The Last Portal (22 page)

Loud cheers and shouts
greeted the sudden disappearance of any resistance from the
Nethral. Batarr was less inclined to celebrate. Zelnoff was a hard
taskmaster, and he hadn’t been pleased that the three Mytar had
escaped. The last episode with Chris had particularly unsettled
him, as it was obvious Chris was still gaining strength. Zelnoff,
however, would be very pleased once they had captured the last
portal.

One of the
commanders, a Taal, reported that the advanced Zentor units had
reached a large underground cavern. Batarr already knew the
location of the portal. Zelnoff had extracted this information from
some hapless Nethral soldier.

‘Excellent.
Proceed as quickly as possible to the end of the cavern. There will
be a small gap in the wall. The portal will be through there,’
Batarr replied.

Without the
slightest hint of emotion, the Taal commander turned and strode
off.

Batarr watched
the Taal disappear down the tunnel. The Taal nation will make a
valuable addition to Zelnoff’s army, he thought. They were fiercely
loyal with the ability to obey without question or emotion. The
perfect battle troops, he sighed. But his heart found no comfort in
the thought.

With the order to
advance, the Zentor took to the air, flying high above a patchwork
of forests and green fields, split by the coursing lines of streams
and rivers. Clustered squares of thatched roofs marked Nethral
settlements, dotted along the riverbanks. As the swarm advanced,
singularly or in small groups, Zentor peeled off to destroy these
settlements. Their war cries remained unchallenged. Only startled
cries and scurried activity greeted the incineration of each
settlement as the animals of the underworld retreated into the
forests. The leading Zentor soon arrived at the caved-in entrance
to the portal. Using their weapons, they quickly blasted a path
through the collapsed tunnel. Once inside, they scuttled forward,
screeching excitedly when they found the portal still intact. After
quickly securing all the exits, several Zentor took to the air,
shrieking loudly as they flew back over the burning Nethral
villages, eager to report their success to their commander.

Demoss

The party emerged into
a dimly lit tunnel. Ahead, it broadened into a narrow cavern with a
high roof, studded with thousands of micro-stalactites. The floor
was bare limestone in places, and carpeted in thick green moss in
others. On the far side of the cavern was the control panel of the
Nethral portal. Chris dumped his supplies and walked around it a
few times. It was identical to the previous two control panels he
had seen, except the seat was higher, he assumed because of the
height of the Nethral. The cavern smelt of dampness and moss. In
contrast to where he had come from, it was also quiet. The silence
made Chris realise just how tired he was.

Ignoring the
portal entirely, Susie and Joe had headed directly to some
makeshift beds that had been assembled against the opposite wall of
the cavern. When Chris joined them, they were lying on the beds
with their eyes already flickering shut. They both looked
exhausted. Chris estimated that their last sleep was nearly two
days ago, just before Kaloc rescued them. Chris had never before
seen kids his age with such dark shadows under their eyes and grey
complexions.

Kaloc finished
directing his soldiers and came over, a concerned expression
appearing on his face when he saw the condition of the Mytar. He
knelt down and watched them for a moment. If anything, Chris
thought, he looked even worse, with deep lines of exhaustion carved
under each eye.

‘Come on, I
want to show you all something that might surprise you,’ Kaloc
said, in an unexpectedly upbeat tone.

‘I just need
some sleep,’ Joe moaned.

Kaloc nodded
that he understood. ‘But aren’t you hungry?’

At this, Joe’s
eyes opened slightly. ‘Yeah…’

‘Well, I know a
place not far from here which will provide a feast.’

‘Real food, not
supplies?’ Joe asked.

‘Food that will
have you begging for more,’ Kaloc assured him.

‘How far?’
Susie asked.

Kaloc smiled
and rose to his feet, then signalled Altac to follow. ‘Not far, I
promise. Come on, it’s time we celebrated our escape with some good
food and company.’

Kaloc led them
at a brisk pace down an increasingly narrow and twisting tunnel,
which soon forced everyone to walk in single file. As they walked,
the tunnel became increasingly dark, but just when it seemed too
dark to continue, a light appeared in the distance. The distinctive
sounds of the Nethral could be heard coming from what appeared to
be a narrow opening ahead.

They reached
the opening and stumbled into a bright light, startling several
Nethral. Chris had never seen a tunnel this size before. It
reminded him of the large, elongated dome of a grand train station,
except, instead of fluorescent lights overhead, it was lit by
glittering glow-worms colonies as far as he could see. The floor of
this tunnel was alive with furry, brown and black heads as the
Nethral passed by carrying or hauling produce and wares. Carts
filled with dried meat and fish, herbs, vegetables or cooking
equipment and utensils flowed past them; each cart with its unique
smell. Chris figured this must of be one of the major trading
thoroughfares. When he turned to Susie and Joe, he saw they were
looking in the opposite direction. Several hundred metres away the
tunnel opened up into the biggest cavern Chris had ever seen. And
in the centre was what appeared to be a Nethral city. Chris
followed Susie and Joe as they weaved their way through the Nethral
crowds for a closer look. The city was vast, and covered so
completely in glow-worms and insects it seemed to glisten and glow
like some vast luminescent monster.

‘Beautiful,
isn’t it.’ Kaloc appeared beside them, and was watching their
reactions with a faint smile. ‘I was as amazed as you are when I
first saw this place. The city is called Demoss. It is one of
several cities deep under the surface. There are over half a
million Nethral in this city alone.’

Chris now
understood the reasons behind the pride he had detected in Cass’s
and Duss’s voices when they spoke of the vastness of the
underworld. Nothing he had seen on the surface compared to
this.

‘Come on, there
is much to see,’ Kaloc said, leading them forward amongst a
gathering sea of Nethral.

As they walked,
the Nethral talked to Kaloc excitedly. Clearly he was already a
well-known and popular figure here. The rest of the party continued
in silence, trying to absorb every detail of their surroundings.
The cavern roof was so high it was merely a blur of light
surrounded by the constant swirling activity of luminescent insect
and bat life.

The city itself
was encircled by several rings of closely packed trees that were
much larger than anything Chris had previously seen in the
underworld. When they passed through them, Chris could see packs of
long-tailed creatures, similar to monkeys on Earth, screeching and
chattering as they swung amongst the branches overhead. Past the
trees the path split into a number of roads that entered the city
at different locations. Kaloc led them along the main thoroughfare,
followed by a healthy escort of Nethral. Chris sent out his senses
amongst the gathering crowd of onlookers. They were aware of
Zelnoff, and had heard about the Mytar, but they were expecting
strong powerful soldiers, not children. Consequently Susie, Joe and
himself were viewed more as a curiosity. This explained why they
had largely been ignored. Apparently, Kaloc had felt it unwise to
inform the Nethral that their fate actually rested in the hands of
ones so young.

They continued
their journey down the main road, which quickly became crowded with
stalls selling food and other merchandise. Chris had never seen
such strange things, and gravitated to the stalls. One appeared to
sell nothing but mushrooms. There were pink, green, blue and yellow
ones, and other mushrooms with these colours in every possible
combination. Some were no larger than his thumb, while others were
so large you could use them as stools. Every category of mushroom
was neatly bundled according to weight. There were also small bags
of powdered mushrooms, used as medicines. This news instantly
attracted Altac, who, using Chris as an interpreter, began asking
questions about where in the underworld he could find these
mushrooms growing, and what ailments they cured. Kaloc, however,
was in no mood to linger, and soon pushed them along. After walking
for some time, they reached a large, paved plaza with a circular
building in the centre, completely covered in glow-worms.

News of Kaloc’s
arrival had travelled fast, as several rather colourfully dressed
and important-looking Nethral were already gathered outside. They
bowed low when they saw Kaloc. Their leader wore a bright yellow
tunic with what looked like red flowers painted on it, and a black
hat with a wide, curled rim. Joe began sniggering when he saw this,
and received a sharp jab in the side from Susie for his
troubles.

‘Sso you’ve
come back?’ the Nethral leader said, taking off his hat and bowing.
His expression, however, was very un-Nethral-like, Chris thought –
more like he was attending a funeral.

Kaloc nodded
coolly, then introduced Chris, Joe and Susie without any
explanation as to who they were.

‘This is
Sharess. He’s the leader of the High Council of the city,’ Kaloc
said, sounding wooden and formal.

Chris focused
his mind on this Nethral. He was uncomfortable with surface people,
but the gravity of this situation clearly overrode all such
concerns. His large dark orbs were fixed on Chris. He already
suspected they were the Mytar. Chris could read the disappointment
and dismay at seeing how young they were.

Sharess moved
to one side and gestured toward the circular building. ‘Pleasse,
you all look tired. Come and have ssome food and resst.’

They were led
through the main door into a room with a low, curved ceiling. Set
in rows along the ceiling were clusters of glow-worm colonies,
which acted much like light bulbs would on Earth, and provided a
bright and even light throughout the room. The walls were covered
in murals depicting different scenes in the underworld, and along
each wall were glass cabinets displaying the many different types
of underworld crystals. Each crystal had its own distinctive colour
that changed depending on the angle you viewed it. While Chris
inspected these crystals, plates of food and decanters full of an
amber liquid were brought in and laid out on a table that literally
sparkled, since it appeared to be carved from a huge multicoloured
crystal. The food, like much of the food in the stalls, was
strange, consisting of a variety of tubers and odd shaped
vegetables, hard-crusted breads, as well as shellfish, crabs, meat
dishes and fish piled high on crystal platters and garnished with
an assortment of herbs. Despite the unfamiliar appearance and smell
of the food, Chris felt his mouth watering.

‘Pleasse eat,’
Sharess gestured toward the food.

While they ate,
Kaloc disappeared with Sharess into the next room and closed the
door. Caught up in the food, Chris didn’t notice Kaloc’s departure,
but it wasn’t long before he sensed a heightened feeling of
tension. Susie felt it too, and soon raised voices could clearly be
heard through the closed door. Chris went over to the door and
started listening. Kaloc had obviously told Sharess about Zelnoff’s
attack on the underworld and the loss of the portal. Sharess was
angry Kaloc had transported here, and even angrier that he had
brought the Mytar. He viewed Zelnoff as purely a surface problem
that had been dragged down to the underworld by Kaloc, and now
threatened to engulf the Nethral in a war. He would hear nothing of
the argument that Zelnoff was not only a global but also an
inter-dimensional problem and wanted Kaloc to shut down the portal
immediately, take away the Mytar, and never come back. The argument
raged back and forth for some time without any clear conclusion.
Then the door flung open and Kaloc stormed in. He had deep furrows
in his forehead and his eyes burned with rage. ‘Come, we must leave
immediately,’ he said stiffly, pointing to the door with his
staff.

Sharess
appeared behind Kaloc. From his expression, he also looked angry.
He walked over and surveyed the empty plates of food. ‘I hope you
found our food to your tasste,’ he said in a formal, expressionless
voice, which contrasted dramatically with the hostility Chris could
detect in his thoughts.

For a moment,
Chris and Sharess’s eyes met across the room. Chris read absolutely
no sympathy for the plight of Kaloc, or the surface people. In
fact, he disliked Kaloc immensely and blamed him for the invasion
of the underworld. He also didn’t care or believe the Mytar had any
special powers. At a deeper level, he also wanted them captured, or
even killed by Zelnoff. Then, he believed, Zelnoff would leave the
underworld and return to the surface. This man was power-hungry and
selfish. No argument would convince him to raise a finger to
help.

Sharess bowed
low to the party and they all responded politely. He was now
thinking how messy and dirty these Mytar children looked and how
badly they dressed.

As they were
leaving, Chris turned to Sharess. ‘You’re wrong,’ he said coldly.
‘We’re the only thing that’s standing between your precious city
and Zelnoff. If we are killed, Zelnoff will invade the underworld
and enslave you all.’

Chris read
complete confusion and amazement in Sharess’s mind at his words. He
turned and ran out, followed closely by Joe, who also had his arms
filled with food.