Anarchistbanjo's World

“You’re going to travel with us to sanctuary aren’t you?” Nikki asked. “It will be a blast.”

“I might,” he said evasively. “I need to talk with Ellen first though and I might be running later than usual. If I’m not around just take off without me and I’ll catch up with you.”

“What do you need to talk with Ellen about?” Nikki asked.

“She wants to know more about when my base camp got burned by rogues.” He evaded by giving a simple answer.

“I remember that,” Melanie exclaimed. “That’s when we found the waterfall by the lake and that weird abandoned gathering spot. Tell her she can talk to me too if she wants. Say, have you ever gone back there like you said you were going to?”

“That’s one of the things I’m going to talk with Ellen about,” Tobal said. It’s pretty bad weather to go there now though. To easy to get snowed in.”

“Maybe we can all go there this spring some time,” Becca said. “I love swimming and there isn’t a really good swimming spot around here.”

“That’s a great idea!” Nikki said enthusiastically.

“Well just let me know so I can go with you,” Tobal said. “It might be dangerous and there should be enough of us going so no one will attack us.”

“Why would anyone want to attack us?” Nikki laughed. “You have something in mind handsome?”

The other two laughed and Tobal turned away with a dark shadow on his face. He couldn’t tell them the entire story or it would be all over camp and Ellen would have his head. It was better just to leave things the way they were for now. Misty was again High Priestess and did a nice job. Ellen was there and said she needed to talk with him later after circle. Angel was also helping out in the circle. There was a new High Priest too but Tobal didn’t remember his name.

Dirk was there along with Rafe on wood patrol keeping the fires going. There were several Journeymen Tobal recognized and many more he didn’t. This was the largest circle he had ever been too. Ox had even shown up for the party strutting three chevrons on his black tunic.

It was the end of the harvest cycle and the last time many of them would see each other until next spring so they were determined to have a good time. After the initiations the party really began. At drum circle the drumming and dancing went long into the night as people laughed leaping among the flames individually and together.

The festivities lasted three days with the last two days reminding Tobal of a flea market and county fair. People brought items to sell or trade especially beautiful hand crafted garments and tools. The most interesting were winter garments that made Tobal’s efforts seem crude in comparison. He examined them carefully and took mental notes so he could duplicate the work later. He did the same with other tools and items that caught his interest.

This was the time clan members would show off their creativity and individual talents. There was music, hand made stringed instruments and wooden flutes. There were of course the drums that beat out a steady rhythm deep into the night for all the dancers.

The second day was reserved for games and competitions. He was not surprised when Melanie won a knife throwing contest but he gaped in envy at the prize. It was a hand forged axe one of the third degree members had somehow created. With an axe like that work would go much more quickly than with stone axes and knives. It would help not only with firewood but also in the creation of bigger and more permanent shelters like log cabins.

It was also on the second day when female clan members got their annual birth control shot to prevent pregnancies. There were lots of sexual jokes going round the camp and open invitations. Tobal wondered more about this and asked one of the medics. The medic told him the city felt it was too dangerous to have children or raise children under these harsh survival conditions. People were free to have children once they became citizens but not before.

This was a rule that was strictly enforced and medics would fly their air sleds out to those females that had not attended this gathering. If they refused the shot, they were disqualified. This did happen, the medic told him. There were always 2nd degree couples content living as they were and wanting to raise families out here in the wilderness. In fact, there were enough of them that they had formed their own family type gathering spot two hundred miles to the West.

When Tobal tried asking more questions the medic shut up like he had already said too much and that he needed to be going. There was certainly a lot Tobal didn’t understand. He wondered if the dead camp at the lake had been a family one. He hoped not because the thought of dead children lying in that cairn made him feel sick. Still, in his heart he knew it had been a family camp because his own hospital bracelet proved he had been there just as Adam Gardner had said. The old man had talked about other children that had been murdered too. There were secrets out there, secrets he intended to find out.

It was on the last day the medics handed out special supplies and medicines like salt, wine, vitamins and medical gear scavenged from old med kits. Needles, hair brushes, combs, string and things like that were very welcome. So were scissors and razors, not to mention tooth brushes and other items that could be gotten at sanctuary.

“Ok, let’s hear it,” Rafe said cornering him on the last night. “You’ve been blowing me off all month, what’s up? Are you going to tell me what happened or not?”

They were sitting near the central fire in an area that was relatively empty of all but dancers.

“I see you’ve got some type of necklace,” he observed.

Tobal sighed and took it off his head handing it to Rafe. “It’s my mother’s necklace.”

“How do you know that?”

Tobal showed him the hospital tags.

Rafe looked carefully at the two tags and slowly handed them back along with the necklace. “I guess they are,” he commented. “What else did you find?”

Tobal slid the necklace back over his head and put the plastic tags back into his medicine bag before he unsheathed the dagger and handed it to Rafe.

Rafe examined the golden dagger wordlessly and turned it so he could examine the initials better. “Your father?” He asked quietly and gave it back to Tobal.

Tobal just nodded, blinking back some tears and a lump in his throat.
“Is there anything else?”

Tobal nodded and stood up. “Let’s walk a bit. We have to get away from camp first.”

Together they walked out into the woods where they had been hauling wood for the last month. It was about a half mile from camp and Tobal figured it was reasonably safe.

“Watch,” he pulled out the wand and pointed it at a nearby boulder they had sat on for lunch a few days ago. A bright red light showed briefly on the boulder and then vanished as Tobal pressed the fifth button.

“So what!” Rafe said. “It’s a little laser light. I used to play with them when I was a kid. I used to tease the cat with it.”

“Not like this,” Tobal said. “Come over and look.” He went over to the boulder and pointed at the small hole that went straight into the boulder and came out the other side.

“Damn!” Rafe whispered, running his fingers over the hole. “It’s not even hot.”

Tobal pointed the wand in the general direction of where they had been working the other day and pressed the second button briefly. Instantly the area fifteen feet in front of them was clear of snow and there was steam rising from the ground in the moon light.

“Holy shit!” Rafe exclaimed. “Put that damn thing away and let’s get out of here! What are you trying to do? Get us killed?”

Tobal put the wand back into the sheath on his left leg and they hurried back to camp in the moonlight retracing their steps in the snow.

“I found a secret cave,” he said. “It is where my parents used to meet secretly with a few others. It must have been the place Sarah’s father told me about. I found my parent’s things there and I also found the wand there. I couldn’t stay very long and explore so I left right away. I knew the air sleds would be looking for me and I wanted to be as far away as possible when they did.

“They found me about one half hour later,” he said. “Lucky for me it was Ellen and she was really pissed at me. At least she was at first. She made me take off my med-alert bracelet and did all kinds of tests on it to see if it was working right. Then she asked me what I had been doing by the waterfall. That’s when I told her I was coming back to where my old camp had been destroyed. She didn’t believe me at first but she took me to my old burned out site and I showed it to her. She wondered why I hadn’t told anyone about it. I said I had told you and that you had said it was not a good place to build.

“That’s when she told me it was a ‘forbidden’ site and I wasn’t supposed to be there. It was dangerous especially near the waterfall. I guess there have been lots of rogue attacks in that area.

“Now it gets weird,” he whispered to Rafe, looking around to see if anyone was listening. “She told me to get back to sanctuary and get a new med-alert bracelet as soon as possible so I did. I felt strange though like someone was following me so I slept in caves at night where my med-alert bracelet would not work and went as fast as I could during the day toward sanctuary.”

“There was someone following me,” He said. “I got to sanctuary and hid my stuff before going in to process. While I was processing three rogues searched through all my stuff and would have attacked me if I hadn’t broken my old med-alert bracelet.”

“Whoa, Wait up,” Rafe said. “How could anyone track you except the medics and why did you break your old med-alert bracelet?”

“When I got to Sanctuary and went into processing I took off my med-alert bracelet and smashed it. When I took it off an alarm sounded for the medics that said I needed help. When I smashed it, there was no signal at all so they sent three medics out to find me. When they got to sanctuary they saw three rogues dressed in black running out of sanctuary and into the woods. The rogues not only tracked me to sanctuary by my med-alert bracelet, they could also tell medics were coming and got away before they could get caught. Somehow they were able to track the med-alert bracelets.”

“That’s why Ellen thought it might be a good idea for me to just hang around with you guys getting up wood the rest of the month,” Tobal finished.

“It’s also why I didn’t want to say much of anything while Dirk was there.”

“I understand now,” Rafe said. “Does Ellen know about the things you found?”

Tobal flushed, “She doesn’t know about the wand yet. But she does know about everything else. I wanted a chance to examine it myself before I let anyone else see it.”

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Chapter 15

Several hours later the sun was coming up. There was a fire blazing in the fireplace of one of the log buildings at the gathering spot and two Masters were standing guard outside the door as Ellen finished questioning Tobal. She absent mindedly pushed his parent’s things toward him and indicated that he should pick them up.

“I don’t know what to do,” she murmured softly. “There is no doubt in my mind that these things truly belong to you and that you should have them. If they had belonged to my parents I know I would want to have them. I am now also inclined to believe the rogues were somehow able to follow you. Perhaps they do have monitors. That would explain why we rarely see any of them. They would know when we are in the area and would hide.”

She turned a puzzled expression toward Tobal, “But that would also mean they are not from the village to the west of here. That village is totally primitive and has no technology. These rogues must be coming from somewhere else and they are interested in what you found at the lake. This might be very dangerous and your life might be in danger, all our lives might be in danger and we don’t know from whom.

I suggest we keep this quiet for now and don’t talk to anyone else about it.”

“I need to talk with Rafe about it,” Tobal protested. “He already knows something is out there and so does Melanie. She was with me when we first found the gathering spot at the waterfall. I don’t want them to be in danger too!”

Ellen sighed, “Well, I will have to trust your judgement in this. Don’t talk to anyone unless you really trust them ok?”

Tobal nodded, “I wasn’t going to anyway” He chuckled. “I wasn’t even going to tell you until you cornered me about it.” He didn’t mention the slender silvery wand that was hidden safely in his pack.

Both Ellen and Tobal decided it would be a good idea for him to stay close to the gathering spot and around other people in case the rogues had specifically targeted him. So he spent most of the month helping Dirk and Rafe working up wood for circle.

They were trying to get wood ahead so there would be an ample supply during a snowstorm or blizzard. There was already over one foot of snow and travel was getting difficult.

With Tobal’s help Rafe and Dirk got a lot of wood brought into camp. Rafe was becoming more confident and sure of himself. He was also growing taller and filling out. The constant back breaking work of chopping wood with stone axes seemed to be putting muscle on him too. The Chevrons on his sleeve proclaimed he had won three fights and he was learning how to take care of himself.

Tobal wore the jet and amber necklace around his neck and kept the ceremonial dagger in the sheath strapped to his ankle. Each day he took them out and looked at them. They were the only things he had that came from his parents. He wanted to go back to the cave but knew it was more dangerous than ever. He put the two plastic hospital bracelets in his medicine bag and carried it on a leather thong around his neck.

It was the wand that he didn’t know what to do with. It was about a foot long and one inch in diameter. He had examined it more completely and still didn’t know much about it. There were five buttons on the thing. He had tried the first and second buttons in the cave. Out doors they worked much the same. The first button made the wand act as a light. When he activated the second button it melted a circle of snow about fifteen feet in front of where he was pointing. It seemed to have a range of about fifteen feet and the heat kept increasing as long as he held the button down.

The third button caused a blade of light to extend out of the wand about two inches. This was some type of laser used for cutting. He tried it on a few rocks and cut deeply into them without melting the rock. The fourth button acted as a sighting device shining a point of red light on anything it was pointed at without apparent harm to the object. The fifth button however, would flash a pulse of light burning a hole through whatever it hit. The fifth button could only be pushed at the same time the fourth one was pushed and needed to be re-pushed for each new pulse of light.

It apparently acted as some type of safety device limiting the damage that could be done with the wand. He tried it once killing a deer at twice normal bow range. The deer dropped without a sound. Close examination showed a hole that went completely through the deer.

As he butchered the deer and brought it back into camp he reflected on the nature of the wand itself. It was obviously a tool or a weapon using pulsed energy of some type he had never heard about. That meant it was probably part of some secret military technology his parents had been involved in. In any case it was extremely dangerous and even more dangerous to be caught with. On the other hand he didn’t want to loose it or have it stolen. He guessed he might have to talk with Ellen about it sometime. In the meantime he made a sheath for it on his other ankle and kept it on his person.

Rafe asked him about his trip and was very interested but Dirk was always around and Tobal felt he needed to talk with Ellen first so he told Rafe to wait till circle. Rafe’s eyes narrowed a bit eyeing the amber and jade necklace. He didn’t say anything more about the trip.

Samhain was a major festival and Tobal was surprised at how many showed up for it. It started as the other celebrations did with proclaiming newbies ready to solo. Nikki and Char both proclaimed their newbies ready to solo. There were several initiations scheduled.

Wayne’s newbie wasn’t ready yet but was going to be initiated. The Same thing happened with Zee’s newbie and Kevin’s newbie. They were going to be initiated into the clan but they needed another month of training. With the advent of cold weather the training was taken seriously by all clan members.

Most clansmen had already partnered up for the winter and would not be doing anymore training till next spring or they would partner up at this circle. He thought about Tara and Zee. They had both asked him about partnering up for the winter. Now they both had partners selected even if Zee and Kevin still had one more month of training till their newbies soloed.

Soon there would be no one to ask or partner up with unless it was a newbie. Was he really being so different in not partnering up with anyone? Rafe had trained newbies all winter long. He caught Char a bit later and talked with her about it.

“I notice your newbie is soloing this month,” he congratulated her. “What are you going to do now?”

“Well, I was going to see if Wayne wanted to partner back up for the winter,” she said bitterly. “But he is not speaking to me and in the middle of training his newbie. If he is training her like he trained me, she will probably be spending the winter with him. I hate that man!” She started crying and Tobal put an arm around her shoulder to comfort her. He felt her shoulders shaking against him.

“He’s just training newbies like you are Char, what are you mad at him for?”

“He’s not talking to me or looking at me, that’s why,” she snapped at him. “All he does is spend time with her.”

Tobal sighed and wished he were anywhere else. “You sound just like he did last month when I was talking to him.

Don’t you remember how jealous he was? You were afraid he was going to pick a fight with Rory. Look, this will make one chevron for you and two for him. What are you going to do now? Try training another newbie or wait out the winter? You can’t control what he does. You can only control what you do. What is it that you really want to do?”

“Become a citizen and get a real life.”

“Ok, so what do you need to do?”

“I guess I’m going to train one more newbie this winter. Thanks Tobal,” she told him. “I know that I need to move ahead but it’s hard sometimes. These old habits are so hard to break. It’s easy to get depressed about things.”

“Let me know if you need any help,” he told her. “I’m planning on training newbies all winter myself. It’s kind of strange but I’m a little afraid of partnering up with anyone for the entire winter.”

“Why would you feel that way Tobal?” She asked curiously.

“Well partnering up with a girl for the winter kind of implies a sexual relationship,” he flustered.

“What’s wrong with a sexual relationship?” She asked. “You do want sex with girls don’t you?”

Now he was red and embarrassed, “ Wanting sex and having sex are two different things Char. At least for me they are. I don’t want to hurt anyone and what if it doesn’t work out between us. What if she gets pregnant or something.”

Char laughed. “You are taking this much too seriously Tobal. For one thing, no one is going to get pregnant out here. Once a year we get birth control shots that last the entire year. In fact, we get them during Samhain, which is this month. The medics will make sure we get our shots if we want to continue in the Apprentice program. I thought you knew that.”

Tobal looked confused.

She continued, “It might not be a good idea for two Apprentices to get together like Wayne and I did. It is really hard having a permanent love relationship with someone when you need to train and live with other people like Wayne and I need to do. But it is normal to be sexual with others. Having sex is a form of sharing and a way of deepening a relationship. It is no big deal really. None of us are experts at love. We all need to have experiences and learn from those experiences. Our love partners help us and we teach each other about what pleases us.”

“Tobal,” she looked at him intently and unfastened her robe. “Do you want to have sex with me?”

He found himself staring at her body. Her soft breasts and the mound of blonde pubic hair stirred something inside him. Tobal found himself uncomfortable with the subject and with his own feelings. She had a good looking body.

“I think I will wait until I get to Journeyman before I worry about it too much,” he said awkwardly.

She laughed. “Well at least give me a hug and a kiss then.” She moved closer so her bare body was against him as they hugged. It was a long hug and a long kiss.

It took a while to recover and Tobal wandered around the gathering spot trying to collect his wits together. He thought about what Char had said and wondered if she was right. Maybe he was making too big of a thing about it. Maybe sex could be as casual as shaking hands for some people but he knew it was not that way for him. For one thing there were a lot of attractive girls around the camp and only one or two had ever really drawn his eye.

He thought of Melanie, yes, he was sexually attracted to Melanie. Then Becca came unbidden into his mind and he hastily pushed her back out. He didn’t know what was going on between him and Becca but it was more like electric shock therapy than sexual attraction.

Sarah, Mike and Butch had all completed their solos and were talking together when he came up to them. They were going to take this month off and work on their own base camps getting prepared for winter. It seemed most clansmen were either doing that or had already done that. None of them were talking about partnering up for the winter but they were thinking about working together setting up winter camps. Once their winter camps were set up they would decide if they were going to do any training or not.

Melanie, Becca, Nikki and he were the only ones interested in newbies this month. They each received a new chevron except Nikki. Her first newbie was going to solo that month. That made three for him, and one each for Becca and Melanie.

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To his relief it was Ellen in her red medic’s tunic.

“Are you alright?” she asked sharply.

“I’m fine,” he said. “Why?”

“You’ve been appearing and disappearing from our monitors the last several days. Can I check your med-alert bracelet please?”

The way she was holding her hand out told Tobal that she was telling him and not asking. Wordlessly he took off the med-alert bracelet and handed it to her.

Immediately an alarm sounded at the air-sled and she went over to shut it off. She was on the radio a few minutes and then started to do some tests on the med-alert bracelet. It seemed to test out ok and she finally handed it back to him.

“What were you doing over by the waterfall?”

“When I soloed I came out here,” he told her, “and decided to make my base camp on the lake over there.”

He pointed to the area where his burned out camp had been.

“I spent a lot of time and work building things up,” he continued. “Then I was training Melanie and brought her out here with me. We found my entire camp destroyed and burned by rogues. I was only able to find one food cache left intact. We didn’t want to meet any more rogues and felt it was not safe to stay in the area.”

“What does that have to do with the waterfall?” Ellen interrupted.

“Everything,” said Tobal.” We headed around the lake and saw the waterfall. We decided to try finding a way up the stream and explore in that direction while I was training Melanie.”

“Did you know there is an abandoned gathering spot there?” He interrupted excitedly. “It has a huge pile of stones in the center of it too!”

He was watching carefully to see what effect the news of the cairn had upon her. He was disappointed since she didn’t seem to care either way about it.

“Anyway,” he continued, “we went up the stream and then cut cross country to where my base camp is. That’s how I originally found my base camp. That was last summer but I always wondered what really happened to my first base camp and wanted to come back here before snowfall and see if I could find anything of value the rogues had missed. I was worried about Melanie before and didn’t want to endanger her. I thought I could come down here and check my old base camp real quick and be back in plenty of time for circle.”

“I never heard your camp had been burned out,” she said. “Did you tell anyone else?”

“I talked with Rafe about it quite a bit. He was pretty upset too and told me the lake wasn’t a good place for a base camp.”

“Rafe was right,” she said grimly. “It’s not a good place to hang around anytime, especially by the waterfall. As medics we are given explicit instructions to keep a very close eye on anyone in this area because this is where most of the rogue attacks happen. Get on and we’ll go look at your old camp.”

Hardly believing his luck, he carefully climbed on the back of her air sled and directed her to what was left of his burned out camp. Together they poked around and he showed her the remains of his teepee, smoke rack and sweat lodge. They did find a stone axe. He looked at it and recognized it as the first stone ax he had ever made. He told Ellen and she grinned. She seemed more relaxed now that his story had proven true.

“There have been other people whose camps have been destroyed,” she said. “These attacks seem to be coming more frequently and I don’t know what we are going to do about them. They are centered around this area but we have been told the rogues live in a settlement about two hundred miles west of us. That doesn’t make sense to me somehow.”

“A settlement to the west?” Tobal asked.

Ellen nodded, “It’s a village made up of people that decided to drop out of training and not be citizens. You may have heard rumors about it but only we medics know where it is. I’ve actually checked it out and there are children and old people in it. None of them wear med-alert bracelets and we don’t really know anything about them. If these raids continue I’ve heard rumors that the city might attack the village and close it down.”

“Is that what happened to the gathering spot by the waterfall?” Tobal asked, fishing for information.

“You must never mention that place to anyone,” she said sharply. “It is a forbidden area and we have been told to keep people away from it.”

“Why is it a forbidden area?” Tobal said belligerently. “I should be able to go anywhere I want. This is a wide open wilderness and no one has ever told me that certain places are off limits.”

“Well they are,” she said matter of factly. “We don’t tell people about them unless they stumble into them like you have. I don’t really know why myself,” she said. “I think is has something to do with the rogues and keeping clansmen safe from them. There are some other areas that are “off limits” because they are dangerous for people on foot.”

It was mid afternoon and Ellen said she needed to get back on patrol. She was sorry to hear Tobal had been burnt out and was going to make a note of it in her report. She advised him not to stay in the area as it might be dangerous and she recommended he get another med-alert bracelet the next time he was in sanctuary.

Tobal was in agreement and headed straight for sanctuary. He knew the route and more importantly knew a small cave where he could shelter for the night. It would give him a location where his med-alert bracelet would not give him away as he slept. Somehow that felt very important right now. He didn’t know whom he could trust. He had been very lucky Ellen had been the medic that found him.

It was dark when he turned sharply to the left and stepped along a ridge he remembered having a small cave in it. Cautiously he poked his walking stick into the opening making sure no one else was using it before crawling inside. He wrapped himself in warm furs and fell into a sleep of exhaustion with eerie dreams of his father and mother in a cave doing some type of ritual.

Before dawn the next morning he was back on the trail toward sanctuary. He was prompted by a sense of urgency and a sixth sense that told him he was being followed. It was only a half hour later when an air sled circled and waved. He waved back and continued on. This time at a dog trot that ate up the miles. That day two more air sleds circled overhead making certain of his destination, but none stopped him.

That night he again crawled into a small cave and slept without a fire of any kind, munching on cold jerky and rinsing it down with water from his canteen. He was making good time and with any luck at all should be at sanctuary the next evening. The sense of being pursued stayed with him that night and all of the next day. Again he was up before dawn on the trail and again an air sled appeared, this time only fifteen minutes after he had gotten under way. They had obviously been out looking for him and wondering what was wrong with his med-alert bracelet.

Well he at least felt better with the air sleds since they were medics and not rogues. But he still didn’t waste any time getting to sanctuary. It was twilight when he finally got to the edge of the wooded area that opened onto the meadow leading to sanctuary itself. He took a few minutes to hide the things from his parents before going into sanctuary with the rest of his supplies and pack.

No one was there and he wasted no time setting his pack and clothing under one cot and stepping into the medical center as Ellen had suggested. He felt relief as the door slid shut behind him and locked. He took off his med-alert bracelet, dropped it on the floor and pounded it with the heavy hilt of the knife he had brought with him. Under the heavy pounding it broke into three pieces and he left it there. He knew the medics would be alerted when he had taken it off and then would be even more alerted when it suddenly stopped broadcasting. He was hoping one of them would be there when he came out the other end in a few hours.

Three hours later he had a new med-alert bracelet and fresh clothing and equipment. As the door slid open he cautiously stepped out into the gloom and stood still waiting for his eyes to adjust in the dark. His knife was in his hand and he knew he was not the only one in the room. He stood silently waiting for someone to make the first move.

“Tobal, is that you?” He heard Ellen’s voice coming from near one of the cots.

Relief spilled through him, “Yes, is it safe?”

“For now,” she said. “Come, we’ve got some talking to do.”

He shouldered his new equipment and carried it over to the cot where he had stored the rest of his stuff. He searched under the cot and found he had been right. His things had been searched and gone through carefully while he had been in the medical chamber. He laid everything on the bed and tried to determine in the dim light if he was missing anything. Everything seemed to be there. Ellen stood silently by and watched as he sorted and repacked things. Tobal saw there two other very serious Masters standing guard at the entrance.

“What’s going on?” She demanded. “We were monitoring your signal and then the alarm went off as if you were dead. Then the signal stopped completely and we came immediately to see what was wrong. The first one here saw three rogues dressed in black running out of the sanctuary building and into the woods. It was dark and they didn’t show up on the air sled monitors so we lost them. We don’t know where they are now.”

“We went inside and saw that your pack had been searched but you were not here. Then your signal showed up once more on the monitors and we figured you must be in the medical chamber so we waited for you to come out.”

“They followed me from the lake,” Tobal said. “I knew they were following me. I could feel it and hid at night. I came here as fast as I could just like you said to.”

“How could they follow you from the lake?” Ellen frowned. “They don’t have monitors like we do on our air sleds.”

“They must have some way of tracking me,” he repeated. “They would have gotten me if you hadn’t shown up when you did. It’s not safe out here anymore!”

“We’re going to take you back to the gathering spot where you and I are going to have a little chat,” Ellen whispered. “You are holding something back and I want to know what it is.”

They walked toward Ellen’s air sled and Tobal suddenly remembered his package in the woods.

“Wait here,” he shouted “I’ll be right back” and he ran into the woods to retrieve the rest of his things.

Ellen was on the air sled waiting when he ran back up and climbed on behind her. The three air sleds sped into the night toward the gathering spot.

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Chapter 14

After grabbing a bite to eat and changing into his robe Tobal wandered around chatting with friends till circle started. He found a place near the fire to sit with Melanie and Becca during the initiations. The two girls spent most of the time gaily chatting back and forth about where they were going to go and he felt left out. The past month had really brought Melanie and Becca closer together as friends. He wasn’t in the mood for such levity and moved off for a little solitude.

This time Misty was the High Priestess as Ellen stood in the back ground waiting to help out if needed. He was surprised to see Angel wearing the red robes of a Master. She had certainly come quite a way since he had first seen her laid up with a leg injury in sanctuary.

He finally caught up with Rafe after circle. This was Tobal’s last chance before winter to go back to the lake and check out the abandoned gathering spot. It was Rafe that provided him with the seed of an idea.

“I’ve been thinking about this,” Rafe said. “I’m not supposed to talk about Journeyman stuff with you but I don’t think it really matters. We meet in a large cave and have our fights. There are always several medics because people get hurt during the fights and the signals from the med-alert bracelets don’t go through the rock.”

“You can’t take the med-alert bracelet off because the monitors would show you as dead. Also if you are found without a med-alert bracelet you need to start training from the beginning. You don’t want to do that.”

Tobal nodded his agreement. “What should I do then?”

“Hide in small caves or under rock ledges during the day so no air sleds can find you. If you are under or within the rock they should not be able to pick you up on the monitor screen. Then travel quickly at night. When you travel at night it will be seen that your med-alert bracelet is working properly after all and they don’t need to worry about it. They might try to find you at night but it is getting colder and no one wants to be out on an air sled in the middle of a cold night.”

“Besides,” Rafe said with a grin. “You are not doing anything wrong. At least no one has told you that you can’t go there. They probably will once they catch you. Try to get there in the middle of the night. It’s a full moon so there will be enough light to see. Give yourself about three hours and then get the hell out of there as fast as you can. It will be interesting to see what happens when they do catch up with you.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Tobal told him. “I think I’ll do exactly as you said.”

They talked a little more about his upcoming journey and then the talk wandered around to Rafe and how he got his second chevron. It was late before Tobal got to sleep.

Tobal started out the next morning as if he were heading toward his base camp. There was nothing unusual about that and it shouldn’t draw attention. The area between his base camp and the abandoned gathering spot was very rocky and there were a few caves and outcroppings he remembered seeing. He used them now travelling at night and holing up during the day. It should make them think his med-alert was malfunctioning.

He made cold camps during the day and gradually worked his way closer to the waterfall moving quickly at night and hiding during the day. He was glad for the furs since they provided the protection from the elements that he needed.

He tried sleeping during the day without much success and when he did sleep it was troubled with nightmarish images that became more intense the closer he got to the waterfall.

It was midnight on the fourth day when he stood in front of the cairn in the haunted gathering spot and felt the ghosts around him. There was enough moonlight to see and he searched as much of the cairn as possible without lighting a torch. He examined some of the objects that had been laid there but they simply seemed to be offerings.

He was baffled and frustrated. The answer certainly did not seem to be here and the rest of the camp looked to have been thoroughly cleansed. There was nothing to see and his instinct kept telling him to leave as quickly as possible.

He hated the thought of going down the cliff face in the dark but an inner prompting kept screaming that is was not safe to be here and that he had to leave as soon as possible. Going down the rock chimney was much easier than going up and soon he was scrambling over the edge of the cliff trying to find the toe holds he knew were there.

It was with relief his searching toe finally found the first hole and from then on the descent went quickly. Soon he was standing in the small patio area near the pool at the base of the waterfall. He figured about an hour had passed which gave him two hours more.

He stripped off his clothes and put them in a small pile in a corner of the patio where they were hidden by some rocks. He kept the knife strapped around his leg and the magnesium fire starter on a small chain around his neck. He had carefully thought this out during the past month and knew he needed to at least try exploring the pool.

Bracing himself he stepped into the icy water with his foot reaching for the first step he knew was there. Three more steps and he was up to his waist in the freezing water and facing the waterfall itself. He knew what he had to do as if some unknown hand was guiding him.

He plunged into the deep pool and began swimming strongly toward the waterfall. Right before he reached it he dove deeply and explored the rock face with his fingers. As he suspected there was an opening about three feet below the surface of the pool going under the waterfall itself.

Bobbing to the surface he took a deep breath and dived again swimming as deeply into the opening as possible and rose feeling the rock surface above his head sloping upward until it opened into a silent pool. His head broke the surface as he gasped for breath. It had not been a bad swim but it had been a frightening one.

The water was icy and he pulled himself out of it onto a rocky ledge. He was shivering in the dark as his fingers searched and found what felt a pack of some type and a torch. Tearing the pack open by touch his fingers closed on the heavy wool like material of a robe. Gratefully he slipped it on and pounded his body until the circulation started coming back.

His fingers searched and found a pouch of tinder. He soon had the torch going and was warming himself as he was looking around. The pool looked only six feet across and was his only way back. His heart was racing wildly. He knew this was the secret the lake hid and he also knew he only had two hours to explore before he had to leave. The good news was he felt certain the med-alert bracelet would not give him away within the cavern. He was safe as long as he stayed inside.

The torch flickered as he walked barefoot deeper into the cave. The thundering of the waterfall made the entire cave seem to vibrate even though the sound was muted and it was hard to tell where it was coming from. The floor of the cave sloped sharply downward for twenty feet and then leveled out into an open area.

There was an opening that turned sharply to the right but Tobal ignored it, his entire attention was focussed on the chamber ahead of him. There was a rough stone altar with unlit torches set into the wall on each side and the emblem painted on the rock behind the altar took his breath away. It was the same symbol of a man and woman holding hands within a circle that had been on the gold medallion his parents had left him.

He lit the two altar torches and stepped back to examine the chamber he found himself in. There was a rough circle in front of the altar for circle members to sit and many of the places seemed to have personal belongings placed carefully around them.

On sudden impulse he moved to one of the cushions near the altar and picked up a clay bowl that held some dust covered items. In the torchlight he carefully emptied the contents of the bowl on the ground and picked two plastic bracelets up. He recognized them as hospital bracelets.

Wiping the dust off them he held the larger one closer to the light of the torch. He saw the words “Rachel Kane” written plainly on it. With his heart thundering in his chest he picked the smaller one up and examined it. Under a coating of grime and dust he saw “Tobal Kane” written and then the date of his birth.

It was his baby bracelet from when he had been born. These things must have belonged to his mother. Blinking away tears, he moved the other items with his finger to examine them more closely. A jade and amber necklace caught his eye. Static electrical energy seemed to crackle from it as he ran it through his fingers wiping the dust off. Thinking quickly he put the necklace over his head and thrilled at the intense feeling of love and peace that swept over him.

He didn’t have much time. One of these piles belonged to his father and he hastily searched the area nearest his mother. Somehow that didn’t seem right. On impulse he moved over to the other side of the altar and the cushion nearest it on that side.

There were items that belonged to the High Priest and he remembered similar items that had been placed around his mother’s seat. His eye was drawn to a ceremonial dagger and sheath that lay in front of the cushion. Picking it up he saw that R.K. had been burned into the sheath and he knew it belonged to his father. He slipped his own knife out of its sheath and strapped the dagger hurriedly into it. He didn’t have time to find a belt for the dagger and sheath.

Taking his own torch he walked around the chamber trying to get an idea of its true size. There was an opening off to the left of the altar that led deeper into the cave through some type of corridor. He stooped and walked down the corridor gasping in surprise as he turned a quick corner and gazed upon an unbelievable sight.

It was another large cavern but filled with artifacts like those at the antique shop in Old Seattle. His torch reflected off burnished armor and weapons of steel and bronze.

Even stranger was one area that was set aside from the others. The items collected here were not of the world he knew. They did not belong to either the present or the past. He didn’t even know if human hands made these items.

There was a slender silver rod that glinted in the torchlight and he picked it up. It had some small buttons on the side near the grip and a cord that went around the wrist to keep from loosing it. Pushing the first button made the tip of the rod glow with a comfortable light that lit up the room.

He pushed the second button and a beam shot out from the wand touching the wall of the cave. Within seconds the cave wall began glowing red with heat. He hastily released the button and prayed nothing else would happen.

He slipped the cord around his wrist for carrying the wand and retraced his steps back to the other cavern. He snuffed out the two torches on the wall above the altar and made his way back to the pool.

At the edge of the pool he set the tinder and another torch ready for the next time he came and then carefully set the torch where it would burn out on its own without hurting anything.

Then he slipped off the woolen robe, put the two hospital bracelets in his mouth and taking a deep breath dove into the black pool of freezing water. Moments later he was outside climbing the stone stairs out of the pool.

He wasted no time sliding into his tunic and furs. He was still wet as he hastily donned his boots and grabbed his pack and equipment. He put the wand into his pack and the hospital bracelets in a leather pouch on his waist for safe keeping. He guessed it was about 3:00 a.m. and the air sleds would be looking for him anytime.

He headed at a dog trot through the maze of rock toward the edge of the lake. He hurried toward his burned out campsite planning to stop there and rest. He was halfway around the lake in the predawn light and walking normally when the first air sled appeared. He was not surprised to see the air sled drop to the ground on the beach in front of him and a medic step toward him.

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His little valley was protected and full of browse. There would be deer and elk in it all winter and trapping fur bearing animals for winter clothing shouldn’t be hard if everyone was working at it. They could also work at shelter building and be welcome to stay as long as they needed to. By blind luck his little valley was the perfect location for a training camp.

He had most of it built already and making a few more shelters would go quickly. Together they could make what they needed and share resources. What they really needed was winter clothing and equipment. Making it would be time consuming. This fall furs would be prime enough to make good winter clothing and it was time to start trapping.

Late September brought snow in the mountains but it didn’t stay. There was just enough to make things seem white. They worked as a team. Melanie was the best trapper and she worked with the others on getting enough pelts for winter clothing.

They practiced intensely with the bow, making arrows and working on a permanent shelter. In all there were six of them. They were Tobal and his trainee, Sarah; Melanie and her trainee, Butch; Becca and her trainee, Mike.

At first they thought the best type of shelter would be a log cabin but that presented difficulties since they had no axes to cut the trees. In addition finding and laying rock for a fireplace and chimney would be too time consuming. Thatching material for a roof was no longer available. They had waited too long and winter was too close.

What they did settle on was to continue using the teepee shelters and further insulate them with furs on the outside. They built two other teepees that could be used for storage and for privacy or work space as needed. That solution was quick, simple, and effective allowing them to focus on other things like winter clothing, snow shoes and food caches.

They rigged more deadly traps and dead falls. They noticed the airsleds more often checking them out during the days. The medics were keeping closer tabs on everyone and making sure they were prepared for the coming months.

It was easier to hunt with some tracking snow. One hunter would track the animal and it would move toward one of the others that waited hidden in a blind. They got plenty of deer that way. Still the final weeks in October were increasingly difficult and Tobal understood at last why most people didn’t try training newbies during the winter.

His group was prepared though and each member of the group was outfitted with warm fur outer clothing and boots, blankets, emergency food rations, snowshoes for when needed and a small sled to pull and carry their supplies when they traveled. There was too much to carry in a pack.

The weather was still fairly nice but could change any time. Mike, Butch and Sarah were anxious to solo since they had been training for almost two months. They felt more than prepared and wanted to get it over with.

Becca and Melanie wanted to find their own base camps, set up for the winter and start training newbies. They were going to help each other get set up right after the coming circle. Tobal was not accustomed to being around so many people for such a prolonged amount of time and anxious to get away and have some time alone. He wanted to get back to the lake.

They made the trip back to the gathering spot together in high spirits. Mike, Butch and Sarah were proclaimed ready to solo and the elders agreed since they came into camp with a full assortment of winter clothing and gear and because they had two months of training. They had done a lot of work and really felt prepared about the coming winter. It had been time well spent and it had been fun as well.

Tara’s newbie was also ready to solo and one more Tobal didn’t recognize.

Nikki had a newbie ready to be initiated along with Char’s newbie and two others.

But Char’s newbie wasn’t ready to solo yet. He spoke with Char briefly after leaving the others at the Circle of Elders.

“Hi Char,” he grinned. “Who is your new friend?”

She grinned back and blushed a bit. “Hi Tobal, this is Rory. He’s a newbie that I’ve been working with this past month. He’s pretty sharp too.”.

Tobal noticed Rory’s eyes light up at the compliment. He grinned and shook his hand. “You watch that she doesn’t feed you too much now. Char is the best cook out here.” Then he turned back to Char.

“I’ve been looking for Wayne, have you seen him?” He asked. The grim look in her eyes and flash of anger told him he had just made a mistake.

He’s out there somewhere being a jerk,“ she snapped. “I finally told him to just stay away from me. He is so jealous about Rory here. I’m afraid he is going to start a fight with him and that is so very stupid. Other couples don’t have this problem do they?” She asked.

“I wouldn’t know about that,“ Tobal said. “What I’ve heard in general is most people try not to get into serious relationships with each other until they are at least Journeymen. Then they can at least live together and keep working toward citizenship.”

“That was our mistake,” she sighed. “We should have waited till we each trained our newbies but it’s so hard now since we have become so used to each other. I did talk to him though and we are both going to work on training newbies so we can move on to the Journeyman level at least.”

“That sounds like a really good plan,“ Tobal said. He gave Char a hug and kiss nodding to Rory. “I’ll see you both around later.”

He watched as Kevin, Zee, Nikki and Ox each got chevrons. That made one for Kevin, Two for Zee and one for Nikki. For the Ox it was six and he would finally get his initiation to Journeyman. He was happy about it since he had been almost two years as an Apprentice.

Kevin and Zee were standing together chatting as he walked over to congratulate them on their chevrons.

“Hey did you two finally decide to partner up for the winter?” He asked curiously.

Kevin had his arm around Zee’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. She gave Kevin a quick kiss and smiled at Tobal. “It’s kind of complicated,“ she said. “We both want to train one more newbie before Yule and then partner up for the rest of the winter. Winters get pretty long and partnering up for three months sounds a lot better to both of us then partnering up for five if you know what we are talking about.”

Kevin laughed, “Yeah, we’d still like to be friends next spring so we are taking this kind of slow.”

“Hey that’s great!” Tobal grinned and gave them both a big hug. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

They chatted a bit longer and watched Nick and Tara kissing.

“You think they will be friends next spring?” Tobal asked jokingly.

“Who knows,” Kevin replied. I wouldn’t talk if I were you though. You need a little romance in your life so you are not so sour all the time. There are lots of girls around here that would be interested in partnering up for the winter with you.”

“Newbies are just fine.” Tobal said blushing. “They do what I tell them to most of the time and are glad to leave after training. The Apprentice degree is not really good for romance. I just got an earful about it from Char. She’s afraid Wayne is going to tear her newbie’s head off.”

Tobal’s distraction was successful and they gossiped about Char and Wayne a bit. He excused himself after a few minutes and said he was going to bring wood in for the fires. He headed off looking for Rafe or Dirk intending to work with them for a bit. He found Dirk near one of the fire pits splitting logs with a stone hammer and some stone wedges.

“Hey Dirk, have you seen Rafe around?” He asked casually.

“Don’t know and don’t care,” came Dirk’s surly reply.

“What’s up, you sound kind of grumpy,” Tobal quipped and picked up a second hammer and wedge to help.

Dirk sighed and rubbed his shoulder. “The weather is getting to my shoulder. It aches and makes me grumpier than usual.”

They worked together for an hour splitting the larger logs into sizes that would burn in the fire pits.

“You still at two chevrons?” Tobal inquired.

“Yeah, been having some tough luck lately. Rafe won his second fight and crowing about it. You will have to let him tell you about it. I’m tired of hearing it so many times.”

“That sounds interesting,” Tobal replied. “I was planning on talking with him later anyway. I’ll have to ask him how it went.”

They finished the last log and Tobal put the stone hammer and wedge down.

“I’m going to get something to eat. That was hard work. I’ll see you later ok?”

“See you around Tobal and thanks for the help.”

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Chapter 13

“Hey Rafe,” he changed the subject. “ I really need to talk to you about something. Remember when I tried building my base camp on the lake and those rogues destroyed it? Do you remember that abandoned gathering spot I told you about?”

“Yeah, what about it. I hope you haven’t been snooping around there.”

“I think Sarah’s mother is buried there and two older brothers that she doesn’t even know about. I also think it’s where my parents died.”

“What!” Rafe exclaimed. “You’d better tell me what you are talking about.”

For the first time Tobal told Rafe about his parents and how they had been the creators of the sanctuary program, how it had been first a social experiment and then a classified Federation project. He told how his uncle had been the military officer in charge of the program and how his parents had been found floating dead on the lake. He added the part about Uncle Harry getting injured and closing down the project.

Then he went on to mention what Sarah’s father had told him about knowing his parents and working on a classified matter transmission project and an even more secret project concerning bi-location and a shaman named Howling Wolf. He told how his parents and a small group including Sarah’s father had been at a secret meeting when the entire village by the lake had been attacked and everyone massacred.

It had been right after that his parents were found dead and two surviving members of the secret group were hunted down and executed. Howling Wolf and Sarah’s father were both members of the secret group that had survived along with a few children.

“What I don’t understand,” he told Rafe. “Is my uncle never told me about any of the stuff Sarah’s dad told me about. He didn’t tell me anything about the sanctuary program either and he must have known quite a bit about it. All he did was give me a letter from my parents and a ticket to Heliopolis.

He didn’t want me to go to Old Seattle like the letter said. He said no one lived there anymore. I had to change the ticket myself at the last minute. I felt I ‘needed’ to go to Old Seattle first and do what the letter told me to. That’s where I met Sarah and her father.”

“My uncle said the same thing about Howling Wolf, that he wasn’t alive anymore. I need to go back Rafe. I need to check it out and find out anything I can about my parents. That place is haunted and something doesn’t feel right. The Lord and Lady keep telling me that I need to go there.”

Rafe was startled, “The Lord and Lady? They talk to you and tell you to go to the lake?”

“Well they don’t really talk to me,” he said. “It’s more like they put thoughts in my head and my heart. It’s like they are guiding me or something.”

Rafe ran a hand through his tousled hair with a worried look on his face. “This is too much man! I’ve got to think about this awhile. I never heard of the Lord and Lady talking to anyone except the High Priest and High Priestess. The rest of what you said is just crazy. If I didn’t know you, I would say you were making the whole thing up.”

His eyes searched Tobal’s and probed deeply with no hint of his grin. “But you’re not making it up are you?”

“No,” Tobal answered quietly.

Rafe sighed in frustration. “I didn’t think so.” He rubbed his hair again. “Promise me you won’t go there until we talk about this again, ok? It might be dangerous and we have to be careful.”

“I’ll talk to you at circle next month then,” Tobal said. “I need to go back there before it gets snowed in.”

He left Rafe and went back to watch the other initiations. There were five initiations this month. Sarah was going to be initiated with Melanie’s newbie, Butch and Becca’s newbie, Mike. There were two others Tobal didn’t know. It was going to be a long night at circle again.

Tobal couldn’t stop the thoughts running through his head. He looked around the circle at some of the others he knew. Char was watching her newbie get initiated. Apparently Char and Wayne had broken up. Tobal looked around and didn’t see Wayne at circle and wondered if he was at sanctuary waiting for his own newbie.

It was late after the initiations when he finally caught up with Melanie and told her about his plan. He was relieved when she seemed to like it.

“That’s a good idea,” she told him. “This past month was hard for me and I don’t think Butch is ready for winter yet. I don’t even know if I am. I didn’t want to tell you but I am a bit worried. We didn’t do a lot of winter stuff when you trained me and food is getting harder to come by. I know how to make snow shoes and winter clothing in theory but it’s a lot different in real life.”

“I’m pretty much the same way,” he told her. “Rafe taught me at the end of winter when we really didn’t need anything. I made some things then and they’ve been sitting at Rafe’s ever since. I need to stop by there and pick some of that stuff up to help me remember. That’s why I thought maybe a bunch of us could get ready for winter together. I was going to ask Nick too if that is alright with you.”

“Sure,” she said. “Maybe we can have Becca and Mike over too. I know she was having the same troubles because I talked with her earlier this morning and she was worried about Mike too. She was thinking she might have to hole up for the winter with him before he gets a chance to solo because he wouldn’t be ready to survive a real blizzard yet.”

“Well, I hadn’t really thought about anyone but you, Butch, Nick, and Sarah,” he replied. He really wasn’t keen on the idea of having Becca around that much. It was uncomfortable for him and her presence always seemed to prevent his thoughts from going where they should.
“Oh, please!” She pleaded. “Becca really likes you. You should get to know her a little better and give her a chance. It would be fun!”

Tobal felt his face getting red. “I’ll see what Nick has to say first. He should have a say in this too.”

“Ok, maybe I’ll talk to him too,” she smiled and gave him a big hug and a kiss. “You are so nice to all of us.”

Tobal didn’t feel so nice. In fact he was hoping he could talk Nick into saying seven people would be too many. Still he couldn’t help feeling a little guilty as he searched around the camp looking for Nick. He didn’t see him or Tara either. Not knowing what else to do he went over to the beer barrel for a brew.

When Tobal tracked down Nick later that night, he was with Tara. Tobal congratulated Nick on his solo and proposed his plan. Nick wasn’t really interested. He had just soloed and was happy about it. He didn’t think he needed anymore training and was partnering up with Tara for the winter anyway. He needed to be helping her get their winter camp together.

“Tara, I thought you were training someone this month?”

She regarded him with cool eyes and said, “I thought you were training someone this month too. What does it matter if I have Nick over this month when you are going to have six people at your place. I wouldn’t point too many fingers if I were you,” she cautioned. “Maybe you should just mind your own business.”

With a glum face he found Melanie and Becca and told them Nick wouldn’t be joining them. Becca was so excited about the plan she jumped up giving him a big hug and a kiss. As she kissed him, he felt an electric spark that tingled his ears and worked its way down to his tail bone. She had already turned and was hugging Melanie so she didn’t see his face turn white in shock.

He was not at all comfortable with the way he felt around her. She jangled his nerves and shook him up. He still hadn’t dared explore his feelings about her. Forcing his mind back to the subject at hand Tobal suggested they all go to his base camp for the next month and prepare for winter by working together. They agreed to start out the next day after breakfast.

PS: I have started a new Facebook discussion group called Organic Gnosticism. Feel free to join if you are interested.

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