Young Adult Fiction

Avalon 2.11: Followers

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            In the end there is only one option, to just come out with it.  Emotep needs to go to Abydos and he needs the travelers to help him get the children back.  Though against his better judgment that means Lockhart will be taking a number of minors along.  I imagine the parents will do something about that.

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            When the morning came, Lockhart found far more children on the beach than agreed to.

            “For the return trip,” Emotep said.  “Ankaret convinced me I needed the hands to keep that many little children under control.”

            “That does make sense,” Katie said as she helped Sakhmet up behind herself.  Lockhart made no response, he simply reached down for Emotep. 

            Ankara got up behind Lincoln and there was enough room in the saddle where Alexis let Neferet ride in front and hold on to the saddle horn.  Usersi rode out on the wing with Captain Decker who did not mind because the boy was fascinated with military things.  Aha and Ka got to ride out front with Roland and Boston.  Ka protested at being made to ride with a girl, but only a little.  He was seven, but small, so like Neferet he got to ride in front and hold on to the saddle horn, and besides, Boston could do magic and make fire and light and Ka was fascinated with magic.  A little Harry Potter in the making, Emotep once called him, though as far as they knew Ka had no magic in his bones whatsoever.  Elder Stow contentedly floated along under his own power, and so they rode out at dawn, only to be stopped a quarter mile downstream.

            There were a dozen men from the village there who insisted on coming, including Father Meni.

            “You did not think you would be allowed to go off without your elders,” Father said.  “Honestly son, this is our job, not yours.  You are far too young.  You should go home”

            “He has a point,” Lockhart agreed.

            “Are you done?”  Emotep asked, and hearing no response he said, “I am the only one who knows where to go and what we are facing, including the Sorceress.”

            Father rubbed his chin.  “I had forgotten about that.”

            “Sorceress?”  Sakhmet leaned over and asked.

            “She came up to Abydos a few years ago from Herakleon.  She sought me out and threw me in a scorpion pit.”

            “What happened?”  Katie leaned into the conversation.

            “Serket came to me.  She said she was sent by Isis to watch over me.  But all the sorceress saw, as far as I know was the scorpions, and there were hundreds, and they all stepped aside and let me climb out.  Then they followed me and went after the sorceress.  Scared her senseless and I haven’t seen her since.”

            “The vision of Serket probably would have scared her more,” Sakhmet interjected.

            “Serket?”  Lockhart asked.

            Father Meni, Emotep, Sakhmet and Katie all spoke in unison.  “Scorpion goddess”

            “Actually, she is over all poisons, snakes and such.  She strikes the wicked and heals the righteous.  At least that is her P. R.,” Emotep  added and looked at Sakhmet.  “I think she is nice.”

            “Son,” Meni put his hand on Emotep’s knee.  “You think everyone is nice.”

            “Well, mostly they are if you give them a chance.  So let’s go already.”  He was not about to bring up the idea that maybe the other children should go home.  Aha alone would never forgive him.

            They did not stay long in any of the villages they passed through.  The story was the same, and they picked up ten or so adults in each of the first three villages, so when they arrived in the fourth village, which was considerably bigger that the ones upriver, they easily outnumbered the thirty that came out to face them.  There were words and tears before the people settled in for the night.

            “The boats are docked in the town,” Elder Stow reported while he watched Alexis make loaves of elf bread.

            “City,” Emotep said.  “Abydos is a city in this world.”

            Elder Stow shrugged.  “Almost five hundred people.”  He shrugged again, but then the feast was begun and people were preoccupied with cooking and eating.

            “So,” Sakhmet sat next to Emotep and seemed determined to put him on the spot.  “Beloved of Serket.  I have heard of you.  They call you Scorpion.”  She grinned at him but he was ready for her.

            “And it occurred to me the sorceress of Abydos is named Sacmis after the great goddess Sakhmet, but she must be thirty.  I am guessing you are not ten or eleven.”

            Sakhmet lost her grin.  “Are all brothers so mean?”

            “Of course.  It’s our job.”  Emotep slipped his arm around her and squeezed her.  “We also tickle.”  Sakhmet laughed and jumped away, much further than he could reach. So he tickled Neferet and she let out a giggling uproar.  Sakhmet came back and helped.

            Sakhmet spoke again when they were all breathing hard.  “I never had a brother or sister.  I never knew it could be so good.”  She put her face in her hands and cried before she got mad.  “Amun never lets me do anything.  Mother never let me do anything.”

            “Ptah probably won’t either,” Emotep said.  “But what makes you think they don’t know exactly where you are?”  Or who you are with, he thought, and that made him pause. 

            “I know,” Sakhmet giggled, covered her mouth and looked at Emotep like this whole adventure was one big conspiracy.

            Aha came over then, Ankara and Usersi trailing behind.  They all carried enough meat and bread for six people.  “So when does the adventure part begin?”  Aha asked.  “This is just one boring village after another.”

            “The bread is good,” Usersi said.

            “Food!”  Emotep jumped up, grabbed Sakhmet’s hand with one hand and Neferet’s with the other and ran off toward the feast.

            That night, Sakhmet kept Katie up late talking about war and fighting.  Sakhmet was impressed that this woman was not only military, she was an elect.  Neither got much sleep, but Emotep was grateful.

            Come the morning there was one more village before Abydos, a small village that had not been attacked.  They did not stop.

            The approach to the city was arid, thirsty travel across an area almost clean of vegetation.  The men were sweating hot by the time they stopped, and the horsemen with their binoculars moved to the front.

 ###

Avalon 2.11:  Battle

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Avalon 2.11: Plans and Places

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            The problem when a god steps out of his natural place and goes after things that are not his to have, it is impossible to tell on whose side the other gods will come down.  Emotep realized he needed to solve the children dilemma himself.  Sakhmet was an easier dilemma to solve.  “Out of the mouths of babes,” Neferet is right that Sakhmet and Emotep are loving each other, but not like grownups, like true brother and sister even if Emotep only vaguely knows it and Sakhmet does not really know it at all.

###

            By mid-afternoon, the whole gang was back in the clubhouse, avoiding the work in the village.  Aha spent his time showing off for Sakhmet and almost fell out of the trees, twice.  Usersi mostly just grinned, quietly.  Ankara sat beside his sister Neferet which only put the five-year-old between him and Sakhmet.  He was content.  Ka sat beside Emotep and kept nudging him to tell another story.

            “So much for a little time alone to think.” Emotep said that several times. 

            Aha showed Sakhmet the view of the village and the view of the Nile, twice.  She played along and said the river looked lovely, though Emotep knew she could see it all perfectly and in total detail even without having to look.  In the late afternoon, they all began to smell the first wisps of cooking and stomachs began to grumble.  They missed lunch.  Sakhmet moved to a seat beside Emotep and for a moment it looked like she might take his arm.  She appeared to be his age by then, no more than ten, though no one noticed the adjustment in her looks except Emotep and maybe Neferet.

            A bell rang out from the village.  It was Mother Beset banging her copper spoon against her big copper pot.  Aha, Emotep and Ka knew it was time for supper and Emotep stood.  He bit his tongue to avoid saying, “Saved by the bell.”  Instead, he said.  “Supper,” before he turned to Sakhmet and said, “Brother and sister.  Remember?”

            “But Horus and Hathor, and Isis and Osiris,” she responded.

            “And Nephthys and Set once upon a time,” Emotep responded.  “But we need to think Anu-Bast and Anubis.”

            “Are you a warrior?” Sakhment asked.

            “No, but you are.”

            Sakhmet looked thrilled that he knew.  Of course she was a bit of a love goddess through Ishtar, but she was also a serious goddess of war through Ishtar and Ptah in his own way, and thanks to Ptah she was no slouch in the intellectual department either.

            “I’ll be good,” she said.  Emotep did not respond directly.  He just let out a small laugh.

            After supper and a good, long scolding by Father Meni, Emotep found Lockhart and Katie watching the festivities.  They were sitting side by side, but not touching, each pretending to be friends and nothing more.

            Sakhmet slipped up and whispered in Emotep’s ear.  “But they would already die without each other.”

            Emotep turned his head to look at her.  “You reading my mind now?”

            Sakhmet shook her head.  “But like you thought earlier about me.  You are young.  You leak.”  She smiled, looked at her feet for a second and then pointed at Roland.  “They have a little spirit with them.”  Of course, she was not fooled by the glamour of humanity that Roland wore.

            “I know,” Emotep responded.  “He is an elf.  One of mine.”

            “One of yours?”

            “You didn’t think the gods left me with no responsibilities, did you?”  Emotep said “responsibilities” with a very teenage voice.  “They dumped the whole lot of them on my head.  I got elves, dwarfs, fairies, goblins, ogres and trolls.”

            Sakhmet made a face.  “I don’t like ogres and trolls, they’re scary.  Hey!  Can I have a fairy?”

            Emotep frowned at her.  “First of all, you don’t have fairies any more than you have people.  They have themselves.”

            “You sound like Papi Amun.”

            “And second of all, what is it about girls and fairies?  And no, I don’t have any say over unicorns.”

            Sakhmet let out a sly grin.  “Now you are reading my mind.”

            “Can we help you?”  Lockhart and Katie startled them.  They were staring at them.

            “Budding romance?” Katie asked with a kind but motherly smile.

            Emotep and Sakhmet shook their heads and pointed to each other.

            “My sister.”

            “My brother.”

            “Think Luke and Leah, same mother except we are not twins.”  Katie looked up.  “No, not Mother Beset.  I mean a bunch of years from now.”

            “Hey,” Sakhmet slapped his shoulder, lightly but it still hurt.  “I was keeping that secret.”

            “Right.  Good idea.”  Thus far she had told no one she was a goddess, but Emotep was not fooled.  He looked up again as he rubbed his shoulder.  Lockhart was still staring at him.

            “Oh.”  Katie shook her head like she really did not understand, but she turned to stare at him with the same expression on her face Lockhart had.  It made Sakhmet giggle and cover her mouth.

            “Alright.”  Emotep decided to just come out with it.  “Your job is to get home alive.  I understand.  But I need to go south – same direction.  I need to get to Abydos and get our children back.  I haven’t figured out how, yet, but since you are going that way.”

            “Won’t the gate move further south as you move south?” Lockhart asked.

            “Well, yeah.  But it will move north again after we free the children and I come home.”

            “Yes,” Katie interrupted.  “Why the children?”

            Emotep nodded to her before he spoke.  “I figure some kind of brainwashing or indoctrination like in your twenty-first century where the schools and media got tons of people to actually vote against their own best interests.  Make a bunch of Set worshipers and let them go home and in a generation they will be building a shrine to Set in my own village.  That kind of conquest takes time, but hey, Set isn’t going anywhere.”

            Elder Stow came over at that moment and Sakhmet stepped around to hide behind her brother, her eyes got big as she stared at the Gott-Druk.

            “The boats have stopped for the night between villages.  I estimate two days to reach the big village on the river.”

            “Abydos,” Emotep said.  Elder Stow shrugged.  Katie turned to Lockhart and set her hand gently on his arm.

            “I really can’t wait to get to Abydos where all the first kings were buried.”

            “And will be buried.  Not happened yet, but Osiris is there.”

            “Oh, Robert.”

            Lockhart looked like he already made up his mind.  “Elder Stow.  Tell the others we spend one more day here helping these people rebuild and then we are taking Emotep to Abydos.”

            “And me.”  Neferet jumped out from behind the bushes.

            Emotep shrugged.  “Only don’t tell our parents.”

            Lockhart did not look as pleased with the idea of sneaking off with minors in tow, especially such a little one as Neferet, but Sakhmet got down and hugged Neferet and Katie smiled so he assumed he had no choice.

            Elder Stow saw and let out a bit of his overly wide grin before he went off to tell the others. 

 ###

Avalon 2.11: Followers … Next Time

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Avalon 2.11: Joining the Club

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            The question is what can be salvaged in the village and what has to be buried.  And then they can think about what to do about the chidren taken from them, and maybe about just who this runaway Sakhmet is who felt no fear at hitching a ride with these very strange people.

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            Ka pulled on Emotep’s sleeve.  “How do you know these strange people?”  he asked.  He was staring at Boston’s red hair.

            “From my dreams,” Emotep said. 

            “Oh,” Aha’s voice was full of sarcasm.  He spun around.  “Not like the dream about that skinny girl going around with two goofy gods.  That was a stupid story.”

            “They brought back Osiris,” Emotep said, and then he had to find a place to sit down because he was suddenly feeling overwhelmed.  He just realized his dream people were real, and he not only knew them, but apparently they knew him as well.

            Captain Decker and Elder Stow were left with tying off the horses and getting out the tents.  Roland and Lincoln were at Father’s elbow to ask if some of the men might help them get a better idea of what they could fix in the village.  That gathered all of Father’s attention and the men began to smile.  Lockhart and Katie were doing their best to mingle and reassure the people, but shortly it was Katie among the women and Lockhart wandered back to the horses.

            Decker and Elder Stow had moved back from the center of the village to pitch their camp, not the least to get away from the smell of burnt reeds and wood.  Lockhart helped get the tents up and then he went to check on Lincoln and Roland.  Decker kept guard and turned his binoculars on the river which was just discernible through the nearby trees.  Elder Stow checked his instrument now and then while he built a fire.

            That night, everyone had some meat and bread, and vegetables, mostly onions, provided by the village.  Aha, Ankara and Usersi hovered around or near Sakhmet who seemed to be getting along great with Neferet despite the big age difference.  Ka sat beside Emotep and tried to say encouraging things when Emotep appeared particularly distressed.

            Mostly the people, even Mother Beset and Father Meni were happy, considering the circumstances.  Some of their neighbors whom they already counted as dead looked like they might recover, and all of the wounded had been treated, if not healed miraculously.  Alexis was asleep in Lincoln’s arms during most of the meal, exhausted from doing all that healing work, but there was a most contented smile on her face.

            Everyone got to work in the morning.  Aha-Aa, Ankaret and Usersi got drafted.  The only reason Emotep did not get put to work was because he escaped to the club house.  He had much to think about and needed some time alone.  It occurred to him at ten-years-old that the world was a much bigger and more complicated proposition than he ever imagined.  He was more complicated as well, but some of the things he was thinking, about living other lives in other times, was not something he really wanted to think about.  It was like losing his innocence, and here he was only ten-years-old.  He honestly did not want to think about some things, but he had no choice.  Little Nidjau was a prisoner of Lord Seth and probably frightened half to death. 

            The nominal ruler of the upper lands, the so-called king in Hierakon was worthless.  He would lose the land to Set if left alone.  Thebes was certainly its own city, and Karnak, with the temple of Amun was an independent place – the religious center of the land as Abydos was the place of the dead, but he did not expect help from any of those places either – especially since Abydos was apparently already overrun by the enemy.  And what could he do for poor Nidjau?

            Emotep considered the gods.  Amun scared him a little.  Horus was just a young adult, like Hathor, and could not be expected to do much.  Mut was reported to be sleeping with Set, so no help there.  Most of the rest were in Lower Egypt; Toth at Fayun, Ptah at Memphis and the Place of the Lion, Bast in her city, Aton the Ra – the King of the gods in his city at Helios.  Even his old protector – Phoenix’ old protector, Wadjt was in the delta.  To whom could he turn?

            He imagined Isis might be persuaded to help.  She certainly had no love for Set, but then she spent every day grieving for Osiris, even if Osiris was not quite dead yet.  Anubis the enforcer of Egypt?  Perhaps, but he had no way of getting in touch with either Anubis or Isis.  No, he concluded, getting Nidjau back and setting the children free was going to be up to him, a ten-year-old boy who never wandered very far outside of his own village.  He was going to have to depend on Lockhart and the others, though he hated to put them in harm’s way.  Their job was supposed to be to get home to the twenty-first century in one piece and not go head-to-head with an invasion of the minions of Set.

            Emotep looked up to find Sakhmet and Neferet sitting quietly by the hole and the rope.  He was startled but not surprised.  He did not hear them come up the rope, but then he had his suspicions about exactly who Sakhmet was, anyway.  He looked at her closely.  He was also not surprised that she now appeared to be more like she was eleven, if not his age, though she still had a sense of unnatural attractiveness about her.  It was like Innan, but removed from the source, and he noticed that like Innan when she was very young, Sakhmet appeared to be leaking all over Neferet.  He already liked Neferet, but it felt strange to say that this little five-year-old looked very attractive.

            Sakhmet was studying him in return with a serious expression on her face when Emotep startled her with a question.  “Who is your mother that she should go away?”

            Sakhmet’s eyebrows went straight up before she squinted at him.  “I was just wondering the same thing about you, not your mother going away bit.  I’ve met your mother.  She seems very nice.”

            Emotep sat and they stared eye-to-eye for a moment before he said, “Well?”

            “Ishtar,” Sakhmet said.  “She had to go to that other place for a time since Chaos was overcome.”

            “Tiamut.”  Emotep nodded to that much and pointed to Neferet.  “She knows the story.  But now, who is your father?  You are headed for Memphis?  Don’t tell me.  Ptah.”

            Sakhmet smiled and the sunshine in that was almost overwhelming.  “Why, yes.  That is very good.  How did you know?  But wait, who are you, because as far as I can tell you are just a normal, mortal boy?  Except I can’t read your mind.”

            “I am Emotep, a normal mortal boy, but one day I will be your younger brother, and kind of your older brother at the same time.”

            Sakhmet made her whole face squint, and it was very cute.  “But that doesn’t make sense.”

            “I seldom make sense.  But now, who are you running away from?  Don’t tell me.  Papi Amun.”

            “He won’t let me do anything.” Sakhmet frowned and stomped her foot.  “It is like I am a prisoner at Karnak.”  Emotep understood that Sakhmet was likely older than she appeared.  The gods aged slowly.  She might be a genuine teenager in years, but in her case she would not approach anything near maturity until she was at least a hundred.  Marduk and Assur were more like a hundred and fifty, and they could act like real morons.  But he said none of this out loud.  Instead, he commiserated.

            “Amun can be frightening at times, and strict.”  Emotep could not remember very many incidents, but he knew his impression was accurate, and he also knew he had many encounters with Amun in the past, and some in the future.

            “Emotep?”  Ka’s voice came up from below.  Neferet stood up and went to the hole in the flooring where the rope let down.  She cupped her hand and shouted.

            “We are up here escaping the work.  Sakhmet and Emotep are loving each other.  Come on up.”

 ###

Avalon 2.11:  Plans and Places … Next Time

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Avalon 2.11: People In Time

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Children can get underfoot, but they can also vanish when they want to avoid something unpleasant.  Disappearing is not hard when you have a tree house so high up in the trees it is completely hidden by branches and leaves.  All the children had to do was wait until the minions of Set went back to their boats.  Then they could climb down and see if any of their parents survived.

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            It was not a long time before Usersi spied the three enemy boats shove off into the Nile for a trip downriver.  There were a half-dozen villages before Abydos.  Emotep had no idea the lowlanders had come as far upriver to take Abydos, the burial place of the kings – the burial place of Osiris.  Set had to be stopped, but apparently the king in Hierakon was doing nothing. 

            Neferet was anxious for her parents and Ankara was inclined to agree with his sister.  But even as the boats moved downriver, a strange sight came from upriver.  Ka saw great beasts lumbering along, and people appeared to be sitting on top of the beasts.  He called everyone to look, but only Emotep caught a glimpse before the beasts and people went behind a rise in the landscape.

            “You are imagining things,” Aha-Aa said.  “You have been up here and trembling in fear for too long.”  He went down first because he was the eldest.  After a moment he gave the all clear signal and the others scurried down the rope.  By then Ka had thought of a comeback.

            “I was not afraid.”

            “You were too,” Aha gave the expected response.

            They tied off the rope where it would not be obvious and went up to the village to see who was still alive  To be honest, they were all as worried about their parents as their parents were worried in return.  .

             Mother Beset came running as soon as she saw them.  She hugged Aha and almost hugged Emotep before she picked up Ka, seven years old and all.  She cried on Kora as Father Meni came up.  Aha just looked at Father and Meni spoke.

            “They have taken all the youngest.  They took Nidjauamun.”

            “What do you mean they took Nidjau?”

            Father wiped the water from his eyes.  “We count fifteen, all under six or seven years.  We are not sure.  Some of the parents are dead.”

            “We have to get them back,” Aha shouted.  “The minions of Set can’t win.”

            “I wonder what they want with the young ones.” Emotep said.

            “To eat them.”  Ka got down from his mother’s arms and ran to the group.  “They are going to eat Nidjau.”

            “They are not going to eat Nidjau,” Aha scoffed, but Father put a hand to the boy’s shoulder and looked like he was not too sure.

            “How many villages are there downriver between here and Abydos?” Emotep asked.

            “Three or four?” Father shrugged, looked at Emotep and wondered what crazy scheme he was concocting.  Emotep just nodded as the travelers rode into the village.  Some people screamed and moved away from the center of the village, certain that this was another terrible trial sent by the gods.  Some just stared in bewilderment, never having seen such a thing before.  The two in the rear got down an stepped forward.

            “Is everything alright?” The woman spoke.  “We saw the smoke.” 

            “Can we help?”  The man asked.

            “Yes,” Emotep said as he dragged his father forward and his friends and brothers followed in his wake.  “But I am not sure how, yet.”

            “Son?”  Father was reluctant to get too close.

            “Elder Stow,” Emotep shouted to the Gott-Druk who was deliberately keeping back, out of sight.  He could go invisible, but he could not put up a glamour to pretend to be human like Roland the elf.  “Did you see the boats downriver as you  came along?”

            “We saw them,” the woman out front spoke while the man nodded.

            “Good.  Elder Stow, get a scanner wave on them and track them.  I need to know if they stop at any of the other villages before they reach Abydos.  Father, this is Lockhart and Katie.  This is my Father Meni, my elder brother Aha, my younger brother Kamun, my friends Usersi and Ankaret and his little sister, Neferet.”

            “Pleased to meet you.”  Lockhart forgot himself and stuck out his hand.  Father Meni put his hand up slowly and Lockhart grabbed him by the wrist, gave a hearty shake and let go.  “Now, what happened here?”  The rest of the crew dismounted as he spoke, except Captain Decker who remained in the saddle.

            “The minions of Set,” Usersi yelled before  Meni could speak.

            “They are going to eat Nidjau,” Ka added.

            Father Meni shook his head.  “Men came.  They killed some, they burned some houses, they took all the young children, I don’t know what for.”

              “Boston!” Emotep yelled and ran forward to give Boston a hug.  Roland just smiled.  “Alexis!  Good to have you back.  I know Lincoln is happy.  And you are welcome to tend the wounded.”  Alexis was already headed in that direction.  “She is a great healer.”  Emotep shouted to the crowd.

            “Emotep?”  Lincoln always had to ask to be sure.  Emotep nodded.

            “Lord,”  Elder Stow stepped up, and though he was staring at some instrument in his hand, he gave everyone a new start, never having seen or even imagined a Neanderthal.  “I have their position, roughly.  It is not a clear picture because I was not able to scope their parameters, but they have indeed stopped in the village just below this one.”

            “Probably devastating it and stealing their children too,” Ankara suggested.  Emotep nodded again.

            “Decker,” he called.  “Are you going to join us, and put down that gun.”

            “I do not understand, my son,”  Meni stepped closer to Emotep.

            “Lockhart.”  Emotep pointed at his father.  “Don’t you want to meet my mother?”

            “Of course,” Lockhart and Katie spoke together and turned toward the waiting crowd where Alexis was already at work.

            “Lincoln, I need you and Roland to assess the damage and see what can be fixed and what must be replaced.  Boston, who is your passenger?”

            Boston wrinkled her brow as if she had to think to remember.  “Sakhmet,” she said.  They watched Captain Decker help the girl down from the back of his horse where she had been holding on.  “She said her mother is gone and she is escaping from a horrible, mean man who won’t let her do anything.  A stepdad, I assume.  She said she is trying to reach her real father.  He is all the way downriver in Memphis.”

            “A runaway.”  Emotep tapped his foot.  The girl looked to be about ten or eleven, at least no older than twelve.  As the girl came close, Aha stepped up and shoved Emotep behind him.

            “Sakhmet.  I am Aha-Aa, the eldest.  Welcome to our village.”  He gave a little bow and she smiled but walked passed him to put her hand gently against Emotep’s cheek.  A most curious expression crossed the girl’s face before she turned and picked up Neferet.

            “Yes, he seems very nice,” she said to Neferet.  “But I don’t really know him.”

            Usersi stopped grinning as Sakhment and Neferet walked off to see what the adults were doing.  He nudged Aha, who frowned.  Ankara spoke.

            “Nice moves, he teased.

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Avalon 2.11:  Joining the Club … Next Time

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Avalon 2.11: Scorpion

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 3324 BC, Upper Egypt.  Kairos life 31: Emotep, the Scorpion

Recording …

            Mother Beset ran into the house and slammed the door against all the yelling and screaming in the village square.  She made her children get into the corners and under the table and tossed blankets over them because she did not know what else to do.  “Aha,” she spoke to the eldest.  “Keep your brothers covered and quiet.”

            “Mother?”  Emotep spoke from under the table, but Beset ran back out the front door.

            “Quiet!”  Aha commanded.

            “Who made you Ra?”

            “You will listen to Aha-Aa, because I am the eldest.”  Aha was twelve.  “And Mama said so.”

            “You are the smelliest,” Ka joked.  He was only seven but he generally took ten-year-old Emotep’s side.

            Aha looked about ready to abandon his corner and use his fist when Emotep spoke again.  “Where is Nidjau?”  Nidjau was the baby, just about five.

            “Mother?”  Ka asked.  The door crashed open.  A man came into the house, looked once around, rubbed his finger on the table as if checking for dust.  Emotep saw the sandals from beneath the table and was only happy Ka did not scream, or Aha.  The man looked around, no doubt saw the blankets wiggling in the back corners by the bed, but ignored them.  Even if Ka moved, he would figure it was children.  As long as there were no adults hiding, he turned back to the door. 

            “Burn it,” the man said. 

            Two men responded.  “ Yes Lord Seth.”

            Lord Seth grunted as he left, but the two others came in with torches.  They set the reed chairs aflame and left the torches on the matted floor,  Fortunately, they did not stay to watch it burn, and the boys were able to get out from the blankets.  Aha immediately tried to use his blanket to put out the fire.  Ka tried real hard not to cry or shout out in his fear.  Emotep thought.

            “Aha, if we put it out they will come back and wonder who put it out.”  Emotep grabbed Nidjau’s doll with his blanket and told Ka to bring his blanket.  He went to the back window and looked.  Their house backed up to a small grove of trees.  No one was there, so he climbed out and turned to help Ka to the ground.  Aha came over to the window and yelled at them.

            “Where are you going?  Mother said to stay here.”

            “Yell a little louder.  Maybe the enemy will hear you and come running with swords to cut us all into little pieces.”  Aha put his hand to his mouth, glanced back at the spreading fire.

            “Wait up,” he said and disappeared for a moment.  He came back with an un-burnt blanket and a sack of bread with a couple of onions and a skin of Papa’s best beer.  “Okay,” he climbed out.

            “This way.  Keep your head down, like we practiced.  Try not to be seen,” Emotep said.  Ka nodded and followed in his footsteps.  Aha just had to say something.

            “Who would have thought learning to sneak around would prove useful.  Where are we going?”

            “The clubhouse,” Emotep answered.  Aha just nodded.  It was the obvious place for the children and deliberately hidden, more or less, from the grown-ups.

            The three brothers made it to the woods and a short way down the back hill they came to a spot where three trees grew close together, practically from the same seed.  Emotep whistled and a rope ladder came snaking down from above.  He sent Ka up first.

            “Go ahead,” Aha said, so Emotep went up next.  Aha brought up the rear to the place where big branches from the trees intertwined and fought for dominance.  They laid out some wood there, knowing it would not be seen from below.  They also could not be seen from the village, though they could spy through the branches and see some.  They could also spy out the other side where it was a very good view all the way down the hill to the Nile.  Emotep once estimated he could see almost a mile of the river from there.

            Ankara was already there with big Usersi, and Ankara brought his little sister, Neferet.  She was just five, Nidjau’s age, and had been crying.  Emotep covered her with his blanket before he spoke. 

            “They will probably thrash through the bushes below, so we have to be very quiet until we are sure they have left.”

            “Their boat is on the river,” Ankara reported.

            “When it leaves,” Emotep said again, and Aha just had to say something.

            “Who would have thought this clubhouse of yours would ever prove useful?”

            The wait was not long, only about an hour, and then the boys had questions.

            “Were those the minions of Set you warned us about?” Usersi asked.  Emotep merely nodded.

            “I heard two soldiers talk to Lord Seth,” Ka said.

            “But how did you know the minions of Set would come here?”  Ankara was the curious one.  He was a thinker in his way.

            “It is what I told you.  Osiris is stuck between life and death.  He cannot come here anymore except as a ghost.  Set thinks now he can conquer the whole river, but he will kill the river unless we can stop him.”

            “How do you propose to stop a god?”  Aha asked.  An image of the death of Tiamut flashed through Emotep’s mind, but he did not mention it.

            “Not the god, but his minions.  They are not gods.  We can learn to fight and beat them back to the swamps of lower Egypt where they belong.”

            “I can learn to fight,” Usersi volunteered.

            Ankara shook his head, but his little sister spoke up.  “I can learn to fight, too.”

            “Me too,” Ka said.

            Aha said nothing for a change.

 ###

Avalon 2.11:  People In Time … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Loose Ends

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            I think confusion is Eliyawe’s middle name.  As angry as she was, even Zoe got caught up in the play, it being Eliyawe’s time period and all.  But Alexis is safe and restored to Lincoln’s arms.  Where Mingus is, no one knows.

###

            Back at the camp, Eliyawe first turned on the midget in their midst.  She shook her finger to scold the poor former giant.  “Gorman, you lived a good long time being bigger than everyone and making people afraid.  Crush their bones, indeed.  Now you can live the rest of your days smaller than everyone.  And you will like it.”

            “I won’t like it,” Gorman grumped, but he knew he had no choice in the matter and nowhere else to go.

            “All the same, you better stick with Atonas the fisherman.  If you follow me, the gods will find you for sure and then you won’t live at all, I reckon.”  Eliyawe looked over at Marduk and Assur.

            “I want a horse,” Assur said.

            “Can’t be a real cowboy without a horse,” Marduk agreed.

            “Sit and be good for now.  It is supper time.”  The boys grumbled, but complied.  Katie did not mind cooking.  Eliyawe got up to help and together they made a pass at the remaining deer and some bread crackers. 

            “A bit lean on vegetables,” Katie said and Eliyawe shrugged and wiggled to some unheard music.

            Most of the spices they used to make the local venison more palatable had been in Alexis’ bag.  They retrieved the bag and all the vitamin jars which mysteriously refilled themselves.  They also got the pouch in which Alexis carried her portion of the bread crackers.  That also refilled itself, but the spices, though they found the containers thanks to Elder Stow, they remained mostly empty.  Fortunately, Eliyawe found some local grasses that cooked up something like lemongrass.

            “Better on chicken,” She said, but it would do to cut the gamey flavor.  

            No one bothered Alexis as she cried on Lincoln’s shoulder and whispered softly to him.  He whispered in return and she had his full attention.  Lockhart did what he could to help with the cooking, but he and Katie, with Boston chiming in now and then wanted to know the whole story of Eliyawe’s adventures.  Elias told most of it, with Jonas showing his wit now and then.

            “But what about these two?”  Katie asked at last.  “Young gods, very young I am guessing.  How is it they are willing to go along?”  She wanted to say obey Eliyawe’s commands, but she imagined that might be rude, and being rude to even young gods was never advisable.

             “About one hundred and fifty,” Eliyawe said and sat down so she would not have to cook anymore.  “More than old enough to start acting mature.”  She gave the boys a sharp look and they pretended not to notice.  “You remember Beltain and that great migration from Caana to the land of Sumer.  You were there I think when she got called off at the end.  Doctor Mishka was needed.  You see, without the good Doctor, they would never have survived, even being gods.  Their mother gave me a special dispensation so I could check on them from time to time and make sure all the extraordinary measures it took to save their lives were still in order and without complications.  They kind of have to obey.  Personally, I think I grew too much skull and made them into hardheaded knuckleheads.  But I love them dearly as if they were my own.”

            Marduk and Assur looked up at her when she said that.  They looked surprised, and pleased, and Assur appeared to form a little tear in his eye.  Eliyawe did not see because she turned to Elias.  “Husband.  I think I am going to be a strict mother.  I hope you don’t mind.”  She pecked at his lips and his hand came up to touch his lips, but his eyes went out of focus and looked up at the darkening sky.

            “Lost,” Jonas said.  “Now he’ll be dreaming all night about being a father.  How about you people.  Do you have any children?”

            Katie found Jonas looking at her.  She pointed at Lockhart.  “Oh, we’re not married.”

            “Us neither,” Boston looked at Roland.  “Not yet anyway.”

            “I haven’t asked her yet,” Roland admitted in front of everyone.

            “We have three so far,” Alexis sat up.  Lincoln kept his arm around her to protect and support her.  “I would like another.”  Lincoln said nothing.

            Clearly Jonas wanted to ask more, but once Alexis was out of her weeping, Roland could no longer contain himself.  “What about father?”  he asked.  “Alexis, where is he?”

            “I don’t know.”  Alexis’ voice was soft and she shook her head.  “When Atonas left in the morning, Father woke and said I should rest.  He said I had been on watch all night by myself and needed my sleep.  He seemed perfectly normal.  But when I woke, he had packed up his tent and things, saddled up and left.  And he left the camp in disarray, so I wondered if perhaps he swallowed some of the poison he pulled out of me. 

            “LSD,” Lincoln told her.

            “But in a day or two it will work out of the system and in the lake and the sea it will sink and not be a hazard.  The streams will be clean again and people will be normal soon enough.”

            “Father has the prototype.”  Alexis looked at Boston first before she returned her eyes to her brother Roland.

            “The what?”  Lockhart asked.

            “He has the prototype amulet that leads him to the next time gate.  He took it from the history department on Avalon.  He worked on it.  That is how he took me into the past when he first kidnapped me.”

            “You mean I don’t have the only one?”  Boston pulled hers out from beneath her shirt and looked at it carefully before she also looked at Roland.

            “So when he sobers up, he should be able to follow us well enough.”  Captain Decker spoke and Alexis nodded.  “So no need to mount a search and rescue mission,” he concluded.

            People paused to think and eventually looked at Lockhart.  Lockhart looked at Roland and Alexis because it was their father.

            “Father can take care of himself,” Roland said and Alexis nodded her agreement with that assessment.

            “Good,” Eliyawe jumped up.  “Because it would probably be best if you were gone by the time the gods wake up.”  She began to wiggle.  “I’m hungry.”  Then she began to sing and dance while she waited.  “Something, something runnin’.  Da-da-da-da-da-da.  Head out on the highway.  Da-da-da-da-da-da.  Lookin’ for adventure.  Da-da-da-da-da-da.  And whatever comes my way.  Hey!  Lincoln.  Get out the database.  I am sure I loaded Steppenwolf in there.”

            Everyone’s eyes shifter to Lincoln.  “There is an extensive music library in here,” he said, but he did not look up at the others.  He had not exactly been forthcoming with that information.  It took a second, and the music started plenty loud.  Boston jumped up and joined in the dance.  Katie looked at Lockhart and he shook his head.

            “Not on a bet.” 

            Captain Decker added his own thoughts, unasked.  “Not even under torture.”

            But after a moment, Assur and Marduk joined the girls and then the nymphs joined the dance as well.  And they all danced in the campfire light in 3366 BC as the sound echoed across the plains of Meggido and bounced off the mountains and Eliyawe, her hands over her head to show off her long legs and her skinny butt wiggling away sang, “Born to be wild … “

###

            The travelers have no control over the time gates, like what period it will be in the life of the Kairos when they enter a new time zone.  The Kairos might be old, middle aged, young as Eliyawe, or as in the next zone, a child.  Somehow, though, even childhood does not prevent the Kairos from being at the center of a swirl of trouble. 

Avalon 2.11:  Scorpion … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Retrieval

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Tiamut is dead.  Osiris is in the coffin headed back to Egypt.  Assur and Marduk are present, very young and inclined to argue without Eliyawe’s intervention.  It was an interesting lunch, but now it is time to retrieve their friends.

###

            They left the horses with the Nymphs to guard them and walked across the field.  There were boulders scattered around the base of a hill, and a cave a short way up the hillside.  Roland reported that they were in the cave.

            Roland and Boston walked carefully toward one of the boulders, uncertain as to what to expect.  Marduk and Assur came a step behind them with their eyes wide.  Lockhart knew of no way to confront whoever they might be except directly.   Captain Decker spoke first.

            “Lieutenant Harper,” he said, and Katie looked up.  Decker signaled with one hand and Katie nodded. 

            “What language was that?”  Lockhart asked.

            Katie smiled for him, then spoke with a straight face.  “Marine language.”  The two marines separated and went to where they could draw a bead on the cave, each from a different angle.  Lockhart kept Lincoln with him to prevent the man from running out or doing something stupid.

            Eliyawe, Elias, Jonas and Atonas walked up in the open.  They figured they were out of bowshot range, so they did not worry.  They were talking and laughing and having a good time.  They only paused when Lockhart stood and shouted toward the cave.

            “Alexis!”

            The answer came back at once.  “I’m here, Robert.”  Lockhart stepped on Lincoln’s foot so he would not go running out.

            “You get one chance,” Lockhart shouted.  “Return Alexis unharmed and we will let you live.”

            They were answered with gunfire.  They had Alexis’ pistol.  Lockhart took the first in his shoulder.  Eliyawe swore and shoved Atonas and Jonas behind a boulder.  Elias followed as Eliyawe called out and her clothes were instantly replaced with fine chain armor over leather.  The suit came complete with boots to the knees, gloves to the elbows, a long white cape that fluttered in the wind and a helmet that made the face hard to see.  She had weapons at her back, including a long sword.

            “Hey,” Elias said.  “You got your sword back.”

            “What, this old thing?”  It was not Eliyawe’s voice.  “Zoe,” the woman gave her name as she stepped out from behind the boulder.  Three bullets came straight to her, but they did not appear to touch her.  Zoe lifted her hand and the pistol came flying out of the cave and landed in her hand.  Then something else came from the cave.  It was dark and faceless and looked like strips of black cloth flying in the wind.  It was a wraith, and Zoe shouted to Boston.

            “Little Fire, make a lasso.”

            “What?”

            “Rodeo queen, make a lasso from your fire.”

            A whole bunch of western, rodeo images flashed through Boston’s mind, but she was not sure she could make a lasso from fire.  She looked at Roland and heard a sound over her shoulder.

            “Eee-ha!”  It was Marduk, dressed in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, and he was twirling a lasso of light and shouting.  He caught the wraith by the head and yanked it to the ground.

              “Hog tie it,” Boston yelled, and Assur flew forward while Marduk kept the rope taught, and in the blink of an eye had the wraith tied, arms behind and one foot with them.  He even stood and raised his arms.  Too bad there was no crowd to cheer.  Boston applauded and Roland joined her.

            Meanwhile, Zoe stepped up to the cave.  The giant was just inside the light, afraid to come out.  It was not connected to the Masters, but a useful tool.  Zoe knew this one was not entirely a fool, just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Several arrows came in her direction, but never touched her as she thought things through.

            Alexis was not beaten badly, and through use of her magic and her fairy weave, which covered her again every time a piece was  taken off her, she was not raped.  Zoe waved her hand and the frightened giant became a little person, just three and a half feet tall.  He vanished from the cave entrance and appeared in the midst of Jonas, Atonas and Elias who sat on him to keep him quiet.

            “Alexis!”  Lincoln came running up at that point.  Lockhart could not hold him.  Katie had abandoned her post and was presently holding Lockhart up and they were watching the Gaian chits in his system push the bullet out of the wound.  It fell to the dirt and the wound began to close up and heal.

            “Benjamin!”  Alexis shouted back.  There were two men determined to carry out the rape, but Zoe got there first and brought Lincoln along.  He and Alexis hugged and kissed while the Queen of the Amazon pantheon get very angry, again.  Zoe made sure those two men would never rape anyone again, ever.  Then she waved her hand again and all six men and three women were tied like the wraith. 

            It was Eliyawe who shouted from the cave entrance.  Zoe was still too angry.  “You can come up now.  Alexis is alright.  No Mingus.  Lockhart?”

            “Here,” Katie answered.  “We are fine.”

            “What are we supposed to do with this little one?”  Elias yelled.

            “Stay where you are for now,” Eliyawe answered.

            Elias looked at the little one he was sitting on.  “You heard my wife.  I try not to argue with my wife.”

            “Wise,” Jonas said and Atonas nodded.

            “Get off me, you elephant,” the former giant complained.

            “Boys, bring the wraith.”

            “Yes, Mam.  Glad to oblige. Shuckins, ‘twern’t nothing.””

            Lincoln walked a weeping Alexis out of the cave.  She had enough fairy weave left to cover her private parts and her breasts, but that was it.  Roland and Boston met her at the cave entrance and Roland handed back all the fairy weave cloth he picked up along the trail.  It merged back into the rest of her cloth and quickly formed a proper dress and shoes.  And the twins only whistled once as they marched by with the screaming wraith in tow.  The wraith was not hurt or mad at being tied.  It was screaming because it realized just who had tied it and the wrath of the gods was a terrible thing to behold, even in those two.

            “Toss her in here,” Eliyawe said.  “Now make sure they are all tied tight.”  She took Marduk’s and Assur’s hands and changed to Junior.  They were in the dark where no one would see them.  He left a message from the three of them when the signal he set up was followed by the gods of El’s court.  “These serve the Masters, not you.  If they are left to live, they will try some new horror.  We leave them for your pleasure to do with them as you will.”

            Then Eliyawe returned and brought the boys back out into the light.  They were looking at her with wide eyes.

            “That was amazing, how you did that.”

            “That was so sophisticated.”

            “Hush,” Eliyawe quieted them.  “We have about three or four days before the LSD is fully broken down and the gods should awake, and we have a long way to go to reach Egypt.  Seal the cave, but leave a small air pocket so they don’t suffocate.”

            “Really?  Can we?  Is it okay?  Yeee-ha!”

            “Boys,” Eliyawe rolled her eyes and grinned at Boston and Alexis as they all ran down the hill to the safety of the plains.  The earth began to shake, and all at once the front of the cave collapsed.  It formed a perfect seal with only a small hole here and there for air.

 ###

Avalon 2.10:  Loose Ends … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Lunch and Stories

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            While on the trail for Alexis and Mingus, the travelers first found the Kairos, Eliyawe, a skinny young girl in a mini skirt with nice long legs that she obviously liked to show off, who seemed to be suffering from ADHD, at the least.  She had several men and women with her, as well as a floating coffin, but had yet to get through the introductions without interrupting herself.

###

            “Boys,”  Eliyawe’s voice grabbed their attention again.  “Leave the fisherman alone.  I want you to meet Roland, the hunter.”

            “Hello,” they said before they ran to the horses.  “What are these?  Where did you get them?  Which is the fastest?  Can I have one?”

            “Children, come and sit.”  Eliyawe made them sit down where Elder Stow was building a fire.  “Now behave so we can have a nice lunch.”  Eliyawe turned to Boston and rolled her eyes in a very Boston-like manner.  “Boys,” she said with a liberal dose of sarcasm.

            “I understand,” Boston said and rolled her eyes in return.

            Roland provided a deer, but it took time to cook.  Elder Stow made a small force field around them so they could let the horses out to graze without worrying about them watering.  Katie and Boston argued a bit about the cooking.  Lincoln sounded morose when he talked.

            “Alexis is a great cook.”

            “And I am sure we will enjoy her cooking when we get her back,” Lockhart said.  And he explained to Eliyawe and the others what they were doing.  They expected to catch up, soon.  Lincoln threw the grass he had yanked out of the ground, but he said nothing.

            “Maybe we could help them?” Elias suggested with a look at his wife.  Eliyawe squinted at him. 

            “I thought you were my husband,” she said.  He nodded.

            “So how far ahead of you do you figure,”  Elias spoke to Lockhart and Eliyawe grinned and took her husband’s arm.

            “Sometime this afternoon.”  Lockhart said, but he looked at Roland for confirmation.

            “Sooner than that,” Roland said.  “I think they saw the Kairos coming from in front of them and with us following they scooted out between us and are hold up somewhere in the rocks there where the hills really start to rise.”

            “What?”  Lincoln sat straight up to look.

            “Relax,” Lockhart held him back.

            “So who is in the box?”  Decker changed the subject when he could not suppress his curiosity any longer.  He slept in an Agdaline box for 500 years, so he was curious.

            “Osiris,” Elias answered and Eliyawe nodded.

            “We are returning him to Egypt,” she said.  “The nymphs of the swamps of Lebanon are doing penance and carrying the coffin.

            “Nymphs?”  The men reacted.  Jonas and Elias looked embarrassed for some reason.

            “Osiris?” Katie also reacted.  “You mean, the Osiris?”

            “Hey.” Lincoln looked at Elyawe with sudden curiosity.  “Which ding dong the Witch is dead?”

            “Tiamut,” Eliyawe said.  “Set planned the whole thing so Osiris would snuff it away from Egypt.  The Masters are working for Tiamut, more or less.  They seeded the streams with the drug.  Tiamut was hoping the gods would go crazy, but it just put them all to sleep for a time.  Some universal default or something would be my guess.”

            Atonas could not contain himself any longer.  “You slew Chaos?  You killed the great and terrible goddess?”  He fell at Eliyawe’s feet and dared not lift his eyes. 

            “Not me,” Eliyawe said.  “All I did was stab her in her big toe.  Broke my best sword, too, and dern, it was my new one.”  Eliyawe shrugged.  “You want the slayer of Tiamut, look to Marduk and Assur.”

            “The Marduk and Assur?” Katie started again but several people yelled at her in case she said something about the future that was best not to mention.

            “I like that phrase, “The” Marduk and Assur,” Assur said.  “But it would be better to say “The” Assur and Marduk.”

            “Yes,” Marduk ignored his brother and spoke in feigned humility.  “I slew chaos for all time.”

            “Ha!  I slew Chaos.”  Assur countered, but Marduk had already jumped to his feet.

            “There she was, a true titan, terrible to behold, but I found the courage to rise up into her face, the very face of death.  I brought my great sword down upon her head and cut her in two so her brains leaked out.  And by the fire in my loins, I set her mind ablaze until it became but ash to blow away on the wind.”

            “Ha!”  Assur had a counter story.  “I rose up to her great maw that was swallowing the light itself and looked big and dark enough to swallow the very sun.  I smote her breast and cut off the paps that fed the world with destruction.  I bore a great hole in her chest and tore out her heart.  This I crushed with my bare hands.”

            “Her heart was only about this big,” Marduk pinched his fingers together to show how small it was.

            “It was not.”

            “It was too.”

            Eliyawe whistled and Marduk and Assur  fell silent.  “Actually, Tiamut was about to step on me and squish me like a bug, and my boys found the courage to finish the job.  Thanks for saving my life, boys.”

            “Aw, hush.  Think nothing of it.  You are more than welcome.  The least we could do.”

            “Twins,” Lincoln said.  “Identical.”

            “So which is older?”

            “Hey!”  Eliyawe intervened before the argument started.  “They were both born at exactly the same time, joined together at the top of their heads.  Doctor Mishka had a hard time separating them.  She had to re-grow the skulls and do some dermal regeneration and stimulate the hair follicles and voila!  Better then a plate in their heads.”  Eliyawe smiled until she saw Marduk open his mouth.  “And they both got an equal number of brain cells down to the micro-nano level, so there.”  Eliyawe stuck her tongue out at the boys.

            Elias got Atonas back up and sat him between himself and Jonas.  Jonas had to lean over to speak.  “You know, I still only understand about one in three words your wife says.  Very disturbing.”

            “Ha!”  Elias said in imitation of Assur.  “What is really disturbing is I am starting to understand the most of it.”  Eliyawe tightened her grip on Elias’ arm and robbed her head against his shoulder like a kitty  All that was missing was the purr.

            They all heard a click.  Captain Decker had his rifle at hand.  “Lunch is over,” he said.  “Time to get our missing travelers.”

            “Thank you.”  Lincoln stood straight up.

### 

Avalon 2.10:  Retrieval … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Eliyawe and Company

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Lincoln has great hopes of finding his wife, Alexis, and Roland has equally high hopes of finding both her, and their father Mingus, but the place where they expected to find them turned out to be a ruined camp.  They determined from the lack of bodies that they are likely still alive, they have been taken by someone, but they are on foot.  The travelers believe it should not be too hard to catch them on horseback.  What they will find as to who took them is the question. 

###

            The travelers followed the trail as far as they could into the night, but eventually had to pitch a light camp, eat, and give their horses a rest.  They were up with the sun and moving again, headed to the north and west toward Lebanon and the coast

            Decker took the flank.  Lincoln and Elder Stow stayed in the middle as usual, with Lockhart and Katie watching all of their backs.  Roland and Boston, and that meant Atonas who knew something about the land were out front.  Roland, to be sure they stayed on course, and Boston, to be sure they did not get too far off course as far as the next time gate was concerned,

            Every now and then Roland would ride ahead to a place where he could stop and check the signs of passage.  Once, he came back to Boston and whispered.  “They are not alone.”  Boston looked up and he explained.  “I don’t want to say anything yet because I am not certain, but they are traveling with a ghoul, perhaps, or a wraith and a giant, I would guess about ten feet tall.”

            Boston nodded and looked back to be sure the others did not hear.  Atonis spoke up.

            “I knew a giant once,” Atonas spoke loud and clear.  “Not an Amalakite.  I have to say that back home because everyone in Caana hears giant and automatically thinks Amalakite.”

            Boston rolled her eyes.  Lincoln, Katie and Lockhart were all staring at her.  “Roland thinks they may have a giant with them.  Not confirmed.”

            “Yes, he was taller than me on this beast.  Nice fellow.  Drank too much.”

            “Thank you for your insight,” Lincoln quipped from behind and did nothing to disguise the sarcasm.

            “Glad to help,” Atonas responded.  “Of course you have to be careful with giants.  Some are quite bright, but even the dumb ones can be very clever.  Not a good idea to make them mad either.”

            Lincoln joined Boston in eye rolling.  Elder Stow found the whole thing quite amusing.

            “Hold up.” Decker rode in from the flank and the party stopped moving to hear the news.  “People approaching.  Four men and five women, and they have a box with them that looks like a coffin.”

            Katie got out her rifle.  Lincoln, Boston and Lockhart all checked their side arms.  They started forward again at a slow walk until Decker had them dismount at the base of a ridge which was barely more than a long lump in the ground.  There were trees where they tied off the horses, still afraid the horses might wander to the nearest stream.  Roland and Boston agreed to watch the horses while the rest climbed the ridge to have a look.

            “No Alexis or Mingus,” Elder Stow stated the obvious.

            “No giant or other spookies either,” Katie added as she handed her binoculars to an overly anxious Lincoln.

            “A strange crew,” Decker said.  The casket was floating along without anyone touching it.  Even the telekinetic Shemsu needed to raise their hands and focus on such an object to move it.  But here, four rather scantily clad women merely walked at each of the four corners.  Two young men walked side by side, and the fat one sweating like they had been walking for some time.  The skinny young girl in the super short miniskirt and the other two young men, identical twins, appeared to be dancing along.  The young girl was singing, though it took a few minutes before they were within range to hear the song.

            “Ding, dong, the witch is dead.  Which old witch?  The wicked witch.”

            “Eliyawe,” Katie said through her grin.  It could not possibly be anyone else.  Lockhart stood and waved and instantly found himself frozen in place. Everyone was frozen, including Roland, Boston and the horses who were out-of-sight.

            “Marduk!”  Eliyawe used her scolding voice as she huffed and puffed her way up the ridge.  “Let these people go.  These are friends of mine.”

            “Blame me?  Assur must have done it.”

            “I did not,” Assur protested.

            “Well it wasn’t me,” Marduk responded.

            “Well it wasn’t me either.”

            “Hey!”  Eliyawe put her fingers to her lips and let out a shrill whistle.  “Would you boys please set them free.  I don’t care which one.”

            Marduk and Assur looked properly scolded and the travelers could move again.

            “Eliyawe!” Lockhart shouted and finished his wave before he realized what happened and Eliyawe was now in front of his face.  Eliyawe played along.  She took two steps back, waved and shouted.

            “Lockhart!”  She grinned.

            The two other men then joined them, the fat one huffing and puffing.  The women surrounding the casket also started up the ridge and they all noticed the women at the back levitated in order to keep the casket level.

            Eliyawe immediately went into the introductions.  “This strapping, handsome young man is Elias, my husband.  His wild and crazy friend is Jonas.”

            “Not anymore,” Jonas spoke up as he shook hands with everyone.  “I have given up my wild and crazy.  Eliyawe owns the wild and crazy country and I can’t compete.  Sorry, Elias, but she is all yours.”  He tapped his friend on the shoulder as every eye turned to stare at the young man.  He was not put off.

            “And she is all I want,” he said.  Eliyawe shrieked and tackled him.  She landed on top of him and he grinned the whole time, especially when she wiggled a little.

            “They’ve been married, what, twenty days?,” Jonas said.  No one else said anything, especially the women.  They were too busy smiling, including Boston who climbed up from below to see what was happening.

            Eliyawe turned her head and tossed it to get her hair out of her eyes.  She stared at Jonas through big, brown eyes and said, “A whole month if you don’t mind.”  Then she saw Boston and abandoned her husband to shout, “Boston!”  And she ran to give her a hug.  Then she hugged all the women.  Then she kissed Lockhart on the cheek and got to Lincoln where she stopped.  “Okay,” she said.  “What is going on?”

            “Down below,” Lockhart pointed.  “We build a fire, have lunch and figure out our next move.”

            “But Alexis,” Lincoln protested.

            “That’s an order,” Lockhart said as he took Katie’s hand to help her down the hill, not that she needed help.

            “Order?  You’re resorting to orders?”  Lincoln stomped past and grumbled the whole way.

            “My father,” Elder Stow stepped up to Lockhart.  “He should treat you with more respect.”

            Lockhart looked at the Gott-Druk.  “I know where his heart is.  I trust him implicitly.  No need to make a scene.  He will get over it.”

            The Gott-Druk paused to think and later was surprised to see Lockhart’s wisdom.  “I did not know humans could be so wise,” he said.

            Poor Atonas had to walk sandwiched between Marduk and Assur.  He knew who they were even if the others did not.  He was terrified to the point of being ready to wet his pants at any moment.  “I think I will claim this one,” Marduk said.

            “Atonas the fisherman?  What, are you going to have fish in your temple every day?”

            “Maybe.”

            “Too bad you don’t have a temple.”

            “You don’t either.”

            “Neither do you.”

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Avalon 2.10:  Lunch and Stories … Next Time

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Avalon 2.10: Friend

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            The travelers appear to have walked into a world of madness, a derivative of LSD poisoning all the water in the area.  The experience is surreal, but one thing is most curious.  A local fisherman calls to them, “Friend, friend,” and it is in twenty-first century English.

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            “Friend.  Ride horse.  Come.  Follow.  Friend ride horse.  Come.”  The man pointed up the lakeshore and repeated the word, “Friend.”  No one had to guess that he wanted them to follow.  After a moment Lincoln said that it must be Alexis and everyone was surprised at how calm he sounded.  Everyone was also annoyed at how slowly they moved along the edge of the lake.  They offered the man a lift and promised to use Captain Decker’s rope to bring the boat, but the man refused to leave the lake.

            “Good water,” he said and pointed toward the depths.  “Water good.”  Elder Stow agreed.  He checked and shared that it would take a long time to contaminate such a large body of water.

            The evening was quiet apart from Lincoln’s impatience.  They butchered a cow when Elder Stow suggested there were only traces of the drug.  “But I would not recommend such a diet for more than a few days.”

            Their fire could be seen for miles, but they were not worried.  The only thing they imagined they might attract would be crazy people and animals under the influence.

            “I don’t get it.”  Boston spoke up from the security of Roland’s arms.  “How can all the streams feeding into the Sea of Galilee be tainted with LSD?”

            “Human intervention,” Lockhart suggested.  He looked at Katie who was beside him, and she nodded her agreement before she spoke.

            “The phenomenon is too wide-spread for a natural occurrence.”

            “As I am thinking,” Elder Stow said.  “The formula is too complex and enhanced to be natural, the way it defies light and air and holds together in the water instead of being diluted and dissipating.”

            Lincoln grabbed a piece of beef from the fire and chewed slowly as he read from the database.  The horses were tied for the night so they would not wander off in search of a cool drink.  The tents were not set up.  Everyone expected to sleep around the campfire.  He looked at the simple boat of Atonas the fisherman, which he finally pulled up on shore when he agreed to join them for supper.  It was hardly bigger than a row boat.  It had a simple sail, and Atonas had a long pole which he used to move the boat along the shoreline.  He went back to his book as Atonas spoke.

            “The gods are all asleep.”  It was not in English.  It was his native tongue, but everyone understood what he said.  It was one of the gifts given by the Kairos just before he jumped into the void of the Second Heavens.  He gave them the ability to be understood and understand, whatever the local language along with a never-ending supply of vitamins, elf bread crackers and bullets.  Lockhart felt they had depended on the bullets far too much, especially for people who were trying to skip through history to get back to the future without disturbing any more than they had to.

            “What do you mean, asleep?”  Lockhart asked with another glance at Katie.

            “The man in his own world would be sensitive to the disposition of his own gods.  You remember Faya’s people.  Her whole world went to war when the gods of Aesgard and Vanheim went to war,” Katie responded.

            “I mean asleep, like you and I will do soon.  They tasted the water and fell asleep.”

            “Good thing they are not hallucinating,” Lincoln said as he switched off the database and prepared for sleep, now that the subject had come up.

            “I was thinking the drugs might be because of the gods in some way,” Boston suggested.

            “I don’t think they work that way,” Captain Decker said as he checked his rifle.  He was taking the first watch in the night.

            “I can’t imagine any of them being so incompetent as to put themselves asleep,” Katie responded.

            “Tiamut might.”

            That made everyone pause before Lockhart spoke again.  “But I cannot think of what she is doing that would risk the ire of all the gods by putting them to sleep, even temporarily.”

            “It does give one pause,” Elder Stow said as he laid down in fetal position to sleep.

            “But tell me.”  Atonas had something on his mind.  “This most beautiful woman, Alexis.  You know her well?”

            “She is my wife,” Lincoln said as he turned his back on the fire.

            Atonas looked disappointed.  “You are the most fortunate of men.”  No one said much after that so it was not long before the rest got on their blankets.  Boston stayed right where she was, in Roland’s arms.  Atonas walked back to the shore to sleep in his boat.

            It was mid-afternoon when the travelers reached the far Northern end of the Sea of Galilee.  The Golan heights were ahead on their right and the hills of Lebanon were several miles yet straight ahead of them.

            “Eliyawe is still off to the left, likely near the coast,” Boston reported as she checked her amulet.  “But she appears to be headed this way, probably headed home after whatever it was she was doing.”

            “Probably knows her only source of clean water will be Galilee,” Roland suggested.

            “This does not look good,” Katie Harper said softly as she handed her binoculars to Lockhart.  Captain Decker lowered his binoculars and retrieved his rifle.

            “What?”  Lincoln asked, but no one answered, and no one handed him binoculars to take a look. 

            Atonas had gotten ahead of them when they stopped to check the lay of the land and which way to go, but when Lockhart said, “Ride,” they rode right passed his slow movement along the shore.

            There was a camp up ahead where Alexis and her father Mingus had settled in either for the night or, less likely, to wait for them.  The camp was torn up, the fairy weave tents collapsed, the campfire kicked around, Alexis’ medical bag was dumped and the vitamins and elf crackers were spread all over.  The pot Alexis used to boil water to turn the elf crackers into bread was there and dented.  And Alexis and Mingus were not to be found.

            “Alexis!”  Lincoln only shouted her name once before he dismounted to look for signs of passage.  Roland was also on the ground looking at the signs.  As a hunter, he understood more of what he was looking at.

            “Eight or ten people.  No more than a dozen.  They appear headed for Lebanon, or at least the coast.”

            “Right direction,” Boston said as she dropped the reigns of Roland’s horse, jumped up on Honey’s back and headed out across the grasses.  There was a horse out there, attracted to movement in the camp.  It was Alexis’ horse, Misty Gray.  Boston had no trouble catching the animal.

            “Alright people,” Lockhart got everyone’s attention.  “Pick up everything you can find, all the equipment and let’s get it loaded first.  Then we can follow and maybe find them.”

            “No dead bodies near.”  Elder Stow had his scanner out.

            “No sign of much of a struggle despite the disarray of the camp,” Lincoln noted.  He had worked for the CIA before joining the Men in Black so Lockhart accepted that he knew what he was talking about.

            “Good reason to believe they are still alive,” Katie spoke up from where she was gathering and compressing a fairy weave tent.

            “The Lady?” Atonas spoke up from the lake as his boat arrived.

            “Tell me,” Lincoln confronted the man as the man came ashore.  “How did you meet her.  What did she say.”

            “Please, please.  I know nothing of this,” he insisted.  “I saw the campfire three days ago back where we camped last night.  I came to warn them about the water, but it was too late.  The woman had already taken the poison.  Her father did great magic and I saw the poison escape her with my own eyes.  It was red, like blood and yellow, like piss.  It came right out of her mouth.  I swear.  Then her father slept from such effort while the lady instructed me.  She said you were following and I should look for you.  She said she would delay her father at the head of the lake, here.  Please, I left in the morning to look and found you, but I know nothing of this.”

            “Fair enough,” Lockhart stepped up and put a hand on Lincoln’s shoulder.  Lincoln said nothing.  He returned to his horse.  “We are going to find her,” Lockhart told Atonas.

            “I can come?  Do you promise the big beast will not bite me?”

            “He could ride Misty,” Boston suggested as she came up close.  She was still on Honey’s back and managed to miss the whole clean-up operation.

            “I have clean water,” Atonas said, and he lifted two wineskins filled with lake water.  There were more.

            “All right,” Lockhart agreed.  “Elder Stow, help me get these water skins and see that everyone gets at least one.  Elder Stow said nothing, but Boston had something more to say.

            “Hold on with your legs, try not to bounce too much and hold on here to the saddle horn.  I have Misty tied to my saddle so you won’t have to worry about steering or anything.  That’s it.  And trust me, you will only be sore for the first two or three days.

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Avalon 2.10:  Eliyawe and Company … Next Time

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