Date: Thu, 21 Sep 1995 00:56:37 -0400 Reply-To: GrinnyP@AOL.COM Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Carol Ann Liddiard Subject: "Origins" Chapter 11, part 1 "Origins" c. 1995 C. A. Liddiard Chapter 11 "For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed." _Lamentations 1:16_ --------------------- Idaho Wilderness, 1995 Duncan sat next to Methos when Carol called a rest stop. He unwrapped two granola bars and handed one to the older immortal. "Methos, what happened to you after your village threw you out?" Methos chewed and swallowed his first bite of granola. "Well, I traveled south through the Alps. Luckily for me, they threw me out during the summer. Would have been a bit more difficult if had been winter." "I'm amazed you can joke about it." Duncan still woke some nights seeing the look on his father's face as he turned his back and rode away from the man he had called son. "It's been nearly six thousand years," was Methos' gentle reply. "I've lived many lifetimes since then, and I hope -- if nothing else -- I've gained a little perspective." He paused to take another bite of his bar and a drink from his canteen. "I was barely out of the mountains, and I had no idea where to go next, when she appeared again." "Carol?" "Yes, although she was 'Abesti' then. She was just there in my camp one morning when I awoke." He chuckled. "I still had a bit of an adolescent crush on her, you know, although it was buried under the grief. We traveled together for centuries, from one culture to the next, all over the world. We saw so many things, met so many people, and I grew to love learning and knowledge." He and Duncan grinned at each other, both thinking the same thing. "The eternal grad student, that's me." Methos sighed and continued. "During our first journey, she explained to me what I was, that I would no longer get sick, age, or die." "Did she explain all the rest? About the disease, why we fight, or about her people?" Methos shook his head. "Not at all, she never explained any of that. Fortunately, she at least taught me self defense, so I wasn't totally unprepared when I faced my first immortal." "When was that?" "About six hundred years after we began traveling together . . . " --------------------- Nippur, @5,400 BCE (@3,400BC) Mitozko looked up from the barley mash he was mixing and stretched. Sweat ran down his brow from the heat of midday, and his shirt was drenched. He sensed something, not a sound, but more of a vibration he could feel in every bone of his body. Realizing that this was what Abesti had warned him about, he quickly reached for the axe that was never far from his side and cautiously scanned the area behind their dwelling. A chuckle behind him caused Mitozko to spin around and drop into a crouch, anticipating attack. "You're quick, youngster, I'll give you that," the immortal surveyed him leisurely. "Not that it will do you any good." "I'm not so young as you might think," was the only reply Mitozko could think of. He eyed the stranger carefully, still shivering from that awful feeling. Before he could think of an answer, the immortal attacked. Mitozko blocked his opponent's blows, carefully backing away. Abesti's instructions, drilled through countless years of practice, echoed in his mind. After a few minutes, his panic subsided as he realized that although the other immortal was bigger, he was nowhere as skilled, and that he was holding his own. The older immortal also realized this and stopped his attack. They circled each other warily as he grinned. "She has taught you well, bait." "My name is Mitozko, not _bait_", Mitozko replied. "Why do you call me that? And who are you?" "I am Gudari." The stranger attacked so quickly and ferociously that Mitozko found himself driven back against the wall of their hut, the handle of Gudari's axe pinning him by the neck. As Mitozko strained to push the man back, he could hear Abesti's voice again. Sending up a brief prayer to the Mother, he hooked his leg around the other man's and shifted his center of gravity. Much to his surprise, it worked and the immortal -- caught off guard -- went flying. Upon regaining his feet, Gudari snarled. "Where is she, _bait_? She's not usually this far away when someone comes calling." "_What_ are you talking about?" Mitozko asked in exasperation. To his amazement Gudari began to smile. "You mean you don't know, young one? How we are attracted by what seems to be easy prey? How, when we come for your head, she awaits to take ours? She's killed a fair number over the years that way." He feinted and got in under the young immortals' guard, but Mitozko moved quickly enough to avoid severe injury. "You're lying." Gudari pressed his attack. "So, your companion doesn't move you about constantly from place to place? She doesn't disappear for several days at a time? And I suppose she didn't train you to fight with bladed weapons, _just in case_?" At Mitozko's startled look, the older immortal laughed. "How does it feel to be a goat staked out for the lion?" "I'm not a goat," Mitozko said with more confidence than he felt. "And you're _certainly_ not a lion." As the older immortal lost his smile, Mitozko realized he'd found another weapon. Smirking, he continued. "No, definitely not a lion. More of a gazelle, perhaps, prancing about. Or maybe a jack-rabbit." Gudari stopped smiling and stepped up his attack. "I'll wipe that smile off your face, young one." "With what?" Mitozko taunted. With a wordless cry of rage, Gudari rushed the younger immortal. Mitozko let him come, and at the last minute pivoted and swung completely around with his axe. To his astonishment, the move had worked, and a headless corpse lay at his feet. Mitozko stared down at the body, trying to come to terms with what he had done. Light began rising from the corpse, and little bolts of lighting began to shoot around the area. He dropped the axe and tried to stagger away, but was caught and driven to his knees by the mysterious force. A series of vignettes began to play across his mind as ecstasy so total it became pain flooded his body. . . . he was a little boy, in a group of other little boys, fighting for food. The feeling of triumph as he broke the arm of a younger child and stole his meager rations . . . . . . being killed by his spear instructor, and coming back to life to the taunts of his fellow warriors-in-training . . . . . . laughing at the stories his comrades told of the torture of some hapless hunter . . . . . . watching in awe and terror as the island tore itself apart, and a wall of water rushed towards him . . . . . . the screams of the woman he was raping ringing in his ears, tasting the blood of the man he had just slain . . . . . . the rush of the quickening as he killed a young immortal, newly born . . . . . . and watching Abesti, his precious Abesti, remorselessly and efficiently beheading an immortal who had came for the youngster, Mitozko . . . Scene after scene of the stranger's life poured into his mind. After what seemed an eternity, the images began to subside, and Mitozko found himself kneeling on the ground near Gudari's body. He could still remember pieces of the other immortal's life. Huddled there, he felt alone as he never had before. --------------------- Idaho Wilderness, 1995 Methos' narrative was interrupted when Carol approached the two immortals. "Time to get going again," she said. "We're nearly there, so keep alert." Duncan and Methos nodded and shouldered their packs. As Carol walked towards Richie, she could hear the murmur of their conversation as Methos continued his story of their early days together. Catching up with the young immortal, she apprised him of their position, and sunk back into her own thoughts. --------------------- Nippur, @5,400 BCE (@3,400BC) Abesti was haggling with a street vendor when the first tickling sensation alerted her that something was wrong. She looked around the open air market sharply, but the immortal she was sensing was much further away. she opened her mind and began scanning the city. The signal flared up a bit more, just enough for her to get an idea of the general direction it was coming from. Full of dread, Abesti turned to face the area of town where their residence was located, and dropped the amphora she had been holding. She ran blindly through the twisting streets, ignoring the yells of the vendor whose pot she had smashed. Frantic, she called on the Mother as she ran, knowing that it was already too late. The house that she had rented for herself and Mitozko was in her sights when she felt the sickening snap that heralded the death of one of her kind. She stopped, sobbing for breath, as lightning began to erupt from the area behind the hovel. When the light show was over, Abesti slowly made her way to the back of the house. Although she could just scan the area, she was reluctant to, afraid of what she would find. When she saw Mitozko crouched over the headless body, the relief she felt was so great she had to stop and compose herself before proceeding. Absently, she noticed the head of the deceased, and one part of her mind registered the victim's identity, but all she could think was that the man she considered her son was safe. she thought as she laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Mitozko . . ." "Don't call me that!" He erupted from his sitting position, throwing her hand off and nearly knocking Abesti over. "What is wrong . . . First Son?" she asked as she took in his countenance. The look in his eyes was pure rage. More tentatively, she tried another tack. "Some people react badly to their first oroimentza, especially when it is not controlled. Let me help you." He slapped aside her seeking hand and backed away further. Deep inside she felt something tear as fear joined rage in his look. "How many of them have you killed, Abesti? How long have you been using me to kill them? How long?" "I never used you, First Son." "I saw, Abesti, when I took his head. I saw his memories. He saw you kill many of our kind. So much for all your lessons about respecting life." He backed up further and nearly tripped over the axe dropped by the other immortal. Grabbing it, he waved it threateningly. "Don't come any closer." Abesti stopped her advance. "I was only protecting you, child. I never . . . " "Don't call me child!" he screamed back at her, now moving forward. "I have not been a child for a long time." Nervous, Abesti grabbed up Mitozko's discarded axe and continued to back away. "I am sorry, First Son, but to me you are still a youngster. Now calm down and I will try to explain to you what you saw." "When were you going to tell me about the fighting, about the Prize?" She felt the rough brick of the wall against her back and realized that she could go no further. Mitozko lunged forward, pinning her by the throat with his axe handle. In a deadly quiet tone he asked, "And just _when_ were you going to tell me that my little girls weren't even mine?" Abesti searched his eyes and realized that reason was not going to work this time. She made a decision and reached up to caress his cheek. *I'm sorry I have to do this.* The mental blast knocked Mitozko instantly unconscious, his body a dead-weight sagging against her. She tenderly cradled him as she lowered him to the ground, tears running down her cheeks. She left him there in the dirt as she went to dispose of Gudari's body. --------------------- (to be continued . . .) =========================================================================