Anarchistbanjo's World

Chapter 26

Llana looked at everyone in the firelight. “Are there anymore questions?”

“So I meet you here next month at the same time?” Tobal asked.

“Right.” She said. “ And I will give you the training you will need to train Becca and Melanie.”

That was the end of the meeting and they chatted the rest of the evening sharing what had been going on in each other’s lives. Llana was very concerned about the medics being kicked off the mountain and the decision to build a permanent base at the old original gathering spot. She urged everyone to be careful.

The lake was beautiful and they spent a lot of time skinny dipping in the cold waters of the lake and just lying on the beach in the sun watching the air transports bring workers and supplies to the gathering spot. With so much activity it seemed hard to believe there was any danger in the area.

Melanie seemed like a sister to him and he was deeply in love with Becca. She was hot and their love was passionate. The days passed and before he knew it he had to head back to the cavern for the new moon tournaments. He urged the girls to leave the lake and warned them not to get too close to the waterfall. Two people were a lot more vulnerable than three were and it might not be a good idea to stay in the area. The girls didn’t seem to take his concerns too seriously but suggested they might look up Nikki and see how she was doing with her last newbie. As Tobal left the girls told him they were planning on leaving the next day.

He was looking forward to his first regular meeting as a Journeyman. He found himself in the area a day early and thought he would check the camp out a little more. He was surprised to find several Journeymen already there. They welcomed him warmly.

Unlike circle which was abandoned each month there was always someone at this camp guarding it, hanging around in the caverns, socializing, sparring or doing some type of assigned duty. It was mainly a hangout since the task of Journeyman was to be victorious is six tournament fights. They had a lot of time on their hands.

Staying in the camp was a way to socialize, work out and practice. There was also a hot springs to soak in and that was a luxury for sore and aching muscles. The tournaments were always scheduled early in the day and the initiations were scheduled closer to midnight. That was why Tobal had seen no tournaments on the day of his initiation. One of the caverns had been set aside as a fighting arena. It had soft powdered sand on the floor like beach sand.

There were a few medics wearing red tunics that acted as judges or referees as well as emergency medics in case something went wrong. They took care of the many minor injuries that were common during these fights.

As the newbie of the group it didn’t take long for Tobal to realize how it worked. The referee laid out the ground rules of which there were basically none. Anyone could challenge anyone to a fight. A person could not be challenged any more than one time in a day. However, a person could challenge as many people as they wanted to. It was set up in this way so if a person got beaten badly they would not have to fight again that night. But if they won and felt like it they could challenge someone else.

The fight lasted until one or the other was forced out of the fifteen-foot circle that was marked in the sand or until one of the combatants couldn’t continue.

The oldest members by seniority got the first challenge and the youngest ones got the last challenges if they hadn’t already been challenged. Generally the older members took advantage of the inexperienced members by challenging them.

The first challenge was an old veteran that was burly and bearded. He was not well liked it seemed. He challenged Joy. It was easy to see why the grizzly had chosen Joy. He was almost twice Joy’s size. He clearly expected the match to be over quickly. Joy surprised him by being a lot faster, more elusive and more aggressive than Tobal had realized.

The brute simply couldn’t make contact with Joy and three times went sprawling as Joy tripped him during a rush but he always managed to fall within the rope circle and got back to his feet quickly. Every now and then a wild swing would connect and Joy would stagger. She simply was too light to do much damage to him. Tobal could see she was tiring and wasn’t surprised when a wild arm knocked her to the floor. The brute then sat on her and held her motionless until the referee called time and declared the brute to be the winner.

Joy really had trouble with this degree because of her small size and young age. So far she had only won three fights. The good news was that she was getting much better at fighting and she was also getting larger and stronger as she grew older. She was learning about fighting the hard way, by loosing. Most of the older Journeymen had already challenged Joy and won. They couldn’t challenge her again. That meant gradually Joy was being more evenly matched as she grew in skill. The burly veteran she had just fought was undoubtedly one of the few older ones that hadn’t yet been able to challenge her. The entire thing made Tobal feel slightly sick.

Next up was Ox. Ox smiled maliciously as he challenged Tobal.

“You don’t have a knife to save you this time.” He sneered.

Tobal felt a weak sick feeling in his stomach and realized he was probably in for quite a beating. Ox still held a grudge against Tobal from that time in sanctuary when they had argued over Melanie. Tobal had only saved himself from a beating by instinctively pulling a knife and threatening the Ox with it. This time though no weapons were allowed. It was simply hand to hand warfare with no rules.

Tobal assumed a boxer’s stance and tried a few jabs to no effect. Cautiously they circled the ring looking for an opening. Then the Ox put down his head and charged straight at Tobal. He tried moving out of the way but was caught by a huge hairy arm that turned him around. Next a hammer exploded in the pit of his stomach and solar plexus doubling him up. He felt the bile rise in his throat as all the fight ran out of him. He lay in agony on the cave floor gasping for breath curled up in the fetal position trying to protect his stomach from further damage. Dimly he heard the referee call out time. Tobal had just lost his first match in less than two minutes. His eyes were stinging with tears.

Tobal was surprised when Joy re-challenged the brute from the first fight. It was easy to see there was no such thing as fairness in these matches. Anybody was fair game and the smaller and weaker got picked on more often than the bigger and stronger ones. If you were big and powerful things generally went your way. It didn’t seem right but life was unfair at times and the strong often did win. It was brutal survival of the fittest in it’s most primitive form and wasn’t very pretty.

Tobal tasted blood in his mouth as he sat watching Joy. She handled herself remarkably well this time and it was easy to see she had more stamina than the brute. She found an opening and finished the match by landing a kick solidly in the groin of the brute to the applause of the watching crowd. It was then that Tobal realized he had to be really careful. He had to learn a heck of a lot more about fighting than he knew right now. He also realized Joy was right in fighting after her first defeat. It was the only chance she really had to move ahead and it didn’t cost her anything.

He looked over the unchallenged members of the group carefully. Being a looser he had the opportunity to challenge and in a spark of anger challenged one of the remaining members that hadn’t fought yet. In a burst of fury and lightning movements he had tripped and thrown the person out of the ring over the rope. The referee called the match and Tobal was the winner. In a flash of sportsmanship he went over and helped the other person back to his feet and they started talking together.

“Man, what got into you?” The other person said. “You were like a demon or something. I never even had a chance. It was all over before I knew what was happening.”

“That’s how my fight with Ox went.” He laughed. “I never saw it coming either.”

His name was Jake and soon he and Tobal were hanging out together sparring and learning everything they could from any of the others that were willing to spend some time training with them. Tobal really sucked at fighting and it was good to team up with someone willing to work hard with him. They spent most of the next two weeks sparring every day for hours. They mercilessly drove themselves to the point of exhaustion. It seemed to Tobal that he was always stiff and bruised but when circle finally came he was ready for it and felt that he needed a little break.

While the tournaments were brutal, the initiations were beautiful in their own way. Tobal watched in fascination as the circle was cast widdershins and the pentagram was drawn upside down. He realized the ritual was almost the same as the one used in the Apprentice degree except reversed and backward. As the power was raised, it felt different and had a harder edge to it.

The primal earth energy of the Journeyman degree was much different than the spiritual light energy of the Apprentice degree. It was more visceral and seemed more magickal. The images of the Lord and Lady seemed more real and it was as if they were really there in the circle. He heard their voices urging him to get up and fight after the Ox had slammed him to the ground but had not been able to get back up.

Watching the initiations he saw them beside the candidates after they had given up fighting the six dark hooded figures. His parents kneeled beside the candidate as the circle began to move widdershins and the High Priest and High Priestess bestowed their blessings upon the initiate. Then it seemed as if they merged and flowed into the candidate and disappeared.

Later he asked Ellen about these things and she was interested in what he saw. Apparently he was able to see things even the High Priest and High Priestess had trouble seeing or feeling. More correctly he was seeing and hearing what a High Priest or High Priestess was supposed to be able to see and hear. She was excited about his natural talent and he spoke about some of the exercises and meditations that Crow and Llana had taught him. He didn’t mention his belief that the Lord and Lady were his parents. That would be too much.

There was no requirement for him to go to circle but he always felt it was very important to show up and see how his Apprentice friends were doing and celebrate with them as they trained and soloed their own trainees. Melanie and Becca would be getting their sixth chevrons and he didn’t want to miss that. He was also looking forward to some quiet time with Becca.

He arrived just in time to change into his black robe and take part in the initiation ceremony as a guard. He didn’t have time to look for Becca or talk with any of his friends and none of them showed up during the day to chat. It was mid July and hot. Becca and Melanie usually looked him up at least once during the day and he had a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was wrong.

He tried not to worry as he and Joy made sure the candidates were properly welcomed into the clan and later prepared for their initiation.

This time he was the one that cut the gray robe and shortened it to become a tunic. He remembered his own Clansman initiation and felt satisfaction as he cut away the fabric of the tunic. It was the first time he had cut a tunic and it was kind of ragged in spots and high. He might have cut the tunic a little short but she was good looking and had nice legs. The shortened tunic looked good on her.

There were eight candidates and later the new clansmen were taken to the sweat lodge for purification and left to meditate. It was a long day and the eight initiations seemed to drag on forever.

After the last initiate was gone he headed toward the circle and noticed that both Melanie’s and Becca’s students had returned from their solos. They were hanging out by the beer barrel but he still didn’t see Melanie or Becca. He walked over to congratulate both of them on their solos and asked where the girls were. The look on both of their faces told him immediately that something was wrong. They were surprised he hadn’t heard. Yesterday rogues had attacked both Melanie and Becca. Becca had been raped and badly beaten. Medics had taken her to sanctuary. Melanie had gone with her to make sure she was all right.

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He was heading toward the beer barrel when he ran into Wayne and Char. They looked gloomy and were thinking about quitting the program.

“Why don’t you talk to Crow first?” He suggested. “I’ve heard he is taking a group back to the village. Maybe you can check the village out. I was there last month and it was a pretty neat place.”

Char looked doubtful. “I can’t imagine why we would want to live in some primitive village. Still.” She nodded. “We can treat it like a vacation and see what happens.”

Wayne nodded in agreement. “By then the bottleneck about newbies might be over and there might be enough for us to train. He shook his head in frustration. I can’t bring myself to wait in line for an entire month just to get a newbie.” Wayne held Char closer putting an arm around her waist. “We’ve got some catching up to do anyway. Going out to the village might just be a good idea.”

Tobal hoped he hadn’t made a mistake suggesting they go to the village with Crow and the others. Wayne and Char were just simple people that he liked and trusted. Maybe after they found out more about what was going on they might reconsider leaving the program. He moved on looking for Becca.

He saw Melanie and Becca chatting with some others by the drum circle. They were both in high spirits when he joined them. They partied into the night and talked about what they were going to do for the next month while they waited for their solos to become official and they could receive their sixth chevrons. They didn’t have anything to do and Tobal suggested they all go down to the lake and spend a few weeks swimming and having a good time. Tobal was willing to go along and the berries were ripe. He was ready for a vacation from all the fighting any way. The girls agreed and the conversation moved on to other things. Melanie was the first to ask.

“What have we missed about the City Council and the village?” Melanie asked. “We have been so busy the last two months that we missed your meetings.”

“Believe me, there is a lot to catch you up on.” he laughed. “Let’s go find out.”

“Where’s Llana?” Becca asked.

“That’s part of what you missed out on.” He smiled and kissed her. She didn’t ask any more questions.

They caught up with Rafe and Ellen and sat down to talk. It felt good to have Becca beside him again and he squeezed her hand gently. She glanced at him and smiled back. Tobal noticed Crow was talking with his own group and suspected they were talking about the bi-location and time travel thing. He noticed Char and Wayne were in the group listening intently. He thought about going over there and joining that group but decided against it. His own group had too many things they needed to talk about.

Ellen began the meeting with talk about what was happening with the City Council and the Counsel of Elders.

“We finally got together for a meeting.” Ellen told them. “It has been a very rough month for all of us and our lives are all completely changed.”

“That’s an understatement.” Rafe nodded. “Our entire world has been turned upside down.”

Ellen continued her story. “The City Council did some house cleaning and there were several new members in it that had not been at the last meeting. The mayor greeted us and apologized once more for the assassination attempt. He and the other council members were relieved that Howling Wolf was all right. All of the new City Council members had known and thought highly of Howling Wolf. That was why they had been selected for the City Council.

“It seemed that once a clansman, always a clansman. All of the members of the City Council had gone through the Sanctuary program and many had served on the Council of Elders at one time. The mayor assured us that the entire City Council was behind us and supported us.

Ellen continued. “This time General Grant was not there. The mayor said that the City Council had requested a Federation internal affairs investigation into the entire project but had not heard anything back yet. The bottom line was that General Grant denied any truth in what Howling Wolf had told the City Council and the City Council had concluded Howling Wolf was telling the truth and the general was lying. For that reason General Grant had not been invited to the meeting.”

Ellen smiled at Tobal and continued. “Howling Wolf appeared at the meeting and offered to teach the bi-location ability and time travel ability to the city if they separated from the military project. He made it clear there was no need for the dangerous machinery and the inhuman treatment of having human beings wired into it. Howling Wolf also called for the release of Ron and Rachel Kane so their spirits could find rest and peace after these years of inhuman torment and torture.”

“That’s when things got interesting.” Ellen said. “Howling Wolf disappeared and Adam Gardner appeared in the room with a full pack of things. He introduced himself to all of us and passed several items around the room for inspection. He said most of them had come from the past but he showed us a couple interesting items that could have only been from the future. He confirmed that he was working with Howling Wolf in continuing the research and training that Ron and Rachel Kane had developed. He also said that explorations into different time periods was continuing.”

“By this time we were all quite impressed.” Ellen chuckled. The City Council asked for proof that Howling Wolf and Adam Gardner could actually train others and that’s when Llana appeared in the room. She told us plans were currently under way for training the first group of time travelers. They would be trained in secret locations known only to themselves.”

“My COM unit went off. I answered and found out that all the medics had been kicked off the mountain. We no longer had access to the emergency room or to any supplies. General Grant had evicted us from the mountain. We were not even allowed to get our personal belongings. The City Council was just as shocked as we were and with Howling Wolf’s approval decided to use the village as a temporary base until a new permanent base could be built by the lake.

“We decided that a permanent base would be set up at the old gathering spot where the massacre had been and requested the City Council provide supplies and communication equipment. The City Council voted and agreed to help. The City Council promised us immediate supplies and provisions so we could continue our medic work uninterrupted. We were to take any serious injuries straight into the City for emergency treatment. The city was also going to raise some permanent modern facilities there for our own use so we would be able to function during the winter.”

“Most of us spent that first week hauling supplies to the old gathering spot.” Rafe grumbled. “The only good thing is that there were no rogue attacks we know of. We are fairly well settled in now but things are totally different and we are getting our training from the hospital inside Heliopolis.”

“I leave for a couple months and look what happens.” Becca quipped. “Everything falls apart. Do you think there is any danger from General Grant and his rogues?”

“There is really no way of knowing.” Ellen told her. “We are hoping the internal affairs investigation will prevent things from getting any worse.”

The meeting gave them all plenty to think about and Becca kept asking him questions long after they had gone to bed. He found the only way to get her to stop talking was by kissing her. Kissing her led to it’s own problems and it was a long time before they finally fell asleep in each other’s arms.

It felt good to be with Becca and not have anything pressing to do. They had almost two weeks before he needed to be at the Journeyman circle and decided to make the best of it. It was mid June and the weather was perfect. Melanie joined them and they all headed down to the lake for a fun vacation. First though they needed to meet up with Llana at his winter base. It was on the way to the lake and a good place to rest.

It was evening when Llana helloed the camp and approached the campfire. By this time Becca and Melanie were caught up on the situation and determined to be part of Tobal’s group that Llana was training. That made Rafe, Ellen, Tobal, Becca, Melanie and possibly Nikki. No one had asked her yet. Tobal thought Tyrone should be approached about it and Melanie suggested Butch. The obvious problem was that training newbies allowed no time for the extensive training Llana would be giving them. They could be asked but their training needed to wait until they were Journeymen.

“Tobal has already done two months of training with Crow and one month of training with me.” She told Becca and Melanie. “That means he is ahead of everyone else and can help each of you catch up. I think the best thing will be for me to teach Tobal and then he will teach each of you. You can all practice together and help each other on a daily basis.”

Tobal looked at the others and asked. “What about Ellen and Rafe?”

“I will have to find a way to teach each of them individually.” She said.

Tobal nodded, “Rafe wants you to help him check out some forbidden areas. He has them marked on a map and was thinking he could fly you into them on his air sled and drop you off. Then you could bi-locate out of there after you found out why it was forbidden. You don’t have a med-alert bracelet and would not show up on a monitor.”

Llana pursed her lips thoughtfully. “That’s a good idea. Tell him to meet me at my old base camp two days after the new moon at noon. See if both Ellen and Rafe can meet me there at the same time. I can train them together and make further arrangements to meet with them.”

“Have you time traveled yet?” Becca asked curiously.

“Just once.” Llana smiled. “It was really awesome but frightening at the same time. It’s really quite a bit like bi-location once you get the hang of it. Grandfather and Adam want to check out all of the areas first and make sure they are safe before they take us there. They are trying to determine the extent of General Grant’s activities in other time periods.”

She continued. “It’s a problem right now because if anything happens to Grandfather or Adam we loose our ability to train people to time travel. That’s why Crow and I want to go at least once to as many time periods as possible and learn how to get there and back again. We only have twenty-three time periods available to us and don’t want to loose those. No one knows how many general Grant has discovered in the last twenty years.”

“How long will it take us to learn.” Becca persisted.

“We are hoping somewhere between a year and two years. Very much depends upon the intensity of your training and your natural aptitude for it. We are hoping Crow’s group and our group will be ready at the same time so we can work together and help each other out.”

“What will Crow’s group be doing?” Melanie asked in puzzlement.

“They are going to leave the sanctuary program and get rid of their med-alert bracelets so they can’t be tracked or monitored and will be doing the same type of training we will be doing. They will probably be a little faster at the training than we will because we also have to stay within the system and do the work of Journeymen and medics. This group won’t have any contact with Crow’s group at all until training is complete and we can all at least bi-locate.”

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Chapter 25

“You claim to add your light with ours but you have only led us further into darkness and danger making our entire community more vulnerable. How will you defend us in our weakness?”

Once more Tobal had no reply and his guide remained silent. He was led roughly to the center of the circle and held pinned between two hooded guards.

The High Priest continued.” The Apprentice degree is of spiritual protection and growth. In your progress through that degree you have been magickally protected from evil influences that might have otherwise entered your life. As a member of our sacred circle you will always have protection from the evil of the outside world but we can never protect you from the evil that is within your own nature and within each one of us. You must learn to master this evil, the weakness and the fear that is within you and that prevents you from acting when there is need to act and that causes you to act blindly and in destructive ways. This is the work of the Journeyman.

In this degree the evil and wickedness that is within your heart will be awakened. You will need to confront and master the demons you carry in secret. You must combat these inner demons with your own Inner Light or they will become your masters. Only when you have mastered your own inner demons will you have truly earned the right to this degree. Again this is a life time work we must all face. Symbolically this inner battle is marked by the success in defeating six members of this degree in combat. After defeating six members of this degree you will be considered eligible for the 3rd and final degree of Master that leads to citizenship. Are you ready to continue?”

“Yes.”

“Then let the fight begin!”

Six dark hooded figures stepped forth from the circle and stood in menacing silence as the High Priest, High Priestess and the two guards moved away. His guide took his torch and left him alone within the circle. Tobal stood silently in confusion.

“To continue in this degree you must defeat six members of this degree in combat and you have agreed to do this. Let the fight begin!”

Gradually Tobal realized he was expected to fight all six of the figures that stood silently around him. He pulled himself into a fighting stance and began circling defensively. None of the cloaked figures moved. He circled closer toward one of the figures in a threatening manner and tried a feint with his right. The figure still didn’t move. Encouraged Tobal struck the figure lightly on the shoulder and suddenly doubled up in pain as he received a savage punch in the belly that knocked him to the floor of the cave fighting waves of nausea.

He struggled to his feet and gazed silently at the six unmoving figures. He didn’t know what to do. It looked as though he was in for a beating and there was no way around it. Moving toward a second figure he took a savage thrust only to find his fist parried as something hard slammed into the side of his head and he saw stars. Picking himself off the ground once more he felt blind rage begin to build inside him and he rushed and grappled with a third hoping to push him over only to find to his horror that the figure was solid as stone. He was embraced solidly in a crushing bear hug that hurt his ribs before being thrown him to the floor with such violence the wind was knocked out of him.

Tobal had never been much of a fighter and having the wind knocked out of him totally took any fight out of him that might have been there and he refused to get up sobbing in frustration.

“He refuses to fight! He refuses to fight!” A voice cried out from the edge of the circle.

“Yes, he refuses to fight!” Came a murmur from the other hooded figures and the entire circle began moving silently widdershins. After one complete circle the drums began to pound and echo eerily within the cave as the black cloaked figures started coming nearer and nearer. At times a dancing figure would strike Tobal a light but stinging blow on the head or body. He couldn’t see any of the faces and recognized none of the dancers.

The energy within the circle all felt wrong and it was building. He felt fear and panic begin to grip him at the base of his tailbone and start it’s slow climb up his spine. Then he felt his own energy slip and begin to turn in this counter clockwise direction. What were they doing to him? He could feel the energy grow and grow and it felt strange and dark, not bad or evil but dangerous and menacing.

The High Priest then placed his hands on Tobal’s head, his voice echoing weirdly within the chamber.

“In the name of the Lord and Lady I draw the dark energy of the earth up into your physical body and up into your soul that you might become master of yourself and Journeyman.”

Tobal felt a weird tingling and warmth as a glowing yellow green energy pooled around his feet and gradually moved upward filling his body and finally leaving out the top of his head going up into the spiritual light. He also felt the spirit of his father enter into him as if taking possession of his body and momentarily looking out of his eyes.

“You have done well.” Said his father. “We will wait for you.”

The High Priestess then stepped forward and placing her hands upon his head directed energy into his aching body. Tobal recognized her as Misty.

“In the name of the Lord and Lady, I draw the dark energy of the earth into your physical body and into your soul that you might become a master of yourself and Journeyman.”

This time it was a different type of energy, to Tobal it felt a darker and more threatening energy that carried frightening images with it. It was a feminine Goddess energy that curled up around his legs with tendrils entering his heart and choking his throat, filling his eyes and his mind. It was like a giant tree that grew out of the earth itself filled with the power of life and death reaching through him and above him toward the spiritual sun as it’s final destination.

Then his heart ached as he felt the spirit of his mother enter into his body and felt as if she were holding him in her arms protecting him with her aura and strength. As quickly as she had entered he felt her leaving with a kiss and a whispered “be strong”.

At the same moment he felt his father holding his mother’s hand and felt the love they had for each other and the love they had for him. He rejoiced in the knowledge as the energy slowly sank deep into his very bones and he knew something had changed inside of him forever.

The High Priest continued. “Are you ready to receive wisdom and be nourished by life.”

“Yes.” Tobal mumbled through a split lip. He was helped to his feet.

“The first and most important lesson is that there are times in life when you must fight for what you believe and there are times not to fight. Learn to choose your battles and if you fight, then fight to win giving all that you have. When you do this you will be respected even if you should be defeated in battle as must sometimes happen to each of us. There is no shame is loosing a battle. There is shame in not giving all that you have.”

“The second lesson.” He continued. “Is that fighting is hard and thirsty work!”

“Let’s party!”

A throaty welcome went up and echoed in the cavern chamber as hoods were thrown back and Tobal was half dragged and half carried into another chamber where food and drink had been prepared. There was a general feeling of good will and welcome as he was hugged and congratulated by people he recognized but hadn’t seen for a long time.

Rafe was there pounding him on the back and laughing as Tobal winced in pain.

“Thought you would never get here!” He shouted above the noise of the crowd.

Ellen was there too giving him a hug and a kiss.

Tobal stayed for a few days exploring the caverns and talking to people. He retrieved the items belonging to his parents and felt better wearing them once more. He spent a lot of time just getting caught up on what had been going on with others that had become 2nd degree members before him.

After a few days his supply of trail food was growing slim and he knew he had to get going. He was growing restless. On the third day he decided to just go out on his own and process what had happened and what it all meant to him. After saying his farewells to his new brothers and sisters he set off for his base camp.

Tobal’s black tunic felt a bit strange and jarring to him at first, he had grown so accustomed to the grey ones. There was also the shock of pushinging himself as hard as possible for an entire year living off the land and training newbies and now not having anything to do. Time just seemed to drag and he was not looking forward to his first fight a month from now.

He was also worried about what he had found out about his parents and the thought that they might still be hooked up to some strange machine and kept alive through life support. He found that he didn’t want to believe it. He wished to think of them as the Lord and Lady just as Crow had taught him.

The midsummer celebration at circle was a welcome change. The weather was hot but fair and sunny and he almost wished he were training a newbie. As a new journeyman he got his first duties which were to act as guard for the Apprentice initiations. He had already expected this and was not surprised. He got there early in the morning and changed into his black robes. From that point on he was on duty and not relieved until the last newbie was initiated late that night. It was a long day and he really missed being at the circle and being with Becca.

Even though he was not at the circle he did hear the news. Sarah, Anne, Derdre, Seth and Crow each proclaimed their newbies ready to solo. This time the elders gave their approval. Tyrone, Zee, Kevin and Butch each had newbies to initiate but that had been expected since they had spent the entire month waiting for newbies. The surprise was ten newbies to initiate. Becca and Melanie had each not only gotten newbies to initiate but had both proclaimed them ready to solo. The Elders agreed.

Melanie and Becca each received their fifth chevrons. Nikki was not there but had received her fourth. Tara and Nick were not there either and he thought they were probably at sanctuary also.

Becca gave him a brief kiss and hug when she brought her last newbie to the guard post. She was the one that told him Rafe was now one of the Council of Elders. She was glowing and happy.

“We’ll talk later.” She promised and held him close. Then she kissed him and went looking for Melanie who had already dropped her newbie off with Tobal earlier.

Nikki had lost out and was still waiting at sanctuary with some others for her last newbie. To everyone’s sorrow Mike had quit the program and so had one of the other Apprentices that Tobal didn’t remember. Butch took it hardest since he had been close friends with Mike.

Later, after the initiations were over Tobal walked into the circle area for the first time dressed in his black robes. As Tobal mingled and chatted with his old friends they congratulated him and were glad to see him but he couldn’t help but notice how some of his friends looked at him a little differently now that he was wearing black instead of gray.

“I’m still the same person.” He thought to himself. But then realized that he really wasn’t the same person. His old friends had mostly been Apprentices and while he had known a couple Masters like Rafe and Ellen, most of the time he hung around with the same group of people. There were a lot of the newbies that didn’t know who he was. He noticed that some of his brothers and sisters in black tended to keep to themselves and hoped he would always feel friendly toward the newbies and Apprentices and not distant himself too much from them.

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Chapter 23

It was Llana that caught the wolf bitch in her snare and feeling sorry for the orphaned pups convinced Tobal they should try raising them as pets. It seemed like a crazy idea but she did it anyway. She had a primitive animalistic aura and sensuality that was almost overpowering and frightening. Gradually Tobal felt some of that developing within himself.

The cubs stayed with them and didn’t have the instinctive fear of fire most wild animals have. They loved Llana and wanted to stay near her. They barely tolerated Tobal.

They spent the days out in the wilderness in extreme physical exertion combined with drawing energy from the earth and recharging themselves. In one day they did more than Tobal had ever been able to do in three days. She taught him to lope at a tireless mile eating pace they would keep up for entire days at a time stopping only to recharge and then move on. They practiced sending physical earth energy out and taking physical earth energy in. They absorbed it from the earth and living things and gave it back to the earth and living things. His physical body began to live and breathe physical earth energy.

These were the things she taught him about. The life force and energy within all things and how to feel it and tap into it. She taught him how to purify his own energies and work with them to make them strong. She said she couldn’t teach him much more until he had completed the Journeyman degree.

Nikki, Melanie and Becca each had their fourth newbies to solo. But Tobal made heads turn as he proclaimed Llana ready for both initiation and to solo. She was questioned at length by the elders and then approved to solo. There was a bit of grumbling but Tobal didn’t care. Llana was his last newbie and next month he would be initiated as a Journeyman. He was happy and that was it. Tyrone had soloed and he received his fifth chevron.

Green grass was starting to show in places and the melting snow made tiny rivulets of water running down toward the lower foothills. The weather was beautiful and it was warm in the afternoon.

Tobal watched as Angel acted as High Priestess. Tobal was surprised to see Dirk in red robes training as High Priest for the circle. It felt good and comfortable to see people he knew and trusted advancing into these positions.

He found Tyrone and asked him about his solo. Tyrone laughed and said it had gone well except for the wolves howling every time he played the fiddle. He had gotten lonesome for company though and was looking forward to training a newbie of his own.

The big news at camp was that Sarah, Anne, Derdre, Seth and Crow had all returned from the village and been waiting at sanctuary for newbies. Since they had been waiting for two weeks it was unlikely there would be enough newbies to go around. Several members had gone to sanctuary only to find a large line of people waiting for newbies. Zee was pissed, Kevin was pissed, Mike and Butch were pissed, Tara and Nick were pissed, Wayne and his student were pissed, Char and her student were pissed. They had all been hoping for newbies. Now Becca, Melanie and Nikki were going to be looking for newbies too!

Zee and Kevin had decided to stay at sanctuary with Crow and his group. The others had come to circle steaming mad and needing to vent. They were glad the kids had come back from the village but it struck them wrong that Crow and the others could spend a cozy winter in the village and then just waltz back here and get newbies in the spring. Tobal’s sympathies were with Crow and his friends. They had been at sanctuary when the newbies were and that was what mattered. He had camped out more than once waiting for newbies.

He hardly saw Becca at all. She was there to proclaim her newbie ready to solo and then came up and kissed him.

“I’m going to sanctuary,” she said simply. “If I leave right now I can be in line ahead of these others.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her against him. “I’m sorry it has to be this way. You’ve only got two more newbies to train. Then we can be together all we want.”

Her green eyes flashed as she smiled at him. “I’m going to hold you to that. You better really mean it.”

“I mean it,” he whispered. “Now you’d better go so you’ll beat Nikki and Melanie. You know they will be right on your tail.”

Becca laughed, “We’re all going together. If we need to we will draw straws to see who goes first.”

He gave her a final hug and kiss and then watched as she headed toward where Nikki and Melanie were waiting for her at the edge of the gathering spot. He waved at them and they waved back. He missed Becca and didn’t really feel like talking to anyone else so he kept to himself during circle and the initiations.

Later it was only Ellen and Rafe that were there to talk about what had been going on between the Circle of Elders, the village and the City Council. The others were probably on their way to sanctuary to try for newbies. Tobal simply felt fortunate he was done with all of it. Ellen told her version of what had happened the past week when they had gone back to meet with the City Council.

“This time we were expected and warmly welcomed. They even had a conference room set up with seating for everyone, not just the City Council. The Mayor welcomed us and then introduced a Federation officer named General Grant.”

Ellen looked at Tobal and Rafe but neither had heard of him before. She continued. “General Grant addressed the room and reported there was classified research taking place within the mountain complex that he was not at liberty to discuss. He said several members of the city were involved in this research and knew of it. I saw several City Council members glance at each other nodding. In fact, the general continued, they recruited heavily from the city itself for people to be involved in the project due to the unique training each of them had been given before being granted citizenship.”

“Again there were several nods around the room and I was able to tell that none of this was new to the members of the City Council,” Ellen said. “ Then the general categorically denied that the classified project had anything at all to do with the lake or what had happened there. The military complex in the mountain had nothing to do with rogue attacks on clansmen and the village had nothing to fear from them. He was deeply hurt at the unfounded allegations and hoped improved communication would prevent further misunderstandings.”

Ellen’s eyes flashed. “I asked why we had been ordered to keep Crow and his group from the village and what made the general think they had the right to order us to do anything. The general reddened and said a mistake had been made. We were civilians and should not have been ordered to do anything like that. They should have sent a military unit.”

“When the City Council asked why it had been so important to keep Crow and the others away from the village the general said it had been considered important to preserve the integrity of the training itself and not compromise the intent of the requirements of citizenship. Open communication with the village would jeopardize the quality of the training the Apprentices were receiving and complicate the duties of the medics.”

Ellen stopped a moment before continuing. Her eyes were flashing in anger. “The general went on to assure the room there had been no bad intent and the interests of the city had been foremost in all of these activities. The mayor seemed content with this and asked the City Council and any of the circle members if they had anything to add before adjourning. I was furious at the general’s denial of military involvement and the City Council’s apparent acceptance of his explanation. But I knew when I was outclassed. There was simply nothing more that I could do.”

She continued, “The mayor was about to adjourn the meeting when something impossible happened. Howling Wolf appeared in the middle of the room out of nowhere. He simply appeared out of thin air and addressed all of us.”

“He told us that General Grant was telling lies. Then he said he would tell us the true story. He said that thirty years ago Ron and Rachel Kane were citizens of Heliopolis and involved in the creation of the social experiment we are all familiar with called Sanctuary. Their main circle and gathering spot for the Apprentice degree was located at the lake by the waterfall. The Journeyman and the Master locations are the same today as they were then.”

Ellen paused before continuing. “Howling Wolf said the social experiment was funded by the Federation and closely monitored within the mountain complex. It’s commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kane, brother to Ron Kane. Ron and Rachel Kane were the parents of Tobal Kane who is now soon to enter Journeyman status. There were whispers around the room at this as several City Council members looked at each other.”

“Then Howling Wolf explained the Sanctuary program was just a front for a type of much more advanced research, namely time travel. Some gasps filled the room and I noticed there were several white faces including the general’s.”

She looked at Tobal. “He said Ron and Rachel Kane created a machine capable of sending a person forward in time into the future or backward into the past. The problem was Ron and Rachel were the only ones that could use it. It wouldn’t work for anyone else and no one knew why.”

“Ron and Rachel continued travelling forward and backward into time. The scientists continued to think of way to improve the machine. Ron and Rachel believed it was a human problem and not a machine problem and worked in secret with a small handful of trusted friends. They developed techniques that would prepare an individual for time travel. The most important was the technique of bi-location.”

“Howling Wolf told us that he appeared in the room using bi-location techniques he learned from Ron and Rachel Kane and has been teaching to his own students since that time. There were gasps and hard looks on the faces of some of the City Council members.”

“He said the bi-location process does not require a machine. Time travel does not require a machine either. There was a small handful of people taught to how to time travel by linking with Ron and Rachel and then they were able to do it on their own without help. He said he knew of several others still living that were now doing this and teaching others how to do it.”

“Howling Wolf said the group was time traveling when the massacre at the gathering spot occurred. His wife and children were murdered and so was Sarah Gardner’s mother. Sarah is another Apprentice that is now teaching her second newbie to solo. Fortunately two of his grandchildren were not at the gathering spot and are alive today. They are also currently enrolled in the Sanctuary program. He told how stunned the group was when they arrived back at the gathering spot and found everyone murdered.”

“He then told how Ron and Rachel told them to flee. They were going to talk with Ron’s brother and find out what had happened. They agreed to meet at a specific location in history where they often met up before. The entire group fled and later tried meeting but Ron and Rachel never came. Howling Wolf got very angry and said his son and wife were hunted down and executed. He found out later that Ron and Rachel had been declared dead by his brother Harry and their son, Tobal was taken by his uncle to be raised.”

Ellen paused in her story to see how Tobal and Rafe were taking it. Tobal was very grim and Rafe looked almost ill. She continued.

“Howling Wolf told how their group had perfected time travel without the machine, but the scientists had been working on it separately. Ron and Rachel were involved in that part because their machine had been needed to locate time periods and initially propel a person into a specific time. Simple bi-location was not enough. The military believed time travel required the intense magnetic fields the machine produced and they didn’t know about the secret research done by the other group.”

“He told how Ron and Rachel solved the problem temporarily by wiring themselves into the circuit making it tolerable for other humans by acting as buffers for the energy. When they were wired into the circuit others could go through the gateway and time travel. Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kane was the first one to successfully go through the machine in that manner. This was an exciting scientific breakthrough and many excursions were made into the past and present doing research on the nature of time itself.”

“Soon regular trips were being made every week. Howling Wolf told us the problem was that Ron and Rachel needed to be wired into the circuit for the entire time that the operative was gone and it was very draining on them personally. That meant the operative could not stay in the past or future for an extended period of time the way Ron and Rachel were able to. The military needed operatives to spend larger portions of time away on missions. The military was intent on seeing if it was possible to alter history for political power and influence. At least that was the military dream. Ron and Rachel refused to take part in any tampering or deliberate altering historical events.”

Ellen laughed. “ Howling Wolf really had everyone in the room listening to him. I saw several faces on the City Council that were almost pure white. It was obvious he was telling us the truth. Then he told us Ron and Rachel remained the only ones that could successfully be wired into the circuit of the machine.

Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kane and his wife tried it with disastrous results. She died and he was paralyzed for life. Ron and Rachel were devastated and Howling Wolf said it was then they refused to cooperate with any more experiments involving the machine. They already knew time travel without the machine was possible and much safer. They believed there must be some safer way of initiating time travel to an unknown location without the machine.”

“It was about a week after their refusal to participate that their bodies were supposedly found floating in the lake by Lt. Col. Harry Kane. Howling Wolf explained to us how this could not be true since Harry Kane had just been paralyzed and was still in the hospital trying to deal with the loss of his wife. He had suffered a serious mental breakdown at that point.”

“Howling Wolf swept his eyes around the room looking at each of us. He said the simple truth was that Ron and Rachel Kane were taken prisoner and wired permanently into the machine against their will so the military could continue to operate it. By being hard wired into the machine longer missions were made possible so operatives could be gone for days at a time.”

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“I already went through this with Crow,” he protested. “You already know more than I do. I can’t teach you anything you don’t already know. It would be wrong to take credit for teaching you when I didn’t.”

She relaxed a little. “Is that all that’s bothering you?”

He nodded glumly.

“Let me ask you something,” she said quietly. “Do you have any doubt in your ability to train newbies in survival skills? Any doubt at all? Even the smallest?”

“No I don’t,” he said.

“Why not?”

“Last fall I had to give additional training to three of my newbies so they would be ready for winter. I thought they were trained well enough and then realized they weren’t so I took extra time and gave them more training.”

She nodded. “Nobody made you do that did they?”

“No.”

“What does the Council of Elders think of your training?”

“I’m one of the better trainers.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because the newbies I train are happier and healthier than a lot of the others. They also seem to make good trainers themselves and are mostly willing to train through the winter.”

She smiled at him. “Your parents created this program to bring people up to a certain skill level in both knowledge and demonstrated ability. Do you believe you have reached that skill level and are ready to move on to the next?”

“Yes I do.”

“But you can’t advance because the program will not allow early advancement even if you are already prepared correct?”

He nodded, “That’s right.”

“Well, I’m in the same situation,” she said. “I already know how to survive, how to defend myself and I am also a healer. I also know advanced techniques that my grandfather taught your parents and other advanced techniques that your parents in turn taught my grandfather.”

“Can you talk to my parents?” He interrupted.

“Yes,” she nodded biting her lower lip.

“Are they alive?”

“Tobal,” she said slowly with pain in her eyes. “Your parents are no longer human, and they are dying. They are asking for our help.”

“What do you mean, no longer human?” he shouted. “I see them and talk with them during circle.”

“What you see and talk with are their spirits,” she whispered. “They have developed their spirit bodies to the point they are almost physical. In fact, once their spirit bodies were physical and they could go anywhere they wished by changing their physical bodies to energy and teleporting instantly to where they wanted to go. They can’t do that anymore.”

She shuddered, “Your uncle captured them and imprisoned them. He wired them like electrical components into the circuitry of a machine and they have been kept alive artificially for over twenty years in special fluid filled tanks.”

“Tobal,” she said looking hard into his face with tears in her eyes. “I have traveled in the spirit to where they are kept imprisoned. Their physical bodies have mutated and become grossly deformed. Only their spirits remain human. They wish to be free of their physical bodies and become simply the Lord and Lady. But your uncle won’t let them die.”

“I need to see!” He sobbed in denial and fear. “I need to know for myself. I need to see them and talk with them. I need them to tell me.”

She put her arms around him as his shoulders shook and comforted him till he regained his composure.

Wiping angry tears from his eyes, he asked, “You’ll teach me?”

She held him against her breast. “I’ll teach you, Tobal. I promise.”

The first thing she taught him was the story of his parents and their classified research involving time travel. Ron and Rachel had built a matter transmission machine and tested it. This machine used powerful pulsating magnetic fields at certain resonant frequencies to create a gateway into time and space much like the ones in current use for matter transmission. The problem was that mineral and crystalline objects would work but organic materials would not.

After several years of research Ron and Rachel developed the first gateway or portal that allowed living matter to be transported through it to target locations and began using it themselves. This was an important military break through. It allowed troops to be transported instantly from one area to another and was immediately highly classified.

It was purely by accident the time traveling capability was developed. One of the giant capacitors malfunctioned while transmitting Ron and Rachel to a target location. It threw the entire machine out of phase and Ron and Rachel ended up in the 16th century.

When they didn’t appear at the target location retrieval was attempted and they were brought back successfully. They also brought some artifacts back with them. From that point on, the classified research became about time travel and not troop transmission.

By trial and error they were able to travel into the past and into the future and achieved access to twenty historical time periods and three future time periods. Each time period seemed to act as a nexus point in time and space. If the machine wasn’t keyed to a nexus point nothing happened.

It was like working random codes until you found one that worked. The process was slow and frustrating but also highly exciting at the same time. That was when the problems arrived. Ron and Rachel were able to go back in time through the machine but no one else could and live to tell about it. The machine did horrible things to those that tried, Drove them insane or deformed their bodies. No one knew why it only worked for his parents.

They had developed the necessary training programs to prepare other time travelers. But the machine only worked for Ron and Rachel. It was a classified military project and a team of scientists worked furiously to remodel the machine and make it work with other people.

It was only when both Ron and Rachel were hooked into the circuit with the machine at the same time and used as buffers that others were able to go through it. Tobal’s Uncle Harry was the first one to successfully time travel through the machine when it was hooked up in this fashion. He led a team through the machine several times to many previously unknown time periods in addition to those that your parents had discovered on their own.

There were problems with this because Ron and Rachel were not willing to be wired into the machine for hours at a time waiting for other time travelers to come and go. Trips into the past or future could only take two hours at the most and the drain on Ron and Rachel was severe. Their health suffered each time they hooked themselves into the machine and others used it.

Ron and Rachel were able to time travel themselves without any of those restrictions and could be away for weeks at a time. They felt it was more important they be allowed to make extended trips and do research than be confined wired to the machine so others could experience briefly what they could do for extended periods. They altered the machine and designed different programs searching for ways that others could use it.

Still the machine would only work if Ron and Rachel were wired into it. They tried wiring other time travelers into the machine and it killed them. It almost killed his Uncle Harry when he tried wiring himself and his wife into the machine. It did kill her and left his uncle paralyzed.

That was when his uncle went mad and had the gathering spot attacked and the villagers massacred. Ron and Rachel were seized and forcibly wired permanently into the machine and declared dead. That was when the program was officially closed down.

That was the story the Federation knew and was trying to keep secret. But there was much more to the story than that. There was an even greater part only Howling Wolf had known. Half way through the projects developmental stages Ron and Rachel were beginning to think that the problem was with the people and not with the machine itself. They discovered Howling Wolf and his secret shaman bi-location ability.

His parents thought this additional training was needed and started working in secret with Howling Wolf and a handful of others at the gathering spot on the lake. It was after Howling Wolf’s training on bi-location that they realized they no longer needed the machine to time travel to places they had already visited. They met in a secret place under the waterfall at the lake to do this training. It was where they would travel back in time and return with items to prove they had done it.

Howling Wolf needed help to time travel at first. Ron and Rachel had linked together with him and had made several trips back into different time periods. Later he had been able to go to those same locations but he was not able to go to new ones. It seemed the machine opened the gateway the first time and that once it was opened and a person properly attuned, they could travel through it at will. Even Ron and Rachel had needed the machine to open the gateway the first time to new locations.

At the lake the group discovered two people who had already been to a specific time period could take a third person without using the machine. Once that person had been taken and brought back they could make the journey on their own without help. Still they were only allowed access to the three future times and twenty historical times that Ron and Rachel had personally gone to. They were not able to go to the ones that had been discovered while Ron and Rachel were wired into the machine.

Llana had completed this training but her grandfather couldn’t link with her well enough to take her through by himself. He needed one other person to be able to do this. Both Ron and Rachel had linked with him and taken him through. There needed to be one more person to take Llana through without the machine and there were no others.

Howling Wolf thought they were all gone. All except Ron and Rachel, he and the others had called them the Lord and Lady. They were still there in the mountain complex held prisoner and alive. Things were not right because they were both ill and were both slowly dying.

Llana felt they needed her help and she needed their help to time travel. She had talked with them in the spirit and they had told her they would help her.

Then Llana spoke of the massacre at the lake and how the small group of people had been below in the cave time traveling when it had happened. Howling Wolf and the others had emerged from the cave only to find their families murdered. They had buried them in a mass grave and raised the pile of stones over the dead bodies. Afterward they had left not knowing whom to trust and knowing their very lives were in danger if they were ever found.

This was all news to Tobal and he was beginning to think she was crazy until he remembered Melanie had said something about time travel. He thought about the strange shop in Old Spokane with its “replicas” and suddenly he wasn’t sure about anything anymore. He hadn’t thought about Heliopolis as having the secret technology of time travel the Federation was willing to kill for. The Federation would kill to keep it and would kill to prevent it from getting into the wrong hands.

Suddenly he thought of Sarah’s father, Adam and knew Adam and Howling Wolf could teach Llana time travel if they did it together. They were both trained and could take her with them if they went together. They could also teach him if he were properly prepared. He thought about telling Llana about Adam and decided to wait until he had been trained so he could go with her at the same time. They didn’t need his parents to time travel but they might need to time travel to rescue his parents.

He thought of circle and the pagan rituals they practiced with the Lord and Lady. They represented much more than the old ways suddenly and he liked them that way. They were ways to communicate with his father and his mother who were still alive and needing his help. Then he thought about the 3rd degree and the medics flying around in air sleds and the med-alert bracelets they all wore and suddenly he felt a massive headache coming on.

Crow had taught Tobal how to work with spirit energies and open energy channels within his body. What Llana was teaching him was entirely different. She taught him how to reach deep within the depths of the earth for energy and security. She taught him how to use the energy of the earth to make himself stronger, how to stand against a tree and recharge himself after reaching the point of exhaustion. She also taught him how to control that energy and send it out.

He saw her one time walk up to a deer and pet it. Birds would come to her when she called them. Llana said the spirits of the plants and animals talked to her and told her what they wanted or how to make use of them. As the sap started running in the trees they collected maple sap to boil down for maple syrup and collected other newly sprouting plants and herbs for medicinal uses.

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Chapter 22

Tara and Nick were the next to join in the dance. Tara had always been into dance but this was the first time he had seen Nick get into it. Again Tobal was impressed at how the winter had matured Nick. Then he thought of the changes in his own life. He was not the child that had been dropped off at sanctuary almost a year ago.

He realized he had been here one year and he still had one more newbie to train. He was not going to beat Rafe’s record after all. Looking around the room he spied Mike and Butch talking with some girls and urging them to dance. They were laughing and having fun. He figured that Mike and Butch were also looking for newbies.

Sarah, Anne, Derdre and Seth were still at the village with Crow. No one had seen them and there was some talk and concern among the clansmen that something was wrong. There were rumors and stories about members of the Elders council being put in jail. As far as Tobal could tell the rumors were about things that had happened last month and nothing new. Wanting to hear something new he looked around for Ellen and Rafe.

He spied Ellen over in a corner talking with Rafe and made a beeline toward them trying not to spill his tankard in the jostling crowd. At least it was warm in here he thought moving past bodies that smelled of wood smoke.

“We can’t talk in here,” he shouted to Ellen above the drum beat.

She nodded and shouted back, “We are meeting in the brewery in a few minutes.”

Tobal nodded and went off to find Melanie, Becca and Nikki to tell them about the meeting. Their robes were still wet but warmer and they put them back on before dashing over to the brewery where they took them back off and found places around the fire to sit. They folded their robes and sat on them on the wooden floor.
Ellen and Rafe welcomed them and Ellen brought everyone up to date on what had been going on with the Council of Elders.

“We tried everything we could think of to contact the city government through the communications and computer systems we have access to,” she said. “What happened was we were warned not to make contact with the city and just to mind our own business. The city will contact us when we are ready to become citizens. We are not part of the city yet and have no legal rights until we complete our training and become citizens.”

“These messages were prominently displayed on each air sled monitor screen and on the computers at home base. No one even thought to come to us in person to explain or hear our concerns,” she said bitterly.

“This did not sit well with the Council of Elders, especially since the arrest and questioning of the five of us that had been sent to the village. We were released but the Council of Elders now realized someone thought they had the power to arrest clansmen anytime they wanted and hold them without cause. They believed this same someone was responsible for the rogue attacks. The council wants to know why these things are happening and if they are happening with the approval of the city.”

Ellen looked around the small group. “The final decision was that the same five delegates would journey on air sleds to Sanctuary and then cross the wall into the city. We would find a place with lots of people and set our sleds down and wait for the authorities. We would probably be arrested but the city itself was populated with clansmen. We were counting on that bond of kinsmanship to get a fair hearing.”

She grinned, “I was the first to go across the wall and land my air sleds in a central area. The others followed me in. Even before we had landed a crowd of people appeared wondering what was going on. I called out that there was an emergency and one of the citizens nodded and started talking on her cell phone. Several of the others were also on cell phones. It was a matter of minutes before authorities arrived and put us on some type of air transport. We were not arrested or treated as prisoners but we certainly were not given any choice about things either.”

“They took us down to the police station where we gave our statements.” She laughed, “It was obvious that the persons involved wanted no part of this and were way over their heads. They passed us on to the mayor who listened and then called an emergency session of the City Council. This was against the strong opposition of someone wearing a federation military uniform. I gathered this uniformed person was the representative of the mountain complex and the ones that had arrested us.”

“I was elected the spokesperson for our group,” she told them, “and with grim determination I faced the City Council and told our story of being arrested and questioned, about the massacre at the lake and the mass grave, how it was a forbidden area. I told them about the rogue attacks that were centered around the lake itself and the attempt to make it seem the village was responsible for those attacks.

Then I told them that was impossible because the rogues have some way of tracking anyone that has med-alert bracelets and are able to hide in a way that the villagers can’t. I told them of the rumors the city was going to lead an attack on the village. Several members of the City Council looked at each other quickly and at least a couple had red faces.”

“They weren’t the only ones,” she continued. “I could see the man in uniform getting redder and redder and angrier and angrier. I spoke about Crow who had grown up in the village and now wanted to become a citizen. How his concern for the safety of his village was the reason that led him to make the journey back with four of his friends. The entire group is still within monitor range of our air sleds and they can visit the village according to our own Council of Elders.”

“I told them how we were suddenly alerted that the village was forbidden and that we needed to keep Crow and his friends from going there. That was not right. I faced the City Council and told them Crow was technically a citizen of the village and had every right to be there. He could also bring friends if he chose to do so. Then I mentioned how the air sleds went back to the base and were severely reprimanded and ordered back out to bring Crow and his friends back by force.”

“The City Council was pretty quiet by then,” Ellen said. “They listened as I told them of the confrontation between Howling Wolf and the other villagers that offered to protect Crow and the others. I told them how I was there and that pressing the issue then could have resulted in injury or death to innocent people.

At the mention of Howling Wolf I saw several council members glance at each other and take stronger notice in what I was saying.” She chuckled, “I took advantage of that interest and told how the Council of Elders decided to send a delegation to talk with Howling Wolf and find out the truth of things for themselves.”

“I then described the armed strike force I had seen waiting by an air transport back at the mountain complex when we returned. I also told how we five members of the Council of Elders had been immediately arrested and held for an entire week without being told why. The man in uniform was a pasty white by now and struggling for composure. I told them how we tried every possible way to make contact with the city itself. We needed to see if the City was aware of these things and if it supported them.

I told how the Council of Elders had tried all ways possible to reach the city but been blocked and told it was forbidden. That is why in a last ditch effort we chose to fly a delegation over the city walls and speak with the city officials directly.”

“They didn’t know what to think or say.” She chuckled. “There was a dead silence as the City Council looked toward the man in uniform and waited for his response. He was clearly uncomfortable and said that he was not prepared to respond to these allegations and needed to consult with his superiors.”

“The Mayor then asked what the Council of Elders would like to have happen. I said the Council of Elders would like to ensure the safety of the villagers and Howling Wolf. They would like communication between the village and the city so they could monitor and address any abuses that were happening.

I mentioned this could be done by opening communication lines to the city from the base in the mountain where we were stationed. I concluded by saying this was a matter for the Elders of the village, the City Council and our own Council of Elders and there were many things that needed to be discussed and brought out into the open. We also wanted the rogue attacks to stop and whoever was responsible for them to be punished.”

Ellen continued her story. “The Mayor looked pretty grim and told us the City Council would need to do it’s own research and find out what was going on. They also needed to hear from the Federation and he looked pointedly at the uncomfortable man in uniform. He suggested they adjourn until the next month and set a time to meet again here in the city and asked for a vote from the City Council. All voted in approval.

He then asked if the City Council approved a direct communication line to be opened so the Council of Elders could contact them and keep them informed of developments. Again all voted in approval. At that the Mayor asked the uniformed person if it would be possible for the Federation to open a communication channel for the Council of Elders or whether the City Council needed to do it He saluted and said the Federation would provide the link.”

“ I think it’s bugged,” Ellen continued, but it’s more than we had before.”

She continued, “Then the Mayor adjourned the meeting and escorted us back to our air sleds. He told me we had done a very brave thing coming into the city and they would look into our story and be looking forward to our meeting next month.”

Ellen completed her story and looked at the others.

“So it seems things are happening. Hopefully next month we will know more about what is going on.”

They talked a bit more and asked more questions until they reached the point where they just needed to leave things and process them later. The talk shifted to other things.

The big news was Rafe had gotten his sixth chevron and would be leaving with Ellen after the party to get his Master’s initiation. With all that was going on he was eager to get his own air sled and do some snooping around on his own even though Ellen was warning him not to.

The meeting broke up and most of them went back to the dance. Tobal spent a little more time in his farewells with Becca. After a final kiss and hug he took his pack and left in the pouring rain.

Tobal was getting impatient. It had been almost one year and he wanted to move on into the Journeyman degree. After Tyrone soloed this month he would have five chevrons. He only needed one more newbie to train. He was no fool. After talking with the others he knew at least eleven of them wanted newbies to train and they would be lucky if five showed up. He left immediately in the rain heading for sanctuary. He had not been the only one with that idea. Kevin and Zee were already there ahead of him when he finally got there a few days later.

April rolled around and spring was in the air. Tyrone was on his solo and Tobal was at sanctuary waiting for a newbie to show up. There had already been three and it was not likely there would be any more this month but he was determined to hold his place in line and get it over with. Kevin and Zee and some others had already taken their newbies and left. This would be his last trainee and then he would be ready for the 2nd degree. He wondered about his last student and who it would be.

Would it be a boy or a girl, somehow it didn’t matter. The skills they needed were all the same. He thought about his last five newbies. Some like Melanie and Crow he had grown very close to. Others like Nick, he hadn’t hit it off with and didn’t see very often. Sarah and Tyrone were fun to hang around with and he loved doing things with them but they weren’t really that deep and sometimes he missed the serious side of life.

Still, he wasn’t prepared when Lanna walked through the door for the first time and claimed sanctuary. He did a double take as he saw a fierce Native American warrior dressed in soft decorative buckskin with a claw necklace around her neck and tattoos on her face.

She was tall and good looking with straight ebony hair like Zee’s. She was about his age, older than most of the newbies and from the village. She was Crow’s older sister. He remembered Crow had a sister but hadn’t thought he would meet her here. He was shocked at how little he really knew of Crow and his family. She had been training with Howling Wolf since she was a little girl.

“I can’t train you,” he said in dismay.

“Why not?” She looked at him pointedly.

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“That was the day after Crow reached the village,” she said. “After many questions and long deliberations the Council of Elders decided to send it’s own delegation to the village and determine for itself the true nature of the situation. I went along because of what I knew and four others were selected. We left immediately before anyone could stop us.”

“We made our way to the village and were surprised that they were expecting us. We were given a royal welcome and had the opportunity to question all five of the group members who were in fine health and planning to stay for at least another month. I tried to talk with Howling Wolf privately but he brushed me aside saying it was not time yet for us to talk. He would contact us later at a better time.

We stayed for two days asking questions about the rogues. The villagers told us they also suffered from rogue attacks that were getting more frequent and violent. They told us there was a rumor the Clansmen were responsible. Because of this there was a growing resentment toward the Clansmen. The villagers were relieved when Crow told them we were innocent.”

“Still the question remained, who was responsible for the growing rogue attacks? It was that dark thought we took back with us the next day to our base camp. We just got home when we were arrested and interrogated. We were held an entire week before we were released.”

A murmur of disbelief went around the room and she continued bitterly. “We don’t even know who we were held by except that they held us captives in our own base in the mountain. Who ever runs the mountain complex is really angry with us. The good news,” she smiled. “Is that the village is probably going to be safe for the time being. Too many of us know the truth about it and they can’t be blamed any more for the rogue attacks.”

“When we were finally released we made our report to the Council of Elders. To say that the Council of Elders was pretty shook up was an understatement.”

She laughed, “I’ve never seen them so furious. Masters or medics serve no longer than three years before becoming citizens so the Elders are actually pretty young and none of us had ever heard of such blatant interference into our own affairs. We are going to make a formal complaint to the city itself as soon as we figure out how to get in contact. It appears there are no known channels to contact the city or the city government. Inquiries of the medical staff at the emergency room in the hospital produced no solutions.”

“The Council of Elders established a committee to research the issue and report back next month with available options. That was how it was left. It seems a very big can of worms has been opened and there is no ready solution.”

Ellen looked around at the group and shrugged. “That’s about it for now until next month.”

Tobal was thinking heavily about the meeting later that night. Finally shrugging it aside he and Becca made their way to the beer barrel. Dirk and Rafe were no longer there and had been assigned hunting duty providing meat for the gathering. Dirk was hanging out there talking with the two Journeymen that now had the duty. He saw them and came over and gave Becca and kiss and a hug and lifted his tankard toward Tobal.

“Guess what?” He beamed. “I’ve got my sixth chevron and get my Master initiation in two weeks.”

“That’s great!” Tobal pounded him on the back and joked. “You’ve certainly taken enough beatings for it.”

“Maybe you can give me a ride on your air sled,” Becca teased moving over and hugging him instead of Tobal.

Dirk laughed, “See how to get the girls?” He turned to Becca, “You just wait, I’ll give you a ride.”

“Promise,” she chirped.

“Hey, I forgot to ask Rafe how he did this month.” Tobal said.

Dirk shook his head sadly. “Nope, he didn’t make it yet. He’s bound to one of these days though. He’s grown six inches in the last year and gained twenty pounds. It’s got to be hard when you start so young like he is. He’s smarter than all of us but he’s still a kid.”

Tobal and Becca excused themselves and did some dancing at the drum circle and chatted with some more friends before heading off to sleep in one of the teepees. As he was falling asleep Tobal reflected how right it felt to lie with his arms around Becca. He turned and kissed her one last time.

“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too,” she whispered back and they both fell asleep.

The next morning it was hard to say goodbye to Becca and head out into the wilderness with Tyrone. His feelings were still a mix of confused emotions he needed to sort out. Tye sensed his mood and tried cheering him up as they trekked through the snow. Mostly they talked about women.

The second month with Tyrone went fast and the last of February had the warm promise of spring making everyone restless. The first part of March had them snowed in with what they hoped was the last winter storm of the season. It was a big storm making drifts well over their heads in some areas. In camp they had to break out of their shelter and dig their way up to the surface. The weather continued to be mild after that with some melting during the day and freezing during the nights.

Tyrone was a natural in the mountains and finished his training with no real problems. He spent time in the evenings showing Tobal how to make a fiddle for himself and gave him basic instructions on how to play on the one he had made during the last month. It was Tyrone’s time to laugh as the wolves howled when Tobal began his practice with the borrowed fiddle and bow.

It was the last day of training and they were heading back toward the gathering spot. Tobal was trying to work on his own fiddle and not getting it right. That was when Tryone handed him the fiddle he had made.

“Here,” he said. “Keep this one. It’s yours. You’ll never be able to make a good enough one to play and I can always finish this one you are making.”

Tobal was touched. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” Tyrone said. “You’ve been good to me and it’s the least I can do. Keep playing and you’ll get better.”

Tobal proclaimed Tyrone ready to solo at circle and the elders approved. Melanie, Nikki and Becca brought newbies to be initiated.

It was raining and miserable outside. The good news was the snow was disappearing really fast. The gathering spot was a mess of slush and mud puddles. Sheets of the gray material were placed as canopies over the smaller fires so they didn’t go out. The bonfire appeared to be holding its own as the circle and initiations were held but didn’t seem to put out as much heat as usual.

Most clan members sat under rain shedding canopies that kept most of the rain off. Even wet the robes retained body heat as long as it wasn’t continually washed away by fresh water. It was not comfortable but it was bearable and did put one in touch with the elements in a very direct way. Most of the clansmen were so accustomed to being out in the weather that being wet was a minor discomfort to them.

Tobal almost felt sorry for Angel and the High Priest as they dropped their robes and stood in the chill rain invoking the Lord and Lady. Angel and the High Priest gave no indication they were even aware of the bone chilling rain and proceeded normally through the ritual. Tobal did notice they put their robes back on after invoking the Lord and Lady and both remained close to the fire for a while. It helped reassure him that they were human like he was.

He also noticed the Lord and Lady seemed more real and tangible to him although they remained in their stations above the central fire. He had been continuing the meditations and exercises Crow had taught and they were increasing his ability to feel connected to the Lord and Lady. He still thought of them as his father and mother. How that could be he had no idea. He only knew it was the truth. He felt it deep within his core.

This was not the God and Goddess appearing at circle during rituals and initiations but the spirits of his parents still alive, well and aware of him even though they did not seem to have anything to say to him. He did feel their love and support and wished he could talk with them or reach out and hold them.

Their images had become sharper and he could see his father carried the same dagger that was sheathed and strapped above his own ankle and his mother had the same necklace of amber and jet he wore around his neck. This realization brought tears to his eyes and he wondered how such things could be. It was always at circle that he could feel their presence the most strongly.

It was the celebration for the Spring Equinox and there were plenty of high spirits in spite of the poor weather. In fact, there was a lot of excitement about the rain taking the snow away. The main topic people were talking about was getting started training again as soon as the weather broke.

After circle the party was taken inside and wet robes exchanged for dry tunics or furs or simply let to dry in front of the fire, as their owners casually remained nude by the fire drinking beer and joking. It seemed the big thing that night was to share tattoos and stories about tattoos. It was warm in the building and there was no wind to cause discomfort.

Tobal and Becca had both draped their wet robes for drying in front of the fire along with the others and were trying to thaw out a bit. The blazing fire felt warm and neither one had a burning desire to put on a wet robe and run out into the rain to the shelter where the rest of their dry clothing was waiting.

Tobal had even less desire to run out there naked. He didn’t think Becca would either. In the end he resolved to simply do what many of the others had also decided, not worry about it. With that in mind he pushed through the crowd to the bar for a tankard of beer for both of them. Getting two foaming tankards of beer he shouldered his way through the crowd of naked and semi naked bodies back to where Becca was waiting.

Zee and Kevin saw them and called them over. They were in good spirits and wanting to talk. Kevin had his arm around Zee. He lifted his tankard as they approached.

“To newbies,” he said.

“To newbies,” Becca, Tobal and Zee laughed and all four touched their tankards together.

“I take it that you guys are heading for Sanctuary?” Becca chuckled.

“As soon as this weather breaks,” Zee told her.

“How are you guys getting along this winter?” Becca asked.

“Thank Goddess for the monthly circles,” Zee giggled. “We’ve been driving each other nuts.” She gave Kevin a kiss and said, “But it’s good practice for next winter.”

“You’re going to partner together next winter!” Becca was delighted and jumped up and down. “I’m so happy for both of you!”

“You’re not doing so bad yourself.” Kevin teased her.

“But Tobal’s never around when I need him. I might need to sleep with you guys tonight.”

“What!”

“I’m leaving tonight,” Tobal said suddenly. “Not even my love for Becca can keep me from my sixth newbie.”

Becca pouted and they all laughed.

“You’re going to get plenty wet,” Kevin told him.

“He’s always a wet blanket anyway. Doesn’t know how to have any fun,” Becca quipped and grinned giving him a kiss. “I’m just lucky I’ve got someone to train this month yet. Other wise I’d get lonely. It sounds like there are a lot of people heading for Sanctuary as soon as the weather clears.”

Zee and Kevin looked at each other speculatively. “We might have to rethink our strategy,” Kevin said.

He and Zee moved off to talk and Tobal knew they were seriously considering what he had said.

The drums started and a place was cleared in the center of the room for the dancers. The first out were Wayne and Char dancing together. It seemed they might be getting back together again. Tobal hoped they would take time to train some newbies so they could advance and move on but that was entirely up to them.

It was good to see them back together again though and his thoughts flashed to Becca. She had left with Melanie. They had tried getting him to dance but he didn’t really feel like it tonight knowing how long it was going to be.

The girls were dancing together in the middle of the floor having a good time. It was good to see them having fun together again. Melanie made him laugh and feel good but Becca made something quiver deep in his belly that made him feel self conscious and awkward. It was a vulnerable feeling and he didn’t really care to feel so vulnerable.

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Chapter 21

He saw Ben and hurried over to greet him.

“Hey, congrats on the solo,” he said. “How did it go?”

“It went well actually,” Ben replied. “I was really surprised. I got lucky and found some deer herded up on the way to my camp area. I shot a nice buck with the bow and towed it on my sled to camp. Then later since I already knew where they were herded up I went there and got another. No real problems.”

“How about wood,” Tobal asked with a grin.

“Wood sucks,” Ben admitted. “Getting firewood without a decent axe or saw is frustrating and difficult. Just about all you can use are branches unless you take the trouble of splitting the logs with wedges. Plus you need bigger logs to hold the fire. I ended up cutting some logs, splitting them and then cutting them again for length. I about wore out my stone axe.”

“Did Sarah make it back yet from the village?” Tobal asked.

“Haven’t seen her,” Ben replied. “I was really hoping to ask her about some things.”

“I know she really wanted to be here when you came back. If you have any questions ask me ok?”

“I would appreciate that,” Ben replied sincerely. “I’m thinking about setting up my new base camp this month and was hoping for some ideas.”

They talked about that for awhile and when Tobal left Ben was feeling pretty good. Ben was a good quiet kid that was growing to be quite a man. Nothing really flashy but there was a lot of substance and Tobal instinctively liked him and trusted him. He had been the perfect choice for Sarah to train as her first newbie. Too bad she wasn’t here.

He saw Zee and Kevin setting up a Teepee and went over to help them.

“I see you guys are still together,” he joked.

Zee spoke up first. “We want to start training again next month but need to fix up Kevin’s base camp first. He’s been staying at mine these past few months so now we are going to stay at his and see if it is still there. You never know with all this rogue stuff that people are talking about.”

“I heard you had a base camp destroyed,” Kevin said curiously.

“That was back last summer,” Tobal said. “I found a real hard to find place for my second base camp. Haven’t had any troubles with that one. It seems like they bother people around the lake the most.”

“Oh, then my camp should be fine,” Kevin said relieved. “I’m to the north east of here. That’s not anywhere close to the lake. Where’s Becca?” He asked, “I hear you guys are together now.”

“Haven’t seen her yet,” Tobal said. “We won’t really be together till we are both Journeymen. Have to get through this newbie training stuff first. Don’t want to be stuck here forever like Wayne and Char.”

“I saw Wayne and Char talking together just a bit ago,” Zee said. “I think they are going to get back together again.”

“Well, I hope they train some newbies this year,” Tobal said. “Char really wants to move on and live a more normal life and have a family.”

“Char and Wayne are talking and hanging out but they are both going to keep training newbies. At least that’s what Char tells me.” Zee added.

They were still talking about Wayne and Char when Tara and Nick showed up. Tara ran off looking for some friends leaving Nick to set up their shelter. Tobal, Kevin and Zee walked over and offered to help. Together they set the teepee up and worked in silence. No one seemed to have much to share but it felt good anyway, almost like old times. Tobal hadn’t spent much time with Nick since he had trained him.

“You going to start training newbies soon?” He asked.

“Been thinking about it,” Nick replied. “I just realized I could be stuck out here a really long time unless I start training people.”

“That’s funny,” Zee replied. “We were just talking about that. How are you and Tara getting along?”

Nick mumbled something about “women” and the rest of them laughed.

“The winter gets pretty long sometimes.” Kevin grinned and then kissed Zee hurriedly.

Zee just grinned and patted him on the butt. “Nick and Tara have had two more months of each other than we have. Maybe we should spend two more months together?”

“Goddess forbid,” Kevin said feelingly and they both chuckled.

Tobal looked at the pair. They enjoyed each other’s company in a quiet way and enjoyed being away from each other too. He hoped it would work something like that for him and Becca.

Mike and Butch showed up about that time grumbling about girls. Tobal at last felt like he understood Mike and Butch. They were like brothers and his past month training and living with Tyrone had given him a taste of what that must be like. In a way he envied them for the fun they seemed to be having.

Still, he had spent too much time alone and had learned to like it. Some company was good. Too much drove him crazy. It seemed just about right to teach a newbie and then socialize at circle a bit. He remembered what Nick had said. He wasn’t planning on spending the rest of his life in the woods either and neither was Becca.
There were three initiations, Tyrone’s and two other newbies. They would all continue training next month.

At circle he sat next to Melanie and Becca after giving them each a hug and a kiss. To his surprise they moved apart and made room for him between them. They seemed glad to see him but were both moody and a bit irritable. He tried some light banter but it didn’t work at all.

For the first time he wondered if they were both getting their periods. The more he thought about it and the monthly circles made him so curious he finally had to ask.

“I’ve heard that women living in nature tend to have their periods around the full moon. Is that true?” He asked curiously.

Both girls broke out laughing.

“ Yes, it is common knowledge just about all the women in camp are having their periods at circle time,” Becca told him. “The good news is they rarely last over three days and while uncomfortable they are not debilitating.”

“Poor Butch and Mike,” he shook his head mournfully.

That was too much and both girls burst out laughing. The ice was broken and everyone was laughing and in high spirits again. They continued watching the initiations and laughed as Tobal told Tyrone’s story about thinking he was going to Minneapolis and ending up at Sanctuary instead. They were looking forward to seeing him later after the circle.

Angel was training for the initiations as Misty watched and prompted her. Tobal thought she had done a pretty good job and intended to tell her so later at the party. After circle Ellen sat with Rafe, Melanie, Nikki, Becca and him. Everyone wanted to hear about Crow and the trip to the village. No one had heard anything and they had not come back like they said they were planning to.

Ellen took up the story. “No one really noticed or suspected that the five people were heading toward the village until they were about half way there which was about one hundred miles out. Its not uncommon to be that far from the gathering spot,” she said. “But it is a bit unusual for five people in a group to be headed that way.”

“The other medics were speculating about it over the radio and while all the medics knew about the village no one had ever been there or known of anyone to go there. No one even guessed that was where they were heading. The next day a message came down to the medics that the village was a forbidden area and the medics needed to prevent the party from reaching it.” Ellen got a little embarrassed, “I pretended ignorance and let some of the other medics deal with it,” she said. “I kept away from the area and patrolled down by the lake like I normally do.”

“When I came back the other medics were in an uproar. It seemed the leader of the group, Crow, had grown up in the village and knew all the people that lived there. He was a citizen of the village and had every right to be there and to bring friends there if he chose. One of the medics did a hasty check of his medical records and they did indeed prove he had grown up in the village and had a right to go there. Not knowing what else to do and fearing a mass confrontation the medics had allowed the group to continue on toward the village.”

Ellen suddenly was more serious, “Back at the base the medics really got in trouble for refusing to follow orders and an immediate search went out to locate the group and subdue them by force if needed. I went along with them.” She said grimly, “To make sure I would be a witness to anything that happened. By then it was nightfall and we arrived at the group’s camp only to find ten villagers there that had come out to meet Crow and his group. Somehow they had known Crow was coming. We were taken by surprise because none of the villages wore med-alert bracelets so we were not expecting them.”

“The leader of the villagers was Howling Wolf, Crow’s grandfather. When we insisted that Crow and the others return with us by force if necessary Howling Wolf and his followers made it plain that Crow’s group were honored guests in the village and that he would take personal responsibility for their safety. He also said that he and his men would fight to protect them if needed.”

“Things were pretty serious at that point,” Ellen continued. “None of us were prepared for that kind of confrontation and we were forced to return back to base without them. When I was bringing my air sled back I noticed a formation of around fifty black uniformed soldiers with weapons standing near an air transport at the landing strip. I stayed to watch and after a half hour the soldiers went back inside the mountain and the air transport left without them.”

She paused and looked around the group. “I believe the soldiers were going to attack the village on the pretext of bringing the group back. It was only the involvement of so many of us medics that prevented the attack from happening.”

There was a chill silence in the group as her words sunk in. Then she continued.

“Right now we are monitoring the group and everyone is fine. I do hope someone comes back soon to prove they are not prisoners there. If no one comes back this month I will go there myself even though it is against orders” she declared. “Our current orders are to monitor the five clansmen but to stay away from the village itself. It is a tense situation at the base and we are all under severe reprimand for failing to carry out orders.”

“This is causing resentment and revolt among us because we are supposed to be self governing with our Circle of Elders. We don’t take orders from anyone else. The Council of Elders is not used to being told what it must do and what it must not do. Whoever was giving those orders gave them directly through our air sled terminals and the Council of Elders didn’t know about it until it was too late.”

Ellen continued, “The Council of Elders started asking questions and it was then that I, as a member of the circle of Elders came forward. I told the rest of the Elders what I had learned about Tobal’s father and mother being responsible for the Sanctuary Program and also about the former military involvement. I told about the deaths of Ron and Rachel Kane and the massacre at the gathering spot with the mass grave.”

She paused and cleared her throat. “I also mentioned Crow’s parents had been buried there and possibly Sarah’s mother. Then I told them Crow’s grandfather, Howling Wolf, had built the cairn and knew the story behind it if they had more questions.”

“I went on to tell about the increasing raids by rogues and how they were being blamed on the village. I explained how that was not possible because the rogue attacks were centered around the lake and not anywhere near the village itself. Then I told them about my patrols these past three months and how the rogues seem to know if anyone with a med-alert bracelet is around, even on an air sled.

They always know far enough in advance that they are able to hide out of sight before I could get there. Even in the winter they left tracks in the snow but there were hardly any sitings by any of us and that was strange given so many tracks. Then I mentioned whenever I tried for a closer look at some of those tracks the dispatcher always radioed me with new orders.”

“The entire Council of Elders was really listening to me by then,” she said, “ I really had their attention. I expressed my conviction that the rogues couldn’t be villagers because the villagers didn’t have any technology. Then I reminded them of the rumors that the city was planning to take military action against the village because of these same rogue attacks. Something was not right.

I told how Crow had found out about it and gone back to his village to warn them of a possible attack and massacre like what had happened at the lake. The Elders looked sharply at each other and there was electricity in the chamber. The Council of Elders was silent for a long time after I stopped speaking. Then it seemed everyone was trying to talk at once.”

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“The rest was classified and I couldn’t get into it”, Ellen said. She hesitated as if with an internal struggle.

“Our base is part of the secret mountain complex. We are only allowed to use the emergency room and some nearby areas. It is under high security with lots of armed guards. There are field operatives that come and go from the complex all the time. I shouldn’t be telling you this so please keep it to yourselves.”

“Wow,” you’ve certainly given us something to think about,” Rafe shook his head. “This doesn’t sound good to me. There is something wrong, especially if the rogues are really field operatives. Why would field operatives attack us?”

“And attack the Village,” Crow spoke up. “There have been several incidences of villagers being attacked by rogues and we always believed it was clansmen that attacked us. It is beginning to sound like someone wants the clansmen and the villagers to hate each other. Perhaps someone is trying to provoke conflict between us. We need to go to the village and prove we are not attacking them. Too many people have died already.”

“Yeah, and my parents were right in the middle of it,” Tobal said bitterly. “It killed them and it might kill us if we are not careful. He turned to Crow who had been listening intently to Ellen’s story.

“What can you tell us about any of this? It sounds like your grandfather, Howling Wolf was as much in the middle of this as my parents and he is the only one still alive that I know of except Sarah’s father.”

“This is all new to me,” he said. But I will talk with him about it. I will return with any information I feel is important. More than ever I feel there is danger to my village and they need to be warned.”

Tobal was thankful Crow never mentioned the special training on bi-location and the secret meeting place under the waterfall. He was certain that Ellen was too.

“I’m concerned about Apprentices leaving the area and visiting the village.” Ellen told them. “We will be ordered to stop you from going there even though there are no specific guidelines preventing it. Crow seems to have found a loop hole in the system only because he is from the village himself and because it is within our area of coverage. Our orders don’t contemplate such unlikely scenarios. You need to travel as fast as you can.”

She continued, “As long as the air sleds continue to monitor your med-alert bracelets you should be alright”. She paused, “That does mean we will need to patrol further to the west then we have in the past.” She looked straight at Crow. “They are going to try to stop you from reaching the village you know.”

“I know,” he said. “It will be alright. Grandfather is expecting us.”

They left things at that and the conversation moved on. The group gradually broke up and began talking about other things. Tobal and Becca stayed together holding hands as they wandered around the group chatting with other clansmen. They slowly made their way to the beer keg where Rafe had rejoined Dirk.

Rafe and Dirk were both still on the beer task force and grumbling because they had twice the beer to brew since the reserves had been consumed at the Yule party last month. Still they were good natured about it and said they were trying a new recipe that should be quite interesting. It was just as well there was only a small group that month though. They wouldn’t be drinking quite that much.

Becca hadn’t heard about the special brew Dirk and Rafe were cooking up and didn’t really know what to think.

“When will this new beer be ready to drink,” she asked doubtfully?
“Sometime this April probably,” said Dirk chuckling. “Rafe and I both plan on being medics by then. We can administer first aid to anyone that needs it. Pump their stomach or something.”

Tobal snorted and blew beer all over.

“Hey, watch it,” Rafe complained. “It’s not that funny.”

Tobal turned to Dirk, “How did that sure thing match go?”

Dirk turned red, “Not so well.”

“He got his ass kicked.” Rafe chuckled and proudly displayed his own fifth chevron. “Some people actually win once in a while.”

Rafe ducked a playful fist that Dirk threw at him. “Now we get to see who the best man is. We’ve got a bet going on who is going to get their sixth chevron first.”

“You still fighting the girls,” Becca kidded, “or have you gotten to the big boys yet?”

Dirk got a little red but Rafe took it in stride. “I don’t have to worry about it. Everyone is still challenging me. I haven’t gotten to challenge anyone yet.” He grinned at Becca, “I would challenge you if you hurry up and train some more newbies.”

She grinned back. “Perhaps we can always arrange something unofficial.”

This was a side to Becca that Tobal hadn’t really seen before and it interested him and disturbed him at the same time. They filled their mugs and rejoined the crowd. There was a drum circle forming and the sound was deafening in the small building.

Tobal and Becca slept together that night. They cuddled for a long time and shared stories about things they had done and things they wanted to do. The energy between them was different and when Tobal asked about having sex Becca murmured “not tonight. All I really want to do is just hold you and sleep with you.”

With that cryptic answer circling in his brain they kissed, embraced and fell asleep entwined in each other.

The next morning was bright and cold and there were sun dogs circling the sun promising even colder weather. They joined their friends for breakfast and soon Becca was on her way to base camp to continue training with Loki, her third newbie and Tobal set out on the trail toward sanctuary.

As he snow-shoed toward Sanctuary and pulled his sled he wondered at the strangeness of how things had been with him and Becca last night. He had certainly not been prepared for it and didn’t really understand it. It seemed things had been all right but then again it seemed there had been something wrong.

He hoped she hadn’t changed her mind. Perhaps she was sleeping with Loki, the newbie. He instantly crushed that thought. He knew it was not true, but he just didn’t understand and because he didn’t understand he felt a little hurt. He had been expecting something like last month and it had not happened.

As he neared Sanctuary his thoughts turned to the subject at hand. He now had four chevrons with only two more before he was eligible for the Journeyman degree. As he headed toward sanctuary he felt kind of strange because Sarah had really been the last person he had trained and that had been in September and October.

He didn’t really count Crow since Crow had taught him much more than he had taught Crow. That meant he hadn’t been doing much training in four months and he was determined to get going on it again. He wanted to get this training over with and be partnered with Becca more permanently if she was still interested.

He thought of the ways he had changed in the past years and the things he had done. He had gained a reputation as a very good trainer. None of his students had any trouble soloing and their students didn’t seem to have much trouble either. At gathering and circle people came to him with questions on the best way to do things.

His opinion was respected. He was also gaining a reputation as someone that kept to himself and was hard to get to know. His closest friends continued to be Rafe, Crow, Ellen, Sarah, Melanie and now of course Becca. People liked him, his friends liked him, he was companionable but in a quiet sort of way. He didn’t have anything to prove and he didn’t show off. He was just comfortable and at ease with the situation, any situation. People respected that.

Tyrone was Tobal’s fifth trainee and the month of late January and early February went by fairly fast and uneventfully. Tyrone was a tall, wiry farm boy from the Appalachian Mountains of all places, a real honest to God hillbilly complete with a Southern Accent and an engaging smile that would drive the girls wild at circle. The training came easy to him since he was already an accomplished hunter and trapper.

The nights were long and Tyrone spent many evenings carving a fiddle and then practicing with it. He had learned the skill from his grandfather back home and Tobal watched in fascination at the precision with which the fiddle was created piece by piece and then lashed together and sealed with pitch. He had never seen anything like it and was appalled at the terrible noise it made until he got used to it.

He used to laugh when Tyrone would pull out the fiddle and start to play because the wolves would start howling to keep company. All in all Tyrone was good company and the month went rapidly. Tyrone was a natural story teller and knew how to make people laugh and Tobal laughed often. Tyrone was like the brother Tobal had always wanted.

Once Tobal asked him how he had heard of Heliopolis way in hillbilly country and Tye had thrown back his head and laughed and laughed. He stretched his long legs and shrugged.

“I never heard of it before,” he admitted. “I was trying for a city named Minneapolis and got my ticket wrong. My head never was that good with names. I knew it was cold there and didn’t give it much thought until we had to start hunting our own meat and making our own clothes. It was so much like back home that I figured something was wrong but thought I’d study on it for awhile.”

Tobal had been drinking tea and it exploded from his mouth and nose as he doubled up in laughter.

“Stop, You’re killing me,” he waved weakly at Tyrone who was doubled over laughing too.

There were melancholy times when Tobal thought back over the past year and how much he had changed. He was more resourceful and inclined to do things by himself or on his own. He didn’t care much about what other people thought. He had learned to judge people not by their appearances, but by what they did and even as important by what they didn’t do.

Almost in spite of himself he found his feelings about Becca were deepening. She down played what she did and seemed to have a quiet competence that went unremarked. She had just a hint of melancholy that matched his own. There was an emotion in his heart that stirred and sang when he was around her. As spring drew closer he found himself thinking about her more and he knew he was in love.

Late February came around as Tobal and Tyrone snow shoed their way to the gathering spot. He dropped Tyrone off with the guards to be prepared for his initiation. There were going to be three initiations that night.

Nikki had proclaimed her newbie, Bran, as ready to solo and he along with Loki and Cheryl had been examined and approved to solo by the elders. Nikki was ecstatic because the winter training had gone pretty well. She was looking forward to training her next newbie.

“Hey Tobal,” she asked, “Think I can get my six trained by mid summer? This winter training isn’t really that bad.”

“That might be cutting it kind of close,” he considered, “but go for it. I’m hoping to get mine done by May if I can.”

“By May?”

“Yeah, when the weather gets warmer I can speed the training up a bit. Or at least I hope I can. Next month will be one year for me. Rafe was finished in one year. I thought I could too but I don’t think I will be able to.”

“It’s more important to do a good job and teach properly than get done quickly,” she said.

He nodded, “I did need to spend some extra time before winter with Melanie and Sarah. I will just see how the last one goes.”

“See you later at circle?”

“Sure,” I’ll probably be with Becca if I can find her.”

He waved and headed for the food area. A quick lunch seemed in order and then helping out with some of the shelters. There were a lot more people this month and the weather was milder even though the snow was deeper.

There were some minor frostbite cases for the medics to treat but not as many as last month. It seemed people were learning they had to be careful. On the down side one of the clansmen had fallen through the ice on one of the creeks. He had managed to get out but not been able to get a fire going. He had frozen to death before the medics got to him. There were more medics at camp. They were going to have a memorial service. Angel had had found him and been unable to help. It was already too late.

The incident served to remind everyone just how fragile and dangerous it really was in the wilderness even with all the safeguards that were in place. The death put a damper on things and people were quiet.

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