The night was long.  The night creatures came close, but never close enough to see.  They seemed content to pass by the travelers and their horses which suggested to Lincoln, according to the database, that they were on the hunt.  Night creatures had a single minded obsession about the hunt.  If they were hungry, they would eat whatever was convenient, and of course the sun was death and deep water as well, but otherwise they would not stop or rest until they caught what they were hunting, and ate it.

            “I would hate to be on the receiving end of that hunt,” Katie suggested in the morning.  “That night creature took out five crocodiles without a sweat, and it looked like it only got bitten because it didn’t know crocodiles had teeth.  Even the monster croc got shredded, and the only reason the night creature died was because it couldn’t swim.”   Lockhart only got to shrug as Lincoln interrupted their packing.

            “Please hurry.  Alexis is only two days ahead of us.  We might be able to catch her at the gate.”

            Roland looked over Lincoln’s shoulder so Lincoln could not see.  He shook his head, and Lockhart understood.  The group was not getting closer.  They appeared to be falling further behind, by at least a day.  Still, he wanted to be encouraging.

            “We will catch them.  If not this time, maybe the next.”  No one argued the point.  They saddled up and rode off with the sunrise at their backs.

            The travelers were quiet through the day apart from Lincoln’s incessant calls for them to hurry up.  It did not help.  Travel through the Nile Delta was slow going with a lot of backtracking around swampy places and trying to find safe places to cross the broken river.  There were not many people, just a few small villages, and those people stared and gaped plenty, but offered little information about a safe path to Bubastis – which Lincoln had calculated as their destination but which most of the locals never heard of.

            By the time they arrived in Bubastis, the sun was ready to set.  Roland was relieved, Boston was grumpy, Katie was exhausted and tired of fingering her rifle, Lockhart was stoic and silent and even Lincoln had closed his mouth for a long time, needing to conserve his strength to bring along Captain Decker’s horse.

            They dismounted near the center of Bubastis where there was a crude stone carving of a housecat.  Katie called it the luck goddess.  This village was a slightly larger small village of the same type and construction they had seen during the day, but no one seemed to be around..  The travelers thought nothing of it.  They were well experienced by then in the mixed receptions they got, so they set about caring for their horses and ignored the people until the expected delegation arrived.

            “Bast,” Lincoln read from the database at that moment.  “Also named Anu, sister to Anubis.”  He paused when the men arrived.

            “Strangers, who ride upon great and strange beasts,” the man bowed, and the delegation assented to the bow.  “You are clearly a great and powerful people.  How may we serve you.”  The man bowed again, and so did most of the others.  Lockhart spoke to the elder who did not bow very much at all.

            “We are seeking a friend.”

            Lincoln stepped up and ventured a guess that these people had heard the story.  “We are seeking Phoenix, the one reborn to her youth by the flames.”

            “Ahh,” Several faces lit up with smiles.  “The fire of glorious Aton, herself.”  One man spoke and pointed to the setting sun.  “The friend of the gods.  She is to be found down the long path where her family resides.  They farm when the flood rises.”

            A second man shoved his way to the front.  It was the elder who did not bow to the strangers, the one to whom Lockhart spoke, and he spoke back to Lockhart.  “We have sent for her, but she has not come.  And our goddess has abandoned us to the creatures of Set.  They came just before the sun and chased me from my house.”  He dropped his face into his hands and did not hesitate to let his tears flow.  “My family.”  His voice trailed off, but his neighbors were there to touch him, hold him and offer their comfort.

            Lockhart said nothing.  He simply retrieved the shotgun from his saddle holster.  Katie checked her rifle for the umpteenth time that day.  Roland looked at his dwindling supply of arrows while Lincoln went for Captain Decker’s gun.  Lockhart decided some instructions were appropriate.

            “Lincoln and Boston, stay with the horses.  Roland, take the Captain’s rifle.  No arguments.”  He turned to the men.  “Show us where.”

            They moved as a group, afraid that the creatures of Set might come bounding out and attack them at any moment.  They stopped several yards from the house and pointed.  Lockhart let his hands do the talking and he, Roland and Katie quickly got in position. 

            When they were ready, Lockhart kicked in the flimsy door.  It broke free from its moorings and crashed to the floor, but he was busy, pointing his shotgun to the back left of the  room while a kneeling Katie beside him had her rifle trained on the back right corner.  Roland jumped through the window at the same time and covered the center.  There were no night creatures to be seen, but there was a big hole in the center of the floor and pieces of shredded humans scattered everywhere.  Lockhart, the former police officer was trained to stuff his feelings down at the grisly scene.  No one knew what the elf might be thinking, but Katie, the marine had to turn away.

            The elderly man who owned the house came up and tried to go inside, but Katie caught him.  “Don’t go in there.”  She shouted over the man’s shoulder.  “Burn the house.”  At least a couple of the others nodded like they understood.

            Inside, Roland slipped down into the hole while Lockhart watched.  “They appear to have dug their way out.  The hole is filled with loose dirt with only a small hole at the top for air.”

            “Which direction?”  Lockhart wondered out loud.  When Roland pointed he brought them quickly back to the others.  “Which way to the house of Phoenix?”  The men also pointed and Lockhart nodded.  It was the same direction.

            Katie still held the elderly man and Lockhart went to help.  They forced him to mount Captain Decker’s horse and told him to hold tight to the saddle horn.  Then they mounted and Lockhart hoped Phoenix’ farm was not too distant.

            Lincoln rode out front with the old man so the old man could lead the way.  Roland scouted ahead and Boston stayed between Lincoln and Lockhart with an eye open to make sure the old man stayed in the saddle.  Lockhart and Katie brought up the rear, but their eyes, and Roland’s eyes looked for signs in the ground of underground digging.

            “No telling how fast they dig or how far they have gotten,” Lockhart said.

            “I bet they have help,” Katie added and to Lockhart’s curious stare she said, “this is water and swampland.  They drown.  They can’t afford to run into any water that might flood the tunnel.”

            “Who do you figure?”  Lockhart asked.

            “Set,” Boston answered.  She had been listening in.

            “The god?”  Katie was still having trouble with that whole concept, but Boston and Lockhart both nodded.

            “The god.”

 

Avalon 2.1:  Phoenix … next time …

 

After 3910BC.  The Nile Delta.  Kairos life 21: Phoenix

Recording…

            The sun set, but the moon was already up and full enough to cast shadows across their path.  Boston rode in front of the column with the amulet that kept them headed in the right direction.  Roland rode beside her most of the time, his elf senses stretched into the dark places.  Lockhart and Katie brought up the rear.  Both fingered their guns and said little, but were comfortable riding side by side.  Lincoln rode in the center, Captain Decker’s empty horse tied to his saddle while Lincoln filled his hands with the database and read about their location.

            “The Nile should be full of tributary channels.   If we find one big enough, we ought to find some fresh water.  I don’t believe we are close enough to the sea for it to be brackish.”

            “How do you figure?”  Lockhart asked without really asking.

            “No salt in the air,” Katie told him, softly, and he nodded.

            Lincoln continued.  “The only problem is I don’t know whether we are headed for Heliopolis or Bubastis.  It depends at what point we are in Phoenix’ life.”

            “I can’t imagine that would matter,” Boston said.

            Lincoln shrugged.  “It says here after she escaped her service as High Priestess of the Temple of the Sun she lived a relatively quiet and happy life.”

            “Relatively,” Lockhart and Roland spoke together.  That word did not mean much when it came to the lives of the Kairos.

            After a short way, Roland turned them off their path.  “I can smell the water,” he said.  Soon enough they saw it, shimmering in the moonlight.  It was just beyond a muddy beach devoid of the expected reeds, trees and bushes.  They might have blundered straight for the water if Roland had not snatched Boston’s reigns and brought them all to a halt with the words, “Something is moving.”

            Lincoln brought himself and Captain Decker’s horse up alongside Roland.  Lockhart and Katie came up beside Boston as Boston spoke.  “Alligators.”

            “Crocodiles,” Katie and Lincoln both corrected.  There appeared to be four of them, the biggest easily being twelve feet long, and as the sun just set, everyone assumed they were still fairly active. 

            “Over there.”  Katie spoke up and pointed, though only Lockhart and Boston, and Roland with his elf eyes could see where she was pointing in the dim light.  Something was coming through the bushes.  It made the sound of a baby cry, and Lockhart immediately named it.

            “Night creature.”  They had heard them before but had never actually seen one.  It came out of the bushes near the water and ignored the crocodiles as it went to the edge of the river for a careful drink.  When it turned, they all got a good look at it in the moonlight and Katie gave it another name.

            “A Set animal,” she said.  “Associated with the god of the desert, of storms and infertility.”  It had a pointed, slightly curved jaw, square ears, and yellow eyes.  Altogether it did not look like it belonged on earth.  They could not tell if it looked like a cat, a dog, a bear or perhaps a donkey the way it tromped so carefully by the water and raised its head to swallow.  When it turned and growled at them, they did not need an interpreter.

            Katie raised her rifle.  Lockhart readied his shotgun.  Lincoln had inherited Captain Decker’s rifle and took a second to retrieve it from its case while Katie spoke.

            “No bones or any part of the Set animal has ever been found.  The only place it is known is in hieroglyphs.”

            “And some Neolithic paintings in Europe and Asia,” Lincoln added.

            The beast walked toward them, right over the back of the twelve-footer and without the least concern.  Maybe it did not know.  As it’s front claw came down beside the crock, the crocodile snapped out with its terrible jaw and took off a piece of that foot.  The night creature made no noise, but whirled too fast to follow and tore half of the twelve footer’s neck out with its own terrible jaw.

            An eight-footer shuffled forward while the big one was dying and snapped off a back foot of the night creature.  Again the night creature whirled and decapitated the crocodile in two quick bites.  Then, before the others could respond, the night creature killed them.  But to catch the last before it escaped into the river, the creature had to come close again to the water.  It did not appear to like the water, and maybe that was justified.  Even as he killed the nine-foot crocodile, a crock whose head suggested it was twice as big as the dead one, or about eighteen feet, grabbed the night creature by the foot and dragged it into the water.

            The water boiled for a full minute before the tremendous bulk of that great, dead crocodile floated to the surface.  The night creature never reappeared, and Lincoln read from the database.  “They sink.”  He looked up as they all turned away from that place.  “They can’t swim and they drown.”  No one commented in return.  They would find some high ground and water in the morning.

            “That will work,” Lockhart pointed.  Roland did not look back to see the direction, but he did not have to.  They got to their rise and dismounted, and Boston remarked,

            “Someone camped here before.”  There was a ring of rocks around the ashes of a fire.  Lincoln rushed forward though he had no reason to hope.  Roland went with him and sniffed the ash to sense what might have cooked there.  He looked at Lincoln before he looked up at everyone and made his pronouncement.

            “Alexis and father,” he said.  “Not two days ahead of us.”  Everyone would have responded with joy and words of encouragement for Lincoln if at the same time they were not hushed to hear the distant sound of babies crying.

            “We watch tonight,” Lockhart said and Katie sat to check her rifle to be sure she was ready.

 

            The travelers were escorted to the center of the ten ships where there was an open space for them to pitch their tents and build a campfire.  Gogo made it clear they were to stay there for the night.  Obviously the space had been used before.  There were signs where the grass had been pressed by sleepers and signs of campfires.  It was probably where Qito stayed.

            By the time they settled in, word had gone around among the Agdaline about who they were and the help they gave in defeating the Balok on the ground.  Curiously, they saw no young Agdaline in contrast to the Stick People they once met.  It seemed to them that the children, if any, were being kept back, and the flying serpents were not much in evidence, either.  At least none approached the travelers.

            Several adults wandered by and asked innocuous questions now and then.  The travelers did their best to affirm friendship with the Agdaline people and assure them that they were no threat.  When Gogo finally returned, they had questions.

            “We are not the most trusting people,” Gogo admitted.  “Especially when it comes to the intentions of primitives like yourselves.”

            “Primitives?”  Katie Harper jumped on the word.

            Gogo looked momentarily stunned by the strength of her reaction.  Humannss,” he said in Qito’s language.  “I did forget you are from the future.  You speak Agdaline words and are friends with the female of the gods.”

            “Qito,” Lockhart spoke softly to Katie who nodded.

            “Look, why are we here?”  Lincoln interrupted.  “Alexis has clearly moved on from this place.”

            “We are here to help,” Boston said.

            “I don’t know if we are allowed to help,” Roland countered, but before they could argue about it, they were interrupted by the sound of Captain Decker clicking the scope to his rifle.  He looked up.  He had everyone’s attention.

            “They are coming,” he said.  “Just trust me.”  Katie Harper said nothing.  She picked up her rifle and Lockhart picked up his shotgun.

            “Who is coming?”  Lincoln asked.

            “Air support,” Captain Decker answered.

            “But we wiped out the ground troops,” Katie objected.  “There is nothing left to support.”  

            “All the same,” Captain Decker said as he raised his rife to his eye.

            “What is this?”  Gogo looked confused.

            “Warn your people,” Lockhart told him.  “The Balok are coming by air.”  Gogo paused for only a moment before he shrieked and waddled off as quickly as the heavier earth gravity allowed.  It was seconds before the first craft topped the ridge.  It was a single-snake craft that opened fire on the Agdaline ships which were woefully unprepared.  It was followed by five other single-snake ships, and three bigger craft that looked like the three-snake ships the travelers had seen before.

            When the first craft raced over their heads, it fired intermittently as its guns allowed, Captain Decker wheeled and returned fire.  He must have hit something as the craft immediately let out a stream of black smoke and spun out of control.  It crashed, became a ball of flame and just missed an Agdaline ship.  “Go for the rear vents,” the Captain said.

            “Hit the muffler,” Lockhart nodded as he pulled his pistol.  The shotgun was useless at that range and he was much more accurate with the handgun thanks to his years on that Michigan police force, though at their speed, he doubted he would hit anything.

            It appeared that three of the Agdaline ships had an energy screen up and working.  When the Balok weapons hit, the screen became visible as it flared yellow, orange and then red, but it held.  The other seven ships were open game, however, and they quickly took a beating.

            The travelers managed to bring down two more of the small ships, but appeared to have no effect on the bigger, three-snake fighters.  They could not find a vulnerable spot until Lockhart looked at Katie Harper and said, “Go for the eyes.” 

            There was a small slit of what looked like glass on top at the front and it became visible whenever a ship dove to attack.  The big ships were currently at various points of recovery, but when the first straightened out and began a new dive, both Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper brought their weapons to bear.  No one heard or saw any glass break, but the ship never pulled up from the dive.  It crashed into an Agdaline ship and became a much bigger ball of flame.  Everyone had to duck.

            One of the Balok three-snake fighters wheeled around and pinpointed their location.  It dove straight for them.  Weapons fired from both sides before the people on the ground had to duck.  There was an explosion.  People held on.  A couple of them were tossed.  As the three-snake fighter rose up again, the Agdaline weapons at last came on line.  First one ship and then several others fired, and with surprising accuracy they made short work of the remaining Balok fighters.

            “They must have their main guns tied to their computers,” Boston said, but Roland hushed her.  Lockhart was by Katie Harper who was badly stunned, but otherwise unhurt.  Lincoln scooted over next to Captain Decker who did not fare nearly so well.  All he could do was swear, but the others ignored him.  They did what they could for his wounds, but suspected the real damage was internal and they could do nothing for that.  He passed out.

            Somehow, the Agdaline saw the trouble and several came with Gogo.  They brought a box on wheels.  It was hard getting the unconscious Captain into that small space, but once they did, the Agdaline activated the machine.

            “It is a sleep chamber,” Gogo explained.  “We rest in these through the long dark night in the sky while we wind our way among the stars.  He will be comfortable and his condition will not become worse as long as he sleeps.  Sadly we know little of your insides or how you may be made.  But we will take him to the female of the gods.  It may be she can heal him.”  The others nodded, but even as they looked up they saw Qito, Tec’huanu and several others coming down the hill.  They had seen the Balok pass over their village and came running.

            Qito shook her head when she arrived and got the news.  “There is nothing I can do right now.  The gods and spirits of this new world have a geis on me that prevents me from taking extraordinary actions.  They call it a test.  I call it unfair, but it is what it is.  Meanwhile, they have informed me that you must move on.  I will see that the Captain does not end up in space with the Agdaline.  I will keep him here and I suppose he will have to move into the future the slow way until I can come and heal him properly.”

            “But Qito –“ Boston started to object.

            “No.  The powers in this world are right about one thing.  This is my world and my time and my problem, not yours.  There is nothing we can do for Captain Decker right now except keep him alive. And there is nothing you can do about this trouble with the Balok.  Meanwhile, you must go, and clearly you cannot take Captain Decker with you at present,”

            “But—“ Katie wanted to object.

            “No.  You need to understand you will not be able to solve every situation as you travel through time.  Sometimes there will be things that I will just have to deal with after you have gone.  Your main job is to get back to the twenty-first century in one piece.  These Balok will not follow you through the time gate so they are not your concern.  Please, Lockhart.”

            Lockhart paused to look at the devastation to the Agdaline ships.  He looked at Gogo and the others who had remained.  He looked at Qito and Tec’huanu, and finally at the sleep chamber that looked so much like a coffin for Captain Decker.  Then he spoke.

            “I more or less promised the Captain that we would move on when it was time, no questions asked.”  He looked at Lincoln.  “Besides, our chief job right now is to rescue Alexis, again.  We will go in the morning.  We will keep Decker’s horse for him if we should ever see him again.  No arguments.”  No one argued.

            Qito’s people raised the sleep chamber as they had the great stones of the ruined temple on the ridge.  They did not touch it, but by placing their hands near it lifted a foot off the ground all by itself.  They walked it back to the village and Qito and Tec’huanu followed.

            The travelers went the next day through the hills and dips in the Andes and came at last to the next time gate about sundown.  Boston, Katie, Roland and Lockhart all took a long look back, though they were well out of sight of everything they left behind.

            “Now we are five,” Lincoln said.

            “Until we find Alexis and her father,” Lockhart countered and Lincoln nodded.

            “Until we find Alexis.”

 

 

            There was wailing in the camp for the lost warriors of the Teschkul.  It was instructive to see the Shemsu comforting their Teschkul neighbors.  “It will not be long before these people are one people,” Katie Harper remarked.

            Lockhart pointed.  “Not if Qito doesn’t surrender.”  She was sitting with the rest of the travelers and Tec’huanu was beside her.  The young man kept trying to take her hand but she was resisting.  Meanwhile, the two elders in the group that represented the two peoples in the village were speaking.  The Shemsu was Qito’s father.  The Teschkul was Tec’huanu’s uncle.  Tec’huanu’s father, the high chief was conspicuously absent from the whole proceeding.  Gogo was there as well representing the Agdaline, though it was hard to tell if it was actually Gogo since the Agdaline tended to all look alike.

            “When the Teschkul first came, brandishing their spears, most of our people fled to the south and the north.  They are lost to us now.”  Qito’s father explained and the other man nodded and added his thoughts.

            “And we have no reason to chase them.  We did not come to rule.  We came looking to escape the war-like peoples on the coasts of the great water.”

            “The Pacific,” Lincoln translated.

            “But it has been rough,” Qito’s father admitted.  “Some on both sides are less willing to be joined than others.”

            “It has not been easy.”

            “Your brother is not an easy man.”  Qito’s father turned to Tec’huanu’s uncle who shrugged and responded quietly.

            “He suffered great losses,” he said.

            “My mother and sister,’ Tec’huanu spoke up as he temporarily turned his attention from Qito.  It was a breach of etiquette for the young man to speak over his elders, but no one minded, even when Qito used that interruption to speak as well.

            “Lockhart, you must go.  This is not your war.  The Agdaline must deal with the Balok and I must climb the mountain.”  She looked up at the heights and many eyes followed her gaze.  The mountain cast a great shadow on the land and contained several cliff faces that might only serve for eagles.

            “But we can help,” Captain Decker spoke up in uncharacteristic fashion.

            Qito shook her head.  “Man of the eagle,” she called him.  “You have a job, to keep the travelers alive.  Roland, Lincoln.”  She turned from the Captain for one more word.  “Alice has managed to close the gates behind you.  Mingus cannot have circled back and returned to the past.”  Qito shook her head.  “There is no more I can do.  My storyteller is still missing.”  She stood, and her father looked for a second like he was going to speak, but held his tongue.  As she walked off, Tec’huanu followed, a couple of steps behind.  He would not leave her to face her trials alone.

            “Come,” Gogo said, but Lincoln had a question.

            “Tell me about the stones on the ridge.”

            “Those?”  Qito’s father turned his eyes from his daughter to take in the travelers.  “We planned to build a temple there for our great goddess, Kartesh.  But one night she appeared in a vision to all of the elders and said we were not to build a place for her.  We had to learn the gods of this place and give our devotion to them.”

            “We remember the bear, the wolf, the jaguar and the eagle,” Tec’huanu’s uncle’s words were still quiet.  “And the serpent who is the destroyer.”

            “And our friends,” Qito’s father nodded at the Agdaline.  “These are the ones from the sky we have dreamed of all our lives, though the Teschkul did not know them.  Now we will help them.  In the night we will show the way through the stars so they can find their way home.”

            “Come,” Gogo insisted, and the others gathered their things and paused only long enough to say good-bye.

            As the party rode back behind the village and climbed the next ridge, Katie turned to Lincoln and asked her question.  “How can the Shemsu know the home of the Agdaline among the stars?”

            Lincoln nodded.  “I’ve been reading up on that.  It seems Kartesh was the one who genetically altered her own Shemsu people.  She implanted the Agdaline needs, the astronomical information and their telekinetic abilities.  You see, the Agdaline destroyed their own world and used earth as a meeting place as they went in search of a new home.  They found such a world, but could not wait for all the Agdaline to return here.  That might take a thousand years or more.  So the Shemsu were gifted to build markers, like Agdaline road signs to show the way.”

            “Like what, for example?”

            “Like the great pyramids in Egypt,” Lincoln responded.  “Like the ones the Shemsu will one day build here in the Americas.”

            “Stonehenge?”

            “That, too,” Lincoln nodded as he was interrupted.

            “Good god!”  It was Boston who swore.  They topped the ridge and turned the corner and saw ten ships laid out on a great plateau.  Each ship was bigger than an aircraft carrier, and the Agdaline looked countless in number.

            “They normally travel in fleets of twelve,” Lincoln said.  “My guess would be the Balok caught them napping out in space and destroyed two ships.”

            “Yes,” Gogo confirmed.  “And they damaged many.  Now repairs are nearly complete, only the Balok have two warships and my people fear to resume the journey.”

            Down among the Agdaline, the travelers felt very out-of-place, not the least because the Agdaline stared at them and their beasts.  They stared doubly hard when they spied Gogo riding with Boston.  To be honest, the travelers did plenty of staring in return, especially when they caught sight of the flying, feathered serpents that appeared to behave something like pets.

            One flying serpent came chittering up to Gogo and he obliged by sticking out his arm.  “Friends,” he said.  “Friends, friends.”  Then he said something else.  “Wrap.”  The serpent let out a delighted chirp and placed its tail on Gogo’s shoulder.  It wrapped itself around and around his arm until its head poked out from his wrist. 

            “It understood your word,” Boston was astonished.

            “They are bred to follow simple commands, but they do not always listen when they get big.”  Gogo waved his arm gently back and forth and the creature appeared to enjoy the ride.  “Fly,” Gogo said, and the serpent carefully uncoiled itself and raced off to be lost among the ships.

            “What are they?”  Katie Harper asked.

            “Andasmasgora,” Gogo replied.

            “Phantasmagoria,” Lockhart suggested.

            “Shh!”  Lincoln was looking it up in the database.

            “What do you mean they do not always listen when they get big?”  Boston asked.

            “They protect us in our ships while we sleep between the stars,” Gogo said.  “But when they get big and lose their feathers, they sometimes grow minds of their own and ignore our commands.”

            “But what are they?”  Katie was determined.

            Lincoln looked up.  “Dragons.”

            “And they breathe fire too, when they get big.” Gogo said.

 

Last Week: Our travelers found themselves in the Andes where they saved an alien Agdaline from the serpentine alien Balok whose purpose is to wipe out all intelligent life but its own.  They arrive in Qito’s native village to find Agdaline all around and the word that the Balok have sent out a ground force to attack the village, and it will be there soon…

            They did not have long to wait, but it did not take long for Captain Decker to get a real surprise.  He was scanning the skies, looking for another Balok aircraft, thinking if it was his operation he would send in two or three to soften up the opposition before sending in the ground troops.  What he saw was an eagle, a real American bald eagle, and it was headed toward them with some speed.  He watched it dance on the wind, and swallowed once when he imagined how high it was in the sky and how little he liked heights.  Still, he could not look away as it came closer and closer.

            When the eagle was overhead, Captain Decker paused to look at the others.  They were dutifully staring out over the ridge, waiting for the Balok.  He had gotten behind them all to where he could get up on a rocky hump in the ridge and fire down on the Balok without fear of hitting his own.  When he looked again for the eagle, he jumped.  The bird had landed a few feet away and was preening its wings, waiting to get his attention.  Decker had to stifle his shock to avoid making a sound as the bird turned one great eye to stare at him and spoke.

            “Warrior.  Why do you fear the heights?”

            A hundred things passed through the mind of the marine, all of the excuses and denial, but in the end there was only one thing to say.  “I deal with it when I have to.”  Captain Decker thought the eagle smiled at him, which was very odd.  He felt sure he must have fallen asleep and this must be a dream, but he paid close attention when the eagle spoke again.

            “You should see it through my eyes.  It is glorious.”  Captain Decker did not move, but found himself leave the ground and felt the wind lift him quickly until he was high in the air.  The air alone kept him up and he smelled things on the wind he never imagined.  One thing was the serpents, and he saw them slithering along down below.  Even from that great height he looked and was not afraid.  Captain Decker heard the cry of the Balok and saw them spread out to cover the ridge.  He estimated forty and wheeled around twice to be sure. 

            Back on the ridge, he saw Qito with her arm sticking straight up in the air like a school girl waiting for the teacher to call on her.  She was exposed in that position but he saw she was wearing some kind of armor and had blades at her back which he was sure were not typically Neolithic.  It was amazing what he could see from that height, and the clarity of detail he could pick out even at a great distance.

            He wheeled around again and realized he could look straight ahead or up or down without turning his head.  What is more, he could look to both sides at once, though those images were hard for his mind to process and he soon quit for fear that it would make him dizzy.

            On the center of the ridge, he saw his party of travelers, ready and waiting.  To either side of them there were Qito’s North African looking people.  The ridge itself was littered with worked stones, some of which had to weigh several tons.  Captain Decker was not sure what Qito’s people meant to do with those stones, but he imagined he would see soon enough as the Balok reached the half-way point and all of them appeared to be committed.

            Captain Decker did not think much of the Balok tactics.  They sent out no scouts.  It seemed they did not care what opposition they might face.  He chalked it up to egotism, the kind of overconfidence that tended to get men killed on the battlefield.  Then he imagined it was inexperience, like these Balok were not used to ground operations.

            “Perhaps they are not used to any reasonable opposition,” the eagle said, and Captain Decker drew in his breath.  He might have panicked if Qito did not drop that hand to start the action.  At once, the Agdaline on the flanks began to fire.  It was withering energy beams and the grass on the ridge was quickly aflame.  Captain Decker was not sure they hit any Balok, though he supposed they could not help but hit a couple, but it did have the effect of driving the Balok toward the center of the ridge.

            Then he saw what Qito’s Shemsu people intended with those stones, and he gasped again.  One man stood over the stone and it lifted off the ground.  It did not seem to matter if the stone was one or several tons.  Two other men stood behind the stone, one to each side of the stone lifter, and in a coordinated effort, they shoved.  None of the men appeared to actually touch the stone, but the stone jolted forward and then gravity took over.  With Balok being crushed under these rolling wonders they moved even more to the center.

            Captain Decker quickly calculated.  From his vantage point and with those eagle eyes he could see all of the action perfectly.  The Balok bunched up in a couple of groups like green troops gathering around their sergeant, wondering what to do.

            “I believe these are yours,” the eagle spoke again, and Captain Decker found a grenade in each hand. 

            “I was saving these for an emergency,” he said.  The eagle said nothing, he just wheeled them around for another pass.  Captain Decker shrugged, and with the eagle’s eyes and swooping down he had no trouble dropping the grenades directly on the two largest groups of Balok.  With that, he cut their numbers by a third.

            Then the fifteen or so uninjured Balok began to return fire.  It was belated, but Captain Decker soon saw why.  In order to free their hands to grasp their weapons and fire, the Balok had to rise up and become targets.  When his group opened fire at the Balok who were now directly below them, it looked a little like a whack-a-mole game.

            The Captain saw two things then that did not make him happy.  First, the Teschkul warriors could not contain themselves at the back and went charging over the top of the ridge.  He saw Qito yell at her young man and saw the young man respond with a shrug.  Then he saw two of the Balok back off and slip into a pit area full of bushes, brambles and trees.  One of the Balok looked injured, but the other looked untouched.

            “Put me down,” the Captain complained.  “I have to go back down.”  The eagle did not argue and at once the Captain opened his eyes.

            “Lockhart.  Roland.”  Captain Decker could be heard because the group had ceased firing.  They were pulling out their pistols and preparing to follow the Teschkul warriors down the hill.  Qito had already run after Tec’huanu.  The man and the elf looked back and the Captain spoke again.  “There are two that will escape unless we go after them.”

            “How do you know this?”  Roland wondered.

            Captain Decker frowned at his thoughts.  “You are just going to have to trust me on this.”

            The trip down the ridge was not easy.  There were several Balok unaffected by the defenders of the ridge and a number of wounded serpents that still posed a threat.  Since the Teschkul were in the first line of attack, they bore the brunt of the Balok fire and lost six warriors, but they also put most of the Balok out of business.  Boston shot one, Lincoln two and Katie got four, but the rest were among the dead and dying when they arrived.

            Captain Decker, Roland and Lockhart cut through the action slowly and carefully, though Captain Decker said later he doubted the Balok knew how to play possum.  When they got to the dip in the land, the Captain stopped and pointed.

            “They came down here,” he whispered.  “One looked wounded but the other looked whole.”  He had Roland move along the edge of the pit while he and Lockhart headed toward the middle.  He remarked to himself that the pit looked smaller from above.

            Twenty feet in and the wounded Balok made a lunge for Lockhart.  His pistol and Roland’s arrow ended the threat, but Captain Decker watched before he realized how stupid that was.  Sure enough, he turned just in time to see the other Balok rear up and pull its weapon.  He was going to be toast, but there was a loud “Scree!” and the eagle grazed the Balok’s face.  That gave Captain Decker time to bring his rifle to bear and a quick burst of three followed by three more bullets finished the job.

            The Captain looked where Lockhart and Roland were looking, but the eagle was already high in the sky and headed for the distant mountain.

            “Fortuitous,” Roland said.

            “My totem,” Captain Decker responded.

 

            The village was nestled in a hollow over a ridge and below a hill.  The travelers got more than a few stares, but only because no one had ever seen horses before.  People were just people, no matter how strange the dress, and the Agdaline was apparently known.  Indeed, there were signs of more Agdaline about.

            When Lockhart halted the column, one local man ran off to fetch whoever needed to be fetched.  The travelers were getting used to that, and took the time to make sure their equipment was in good order and helped the Agdalline dismount.  Though only four feet tall, he was heavier than he looked.  They were not at all surprised when moments later they heard a woman’s voice cry out.

            “Lockhart!  You couldn’t have timed it better, or worse depending.”  The woman who ran up looked like a dark skinned North African, not what they expected in the ancient Andes.  The man beside her, though, fit the bill being dressed in leather and feathers.  He looked like he had Hollywood written all over him, and so did the elders who followed more slowly.

            “Qito?”  Lincoln wanted to be sure.

            Qito nodded and introduced her young man.  “This is Tec’huanu.”  Then she was distracted by the Agdaline.  “Gogo.  What did you find out?”

            “Three glick,” the Agdaline pointed back with a worried look on his face.  “Forty or fifty with weapons.”  The travelers nodded, again not really surprised.  They had been speaking Agdaline without realizing it.  Now they had Qito’s language as well, but they were getting used to such language transitions.  They did not think about it often since to them it all sounded like English.

            “Wait a minute.”  Qito looked up and appeared to count her friends.  “Where is Alexis?  And where is her father?”

            “Mingus has stolen her again,” Lincoln said.

            “They have moved through the time gates and are somewhere ahead of us,” Roland added.

            Qito said nothing.  She simply put her head in her hand and looked like she had a headache.

            “Woman!”  The elders arrived.  One of them looked dark and North African like Qito, but most favored Tec’huanu.  “What bad news have you brought us this time?”  The man looked angry.

            “Good news.  Help for us,” Qito came straight out of her sour look and responded in a most humble voice.  “And just in time because friend has told me the serpents will be here in force by the time the sun tips overhead and begins to fall toward the sea.”  Clearly the Agdaline was known to the natives as “friend,” a safe name.

            “What?  That does not give us much time?  What are we going to do?”  The elders began to spout, but silenced when the Chief in front raised his hand. 

            “And how do you propose we defend ourselves?”  The man spoke smugly to Qito, but Qito was not put off.

            “The ruins,” Qito pointed back to the ridge the travelers just came over.  “The Balok will have to climb the ridge to get to the village.  We will have the high ground.  Put our Agdaline friends and their weapons at each end to get the enemy in a crossfire.  Put my people on the stones to roll them down on our enemies.  Put my friends in the center to give strength to the middle.  Put your warriors behind with spears to catch any Balok that break through, only do not let them charge or they will put themselves at risk of Agdaline fire.”

            “That is good,” one of the elders spoke and looked up at the sun.  “We might at least hold them off until we evacuate the village.”

            The front man turned with some anger in his eyes and looked at the elder who spoke out of turn, but quickly decided on another tactic.  “And how do you suppose these new friends of yours will hold the center?”

            “Roland.”  Qito called and the elf stepped forward.  Three of the six elders present took a good look and two steps back.

            “One spirit man?”  The chief was skeptical and implied that would stop nothing.

            “Decker.”  Qito pointed at a bird perched in a nearby tree.  Decker still had the scope on his rifle in case he had to take another hot shot at a Balok aircraft.  To be sure, the bird was too easy.  One shot and it fell like a proverbial rock.

            The elders were startled by the sound and amazed by the dead bird, but they hardly had time to breathe as Boston leapt up on the back of her horse. 

            “Eee-Ya!”  She wheeled out of line with the other horses and galloped toward the village, imitating Silenus the whole way, “Yip, yip-yip!”  she pulled her horse up short, and without completely stopping, reached down and pulled up a spear that was leaning against the side of a house.  She wheeled, cocked the spear under her arm and charged the elders like a knight in armor.  The elders shrieked and screamed, and Boston almost did not stop soon enough.

            “Honey needed to stretch his legs.”  Boston reached forward and patted her horse’s neck.  “Didn’t you Honey?”  The horse nodded.  “Did I ever mention I used to ride rodeo?”

            “And a woman, no less.”  The man who looked North African like Qito spoke at last while the chief stomped off followed by the other elders.  “Nice to meet you all,” the man finished with a smile and wave before he hustled to catch up with the others.

            “That was amazing!” Tec’huanu spouted, but it was clear he was mostly fascinated by the horse.  “Can I,” he paused before he finished his thought.  “Can I touch the beast?”  Of course he could.

            Lockhart turned to Qito.  “Forty or fifty armed Balok?”

            Qito shuffled her feet.  “Yes, well.”  She looked at Gogo and brightened a little.  “The Agdaline have good high radiation weapons.  And there are plenty of them.  I think the Balok made a mistake coming on foot, or belly as the case may be.”

            “Can the Agdaline shoot?”  Captain Decker asked.

            Qito shook her head ever so slightly.  “Not well.”  She looked up at Tec’huanu who tore himself away from the horse long enough to say something.

            “I told her she should teach us to use those weapons.”

            Qito shook her head more vigorously.  “You can’t have the weapons.  And you can’t have a horse, either.”

            “I have learned she can be very stubborn at times.”

            “We have all learned that,” Lincoln spoke up.  Qito and Tec’huanu stared at each other like two people locked in a battle of wills.  Boston, Lockhart and Katie Harper all smiled, and Katie spoke up.

            “They make a nice couple –“

            “No!”  Qito interrupted with a shout before she faced Tec’huanu directly.  “I am Shemsu.  You are Teschkul, a bottom dweller.  No one asked you to come up from the ocean waving your spears and forcing my people to…  Oh.”  She turned away.  Tec’huanu pretended innocence.  He shrugged, but smiled.

            “A nice couple,” Lockhart agreed with Katie, and Qito darkened just a little and walked off rapidly.

 

After 3969 BC in the Andes of modern Colombia/Peru.  Kairos life 20:  Qito.

Recording…

            “Quiet!”  Roland’s word was sharp.  Boston stopped where she was like a stone statue in the saddle.  Lincoln looked up toward the treetops.  Lockhart looked back at the marines and Captain Decker motioned for them to step off the grass and in among the trees.  When they dismounted, Roland took Boston by the elbow and guided her in the same direction.

            “What is it?”  Boston whispered once they and the horses were hidden behind the stunted growth that sufficed for trees at that elevation.  She looked up at Roland, but he simply put a finger to her lips.  Then they all heard it.  It sounded like a repeating, whirling whistle.  It was not loud, but the sound carried even in the thin air on the mountain. 

            Another few seconds and they saw it top the ridge they had just crawled over.  It was a scooter of some kind that hardly moved faster than about ten miles per hour, but it floated a few feet off the ground and carried a creature they had never seen before.  It was headed in the same direction they were headed.  It also left a trail of smoke in a way that suggested it was damaged.

            Roland held tight to Boston’s arm to be sure she did not run out to say hello.  Katie Harper lowered her rifle to suggest she did not believe the creature posed a threat.  She glanced at Lockhart who nodded in agreement with her assessment.  She glanced at Captain Decker, but he was busy snapping the scope to his rifle.  She sighed.

            There was another sound.  This sounded more like an engine – like a jet engine and not far away.  It topped the same ridge closer to fifty feet in the air and while it looked like a one person aircraft, the travelers had been fooled before.  They once found three passengers in a ship where they thought there were only two.

            The scooter began to weave in and out of the brush and among the stubby trees to try and make a hard target.  The aircraft rose higher and hovered for a moment like a Helicopter.  Then it came in for a strafing run.  The weapon was a heat ray of some kind.  The shrubs caught fire.  The scooter appeared to be hit, though not destroyed.  It was hard to tell from their angle among the trees.  Then the aircraft began to pull up, but it did not get very far.  Captain Decker fired a six shot burst and hit something.  The aircraft sputtered, smoked, broke out in flames and plummeted to crash in a ball of fire.

            Lockhart was the first to step out from the trees.  “Spread out,” he said as he got up on his horse’s back, better than he did the first time.  “But stay aware.  No telling what we may find.”  He waited for the others to mount and had a thought.  “Boston, you better be prepared to hold the horses if we have to go on foot.

            “No way, Jose,” Boston responded as she checked her Beretta to be sure she was ready.  She glanced briefly at Roland and was glad to see him smile.

            They tied the horses off before they got too close to the fires.  The horses were obedient, each being tuned to his master, but they were horses and not inclined to mix well with fire.

            “Stay close, but don’t bunch up,” Lockhart commanded as they began to walk.  As the Associate Director of the Men in Black back in the twenty-first century, he had confronted plenty of aliens and their strangely capable weapons.  He did not expect great capabilities this far in the past, even from aliens.  But then he did not know exactly what to expect.

            They found the creature first when they paused at the edge of a clearing.  It was holding its head and the scooter it was riding appeared to be so much scrap.  When it looked up, they saw the fear in its eyes.  Despite that, Boston and Captain Decker might be excused for laughing.  The thing looked like a four foot version of a statue right off of Easter Island, including the lipless mouth and the funky hat.

            “Humannss,” it said, drawing out the final letters in the word.  “Help me.  They are commming.  The others must be warrrned.”

            “Agdaline.”  Lincoln identified the creature without referencing his database.  He only got the handheld out to verify.

            “Yes, yes.”  The Agdaline nodded in a very human looking way.  “I am Agdaline, but they are coming.  Please help.”

            “Who is coming?”  Boston asked, and as she did, she saw.  It looked burnt and beat up, but whole.

            “Balok,” Lockhart growled softly as the serpent slithered up to the other side of the clearing and rose to stand on its legs.  It held one of those heat-ray discs in the multiple fingers of its right hand.

            The Agdaline shrieked and hid its face in its hands.  It looked incapable of running.  The Balok’s sole attention was on the poor creature and the snake appeared to smile.

            “Balok!”  Captain Decker did not use his soft voice.  The Balok turned its head to take in the travelers.

            “Primitives, die,” it said just before the Captain’s bullet tore through its middle.  It looked down and Boston swore it looked surprised, though how anyone could tell on that serpent face was beyond the rest.  The Balok looked up again in time to have its head blown off by Lockhart’s shotgun.  The body fell.

            “Roland,” Captain Decker waved to the elf and they trotted off to check on the crashed Balok ship.  They did not want any more surprises.

            “Katie,” Boston waved for the Lieutenant to follow her to the Agdaline, but both women kept back a little, torn between wanting to help and being afraid to touch.

            “Their home world is a bit smaller than Earth.”  Lincoln was back in the database.    “Apparently, it doesn’t have the muscle strength to do much more than waddle, and that not for long distances.”

            “Pleasssee,” the Agdaline said.  “Thank you.”  It reached out a hand and after a moment of hesitation, Boston took it.

            “It feels like flesh,” she reported.

            “But they are coming.”  The Agdaline was clearly concerned.  “Many of them.  We must warn the others.”

            Lockhart kept one eye on the area for more Balok, but he got the message.  “How far behind?”

            “Not more than three glick,” the Agdaline answered, and Lockhart looked at Lincoln who could only shrug.

            Roland and Captain Decker returned and gave the all clear.  Apparently it had been a one serpent craft.  Lockhart turned immediately to the women and the Agdaline.  “Can he ride?”  Lockhart decided the Agdaline was male, though he honestly had no reason to think that.

            “Whhatt is ride?”  The Agdaline asked.

            They showed him, and he rode behind Boston out front, but he spent most of the way looking back to be sure they were not being followed by another one of those Balok aircraft.

 

            Avalon is the story of people trapped in the past and trying to get home.  They move from time zone to time zone, from one lifetime of the Kairos to the next, only hoping to have the courage to face whatever trouble they confront and only worried about what may be following them.  From the beginning of history to the present, they have no one but each other to depend on – that is, for as long as they are able to trust and depend on each other.

            Avalon the series, Season 2 will begin “airing” Monday, October 22nd on this blog.  Written in story form, the episodes will post as a Monday/Friday regular right through season 2.  Share this, call a friend, don’t miss out.

From the Pilot Episode:

            It was Doctor Procter who explained.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “You got that right,” Captain Decker mumbled.

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

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

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

CAST

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

Boston (Mary Riley) is a Massachusetts redneck, rodeo rider and technological genius who finished her PhD at age 23.  She loves all of the adventure, and all the spiritual creatures they encounter, which suggests she may be a little strange.  She carries the amulet, a sophisticated electronic GPS and magical device that leads the way from one time gate to the next.

Benjamin Lincoln is a former C. I. A. office geek and now a man in black who keeps the database and a record of their journey.  He tends to worry and is not the bravest soul, but sometimes that is an asset. 

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

Mingus, father of Alexis and Roland, is the elder elf who ran the history department in Avalon for over 300 years.  He knows the time zones and the lives of the Kairos but tends to keep his opinions to himself.  And he believes his children are being ruined by so much human interaction.

Roland, Alexis’ younger brother is a full blood elf and gifted hunter.  He came to keep his father Mingus under control and out of his sister’s face.  He discovers there is something in humanity worth saving and protecting.  He knows many of the creatures in the spirit world that they face, including the nasty ones inclined to rise up out of the dark.

Lieutenant Katie Harper, a marine whose specialty is ancient and medieval cultures and technologies.  She is torn between her duty to the marines and her desire to be part of this larger universe she is discovering.

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

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

 

Who is the Kairos?

            The Kairos, the Traveler in Time, the Watcher over History, the god of the littlest spirits of the earth, was designed to inhabit two bodies with one consciousness – one male and one female.  This proved too difficult for a single consciousness at the beginning, so it was determined the Kairos would take turns as a man or a woman.  First born in 4500 BC, Glen in our time is life number 121 in an unbroken string of lifetimes. 

            The Kairos is sometimes called the Traveler (in time) because early on it was discovered that he or she could reach through time from one life to another and actually, physically trade places, at least temporarily with another lifetime. 

            The Kairos is sometimes called the Watcher (over History) because he or she also has the ability to “remember” the future, and knowing the way history turns out has driven the Watcher to insure it is not changed.  That has not always been easy.    

 

The Time Gates

            The time gates of Avalon center around the lives of the Kairos.  The travelers of Avalon must enter each time zone through a gate, travel to the center to find the Kairos and then move on to the next gate.  But since the gates are centered on the Kairos and they move as the Kairos moves, the Kairos cannot help them in any struggles outside of the center of the time zone.  They are on their own as they travel from time zone to time zone in order to get back to the twenty-first century, hopefully alive.

 

The Series

            Avalon, the series, is a story about ordinary people thrown back to the beginning of history whose only way home is through time gates and across the time zones which are mysteriously tied to life after life of the Kairos.  Unfortunately, the Kairos cannot simply send them home, nor prepare them for what they might face when they step into the future, nor really protect them from what may be following them.  Apparently, they are not the only ones traveling through the time gates.