at close range would still blow its brains out. No healing from that, though I would not recommend getting that close.”

The conversation petered out as people went to set up their tents and get ready for the night. Mingus was just wondering what was taking that boy so long when they heard the howl of the wolf.

“No. It must be regular wolves in these hills,” Lincoln suggested, but people were not sure.

Puzziya fell to his knees beside the fire and began to pray. Alexis held Boston. Katie looked to Lockhart to say something. The howl came again and Boston screamed.

“Roland!”

Barak looked at Hebat, and for once she lost her smile. She shrugged as she spoke, like this was something new to her. “He is not anywhere I can sense. Like he is gone from the world altogether.”

“That is what I am getting,” Barak said, but he knew that explanation was not going to be good enough for Boston. He traded places through time with Junior and stretched his senses out for miles, but there was no trace. Finally, he stretched his mind through time and caught a scent of Roland in the future. As soon as there was a connection through time, Alice sent him many things before the time connection got severed.

Boston was weeping for her husband, and Mingus was right there while Alexis comforted her. Lincoln pulled his pistol and hovered over them, as they spotted the wolf racing up the hill. The people hardly had time to think. Eder Stow could not get a screen up quick enough. Decker opened fire, and Katie was moments behind. The wolf slowed but kept coming. At the last, Lockhart had to plug it with a shotgun blast when it got close, and the wolf collapsed. Decker was not content. He stepped up and continued to riddle the beast until his rifle got hot.

“Roland,” Boston yelled as only an elf can yell, to make herself heard by another elf, no matter how far away. Mingus raised his eyebrows to realize how strong the bond was between this girl and his son.

Junior took Hebat’s hand with the word, “Already married,” and for once Hebat looked at the ground, did not argue, and appeared submissive in the face of this god. They walked up to the others and Junior waved his hand. A hole twenty feet deep opened up in the ground, and Junior spoke.

“This world does not yet have the gene among the human population, so there is no danger of making another wolf, but it will have in time, so we play it safe.” The man, and in death he had turned most of the way back into a man, and all of his spilled blood lifted from the ground and went into the hole. A boulder appeared and plugged up the hole, and then dirt reformed over the grave. Last of all, two pieces of wood in a cross formed on top and Junior carved the name Francis in English on the cross piece.

“Francis?” Katie asked. “We called him Bob.” She wiped a tear from her eye.

“He was a priest from your time,” Junior said. “Father Francis was in the confessional when the wolf, a female came in and sought refuge in the confessional. She was bleeding from her own bullet holes and looking for a place to hide and heal. The men hunting the wolf came in and killed the wolf, but Francis was contaminated with the blood. No, the wolf did not have to bite him, though maybe it did. When Ashtoreth had control of the Heart of Time and was trying to change history, one thing she did was send a priest into the deep past, hoping it would ruin everything. She did not know he was the wolf, and in typical fashion, when he changed under the moon, the physical and mental change to the mind of the wolf drove him insane.”

“Father Francis?” Boston looked up.

“Consider it a mercy,” Junior said, and even Hebat nodded. “As for Roland. He is alive as I glimpsed him.”

“You know where he is?” Boston reached for Junior but did not touch him.

“I don’t suppose you will want to talk to me, but he was attacked, unaware. He was near dead when Alice snatched him up out of the past, and no, I cannot send you home. The heart of time in this day does not have a record of those future days to send you home to. But Roland is back in the future. Being an elf, Alice could reach him. Pray he survives his wounds.”

Boston began to cry, but it was not hopeless wailing.

“Well,” Lockhart said. “We will just have to make sure Miss Boston gets back safely to her husband.”

“We will,” everyone agreed, and Junior spoke again.

“Come.” He lead them up the hill to where he had the things Alice sent him. “I have gifts for you all.” He started by pulling out fairy weave for Elder Stow. “The time for walking around in a space suit is over. You must pack it up and wear human clothes, and then we will see what you look like.”

“But,” Elder Stow started to object, but in the face of a genuine power in the universe, he dropped his eyes and went into his tent to change.

“Major Decker, Captain Harper, Benjamin Lincoln, and Director Lockhart.” He handed each of them a sword. “Patton Sabers,” he called them. “Fit swords for light cavalry, but seriously strong metal to withstand the baddest medieval broadsword, when you get there. I recommend some lessons before you do.”

“I don’t want one of those killers,” Alexis said.

“Careful, lest you fate yourself into a position you don’t want to be in.” Junior scolded her and handed her a long straight knife. “I hope you never need to use this, especially as a surgical instrument.”

Alexis was inclined to turn down the gift until he mentioned surgery. “I am an RN, not a medical doctor. I pray surgery will never be necessary.” She took the gift and said, “Thank you.”

“Boston,” Junior commanded her attention. She looked up at him and adored him, and wiped her eyes. She would cry later. He handed her a bow, just like Roland’s, and a quiver full of arrows. She started to cry again.

“Hush,” Alexis tried.

“A corrected oversight,” Junior said. “The quiver will always have arrows in it.”

“But I—“

“Learn. It’s an elf thing. Trust me.”

“So,” Elder Stow came out of his tent. “How foolish do I look?”

Everyone said he looked great, but they all suggested a bit of a glamour might help him not appear so Neanderthal. Junior took him aside and reshaped his look. Then he let the Gott-Druk take hold of his own glamour so he could put it on or off as he pleased. “Just don’t ever misuse this gift,” Junior warned without further explanation, and he went away to let Wlvn come from the deep past. Wllvn was sometimes mistakenly called the god of horses, because he was given a gift to connect horses to riders and to pass on basic horse care and information by the laying on of hands. And he had one thing to say first to Hebat.

“Married with children.” Hebat just grinned.

A horse stepped out of the shadows. It was another mustang from the old west, and already saddled to travel.

“No, please,” Elder Stow protested, but got down for the laying on of hands. When Wlvn was finished, Barak came back, and Boston protested.

“But you haven’t given anything to Father Mingus.”

Barak smiled. “When you get older, you realize you don’t need many things, but in this case I give Mingus the most precious thing in the universe. I give him you as a daughter. Mingus, take good care of her until you find your son.” He reached out and put Boston’s free hand in Mingus’ hand. Mingus looked at the ground and would not look at Barak or Boston, but his head seemed to nod.

“Barak,” Hebat called from the tent door.

###

In the morning, Barak went to his camel. Katie, Alexis and Boston all met him there, and Katie asked the question that was on her mind. “Hebat. She was not named after the goddess, was she?”

“No,” Barak admitted, as he straddled his camel and got Puzziya to walk along beside him. Puzziya was going to escort him back to the workers camp, and hopefully get Barak in with the right people.

“Hebat has been after me since Anenki.” Barak said. “I really got to find that girl a husband, but not anyone will do, you know? He will have to be really special. She is such a maverick. Taming of the shrew, that sort of thing.” He got his camel to stand and walk. “ But why am I talking here? I’ve got a heroine ring to stop.” He started out and whistled. “Okay, Hebat. You can stop listening in now, we are leaving. Good luck.” He moved off down the hill.

“He has a job to do,” Katie understood.

“I think he works too hard sometimes,” Aexis said, and Boston nodded as they went to gather their horses. Boston would bring Roland’s horse beside her, and she would pray for him.

“I understand this beast. I have done this before,” Elder Stow said. “Barak said I could not call my horse torture beast. I’ll have to think what to call him.”

Mingus and Boston started out front. Lockhart and Katie brought up the rear, with Lincoln and Alexis in the middle. Decker and Eder Stow still watched the flanks, but Elder Stow did so more through his instruments than visually. All seemed right with the world until Boston checked her amulet and reported back to the others that they probably would not get to see Barak’s city of Urudu.

“That’s too bad,” Lincoln spoke up. “Because the city will be razed by an army in a few years. The good news is a new city will be built on the foundation.”

“What city?” Katie asked.

“Babylon.”

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END of Avalon, Season Three

Look for 13 episodes of Avalon, Season 4 to begin posting after the New Year, beginning with episode 4.0, The Impossible Journey.

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Beginning next Monday, until January, look for a middle grade Halloween story filled with magic and mayhem, and maybe something special for the days before Christmas.

Avalon 3.12: part 4 of 5, The Kairos and the Mission

September 21, 2015September 12, 2015M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Katie stood over two bodies. They were both Ulwazzi’s men from inside the building. “I caught them trying to get our bread crackers and whatever they could find that belonged to Elder Stow. I told them to stop, and they laughed, and then they rushed me. I had no choice.”

Lockhart held her. “Hush. You did the right thing. Just don’t second guess yourself with should haves.” The men on the ground both had knives. Puzziya and several of the men from down the hill were there, staring, slack jawed.

“The horses,” Boston squeaked, and got back to the pen in time to see one man try to carry away a saddle. Boston pulled out her wand and let her glamour of humanity drop. “You don’t want to do that.” The man looked up and opened his mouth “You don’t want to anger the gods who have put a hedge around these travelers all of their things.” The man took one step back. “You don’t want to make me angry.” The man screamed, dropped the saddle, turned, and ran smack into the back section of the screen, flattening his nose and knocking himself delirious. He scrambled to his feet, and as he rounded the corner at the back of the building. Boston could not resist a shot that sparked against the man’s pants and started a small fire on his butt.

“Very good,” Lockhart said, as he caught up in time to see the butt fire. “Now pick up your father’s saddle.” It was Mingus’ saddle, and Boston picked it up to stack it neatly, but she could not resist the comment.

“Yes, grandpa.” She giggled and said now giggling was allowed, too.

Bob was not around when the group rode out at first light. Neither was Ulwazzi. Decker said he would have been surprised if the man showed his face. Lockhart pointed out that the man could deny any knowledge of what the others may have done and plead innocence.

“But he would have to be a good liar,” Alexis said. “Elves are known for being able to point out liars. It comes from telling so many of them.”

“Hey!” Boston objected.

“Sweetheart,” Alexis got motherly. “The expression you lie like an elf did not come from outer space.”

“Even so, Hey!” Boston still objected.

Puzziya begged to go with the travelers. He said he knew the way they were headed and could guide them, though he honestly had no idea where they were headed. Lockhart allowed it, believing the poor man might not live long after they left; that he might be punished for bringing the travelers there in the first place. The rest of the workers bowed and scraped themselves on the ground, believing if the travelers were not gods, they were the next best thing.

Katie caught Ulwazzi’s girls out back fetching something to eat, and she laid it down in simple terms for them. “Puzziya is going to lead us out of the territory. Don’t follow us, or we will come back and burn the poppy field to the ground.” She was not feeling very kind hearted, having killed two men in the night

“But why do I have to take him?” Lincoln objected.

“Because, like before, you know what to ask and might recognize when he says something worthwhile.” It was not much of a reason, but the best Lockhart could think of.

As they rode, Puzziya said he was glad to at least be getting away from the wolfman. Lincoln killed that thought. “He will follow us, but with luck we may get far enough in the day to make it hard for him to catch up in the night.”

Puzziya fell silent after that, but looked back on a regular basis. They rode all day, and near sundown Decker, Roland and Katie began to look for a defensible position. What they found was a lone traveler in the wilderness where the man and his camel were settled in for the night.

“Good solid rock at our back. A large enough clearing for the camp, down hill on all sides from there, and plenty rock strewn downhill so even the wolf will have to be careful climbing. I say we join the lone wolf, no pun intended,” Decker said.

Lockhart and Katie walked their horses up to the ledge to ask if the man might need company for the night, as a scantily clad and immensely beautiful woman came out of the man’s tent. At least Katie thought she was beautiful. Lockhart was a bit put off by the tattoos.

“Halloo.” The woman waved to them, though they were hardly far away. The man was nibbling on what looked like a chicken leg. He stopped nibbling long enough to speak as Lockhart and Katie drew near.

“Are the rest going to join us or not?”

Lockhart waved for the others to come on up. “We were not sure if you would let us join you. Often lone travelers want to be left alone.”

“Hebat says she is never going to leave me alone,” the man joked, and Hebat, the woman, sat beside the man, hugged him and leaned in to nibble on his ear and tease him with her ample breasts.

“Sadly, after this trip I will go back to my wife,” the man said, giving Hebat a stern look.

“I could go back to my husband, if I had one,” Hebat looked at the man with what could only be described as longing.

As the others came up, the man lifted his head and smiled. “Mary Riley. Alisha. But everyone calls her Boston.” He waved and Boston vacated her horse, ran up and threw her arms around the man.

“Barak?” Lincoln asked, and Barak nodded.

“An elf?” Hebat looked right through the disguise. “I can do elf.”

Boston pulled back. “My lord, willingly,” she said before she asked, “Alisha?”

“In high elf. It means Little Fire.”

“And you are,” Roland said, and Boston left Barak to hug Roland.

“Newlyweds,” Barak explained to Hebat who looked, knowingly.

“Now, What is it?” Barak wondered what had people on edge.

“For an ordinary mortal, Barak is very perceptive,” Hebat praised him.

“The wolf,” Lockhart said, and they all sat and took time to explain their adventures, and explain who Puzziya was. Lockhart took especially long to explain about Ulwazzi. He, and Katie, wondered how the man knew certain things, beginning with the fact that there were no Were people in Anatolia.

“How would he even know who the Were people are, especially if there are not any around?” Lincoln asked.

“Good point,” Mingus agreed.

Barak got some tea before he spoke. “Someone is refining the opium. They have made heroine, I figure more than four thousand years ahead of schedule. That is two to four times the potency of the opiates that naturally occur, and I need to stop that distribution. Whoever is synthesizing the stuff has been working with a dealer in Kish, now dead, and has gotten some of the kings and rulers hooked on the stuff. Imagine a heroine empire with the drug dealers in control.”

“I should go,” Roland stood. “The day is getting on, but I should be fine,” Roland assured Boston. “I figure it will be after midnight before the wolf catches us, if he catches us tonight at all.”

“And this is the third and last night for the moon,” Alexis agreed.

Roland picked up his bow and a few arrows he got from the Hattians and headed out to hunt.

“Don’t know where we would be by now if we did not have Roland to bring home the bacon, so to speak.” Lincoln praised him.

Boston looked worried, Everyone assured her that he would be fine, but Barak had a question for Katie, because she also looked upset, and she never left Lockhart’s side. “Are you all right?”

“I killed two men last night. I had to. I understand there was no choice. I would have been killed, or worse, and probably everyone in the camp would have been killed with me. In fact, if they turned Elder Stow’s screen off, even by accident, I imagine the wolf would have killed everyone.” She looked at Decker. “I’m not seal trained. It is hard for me.”

Decker said nothing, but Barak nodded. “Stay close to Lockhart,” he grinned. “In fact, I think you should hold him in your sleep, just until you feel better and safe in the night.”

“I will,” Katie said. “You are the boss.” She took Lockhart’s arm and he looked like he wanted to object and not object at the same time.

“Ooh,” Hebat cooed. “That was sneaky good.” She leaned in for more nibbles on the ear and kisses on Barak’s cheek, and she gave it her floozy best.

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Be sure and catch tomorrow’s post for the conclusion of Avalon, Season 3, and the end of Episode 3.12 The Moon Goes Down

Avalon 3.12: part 3 of 5, Wolf in the Night

September 16, 2015September 11, 2015M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Lockhart opted not to give Ulwazzi a hard time about the bread. It may have been as he said, that others were responsible and he would find out who. Of course, no one expected him to find out before the travelers left in the morning, so they let it slide and enjoyed a good meal.

It was ten o’clock before Mingus had the strength to resist singing about the seventy-six trombones for the seventy-sixth time. “I swear, if he started on ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall I was going to hit him,” Decker said.

“Major!” Katie was inclined to scold her commanding officer again, but stopped when Lockhart took her hand.

“I would rather listen to Elder Stow snoring,” Lincoln agreed.

“Stop it,” Alexis laughed softly.

“Roland, Decker and Elder Stow take the first shift,” Lockhart spoke up. “Katie Boston and I will take the middle. Alexis, Lincoln, and Mingus, if he is able, can have the wee hours before dawn. Three hours on duty should give us six hours sleep.” He went to lie down by the fire where it was plenty warm, now that the rain had cleared off. He never let go of Katie’s hand, so she had to lie down with him.

“Do you mind?” Lockhart asked. Katie pulled herself up on his chest to where she could touch her lips to his. It was her way of saying she did not mind at all. “Good,” Lockhart returned the brief kiss. “I want to keep your rifle close.” Katie slapped his belly and then got comfortable in his shoulder.

The wolf came at midnight. They all woke to the screams in the workers huts and tents down the hill. One man, Puzziya, started the exodus by running to the strangers. Everyone else who could, followed. Elder Stow was right there with his equipment, and he looked at Lockhart who said, wait a minute. They had marked out roughly where the screen would project, and Lockhart wanted as many men inside the circle as they could get.

“Wolf coming,” Decker said, having his night goggles on.

“Flare,” Elder Stow warned, and sent one overhead as he had the night before. A few men screamed at the sudden light and some others picked up their feet when the wolf became visible.

“Elder Stow, now.” Lockhart said, and bit his tongue to keep from shouting, “Now already!” The wolf ended up outside the screen, but just barely. A few men also ended up outside the screen, but when they found their way blocked, they scattered for the buildings.

Puzziya screamed the first ten times the wolf raced up and threw itself against the screen with no affect. The wolf howled and started to dig, but Elder Stow assured everyone that the screen was a sphere, not a dome, so there was no way the wolf could dig under them.

After a while, the wolf went off, perhaps to hunt the men trapped outside the screen, or to see how far around the screen went. Elder Stow had set it to take in the building where they had supper, several out buildings, and the pen for the horses, thus keeping the horses contained and safe. He said, realistically, it would lose strength if he stretched it too far.

“If I could have made this whole mountain camp safe, I would have, but it is very big, and the werewolf appears to have some natural mystical properties that make it difficult to judge how strong it really is.”

“It is resistant to magic,” Alexis agreed. “Fortunately, not resistant to the poppies, but I could not guarantee it would sleep after it became human again, as I told you.”

“So now we all sleep?” Decker said, and Katie looked at Lockhart like she thought it was a wonderful idea.

“No, same schedule,” Lockhart insisted. “With all of the men up here, we have to double watch the horses and our equipment. Especially Elder Stow’s little screen maker. We don’t want someone innocently tampering with it and accidentally turning it off.”

People nodded and went back to bed, or got up for their turn, even as Ulwazzi staggered out of the big building followed by several men and a couple of female companions.

“It is the wolf that does not exist,” Puzziya said, and men began to babble many things. Ulwazzi put his hands up to hold them off and quiet them, but his eyes shot straight to Elder Stow’s equipment. Katie caught the look, even if no one else did, but she was going on watch and volunteered to watch the camp.

Boston and Lockhart wandered out to the edge of the pen. Boston’s horse Honey came over to greet them. “You know, night feels very different as an elf than as a human. I don’t know if I can explain it. It’s like I belong in the day and I’m an interloper in the night. As a human, night and day blended together much more. Maybe I was not as aware of when the sun went down and came up, especially the went down part.”

“But then, we are all more aware of these things, traveling the way we have been,” Lockhart agreed. “I was never much for campouts and cookouts as a kid, but you adjust.” He shrugged.

“Yes,” Boston grinned. “And I noticed you aren’t freaking out so much every time a little one shows up. ‘Course, I can’t say completely what you might do if we run into an ogre or something, but elves and fairies and dwarves and even dark elves don’t seem to freak you out as much.”

“Dark elves are still plenty creepy,” Lockhart admitted, and they looked out over the pen for a time while the full moon rose behind the distant hills. After Honey went back to the herd, and the horses settled down, like they knew they were secure for the night, Boston started again.

“I think in some ways being human is like a dream for me. I remember being human, but it feels sort of strange and ethereal.”

“I think this whole journey feels something like a dream for most of us,” Lockhart admitted.

“It does, but not like that,” Boston shook her head. “I mean like I was always supposed to be an elf. It feels right and natural. I can’t explain it, but it’s like I was born human by mistake, or maybe I’m like a changeling and got put in a human’s place, and now I am back where I belong. I mean, I love my parents and brothers, don’t get me wrong, but it is like all that time blends into a kind of dreamy state, now that I am who I should be.”

“Alexis said you were already mostly an elf even when you were human.”

“No not like that.” Boston paused and thought for a time before she continued. “There are lots of things I need to learn about being an elf, about culture and society and all that sort of thing. I missed out on a lot by not growing up elf, I know. But as far as being an elf, I feel like I am finally the way I am supposed to be, the person I am supposed to be, in my mind and in my heart, and, oh, everywhere.”

“Like you finally fit in,” Lockhart suggested.

Boston rolled her eyes. “I always fit in, and I never really fit in anywhere. I don’t expect that to change. But, yeah. I zoomed through school, looking for someplace to belong. If you had not come along and grabbed me from my doctoral program, I don’t know what I would have done. I can’t imagine what I would be doing right now. I never want to leave the Men in Black. That is my real home on earth, but now I am dreaming about Avalon, because that is my real home, and I think I knew that way back when we went there in search of Lincoln’s wife.”

“You did enjoy yourself much more than me,” Lockhart kidded her. “I just couldn’t figure out how to make your eyes get smaller and get you to stop saying wow every time we came around a corner.”

“Ha, ha.” Boston stuck her tongue out at him. “I never used to do that as a human, but now I’m allowed.” She paused again to think before she added,” but why would I not say wow at everything I saw?”

“Still, I have seen you change more than maybe you realize. What about the Kairos? That has to be different, now having a god you answer to.”

“And one I can love. Not so very different,” Boston said. “I thought Glen was the most wonderful and special awesome person in the world, and now I feel like I was proved right, that’s all.” There was gunfire in the camp, and Boston and Lockhart ran back, Boston arriving in almost no time. Lockhart took a bit longer.

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Next Monday and Tuesday, Avalon, episode 3.12 will be the final posts of the episode and of the season. Don’t miss it. If the travelers survive the night, there is still one more night of the wolf moon.