Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 23:05:04 -0400 Reply-To: GrinnyP@AOL.COM Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Carol Ann Liddiard Subject: "Origins" Chapter 10, part 1 once again . . . ----------- "Origins" c. 1995 C. A. Liddiard Chapter 10 "And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood:" _Numbers 35:27_ --------------------- Somewhere over the Western U.S., 1995 Duncan was still mulling over Carol's name for immortals as he was pushed back into the seat with the force of takeoff. Once the plane leveled off, Carol reappeared from the cockpit. "Well, we're on our way." She sat down at a table and laid out a few large maps. "Come on, guys, let me show you what we're up against." Duncan, Richie, and Methos unbuckled themselves and came over to the table to examine the papers spread out there. With a start, Duncan recognized that the "map" was actually a high resolution photograph obviously taken from a sophisticated spy satellite. he wondered as he looked over the layout of the compound. "All right, from the air this looks like your basic hunting lodge, with a few additions. This perimeter fence looks pretty innocuous, but it is lethally electric. There are minefields here, here, and here," she said, pointing to the locations. "There are also surveillance cameras and motion sensors all over, both outside and inside the wall. These small hillocks conceal gun emplacements." She looked up at her rapt audience. "And this is only the beginning. Once you get inside the fence it gets _really_ tough." Richie gave a low whistle, then brightened. "But you know a way in, right?" "I know some of the security codes, I can deactivate some of the security devices, and I can pretty much 'sense' the mines and the guards. That part is easy." She paused, considering. "What will be difficult is once we get inside. The headquarters are like an iceberg; only one tenth is protruding above-ground." She smiled at Richie. "You're finally going to see an underground bunker." Her expression got serious. "Here is where the bulk of their security forces are, including their elite inner guard. And somewhere they've got Joe and Anne." Everyone was quiet as they pondered the implications of what was to come. After letting it sink in, Carol continued. "There is a bright side to this, however." "And that is?" Duncan asked "Unlike their last headquarters, this one isn't located on holy ground." "Why not?" Richie asked curiously. "Why didn't they stay in the old headquarters?" Carol smiled and explained, "The Indian tribe whom they stole the old land from got the Supreme Court to give it back. It was, after all, sacred to them." She chuckled at the irony. "A hundred years ago he signed a treaty with the tribe that gave the Indians the holy ground in exchange for vacating their villages, then he got the army to drive them off the holy ground. Horton never could find another useful spirit site that wasn't too close to civilization, and prying eyes." "Why would it matter if he was on holy ground," Duncan asked curiously. "I thought _you_ could kill on holy ground." "Why would you think that?" she asked, confused. Duncan was equally confused. "Because he killed Darius on holy ground." Carol's expression cleared. "Of course. Duncan, he probably had one of his mortals strike the killing blow, then absorbed the quickening." "So you can't kill on holy ground, either?" She sighed. "Let me tell you a story about a woman named Song . . ." she began. --------------------- Breeding Facility, @6,000 BCE Long after the electrical storm died down, Song slowly unwound from around the crystal. Looking around in amazement she saw that the remaining buildings had been pounded into dust. Even more amazing, she could not feel the unique pull of the spirit site itself. She stood in awe of the amount of power it must have taken to neutralize such a powerful site, and looked down at the compound crystal she had taken from Bigarren. Touching it reverently, she realized that somehow it had hidden her from the spirit site and thus saved her life. She hefted the quartz and grinned as she realized how useful it could be. A small buried part of her flinched at the thought of something so dishonorable, but she ignored it successfully as she had for the last three thousand years. Her burning quest to eliminate the evil ones left no room for any conscience. Kicking aside what was left of Bigarren, Song strode away without looking back. --------------------- Somewhere over the Western U.S., 1995 There was a sudden hush in the cabin as the immortals pondered the implications of the story Carol had told them. "So," she continued, "she remains the only immortal I know of who killed on holy ground and lived to tell about it. And she had help." Duncan looked up suddenly, a connection made. "That was the crystal that Rebecca had, wasn't it?" "Yes, I gave it to her over a thousand years ago for safekeeping." "Why?" Richie asked curiously. Carol and Methos shared an intimate look, full of memories. "I gave it to her so I wouldn't be tempted to use it," she finally replied. "I still don't understand," Richie said, leaning forward. "Why did the holy ground react that way even before the guy was killed? Why can't we kill there?" Carol sighed and turned her attention from Methos. "I don't know, Richie. We never did understand all there was to know about spirit sites. They're certainly storehouses of energy, but it's more than that." "You call them spirit sites," Duncan interjected. "Did your people build temples on them, or worship on them? What exactly makes them what they are?" "Our beliefs centered around a mother/earth goddess type deity," Carol began. "In our stories she traveled the earth giving birth to all living things. Spirit sites were where she stopped to give birth." She absentmindedly fingered a small amulet Duncan hadn't noticed before. It was a small stone fertility figurine on a simple chain. "When a new site was found, the ones who served the Mother would try to determine the spirit of the animal that was born there. We believed that the spirits of those first animals inhabited the sites permanently." She stopped fiddling with the little pendant and slipped it inside the T-shirt she was wearing. "The energy that radiates from those places is very calming, even to 'normal' humans. Long after worship of the goddess had disappeared, people would build temples and churches to whatever gods they worshipped on such sites. They're drawn to them, even as we are." Duncan snorted. "So the spirits of dead animals get mad if we fight on their turf?" "Our ways may seem funny to you, Highlander," Carol began with icy calm, "but at least they didn't include ritual cannibalism and cultural genocide as religious tenets." The temperature in the cabin seemed to drop twenty degrees as she stalked out, leaving an awkward silence in her wake. Methos sighed as he watched her head for the back where the supplies were kept. "So, MacLeod," he inquired. "Have you always had this way with women?" --------------------- Egoitza, @6,000 BCE The Seer looked out her window at the deserted village. A noise in her doorway had her whirling around to confront someone she thought she would never see again. "Song, is that you?" The figure moved further into the light. "Yes, Seer, it is." "Why can't I feel you?" Song hefted the crystal she had taken from the breeding facility and showed her former teacher. "Their breeding site is no more, and there cannot be more than ten of them left alive." "You are too late." "What do you mean, too late?" Song asked angrily. "Soon the rest will be dead, and we will be able to build again." The Seer shook her head in sorrow. "You know as well as I do that new ones have begun to be born." "They are just Elbarridun Haurketa," Song said in dismissal. "They are too young, and not immortal. The virus has worked well on them." "Song, a young Elbarridun Haurketa has already killed one of the evil ones. More and more will be born as the years go by. The spirit site will call them, and _they_ will be the ones to fight to the last." Song smiled indulgently and slouched against the doorway. "No, Seer, you're wrong. The site is dead." "It is you who are mistaken, child of my heart. When enough have come into this world, the site will live again and call them." She faced her former student squarely. "I have seen it." "Then I will kill them as well," Song said, straightening. "Have you left our ways so far behind, child, that you would slaughter innocent children as the evil ones do?" "What do you mean, as the evil ones do?" Song asked. She finally noticed how quiet the village was, as if it were deserted. "Where is everyone?" "When I was away from the village, some of the evil ones came," the Seer began when Song grabbed her roughly. "My brother, where is my brother?" Song queried frantically. "He is alive." The Seer gathered Song in her arms for comfort. "We were away on a trip with a few others when the evil ones came. They overpowered the able adults, and slaughtered everyone." She rocked the younger woman, both overcome with sorrow. "Even the sick ones?" Song's question was muffled. "Even so." Song shuddered at the thought of the evil ones killing what had been, essentially, helpless invalids, the children -- now grown up -- who had been affected by the quickenings at the destruction of Berri Egoitza. She raised her head suddenly, the top of her head narrowly missing the Seer's chin. "Where is my brother?" The Seer studied her former student for a moment without answering. Finally she said, "Will you now go after the new ones?" "If I say I will, you will not tell me where my brother is, right?" "I will tell you where to find your brother, Song, only if you vow not to interfere with what is to come." Song broke away from the embrace, her face a mask of anguish and betrayal. "Do not do this to me, Seer." The Seer wondered how to make Song understand that she was doing this to save her life. She knew that nothing could interfere with what the Mother had planned, and if Song kept trying, one day she would die at the hands of those she was hunting. "I must have your word, child." "Don't get sanctimonious with me, Seer," Song hissed as she drew closer. "I know you don't want me to get killed and why. All that training, all those secrets, you think I wouldn't guess?" Song leaned forward until they were nose to nose. "I will find my brother on my own." With that pronouncement, she stalked out the door, leaving the Seer alone among the ruins of their civilization. --------------------- (to be continued . . .) =========================================================================