Wolv

Medieval 6: Giovanni 11 And the Wolv, part 2 of 2

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As they moved up the Rhine through the Black Forest, Titania became scared because of the stories Giovanni told. She feared the wicked witches and their ovens. She feared the trickster spirits that might require her to spin straw into gold. She especially feared the big bad wolf, and no amount of reassurance from Leonora, Baklovani, Sibelius, Needles, and the others made any difference. In fact, she believed so strongly, some of the people were inclined to blame her for their bad luck, though they did not hold it against her. Most said they understood.

At that time, Leonora found out there were more space aliens than she imagined. What happened was the Gott-Druk, that is the Neanderthals who left Earth between twenty and forty thousand years ago and had all that time to work on space technology brought a whole brigade of Wolv to the area to see how long it would take the wild ones to clean out an area from human habitation. The Gott-Druk wanted to repopulate their ancient homeland, which was essentially Europe, but they had to first get rid of the humans living there.

The Wolv looked much like their name but with snub noses like a bear. On their home world, they lived in tribes in a kind of neolithic existence of hunter-gatherers, though they did not gather much. They were carnivores and always hungry. When they stood on their hind feet, they were also seven feet tall and with fangs and front claws that could shred a man in armor. Most important, they could be trained to work together as first-rate soldiers. They had their own language and could communicate with each other. They were not just dumb beasts.

The circus and the people in Baden-Baden locked the gates of the town. They had a wall, but it was made of wood and not anything that would keep out six hundred hungry Wolv. The local priest came up angry and ready to accuse the circus of bringing this evil on them, but he got surprised when Giovanni asked him to say a special mass and lead a time of prayer for the safety of all the people. He got doubly surprised when the circus people sat in the front row and prayed fervently for the Lord to deliver them from the Wolv. The priest still though the circus might be an evil thing in its own way, but at least he realized that against the Wolv, they were all in the same predicament.

Fortunately, the Elenar, that is, the Denisovan people who were cousins and rivals of the Gott-Druk had been watching and followed the Gott-Druk to Earth. They were able to chase away the Gott-Druk and stop the Wolv from doing too much damage. Though no circus people died, many of the men in the town did not survive the attack. Two days later, the circus left town and headed north.

“Do you think the Elenar got them all?” Oberon asked while the circus made for Karlsruhe.

“Quiet,” Giovanni scolded Oberon and his mouth. “Don’t even suggest that they didn’t.”

Of course, the Elenar did not get them all, being mostly concerned with the Gott-Druk. Soon enough, the circus ran into a three-Wolv scout team that was terrorizing the whole area around Heidelberg. It was nearly June by then and Giovanni started pushing the group, though not so fast that they ran into the jaws of the Wolv.

The circus camped south of the city so they could go in at first light and set up for the day of festivities. Leonora and Needles, were the first to hear the howls in the distance. Madam Figiori began to shout and gather the people around the elephant tent. Titania, Baklovani, and Constantine hid where Ravi and Surti desperately tried to keep the elephants calm. Vader brought his knives. Leonardo the horseman and Rugello the fire eater both brought their swords. Others had something like weapons, and Severas had Sir Brutus the bear on his leash. That was probably not a good idea as the bear became very agitated and threatened to break loose at any minute. Pinky the monkey screeched every now and then and that did not help anyone’s nerves.

The Wolv came out of the dark. The first came directly toward them, and the other two held back a minute before they approached the sides more carefully. When the Wolv got close enough, just before it charged, Vader threw a well-aimed knife, followed quickly by more until he ran out of knives. The Wolv did not appeared terribly bothered by having knives sticking out of its hide here and there, until it tried to stand on its hind legs. The legs collapsed. Vader must have cut through to a major muscle group.

“I was right,” Giovanni mumbled as he knew the other two Wolv would come from the sides. Only a loud trumpet like a war cry from Mombo made them hesitate. “If the Wolv broke through the gate in Baden-Baden where the circus was deployed, this circus would not have lasted a minute. He traded places with Nameless and everything froze except he let Leonora and his little ones still move.

Oberon came up holding his bow, though dwarfs were notoriously bad shots. Sibelius came holding his big hammer that only he could lift. Madam Figiori came from the other side with Needles as Leonora grabbed on to Nameless and tried not to look.

Nameless merely waved his hand and the two Wolv on the sides turned to dust. Then he moved out to the wounded one. It is not normally wise to approach any wounded animal. To approach a wounded Wolv might be considered a form of suicide. But in this case, the Wolv did not even growl. It stuck its neck out for the headsman’s axe and plainly said the Greek word, “Kairos.” It was crippled and in Wolv thinking, the crippled were a drag on the tribe and needed to be done away with. This Wolv wanted to die.

“This is not the first time Wolv have come to Earth,” Nameless told Leonora. “In fact, they have over a thousand years of history of being brought by their masters to fight on earth. They once tried to invade, back in the time of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Despite the conquests of Trajan before him, Hadrian, you might know, gave back much of the land, and made peace. He lost too many men—whole legions fighting off the Wolv. He did not have much choice but to be a peacemaker.”

Nameless turned to the Wolv and asked. “Are there any more Wolv around?” He took a breath and took a look in the Wolv’s chaotic mind. As far as this one knew, they were the last. Just to be sure, Nameless let his senses stretch out through that whole section of the lands of Aesgard. He found no more Wolv so he let it go.

Nameless traded places with another man who appeared in the armor of the Kairos, the great sword Wyrd across his back. The new man immediately shouted, “No. Why d-do I have to d-do it?” But he did not hesitate as the Wolv sat patiently waiting for judgment. He pulled that sword and said, “God forgive me.” In one swift move he cleanly cut the head off the beast and fell to his knees in prayer, asking for forgiveness. Leonora wanted to run to him but she did not dare until he changed back to Giovanni. Then she cried on his back until he stood and wrapped her up in his arms.

Later, Oberon said, “Three strikes, you’re out.”

“I know,” Giovanni responded. The Masters would soon know if they did not already know that he was the Kairos. That would put a target on his back. He chose not to think about that. He stayed busy reassuring the circus that the Wolv were now gone for good.

Titania said it was her worst nightmare. She decided that maybe she was spending too much time with Madam Figiori and maybe that was rubbing off on her. For sure, tales of the big bad wolf would ring through that part of Germany for many years to come.

Avalon 9.5 Men in Black, part 6 of 6

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Elizabeth felt sorry for the Wolv.  If his cryogenic chamber malfunctioned in some way, he may have spent the last five or six hundred years slowly dying.   “Lockhart.  Please remind the Wolv that he does not belong on this planet.”

Lockhart had to think about it.  After a moment, he made some sounds that the Men in Black did not know a human could make, but the Wolv appeared to understand.  It made some similar sounds, and then said one thing plainly in English or Greek for all to hear.  “Kairos.”

Diogenes objected.  He did this already, once before, in the future…  He agreed and came to stand in Elizabeth’s place, the armor adjusting automatically to his shape and size.  He pulled Wyrd from the sheath across his back, said, “God forgive me,” in the Macedonian dialect.  He chopped the Wolv head off in one clean sweep.  He went to one knee, holding tight to the sword like a cross and prayed for forgiveness.  Several of the men, and Bram who had caught up with them, went to their knees with him, not doubting his intentions.

When Diogenes stood, he traded places immediately with Elizabeth, who returned in her dress and quickly pulled it up out of the muck at her feet.  “Boots,” she said, and her lady boots were instantly replaced by the boots from her armor.  They came up to her knees and would keep her feet much warmer.  “Good,” Elizabeth said.  “Now we can get on with the business we came here for.”

“You mean, this is not why we came here?” Sir Leslie asked.

“It was first, but there is more important work to attend to.”

“What on Earth might that be?” Conner O’Neil asked.

“The lights flying through the night sky,” Jack said, having figured it out.

Lockhart and Decker laughed, and Katie spoke.  “Welcome to the world of the Kairos.  There is always something more.”

A half-day’s ride down the loch brought the travelers and Men in Black to a scene that Elizabeth both expected and prepared for.  When she stopped short of the event, and all eyes turned to her, Elder Stow turned on his screen device.  One of the aliens they confronted tried his handgun.  It did not even register on the screens, but Elder Stow and several of the travelers looked at Elizabeth.  She spoke to everyone and pointed.

The ones with the big heads, big eyes, holes for a nose, and no lips are Reichgo.  Their genesis planet was the Pendratti world, now devoid of life and ready to be swallowed as their sun goes red giant.  The Little circular metal box floating over there is the Kargill.  No one sees the Kargill.  The one in the middle is the Zalanid.  His home world has been destroyed by the war between the Kargill and the Reichgo, but the Zalanid have taken it upon themselves to negotiate a peace between the two sides.”

“Is that an insect?” Duchamp asked, like he might have a phobia for wasps and such.

“Not really,” Elizabeth offered.  The Zalanid looked human enough in his arms, hands, legs, and head.  His feet did look a bit insect-like and his waist was skinny as a wasp.  Plus, his face looked normal enough, but like he dipped his face in acid, or got hit in the face with several buckets of ugly.  He was hard to look at, but he smiled for the crew, his natural disposition, and already the people were thinking he might be a nice person.  “The Zalanid and the Kargill were made on the same planet—a third genesis planet closer to the galactic center.  Of course, they do not know this, but it may be why the Kargill can relate to the Zalanid where the Kargill doesn’t want to even talk to us or the Reichgo, or any other species for that matter.  The Kargill is very private.  Now, I must go.  You all need to stay here.”

Elizabeth got down from her horse, traded places with the goddess Danna, and phased through Elder Stow’s screens to confront the aliens.  Sure enough, the same Reichgo that tried its weapon against Elder Stow’s screens fired on Danna.  Danna did not even break her stride.  She said, “This meeting is being broadcast on the Zalanid planet where right now the Zalanid are trying to negotiate a peace between the Reichgo and the Kargill.  They will see and hear everything.”

Danna raised her hand and every Reichgo weapon or what might be used as a weapon vacated the Reichgo hands and pouches.  It all appeared in midair, and as Danna closed her hand, the weapons squished together into a little ball of metal before it disappeared.  She snapped her finger, and the trigger-happy Reichgo appeared before her.  “That is not permitted on this world,” she said and snapped her finger again.  The Reichgo vanished.  He appeared on the planet of the Zalanid, millions of light years distant, but she did not tell the Reichgo that.  She began again.

“This is a Genesis planet where intelligent life is created.  It is one of only a half-dozen planets in the galaxy.  Other worlds may develop life, but intelligent life is special, unless you behave stupidly.  Now listen very carefully and hear what Helen has to tell you.”  She did not say who Helen was.  She just reached back to Sherwood Forest and traded with the girl she had once been.  Danna left an aura of protection around the girl in case someone got incredibly stupid, but Helen came, not in the armor of the Kairos, but dressed in her own dress and smiling her own smile.

“By right of discovery and first landing, this planet is a Kargill planet.  The Reichgo may visit here, but only visit.  They are to limit all contact with the native population, and in no way interfere with the natural course and development of the life on this planet, intelligent or otherwise.  That is the law, spoken.”  Helen, a thirteen-year-old girl, turned to the travelers and got a big smile.  “Hello friends.  It is wonderful to see you again.  I have to go now.  I think I have to marry the miller’s son.  Goodbye.”  She blew a kiss and waved, and Danna returned.  It took a second to wipe the smile from her face before she could turn again to the aliens.

“The law has been spoken.  The Reichgo need to leave and leave this world alone.  The Kargill may park at the bottom of the lake for the moment.  You may keep the Zalanid in suspension as long as he is willing.  I will need him for the moment.  When I return him to the lake, you may send a shuttle for him.  Then you must park in the depths of the ocean where you will not be seen or found.  Henceforth, you must send the Zalanid to tell my Men in Black when this planet is in danger of an alien intrusion.  Those native to this world may be permitted to visit, but all other outsiders do not belong.  You may watch and listen, which I know is your inclination.  It that clear?”

The floating metal box blinked a light once.

“Good,” Danna said and turned to the Reichgo.  “There will be no fighting on this world.  This is a genesis planet and a sanctuary world, now, begone.”  She waved her arm and the Reichgo vanished from that place.  Only a few moments later, the travelers and Men in Black saw a ship take to the sky.  The metal box dove into the lake where the Kargill ship had already parked, as Danna knew.  The Zalanid looked at Danna, willing, though not without some trepidation.  Danna waved her hand once more and the Zalanid became clothed in a full-length jacket and some fine-looking boots.  “This world is made up of nation states and many different cultures.  But all the people on this world are human.  When you are sent among us, you must be clothed to appear as human as possible.”  Danna changed to Elizabeth in her dress.  Elder Stow took down the screens and Elizabeth continued speaking as if she was the same person as Danna, which in a real sense she was.

“You will be called Mister Smith among the humans.  It is a very common name.  I am Lady Elizabeth Stewart MacLean of Gray Havens.  Allow me to introduce the Men in Black who belong in this time zone.  It is the custom in this place to shake hands when introduced.”  She took the Zalanid’s hand and shook it to show what she meant.  Then she took the Zalanid’s arm like a lady might take a gentleman’s arm.  She introduced Sir Leslie and Jack Horner as the founders of the London branch of the Men in Black.  They looked reluctant but shook the offered hand only to find it felt human enough.  Mister Smith was a fast learner, and he laughed before he objected.

“You say men in black, but this one is dressed in red.  And I see much red, green and blue, unless my translation device is malfunctioning.”

“Men in Black is an organization title.  I am sure in time they will dress in black, but meanwhile the one in blue is Jean Duchamp.  He is French and works from the Paris office…”  She continued from there, introducing DeWindt, David Wallach, MacDonald and Campbell as founders of the Scottish office, and Conner O’Neil as their man in Ireland.  “Now, let me introduce the Travelers from Avalon.  They are time travelers come back from three hundred and sixty years in the future.

“You cannot travel in time,” Mister Smith said, but then considered Elizabeth and changed his mind.

Elizabeth spoke candidly.  “I am the Traveler in time, the Watcher over history who is tasked to make sure it comes out the way it has been written.”

“And how do you know the way it is written?” Jack Horner asked.

“I have lived in the future.  I read the book,” she said.  “But you must pay attention because Lockhart is the assistant director of the Men in Black in the future.  He can tell you some real stories, some of which you might not want to hear.”

“But say,” Sir Leslie interrupted.  “How did you know that the Reichgo and Kargill… and Mister Smith would be here right now?  That could not have been coincidence.”

Elizabeth looked up at the nearby tree.  “Heather,” she yelled, and the fairy fluttered down to say hello to the travelers before she landed on Elizabeth’s shoulder as far away from Mister Smith as she could get.

“Oh yes,” Sir Leslie said.  “I had forgotten.”

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

MONDAY

The travelers find a Mohawk to guide them through hostile territory to the big Swede, Lars of the Lenape in episode 9.6 Earth and Sky Until then, Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 9.5 Men in Black, part 5 of 6

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The Buchanans, Lady Elizabeth, and the Men in Black examined the escape pod.  Clyde and his father hauled it up on shore.  It had been there, underwater, for as long as anyone in the clan could remember.  People ignored it, not knowing what it might be.  Elizabeth explained the basics.  Jack Horner, David, and DeWindt seemed to grasp things well enough.  Duchamp took notes which he said he did not understand.  MacDonald and Campbell gave up arguing and started telling jokes which Conner O’Neil did not find nearly as funny as their arguments.  Bram and Clyde Buchanan explained their part in this fiasco.

“Clyde heard the wolf.  So did his mother.  Between them, they pinpointed this old Roman thing.  We always thought it was some old Roman thing.  The wolf was not seen in the nearby wetlands at this time, as it had been in the past, but we got the men of our family and neighbors to help us drag the thing to shore.  It took all day, and we gave it a rest.  We feasted in Bramwell Hall, my home, but young Clyde, being a curious boy, stayed to examine the globe more closely.  He found the door.  Then he found some buttons which he just had to push, and for which he has been rightly whipped.”

“Come and see,” Elizabeth called to the men, and they squeezed into the pod as well as they could.  She began to point out things against the wall.  “The power gauge.  It is about half-charged since it came out from the water and is getting the light, even if it is just the poor light of a Scottish winter.”  She moved her hands along the wall in that place and console pushed out from the wall.  She studied it for a second before she made her pronouncement.

“There are six sleep chambers in this pod.  Three have been emptied.  Three still have Wolv inside, but the life signs are gone.  To be blunt, they are dead.  My estimate is these have been here since the incursion into the Black Forest around a thousand AD, only about six hundred and fifty years ago.  The Romans left long before that.  These arrived about the time the Vikings began to attack the shores.”

Elizabeth pushed a button to uncover all six sleep chambers at once.  Several men screamed at the sight.  Three chambers were empty as she said, though they all showed residue as if they had been used.  Three held Wolv.  One Wolv looked long dead, like melted in some way so it was hard to distinguish the form and features.  One looked like a soldier at attention. All the men recognized that when they stopped screaming.  One, a female, might have been a queen.  She stood tall and looked proud, in so far as they could read Wolv expressions.

“This is the distress call.”  She turned it off.  “There is a short in the system besides.  But basically, this and all the other systems function under full power, but when the power level drop below a certain point, all the systems get shut down except the life support system designed to keep the occupants alive.  Underwater, the pod had filtered Scottish sunlight at best, which probably charged things slowly.  It might have taken years to charge up enough to turn the systems back on, and even then, the distress call would have flickered and might have been off for most of the time.  Bram.  Are there any legends in the clan about livestock going missing or being shredded, or maybe people?

Bram appeared to be thinking hard.  “Around the time you mentioned, some six hundred or so years ago, lots of things happened and I always imagined the stories got blended together, somehow.  “We had reports of wolves seen around the lake.  We had reports of a monster in the lake.  Mostly, the stories talked about the big jaws and teeth, but it was like a monster that would suddenly appear and then disappear just as suddenly.  We had reports of Vikings.  Some came to the loch.  They got blamed for most of the shredded livestock and people.  There was a great wolf hunt in those days, and the wolf got killed, but then there have continued to be reports now and then of a wolf being seen around the lake.”

“Probably picked up by a small number of people sensitive to such things,” Elizabeth said, partly to herself.  “The other earth is out of phase right now, so there are no actual, active witches presently.  But back seventy-five years and for all those years before, anyone sensitive to the magic might have picked up on the distress call.”

“What do you mean, there are no actual witches?”  Jack Horner sounded more surprised than offended.

“Later.  I promise,” Elizabeth responded to him before she talked to the rest.  “At least one of the Wolv got out when the escape pod crashed.  It probably could not figure out how to get the pod up out of the water without help.  But then, it got hunted down, so you see they can be killed.  Now, we have one or two Wolv on the loose.  They will require some careful hunting.”

“People have been eaten,” young Clyde Buchanan spoke up for the first time.  “And livestock has gone missing as you said.”

“I have littered the woods with traps,” Bram said.

Elizabeth shook her head.  “I would be surprised if a Wolv stepped in one.  They might step on a well disguised landmine, but a trap would just bloody them without holding them.  They would get out of the trap and be extra angry.  Trust me, they are naturally mad.  You don’t want to make them extra angry.”

“My friend Ella’s grandmother got shredded in her bed,” Clyde said.  “Ella went to take some treats to her grandmother’s house in the woods and found the old woman half-eaten.  It was terrible.”

Elizabeth grinned, though there was nothing humorous in the story.  “Let us go up to the house where it is warm to plan our attack and have a bit of lunch,” she said, and people began to walk with her.  “I will tell you all a story from Bavaria in the Germanies.  The story is called Little Red Riding Hood.”

David perked up.  “I have heard that story.”  He smiled before his expression turned sour.  “I never imagined it might be a true story.”

Two days later, with plenty of Buchanan help, Elizabeth and her Men in Black backed the Wolv into a marshland beside the lake.  Plenty of bushes and trees littered the area, but the ground had turned mostly to slush in the winter—ice mixed with freezing rain.  Even the spots that appeared frozen over might crack and cover the foot with ice-cold water.

“It won’t be easy getting them out of there,” Sir Leslie admitted.

“Normally, I do not recommend backing dangerous people into a corner.  Some tend to lash out when they feel trapped,” Elizabeth said.  She looked carefully left and right and figured only the Men in Black would see.  She called for the armor of the Kairos, which replaced her dress faster than a blink.  She imagined the sword called Salvation, which she used in the past, worked out with, and knew she could lift, but she found Wyrd, her biggest and heaviest sword at her back.  She pulled Defender, her long knife, and saw Clyde slide up to the group.  He came with a message but could not resist commenting first.

“Lordy-lordy!  Where did you get that armor?  You look great.”

Elizabeth smiled.  She knew she was not the prettiest girl.  Far from it.  But she appreciated the compliment, in part because she got so few of them.  “We have to be extra careful.  You have a message?”

“Yes,” he began, but people all stopped when the group next to the Men in Black got suddenly attacked by the Wolv.  They had seen it twice in two days.  One time, a man said he got a shot off and swore he hit the beast.  Now, they all saw the caked on and frozen blood on the beast’s shoulder, but only for a moment as the blood there went everywhere. The three men there did not have time to draw their knives, much less fire their guns.  The Wolv appeared to be making a way of escape from the trap, and it looked like he would make it before they all heard a gunshot, followed by several gunshots in rapid fire.  Finally, a streak of power hit the Wolv, and the upper portion of the Wolv burst into flame.  The Wolv collapsed and Elizabeth heard Sukki in the distance.

“Sorry.  Sorry.  I hope none of the people got burned.”

Soft words got spoken in return, and the travelers rode up, the locals getting well out of the way, given the power they just saw.  Elizabeth alone was not surprised.

“Lockhart.  Good timing for once, but I think there is another one.”

“Elizabeth?” Lincoln asked.

“No.  I just look exactly like her and borrowed the armor on a whim to show off my legs,” she said in her sarcastic best.  She might not be pretty, but she had nice legs.  She opened her arms and called for Sukki.  As she hugged the girl, she said kind and very motherly things to her.  Then she had a request, and Sukki was willing.  “I need you and Elder Stow to fly invisible over the swampy area and see if there is another Wolv hidden in the bushes.  You need to let us know.  Then let Elder Stow become visible over that spot, because he has a personal screen, but you need to stay invisible in case the Wolv has a handgun.  We will come to that spot, but you need to keep us appraised as to what the Wolv is doing.  Can you do that?”

They did that while Nanette, Tony, and Lincoln patched up the one Buchanan that would survive and gave what they had to the other two to make their last moments more comfortable.  The rest of the travelers with the Men in Black moved as soon as Sukki found the Wolv.  The old, gray haired Wolv never moved, and when they arrived, they saw why.  Its rear legs looked shriveled and useless, and it looked old enough to where some of its fur was missing, showing bald patches of skin.  The Wolv looked at them and growled, but there was no strength in the sound.  It looked old and tired and ready to end life.

Avalon 9.5 Men in Black, part 4 of 6

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Elizabeth and her Men in Black ended up staying three days in Glasgow.  Elizabeth spoiled her children.  Erin and the children’s nursemaid did their fair share of spoiling as well.  Sir Leslie was very generous.  Jack Horner said something about sparing the rod and spoiling the child.  MacDonald and Campbell argued most of the time about stupid things, like which clan made the best haggis.  O’Neil, the Irishman laughed a lot.  Duchamp and DeWindt made peace with David, and found they had many things about which they could relate, not the least their all being from the continent and wanting nothing to do with haggis.  James and John watched over the women and children, but then, everyone had questions. In the evenings, Elizabeth did her best to answer the question she could.

Our Earth was formed about four and a half billion years ago.  The creation of the universe was more than twice that many years ago.  There are star-suns that have planets that are twice as old as Earth.  Some planets are just now forming around some star-suns.”

“What is a billion?” David asked what many wondered.  Elizabeth went through the numbers.

“One, ten, one hundred, one thousand.  One thousand, ten thousand one hundred thousand, one million.  One million, ten million, one hundred million, one billion.  One billion, four and a half billion when the earth was formed.  She showed with her hands and arms.  The universe was created more than ten billion years ago.”

“Good Lord,” Jack spouted at the incomprehensible number.  “But look.  The Holy Book tells us the age of the earth is six thousand years old.”

“The age of modern humans.  There were many ages before that.  In the beginning, in our beginning, a darkness was on the face of the earth and the Spirit of God moved across the waters.  The whole earth had been flooded.”

“Noah?” DeWindt asked.

“Not yet,” Elizabeth said and struggled to find the best way to explain it all.  “The Earth entered a cold spell and much of the land became covered with ice.  The seabed lowered.  It is a long story, but basically, the ice all melted at once.  A moon, not our moon and not Venus, bumped the earth roughly on the north pole and set it to wobbling.  The Earth cracked and erupted if you know what a volcano is.  The ice all melted at once and the sky filled with steam, ash, dust, and smoke, so the world fell into darkness.  I mean dark as night, not an evil darkness, though it may have been that as well.”

“Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light,” Jack recited.

“The sky cleared,” Elizabeth continued with a nod.  “And some men were saved through that flood, though I am not at liberty to say how.  The other people who were made on this world were taken off world to planets of their own.”

“Wait…” Sir Leslie wanted to object but Elizabeth held up her hand.

“This is a Genesis planet, one of only half a dozen in this galaxy—in this area of space.  You know what Genesis means.  I should not have to explain that.  But in four and a half billion years, many people have been made here.  After the meltdown, flood, and let there be light, only humans remained, mostly.  People built a world-wide culture, all speaking the same language.  It was a garden-like existence, for sure, but the people screwed it up.  You know, like Adam and Eve.   The earth began to freeze over again until the asteroids, some comets trailing after the little moon that hit and glanced off the north pole, caught up with us and smashed into several places, notably Greenland.  Everything melted suddenly again.  That was Noah.”

“But the age of the earth…”  Jack was not for giving up.

“Six thousand years ago, or a little more, there was another change event.  Nimrod the moron built a tower.  In Scripture it is called the Tower of Babel, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.  And God said he would never again destroy the Earth by waters of a flood for as long as the Earth abides.  Let me say, the ages represented in the Bible are correct, only there is some missing information not meant for the general public in this day and age.  Basically, after Noah, people stopped living for eight hundred years and eventually started living eighty.  But that was gradual, and there are scientific reasons for that which I am not prepared to go into.  A narrowed population will do that.  But consider this, all the men mentioned in the Book of Hebrews trusted God, though they never witnessed the promise when the Messiah walked among us.  They lived faithfully, though they did not know the whole story.  So, let me just say the languages became confused after Babel, marking the beginning of modern man, and I was first born under that doomed tower to try and keep track of it all.”  She paused to let them digest that bit of information and was not disappointed by Jack.

“Good Lord.”

###

The travelers reached Perth on one of the few sunny days.  The road to Sterling would be a push if the weather turned, but they figured they might make it in a day.  It would be another day after that to reach Glasgow, which appeared to be where the Kairos settled.  Lincoln read about the alien encounters and the Men in Black that began in 1649, but as usual, he was not sure what it was safe to say until certain events played out.  He understood both Katie and Tony were past their era of expertise.  They would not necessarily know more than the others.  He wondered if it was safe to mention that Charles I, King of Scotland, England, and Ireland would be beheaded at the end of the month.  He would have to think about that.

Katie and Nanette noticed and confirmed a familiar face among the patrons in the inn.  The man sat with friends at a nearby table.  They confronted the man over supper in the big room, and Katie named the man.  “Bishop Pierre Cauchon.”

The man looked up from his seat.  They saw his face and imagined his mind raced through a hundred ways to deny what they called him, but in the end, he smiled and said, “You got me.”

“Lord Peter?” one of the men seated with him wondered what these women were talking about.

“It is Lord Peter Cameron, actually, and being a good covenanter, we will leave the bishop part in the past.”

Nanette remembered Joan of Arc, that lovely young girl they met so briefly in that day, and she spoke.  “Condemn any innocent young women for witchery lately?”  Her voice sounded hard and full of anger.

“Not lately,” the man said in a voice that suggested he may have used the charge of witchcraft at some point or other.  “I have been busy with my assignment, helping Scotland shatter to pieces.  We have Montrose, royalists, covenanters, engagers, clans fighting clans, and Argyll the stubborn fighting everyone.  I’ll admit, the battle of Sterling did not turn out the way I wanted.  I was hoping for all-out war, but we take what we can get.”

Lockhart and Decker came up to fetch the women to their table, and Katie spoke.  “Why would you want Scotland divided?  Though I assume the Masters would not want peace in general.”

Lord Peter smiled some more.  “Invasion,” he answered.  “Most of Scotland will stay home when the invasion comes.  They will not take up arms to fight alongside people who they count as enemies and traitors.  Scotland will fall to a military dictatorship, and it will happen centuries before Hitler.  And the Scottish will not rebel, so there will be no reason the greatly improved army should not invade the continent.  Soon enough, the army on the continent will make a pact with the Vassas and the Hapsburgs to fight the Ottomans, and we will have the First World War two hundred years ahead of time.  Of course, the Masters hope they beat each other senseless, but one can only hope.”

“Cromwell is not that kind of man,” Katie said, as Lord Peter stood and got his men up from their meal.

“A push here.  A whisper there.  Men are malleable,” he said, and marched for the door, his men following.

“What was that about?” Decker asked.

“Why did that man look familiar?” Lockhart asked.

“Bishop Pierre Cauchon who killed Joan of Arc.  Now, Lord Peter Cameron planning to turn Oliver Cromwell into Adolph Hitler and bring war to the entire continent and beyond.”

Lockhart looked at the door and reached for his handgun.  Decker ran to the door, but the man was not to be found.  He cursed when he returned.

“You should have killed him on the spot,” he said.

“Decker?” Nanette asked what he meant by that and only partly protested.

“Servant of the Masters and a repeat face that is not one of the good guys.  That is an enemy combatant.  You should have shot him immediately.”

“Decker?” Nanette asked again, not knowing what to ask, but Katie spoke.

“Yes.  I should have.”

###

Elizabeth said goodbye to her children in the morning and sent them on the way to Gray Havens.  In the afternoon, Sir Leslie and Jack Horner came up with another question.  Jack quoted the scriptures.

“It is appointed a man once to die and after this the judgment.”

Sir Leslie added, “I assume that goes for women, too.”

Elizabeth nodded.  “But that is just it.  God won’t let me die.  Oh, I feel all the pain and loss of death.  It is hard every time.  I get right up to the point of going over to the Heavenly shores, and my spirit gets stuck in another womb, like it or not.  I have no say in the matter, and nine months later, I get born somewhere new on the planet.  As a baby, I have no idea I ever lived before.  Those thoughts don’t occur to me until I am twelve…  Ten?  Thirteen or fourteen?  It varies.  But then I discover things are happening that will throw all of history off track unless I act.  So, we are acting.”

“That must be hard,” Sir Leslie said in his most sympathetic voice.  “To die again and again and never be allowed to go to heaven.”

“Who?” Jack asked, but she knew what he was asking.

“I call them friends in the future.  They may be angels deciding where I need to go.  In any case, they could only do such a thing under God’s watchful eye.”

“Assuredly,” Jack said.

Elizabeth stopped the group in front of a big house in the country.  She pulled a handkerchief and dabbed her eyes, before she got down and said, “The home of Bram Buchanan.  His son, Clyde evidently set the Wolv free.”

Avalon 9.5 Men in Black, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“When you say Wolv, I assume you don’t mean an ordinary wolf,” Sir Leslie said as he rode up beside Elizabeth.  It stopped raining for the time being, so Erin pulled her horse back to make room.

Elizabeth grinned.  “They can run on all fours, but their front paws can function like hands.  When they stand on their hind legs, they are maybe six or seven feet tall.  Their mouth is like something between a wolf and a bear—maybe a snub-nosed wolf, and the teeth are like daggers.  They are constantly hungry and strictly carnivores.  They eat people.”

“Sounds bad.”

“Oh, it is worse,” Elizabeth continued.  “They are intelligent.”

“They are clever?  Very clever?”

Elizbeth shook her head.  “Intelligent,” she said.  “They have a language and talk to one another, share ideas and so forth.  At one time, they had access to a technology more advanced than anything you would understand.  This one has probably been asleep for more than a thousand years.  It is a special kind of sleep where they don’t age.  The problem is the material they sleep in begins to break down and degrades after a thousand years or so.  Think of it like old bread that starts to get moldy, or milk that goes sour.  If the Wolv has been set free from rancid material, there is no telling what condition it may be in.  Mad, certainly, but that might be hard to tell from normal Wolv behavior.”

“And how did you get wind of this?” Sir Leslie asked before he shook his head.  “Of course, the fairies.”

“Not exactly,” Elizabeth said.  “There have been reports of wolf scares around the lake going back for centuries. That suggests an escape pod from a ship.  Something like a longboat with sailors needing rescue from a sunken ship.  The pod has an automatic distress signal limited only by the rechargeable power source.  Needs sunlight.  Not a problem in space.  It notes who is in stasis and projects that information in the distress.  It almost guarantees Lord so-and-so will be picked up by someone, and even if he is then held for ransom, at least he is alive.  Anyway, my guess is the projector malfunctioned in some way and it projected on the wetlands around the lake like a ghost image.”

“I had not heard of that,” Sir Leslie said.  “I heard of a monster in Loch Ness, but not Loch Lomond.”

“The projected image probably did not last long, and it would stop and take time to recharge, maybe decades, before it could send the message again.  That suggests the pod is buried or more likely, underwater, stuck in the mud where it gets at best very filtered sunlight.”

“But now the Wolv has gotten free.”  Jack Horner spoke from behind where he moved up next to Erin.

“Do we need to capture it?” Sir Leslie asked.

Elizabeth shook her head again.  “Sadly, there is no way to send it back into space, and some species are too dangerous to be left running free.”

“So, we hunt the Wolv and end its days,” Jack said.  “My powder is dry.”

Sir Leslie looked back at the man with a thought.  “But I have a feeling this is not all we are looking for.”  He turned to Elizabeth.  “Something you said.  What more is there?”

Elizabeth hesitated because she did not know what to say.  Finally, she came out with it. “Lights in the night sky.  Moving lights seen even when the sky is clouded over, and no stars are visible.  It clearly indicates something is up there flying around, checking us out, looking for a place to set down.”

“I don’t understand,” Sir Leslie admitted.  “What do you mean, set down?”

“Land,” she answered.  “Probably attracted to the distress call.  Listen, I have already used the ship at sea image.  Consider it a ship, but instead of floating on water, it floats on the air.  When a ship at sea makes landfall, they reach the shore and sometimes sail off the coast for a time looking for a good place to come ashore.  It is honestly no different with spaceships.  They fly close to the earth but stay in the air until they find the place where they want to land.”

“I see that.  It makes sense,” Sir Leslie thought about it.

“But what are these alien people looking for?” Jack asked.

Elizabeth shrugged.  “What does the Englishman want with the natives in New England or Virginia, or the Africans along the Gold and Ivory coasts?”

Sir Leslie grumbled.  “Gold and Ivory.  Every precious thing the people have.  Land, and most of all, slaves.”

Jack countered.  “We bring them civilization and the true faith.”

“They have their own civilization,” Elizabeth said.  “It is just different from our way of thinking.”

“They have slaves of their own,” Jack responded.  “Some of them are headhunters and cannibals.  I heard the natives in New Spain practiced human sacrifice.  They cut out people’s hearts.”

“And the celts used to build wicker cages for their enemies in order to sacrifice them to the flames.  The Romans used to crucify their enemies and criminals.  To this day, Moslems go to war in order to impose their prophet on the whole world, and we fine Englishmen, when someone won’t agree to our way and believe the way we believe, we chop their heads off.  What is your point?”

Jack fell silent, but Leslie had a thought, and another question.

“Basically, there is no way we can know what these alien people might want.”

Elizabeth shook her head once again.

“But say, where do these aliens come from?  You have not made that clear.”

Elizabeth had to think again as they climbed a hill.  She stopped at the top where the wagons and the others could go around.  They saw a village in the valley, and would stop there for the night, though at this rate it might take them three whole days to reach Glasgow, and maybe another two days to the loch, and another three for the children to reach home in Gray Havens.  Finally, Elizabeth spoke.

“Look down into the village.  There, in the center square.  What is that?”

Sir Leslie squinted.  He might need glasses.  Jack hesitated before he spoke.

“A tree.  Maybe an Elm.”

“Yes,” Sir Leslie nodded.  “A tree.  I can’t claim Elm.”

“It looks so small and hard to see because it is so far away.  It is no different when you look up into the night sky.  On a clear night, you might see some small lights in the sky, but you know, being educated, that a few of those small lights are actually planets, like the Earth, only they look small because they are so very far away.  We call them Venus, Jupiter, and Mars.”

“You are not suggesting these aliens are from Mars, are you?”

Elizabeth smiled.  “Martians would be too rich, but no, they come from much further away.  Do you know what the stars are?”

Sir Leslie nodded.  “I understand they are like sparks of the sun, or like the sun in some way.”

“They are suns.  Some are bigger than our sun.  They only look small to our eyes because they are so very far away, like the tree.”

“Good Lord,” Jack spouted.  “The distance must be enormous.”

“Indeed,” Elizabeth said.  “And it is only natural to assume those distant suns have planets of their own; planets like Earth where life exists and where some of that life has learned to fly, and even fly between the stars.  Some of the people from out there look like us, or similar to us, or like things that we have some familiarity with.  Like the Wolv.  Some look very different from us.  But here is the key point.  People come in both good and bad, and even some of the things that they may consider good for us, like civilization imposed on us primitives, may actually be violence against us.  Some may want to hunt and eat us like we hunt the deer in the forest, not thinking of deer as intelligent and worthy of respect.  Some may wish to enslave us, or experiment on us, or gather us and take us to their home world as exotic specimens.  Pray that they are good.  Some may encourage us, like a parent might encourage a child.  Some may want to defend us from other intruders, but that might be dangerous in itself.  Think of the English and Spanish fighting a pitched battle over a village of little or no consequences.  The village will probably be burned to the ground, and many innocent people, men, women, and children will be killed.”

“So, we can’t know ahead of time what they want, what they intend to do, or even how they think,” Sir Leslie mused.

“They may look like us, or not at all like us,” Jack added.  “People do come in all shapes and sizes, and all manner of good and evil.”

Elizabeth agreed.  “The main thing is they don’t belong here.  Our job will be to encourage them to leave this world alone, whatever their intentions.  We may ask them to leave.  Some we may have to force, but that will be difficult since they will have contraptions and greater power and weapons than we can imagine.  Think of native people who first faced artillery and muskets.”

“I get that idea,” Sir Leslie said.

“We are, in a way, much like children,” Elizabeth agreed. “We deserve a chance to grow in our own way and see what we may become.  But keeping intruders from interfering will be difficult.”  Elizabeth saw the wagon with her children pass her by and she added, “Speaking of children.  I must see to mine.  We will stop the night in the village below.  It looks like it may begin to rain again.  We will rest here, though at this rate it may take us a week to reach the Loch.”  She waited for the wagon to pass.  “You gentlemen can see how big the tree is up close when we arrive. Erin,” she called to her maid, and they moved in to follow the wagon.

###

The merchants found an inn on the road and took one of the two available rooms for the three of them.  Lockhart let Decker and Nanette have the other room, while he and Katie stayed with the rest of the crew in the main room downstairs, at two-thirds the price, paying only for supper and horse feed.

“I don’t mind,” Katie said.  “They are still like newlyweds.”

“It has been a while since the days of Helen and Robin Hood,” Lockhart said, but he nodded.

“My Father,” Sukki spoke up.  Both Elder Stow and Lockhart looked up, but in this case, she spoke to Lockhart.  “I checked the amulet several times today.  The Kairos is moving west.”  People understood, but they committed to the lowland road until Perth.  Then they would see.

The sky cleared that night, and everyone piled outside to see the northern lights, which looked spectacular, until it got interrupted.  Something distant and glowing shot across the sky.  Katie almost called it a shooting star, but it stopped overhead for a minute before it sped off to the south.  “A UFO,” Lockhart named it.  Lincoln frowned.  He would have to get out the database to see what mess the Kairos was into now.  Elder Stow got out his scanner, but the UFO had already moved out of range.

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

MONDAY

Elizabeth and her men will confront the aliens around Loch Lomond, and the travelers will arrive there, maybe on time. Until Monday, Happy Reading

*

Avalon 8.8 The Bad Penny, part 6 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The big ship overhead projected a greenish light on the Wolv below.  It took a few seconds.  The travelers saw many of the Wolv continue to struggle against the light, but eventually all within visual range collapsed.  Lockhart and Katie agreed that they were unconscious.  Decker said, “Darn.”

Giovanni and Leonora came up from the northeast gate where he and the circus people stood, ready to defend the gate if necessary.  Fortunately, it did not prove necessary.  Sibelius and Vadar, the knife thrower might have stood, briefly, but most, like Titania, would have not stopped any determined Wolv.

“Elenar,” Giovanni named the unfamiliar ship for the travelers.  He went to retrieve Elder Stow’s Communication device.  He needed to talk to the newcomers.

Tony asked, but since Lincoln was not there to look it up in the database, Lockhart had to dredge up the information in his memory from his Men in Black reading.  “They lived on earth more or less at the same time as the Neanderthals, that is, the Gott-Druk—Elder Stow’s people.  But where the Gott-Druk lived here in Europe and the Middle East, the Elenar lived more in Siberia, China, and Southeast Asia.  They got taken off the earth with Agdaline technology at the time of the flood, same as the Gott-Druk.  Early theories called them Cro Magnon or proto humans of some kind, but now the thinking is they are Denisova or Denisovan based on some specimens reported in the journals just before we left.  They look human enough even without a glamour, but they are more closely related to Neanderthals than us Homo Sapiens.  The man from the paleontology department who told me about the report said we will never know for sure unless we can sequence their DNA, whatever that means.”

Giovanni returned, speaking into the communicator, and followed closely by Elder Stow who did not want the Kairos to break it, again.  “Elenar.  This is the Kairos.  You do not belong here on this planet, but given the circumstances, I thank you for your timely arrival.  I will expect your representative in one earth hour.  Better come in the north gate.  The Wolv left plenty of bits and pieces of good men scattered around the battlefield, so you would need a strong stomach for the east gate.  One hour.”  He clicked it off and handed it back to Elder Stow with a word.  “See?  Didn’t break anything, but now you have some explaining to do, I believe.”

Elder Stow looked like he did not want to have to explain, but with a deep sigh he looked down and spoke softly.  “I vaguely remembered something in history, about a thousand years before my time.  I looked it up in my database, which I have found to not be very accurate in some cases.  But anyway, there was once a Gott-Druk group called the Restoration.  They were one of a number of groups that sprang up from time to time, all focused on returning to Earth and retaking our ancient land.  Right about this time, the Restoration experimented with using the Wolv to do the deed.  The Wolv worked well for the Humanoid people.  My history does not admit they ever got passed the talking stage, but apparently, they experimented, as their written record suggested.”

“Your people brought the Wolv here?” They all caught on, but Katie said it.

“Yes,” Elder Stow said.  “We, here, are at roughly the center of the European land mass, Gott-Druk homeland. The written record suggests bringing a brigade, about six hundred to this location and see how well they can clear off the land, that is, kill all the humans.  If these few can clear off and successfully defend an undetermined area of land, that will indicate how many Wolv need to be brought in to clear the entire continent.  The Wolv can be removed again with the stun method, as the Elenar just used, and the idea is then the Gott-Druk can return and live in peace, or as we say, grow fat and full of wisdom.”

The Elenar ship landed, crushing a number of trees that still stood after Elder Stow’s handheld weapon swept the area and the massive explosion of whatever weapon the Wolv brought up.  Decker countered that the Gott-Druk probably had the weapons, including the handheld weapons, and probably did not share them with the Wolv for a good reason.  “The reason there are no Humanoids around anymore is because they taught the Wolv how to use their technology, and the Wolv turned on them in the end.”

“Boston.  Where are you going?”  Sukki shouted as Boston walked away.

Boston shouted back.  “Madam Figiori has some fortune telling cards.  I’m teaching Baklovani the wolfman how to play Go Fish.”

“Can I play?” Sukki asked.  Boston stopped and waved to her.  She ran to catch up.

“Elenar…” Elder Stow said the word and it was not kindly spoken.

“Katie jinxed us when she mentioned them in the last time zone, or the one before that,” Alexis said and put on a big smile.

“Hey!” Lockhart protested.

Alexis just smiled more.  “Well, Benjamin was not here, so I thought it was my wifely duty to say it.”  Lockhart shrugged.  Katie and Alexis both smiled as they watched Boston and Sukki disappear among the circus wagons and tents.  “Probably best if the wolfman stays undercover for a while,” Alexis said.

Katie had a question.  “How long before Lincoln will be able to travel?”

“Tomorrow, maybe.  Next day would be better,” Alexis answered.

“Good enough,” Lockhart said.  “Right now, Decker, Katie and I have to make sure the Wolv in the field are all dead.”

“Grisly job,” Decker said, but he was ready.

###

The Elenar had four warships in a combat group commanded by the Elenar version of a commodore.  Giovanni met with the commodore and his staff while two of the warships penned in the Gott-Druk merchant that brought the Wolv to earth.  The last Elenar ship stayed in orbit to relay information from overhead.  The Gott-Druk had no other ships.  This was an unapproved civilian undertaking.

The Elenar said they kept tabs on various Gott-Druk groups and had a big file on the Restoration.  They said how they got their information was a state secret, but it was not hard to figure out what was happening when some of the Wolv disappeared from one world they were monitoring.

Of course, the Elenar asked about the screens and superior weapons the travelers displayed.  Giovanni said they were state secrets, but he did arrange some help for the travelers to continue their journey.

Two weeks later, the travelers reached the time gate on the Rhine, well above Basel.  They figured Giovanni left Baden-Baden in about a week and headed north toward Manheim.  The circus had to skip the performance scheduled for Stuttgart, but they made some money in the towns on the way to Manheim and they should be in Frankfurt on the day their advanced posters said.  Besides the danger of the few Wolv that still roamed around the black forest, they had to be in Aachen by August.  Giovanni had the written invitation signed by the Holy Roman Emperor himself.

Somehow, Giovanni arranged for a three-man Elenar scout ship to fly cover during the traveler’s journey.  To be honest, they flew up and hovered with their scanners turned to the forest and Rhine River the travelers rode beside.  They looked for any stray Wolv or Gott-Druk that might be tempted to turn in the direction of the travelers.  None did, and in the evening, the travelers always camped in the wilderness, wherever they could find a secluded spot for the Elenar to set down and join them for supper.

Elder Stow kept up his glamour the whole time, looking like a kindly old man.  The Elenar scanners were very good in that age, but they would have to suspect the ruse to penetrate the glamour, and Elder Stow was not about to reveal himself.  Certainly, the travelers understood and kept his secret.  They mostly called him Stow and only let the name Elder Stow slip a few times.  Lockhart explained that they honored and respected their elders and Stow was clearly the elder among them.  The Elenar bought it and there were no incidents.

When the travelers went through the time gate, Elder Stow only said one thing.  “I did not find their sense of humor funny.”  The Elenar laughed a lot, were kind-hearted people who knew how to tell a joke.  Sadly, most of the Elenar jokes had a Gott-Druk as the butt of the joke.

Elder Stow harumphed.  Boston looked at the man and outwardly agreed with him, but she thought some of those jokes were very funny.

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

MONDAY

A four part episode with posts Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and THURSDAY.  Metal Men turn up in Normandy in 1066.  The masters have plans to change the future.  Don’t miss it.  Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 8.8 The Bad Penny, part 5 of 6

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Everyone tried to pile out of the town hall at once.  They had a traffic jam at the door.  Giovanni grabbed the two knights and pulled them aside.

“Don’t strip the men from the walls.  If the Wolv see an unguarded wall, they will attack there.  Keep men especially around the gates, north, south, and the two little gates in the east.  One opening, and they will pour into the city. And get the people that are outside, inside.”

“Right,” Sir Bertulf said, and he ran off toward the north gate where he massed some men for the night.

“Sir Giovanni?” Sir Radbod asked, just to clarify the Italian word, Don.  Giovanni nodded, and Sir Radbod returned the nod.  He ran off to the south and the Baron’s residence.

Katie grabbed Nanette, with Sukki and Boston standing there beside Madam Figiori.  “Nanette, I need you to go back to the inn and let Alexis and Lincoln know what is happening.  Maybe you should saddle the horses in case we need to make a quick getaway out of one of the east gates.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Madam Figiori said.  “Help is on the way if they get here in time.”

“What kind of help?” Boston asked, not doubting the madam’s word for a second.

“I do not know,” Madam Figiori said.  “But it will be substantial.”

Katie turned back to Nanette.  “Would you, please?”  Nanette only hesitated a few seconds before she ran off toward the inn.

When the women got to the wall, Decker yelled.  “Major.  You take the far end.”  He pointed and flipped his rifle to automatic.  Katie ran down the walkway as men came to stand there, shoulder to shoulder.  Most had spears, but some had bows as well.

“Boston,” Elder Stow called, knowing Sukki would come with her.  He paused in his work on his screen device and handed Boston his weapon.  “You know how to use this,” he said.  “You and Sukki need to go beyond Decker and Katie.  That is about as far as the particle screen wall will stretch.  Hopefully, I can make a Decker wall where the Wolv cannot get in, but Decker can shoot out, but it will only be so wide.  It probably won’t take long for the Wolv to find the outer edges.  You two need to be at the edge.  Oh, and daughter,” he spoke to Sukki.  “Don’t strain yourself.  I know your gift takes a lot out of you.”

“Yes, father,” Sukki said, and with a glance at Boston, she ran in one direction.  Boston ran off in the other.

Lockhart said to Tony.  “Looks like you and I have the center.  We need to give Elder Stow enough time to finish his work on his gadget.”

“It is not a gadget,” Elder Stow mumbled as Tony nodded, pulled his handgun, and stepped up to the wall.  Tony and Lockhart had to scrunch down a little in order to not be seen over the wall.  Most of the men stood straight up, thinking that they were well beyond the range of arrows.

Sure enough, several streaks of golden light came from the edge of the woods.  The lights reached the top of the wall and swept the wall clean of men.  Plenty were burned.  Plenty died, but plenty also ducked in time, and since the light did not linger in a given place, they stayed safe behind the wall.  Lockhart figured a sustained strike in one spot would turn the wooden wall to ashes.

“Here they come,” someone yelled, and a hundred Wolv came rushing out from among the trees.  Decker and Katie opened fire almost immediately.  Both fired first at the places that produced the golden light beams, but soon enough they began to gun down the oncoming Wolv.  The Wolv were fast.  It would not take them long to cross the open area and reach the bottom of the wall.

Decker and Katie, military trained and being highly intuitive, both ducked at almost the same time.  Two golden light beams zeroed in on their position but did not fire for long.  On the first sign of those weapons, Boston adjusted Elder Stow’s weapon to a broad beam, if she did it right, and turned it up to maximum power.  When the light weapons turned on Decker and Katie, she fired at that location.  The trees in that spot exploded, including a couple of big ones that crashed over into the woods.

“Wow,” Boston said to herself as she patted herself on the back.  Then she thought she better move further down the wall.

Almost eighty of the hundred Wolv arrived at the base of the wall, and roughly a third immediately began to climb, using their claws to get a grip on the wooden logs.  The defenders had arrows and spears which the men tenaciously clutched in their sweating palms.  Many arrows helped, but it took three or four well placed arrows to just slow them down.  By far, the stones and bricks the defenders threw were most affective.  A good-sized stone could knock a Wolv right off the wall, and even if it was not seriously injured, it would have to start again from the bottom.

The travelers took a slow but steady toll on the Wolv.  Katie and Decker especially cleaned out the area beneath their positions and had to start leaning over the wall to shoot others.  Lockhart with his police revolver and Tony with his semiautomatic handgun were not nearly as affective.  But they killed or wounded the ones in their immediate area.

Several Wolv made it to the top and shredded plenty of defenders, but the defenders were still numerous enough, so with enough spears, no Wolv got down into the town.

A much bigger and thicker golden light came from the woods.  Tony and Lockhart ducked at first, but Tony noticed the weapon was not directed at them.  It fell beneath them and Tony shouted.  “Back away from this area.  Hurry.”

Lockhart and Tony went in opposite directions, and the defenders near them followed.  Lockhart looked briefly at Elder Stow who still sat there cross-legged, concentrating on his screen device.  He saw Elder Stow touch something on his belt, and a moment later when a big hole appeared in the wall, and the wall in that place collapsed, Elder Stow continued to float there, unmoved.  Of course, the light weapon killed the Wolv in that immediate area, so the Wolv who were still alive were in no position to take advantage of the hole, but they would soon enough if the defenders could not plug the gap.

Then, two hundred more Wolv came roaring out of the woods, making the total used in the attack only half of the Wolv brigade.  And the defenders were already beaten and had a great hole in their wall besides.  They would have surrendered to any human opponent, but they knew there was no surrendering to these beasts.

Boston and Sukki had babbled with each other through their wristwatch communicators.  The people back at the inn might have heard the conversation, but the travelers on the wall could hardly pause long enough to make sense of it.  Sukki and Boston, being well down on both ends of the wall, heard well enough.  And they both said now at more or less the same time.

Boston fired on the spot where whatever made that big beam of light appeared to be located.  Sukki raised her hands and let her power loose, full strength on the same spot from the other side.  Neither had to fire for very long, and the weapon, or whatever it was, exploded.  It sent up a huge cloud of smoke and shook the ground to where even the sure footed Wolv fell to the dirt.  The wall shook, as did the nearby buildings in the town, and some men fell off the wall, while others grabbed the lip of the parapet.

“There,” Elder Stow said and smiled, pleased with himself and oblivious to all that happened around him. But as the two hundred Wolv got up and gathered to restart their charge toward the hole in the wall, they ran into a screen wall they could not breach.  They crashed and bounced back, and no amount of clawing or biting with those powerful jaws made a difference.

Decker wanted to test the screens and see if they were indeed a Decker wall he could shoot through.  He and Katie moved in toward Tony and Lockhart.  There were still thirty or more Wolv on their side of the wall that had to be dealt with, and they would find the hole in the wooden wall soon enough.

Sir Bertulf moved up the men he held in reserve.  They readied themselves for the onslaught.  The travelers got to where they could shoot toward the hole.  Boston and Sukki moved in toward the hole, but they leaned over the top of the wall and fried Wolv on the run.  They figured, now that they had taken care of the main weapons of the enemy, they were free to turn on the Wolv.  The enemy certainly knew they were there, though they probably imagined two very powerful handheld weapons.

Few Wolv made it inside the hole, and while many men got killed, Sir Bertulf had enough men to prevent the Wolv from breaking into the town.  The travelers firing down from overhead had a lot to do with that.  Alexis with her wand and Nanette with Lincoln’s handgun showing up also helped.  Alexis especially was able to call up a hurricane force wind that blunted any charge the Wolv tried to make.

“Look out,” Elder Stow said, and pointed to the screen wall that rested some fifty yards out from the town wall.  The travelers looked, and saw hand weapons, or maybe rifles fired from the other side.  The golden light did not penetrate Elder Stow’s screen, but it did show where it touched the screen, and in this way, they appeared to be looking for the edge of the screen, and they found it.

The Wolv gathered by the two edges.  Katie and Decker opened fire on the gatherings.  Sukki looked tired, and Boston took a moment to turn Elder Stow’s weapon back to a wide angle shot; but she never fired the gun.  Everyone, including the Wolv stopped when a large spaceship zoomed in to hover over the field.  The Wolv started to run as some ten or so fighter ships came out from beneath the mother ship.

At first, the travelers feared the ship belonged to whoever brought the Wolv to earth, but when the Wolv appeared to turn and run for their lives, they understood this ship, if not on their side, at least was against the Wolv.

Avalon 8.8 The Bad Penny, part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Sir Bertulf and the night watch arrived at the same time as Decker, Elder Stow, Sukki and Boston.  The travelers did not appear to be fully awake, but Sir Bertulf and the men on the watch all gagged on seeing the shredded gate guards.  Giovanni arrived moments later with one of the old men that went with him to check out the farm.  The old man spoke first to Sir Bertulf.

“This is what we saw on the farm, though the family looked partly eaten.  We ran as fast as the horses could run when a dozen of these Wolv came out of the woods.”

“I count two Wolv,” Giovanni said, and he leaned back and shouted up to the top of the wall.  “Alexis.  How many did you get up there?”

Lockhart’s voice answered.  The man could not be well seen on the night shrouded walkway.  “Lincoln shot one.”

“That is three,” Giovanni said, seemingly satisfied.  He understood three-man—three-Wolv—three-person fighter/bomber craft became standard among space-faring people since the days of the Balok, some five thousand years earlier.  That three-man or three-Wolv thinking translated into all sort of other circumstances.  A three Wolv scout troop was what he expected.

“We saw at least a dozen at the farm,” the old man said, and added softly, “I didn’t stop to count them.”

Sir Bertulf stared at the Wolv by his feet when Giovanni said, “These were probably advanced scouts sent to check out the lay of the land.”

“There are more out there,” the old man said.

“You talk as if these Wolv think like an army.”  Sir Bertulf tore his eyes away from staring at the beast.

“They have first rate military minds,” Giovanni answered.  “Despite the fact that they look something like ordinary wolves, these Wolv are not dumb beasts.  They talk, are organized, and make excellent soldiers, which is why one group of people used them as front-line troops in their days of conquest.”

“How many do you figure?” Decker asked.

“At least a company of forty.  Maybe a whole brigade.  That would be six hundred.  Let us hope there are not more.  Oberon!” Giovanni called.

“Right here, Lord,” the dwarf answered.  He came out of the dark street followed by the half-ogre Sibelius and a very grumpy old woman named Madam Figiori.  Madam Figiori was a very old, full blood elf whose magic allowed her glimpses of hidden things, including rare glimpses of the future.  She ran the fortune teller’s booth, but at the moment, being a light elf, she wanted to be sleeping in the dark time.

Sibelius carried the stretcher Giovanni made with the hope they would never have to use it.  Sadly, circus people sometimes had accidents and needed to be carried to a place where they could rest and recover from their injuries.  In this case, Sibelius held up the stretcher with a question in his eyes.  Immediately, Alexis shouted down from overhead.

“Benjamin got clawed.  We need a way to get him back to the inn.”

“Come on, strongman,” Decker said and headed toward the stairs.

“I wondered why Madam Figiori said to bring this.”  Sibelius smiled as he held up the stretcher and followed.

Katie came down first and saw that there was nothing Alexis could do for the gate guards.  Sir Bertulf jumped when he saw Katie examining the men.  He began giving orders to the watch.  “Raise the city guard.  I want torches on the wall in the night so we can see them coming.  We have to man the whole wall.  They could come over at any point, and I’ll flog any man who falls asleep on the watch.”  He turned to Giovanni.  “Are they afraid of fire?”

“Not in the least,” Giovanni answered.  “You can’t think of them as dumb animals.  If we make the wall too costly for them, they may try to set the wall on fire, or burrow under, or build siege engines like an army of men.  They are ferocious, like berserkers, stronger and faster than ordinary men, but most of all they think.  They are not dumb beasts.”  Sir Bertulf nodded, even if the reality of that would take time to sink in.  Giovanni added another note.  “You need to consider manning the wall in shifts.  They may be here before morning, or it could be days or even weeks before they turn in our direction.”  A final nod from Sir Bertulf and he ran off followed by two watchmen.

Other watchmen started up the stairs as Decker and Sibelius brought Lincoln down as carefully as they could, with Alexis yelling at them to be careful.  Lockhart followed, coming down the stair where he and Katie joined Elder Stow, Sukki, and Boston who had gathered around Giovanni.  Giovanni was speaking to the dwarf.

“No, Lord,” Oberon said.  “It looks like the six hundred you guessed.  There are some good dwarfs, some string beans, flutter-byes, and dark ones all volunteering to help defend the town, but not many of each.  Those Wolv are scarry just to look at.”

“Every bit helps, and I am sure your volunteers will do more than they should.  Thank them for me.” Giovanni turned to the travelers, but Madam Figiori interrupted his thoughts.

“No telling if I can see rightly in the dark.  It is unnatural to be awake and about at this time of the night.  But it looks like you have an elect, a member of the elder race, a girl who is simply cracking with powers—the gods must have been generous to you, girl—and the red head is a full blood elf, a princess I would guess from the look of her.”

“Boston,” Giovanni smiled.  “You need to visit with Madam Figiori while you are here.”  he turned to the old elf.  “Consider Boston like the daughter you never had.”

Madam Figiori harumphed and walked once around Boston like she needed to see the girl from all the angles.  Then she spoke.  “She is a fiery wild child.  Brilliant, but a disobedient, stubborn girl who can drive everyone crazy around her.”  Boston did not object, but she looked sad to think this elder elf did not like her.  Madam Figiori surprised her when she let out a little smile.  “She is exactly the kind of daughter I would have had if I had one.”  She turned again to Giovanni.  “Nothing I can see right now.  These Wolv are just exploring for the present and their minds are too wild to make sense.”  She shrugged.  “I will sleep on it.  Come, girl,” she said and walked off with Boston following.  “What kind of a name is Boston?  Well, you used to be human.”

“Ugh,” Boston protested.  “How did you know that?”

“I know too much.  Elves frown on soothsaying and fortune telling.  It got me kicked out of my woodland home, but that happened a long, long time ago…”

That was all the travelers heard before Lockhart turned to Giovanni and asked, “Where do you want us?”

“Available,” Giovanni said.  “I would prefer you on the road to the next time gate, but that would not be safe right now.  I guess for now you can stay around the main gate on the main road.  The south road gate is next to the Baron’s residence.  Hopefully the man is not a complete fool, or Sir Bertulf may double the guard there.  Later, maybe when everyone is up in the daytime, you might hang around with me by the town hall.  That is the center of town.  We can run from there to the wall, wherever we may be needed.  Elder Stow?”

Elder Stow took one more look at his scanner.  “I have expanded the alarm to a half-mile all around.  That takes in the town and should give us more advanced warning if there are Wolv in the area.”  He handed Giovanni a disc.  “Here.  It is tuned to the scanner and will relay the alarm, should it go off.”  Giovanni thanked him and put the disc in his pocket.

Giovanni said, “I suppose it won’t do any good to ask Decker to take his eagle totem in a fly around in the morning.  As I recall, he can’t see much under the trees.  Still, he might luck out and catch a glimpse of whatever ship brought the Wolv here.”

“Agreed,” Elder Stow said.  “But for now, we need to rest while we can.  It also won’t do any good being exhausted when the Wolv come in force.”

Everyone agreed with that and went their separate ways.  Lockhart and Kate climbed to the walkway up on the wall where they had a turn watching for the Wolv, while men came to man the gate and clean up the mess of bodies below.

###

Giovanni had a fine breakfast prepared in the town hall.  The travelers had already eaten at the inn, but they did not mind nibbling on the food.  Decker meditated and sent up his eagle totem.  He saw nothing to speak of under the forest canopy and could not confirm the glistening something he saw in the distance, well beyond his range.

“It might be a ship, a big ship, or two ships,” he said.  “It might be a refection off the next big town over.”

“Stuttgart,” Lincoln named it. “On the Necker River.”

Decker said, “It might be the river.”

Elder Stow added a note.  “I am seeing movement in the woods, but it could be a herd of deer or something.”  His uncertainty did not reassure anyone.  He picked up on that and defended himself.  “This is just a toy.  It is not a real scanner. I am doing my best.”

“I am sure you are,” Katie said and smiled for him.

“I can’t eat anything,” Sukki said.  “All I can picture is the Wolv eating the whole town.”

Nanette nudged her.  “Good thing you had a big breakfast before coming here.”

Sukki nodded.  “I wasn’t thinking about the Wolv then.”

Sir Bertulf and some of his men were there along with the two old men from the farm.  One of the other knights, Sir Radbod was also present.  He came around after he saw the bodies of the shredded gate guards.  No telling where Sir Aldabert and the Baron Fredrick stood at that point, but at least now Sir Bertulf did not need to watch both ends of the town at the same time.

Any number of circus people were present as well, including Oberon the dwarf, Sibelius the strongman, Titania, the bearded fat lady, and Leonora decked out in her harlequin costume, who complained that they had an adventure in the night without her.

“That is what Boston usually says,” Sukki told her when Boston and Madam Figiori came in laughing about something.  Boston took the madam to introduce her adopted sisters Sukki and Nanette.  Madam Figiori was just revealing the impression she got of both of them, impressions that were uncanny in their accuracy, when Elder Stow’s alarm went off.

“I guess that is not a herd of deer,” he said.

Oberon nodded.  “It looks like the full six hundred, and they are straight out in the woods from this point, about half-way between the north and south gates.

“God help us,” Sukki said, and even the disguised little ones present did not object to that idea.

Avalon 8.8 The Bad Penny, part 3 of 6

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Once again, Katie had to ask.  “Why were you worried about Giovanni getting a hug?”

Leonora looked at Katie like she might not want to reveal her secret.

Katie clarified her thoughts.  “I mean, it is obvious you love him, but I take it you two are not married.”

Leonora got teary eyed and spoke softly, like woman to woman.  “Giovanni dallied a lot in the past.  You know what I mean, dallied?”  Katie nodded and Leonora continued.  “He has been good since I joined the family—that is how circus people talk and think about each other.  Baklovani and Titania, and Constantine our tightrope walker, oh, and Madigan the musician have been with him the longest.  They were in the old circus before Giovanni’s father died.  Don Giovanni is Sir Vincenzo Giovanni the third.  His father was the second. His grandfather started the circus and got knighted by the Duke of Venezia…”

“You and Giovanni,” Katie reminded her, and Leonora sniffed before she continued.

“Anyway.  Giovanni dallied a lot when he was young, but he has not strayed since I came.  The ones who have known him since he was a child all say they never expected him to stop like that.  They privately talk about him becoming a monk or maybe getting ready to explode.  But he has a rule, and he is very strict.  He does not get involved in that way with circus people.  He does not get involved with family.  He says that would be like incest, or something.”  She let out a few tears.

Katie hugged the girl and Lockhart had a thought.  “Did you ever think of quitting the circus?”

Leonora wiped her eyes and nodded.  “But I have nowhere else to go,” she said.  “These good people have become my family, and I cannot go home. That would be like a death sentence.”

“And you got concerned when Giovanni said he wanted to get her hug?” Katie asked, still sounding sympathetic.

“Curious?” Leonora tried, but Katie shook her head.  “Okay, concerned.  But I know his much older and much more important rule is he will never get involved with any of his little ones.  He told me how the goddess Danna once made herself a fairy who did not remember that she was the goddess.  She tried to talk to the fairies on their level and tried to keep them from making a terrible mistake.  It sort of worked out, but in the meantime, she got involved with a fairy prince and had a son.  And Giovanni says for the last four thousand years, Taliesin has been nothing but a pain in the butt.”  Leonora smiled at her own mouth.

Boston came racing out of the inn when they reached the front door, and she hugged Leonora, much to her surprise.  And she spoke.  “Lockhart says I’m a pain in the butt sometimes, too.”  Then she added a note Leonora did not know how to interpret.  “I love you very much.”

Fortunately, Alexis followed Boston out the door and stepped up to Lincoln as she explained.  “Don Giovanni must love you very much.  You recognized Boston as an elf before anyone identified her as such.  And Boston feels the love for you, and no doubt would protect you in whatever way she has to, though she might not exactly do what you ask.”  Alexis gave her husband a peck on the lips.  Katie took Lockhart’s arm.  And Boston spoke again.

“That is exactly how I feel.  Don Giovanni must love you very much.”

“It is just Giovanni, I think,” Lockhart said and looked to Leonora for confirmation, but Leonora was busy crying.

“Let’s go see what kind of swill this place serves for food,” Lincoln interrupted.  “We kind of missed lunch.”

###

Giovanni came in the evening after supper.  He found the travelers with Leonora sitting around telling jokes.  Some of the jokes Leonora told were childish, like one might find in a riddle book for children, but they were fresh and new in that day and culture.  Some were rather bawdy, but Decker matched her there, much to Nanette’s red-faced embarrassment.

When Giovanni came in, Leonora jumped up first, threw herself into his arms and planted a kiss right on his lips.  He did not appear to object, but before he could say anything, she stepped aside and said, “Boston.”  Boston hugged Giovanni hard and whispered in his ear.

“You should marry her.”

Giovanni backed up and shook an accusing finger, first at Boston.  “You have been talking behind my back.”  Then he turned his shaking finger on Leonora.  “You planned this.”

Leonora grinned and leaned back until her hands touched the floor.  She slowly raised one leg at a time over her head until she landed in front of her chair.  She sat down and said, “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.  I still don’t know what that means.”

“From the future.” Katie grinned.

“The Kairos is usually careful about such things,” Lockhart said, and having everyone’s attention he added, “Standard watch tonight.”  He looked around to make sure there were no objections and added another thought.  “I think we need to get up on the wall around the main gate and keep our eyes open.  And go armed.”

“I was just going to say that.” Decker said.

Tony and Nanette got up.  They had the sundown watch, from six to nine.  When Nanette stood, she stared at Decker to let him know she was not entirely happy with his mouth.  But then she leaned over and gave him a kiss, which he seemed to appreciate.  She got Katie’s handgun and knife on the belt which she buckled around her hips like a gunslinger. She had her wand, but she was presently in a time zone where the other earth phased too far out of range to leak magic energy into our universe.  It would be 1275 before her magic returned to her.  Tony, of course, had his own M1911 handgun and trench knife.  Everyone figured he would need them when he got home just in time for the start of World War I.

Alexis and Lincoln stayed up for the present.  They had the nine to midnight shift and an hour nap before the shift always made Lincoln cranky.  Instead, they tended to sleep between midnight and eight in the morning and were occasionally the last ones up in the morning.  Nanette and Sukki took over the breakfast duty, and the travelers usually left the morning camp about nine.  They traveled about four hours, took a lunch between one and two, and traveled another three or four hours in the afternoon, stopping about five or six depending on the time of year and their location on the planet.

The goal was thirty miles per day or about three to four miles per hour, which they rarely made.  Even when the roads were good, twenty-five or so was about the best they could do.  They walked the horses almost as often as they rode, and Ghost the mule had his limits.

Lockhart and Katie took the hard shift between midnight and three in the morning.  They adjusted to a two- or three-hour nap before their shift and five or so hours after their shift.  They were most often the last ones up in the morning.

Decker got up and went to bed fairly soon after Giovanni arrived.  He imagined he would hear the details later.  Elder Stow followed Decker upstairs soon after.  He left his scanner on the table where an alarm would go off if it detected any Wolv within a hundred yards of the wall.  They had the dark of the night shift from three to six, and Elder Stow could be particularly difficult to awaken at three in the morning.

Sukki and Boston had the sunrise shift.  Out in the wilderness, Boston would start the fire and Sukki would get the breakfast going and the all-important tea-fake-coffee.  That normally happened after they watched the sunrise, and people began to stagger out of their tents.  The horses and Ghost got special attention in the morning before they started out.  But that night, they got interrupted well before the morning shift.

Katie and Lockhart got up and got their rifles ready.  Katie got her gun belt back.  Nanette left it outside her door when she went to bed.  Alexis and Lincoln were on duty and expecting Lockhart and Katie to walk down to the gate and relieve them when Elder Stow’s scanner alarm went off.  It was loud.  Lockhart called it loud enough to wake the dead.  Neither knew how to turn it off.  They figured, let it run until Elder Stow himself came downstairs and dealt with it.  They took off for the gate.

Above the gate, up on the walkway, Alexis let out a Sukki worthy scream. She turned around and came face to face with a Wolv that had clawed its way to the top of the wall.  Alexis dropped her wand, but she raised her hands and managed a great gust of wind which knocked the beast off the walkway and down into the street.

Lincoln ran when he heard the scream, but he did not dare shoot the beast for fear of hitting Alexis.  He stopped suddenly when a second Wolv clambered over the wall and landed in front of him.  He pulled the trigger several times, and the Wolv collapsed just before a third Wolv came up from behind and raked its claws across Lincoln’s back.  Lincoln had thickened his fairy weave shirt and made it as leather-like as he could.  All the same, the Wolv nails cut through and left three long streaks of blood.  The claw pushed Lincoln forward where he fell on his face and could not get up right away.

The wolf down below killed three of the four gate guards, even with a spear stuck in its side.  The fourth guard managed a spear thrust that cut something vital in the beast. The Wolv let out a howl, and Lincoln’s Wolv stopped drooling over Lincoln’s body and quickly jumped off the wall to land in the street below.

The fourth guard did not stand a chance, even as he picked up one of the fallen spears.  He screamed as he faced the Wolv and got a good look in the eyes of the beast. He tried to fend off the claws with his longer reaching weapon, but the Wolv proved too agile and quick.  It bit the man’s arm and yanked it off the man’s body as the man screamed again.  Katie arrived with her rifle set to automatic.  She riddled the Wolv with five rounds.  When Lockhart got there, he blasted the Wolv with his shotgun.  Then he blasted the other one just to be sure.

Lockhart and Katie ran up the gate stairs and looked hard over the ramparts to see if they could spy any more Wolv in the dark.  Lockhart found the one Lincoln shot.  It was not quite dead, so he blasted it as well.  Katie found Alexis leaning over Lincoln, practicing her healing arts on his back and crying.  Lincoln could only say ouch until the healing magic penetrated as deep as the cuts.

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

MONDAY

It looks like the Wolv are checking them out, and coming… Until Monday, Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 8.8 The Bad Penny, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“I thought they all died,” Sukki said as she got down from her horse.  “There should not be any more Wolv.”

“Not a chance,” Boston said, as Nanette and Titania came up to join them.  “They just got stranded on whatever planet they were on when their Humanoid ships busted beyond what they could fix.”

Elder Stow came up staring at his scanner.  He ostensibly came to help the women move their horses off the road.  The circus people were still bringing in the wagon loads from where they parked in a field outside the town palisade.  The others all went to help.

“Actually,” Elder Stow spoke to the women.  “Even in my day, a thousand years in the future, there are a half-dozen or so worlds where packs of Wolv still roam around.  You see, on some worlds the people were made extinct before the Wolv returned to space.  Some fought off the invasion as Earth did a thousand years ago in the days of Ali Baba.  But eventually the Humanoid technology broke as Boston said, and the Wolv became trapped on that world.  Again, some local people defeated the Wolv, and if they were advanced enough to do it, they also got an introduction to Humanoid technology and space travel.  I suspect the Flesh Eaters, and maybe the Apes fall into that category.  But on some worlds, the Wolv won and now own at least a half-dozen worlds in my day.”

‘You mean, they might learn how to fix things and come back here at any time?”  Sukki worried.

“No, daughter.”  Elder Stow gave her a reassuring smile.  “The Wolv everywhere have reverted to their natural pack and tribal state; what modern people would call a Neolithic existence.  They can learn.  They can be taught, as the Humanoids taught them how to use their equipment, but it will be thousands of years before they learn enough to build their own spaceships, and it is possible that will never happen.”

“But they are here,” Nanette said, sounding nearly as nervous as Sukki.  “How did they get here?”

“Over here,” Alexis shouted.  She and Tony had the wagon in a side street, and Alexis had hers and Lincoln’s horses.  The others each grabbed the reigns of two horses that were otherwise just standing around, and they followed the wagon, while Elder Stow said one more thing.

“That is the question.  They had to be brought here.  Who brought them?”

Decker and Lincoln went to help pack and bring in the last of the circus wagons.  The town watch and soldiers were anxious to get the gate closed, though they had not yet seen a Wolv.  If they had, they might have slammed the gate already and let those outside the palisade fend for themselves.  Decker did not have the heart to tell the locals a wooden palisade wall would hardly be sufficient against the Wolv.  It would not keep out an army, but the town could surrender to an army.  If they surrendered to the Wolv, the Wolv would just eat them or tear them to shreds just for fun.  The palisade might keep out a company of men attached to a distant army.  It would at least make the company think twice before attacking, so Decker supposed it was not a totally useless wall.

Meanwhile, Lockhart and Katie met with Don Giovanni and Leonora, and two older men who went out to one of the outlying farms to see what the madman kept screaming about.  They tried to explain things to the local Baron, his three knights, and the four town elders.  At least one of the knights, Sir Bertulf seemed to understand what they were talking about, or maybe he believed them.  The others all wanted to deny reality or interpret it in a way that did not appear so threatening.

“So, a pack of wolves attacked the man’s farm,” the Baron said with a haughty laugh.  “Nothing a couple of good hunters can’t take care of.  It happens all the time.”  He walked off and two of his knights went with him, laughing about the panic.

“No.  You don’t understand,” Otto, one of the old men started to speak but paused when Giovanni put his hand out.

“He will believe it when he sees it,” Giovanni said.  “Let us hope it is not the last thing he sees.”

“How can we help?” Lockhart asked.

“Actually, for once you can stick around and get your rifles ready,” Giovanni answered as he turned to the town elders.    “Besides, it isn’t safe out there to be traveling right now.”  He spoke to the elders.  “Do you understand what is going on here?”

The head of the little group looked at his fellows before he answered.  “I am with the Baron.  A pack of wild wolves I understand.  I don’t know these Wolvs you speak of.”

“Just as long as you open the gates for the people to come behind the shelter of the wall.”

“We will not keep anyone out,” he responded, and they left.

“Sir Bertulf?” one of the older men asked, wondering what the last knight present thought.

Sir Bertulf pulled a little on his beard.  “You say and all agree these are not natural or normal wolves.  They think, are clever and cunning, and have a language all their own with which they communicate with each other even as we talk with one another.  Are they demons, then, who have taken the form of wolves?  I know their master goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  I do not doubt that his servants may take the form of wolves and be equally hungry.”

The old men looked at Don Giovanni as Lockhart began to speak.  “That is not exactly right.”

“But close enough,” Giovanni said.  “And if that line of thinking helps the people mount a reasonable defense, then let’s go with it.”

“We will spread the word among the people,” one of the old men said.

“And I will see to the soldiers and the night watch on the wall.” Sir Bertulf agreed.

As they left, Leonora grabbed Giovanni.  “Tell me about these friends of yours.  You never mentioned them.”

“I never think of them until they arrive, or mostly,” he said.

“They have an elf with them.”  Leonora smiled.

“And a member of the elder race, two witches, and Katie here is an elect.  We will meet them all later, but that is not important now.”  Giovanni turned at the door and looked to see the gate closing.  His circus wagons stretched the whole length of the street from the gate almost to the Baron’s residence at the far end.  The Baron lived in a mansion and had a strong stone tower as a fallback position.  He also had his own wall around his very big piece of property.  It was an improvement over the town wall because the bottom four feet or so was stone.

“I hope we don’t end up stuffing as many people as possible into the baron’s tower as a last resort.  That would not be good.”

Leonora tugged on Giovanni’s sleeve.  “So, where do these Wolvs come from?” she asked.

“Wolv,” he corrected her.  “It is like sheep.  Wolv covers the singular and the plural.”  The couple looked eye to eye in silence for a moment, and Katie smiled and nudged Lockhart who imagined he knew what she was nudging about.

“But where…”

Giovanni put an arm around Leonora’s shoulder.  She quieted and let out her smile.  He pointed to the sky and said, “You know in the night when all the stars come out?  Generally, in that direction.  You know, they are all suns very, very far away.  There is a world, like the earth, that goes around one of those suns.  They come from there, and how they got here is a question.”

Leonora sighed and laid her head against Giovanni’s shoulder.  Katie had to say something.

“Surely, the Humanoid ships are not still functioning.”

“No,” Giovanni said.  “And don’t call me Shirley.”  He smiled.  “But seriously, they had to have been brought here.  The question is by who and for what purpose.”

Lincoln called as he walked up to the town hall.  “Lockhart.  Katie.  We found an inn and got five rooms before they filled up with circus people.  The horses and wagon are in the barn.”  He stepped up and smiled for what he took to be two couples.  Giovanni quickly let go of Leonora and asked her a question.

“Would you mind going with the travelers to help them get settled in?  I need to settle the train and get the tents up in the street, I guess.  Tell Boston I haven’t forgotten.  I’ll be along later to get her hug.”  Leonora backed up and looked at him.  He explained.  “It is just tradition.  She is the elf.”

“Oh,” Leonora said and seemed to understand something. “Come on,” she waved to Katie and Lockhart as she and Lincoln led the way down the side street.  “The Frauenhaus,” she named the inn.  “Not the best in town, but acceptable.”