Date: Sat, 23 Sep 1995 23:09:35 -0400 Reply-To: GrinnyP@AOL.COM Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Carol Ann Liddiard Subject: "Origins" Chapter 12, part 2 . . . and the rest of chapter 12 . . . -------------------- Duncan shook his head and knelt down to help put together the packs. They worked side by side in comfortable silence, until he heard a noise in the direction of the stream. He felt the distinct presence of an immortal approaching, but was reassured when Carol showed no reaction. Seconds later Richie appeared, his hair soaked, water dripping down his face, large patches of moisture causing his clothes to cling. "Well, I'm awake now," he said disgustedly. "What do you need me to do?" "What did you do, Rich, fall in?" Duncan asked. He laughed at Richie's disgusted expression. "Adam should be getting up now." Carol interrupted. "Could you help him opening the other crate?" "Sure thing, boss." Richie saluted and headed off to Methos' tent, grumbling. Duncan watched as the young immortal ducked into the tent, then turned his attention back to Carol. "Can I ask you a few questions?" "About?" "Well, I was thinking about what you said yesterday, about Holy Ground. I'm a little confused." "Go on." She continued to sort and load the rifles. "You were talking about what you called 'Spirit Sites', and you said that people built places of worship on them. For one thing, how did they know that they were building in the right place? I guess what I'm asking is how could they sense them when we immortals can't?" "They can't any more." She shrugged. "In those days, well, I don't really know. I always thought that they knew by the reaction of the animals in the area." At Duncan's confused look, she elaborated further. "You see, although people can't really 'see' the energy pools that make up izpirituleku, animals can. Or at least, they sense it, and tend to act strangely or avoid the areas altogether." "Izpirituleku?" he asked, stumbling over the pronunciation. "It's a word that means 'place of spirits'," she responded. Duncan nodded. "I get it. Being hunter/gatherers, they lived and died by the herds of game, and were very observant of their behavior." "Exactly." She finished loading the magazines and turned her attention to the knapsack Duncan recognized as the one she had carried during the attack on the Watcher headquarters. She pulled out something wrapped in a black cloth and tied with a simple leather thong. Duncan cleared his throat to catch her attention. "Yes?" She looked up from unrolling the material. "I guess I still don't understand something. How do people know *now* where to put churches and temples and such on Holy Ground? Not every church or shrine or graveyard is located on ancient sites, are they? Or does building a place of worship *create* such a site?" Carol sighed as she looked over the antique throwing daggers she had just unwrapped. She picked up several, slid them into her belt, and stood. "I need to fill the canteens. Will you help?" Grabbing two of the canteens, she headed towards the stream, surefooted despite the absence of any light. "Okay." Duncan picked up the remaining canteens and followed her,confused. "Because I wanted to make sure that no one could overhear what I'm going to tell you." She replied, again reading his thoughts. "By no one, I gather you mean Richie?" "Yes, I mean Richie. Duncan, what I'm about to tell you has to stay between us." "If it's such a big secret, why tell me?" he asked. Carol sat cross-legged by the stream and motioned for him to do likewise. "Because, of the four of us, you are the one who is most likely to walk away from what's to come. I thought long and hard about telling someone this. My own inclination is to let the knowledge die with me, but Adam thinks that *someone* should know." She smiled ruefully. "It is part of history . . . part of the 'truth', and truth . . . must be preserved." Duncan grinned as she flawlessly imitated Methos in his 'earnest grad student' mode, right down to the slight accent and hesitations that marked his speech. She shrugged. "At any rate, he can be very persuasive. And he trusts you." Duncan settled beside her, more curious than ever. "Go on." "Duncan, not all Holy Ground is, well, Holy Ground." "What?" She smiled at his perplexity. "You've already asked the right question, Highlander, now follow it through. How can each new church, graveyard, shrine, mosque, temple -- whatever -- how can it be located on a Spirit Site? There are not an infinite number of them, you know. They were all identified by ancient peoples and made places of worship. With no way to recognize it if they saw it, how would, say, a Baptist congregation know where to build a new church? Or what would happen when a church gets torn down, or converted into condos?" "You mean . . ." he was horrified by the implications. "Exactly. Thousands of years ago, when this all began, pretty much every place of worship was located on a Spirit Site, and thus it was deadly to fight there. But only a few people knew *why* it was that way, and all but two of them are dead. The immortals of that time just knew that trying to kill one another on Holy Ground was a bad idea, so the sanctuary tradition was born." "In other words, I could kill another immortal in a church?" "As long as you were willing to take the chance that the church was sitting on a Spirit Site, yes. I estimate less than ten percent of what you immortals consider Holy Ground is actually the real thing. Those are pretty good odds. If you avoid the most ancient sites, old cathedrals built on pagan holy ground, Native American sites, or ring circles like Avebury and Stonehenge, the odds are even better. Now do you understand why this shouldn't become common knowledge?" He nodded, too overwhelmed to speak. He had visions of an Evil Immortal like Xavier St. Cloud or Kalas, and what one of them would have done if they had known. Holy Ground would no longer be a refuge for any immortal. Then it occurred to him. "Wait a minute, what about Darius' church?" "Very good, MacLeod. It wasn't izpirituleku, and Horton knew it." She looked pleased, as if a prize pupil had just added two and two "So now you know. Adam thinks that you aren't the sort of person to take advantage of this knowledge, and I'm trusting the same." Stretching again, Carol stood and filled the canteens. "Ready to go?" He nodded and followed her back to camp, wondering why she was suddenly so free with such explosive information. --------------------- Hisarlik, @1,250 BC "I'm telling you, I saw it!" the excitable soldier practically yelled at the Priest of Poseidon, whom he had run to immediately. "When he beheaded her, lightning rose from her body and struck him!" "And where were you that you saw this?" he was asked. The little man shuffled his feet, obviously embarrassed. "I hid behind a pile of bodies. I just wanted to see what he was going to do with her," he whined. The Priest sighed. "Are you sure it was a woman? Was there anything . . . special . . . about her?" The soldier nodded and gulped down more of the drink the Priest had offered him when he first came in with the tale. "It was strange, now that you mention it. When we first found her, we thought she was dead until Thyestes saw her twitching." He shuddered at the memory of what had happened to his friend at the hands of the General. "But it was definitely a woman." "Strange indeed . . ." "What is he? Is he a demon? Will he come for me now?" The soldier began to panic at the thought. "No, I don't think he will, unless you invite his attention." "Whaddya mean?" His words beginning to slur, the soldier blinked his eyes owlishly. He squinted as he watched the Priest finger a strange amulet that he wore around his neck. It looked like a circle containing stylized bird's wings. He pulled his attention back to the man's face. The Priest's eyes seemed to be getting larger and larger, looming over him. His voice took on a sing-song quality. "You must forget what you saw. Don't ever mention it to anyone as long as you live. If you do . . ." the Priest paused to catch the cup that fell from the solder's suddenly nerveless fingers. "If you do he will hunt you down and kill you, and steal your soul. Do you understand?" "I must tell no one . . ." the soldier managed to get out, before slumping to the ground in a boneless heap. The Priest sighed and contemplated the man snoring at his feet. He clapped his hands and two servants appeared. "Take him and dump him near the boats." The two bowed and dragged the little man's unconscious body towards the quay. Once the servants were gone the Priest picked up a stylus and clay tablet and began laboriously to write. "The elusive Methos was sighted at what is left of Troy, killing what appeared to be a female immortal, the first I have ever heard of . . ." --------------------- Idaho Wilderness, 1995 Richie and Methos were waiting for them patiently back at the camp. "Is everything all right?" Methos asked, his eyes darting from Carol to Duncan and back again. "Fine," she said. "Let's get loaded up and move out." Carol and Methos handed out the rifles, and the packs. Duncan and Richie secured their swords to the packs, while Carol loaded up with more throwing knives. When everyone was armed to her satisfaction, Carol nodded and said, "Once we get going, no talking. They have some pretty powerful directional microphones around the compound, so steady and quiet, understand?" The immortals all nodded their understanding. "Good. Any questions?" At the round of head shakes she took a deep breath and said, "Okay, let's go." One by one they filed after her, each lost in their own thoughts. --------------------- *Did you tell him?* *Yes. Are you sure it was wise?* *I think we can trust him, of all immortals, to keep it secret and never take advantage. You should have told him about Anne, too.* *No.* The emphatic reply effectively dampened the communication. After a few minutes, the conversation started up again. *How did he take it?* *About what you expected. He was pretty shook up.* *I can understand why, the concept of Holy Ground was such a big part of his moral foundation. The question is, will it do any good?* The only reply was silence, and the equivalent of a mental shrug. *Who knows? It's hard to overcome 400 years of honor and belief. At least this gives him a fighting chance.* --------------------- /Notes/ Spirit sites (izpirituleku) were a strange phenomenon to the Herrialdaketa. Early on in their development, they believed that these unusual energy pools were places where the spirits of the first animals resided, protecting the ground and making it holy. Certainly, animals either avoided the sites or behaved strangely while within them. The Herrialdaketa embraced this belief, and set aside any izpirituleku that they found for building shrines to the Mother. All other activities, especially hunting, were banned within its confines. However, after the Herrialdaketa became telepathic, they began to move away from what they viewed as the more "superstitious" beliefs handed down from their ancestors. The restrictions against entering the izpirituleku were relaxed, and eventually ignored, to the detriment of a small hunting party out looking for game during the journey to Berri Egoitza. The name of the unfortunate individual who made the kill on the small site is lost to us, but his fate is not. The other members of the party watched in awe and horror as the energy storm released by the site enveloped the doomed individual in a massive display of power. When it was over, literally no trace of the hunter remained, not even ashes. Curious and appalled, the Healers and the Servants of the Mother investigated and experimented very carefully on a handful of sites that were near Berri Egoitza. They were not able to discover exactly what caused the phenomenon, however they did learn that it could be triggered not only by actual killing, but also by serious fighting. It was theorized that this was triggered in some way by the increased energy demands from an immortal's healing system, because during a fight to the death the many wounds generated would cause a massive increase in the demand for power to fuel the healing. This was never proven, however, and does not seem to cover every situation. Unfortunately, the experiments were interrupted by the destruction of Berri Egoitza and the Herrialdaketa. (to be continued in chapter 13) -------------------------------- Sorry folks, but the movers are coming Monday, Wednesday is my last day at work, and I fly out of town Friday, so posting is again on a temporary hiatus. I promise that posting will resume with chapter 13 no later than Saturday. We aplogize for the inconvenience. Carol Ann GrinnyP@aol.com =========================================================================