The Last Portal

by Robert Cole

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. 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 bright light, their sudden appearance 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-worm 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. The passing carts were filled with all types of dried meat and fish, household wares, clothes, even books and jewellery. 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 road split into a number of smaller 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 multi-coloured crysta
l. 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 and spices. 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.

  He and Joe had to hurry to catch up with the others, who were setting a frantic pace through the streets. Curious Nethral again came from everywhere, but this time Kaloc brushed past them without acknowledging any of their questions. Chris told Joe and Susie what he’d read in Sharess’s thoughts.

  “That’s great,” Joe said, now puffing slightly at the effort of eating, talking and walking fast at the same time, “now Zelnoff has an opposition of three kids, five soldiers and one Guardian.”

  Joe took another enormous bite out of something that looked like an apple, and purple juice sprayed all over his face and shirt. Susie giggled. Joe groaned, then began to wipe the juice off his shirt. This only smeared the stain further. Chris trudged off and left Joe to his shirt, now feeling uneasy about everything.

 

  Chapter 13: A Battle of Wills