The Last Portal (21 page)

‘You had no
idea what was down here?’ Chris asked, finding Kaloc’s lack of
knowledge of his own planet difficult to believe.

‘We thought
there were no more than a few isolated groups of Nethral living in
dark tunnels,’ Kaloc said. ‘There has actually been no direct
contact between the Nethral and the surface people for centuries. I
just had no idea,’ he waved his hand in the air, ‘that all this
existed.’

‘But whoever
made the portals knew.’ Joe voiced what everyone was thinking.

Kaloc nodded.
‘I was forced to hide in the tunnels around Mount Caporel to avoid
detection by Zelnoff’s soldiers. That’s when I first encountered
the Nethral and realised these people were not primitive tunnel
dwellers, but they inhabited a world every bit as extensive and
beautiful as that of the surface. That’s when I realised there must
be another portal here somewhere, and with the help of their high
council, I have found it.’

‘Where?’ Chris
asked.

‘It’s a long
way from here.’

‘Does it have a
Guardian?’

Kaloc shook his
head. ‘There was an ancient legend about its existence and a rough
location. It took me nearly a year of searching the underworld
before I found it. Although it didn’t have a Guardian, it was still
operational. It appears that the line of Guardians that operated it
died out thousands of years ago.’

‘And Batarr has
no idea it exists?’ Susie asked.

‘No Guardian,
or Nethral for that matter, knows anything about it. I have told
you now because it will become necessary to use it in the near
future. The Nethral have been instructed to hold back Zelnoff’s
forces just long enough to allow this immediate part of the
underworld to be evacuated, they will then melt back into the
underworld and leave Batarr and Zelnoff to the portal.’

‘And we will
transport to this other portal,’ Chris said.

‘Yes,’ Kaloc
nodded. ‘Then I will teach Susie and yourself to combine your
powers of telepathy.’

Chris and Susie
looked at each other. ‘What for?’ Susie asked.

‘When this
portal is captured, Zelnoff will believe he has possession of all
the portals and we have transported to another location. He will
not be guarding against a possible eighth portal. Zelnoff will then
prepare his forces for the final crossing into your world. To
co-ordinate the simultaneous crossing of his forces through seven
portals at once will be a difficult process, even for Zelnoff with
Batarr’s help. It will require all his concentration. At that time
he will be at his most vulnerable to an attack.’

‘What type of
attack?’ Chris asked, suddenly feeling the weight of the world back
on his shoulders.

‘With your
help, I should be able to send his forces into another dimension
altogether. Somewhere they can do no harm and Zelnoff cannot
retrieve them.’

‘So they will
never reach Earth,’ Joe said.

‘That’s right.
They will disappear forever. It will be some time before Zelnoff
can assemble another invasion force. This should give you valuable
time to find the other Mytar.’

‘You mean we
can go home?’ Joe asked.

‘Yes.’ Kaloc
smiled at Joe’s sudden enthusiasm. ‘But you must promise to come
back.’

There was a
collective nod of agreement. Chris looked around the faces of his
friends. He had not believed it till now, but just maybe there was
something different about the three of them after all.

The meeting
broke up soon afterwards, when one of Kaloc’s commanders came with
the news that Zelnoff’s forces had begun their march into the
underworld. The Nethral had booby-trapped many of the tunnels and
the initial assault had been repelled. But Zelnoff’s soldiers were
massing again, and a second attack was imminent. Kaloc left in a
hurry, in deep discussion with his commander.

Cass and Duss were
waiting for Chris near the mess hall. They seemed very flustered
and confused about what was happening. Chris had to spend a
considerable amount of time explaining why Zelnoff wanted the
portal and why Kaloc was trying to stop him. Finally, they shook
their heads and said the planet was not a safe place, and they
didn’t understand these things. Chris had to agree. After many
reassurances that he would be all right, they left to collect their
belongings and join the evacuation.

Several hours later,
Chris climbed through the narrow gap in the cavern wall to say
goodbye to Cass and Duss. From here he could see over most of this
vast underworld cavern. Streams of Nethral were already leaving
their houses and disappearing into the many tunnels leading off the
central cavern.

‘Where will you
go?’ he asked.

At this
comment, at least, they did not seem confused. ‘We have many
friendss,’ Cass said.

‘And many
relativess,’ Duss added.

‘They will be
very happy to ssee uss,’ Cass said.

‘Yess very
happy,’ Duss again added.

‘Don’t worry
about uss. Jusst make ssure that thiss Zelnoff doess not get to the
portal,’ Cass said, taking Chris by the shoulders and peering
deeply into his eyes.

Chris smiled
reassuringly. ‘I will do my best.’

‘And don’t get
caught up in the fighting. You are too young for ssuch thingss,’
Cass went on.

Chris nodded.
He could read only concern for his welfare in Cass’s huge black
orbs and it made him feel ashamed about all the things he couldn’t
tell her. Then, with a parting wave, they were gone, fading into
the streams of Nethral who were abandoning their homes to certain
destruction from Zelnoff’s forces. Chris quickly turned away from
the sight and headed back to the portal.

When he arrived
he found Susie, Joe and Kaloc huddled around a small fire deep in
discussion. Kaloc was explaining some of his future plans. He
immediately made a space for Chris on the bench beside him.

‘I was just
telling Joe and Susie about the need for secrecy concerning the
existence of the Nethral portal,’ he said. ‘And they have been
telling me the details of your escape from the Zentor; a very close
call, by all accounts. The Prower also tell of Joe’s remarkable
ability with the crystal weapon.’

‘Yeah, I killed
at least ten Zentor,’ Joe said, ‘I even blasted them right out of
the sky.’

Kaloc lips
tightened as he nodded slowly. ‘That is impressive.’

‘And Altac said
it would take ages to learn how to use a crystal weapon,’ Joe added
proudly.

‘To operate,
load and service correctly, that is very true,’ Kaloc said, fixing
Joe with a stern look.

‘Right,’ Joe
said a little more quietly.

‘That staff of
yours,’ Chris said, ‘now that’s really cool.’

Kaloc picked up
his staff from the ground and put it across his lap. ‘As with
everything, there is a story behind this staff. The builders of the
portals left behind many items. Some still remain a mystery, as the
knowledge of their use has been lost over thousands of years. But
the purpose of three of their items has been passed down through
generations of Guardians; the portal, the key and this staff. This
is the only offensive weapon that the builders of the portals left.
Its mechanism is unknown, but it is powered by the same blue
crystals that power our crystal weapons. Somehow it converts the
energy from these crystals to a white light that is much more
powerful than the blue light of our crystal weapons.’

‘So you just
press a button to fire it?’ Joe asked.

Kaloc smiled.
‘Nothing so crude. Somehow the staff locks into the user’s thought
processes. I just have to think, aim and fire.’

‘Wow…that
really is awesome,’ Joe said.

‘And there’s
only one staff?’ Susie asked.

‘Yes, I’m
afraid so. The staff has always been passed to the Guardian that is
in charge of Defence. That was me; a bit like your Minister of
Defence back on your Earth. Of course, until Zelnoff invaded
Cathora, the staff was purely a symbol of authority, since there
was no serious conflicts on Cathora. Unfortunately, now it has
become the most powerful part of my arsenal.’ Kaloc paused and
smiled at the three of them. ‘That is, of course, until you three
came along. I’m very pleased with the progress of all three of
you.’ He turned his attention to Chris. ‘Especially you. Joe tells
me you managed to gain control of your dreams after only the second
night. Indeed, I doubt if Batarr would make a third attempt, since
it is clear that you have already surpassed his powers and can no
longer be manipulated in your dreams.’

‘So you don’t
think we need to tie him up?’ Joe asked, sounding disappointed, but
grinning wickedly at Chris at the same time.

‘No, I believe
it won’t be necessary,’ Kaloc answered, smiling mildly at Joe. He
paused for a moment. ‘There is something that I would like Chris to
help me with. So far I have not told anyone, except you three,
about the Nethral portal. But we’ll need some loyal soldiers to
help us when we reach it. Chris, no one can hide his or her true
allegiances from you. I need to have a group of about five trusted
soldiers who will come with us to the Nethral portal. These
soldiers will form the core of a future resistance movement and
will help shape the Nethral into a fighting force, if
necessary.’

‘So you want me
to read the minds of your men?’ Chris asked.

‘Yes, I do. I
need soldiers I can rely on and trust.’

Chris looked
across at Joe and Susie, but they only shrugged.

‘Sure, I can do
that,’ Chris said.

‘Good,’ Kaloc
climbed to his feet. ‘I must go and organise the defence of the
tunnels. There isn’t much time, so please start straight away.’

‘Anyone in
particular you want me to concentrate on?’ Chris asked as Kaloc was
leaving.

‘My personal
staff,’ he called back over his shoulder.

Over the next
twenty-four hours they received a constant stream of reports from
the battle. The second assault was more organised and extensive
than the first. As Kaloc had predicted, the sheer magnitude of the
forces aligned against the Nethral and the large number of
entrances into the underworld was proving too much to defend. There
were also other creatures that even Kaloc had not seen before that
spearheaded the attack; boulder-like creatures that appeared
impervious to weapon fire and could smash their way through
cave-ins with apparent ease. Insect-like soldiers that rushed ahead
of the main forces blasting away at anything that moved. And
creatures that curled themselves up into balls and rolled forward
at incredible speeds, only to spring open again when they reached
their objective. All these creatures were totally alien to Cathora,
and drove deep into the Nethral defences, forcing the Nethral to
retreat further into the underworld.

While the
reports of the battle came in, Chris moved around the camp trying
to engage Kaloc’s key personnel in conversation. Altac was easy, as
it was clear that speaking to the Mytar seemed to ease his own
fears. He spent a lot of time talking about all the amazing variety
of herbs he had already seen in the underworld. The other staff
members, however, were more difficult to engage in dialogue,
particularly when it became clear the battle was not going well for
the Nethral. As the day progressed, the trickle of wounded became a
flood, and the need for more medical supplies and weapons sent
Kaloc’s staff into a frenzy. Chris managed to select five staff,
including Altac. The other staff were Ranus and Seanus from the
race of Gorilla-like soldiers that seemed to make up the bulk of
Kaloc’s fighting force, Denma from the same race as Altac, and
Pepas, a small dwarf-like creature with dark skin, pointed ears and
saucer-shaped eyes. All these soldiers seemed to be driven by the
same sense of fierce loyalty to Kaloc and an abhorrence of
everything that Zelnoff stood for.

As night on the
surface came, Kaloc’s staff barely had time to stop for more than a
few minutes to rest. Chris and Joe helped out by preparing meals,
while Susie, Altac and a team of Kaloc's medical staff, applied
Altac’s various herb remedies to the mounting flood of wounded,
while other staff did their best to stitch their wounds. As the
battle wore on, the wounded soon overflowed the medical area and
eventually spilled out into all the sections of the tunnel and
beyond.

It was the
morning of the next day when Kaloc finally re-appeared. He looked
utterly exhausted and leaned heavily on his staff for support,
which was blackened at one end as though it had almost melted with
extreme use, but his eyes were bright and his expression
determined. Chris could feel the emotion and power radiating from
him.

‘Zelnoff’s
forces aren’t far behind,’ he announced. ‘I have ordered the
Nethral to retreat. ‘We must also abandon this site.’

Kaloc focused
his attention on Chris, allowing him to read his thoughts. He was
asking whom he had selected. Chris quickly told him, receiving a
nod of approval before Kaloc summoned these soldiers into his
office. After a brief meeting they re-emerged. Chris probed their
thoughts. Each soldier had quickly accepted his new assignment, the
honour of being selected to continue the fight with the Mytar
uppermost in his mind.

When the last
of Kaloc’s soldiers had disappeared into the underworld, Kaloc
caved in the tunnel leading into the main cavern by firing a bolt
of light from his staff. Without a word he strode over to the
portal and started manipulating the dials. The vortex started to
rotate slowly, then picked up speed, and a low hum began resonating
from it. Since the portal was not linked to another dimension, the
enormous wind that had sucked Chris, Susie and Joe between
dimensions was gone.

Chris grabbed
several boxes of dried food and slung three crystal weapons over
his shoulder. Susie took the medical supplies and Joe took as many
crystals and weapons as he could carry. On Kaloc’s signal, Altac
and the other four soldiers, also loaded down with supplies and
weapons, disappeared into the spinning vortex. The Mytar followed,
and lastly Kaloc, carrying a box filled with his last remaining
possessions.