Young Adult Fiction

Avalon 2.8: Revivals

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            The walking and talking reptiles don’t appear to respect any species but their own, but at least the Kairos and his wife are glad to see the travelers.  Otapec claims to have treats and surprises for them as well, whatever they may be.

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            There was a big bonfire built and ready to light, which suggested the travelers were expected.  Otapec, Maya and their children were separated from the others in the camp by some distance.  Lockhart imagined that was to give the travelers room to set their own tents, but he suspected there was also more to it.

            “We had a strange encounter coming in,” Lincoln spoke as he unsaddled his horse.

            “Pendratti.”  Elder Stow spoke up.  “I have only seen them in paintings and pictures which is why I was slow to recognize them.”  He turned to Katie.  “My apologies, Mother.  I would have claimed to be your protector sooner if I knew.”

            “Pendratti,” Otapec interrupted and laid his hand gently on Decker’s horse.  “And there are Gott-Druk somewhere around here as well, but we will speak of that later.”

            “Opi!”  Maya called.  She stopped to scoop up a four-year-old in a tent door, but otherwise she was bouncing up and down in excitement and anticipation and heading slowly to the big tent set back against some trees.

            “Yes, my love,” Otapec responded as he watched his ten-year old son and seven-year-old daughter run up with a trail of children behind them.  Otapec introduced them.  “Chac, my eldest.   He is the good rain that feeds the crops.  Ixchel, my beautiful daughter is the rainbow that follows the rain.  She takes after her mother.  And the little one struggling in his mother’s arms is Kuican.”

            “What is Kuican?” Boston asked.

            “The wind, I think.  I don’t think he slept until he was three.”

            “Opi,”  Maya called from the big tent.  She was grinning but impatient.

             “Bring the horses.  Maya has invented a special treat.”   Otapec waved to the group and stepped over to join his wife.

            The travelers did not know what to think and more than one member of the group eyed Lockhart who continued to shrug as he brought his horse to the big tent.

            Maya grinned like a school girl when she handed Kuican to Otapec and threw the front flap of the tent straight up.  If she did not exactly say, “Ta Da!” it was near enough.  The odd tent was much bigger on the inside than the outside suggested, and it was absolutely filled with corn.

            “Corn!”  Lincoln and Boston both said the word out loud.

            “Maize,” Maya said with a slight frown at Otapec.  Apparently they discussed it.

            “Just invented?” Katie asked Maya who said nothing but nodded her head, vigorously.

            “Hey, now we can make tortillas,” Lockhart grinned.

            Otapec matched the grin.  “Now we can make whisky.  I remember that one.”

            “What one?” Boston asked as she began to shuck some corn to feed her horse.

            Otapec forced Chac and Ixchel to each take a four-year-old hand and he began to help.

            Maya apologized and waved her hand.  A whole bushel was immediately cleaned and Boston reacted.

            “Wow, that was some magic.”

            Otapec shook his head and Maya just smiled a sparkling smile.  Otapec slipped his arm around his wife’s shoulder and squeezed her from the side.  She giggled before he spoke.  “You do know the horses will still mostly graze.”  He explained to his wife.  “Like human beings, they do best with a varied diet.”

            “Oh,” she nodded and waved for the children to follow their father as she broke free of his embrace and stepped up to Katie.

            “So what is this other surprise?”  Lockhart asked out loud, now that the horses were settled for the moment.  Two horses had in fact already found the nearby stream where they were contentedly slaking their thirst.  Otapec said nothing, but waved for them all to follow, which they did at a leisurely pace.

            “You are an elect,” Maya said first thing when she reached Katie.  Katie wondered how the woman knew.  “I have never met an elect before, except Zoe,” Maya said.  “But she had already been made a goddess by then so that did not count.”

            “You met Zoe?”

            “Oh yes, years ago.  She came by to ask if I would join the Amazon council if needed.  Of course I said I would.”  She glanced at Opi and smiled, and Otapec smiled in return, though he did not see her.  It was like there was an invisible thread connecting the two, so when Maya was happy, Otapec was happy.  Katie glanced back at Lockhart and smiled for him.  He saw and gave her a funky, foolish grin in return, and Maya spoke again.

            “You will have to work on that.”  Katie just nodded, and then was a bit surprised when Maya grabbed her hand and placed it on her belly.  “I would not mind if my daughter was one of the elect.”

            “You’re pregnant?  Number four?”  Maya just nodded.  “You and Opi?  But wait, how many years ago did Zoe visit you?”  Katie stopped walking so Maya stopped to face her

            “Oh, many, many years.”

            “You and Opi?”

            “Yes.  As a fertility goddess it is hard for me to not be pregnant.”

            Katie pulled her hand away slowly.  Then she had a thought.  “But won’t he grow old?”

            Maya shook her head.  “He is old enough to be a respected elder, but young enough to be a wonderful lover.  I will keep him as he is.”

            “For as long as you can,” Katie said.  She knew that even the gods could not prevent the Kairos from dying when it was time for him, or her to be reborn.

            “For as long as I can,” Maya agreed and a few tears came up into her eyes.  When they dropped to the ground, the grass grew a little taller and flowers came up. 

            Katie had a change of heart and gave Maya a big hug and a sisterly kiss.  “Let’s go see what all the commotion is about.”  Maya wiped her eyes, brought her smile back out as well as she could and followed.

            The others were all standing around the sarcophagus, waiting.  Lincoln turned to Katie and shouted.  “Lieutenant Harper, it’s Captain Decker.”

            Otapec was also waiting, but for Maya who stepped right up and took his hands where the sarcophagus was between them.  Otapec smiled for her, and she returned a genuine smile as Otapec went away and Kartesh of the Shemsu came to take his place.  Kartesh squeezed Maya’s hands before she let go.

            “Hello, old friend.”

            “Dear old friend,” Maya responded.

            Lockhart noticed that many of the dark-skinned natives came up and fell to their knees in the face of Kartesh.  “These Shemsu are mine by default,” Kartesh admitted, but her hands were manipulating the Agdaline controls and shutting down the sleep chamber so Decker could be awakened.  The lid popped open and Decker stirred.

            “Damn,” the man said, and “Ouch.”  He had been terribly wounded all those time zones in the past, and cryogenic sleep did nothing to heal him.  Kartesh made him lay as straight as he could in that little Agdaline box and Maya stepped over to stand beside her. 

            “I am not a healer by trade,” Kartesh admitted.

            “Nor am I,” Maya said, but the two goddesses placed their flat hands about eight inches above Decker.  The inside of the sleep chamber began to glow, and then Decker began to glow.

            “No,” Kartesh opened the conversation over Decker’s glowing body.  “You are Opi’s little woman.”

            “And proud of it,” Maya responded with her best grin.  “And that is little fertility woman if you don’t mind.”

            “Not any longer.  It is little Corn Woman now.”

            It did not take long, whatever the women did, and Decker wanted to sit up.  Kartesh gave Maya a kiss on the cheek much as Katie had and vanished to be replaced by Doctor Mishka.  She came complete with her little black doctor’s bag and would not let Decker do more than sit while she examined him.

            “But Doc., I feel fine now.”

            “Sit.  Stay.”  Mishka spoke to him like a dog.  “And that is Colonel Kolchenkov to you, Captain, not Doc.”

            Decker stayed until she finished and put her stethoscope back in her little black bag.  She turned to Maya with a word.  “So when were you going to tell me you were pregnant, and then  she and her little black bag vanished and Otapec finally came back to help Decker stand.  The man was wobbly after his five hundred year sleep, but some food and real rest would do wonders.  Then Otapec stepped up to Maya with a stern look on his face.  Maya looked down at her feet, like the goddess was afraid to look into his mortal, human eyes.  But he just caught her up in an embrace and kissed her like tomorrow might never come. 

            Some “Oooed,” some “Ahhed.”  Some couples looked at each other with unasked questions in their eyes.  Chac turned his head to protest.  “Mom!  Dad!”  Ixchel stared and did not know what to think.  Kuican pulled his hands free of his siblings and reached out with the words, “Me too.”

###

Avalon 2.8  Visitors … Next Time

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Avalon 2.8: Encounters

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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After 3498 BC, somewhere between Guatemala and the Yucatan.  Kairos life 28:  Otapec.

Recording…

            The jungle they traveled through was not too thick at ground level, but the canopy above cast their journey into shadows, and there were other, deeper shadows moving among the trees.  Roland and Boston thought it best to stop and watch as the shadows stopped with them.  Lincoln, who was not paying attention would have run into them, but his horse knew better.  Elder Stow watched Lincoln’s horse buck as it stopped and he laughed.  The Gott-Druk had not laughed much since joining the group, but he was learning. 

            “What’s up?”  Lockhart’s voice spoke softly from the rear.  Katie got busy retrieving her rifle.

            “Not men,” Roland said.  “I do not recognize the scent.”

            “Let me try,” Boston said.  She was all excited because in the last time zone, when she was under the spell of the genii, she did all sorts of magic that she never imagined she was capable of doing.  She pulled out the leg bone of a doe that Roland was helping her carefully shape into a proper wand, and she focused.  The tree branch lifted and they saw two reptiles, clothed and standing upright like ordinary people, and they were arguing.

            “But are they tagged?”  Everyone heard that because the gray reptile raised his voice.

            “Yes, sir.  Yes, but can’t we find a way to bring one of them now?  The supreme one would be most pleased.”

            “There will be time for experimentation later.”

            “But sir.”

            “No!  We haven’t the room nor the capacity.”  He turned toward the travelers and saw the branch lifted.  “We have been seen,” he said and stepped out to face them all.  The one with the electronic equipment followed, and Boston was glad because she could not have held up the branch much longer.

            “Can we help you?”  Lockhart said, or hoped that was what he said.  The language of these reptiles was all tongue slurps and guttural growls.  The human tongue and vocal chords were not designed to make those sounds.  Of course, thanks to the gift of the Kairos, they heard the whole conversation like it was in English, but being able to respond was another matter.

            “Remarkable.”  The gray one stepped up.  “It is almost as if this one is trying to speak.”

            “Sir,” the other interrupted.  “My equipment is unable to get a lock on this one.”  He referred to Roland, the elf, but before the gray one could respond, Elder Stow pushed up between Lockhart and Boston.

            “These are under my protection,” he said in his own Gott-Druk language.  The gray one squinted and put something like an ear bud in one ear.  He tapped the box on his belt. 

            “Ah, yes,” he said.  “One of the lesser helpers against the Balok all those years ago.”

            “From the lesser ship that followed us?” The other suggested, but it was like a question.  The gray one made a face, stuck out his tongue and snarled which Katie interpreted as he did not care if he was or wasn’t.

            “I said, these are under my protection,” Elder Stow repeated himself.

            “Yes, I heard.”  He turned to his colleague.  “Notice how the less intelligent feel the need to repeat what has already been plainly stated.”

            “I wonder if these beasts have a form of communication.”  The other pointed at the horses.

            “Worth finding out,” the gray one responded.  “Beasts of burden, certainly, and the first we have seen in this unsophisticated place.”

            Lockhart tried again, this time in the Gott-Druk tongue.  “Can we help you?”

            Again, the gray one turned to the other, and this time he showed his great rows of very sharp teeth.  Katie and Boston both imagined it was a reptile kind of smile.  Lincoln was not so sure.  “You see?”  The gray one spoke.  “They are capable of learning.  This world might not be the total waste we imagined.  It would take a great deal of time and energy, but the natives can be trained.”

            “We need to get this information to the supreme one,” the other said with a hint of excitement.

            “Quite right,” the gray one agreed and placed a claw on the shoulder of his companion.  They turned their backs on the travelers and stepped back into the trees.  A moment later, something like a real flying saucer, though a very small one like a scout ship lifted into the sky.

            “That was weird.”  Lockhart said what everyone felt.

            “This way.”  Boston had the amulet out and pointed their direction.  They had to dismount and walk the horses because the jungle got thick again.

###

            On a small hill in a wild meadow there were a number of shelters which one might call tents if one wanted to be kind.  There were also a number of camp fires, children running free, women cooking and men lazing about.  It might have been a scene from anywhere at any point in history, and certainly fit 3450 BC Central America, but for two things.  Half of these people looked more African than Native American.  They were dark skinned and had none of the expected slightly Asian look about them.  Then also they carried a stone sarcophagus with them and with no visible means to move it.  How it came to be in that meadow, no scientist in our day could ever explain.

            One woman, beautiful and young looked up from the meat in the fire when her middle-aged, gray haired man came up to her.  She kissed him because she wanted to.  He kissed her because he loved her.

            “Your friends are near,” the woman said.

            “Then perhaps we should go and greet them,” the man responded, but the woman shook her head and made him sit down and share the meal.  When they were done, she took his arm and walked him to the meadow’s edge as six horses emerged from the jungle.

            “Hey, Lockhart.”  The man waved.

            “Otapec?”  Lincoln asked.  He had the database out and was trying to read.  It was something he had not really been able to do in the jungle.  Otapec nodded and smiled until the woman tugged on his sleeve.

            “Opi, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends.”

            Otapec patted the woman’s hand, gently and introduced the travelers.  Lastly he introduced his wife, Maya.

            “Hello Maya.”  Boston said.  “My real name is Mary Riley, but everyone just calls me Boston.”

            Maya did not respond as expected.  In fact she reminded the travelers of the reptiles in the jungle as she turned and spoke only to Otapec.  “You are right, she is a dear one.”

            “Come,”  Otapec waved for everyone to follow.  He turned to walk and the travelers dismounted and fell in line.  Otapec spoke up.  “Maya has made a treat for the horses, and then I have a surprise for you as well.”

            Katie looked at Lockhart, but all he could do was shrug.

###

Avalon 2.8:  Revivals … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Death and Life

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            The travelers did their best to lead the defense of the camp, but unless they got help, divine help, it will be a short lived defense.  Fortunately, the compulsion laid on the gnomes allowed them to set Beltain’s mind free of the control of the Djin, even if only for a moment.  It is enough for the Kairos to reach back I time and bring the goddess into the present.  Divine help arrived.

###

            Up on the hill, Roland and Gnumma were completely taken in by the events transpiring in the camps.  Roland did not see his father sneak away.  Once it appeared that his ruse would work, Mingus quietly shuffled off.  Elder Stow saw, but said nothing.

            “Look at Boston,” Roland said with some pride in his voice.  “That is really some powerful magic.”

            “Not bad for one made of mud and blood,” Gnumma agreed.

            The light went out and Roland drew in his breath, sharply.  “Father?”  He was afraid Boston might have been seriously hurt.

            “Gone,” Elder Stow spoke at last.  “I was surprised you did not go with him.”

            “What?”

            “I figured as exhausted as he was, he went to see if he could help.”

            “Father!”  Roland turned and shouted, but there was no answer.  Before he could follow up, a stroke of lightning hit the center of the Aramean camp.  “The Djin!”  Roland shouted and again drew his breath in, sharply.

            “No, boy,” Gnumma explained.  “That bolt went from the ground into the sky.  I would guess our ruse worked and the Kairos is restored.  No telling which life she borrowed.  One of the gods, I suppose.  But I would say she burned the bottom of that Djin and now I think the Djin is running for his life.”  He pointed and the cloud over the camp rapidly cleared.

###

            Down in the camp, the combatants paused at the lightning.  They trembled when they got a look at Zoe, and a few fainted.  The glow around her was very different, and in a way much stronger than the bit of sunlight Boston had produced.  This glow said holy, awesome power of the sort that men and women might be inclined to worship.  It also said you have really made me mad, and the men trembled, not for their lives, but for fear as to which hell she might cast them into; and they did not doubt that she could.

            “Go home!”  Zoe shouted in a voice that demanded a hearing and demanded obedience.  “Go back to the camps you came from.” She waved her hand and the attackers all disappeared at once.  Whether they reappeared in their respective camps or were sent all of the way back to Caana, Syria and Lebanon remained to be seen.

            “Katie!”  Zoe called and Katie ran up.  By her own volition she went to one knee.

            “Queen of Queens,” Katie said.

            Zoe frowned, but only a little.  “Would you get up, you’re embarrassing Beltain.”

            “I know.  I remember myself, but your way is to keep history moving in the right direction.  There are many women here who need to see this.”

            Zoe thought for a second.  “One point for you, but really, you can get up now.”

            Katie did and spoke frankly.  “I am worried about Boston.”

            “Boston is fine,” Zoe said, but before she could add, thanks to Alexis, Lockhart ran up from one direction and Lincoln from the other.  Star and the Sybil also approached, but much more carefully.  The Sybil especially was in tears.

            “Quickly.”  Zoe spoke quietly to the travelers before the others arrived.  “I have taken away the genii’s ability to sap the will.  He will not be able to put you under again, but he lives and I have no doubt he will follow you into the future.  Let us hope he has learned his lesson.”

            “The Djin is from the future?”  Lockhart asked.  Zoe nodded as Lincoln spoke.

            “Odelion.”  They all remembered the encounter with a Djin in Odelion’s day, but they all thought it was local.  They would have thought the same this time if Zoe had not said otherwise.

            “Now, I must go and speak to the leaders in the other camps.  Men have died, and if they try anything so stupid again, more men will die.  They must trust Beltain and be grateful for what she shares.  That is all.”

            Star came up, mouth open but without words.  Zoe acknowledged her.  “Hunter.”  Star fell to both knees and trembled, and more so when Zoe laid her hand gently on the girl’s head.  “My best friend Artemis is not native to this jurisdiction, though I do convince her one day to take part ownership in a temple in Ephesus.  Still, the little sparks of her spirit do tend to get around.”  Zoe spoke tenderly and let out a precious bit of laughter before she took back her hand.

            “Sybil.”  Zoe acknowledged the woman who fell all the way to her face before her goddess, the Queen of all her goddesses.  Zoe’s tone was not quite so tender.  Rather, it was stern but not unkind.  “Always speak the truth or say nothing at all,” she said, before she added, “Later,” and vanished. 

            “Boston?”  Lockhart asked.

            “She is fine.  Alexis is with her,” Katie said and paused for all of a second before she shouted, “Alexis!”  Lincoln’s shout was one second behind, but he ran faster.  Two women were there, helping Boston to sit up.  Boston immediately put her hand to her head like she had a whopper of a headache.  Lincoln noticed, but he could not hold back the shout.

            “Where is Alexis?”

            The women were shocked, but looked up at Katie and one answered.  “A man came for her.  He brought two beasts, and the two of them got up on the backs of the beasts and went off in that direction.”  She pointed.  Lockhart and Katie noticed.  Lincoln just went into a string of invectives which, fortunately for the locals, was mostly in English.

            It was not long after that when the Sybil guided them back to Beltain’s tent.  Star was particularly anxious to see if the priestess was alright.  They found Beltain at the tent door and were a bit surprised by her first words.  “Did you bring Gorman with you?”

            Lockhart shook his head.  “He is still with the men on the perimeter.  But I don’t think he has stopped smiling yet, if that is any consolation.”

            Beltain got a look on her face, but refrained from swearing by simply saying, “What Lincoln said.”  She heard all the swearing.  In fact, Roland later insisted he heard it all the way up on the hill behind Elder Stow’s screens.  “So how many did we lose?”  No one answered her, because the Sybil shrieked and threw her hands over her eyes.  There was a flash of light and a man appeared facing Beltain.

            “I need Doctor Mishka,” the man said.  “It is urgent.”

            “Ask much?”  Beltain responded.

            “The babies are due.  She is in labor, but something is wrong  They are joined together, here.”  Enlil put his hand to the top of his head.

            “Enlil, these are my friends.”  Beltain would have to think for a minute.  This was not good.

            “Hello.”  Enlil barely turned his head before he made his demand.  “The doctor?”

            Beltain looked around.  “Star, tell Gorman to wait for me.  I wasn’t finished.”  Star nodded.  “Anath, be sure these people get whatever food and supplies they require.  I will be back.”  The Sybil nodded as well, though she never uncovered her eyes.  Beltain took Enlil’s hand and said one more thing.  “Doctor when we get there.  Here and now you get me.”

            With that Enlil actually took a moment to look around.  He spoke to Lockhart.  “Not much of a war.”

            “War!”  Beltain tried not to spit.  “I should invent football.  Boys are stupid.”  The word “stupid” floated on the wind as Enlil and Beltain vanished

            Lincoln looked up.  “What did she mean boys are stupid?  We are not stupid, are we?”

            Katie, Boston, Star and the Sybil answered in unison.  “Yes.”

###

            In ancient days there were a few places on the earth where the human race met with … “visitors,” like the place of the Lion where the Shemsu people built those three great pyramids in Egypt.  In the new world, that common ground was the jungle that covered the Yucatan, Guatemala and southern Mexico.  One alien landing can keep the Kairos busy trying to limit alien contact and influence on human development and history.  But when the travelers arrive in the next time zone, they find four species, and they are picking sides and talking war.  For the late Neolithic humans caught in the middle, contact will be explosive; a struggle just to survive.

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Avalon 2.8:  Encounters … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Changes

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Since leaving the deepest past, the travelers have picked up any number of creatures – creatures that are hunting them, following them through the time gates from time zone to time zone.  The power of the Djin has attracted them and the travelers have to fight for their lives.  They no sooner drive one off and another comes.

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            “Boston?”  Alexis called up to her.  She was concerned.  She knew like no other what magic could take out of a person.

            But Boston stood again and climbed slowly back on to her chair.  “Just like an all-nighter at school,” she shouted.  “I could use an energy drink.”  She raise her arms and began to glow once again, just like she did before she sent the great wind.  Then she shouted, “Ameratsu, give me your light and strength.”  Down below, Katie tried to be more practical about it all.  She prayed for Zoe to send help.  Two hundred men presently faced Lockhart’s one hundred, and a hundred and fifty skirted Lockhart’s position and were presently headed for Katie and her warrior women.

###

            Oktapi and a dozen gnomes came in from the west, driving a small herd as agreed.  The animals were mostly lame, halt and broken in some way, but that would hardly matter when the creatures of mud and blood cut them up for food.

            Beltain waited patiently.  She folded and unfolded her hands in front of her belly and tapped her foot, but that was about as patiently as she could wait.

            “Lady.”  Oktapi stepped forward and bowed as soon as he arrived.  “The animals agreed.”

            “I thank you, Oktapi, on behalf of all your people.  You have been a great help to us all as we cross this land and do not settle here.  I know it is your wish that we be gone from your territory, and that is our wish as well.  But tonight I have a special request.”  Oktapi looked at Beltain with a twisted eye.  This was not the goddess he knew and loved.  Okay, he admitted it to himself.

            “You may certainly ask,” he said.

            “I know I can only ask, and here it is.  Some geis has fallen on the other camps to make them believe we have not shared fairly from the herd.  Even now they are attacking us.  I have every hope that come daylight, we may be able to work out our differences, but for now we are in grave danger.  My request is to ask if you and your people may help us defend ourselves on this one night.  I would be very grateful.”  Beltain quieted for an answer, and that was when the Djin descended on them. 

            The Genii had seen this troop of gnomes travel through the boundary set up by the old one.  He watched the elder elf, aided by his son and that other gnome, lay hands on each of these little spirits in turn.  He expected to find a resistance to his power, but imagined he was too clever for them.  He found the spell of resistance and easily vanquished it.  Then he swallowed the will power of the little gnomes almost as easily and he swallowed the human will power.  The gnomes were completely his, but then he was distracted by a great light in the battle and just had to see what these clever people from the future were up to.

            Oktapi finally answered Beltain’s question.  “Not a chance.  We would like nothing more than to see you destroy yourselves in blood and go back to the mud from whence you came.”  He laughed, and several of the other gnomes laughed with him.  All the same, the gnomes spread out to circle around Beltain.  They began to dance around her and quietly chant.  There was a compulsion laid inside of them all, much deeper than the surface resistance found by the Djin.  They belonged completely to the Djin and would do whatever his will required, after they finished doing what they were compelled to do.

            Beltain watched them dance and chant.  They had her surrounded.  She fell to her knees in their midst and became afraid.

###

            When Boston was fully cooked, she leaned forward, suddenly, which almost made her lose her balance.  She was indeed glowing like the sun at that point.  People could not look at her directly.  And all that energy projected from her in a single beam of sunlight.

            Lincoln was backing up from the snarling wolf and telling others to stay behind him.  He had a copper sword in his hand, not that it would have much effect on the drooling beast.  The wolf looked hungry when the light fell on it.  The wolf howled.  It was trapped in the light.  And Lincoln watched as the snout became a human mouth and the claws became hands, and very quickly a filthy, naked man collapsed to the ground.

            “Rope, quick!”  He rushed forward into the light and pinned the man to the ground while others came up with rope.  They tied up the man, hands behind, legs together, and Lincoln determined he wanted a rope mummy.  The light went out all at once, but Lincoln knew they had to have the man completely incapacitated before it turned back into the wolf.

            Boston fell.  The chair slipped off the table which was on top of the upside-down wagon.  She fell, and would have landed hard on the ground, but Katie was right there to catch her as easily as a mother might catch a small child.  Katie could not stay, however, because the attackers were getting close.  She put an unconscious Boston in Alexis’ arms to work whatever healing magic Alexis could work, picked up her spear and rejoined her Amazons.

            “Archers ready!”  She shouted even as Lockhart was shouting the same thing out on the perimeter of the camp.  “Aim.”  She yelled and raised her hand with the spear grasped tightly even as a lightning bolt struck the earth between the two opposing groups.

            A figure appeared between the combatants, some of whom were looking up because the sky became suddenly cloudless and the full moon made everything visible.  The figure was a woman.  Katie recognized her at once.  It was Zoe, but the goddess, not just Zoe the human Queen she knew.  This was Zoe transformed, the Queen of the Amazon Pantheon of goddesses, and she looked pissed.

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Avalon 2.7:  Death and Life … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: The Trenches

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Looks like war in the camps.  The Djin seems to have taken over the mind and will of the people to play a dangerous and deadly game.  The travelers in the camp have no will to resist, and the ones on the hill who are still in their right minds appear equally helpless.

###

            Boston and the women built a tower on which she could stand.  They made it out of upside-down wagons, a table and a chair.  It slanted a little, but it was not entirely unstable.  Boston felt safe enough to stand up on the chair, and there she watched all around as the sunlight faded into evening darkness, Alexis paced, and the old woman told stories to the gathered children.  Better than television, Boston thought, and then she wondered what television was.

            Even as the last wisps of purple left the sky, Katie came up to check their handiwork.  “We may need some light.”  She shouted up to Boston, though Boston was not that high up.

            “I was thinking that, but I see Lockhart has set some signal fires a little way into the wilderness and pulled his men well within the perimeter.  Lincoln is still setting his.  I would guess Lockhart told him what he was doing and Lincoln is copying the idea.

            “And a good idea it is,” Katie responded.  “I assume you can’t blaze like the sun for very long.”

            Boston was not sure she could blaze like the sun at all, but she said nothing.

###

            Lincoln saw them coming.  He moved all of his hunters with their bows to the front, first.  He briefly wished he had his rifle before he wondered what a rifle was.  That was okay,  they had to wait for the enemy to get close enough.

            “Ready?”  Lincoln moved down his line of archers.  “Remember, just shoot in a straight line.  They are bunched up and you will hit something.  Don’t try to pick a target at this range in the dark.  I don’t want twenty arrows in one person and none in the rest.  Aim.”  Lincoln raised his hand and paused to let the enemy inch closer before he dropped his hand and shouted, “Fire!”

            The volley was withering.  A number of men were struck with arrows and the attacking group quickly gathered their wounded and retreated. 

            Lockhart, a good man in charge of protecting the south ran into the same kind of situation – the enemy attempting to sneak up in the dark.  He dealt with it in a similar way, but this enemy raged after the first volley and attacked.  It took two more volleys to finally drive them off, and certainly some of those men that were down were dead.

            With Lockhart distracted by the attack, a third group took advantage and tried to move on them from the Southeast.  Fortunately, Boston saw from her perch and did not hesitate.  She raised her arms and groaned and shouted.  Katie, who was gifted, Alexis, who had magic of her own, and no doubt the Sybil who looked up, saw the golden power of Boston’s magic rise up into the air like a flare.  At once, Boston threw her hands forward, pointed straight at the sneaky enemy.  The Golden sparkles rushed out over the camp to that place, and the wind followed.  It was a concentrated wind blast of hurricane strength.  It picked up most of the enemy and blew them back in the direction from which they had come.  A few escaped by falling flat to the ground, but then Lockhart was alerted and men came running, so as soon as Boston’s initial blast gave out, the men on their faces jumped up and hastily retreated.

            Everyone paused to catch their breath, and in that brief silence they heard a howl.  It was one with which the travelers were familiar even if the people were not.  The bokarus in ghost form came rushing over the perimeter of the camp and brought Boston’s wind back with it.  People were knocked in every direction.  Tents were torn up by the roots.  Wagons were shaken.  A couple fell apart while several others wheeled off in whatever random direction they were pointed.

            Lockhart and Lincoln held their lines together, as did Katie at the center.  Otherwise, some might have run wild in panic.  “Alexis.  Boston.”  Katie shouted.  This creature, in ghost form, was something which she, for all her gifts could not touch.  The frustration of that ate at her.

            Alexis stomped over to the women and grabbed Star’s bow and one arrow.  She groused, “I am a healer, not a wounder.”  Her magic was much whiter than Boston’s yellow, slightly orange magic and she covered the bow and arrow with a white glow before she handed it back to the hunter.  “Star, shoot it at the bokarus when it flies overhead.  You don’t have to hit it, exactly, but the closer the better.”

            Star waited at the ready, and let the arrow fly with some lead time as a good hunter should.  Alexis had her hands together and her eyes shut tight.  The arrow missed and they thought it was laughter that came from the bokarus; but then Alexis opened her hands and opened her eyes, and the arrow exploded like a bomb on the Fourth of July. 

            The bokarus shrieked.  It felt that.  The women cheered, but then it looked like the arrow just made the bokarus mad.  It headed for the children, and Alexis was afraid some of them were young enough for the bokarus to suck out their life force without having to kill them first.  She looked up at Boston.  So did Katie, Star and the others.  Boston appeared to be staring at her finger.  She did not have a wand.  No one ever told her she needed one.  Her finger would have to do, and when she heard the children scream, she pointed that finger.

            Boston was thinking of Lockhart’s “heat ray” comments.  She did not know what a heat ray was, but she imagined herself as her Amazon name, “Little fire.”  She knew that fire consisted of light and heat, and she felt there was no reason they had to go together.  When the children screamed, a dull red beam of light came from Boston’s finger.  If she had been herself, she might have likened it to a laser beam.  It struck the bokarus in the back and this time the cry of the bokarus sounded painful.  It pulled up from the children, but Boston’s finger followed it.  It began to fly in wild directions, but still she followed.  Her finger fire set a tent aflame as she tracked the bokarus near the ground, but she caught it and stayed with it as often as not.  Finally the bokarus had enough and it streaked out across the camps and vanished in the dark in the distance, Boston hoped never to return.  It had better not.  She was used up.

            Boston sat on the chair to catch her breath.  She did not hear the cheers from the women, but she did hear the Sybil when she ran up as fast as she could.  “Lincoln,” she yelled.  “He is facing the wolfman!”

###

Avalon 2.7:  Changes … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Mindless

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Beltain.  There is an image the travelers don’t want to repeat.  She is rough and bawdy, but still the Kairos on the inside.  She is quick to point out that Katie (the elect) and Boston (the Spell Caster) are not the ones the women are looking for to complete their Amazon council, but then I would guess the great and terrible power lurking on the horizon decided not to lurk anymore.

###

            “What happened?”  Boston shouted her question though the whining sound had subsided.

            The Sybil spoke.  “The other camps are in rebellion.  They think we are saving the best of the meat for ourselves and not being fair in the sharing.  They plan to attack us after the sunset delivery.”

            “Oktapi must be warned,” Katie said as she picked up a nearby spear.  All of the weapons from the future had vanished, and the travelers never noticed.  What is more, their fairy weave clothing was shaped to match the local clothing, and the travelers thought nothing odd about that, either.

            “Oktapi and his people can take care of themselves, but I will tell him when I meet him.  We cannot count on his help or the help of his people.  He would just as soon we all die, but I will ask all the same.”  Beltain tipped her head to Katie.  “Majesty,” she said.

            “Thank you Priestess,” Katie responded before she went into queen mode.  “Lockhart and Lincoln, gather the men, young and old.  Lockhart take the south.  Lincoln take the north.  You must defend the perimeter for as long as you can, but if they break through, fall back to our line.  Star, gather the women.  With our smaller numbers we will hold the reserve post.”

            “The women are not going to like that,” Star admitted.  She already had her bow off her shoulder and an arrow in her hand.

            “The decision has been made,” Katie said in a voice which also said she did not care if the women liked it or not.  “Our place is to defend the children and the fut… fut…”

            “Future.”  Old woman Hannah said it because Katie seemed to have trouble with the word.

            “Hannah.”  Katie turned to the woman.  “Gather the rest of the women in the center with the children.  Your words and stories will have to be strong tonight to keep the children calm and safe.”

            “What about me?”  Boston stepped up.

            “I want you in the center, but not with the children.  It would be best if you could get up high enough to see the edges of the camp.  I do not yet know where your power may be needed, but if you start in the west and we need you in the east it may be too late by the time you get there.”

            “I will find a way,” Boston said.  “But what of the healer?”  

            “Here I am!”  A woman shouted and ran up to them.

            “Alexis, you need to stay near Boston at the center.  If there are wounded, we will bring them to you.  If there are many, we will probably retreat to you in the center.”

            “Pray to the gods there are no wounded,” Alexis said with a glance at Beltain.

            “Amen,” Beltain said, though the word caused the others to start.  It sounded odd.

            “Move it!”  Katie knew they would have to worry about that later.  The sun was already touching the horizon.

###

            Roland looked up when they sky over the camps clouded over.  His good elf ears barely discerned the shrill sound through Elder Stow’s screen.  He was surprised when Gnumma came to stand beside him and the carcass of the beast to look out over the darkening camps.

            “The Djinn.” Gnumma named the cloud.  “But what game is he playing?”

            Roland could only shrug and worry about Boston and his friends.  The greatness of the Genii prevented him from knowing anything for certain and the power was almost unimaginable.  “This one is as close to being one of the gods as a greater spirit can get.”

            “We will find out soon enough,” Gnumma said and walked away again so Roland could finish his grisly work.

            Roland got a steak sizzling on the stone Elder Stow heated with his sonic device.  He was not much of a meat eater and neither was the Gott-Druk.  He imagined the gnome was a strict vegetarian, but they had to eat something and the Elder was also not a big fan of elf crackers.

            “I guess the Djin has no interest in us,” Roland said at last to make conversation.  The gnome was altogether too quiet and Elder Stow seemed glued to looking at his screen device.

            “An elf, a gnome and an old one?  What would he want with us?”

            “Hey!  I’m not that old.”  Elder Stow objected but never looked up.

            “Okay,” Roland surrendered.  “What is so fascinating about your screening device.”

            “Eh?”  The Gott-Druk looked up briefly before he looked again at the box.  “Something came through the screen some time ago.  I have been tracking it.”

            “What?  Where?”  Roland stood and Gnumma sat up straight and looked around.

            “Right here.”  They heard the voice before they saw Mingus walk into the light.

            “Father?” 

            Mingus came to sit and spoke right up.  “I would not say the djin is disinterested in us, exactly.  He covered all the camps but just did not bother to stretch it out this far.  I was almost taken.  Only my mind magic allowed me to hold out until I was out from under.”

            “Alexis?”  Roland asked right away.

            “Completely taken.  She thinks she is an Amazon healer, of all things.”

            “Katie Harper is an elect,” Roland said to catch his father up with more recent events.  “And Boston has shown some magical ability.”

            “Really?  Katie doesn’t surprise me.  I thought there was something about her.  But who would have thought that frivolous little red-head would ever amount to anything.”

            “Father!  Boston is the most brilliant, beautiful and capable person I know.”  Roland was miffed.  Mingus rubbed his chin.

            “So it has gone that far already,” he said.

            “Elder Stow,” The Gott-Druk introduced himself again and nodded his head.  “Yes it has, and I say that as a disinterested outsider.”  The elder stared at Mingus because of what happened the last time they met, but he said nothing so Mingus said nothing.

            Gnumma was obviously not following much of the conversation, primarily because his mind seemed focused elsewhere.  “I wonder what is happening in the camps,” he interjected.

            Every head turned though they could hardly see through the encroaching dark.  Mingus picked up the tale.

            “Well, as I understand it they have a huntress, a wise woman and a Sybil already.  It was the Sybil that found us and saw right through my glamours.  Now with an elect to be their queen, a woman of magic and poor Alexis as their healer, they have the foundation for a real Amazon tribe.”  It was hard to tell, but Mingus appeared to not think much of Amazon tribes.

            “All they need is a priestess,” Roland said.

            “Beltain.”  Mingus and Gnumma both spoke at once.

            “The Kairos?  How can the Kairos be taken in by the spell?”

            Mingus got fatherly.  “Son, the Kairos in this life is simply a human being like any other.  As such, she is subject to the full limitations of the breed.”

            “She is mere mud and blood.”  Gnumma gently stroked his beard. 

            “Then we need to save her.”  Roland got excited again.

            “I have already discussed this with Oktapi.  Yours is mind magic?”

            Mingus nodded slowly.  “I have some skill, but nothing to counter the power of the Djin.”

            “But with my help and your son.  Let me tell you what I was thinking which I did not share with Oktapi.”

###

Avalon 2.7:  The Trenches … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Mind Your Matters

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            It looks like the travelers are going to be allowed to see Beltain.  There is a Sybil, a seer in the camp who has said as much.  But then she also talked about a terrible power looming on the horizon.

###

            Lockhart stepped up to Katie and the Sybil.  “I think you better take us to Beltain.”

            The Sybil looked up in surprise and immediately looked again at Katie.

            “He’s the boss,” Katie said, and the Sybil looked very confused for a minute before she seemed to understand something.

            “Of course.”  She spoke as Katie and Boston helped her back to her feet.  “I must remember you come from a very strange world.  This way.”  She started to waddle off.  “But I advise against seeing Beltain right away.  She is very busy right now.”

            When they arrived outside Beltain’s tent, they were met by two women, one maybe eighteen and one that looked closer to eighty.  The eighteen-year-old jumped in front.  “Hi,” she said.  “My name is Asterasine, but everyone calls me Star.”  She shook Boston’s hand and repeated the same phrase for Lockhart as she shook his hand.  Lockhart laughed and looked at Boston. 

            Lincoln at least said, “Nice to meet you.”

            When Star got to Katie, she was smiling and already had her hand out to shake, but the girl stopped still, and after a moment went down on one knee, lowered her head and eyes and said, “Majesty.”

            The Sybil took over.  “Hannah is our wise woman.”  She pointed to the old lady.  “Asterasine is our hunter.  I am as you have named me, the Sybil.  Beltain is our priestess.  All we lacked was a woman of magic, a healer and our Queen to make the Amazon pantheon complete.  And now you have come.”

            “Oh, no –“ Katie started to speak, but Lincoln interrupted.

            “Beltain is the priestess?”

            “What priestess has ever had a greater claim than one who is herself counted among the gods.  Beltain is a holy vessel –“

            This time Lockhart interrupted.  He pushed passed the women and into the tent.  The others followed and everyone froze.  Beltain was naked and giggling.  A naked man was on top of her and moaning.  And the two appeared to be having a wonderful time.  Everyone turned around, but not before the picture was indelibly etched into their minds.

            They heard Beltain speak.  “Damn it. Grogan get off.  We have company.”  There was the sound of shuffling and cloth being tossed here and there before Beltain spoke again.  “Okay.”  They turned again to face her.  “Sorry ladies, you especially Boston.  Lincoln, close your mouth.  Lockhart, how the Hell are you?”

            “Holy vessel?”  Lincoln whispered.

            “I see you have met Star, Hannah and Anath-Isis.”

            “The Sybil?”  Boston asked.

            Beltain nodded while she tugged on her dress.  She was a short, plump woman, not fat like the Sybil but leaning in that direction.  She had long, light brown hair with a few streaks of gray which she took a moment to put up while she eyed them all through very ordinary brown eyes.  In every way she appeared unremarkable, so much so that Lockhart was prompted to ask.

            “How is it you managed to be the one to lead all these thousands on this migration?  I assume this is a migration.”

            “Right,” Beltain said once her hair was in place.  “The Sahara, Arabia, and even Caana are suffering through a dry spell, like for the last thousand years.”  Beltain rolled her eyes.  “The last ten years have been especially bad in Caana.  Blame man-made global warming.”  Beltain smiled, and it was an inviting smile.  “You know, Anenki built some nice permanent settlements around the Tigris and Euphrates in the east.  Then Cophu finally showed up with his Shemsu people.  They turned those settlements into cities, massive stone walls and everything.  Now we, and hundreds of other migrations are going to fill the places up.  My own people call it the land of green and plenty, but most call it Sumer.”

            “Sumer?”  Katie had to ask.

            “The Ubaidian way of saying Shemsu.  Some of the originals still call the land Ubaidai, but even most of them now call it Sumeria.”

            “Wow!”  Lincoln mouthed the word before Katie could.

            “But you –“ Lockhart started to bring them back to his question, but Beltain waved at him to quiet him.

            “So there are cities in Caana, like from Byblos to Sodom.  You have been to the biggest, Jericho.  But they are in no better shape than the countryside.  It was Astarte that first contacted me.  The gods want the migration.  Enlil and Enki want to see the cities in the east fill up.  They are anxious to see real wars start.  I told them that was stupid, but you know how boys can be.”

            “Enki with his glasses.  He did not seem like the warrior type,” Boston said.

            “Yeah, well, I made him the glasses to see but I have no control over what he sees,” Beltain threw her hands to the side like she was washing her hands of the whole thing.  “So anyway, we are not the only groups migrating.  Some went ahead of us.  Many more will follow us over the next hundred years or so.”

            “But you in charge?”  Lockhart would not let go.

            “Easy,” Beltain responded.  “We travel a day and stop for three or four before we travel another day.  When we stop, my little ones bring what they cull from the herds which we then divide between all the groups.  You know, people will follow anyone who feeds them.”

            Lockhart nodded, but Lincoln thought to say something to the man who was standing by, silent.  “Grogan, is it?  Sorry to interrupt you and your wife.”

            Grogan smiled, but Beltain laughed out loud.  “Grogan is not my husband.  I mean, my husband is probably around here somewhere screwing some young tart.  We don’t have that kind of a marriage.” 

            “Oh.”

            “Grogan was third in line.”

            “Oh!”

            “Forget it,” Beltain said with a final grin at Grogan.  “Oktapi should be here soon.  I suppose we should go out to greet him.”

            As they stepped outside, the Sybil nudged Lincoln.  “What priestess has more direct access to such things as Beltain.”

            “I suppose,” Beltain heard and responded.  “But there is nothing more natural in this time and culture than having a priest and priestess in the ruling position.”

            “How about an Amazon Queen?”  Katie whispered to Beltain as they went outside.

            “Oh yes, sorry.”  She turned just outside the door of her tent and spoke to everyone.  “Listen up.  Katie is an elect, and Boston, I suppose, is a woman of magic, but Zoe says they are on special assignment.  Hannah, Star and Anath, they are not the ones you are looking for.  Just wanted to be clear about that.  Beltain turned again and whispered to Katie.  “And I can hardly be my own priestess.”

            “Exactly,” Katie responded in the same soft tones.  “You are Zoe, or at least you were.”

            “Exactly,” Beltain echoed.  “Right now I am not Zoe, I am Beltain, and while I would not mind loving Artemis, Vrya, Astarte and the others, being Zoe’s high priestess would be too weird even for me.  What is that noise?”

            Beltain asked the last because there was a shrill sound in the air that was growing louder by the second.  It sounded at first like the screech of the bokarus, but this was much, much bigger.  People covered their ears, and still the sound grew until no one could think straight.

###

Avalon 2.7:  Mindless … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: The Way of the Migrants

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Precautions are good, but to be sure, as wary as the gnomes are of these strange horse riding travelers, so the travelers are of the many tribal campsites scattered across the grassland.  They want to find the Kairos, but are careful to enter that mass of humanity armed, just in case.

###

            The first camp the travelers came to had an old man waiting for them.  They had been seen, though they did nothing to hide.  As they marched down the hill, they took a good look around at what they could see of the camp and were surprised and not surprised.  The camp was full of people in many family groups to be sure, but also full of animals.  There were oxen with the wagons which looked full of grain, sheep and plenty of goats running around in small groups, birds in wooden cages that might one day be called pigeons and chickens and a few strange looking cows in the midst of the domesticated donkeys.  There were also children everywhere which were also running around in small groups.  It looked like sheer chaos, but the travelers imagined there was some sense to it.

            “I can see the way they came,” Katie said and pointed to the distance before they got too far down the hill.  There was a wide swath of the grassland that had been crushed and torn and eaten by the animals all along the way.

            “Hamites,” Lincoln pointed in another direction to where a different camp appeared to be filled with black Africans.

            Katie whipped her head around to look and Lockhart could not resist a comment.  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

            “My doctorate was in ancient cultures and technologies.  Walking into one of these early, massive migrations is a bit like walking into a candy shop.”

            “Just don’t let it distract you,” Boston said.  She had on her determined face.

            “Ah, the other Doctor heard from,” Lincoln mumbled.

            Boston let her frown come to her face.  “My doctorate in engineering, specifically electrical engineering is not going to be much help here.  When we get back, I might want a better look at Elder Stow’s screen maker, but for now I am focusing on my redneck.”

            “Massachusetts redneck.”  Lockhart pointed out.

            “Hey, we have rednecks in Massachusetts too, and rodeos.”

            “You know the last words of the redneck just before he committed accidental suicide?”  Lockhart asked.

            “What?”  Boston looked at the man, her frown still showed.

            “Hey!  Watch this!”

            Katie and Lincoln found it funny, but then they arrived where the old man was waiting, leaning heavily on his staff.  Several younger men also began to gather from the other side, and they carried spears and at least one had a copper knife.

            “Arameans?”  Lockhart said the word like a question.

            The old man turned his head so they could not see his face, but the young men behind saw.  He turned back and began to point toward various other camps as he spoke.  “Jakonites, Amorites, Sabateans,”  He was listing the nearby camps like he was thinking about it and maybe not sure where the Arameans were, or even if they existed.

            “Beltain.”  Katie cut him off.

            The old man looked at her before he lowered his eyes and waved his hand behind him.  The young men that gathered began to go back to whatever they had been doing, and the old man lifted his eyes and pointed near and then pointed further as if to suggest the Aramean camp was two camps away. 

            “Beltain sleeps in the distance and watches over us all.”  The old man said and turned and walked away.  The travelers walked around the outskirts of the camp to avoid any incidents.  They skirted the next camp over as well, though there were plenty of armed young men who watched them.  When they arrived at what they hoped was Beltain’s people, they stepped just inside the camp perimeter where Lockhart made them stop and wait.

            A young man as big as Lockhart came rushing up, with several other young men who hustled up behind.  Older men, women and children also appeared to stop what they were doing to watch.

            “Beltain?”  Lockhart tried again.

            “You have not been called to see her,” the young man growled.  The threat in his voice was clear.  “This is not your place.  Go back to your own kind.”

            “We need to see Beltain,” Lockhart was not put off.  “We are old friends and only wish to say hello.”

            “No one calls the lady.  She calls you as she pleases.”

            An older man stepped up next to the big man and spoke.  “The game is not plentiful in this area, but you will get your fair share with the rest.”

            “Now, go.”  The big man spoke again.  “Or I will be forced to make you go.”

            “Boston.”  Katie moved quickly.  She handed Boston her rifle and tied down the pistol at her side.  She stepped forward, but Lockhart grabbed her arm to stop her.  Katie spoke in English so the locals would not understand.  “Look, if he beats me it is no shame since he only beat a woman.  But if I beat him, we may get to see Beltain without anyone getting killed.”

            “I can live with that,” Boston said and stepped in front of Lockhart so he could not interfere.

            “Besides,” Katie finished her thought as she extracted her arm.  “Being one of the elect has to count for something.”  She turned to the big man who was watching the exchange with a dumb expression worthy of an ogre.  Katie returned to speaking the local tongue.  “So make me leave,” she said.  “If you can, we will all leave in peace.  If you cannot, you will take us to Beltain.”  She put her hands to her hips and waited. 

            The man thought for a moment before he jumped, his fist hooked through the air in what he imagined was a sucker punch.  Katie easily leaned back, caught the man’s arm and shoved, and added only her left foot to the man’s rump at the last.  The man flew several feet and landed on his face.  The young men started to shout, but it was like teenagers shouting “Fight!  Fight!”  They made no move to interfere.

            The big man got up, roared and rushed at Katie with both hands outstretched.  Katie started to roll to her back. The big man’s arms went over her head as she grabbed the man’s tunic.  She threw her foot into the man’s crotch, and when she reached her back she threw the man over her head.  Again, he flew several feet,, but this time he landed with a thump and a cloud of dust on his back.  He did not get up as quickly this time.

            When he did, he saw Katie standing again, unfazed, with her hands again on her hips, waiting.  The man was wary.  He moved just out of reach to her side so she had to turn to continue to face him.  When the man made nearly a complete circle, he stepped in and jabbed with his left hand while his right came from below in an uppercut.

            Katie avoided the jab and caught the man’s uppercut in her hand.  That completely stopped the man in mid punch, and since he was not pulling his punches, he had to have strained his muscles badly.  But clearly she was the stronger, and as she squeezed the man’s hand he moaned and went to his knees.  She easily punched him on the jaw with her free hand as she let go of his hand and he fell to the dirt too dizzy to get up again. 

            That was when a fat, middle-aged woman came barreling in, yelling at everyone to get back.   The people all complied and the travelers wondered if this could be Beltain.  That illusion was dispelled when the woman went to her knees in front of Katie.

            “Elect,” the woman said.

            Katie hesitated and put her hand out to the woman as if sensing something.  “Sybil,” she said at last.  “Please stand up.  I am no Amazon Queen.”

            “But you are,” the Sybil insisted.  “Though you have no tribe except the child of magic, you are.  Zoe herself has spoken.”  The woman drew in her breath.  “You have seen Zoe.  You have been with her.”  The woman began to cry, but the travelers knew they were tears of surprise, amazement and joy at the sight of Katie and Zoe together.

            “But why were you so late in coming?”  Boston stepped up.

            “It is the terrible power that is coming to fall upon us all.  It has been that I can hardly see anything else.”

###

Avalon 2.7:  Mind Your Matters … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: Horses first

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

            Gnomes in ancient times were not the garden variety.  They tended the vast herds of many breeds that roamed the ancient grasslands, worldwide.  And they would have set the traveler’s horses free if they were not gifts of the Kairos.  So maybe they will watch the travelers and see exactly what kinds of friends of the Kairos they really are.

###

            By the time the travelers arrived, the thousands of people migrating east were settling down for the night in a number of clearly separated camps.  “Different tribal groups,” Katie suggested.  Lockhart simply nodded and thought it was wise to keep their camp separate as well.  They backed up a hill about a quarter mile to pitch their tents.

            “Especially for the sake of the horses,” he said.  “Some of these people might see the horse flesh as an easy supper.”

            “I was thinking the same,” Elder Stow spoke up.  “But I may have a solution.”  He handed everyone a small disc taken from a little pack on his belt.  He gave Lockhart and Katie three extra discs with the word, “For the Kairos and whomever she might want to bring.”  Then he set the main device from that little pouch in the center of the camp and turned it on.  It showed by a little red light that it was activated.  “A simple screen will isolate this area.  The horses will not be able to wander off and no person without a disc will be able to enter in.”

            “Like a dome of force?”  Boston asked.  “How big?”

            “A sphere,” Elder Stow said.  “On some planets things come from below.  But above the surface, for practical purposes, it will be like a dome.  I have set it to short of a quarter mile, and that will give the horses plenty of grazing room without endangering them.”

            “Electric fence.”  Lincoln nodded.  “Like for dogs.”

            “But two-way,” Boston said.  “Also keeping things out.”

            “What of our supper?”  Roland asked, and Elder Stow gave a second disc to Roland.

            “To tag the meat if necessary.  Plants and dead animals will not be a problem, and to be honest, I don’t know how the screen will affect your kind.  You, and those like the gnomes may be able to pass in and out without trouble.”

            Roland spoke honestly enough.  “In this life and in this world we have physical form just like humans.  Magic might make a temporary hole in your screen easily enough but it would require magic.  The disc simplifies things.”

            “The magic works easily enough.”  They all heard the voice and looked every way for the speaker.  “Even the little witch might manage it.”  A gnome appeared in their midst and introduced himself.  “Oktapi has decided to keep an eye on you for a time to better judge your intentions and see to your horses.  My name is Gnumma.”  Gnumma sat on the grass, and might have disappeared altogether if his wheat colored hair and beard did not have some gray in it.  “I have dealt with creatures of mud and blood before, so I was chosen to watch.  I felt your concern to keep the horses safe and that encouraged me to show myself.  Also, I brought this lame one to sustain you.”  He looked at Roland.  “No need to hunt,” he said.  “You will forgive me if I do not watch you butcher it.”

            “Mud and blood?”  Boston asked.

            “We are dust, and to dust we will return,” Lincoln answered.  “And the life is in the blood.”

            Boston looked at Roland, but he shook his head.  “Even we who are the littlest spirits of the earth are spiritual creatures.  The bodies we wear, though completely real, are more like clothing than an essential part of our nature.”

            “And can you change your clothing?”  Boston wondered.

            “No.  Yes.  Maybe.  It is very hard to do and a glamour is easy and works as well.  Some lesser spirits and certainly the greater spirits can change their form easily enough.  Of course, the gods can appear any way they choose, but all of them tend to find an agreeable form and settle in.”

            “They all have a natural form given at their making and that is the form to which they return time and again.”  Gnumma nodded.

            Lockhart also nodded and determined this gnome posed no threat.  “Horses first,” he said, and the group got busy setting the horses free to graze while the sun was still up.  The tents went up after that, and the fire got built, such as they could.  There was not much wood.  There was no wooded areas in sight and even the bushes, though some were big and thick, were not numerous.  Fortunately, there were acceptable rocks around and Elder Stow was able to use his sonic device to heat a big one to cooking temperature.

            “Forgive me,” Roland apologized to the gnome who nodded his forgiveness before Roland went to kill and cut up the poor donkey with the broken leg.

            Gnumma looked up at Lockhart who was cradling his shotgun.  “I have had dealings with your kind before, and once it was agreeable.  After all, as I told my chief, our goddess in this life is a mortal female.”

            “And it is time for us to find her,” Lockhart told the gnome.  “Roland, you and Elder Stow need to stay here and fix supper.  Stow, I will see if there are any fruits and vegetables among the migrants.”

            Elder Stow gave Lockhart a funny look, like he was continually surprised by these humans.  “Thank you,” he said.

            Katie and Lincoln walked up with their rifles ready.  Boston shouted.  “Wait a minute!”  She jumped up, took a brief look at Roland, eyed the Gott-Druk and the gnome and came to a decision.  “I’m coming.”  She ran to fetch her belt which she put together in the last time zone where there was a war going on.  She had her Beretta on one hip and her big hunting knife on her other hip.  She made her fairy weave running shoes into something more like Katie’s army boots.  She left her shorts alone since it was so hot and Katie was still in shorts, but she made her T-top a bit larger so as not to show her shape quite so well.  When she ran back out of the tent, she found the others patiently waiting, but they turned when they saw her and started toward the nearest camp.

            Lincoln had the database out when they came to a place where they could look down on the camps.  “Aramean,” he said to identify Beltain’s tribe.  Then he put the database away to get a good grip on his rifle, just in case.

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Avalon 2.7:  The Way of the Migrants … Next Time

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Avalon 2.7: New Blood

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 3557, somewhere between the Tigris and the Euphrates.  Kairos life 27:  Beltain.

 

Recording…

 

            The travelers spent the whole day moving west through an unchanging landscape.  It was occasional undulating hills and grass as far as they could see.  There were herds of animals now and then, though no herd was the size of the one they found back when they crossed the grasslands of the Sahara.  Here, there were some that maybe belonged on the Sahara, like the wildebeests, the impala and the few giraffes they saw.  Then again, some of the deer looked like they belonged more on the Indian subcontinent than in what had to be Iraq.  And then there were the elephants.  Roland supposed they might go either way.

            “This is imp and gnome country,” Roland reported early on.  “But it is likely the gnomes are wild ones, bred to care for these wild beasts, so it may be hard to tell them from their more mischievous imp cousins.”

            Lincoln nodded.  He was reading through the database, but said nothing out loud.  Elder Stow was also quiet, and thus they moved along in a way that was becoming their habit.  Boston, with the amulet to provide direction, stayed out front with Roland.  They spoke now and then, but quietly as lovers do.  Lincoln and the elder Gott-Druk rode quietly in the middle while Lockhart and Katie brought up the rear.  Katie and Lockhart also spoke now and then, but it was more about things like the weather and comments on the flora and fauna of the area.

            Lunch came all too slowly as is the case when people are bored; but during the meal, Elder Stow suggested a reasonable perspective on it all.  “It is good to be able to rest from one’s labors,” he said.

            Lincoln agreed but looked further down that road.  “Yeah.  I imagine things will start heating up soon enough.  The Kairos does tend to live in the eye of the hurricane, and I suspect Beltain will be no exception.”

            “Not to mention everything that is still following us, like the bokarus.”

            Oh.”  Katie turned her head to look back the way they had come.  “I hope Bob is alright.”

            “Bob?”  Lincoln had to ask.

            Lockhart grinned and pointed at Katie.  “She named the werewolf.”

            “Bob,” Boston said.  “Good name.”

            “But isn’t Bob a short form for Robert?”  Elder Stow looked at what he considered the leaders of the group, “Mother” Katie and “Father” Lockhart with curiosity written across his Neanderthal features.  Lockhart explained.

            “I was always Robert, and sometimes Rob.  As often as not I was Lockhart, but the only one who ever called me Bob was my older brother when he wanted to tease me.”

            “Ah, yes.  Family.”  The Gott-Druk nodded that he understood that much, even as Katie reached out to touch Lockhart on the upper arm.

            “I’m sorry,” she apologized.  “I never even thought of you as a Bob.”

            “Good thing I am not,” he responded with a smile as much for her hand on his arm as for her.

            “Hold!”  Roland spoke sharply and everyone stilled instantly and wondered what his elf ears picked up.  Roland stood and spoke more softly.  “Show yourselves.  We mean you no harm.”

            There was a slight pause, a moment of silence when people looked in every direction but saw nothing but the never-ending grasses, before six small figures became visible only a few yards away.  Even visible, they were hard to see as their long wheat colored beards and green clothes perfectly matched the color of the grass.  One stepped forward from the group and spoke to Roland.

            “So we have perceived.  One elf, one old one and four bits of animated mud are no concern of ours.  What we do not understand are the horses you ride.  We have never seen their like, but we have determined they should be free and not your slaves.”

            Every eye shot to the horses where they saw a number of the little green men stripping the horses of saddle and bridle.  Lockhart whistled, and the horse he called dog trotted straight to him.  It knocked down three little green men in the process.

            “Ours is a mutually agreeable arrangement,” Lockhart explained.  “We and the horses are from the future and do not belong here.  We are trying to get home and go with our strengths.”

            Katie interrupted.  “We care for the horses, feed and protect them and they carry us to our destination.”

            The little green man who had spoken looked at Lockhart and Katie like he was surprised the creatures knew how to talk.  He looked again at the elf.

            “Gnome, hear me.  The horses are a gift of the Kairos,” Roland said flatly.  “I recommend you leave them alone to fulfill their assigned task.”

            The gnome hissed, waved his hand and the ones by the horses left off setting the horses free and vanished.  Then the gnome spoke again.  “And you have seen her and the great mass of beings she brings to strip the land bare?  Woe that long ago the Kairos forbid our forbearers from preventing the beings from killing and eating our charges.  Soon there may be no beasts left in the fields for us to tend.”

            “The beasts will not utterly disappear,” Roland said before he was interrupted by Lincoln.

            “You have seen Beltain?  You know where she is?”

            The gnome continued to stare at the elf and pretended that Lincoln did not exist.  Roland had to repeat the questions.

            “There.”  The gnome pointed in the general direction they were headed.  With your horses it will take less than the sunset.  But beware, elf-kind, there are those behind you that seek to play.  The great one follows, but the play of the great one will not be fun.  It will ruin you so the great one may laugh.”

            “Great one?”  Boston asked before she also looked up at Roland.  Roland shrugged, and there was no way to ask the gnomes since they vanished back into the landscape.

            With that, the travelers became anxious.  They fixed their saddles, checked their saddle bags and other equipment and rode out with some speed.  It was not two more hours before they saw a cloud of dust coming in their direction.  There had to be thousands of people – a far larger herd than any animal herd they had seen.

            “And Beltain is somewhere in the middle of all that?”  Boston asked the rhetorical question.  “Good luck.”

            “I don’t know,” Lincoln countered.  “I have learned that the Kairos is usually pretty easy to find.”

            “Yeah,” Lockhart agreed.  “Just look for trouble.”  He smiled at his own humor and turned to share the smile with Katie, but she was looking behind with some worry on her face.

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Avalon 2.7:  Horses first … Next Time

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