Decker and Harper both tried to fire at the werewolf, but the guns just went click, click.  The same nothing happened with Lockhart’s shotgun.  Roland had an arrow, but Vanu stopped the elf.

            “It won’t do you any good unless you have a silver tip.”  The wolf moved slowly and paced back and forth, looking for the best way to approach this killing spree.  As it moved the answer to why their guns did not work became apparent.  The wolf was wearing the amulet. 

            “Oh that poor man,” Alexis breathed, thinking that surely the wolf killed the man.  No one else was fooled.  Clearly the wolf was the mad man in wolf form.

            “Wait,” Vanu said.  “I may be able to do something here.”  He held his hand out and called to his stone.  “The necklace was made and the stone cut and fashioned by my Little Ones.  I may have some power over it.  He concentrated, and the amulet moved.  It did not fly off the wolf and return to Vanu like Thor’s hammer might fly back to the hand of its owner, but it did wiggle.  And then it began to glow.  The glow in the stone increased and it warmed.

            “It is picking up the moonlight and amplifying it, like a laser,” Boston said.

            At first, the wolf paused and appeared to enjoy basking in that glow, but the heat kept increasing, and after only a few moments, the wolf began to howl.  It stood up on its hind legs, not like a dog exactly and not like a man.  Clearly it could stand and be stable, and it could also use its front paws like hands.  The heat still increased, and they began to catch the smell of burning hair and flesh.  The wolf began to scream like no real wolf ever screamed and it pushed the chain away as it wriggled its long snout through the necklace.

            The amulet fell to the ground.  The wolf eyed them warily before it spun around, fell to all fours and darted back into the jungle.  It left only a trail of the smell of burning flesh and hair for anyone to  follow – not that anyone was so foolish.  Vanu relaxed.  He almost collapsed but Alexis and Boston caught him.  Lockhart, Lincoln and Captain Decker all moved to retrieve the amulet, but there was a distant explosion that caused them to pause and shut their eyes.

            The sudden flash of light left them seeing spots.  Before anyone could clear their vision, two young men came crashing through the underbrush.  They dove into the clearing, screaming.  “Help!  Save us!”  They were being chased by a tiger.  Curiously, the tiger stopped at the edge of the clearing and started licking its paw while the two young men crawled over to hide behind Vanu and Dayni.

            “Dayus ordered me to eat them, you know.”  The tiger spoke without moving its lips.  Everyone heard clearly and no one doubted it was the tiger speaking.

            “You are welcome to have them,” Vanu said.  People paused to look at him and wonder before all eyes returned to the tiger.

            “Can’t.  The amulet,” the tiger said.  “Anyway, I told you once.  I don’t like human meat.  Too stringy and distasteful.”  The tiger made a face.  Everyone saw the disgust just before the tiger vanished.

            “Look!  There it is!”  One of the young men shouted and both made a dash for it as Lockhart, Decker and Lincoln all jumped.  None got it, because a man in ragged clothes stooped down and picked it off the ground.  The ragged man eyed the amulet with some concern on his face while Dayni and Vanu went to their knees.  The others joined them, the two young men last of all.  They made up for their tardiness in reacting by falling all the way to their faces.

            “You know, you should really keep a better watch on this,” the ragged man said as he tossed the amulet back to Vanu.  Vanu immediately handed it to Dayni who slipped it around her neck.  Then the other man showed up.

            “What have you done!”  He yelled at the raggedy man.

            “I returned the amulet to its rightful owners,” the ragged man said, calmly.  “Should I have not done that?”  He sounded innocent enough.

            The new arrival got hot.  In fact, they all felt the heat.  He turned on the crowd and shouted again.  “What are these still doing here?”  He pointed at the two on their faces.

            “Ah,” the ragged man spoke like this was a question he could answer.  “I believe the tiger said he could not eat them because of the amulet.”  Alexis at least thought she saw steam rise from the other man.

            “And who the Hell are all these people?”

            “Travelers,” the ragged man said.  “They will be gone in the morning and out of our land before two days have passed.”

            The other man paused while he looked around at the travelers.  None of the travelers lifted their eyes.  Then the man spoke to Lockhart, and Lockhart knew it even without looking.  “Take these two with you,” the man said, and again Lockhart knew the man meant Vanu and Dayni even if it was not spelled out.  Then the man left in a flash of light so bright it rivaled the sun.  In fact, it was the sun, but fortunately the ragged man did something to prevent everyone from being burnt and blinded.

            “You two.” the ragged man spoke while people once again lifted their heads, except the two on their faces who began to tremble.  If you dare to touch that amulet again, I will be very angry.  And so you understand, I am not like Dayus.  I do not have to follow the rules in order to maintain my position.  I have ten thousand eyes in the night sky.  I am always watching.  If you so much as touch it, you will regret it.”

            “Lord Varuna,”  Vanu lowered his head in a bow.  He wanted to be sure the two young men knew who was speaking to them.

            “For the rest of you,” Varuna spoke in a different, light and airy voice, and he smiled.  “Get your rest.  The wolf will not bother you again tonight.  But understand, none of us are authorized to end its life.  You travelers were kind to it after a fashion.  You healed it and fed it and it now has your scent.  It will no doubt follow you through your next time portal and beyond.  At some point I do not doubt you will have to deal with the man wolf.  May the gods in that place be able to do more than I am allowed.”  And he vanished, and they were alone apart from the two young men who joined them.

            “You see.  It is a man wolf like I said.”

            “A rose by any other name,” Alexis said.

            “Not a help,” Lincoln countered.  “Ghouls ahead of us, a werewolf following us.”

            “Don’t forget the Bokarus,” Boston reminded everyone.

            “I kind of hoped we lost that one and saw the last of it some time back,” Lincoln said.

            “Don’t count on it,” Lockhart spoke quietly as he stood and brushed himself off to ready himself for bed.

            It was not long before they came to the edge of the jungle.  A broad field of sweet green grass spread out in front them and for a good stretch before it came to some distant rock covered hills.  The trail split there.  It ran along the tree line in both directions.  It was an odd sight.  It looked like the jungle simply stopped and the trees stood like soldiers at attention.  The line was fairly straight and made a sharp demarcation between tree land and the grassy plains.

            “Way?”  Lockhart asked, knowing they had followed the trail and not strictly the amulet.  They might have gotten turned around.

            “This way,” Boston pointed to their right.  Roland stared to their left.

            “Smoke, I think,” he said.  “Probably cooking fires.  Maybe a village.”

            Mingus squinted but saw nothing so he took a great whiff of air instead.  He shook his head.  “Wind is not from that direction.”

            “We follow the green arrow,” Lockhart decided.  No one argued, and it was another hour, about an hour before sunset when they found the sheep.  They smelled them first before they saw them.  As they came up close, a woman stood from the shadow of the trees.

            “Hello,” she said, and stepped into the light.  She was young, about Boston’s current age of around twenty-three.  She had a three or four-year-old that clung shyly to the back of her dress and she looked pregnant besides.  “Are you hungry and thirsty?  Please, you must come stay the night with us.”  The petite young woman glanced at the sun.  “It is not safe right now to be out in the dark.  Please.

            “Yes, thank you very much,” Alexis said it because Lockhart merely took his own glance at the sun before he nodded.

            “Oh, wonderful.”  The woman looked pleased.  “Come Gana.”  She pulled the boy from behind.  “Say hello.”  The boy merely stared at the strangers.  “My husband will be very happy to have visitors.  He only has me to listen to most of the time and he says that is all he needs, but I know he will be happy to have a change in conversation.  He knows so much, but he has no one to talk to.  Sometimes it keeps him awake at night and sometimes it gives him a headache.  Do you know what I mean, headache?”

            “That can’t be good.”  Katie Harper had stepped up to take the point with Boston.

            “Oh,” The woman said with the biggest smile seen in a long time.  “I know how to cure a headache.”  She patted her stomach.  Alexis and Katie smiled.

            “I wouldn’t know about that, “ Boston said, but she found her eyes wander over to look at Roland.  The elf looked at the sheep.

            “Children!”  The woman called and several sheep bleated and began to follow as she walked.  “My name is Dayni,” she said.  Several people stopped so the rest stopped.  It was Lincoln who said it.

            “So, of course.  Your husband is Vanu.”

            Roland had another thought.  “You’re the one those two fools on the trail were afraid of?”

            Dayni did not seem to hear.  She shouted at her stray.  “You, too, lumpy.  You better come if you don’t want to be supper.”  The sheep let out a loud Baa of protest, but it came from the edge of the trees and rejoined the herd on the path.

            Dayni led them all down the grasslands path for a short way before she turned on to a side path and reentered the jungle.  The jungle was not as thick in that place and the path was good as well, worn down by years of sheep.  The clearing where the house was located was barely inside the trees, like a border house between two lands.   And that was what it was.  Dayni was of the jungle people.  Vanu was born in the village on the grasslands and their marriage brought those two tribes into peaceful relations, but neither Dayni nor Vanu wanted to live with his or her people.

            “Just as well,” Dayni said as she closed the gate to the pen where they kept the sheep in the night.  She shook her head sadly at the mention of Vanu’s people and turned her nose up at her own.

            “Lockhart!”  The word came before they saw the young man.  Dayni ran to him for a big hug and kiss.  Gana was a little slower, but he was looking to be picked up, and Vanu did just that as he carried the boy to the door of his house.

            “A front porch on a log house,” Katie Harper noted.  “Aren’t you playing a little with history here?”

            “A little,” Vanu admitted sheepishly.  He, above all was not supposed to do that.  “But wait until you taste my bar-b-q sauce.”

            “I could go for some of that,” Captain Decker admitted.

            Vanu nodded.  “No tomatoes, of course, but a pretty good recipe.  I’ll invent it about a hundred years from now.”

            “That’s my Kairos.”  Lockhart smiled.

            It was well after dark by the time they were all fed and ready to call it a night.  Some lounged on the porch.  Some sat down below on the grass.  Gana sat in his mother’s lap and struggled to keep his eyes open.  The stars were out by then, bright in the sky.  The moon was also up, and full.  “Actually, it is the third and last night of the full moon,” Vanu said.

            “What do you mean the last night?”  Boston asked.

            “I mean the last night with the moon full enough.  You see, every time the moon goes full it is not just a one night deal.  There are three nights where there is enough power to make the wolf.”

            “Werewolf?”  Lincoln asked.

            “No,” Mingus objected.  “It is way too early in history for a werewolf.  The Were people are still present and haven’t mated with humans enough to pass on the genetic anomaly.  And there is no record of the virus this far back.”

            Vanu shook his head.  “It is the only explanation.  Ashteroth must have thrown the poor man back this far to see if it was possible.”

            “Were people?”  Katie Harper had a different question.

            Lincoln got out the database, but Mingus answered first.  “Shape shifters.  They were among the many people the gods brought from other worlds to fill the dead spaces.  You humans were all bunched up around Ararat and the Plains of Shinar if you recall.”

            “But the amulet is gone.  Varuna protect us,” Dayni spoke and looked up into the night sky.

            “Ah, the amulet,” Alexis said.  The topic had not come up.  Vanu took Alexis’ words like a question.

            “The amulet of peace and prosperity.  My bloodstone ruby fashioned by the dwarfs in the mountains and endowed with the powers of peace and prosperity.  It seemed to hold the beast at bay on the first two nights.”

            “But you lost one sheep,” Roland said.

            Vanu nodded but raised an eyebrow.  “Dayni was bringing the flock home just after dark.  The wolf caught the straggler.  I am just happy it did not catch Dayni.”  He reached for her hand and she squeezed his.

            “Let us hope the wolf is far away tonight,” Dayni said.  It was not.  As they were thinking and preparing to end the night, they heard it close.  Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper armed themselves.  Lockhart got out his shotgun.  Then it was there on the other side of the clearing, drooling and snarling and looking like it was trying to decide which human to kill first.

How many of you have given up?  How many of you are on or near target?  Does it matter?

My trip is unofficial as you should know.  I finished my designated NaNo book on October 25 (I couldn’t wait).  Instead of the madness and angst of National Novel Writing Month, I have been able to quietly work on the Avalon series (season one of which is now appearing on this blog every Monday and Friday).  I have also been able to work on my book, “Anatomy of a Storyteller” which is currently appearing on my Word & Spirit blog (Mondays only).

So far this November, I have produced three parts (chapters/sections) for “Anatomy” totaling 12,830 words.  Avalon, Season 2 has had two episodes written totaling 11,670 words.  That was 24,500 words at the midpoint last week, not quite what I hoped for, but acceptable.  Then I hit a snag.  Not a bad snag.

Anatomy of a Storyteller reached another personal point in the story which needed to rumble around in the back side of my mind for a time before being committed to paper.  I had to let it breathe for a bit, like a good wine. That sometimes happens.  Everything needs to breathe at times.  Fortunately, Avalon was becoming seriously engrossing.

This last week I set two episodes of Avalon series 2 to paper.  Avalon 2.2, the story around Cophu, prisoner in Jericho was 7,778 words and Avalon 2.3, the story around Kim and Ameratsu and their escape to Japan was 7,123 words.  That makes the total for the third week, 14,951 words and the grand total to date 39, 451.  And that leaves just 10,549 words to produce by November 30^th, a highly achievable number.

Now, you see, here is the thing you have to understand about me.  I write a lot.  Despite a full time job, occasional times to preach and teach and to minister in ways that allow me to practice  what I preach, despite family (including 4 children ages 15 to 25), meetings, counseling sessions, Holidays and massive amounts of driving, I average roughly 10,000 words of fiction per week.

I write a lot.  That 10,000 words does not include sermons, speeches, teaching lessons, lectionary reflections, reflections on Christian living, studies in discipleship, reflections on life, wise words for writers, writerly stuff, or any other writing that might eat up my week.  That 10,000 words is just my average fiction output in a week.  Given that, for me 50,000 words in four weeks only requires a little push.

(Yes, my normal output adds up to around 500,000 word of fiction per year, or about 5+ books worth.  That is just the way it goes, and I don’t know if even at that rate I will live long enough to tell all the stories I have ready to write…  Not bragging, mind you.  Telling stories is just who I am and what I do.  I can’t help it, and while not bragging, I feel no reason to hide it either).

So, last week, with that little push, I turned out 14, 951 words.  Cophu needs to find a way to help the travelers escape from the wall Tiamut has set around them to trap them in Jericho.  Then the travelers find themselves in a world without a sun where the sun goddess is afraid to fly for fear her brother, Susanu will catch her and chain her to the sky. 

Now, I am working on Avalon 2.4, the story of Zoe, the Amazon, and about ready to start 2.5 and Huyana’s North American tale of dementia.  Ah, life is good and this Avalon storyline is a great deal of fun to both write and read.  You should read some.  It is all right here Monday and Friday for free.  Episode 8 of season 1 is now being printed (Avalon 1.7), but the earlier episodes are all in the archives, including the pilot.  You are welcome to poke around the archives at your leisure.  Thanks for your support, and I hope you all achieve your goals.

            “It appears to be an amulet.”

            “Let me see.”  Mingus held out his hand, but Roland only held up the amulet.  He caught Boston’s eye, but she looked at Alexis so he handed it to his sister.

            “You better hang on to this.”

            Mingus followed with his eyes.  “There is great power in that amulet,” Mingus announced.  “Of course I have never seen it, but that might be the amulet of peace and prosperity.  Made by the same wee folk who made Thor’s Hammer and eventually the armor and blades of the Kairos.”

            “Peace and prosperity?”  Lockhart asked.  Mingus nodded, but Captain Decker scoffed.  The Captain was getting a handle on this Kairos business, but magic still seemed like so much nonsense to him.

            “At least there is a clear path here through this jungle,” he said.

            “Boston?”  Lockhart asked.

            “This is more or less the right direction.”  Boston pointed.  Without being asked, Roland and Decker trotted down the path and out of sight to scout.

            “The amulet of Peace and Prosperity,” Lincoln read from the database.  “Made from a stone found by the Kairos and blah, blah. Ah!  The greater spirits of Peace and Prosperity willingly filled the stone with a reflection of their own being.  Even the gods are restrained from causing disasters and hardship against the owners and their people.”  Lincoln looked up at Alexis who was gently fingering the stone that hung from her neck.  “Sounds very powerful.”

            “I can feel it,” Alexis admitted.

            “It belongs to the Kairos?”

            “Yes.”  Lincoln looked again at the database.  “In a thousand or so years it will go north with the Kairos, Devya and become the centerpiece of the city of Sanctuary that she will build on the silk road.”

            “The sun god, Dayus.”  Lieutenant Harper remembered and looked at Lockhart.  Lockhart nodded and thought like a policeman.

            “Dayus was the one who hated Dallah so much he created the Thar desert to get rid of her.  Now Vanu is within his grasp again, but he is frustrated by the power of the amulet.  So he gets two locals to steal the amulet for him so he can make a desert in the Kashmir to get rid of Vanu.”

            “Dayni,” Boston remembered what she heard.  “I bet the amulet belongs to him.”

            “Her,” Lincoln corrected.  “The Traveler’s wife.”

            “I read that book,” Lockhart smiled as Roland and Decker reappeared with a man between them.  The man looked ragged, cut and bruised everywhere.  He was stark naked and he also looked like he was not in his right mind.

            “We found this one sleeping beside the path,” Captain Decker explained.

            “Oh, but he needs help,” Alexis hurried forward to meet the man.  The man took one look at her and shrieked.  He tried to back up, to get away from her but the Captain and Roland each had an arm and they were not going to let go.  “Lay him down and hold him,” Alexis ordered, and the men complied. 

            She stepped up then and the man struggled, but he could not escape.  Alexis laid her hands a few inches from the man’s chest.  A warm glow of golden light covered her hands and then covered the man.  The cuts began to close and heal and the bruises lightened in color and became less pronounced.  With that, the man relaxed, and as Alexis worked, the man’s hand bent up at the elbow.  Roland noticed and almost slapped the man’s hand down again, but the man was not reaching for Alexis.  He reached for the amulet, cupped it gently in his hand and for the only time, smiled, his eyes only on the stone, and he said one word, “Pretty.”  It was the only word he ever spoke.

            Mingus stepped up as Alexis finished.  He had a bit of fairy weave and made a loincloth grow around the man’s private parts.  Lockhart had another thought.

            “We don’t have a straight jacket.  We don’t even have handcuffs.”

            “Lockhart?”  Several sets of eyes turned to him and wondered why he was thinking such things.  Obviously the man had been mistreated and driven mad anyway.

            “My thoughts, exactly.”  Captain Decker had no trouble understanding what Lockhart was thinking.  He produced some rope from his own backpack, and since the man was on his stomach so Alexis could heal his back, he took advantage of that and grabbed the man’s hands.  He tied them securely and lifted the man to his feet.  The man made noises at him.  He growled and whimpered at having his hands tied, but no one set him free.

            “Move out,” Lockhart said, and they found they had to drag the man with them at first to get him to move at all.

            It was a couple of hours on the path through the jungle before they found a clearing large enough to stop for a late lunch.  Man, as they were calling him, got good after a while.  He stumbled along with the pack and only turned his head at sounds.  He paused now and then to sniff at the air.  He drooled now and then, but there was never any sign of comprehension in his eyes.  Estimates got revised.  Man was entirely mad.  Obviously he could not have been born mad or he would have never survived his childhood.  Something must have happened, and all anyone could think was it must have been horrendous.

            By lunchtime, Man was taking some simple orders.  Lockhart told him to sit and man sat.  Lockhart was inclined to treat Man more like a dog than a human.  Alexis, Boston and Lincoln all imagined he was more like a three-year-old, albeit one that was not yet verbal.  Captain Decker was just glad Man was willing to take orders.

            After lunch, Alexis excused herself.  Outside of the general comment about not wandering far, Lockhart imagined no immediate danger.  Lincoln added, “Watch out for snakes,” but that was becoming his mantra and no one paid much attention except to be a bit more careful.

            Back in the trees, Alexis paused and fingered the amulet.  She held it and studied it as deeply as she could with all of her senses.  It looked and felt ordinary enough.  No human would give it a second thought apart from the size and beauty of the precious stone.  It was a blood red ruby, she was sure of it, and the size of her fist.  When she looked with her magical senses on full alert, though, she felt the power.  It was way beyond anything she could comprehend, much less duplicate.  She was not surprised the gods themselves could be stymied by the thing.

            “Alexis!”  Lincoln called from the camp.

            “I’m fine.  I’ll be right back,” she shouted.  She smiled to think he worried about her.  He spent two years looking for her after she vanished.  He really did love her.  She decided that if he was having trouble adjusting to the two of them being young again, she could wait, however long it took.

            Alexis took the amulet off and laid it out carefully beside her.  She was loathe to get it dirty.  When she squatted, she got a surprise.  Man came racing through the bushes.  Somehow, he freed his hands.  Alexis was sure she saw the rope burns and would not have been surprised if he scraped off strips of skin to get free.  He snatched up the amulet before Alexis could catch her breath and disappeared into the jungle. 

            Alexis hurriedly pulled herself together as the others came running.  “He went that way,” she shouted and pointed.  “And he stole the amulet.”

            “What?”  Mingus turned on her.  “Why didn’t you stop him?”

            Alexis frowned.  “I was not exactly in a position to stop anyone.”

            Lockhart had no recriminations.  He simply pointed to Roland and Captain Decker.  The Captain jumped through the brush in one direction, and Roland picked a slightly altered course.  Then there was nothing to do but wait.  Boston, Mingus and Lockhart spread out in case Man doubled back.  Alexis set a magical barrier at some distance down the path on either side so she would be alerted if anyone came their way.  They waited, and about two hours later Captain Decker and Roland returned together with a negative report.

            “There is a river some distance from here.  He could have easily run the whole way and jumped in.  After that, there would be no way to follow him.”  Captain Decker shook his head.

            “There is a way,” Roland disagreed, respectfully.  “But I found no evidence of that.” 

            “Get your stuff,” Lockhart said.  “Let’s find out where this trail takes us, hopefully before dark.”

After 4289 BC in the foothills of Kashmir.  Kairos: Vanu

Recording…

            Boston sat by the fire and alternately stared at the amulet and Roland.  She did not know what to say to the elf, but she felt she ought to say something.  Lincoln inherited the database from Boston and found the place for taking notes.

            “Beats my notebook,” he remarked casually.  Alexis simply nodded as the howl came again and her eyes were drawn to the sky while her ears tried to judge the direction and distance.

            “Full moon,” Katie noted.

            “Don’t start,” Lincoln looked up from his notes.  Lockhart laughed, but Mingus waved off the laughter.

            “There may be something to that,” he said.  “But I would think we are too early for a man wolf.”

            “Werewolf, father.”  Roland and Alexis both corrected the elder elf.

            “Man wolf, were wolf.  Anyway, it is too early in history.  The Were people still have a strong presence in several places around the globe.  The disease and genetic component responsible for that most rare of troubles won’t connect for a thousand years, maybe two or three thousand.”

            The howl cam again.  It was closer, but not by much.

            “Well, I did not think there were regular wolves in this part of the world,” Lincoln said.

            “Ah!”  Mingus raised a knowing finger.  “But again, this far in the past may prove different.  We might find elephants stretching all the way from Africa to India in unbroken herds, even across the plains of Saudi Arabia, before the land there turns to dust and the elephant herds separate, India to Africa.”

            “I recommend a watch,” Captain Decker interrupted.

            “Father, you are very talkative tonight,” Alexis shifted her seat to sit beside the elf while Lockhart considered the Captain’s suggestion.

            “Just thinking of my old friend, Procter.  I am sorry you did not get to know him the way he really was.  He should have been babbling and rambling and sharing all this sort of information all along.  He could be very annoying, but he was a likeable fellow.  He was likeable.”

            Alexis leaned in and kissed her father on the cheek while Lockhart stood.  “Team watch,” he said.  He knew everyone was exhausted from lack of sleep over the past couple of days, but he did not spend all of those early years on the police force for nothing.  His instincts were acting up and something did not feel right.  Team watch put Lincoln and Alexis up first.  Mingus and Lockhart got the dark of the night.  Captain Decker and Roland watched through the wee hours and Katie and Boston got the dawn shift.  A single watch of an hour or two each through the night would have let everyone get more rest, but something did not feel right.  Lockhart glanced at Katie, and she nodded as if to say it did not feel right to her, too.

            The howl came a third time, but this time it sounded further away.

            The morning arrived without incident, but Lockhart’s feelings would not go away easily.  Someone was engaged in something criminal and dangerous, and not too far away.  Katie handed him a cup of herbal coffee to help.  He said thanks, but honestly the coffee was something he was still getting used to.

            The travelers did not go far that morning before they ran into a jungle.  They had to spread out a bit as each tried to find the path of least resistance through the thick undergrowth.

            “Don’t move out of sight and sound,” Lockhart ordered.

            “And watch out for snakes,” Lincoln added.  He imagined the place was full of monster pythons and cobras.  

            An hour in, and the elves stopped still.

            “Leapord?”  Mingus suggested.  Their good ears picked up something the others did not hear.

            Roland shook his head.  “Tiger, I believe.”  Most thought that was worse.  Tigers sometimes became man eaters. 

            Another hour and the jungle showed no signs of thinning and thus far only had what Boston called rabbit trails through the brush.  They looked promising for a few yards but quickly petered out into nothing.

            The elves stopped again and this time everyone else stopped with them, quieted and wondered what they heard.  Then Captain Decker heard and raised his rifle.  Then the others heard and became deathly quiet.

            “This is a good place.”  That was a man’s voice.

            “This is the middle of nowhere.”  A second man argued.

            “So no one will look here.”

            “But how will we remember to look here?”

            Roland moved in absolute silence.  He leapt past Captain Decker and was up the nearest tree in the blink of an eye.  No one was quite sure how he did that, except Boston who chalked it up to him being an elf and young and a hunter.  Roland stood on a thick branch and spied on the men.  He waved down to Decker, pointed to his eyes and cupped his hand.  Captain Decker tossed up his binoculars.  Even the Captain knew that elf eyes were as superhuman as their ears, but clearly Roland wanted a closer look at something.

            “It is only until tonight,” the first man was saying.

            “Tonight?  But there is the wolf about.  Didn’t you see Vanu’s shredded sheep?”

            “Ha!  I’m more worried about Dayni.  If she knew we had this, we would be the ones shredded.”

            “But the wolf –“

            “You worry too much.  You know the day god cannot meet us while the sun is up.  It has to be at night.”

            “Hey, hey.  Do you think he will do everything he said?”

            “He is a god.  How can you question that?”

            “Yeah.  I guess Vanu isn’t the only one with friends.  But how are we going to find this exact place again?”

            “Easy.  We just come to the place where that goblin up the tree there is staring at us with boogly eyes.” 

            There was a moment of silence before everyone heard two men scream like little girls and the thunder of crashing through the bushes.  Roland tossed the binoculars down to the Captain and zipped down the other side of the tree.  “Over here,” he shouted.  He wanted to find whatever it was the two fools dropped.

Yes, certainly some of this is repeat because I do want you to consider reading one story or the other or both.  Currently I am posting season one of the Avalon series, Monday and Friday on this Storyteller blog for free.  I am looking for an artist/illustrator if you know one.  Then again, who knows, maybe someone will consider it for a television show some day and I’ll end up make buckets of money.  You can say you read it here first.

Avalon is the story of people, three “men in black,” two marines, an elf and a half-elf who are sent into the deep past to save one man’s wife.  They succeed in the pilot episode, but lose their quick way home and thus they are forced to get home the long way – by way of the time gates and across the time zones that surround the many lives of the Kairos, the Watcher over History, the Traveler in Time.  That won’t be an easy journey.

You see, the Kairos never lives a quiet life, so there is no telling as they travel from time zone to time zone what they may have to confront.  And some of those confrontations may sneak up on them.  You see, they are not the only ones stuck in the past where they don’t belong.  Others have picked up their trail, some to follow them back into the future, but some are hunting them.

Currently posting:

Episode 7 (1.6) just concluded.  Episode 8 (1.7) will begin Friday.  The travelers become aware of the amulet of peace and prosperity which has been stolen from the Kairos.  They might be able to get it back for him if they can figure out what to do about the werewolf.

Work in Progress:

The second episode of season two finds the travelers in Egypt, the Nile Delta. Phoenix, the Kairos, a powerful fire starter thanks to the Aton-Ra is now happily married with children.  But Set, god of infertility bears a grudge against her and has sent a pack of night creatures to attack her in her happy home.  Needless to say, the guns of the travelers make a difference at first, but then Set intervenes more directly and that sparks some of the other gods in that jurisdiction to escalate the conflict.

That is 5051 words.

At the same time, I am continuing the story of the Storyteller – the one who was supposed to be their quick way home.  He sacrificed himself by leaping into the void to save that man’s wife, only now he is trapped in the Second Heavens and is terribly confused. 

I am currently presenting the Anatomy of a Storyteller for free on my Word & Spirit blog on Mondays only.  Plans are to present it on this Storyteller blog at a future date since it connects to the Avalon events in a real way, but for now it is over there.  Why?  Because for all of its fiction, it is a parallel to my life and memoir-like.  You would not know it by reading it, but…

So Anatomy, “The House of the Lord” is 6209 words, and that makes my total for the second week plus: 11, 260 words.  Added to my first week plus total of 13, 240 and we are at 24,500.  I was hoping for closer to 26,000, but this will do.

            Boston pulled herself into Lockhart’s arms, sure they were going to die.  She looked up into his eyes as he held her close and the strangest thought crossed her mind.  She did not want to die without knowing, so she kissed him, full and firm on the lips, and he kissed her back.  When they separated, they looked each other in the eyes, momentarily oblivious to their impending doom.  They shook their heads at the same time and the same word escaped their lips.  “No,” and they almost smiled.

            The fog began to lift and Boston saw two things at once.  She saw Roland right beside them, still.  She was not sure what all he saw, but she was sure he saw something.  She was overwhelmed with the need to tell him she was sorry and that she didn’t mean it.  But she said nothing as the faces became clear not too many yards away.  Those faces looked twisted and distorted.  Some hardly looked human.  She turned her own face and buried it in Lockhart’s chest.  She tried to get away from the sight, but it was too late.  Those images were burned into her retinas and her brain.  Alexis screamed.  Katie Harper also screamed, but it was words.

            “Decker, no!  We can’t kill them.  That will just set them free.”

            Doctor Procter jumped forward, straight toward the faces.  He turned and walked backwards in the direction of the demonized people as a smile spread across his own face.  Everyone else saw the tears form in his eyes as he spoke gleefully.  “Kill them.  Kill them all and have your supper.”  He pointed at his companions, tripped over a root and fell straight to his back.  He began to struggle, but he could not get up.  What is more, the demonized people appeared to be unmoving.  They were frozen in place, and the travelers could only stare at them in return.

            Doctor Procter screamed this time.  They heard the horse before they saw it.  It was indeed a medieval-looking knight from the High Middle Ages, covered head to toe in dazzling armor.  The lance was long and looked deadly,  but there was something of grace, perhaps chivalry in the knights demeanor.  He said nothing and simply walked his well trained steed until he stood beside the Doctor.  Then he lowered his lance and touched Doctor Procter gently on the chest where the heart was.  A brilliant white light spread slowly all of the way around the Doctor until he was bathed in it.

            Now the Doctor truly screamed and writhed, or something was writhing.  It looked devoid of all light, not simply dark or black.  It looked like the enemy of light, but it was no match for the lance.  The darkness slowly separated from the doctor and began to squirm like a wounded snake.  It tried to lash out again and again, but the light from the lance contained it.  At last, the darkness began to dissipate.  It was outmatched and had nowhere to go.  It became like smoke from and extinguished fire.  It turned pale gray and vanished at last like that smoke in a strong gust of wind.

            Still without a word spoken, the Knight of the Lance turned his horse around and step by step he became insubstantial until he disappeared, not behind a tree, but simply in the air.  The travelers all stepped up to the Doctor’s side.  They were heedless of the others at the moment.  Doctor Procter was smiling and glowing a little with residual light.

            He began with one word.  “Free.”  Then he pulled the amulet from beneath his shirt.  “Boston.  You must take this.  You understand it better than the others, and I trust you will guide everyone safely home.”  He took it from around his neck and held it out.  Boston accepted it, but her eyes were quickly too full of tears to see it properly.  “Alexis.  I am glad you are safe.  I still remember you scampering around the workplace, and Roland, you were worse.”

            “Eh?”  Roland glanced at his sister before he looked down at the man.

            “Yes.  Always breaking things, isn’t that right, Mingus?”  Mingus nodded, but he could not answer.  “Anyway, I think Mister Lincoln is a fine man so you leave them alone.  And Mister Lockhart, I am sorry I never really got to know you properly.”  He paused to look around at his surroundings and gave the impression in his eyes that this was the first he was seeing of it.  “I am more sorry that all those years of study will now be missed, eh Mingus?  I would dearly love to actually see and experience the lives of the Traveler.”  He began to have trouble breathing and Alexis and Katie Harper both began to reach for him, but in a flash of light that made everyone blink and throw their hands toward their eyes, he vanished utterly from the world.

            “God rest his soul,” Lockhart breathed.  The elves did not object since after all, Doctor Procter was half-human. 

            “We better move before these others come around,” Captain Decker said.  He nudged Lockhart.  Lockhart looked at Boston and it took her a second to remember and check the amulet.  She pointed, and they walked around the mass of men and a few women who were still frozen in place.  The time gate was barely a hundred yards away.  Boston slipped the amulet around her neck as they hurried through.  They heard the demons behind them begin to stir.

            Everyone woke in the night at one time or another.  Some people screamed in the night and tears could be heard every now and then.  It was hard to tell if they were tears of fear or tears for those friends and relatives now lost to the demons – the very ones pursuing them with nothing in mind but to kill and destroy.  Lincoln woke when Alexis woke and they whispered for hours.  Boston got up when the moon was high and found Roland sitting quietly a short distance from the camp.  Captain Decker hardly slept and kept his rifle close.  Lockhart found Katie up and they talked for a while.  They both needed reassurance.  Mingus joined them after a while and stayed up long after they tried to get some rest.

            By morning, all nerves were stretched to the limit, and hardly helped when Xiang gathered them for her good-byes.  “God willing as we move north the gate will catch up to you before the demons do.  They are two days behind, but they move faster than we do.  My people rested some when the rain came, but we have five days to go.”  She shook her head.  She was all but confessing that they would be caught.

            “We could slow them down a little,” Captain Decker suggested.

            “No!”  Xiang shouted.  “That is the one thing you must not do.  Killing them will just set the demons free to infest others, maybe you.  They cannot possess you without your permission, but the lies and temptations can be very persuasive.”

            “But, if we can’t kill them –“ Captain Decker did not know what to say.  He had to think of options.

            “A sleeping gas?”  Lieutenant Harper suggested.

            “Demons don’t sleep,” Xiang said.  “That might just make them act like zombies.  Come to think of it, killing them might not stop them either.”

            “Great!”  Lincoln frowned.  “So what do we do?”

            “Avoid them,” Lockhart said.  “Go out of our way if necessary and wait until they pass.”  Boston reached for Lockhart’s hand, and he gave it to her.  Touch was something they all needed.

            “Yes, avoid them,” Mingus agreed, and he put his hand on his son’s shoulder.  Roland looked toward the rising sun.  It was pale and wan, though there was hardly a discernable cloud since the rain cleared off.  Everyone had been hoping for a bright, sunny day.  It would have lifted all of their spirits, but it was not to be.

            Unlike the day before, everyone talked as they walked.  There was something about hearing a voice, even their own voices that kept them from collapsing in dread of the demons.  They spoke about memories and tried to relate the good times.  They tried to laugh, but by lunch even the best of times felt strangely ominous and became harder to recall while the wicked and sinful moments of life bombarded them with pain and regrets. 

            Mingus, Roland, and to a smaller extent Alexis felt the oncoming evil as a palpable fear.  Mingus did collapse a couple of times, but Lincoln and Lockhart were right there to lift him and get him walking again.  “It can’t be much further,” he kept saying, but they kept walking.  Lincoln did his best to let Alexis lean on him.  Roland did his best to keep breathing and to keep his feet moving.

            Boston squeezed herself between Lockhart and Roland, and held on to one or the other at times for the comfort of their touch.  Roland smiled at first when she took his arm, but by afternoon, his expression turned to pity and sorrow.  Lockhart’s expression remained stoic throughout, but after lunch there was a moment when he reached out for her hand.

            Katie Harper felt the sweat on her brow.  There was a chill in the air like it was still early in the spring, but the sweat could not be helped.  She was burning, perhaps with a fever, or perhaps, she thought she was getting too close to the lake of fire that waited for the demons in the deepest pit of Hell.  She checked and kept checking to be sure Captain Decker’s rifle had the safety on.  He did not seem to mind.  He did not seem to notice.  His eyes simply darted back and forth between the trees and bushes like he expected some terror to jump out at them any minute.

            “It can’t be much further,” Mingus droned and shook his senses to keep to his feet.

            “Shouldn’t we be looking to sidestep soon?”  Boston asked.  When Lockhart looked at her with incomprehension on his face, she explained.  “To get off to the side and hide until they pass us by.”  It took a minute for her words to penetrate.

            “Doctor Procter?”  Lockhart spoke to the man out front.

            “This way,” the Doctor said in a voice that was too sprightly, like he was becoming excited.  Lockhart had been watching the man since the beginning and especially since their visit with the Ophir.  He came suddenly awake and sharp at the sound of that voice.

            “This way,” He said, and turned the group ninety degrees to the Doctor’s prescription.  Doctor Procter clearly wanted to object, but as the group turned aside, a thick fog rolled in instantly, or as Alexis later surmised, it suddenly appeared in their midst.  No one could see more than a foot ahead, and as they were all in the process of turning aside, some turned too far and some not far enough.  It did not take many steps for them to separate.

            “Hello?”  “Where are you?”  “Come toward my voice.”  They all spoke, but the fog echoed their words and threw them back at the speaker and made orientation and direction impossible.  Instead of finding and getting closer to each other, they walked further apart.  Only Lincoln and Alexis held on to each other, and Boston, whose sweaty hand was not about to let go of Lockhart.  Then everyone stopped at once.  They heard a voice.  It was raspy, cold, chilling in a way none of them had ever heard before or hoped to hear again.  It was the voice of death.  It was the voice of damnation.

            “They are here.”

            “Get with the program, Decker.”  Lieutenant Harper frowned.  “Sir,” she added to be safe.

            “It’s alright, Katie,” Keng smiled for them all.  “I was just getting ready to leave.  The village is not far behind.”

            “You’re older,” Alexis said. 

            “I’m older than I was when I died,” Keng responded.  “I guess that sounds a little strange.”

            “From you?”  Lockhart shook his head.

            “Mind if I write that one down?”  Lincoln asked.

            Keng just broadened his grin and retrieved the crutch the other man had been holding.  “See you,” he said and went away.  A woman took his place and several people gasped except Mingus who merely nodded.

            “Keng and Xiang are genetic reflections,” he said.  When the others did not appear to understand, he added, “They share the exact same genetic code altered only for male and female.  They are like identical twins of the opposite sex.”

            Alexis hit her father to quiet him.  That was not why they gasped.  Xiang was bent over.  Her spine was cracked though not yet broken.  One knee looked like it was shattered and healed badly, and her ribs were wrapped and caked with dried blood like she had a wound that would not close.  Above all, her face was twisted.  It looked raw as if the flesh itself had been beaten off of her.

            “I’m dying,” Xiang said.  “Everyone knows it.  You might as well know it, too.”  The young man beside her bowed his head.  Xiang tried to smile for him.  “But I won’t let go until all of my friends and neighbors are safe.”

            “But what happened?”  Boston could not contain her words.

            “My husband.”  Xiang spoke without flinching.  “The chief demon leading the ones who are chasing us.  I have no doubt they have something like this in mind for us all if they can catch us.”

            The young man beside her spoke up.  “They pulled Nanhai’s skin from his body and all of it, even after he was dead.  They left only his face intact so we would know him.”

            Everyone looked at Xiang with mouths agape.  “They pinned his eyelids back,” she said.  “They left his mouth open in a scream so we would find him that way.”

            “And they are chasing you?”  Lincoln looked off in the direction they had been walking as Xiang nodded.

            “Now!”  Xiang got their attention before she had to pause and cough.  The coughing looked painful.  “Mingus, please get a fire started.  The wood is wet and it will need your help, but don’t wear yourself out.  You will probably have to help several families start their fires.  Blossom – sorry Boston.  Blossom, go and say goodnight to your husband but come right back before dark – darker.  Roland, take Boston and Katie on the hunt.  Shengi has made the game plentiful, so the hunting should be easy.”

            “Take them on a hunt?”  Roland asked.

            Xiang paused to look up at the encroaching darkness.  There was a chill in the air that was far colder than the end of a cold rain should be.  “I don’t want anyone alone.”

            “We can set up camp here,” Lockhart waved and Captain Decker leaned his rifle against a tree so he could shed his backpack and get his tent.

            “Can I help?”  Alexis’ eyes never wavered from Xiang. 

            Xiang shook her head.  “Some warm bread I have heard so much about, and some water.  That is all I need.”

            “No, I mean –“

            “I know what you mean,  You can’t help me.  Shengi and Nagi can’t help me.  It is time for me to pass on, you see?  If I don’t die, how will I be born again?”  Xiang began to hobble away.

            Alexis stepped up and pulled Xiang’s good arm over her shoulder.  Xiang was willing.  “Actually, Shengi already said I was not allowed to heal you, but I thought I would ask anyway.” 

            “Not a good idea to do what the gods have forbidden,” Xiang said, but she smiled.  It was not easier for Xiang to have help walking, but not any worse and she did not mind the company.

            “Where are we headed?”  Alexis asked.

            “The top of that little hill,” Xiang answered and stopped.  She turned her head to be sure no one was watching.  Then Alexis found her arm around a twelve-year-old boy whom she recognized right away.

            “Pan.”

            “Uh-huh,” Pan said.  “Race you.”  They ran up the hill.  Alexis was winded at the top though Pan was not.

            “I am young again.” Alexis caught her breath.  “But not that young.”

            Pan just laughed, sat down with his back to a tree, got comfortable and traded places with Xiang once again.  “Well I certainly could not run uphill,” Xiang said.

            Alexis sat beside her and for a long time they sat in silence as they watched down below.  The people came in and set up makeshift tents and shelters for the night.  Campfires were lit, though they appeared dismal and dim in that atmosphere and no doubt provided little warmth against the cold.  Alexis finally had to ask. 

            “It is the ones after us,” Xiang explained.  “Their very nearness projects a terrible pall around everything.  I am not surprised with your magic you are still sensitive to it.  All my little ones are.”

            “Boston, Katie, Lockhart and Captain Decker are sensitive to it, too.”

            Xiang nodded.  “Not Lincoln?”  She asked.

            “Him most of all,” Alexis answered and smiled before they were interrupted by the arrival of the goddess, Nagi.  Alexis turned down her eyes.

            “Shoot!”  Nagi said.  “I thought I was getting good at appearing like a normal mortal.”  She turned to Alexis as she sat on Xiang’s other side.  “Xiang is teaching me how to do that and how to block my mind to the thoughts and lives of others so I can walk among people and see and hear for myself.  You know, it gets quite boring after a while knowing all the answers up front.”

            Xiang just smiled at the goddess.  “It might work better if you didn’t appear out of nowhere.”

            “Oh, yeah.”  Nagi apparently had something else on her mind.  She was smiling too much.  “Stop it,” she told Alexis.  “I know you are older than I am, though I can’t imagine how that is possible.”  Alexis simply looked at Xiang.  “I should have guessed.”

            “She was born an elf,” Xiang confessed.

            “No way,” Nagi reached for Alexis’ hand and Alexis found that a very curious thing for a goddess to do.  “You see, I didn’t know that in advance.  It is so much more fun this way.  But –“   She turned again to Xiang.  “I didn’t know you could do that.  That is remarkable, for a mortal I mean.”

            Xiang shrugged as well as she could and changed the subject.  “You and Shengi getting along?”

            Nagi let go of Alexis’ hand and looked away.  “Is it obvious.”

            “Even without reading minds,” Xiang nodded.

            “He said if I was willing to help clean up the mess, we might form a partnership.  We sealed the bargain with a kiss, a real kiss.”  Nagi looked up at Alexis.  “But you are married.  You know.”

            “Husbands have their good points,” Alexis admitted before she remembered and looked at Xiang.  Xiang’s husband was demon possessed and leading the ones chasing the people.  It was an awkward moment, but in the perfect timing the Little Ones so often show, Truffles the fairy chose that moment to zoom up.

            “Lady, Lady!”  Truffles spouted.  “Your children are looking for you and Myming is crying.”

            “Husbands have their good points,” Xiang said as Truffles acknowledged the two other women.  They watched as the fairy paused, got big eyes and turned again toward Nagi. 

            “Lady,” the fairy breathed and curtsied properly.

            Xiang started to get up.  It looked painful so Nagi interrupted.  “Let me,” she said and Xiang, Alexis and Truffles found themselves at the bottom of the hill where the children were gathered.