Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 02:17:36 -0400 Reply-To: GrinnyP@AOL.COM Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Carol Ann Liddiard Subject: "Origins" Chapter 10, part 2 . . . and the rest of chapter 10 . . . ------------------ Somewhere over the Western U.S., 1995 Carol came back from the cargo area carrying parachutes. Ostensibly ignoring Duncan, she passed them out to everyone and began strapping herself in. She double checked Methos' chute, allowed him to check hers, then disappeared again without speaking. Methos shook his head and checked to make sure that Duncan and Richie were ready. "We're near the drop zone," he said as he tugged on their straps. "Are we going to parachute into their compound?" Richie asked. "No Richie," Methos smiled at the youngster's enthusiasm. "We'll be landing about twenty miles away, and then hiking in. Now, you're sure you've done this before?" "Piece of cake," Richie replied confidently. "Methos . . ." Duncan's hand on his shoulder stopped the older immortal as he turned to walk away. "How long will Carol keep up the silent treatment?" Methos shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine." He smiled ruefully. "Sometimes her temper blows over quickly. Sometimes, well, let's just say she can hold a grudge forever." "Wonderful," was Duncan's disgusted reply. "Hopefully she's talking to me again when we're fighting the Hunters, or else it's going to get a little hairy." He was brought up short by another thought. "I'm not going to have to sleep with one eye open, am I?" "I'll try to keep her occupied so she doesn't have time to stab you in the back." Methos grinned. "Should prove interesting." His eyes suddenly lost their focus. "Okay guys, she's ready. Let's go." He led the younger immortals towards the back where Carol had disappeared earlier. Near the tail of the plane, they found Carol waiting near an open door, cargo cartons piled nearby. The noise of the wind was deafening, effectively cutting off any conversation. She motioned the immortals over to where she stood. "Ready Adam?" she shouted above the noise. Methos nodded and stepped over by the door. Carol consulted her watch, counting down the seconds. "Go, go!" Methos launched himself out the door. Carol counted three seconds, then pushed out a stack of parachuted crates. She motioned Richie over, gave him a count, and sent him out the door behind the cargo. Once Richie was out, she again pushed out some more crates, then motioned Duncan over to the door. Braced against the wind, Duncan tried futilely to talk to her. "Carol, I want to apo. . ." he was cut off as she shoved him out of the plane. --------------------- Shore of Lake Constance, @6,000 BCE Mitozko awoke with a gasp, his heart pounding. He sat up gingerly, his head aching, and heard a shriek from someone nearby. He looked over in confusion at the two women who were staring at him in shock. "What is wrong?" he asked. The older of the women gestured toward him, using a sign he recognized as one designed to repel evil. Then she grabbed the younger woman and ran out the door of the hut. Mitozko realized fuzzily that it wasn't his hut. He stared at the leather bundle that hung by the door and belatedly recognized it as belonging to Hilijazle. Holding his aching head, Mitozko slid off the pallet he had been laying on and staggered towards the door. Bracing himself against the frame, he wondered if he was in any shape to climb down the ladder to the village below. He turned and saw that there were three bodies laid out on pallets, covered with furs. Drawn towards the covered bodies without knowing why, his feet moved of their own accord towards the nearest pallet. With a trembling hand, he snatched the fur away and stared into the face of his life-mate, Ederren. Memories began to crash through his head. The trip with his family to gather a particular type of grass high on the mountain, the rumbling sound as the earth shook, seeing the mass of dirt and boulders rushing towards him . . . Mitozko fell to his knees beside his mate's body, knowing that the other covered forms were his daughters, that his entire family had perished in the landslide. He wondered as he caressed Ederren's cheek. A commotion outside the hut made Mitozko look up. Through the door came his father, who was the headman of the village. Behind his father came Hilijazle and several of the village elders. His father looked unbearably sad. "What is it, father?" Mitozko asked after several minutes of silence. "My son, the people of the village think that you are accursed." Mitozko looked puzzled. "Because I survived the landslide?" "No son, you did not survive the landslide. I myself brought you down off the mountain. You were battered beyond recognition, and you were not breathing." The headman came forward and grasped Mitozko's shoulder. "They think that you have become another Lohitsu." He helped his only son rise and forced himself to say what he had come to say. "They wanted to kill you, to behead you, but I persuaded them to let you leave." "Leave you and mother? But this is my home!" "If you leave, Mitozko, they will let you live. Please, my son, you need to go now, before their fear overcomes them and they kill you." "But what about Ederren and the girls? Who will see them to their final rest?" Mitozko asked, tears in his eyes. "I will see to it." Tears stood in both their eyes as his father grabbed him in a fierce hug. "Farewell, my son." In a daze, Mitozko left the stilt house, climbing carefully down the ladder from the entrance. Once on the ground, he noticed the population of the entire village had emerged and were silently staring at him. He raised his head and strode towards the edge of the settlement. As he approached the last hut, he saw his mother waiting, holding a leather bundle. When he got nearer, he could see the tears streaming down her cheeks. "Don't cry, mother. Please." She nodded and tried to bring her grief under control. In such a short time, she had lost her grandchildren, and now her only child was leaving, perhaps forever. "Here are your things, son." She handed him the bundle. "I've added some food for your journey." "Thank you." He didn't know what else to say. Looking back, Mitozko saw the entire village still silently staring, implacable. "I will come back, mother. In a few years they will have forgotten, and I will be back." "Of course you will," she said. She knew she would never see her son again. He nodded and hugged his mother good-bye, giving her one last kiss. As she watched his retreating figure, Mitozko's mother fell to the ground and gave way to the sobs of grief she had held back. --------------------- Idaho Wilderness, 1995 Duncan busied himself with the task of burying his parachute, his mind spinning from the story Methos had just told him. Of all the questions he had about it, one particular kept nudging it's way forward. "Methos?" The older immortal looked up from his task of packing a tent. "Yes Duncan?" "You had children?" Methos smiled a sad smile. "Do you mean, were they my biological children?" At Duncan's nod, he shook his head. "No, they weren't. My wife was a beretertsa, um, for lack of a better term in English, a 'priestess' of our local fertility goddess. As such, she had certain duties during the ceremonials, taking her part in fertility rituals." "Oh." His face burning, Duncan turned his attention to the parachute, wondering how to apologize for bringing up something that was so personal. Methos, correctly interpreting Duncan's silence, left his task, walked over to the younger immortal, and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Duncan, I'm not upset. It was a part of life, at least, a part of the life I grew up with. To me, those little girls were mine." He paused, trying to find the words to put Duncan at ease. "These days I only remember the good times." A faraway look entered his eyes as he focused on the distant past. He smiled an indulgent smile. "My youngest daughter, for instance. She couldn't pronounce Mitozko, it was too difficult for her. Her efforts came out sounding like 'meetos'. My wife was so enchanted she began calling me that in private. It's why I call myself Methos, in their honor." Duncan nodded, but couldn't speak. Listening to Methos caused his own memories to surface, memories of Anne and that one moment when he thought he would become a father. He cleared his throat, pushed the memories aside, and changed the subject. "How far do we have to go?" Methos went back to his packing. "See that ridge up there?" He pointed in the direction he was referring to. "We need to get over that and make camp on the other side. That will put us close enough that we can reach the compound with a couple of hours hiking. We don't dare get closer than that, or their patrols will find us. "All right." Duncan finished burying their chutes and stood up. He saw Carol and Richie approaching, each shouldering a large pack. "Are we ready?" she asked. "Yes, all packed and ready to go," Methos replied, handing a pack to Duncan. They checked each others' harnesses, and joined Carol and Richie, who had already begun walking east. Duncan looked back and saw that no trace of their landing remained at the site. He turned and followed the others, his mind on what was to come. --------------------- /Notes/ "And the Mother was heavy with child, and very weary, for she had journeyed far. From beyond the moon she walked, searching for the place where the sun lived. Now she looked for a place of rest, but the land was dry and barren. No water flowed and no plants grew. Sore and weary beyond belief, the Mother wished for shade from the harsh sun, but there was none." "Then the Mother came to an outcropping of rock, which offered small shelter from the relentless daylight. There she sat, resting, when her time came upon her. Blood and water gushed forth as she gave birth to her first child. Where the water poured streams formed, and where blood soaked the earth plants sprang up. The Mother greeted her first child in the oasis formed from her birth. She was an aurochs, the first, and the mother of her kind. 'This glade shall be your home for always,' the Mother told her child. 'As long as you dwell here your children shall populate the earth.'" "The aurochs bowed her head to her mother, and went to drink from the new stream. The mother rested a while in the shade, then resumed her journey to find the resting place of the sun." The above is one of the few fragments left to us of the Herrialdaketa's origin myths. This is but a small part of an epic "fairy tale" that was taught to children to give them their first exposure to the aspect of the Mother as Ama Biziko (Mother of all Life). _Oral Legends of the Herrialdaketa: Creation Legends_ (to be continued in chapter 11) --------------------- Hmmmm, Methos seems to have hijacked my story. I wonder where he'll take it... As usual all questions/comments/criticisms/flames to me at liddiard@bs1.prc.com or GrinnyP@aol.com Carol Ann =========================================================================