Legend of Oria 1: Initial Contact by James Campbell

would be great.  Where do I go?”
    “Just follow me.”  The guide immediately turned and headed towards the front door with Oria right behind her.  She threw open the front door, walked out, and turned to the right.  Towards the corner of the building, a small group gathered around one of the Wild Life Commission’s SUVs.
    The guide yelled out “Dr. StalkingWolf!  Can we substitute this gentleman for one of your cancellations?”
    She yelled back “I don't know, what's his interest in the dig?”
    “He says that he is particularly interested in this era of our local history.  He has some fascinating viewpoints on some of the artifacts that you have displayed.”
    Dr. StalkingWolf’s body language signaled the guide to stop shouting and speak privately.  The guide took the clue, walked up to Dr. StalkingWolf, and whispered in her ear.  “Linda, he knows about the massacre and that the stakes used to kill the Nanticoke; He also knows that the remains of one of the boys are missing.”
    Dr. StalkingWolf blanched and replied.  “Yes, we would be pleased to have him along.  What is your name sir?”
    “Thank you, I am known as Oria that is Oria Stoneax.”
    Dr. StalkingWolf looked stunned and swallowed hard.  Engraved in Scandinavian writing on a long two-edged sword discovered in the dig was the name Stoneax.  With a fixed smile, she replied, “Well Mr. Stoneax, we would be happy to have you on our tour.”
    “Thank you again, you can call me Oria, I have not used the name Stoneax in many years.”
    “Ok Oria, please join the rest of us and let's all board the vehicle.”
    The seven visitors boarded and Dr. StalkingWolf climbed in the driver’s seat. It took about 5 minutes to reach the dig site.  Once there, everyone got out of the SUV.
    Dr. StalkingWolf started the tour off by gathering everyone together at the entrance to the site.  She said, “I want to thank everyone for coming out today.  I hope all of you are as excited about this site as I am.  First, some ground rules.  Everyone is informal at the dig so please feel free to call me Linda.  Also, please stay on the marked areas and don't touch anything.  I know many of you already know these rules, but for those of you not versed in archeology, please refrain from touching anything.  Great, are there any questions?”
    One man towards the front of the group spoke up and asked “Linda, thanks for inviting us out here.  I am really excited about something you found describing the relationship between the natives and the Vikings.”
    Linda smiled and responded “Good point, as some of you know we have found a number of Viking artifacts at this site.  It appears that a band of Vikings settled down towards the river in our dig.  We’ll touch more on that topic later.  Again, I request all of you to keep most of what you find out today quiet until we prepare a formal announcement.  We don’t want to fuel any new and false theories prior to getting all of the facts.”
    A woman towards the back of the group asked, “Linda is it true that you believe the Vikings held some of the local Indians captive and were eventually freed by another tribe?”
    “I don't want to jump to any conclusions.  However, there is some evidence to support that theory.”
    Oria kept a poker face throughout this discussion.  He was the only one in the group who knew the real fate of the slaughtered family and the local people.  It took Oria a fair amount of self-control to refrain from pointing out the errors in Linda’s theory of the Vikings holding the local people captive and their rescue by another tribe.  After all, Oria was a member of the slaughtered family and he knew the Vikings and local Nanticoke people had intermixed for several generations prior to his birth.  In fact, they had become one people.
    After several more questions, the group proceeded towards the massacre site.  It was the first site on the way to the village remains.  As they