Date: Thu, 5 Oct 1995 03:09:53 -0400 Reply-To: GrinnyP@AOL.COM Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Carol Ann Liddiard Subject: "Origins" Chapter 13, part 1 Sorry this took so long . . . -------------------------- "Origins" c. 1995 C. A. Liddiard Chapter 13 "So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city." _Joshua 6:20_ --------------------- Idaho Wilderness, 1995 *We're here.* The communication brought everyone up short. Duncan looked around but it was still too dark to see very far. He saw Carol pull something out of her pack and then she was handing around army issue night binoculars. Using them, he scanned the area and spotted the hunting lodge that they were aiming for. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted. *No talking, no noise.* He nodded his agreement, and then felt foolish for doing so. It was, after all, still dark. He went back to spying out the area with the binoculars. At first glance, the lodge looked like any other of its kind. A quiet, peaceful compound, its residents sleeping before beginning the day's hunt. Soon, though, he began to pick out the security details, and the illusion shattered. *I rarely kid.* Duncan had become so used to her jumping into his thoughts he didn't even flinch. Instead, he concentrated on trying to find weak spots in the well-concealed defenses. *I see one set of guards.* That was Richie's voice in his head. . *I'm relaying for everyone to save time,* Carol replied to Duncan's unspoken question, then replied to the youngest immortal, *I see them too, Richie.* *They're on full alert,* Methos' "voice" chimed in. *The gun emplacements are hot.* *Well, what's the plan?* Duncan questioned. *I hope you're not planning a frontal assault.* *No,* it was amazing, but Duncan could "feel" the smile in her response, *not a frontal assault. Now we wait.* She started pulling things out of her pack. *In the meantime, I want you all to wear these.* She handed one of the objects to Duncan and he could see it was a sophisticated radio/headset. *What do we need these for?* *Once things get going, I may not be able to concentrate enough to keep this kind of communication up,* she replied as she handed out the others and demonstrated how to put them on. *This frequency,* she turned a dial on the cigarette box-sized receiver, *is the one that the Watchers will be using. This one,* she turned the dial again, *is the one that the Hunters will be using. And this one,* she turned the dial to a third setting, *is the one for us to use if I can't keep us connected. Any questions?* *Can you tell if Anne and Joe are all right?* She hesitated before answering. *There are too many people, and too much interference for more than a surface scan. If I try to punch through, Horton may sense me.* He didn't like it, but there was nothing to do. *What are we waiting for, then?* *The Watchers.* --------------------- Egypt, @850 BC Methos stood and watched long after the tiny figure disappeared into the setting sun, and sighed. *It's never easy to watch a pupil leave.* He froze in the grip of a comforting presence that he never thought he would feel again. *Abesti?* *It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do, watching you walk away from me,* the voice in his head continued. *I imagine it's similar to what a parent feels as she watches her child depart to start a new life.* Methos continued to watch the horizon, refusing to turn. *If this is what it felt like for you when I left, then I am sorry.* *I think it was worse when you left. At least you have the comfort of knowing that your pupil does not hate you.* The communication had been bland, non-accusatory, but Methos felt the sting nevertheless. *I did not hate you, Abesti. I was just confused.* *And that was my fault.* "No," he spoke aloud and turned. There she was, standing not ten feet away, arms crossed, leaning against the side of the mud-brick hut. "I understand now what you were trying to do. You didn't want the ugliness to touch me." "No, I wanted to spare you that." Bitterness coated her words. "I should have known better. There is no escaping the Mother's fate." He took a tentative step towards her, uncertain of his welcome. "Perhaps not, but we can struggle against it, or work within it." A faint smile stole across her features. "You have indeed become wise over the years . . . First Son." The slight hesitation over his name showed that she was unsure of what to call him. "Something I've not been able to accomplish over my long life." He opened his mouth to say "call me Methos", but something held him back. Shame over being associated with the name, and what it had stood for over the past two millennia rose within him. Hesitantly he began, "I don't know about wise, Abesti. I've done some things . . ." Visions of the past rose within him, choking off his ability to speak. *What makes you think I don't?* Her reply startled him out of his introspection. "How?" She sighed and pushed a stray hair out of her eyes. "I've kept tabs, over the years. You didn't think I would just walk away?" Stunned, he said the first thing that came to mind. "Well, yes, I thought you would." Abesti shook her head. "Then you didn't know me very well. I didn't interfere with your life, but I kept close. Oh, not always," she interrupted his half-formed thought. "It was . . . difficult . . . for me to watch some of the things you did. I offtimes left for hundreds of years, but I always came back to check on you, to see how you were." Methos felt sick. "So, you saw . . ." "Don't," she cut him off sharply. "Yes, you've done some awful things, but you learned from them. It may have taken that young girl's quickening, but at least you were able to change. That's more than I have accomplished." She stared blindly at the horizon. "I've always understood how very wrong the killing is, but it never stopped _me_. I've been very proud of you these last few centuries." Curious, he moved even closer. He saw in the rapidly fading light that her features hadn't changed over the millennia, except for her eyes. The eyes that once were lit with life and laughter were now hard and cold. He shivered. "But you stopped the hunting once you adopted me . . ." he tried to reassure her but she cut him flat. "Oh no I didn't. I may not have used you as bait, as Gudari charged, but I _never_ stopped hunting and killing the evil ones. That is where I would disappear to for days at a time. So don't overload yourself with guilt over our parting. You were right, I _did_ lie to you." "It doesn't matter anymore," he said. "I've . . . missed your company these many years." A strangled laugh seemed forced from her. "And I've missed yours, First Son. Do you think . . ." She suddenly developed an inordinate interest in the ground at her feet. She tried again. "Now that you're student has gone off, and you're alone, do you think you might like some . . . company?" Methos took the final step to stand next to her, and laid a hand on her forearm. "I would like that, Abesti." Her wandering gaze finally lit on his face, and he could see that her eyes glimmered despite the dark that had fallen during their conversation. She covered his hand with her own. "Thank you, First Son." She barely hesitated over the name. "However, we cannot go back to the way we were." For the first time a genuine, albeit small, smile transformed her features. "I know, you have long outgrown the mentor/pupil relationship. Can we . . ." she hesitated, then went on. "Can we try to be friends?" "Friends it is," he replied, then drew her into a tight embrace. She hugged him back tightly as if she would never let go. "I have missed you so much, First Son," he barely heard her whisper. Methos rested his chin on her head and felt his eyes well with tears. "I, too, Abesti." He broke the embrace and slung his arm over her shoulders, leading her into his house. "However, we have to talk about this name business. I am no longer First Son, or Mitozko. I have left behind the person I was then." She surreptitiously wiped her eyes as she followed him in. "I thought that you don't like being called Methos anymore," was her rejoinder. "It is too much of a reminder of the killer I became. I am no longer that man, either. So," he smiled down at her, "now that I've become another person, I need yet another name. Would you care to help me choose?" She laughed delightedly. "Well, you don't seem to like the results of the last name I came up with. Wait a minute, I know," she continued. "On my way here I ran across the most fantastic creation story I've ever heard of, and you know I've heard some strange ones. It's all about this patriarchal deity who creates the first people, and the world he creates for them. The most bizarre aspect in this story is that knowledge seems to be some sort of curse . . ." When she finished explaining the unfamiliar myth, he laughed with her and agreed that it was, indeed, amusing, and that Adam was a fine name for the first Elbarridun Haurketa. --------------------- Idaho Wilderness, 1995 *They're here.* The warning startled Methos out of his reminiscing. He saw Richie and Duncan looking around in confusion, trying to see where the Watchers could be. He shook his head at them and pointed to the sky, then realized they wouldn't see the gesture in the dark. *It's too difficult for a large group to try to hike in, the area is guarded too well.* *They're parachuting in?* Duncan asked. *Yes, just as soon as we've taken care of a few things.* Carol interrupted. She pulled an electronic controller out of her pack, and began flipping switches. *What does that do?* Methos "heard" Richie ask. *Jams their radar.* She put the controller down, pulled out three strange looking rifles, and handed them out to the immortals. *These are laser targeters. You use them like rifles, just aim and shoot. I want each of you to target one of the gun emplacements.* They each took one of the strange-shaped guns and targeted a bunker. Minutes passed, then Carol's warning came. *Close your eyes!* Through closed eyelids, Methos could still see the bright flash of light, then was buffeted by the shock-wave as all three gun emplacements disappeared into a roaring inferno. Blinking to clear the afterimages from his retinas, he could make out Carol's shape as she picked up the controller again and flipped a few more switches. More explosions rocked the compound as the various bombs planted earlier went off, increasing the confusion in the Hunter compound. At the same time, he could see several flares going off to his right. Carol's comment, *landing site,* confirmed his suspicion that they were there to guide the Watchers to the headquarters. Through the explosions and shouting coming from the hunting lodge, he could hear the drone of propeller aircraft, and in the first light of the eastern sky he could see the shapes of parachutes coming in for a landing. As the sky lightened further, Methos could see that many of the Watcher troops had already begun to enter the compound, and gunfire rang out as the two groups engaged. He threw down his laser targeter, picked up the rifle, and watched Richie and Duncan do the same. *Ready?* Methos looked and saw that Carol, too, was armed, and nodded. *Ready.* The other two chimed in right behind him. *Okay, let's go.* Carol took the lead and headed for the hunting lodge, the three immortals following closely. --------------------- (to be continued . . .) =========================================================================