Trial by Ordeal

by Philip R Benge

Chapter Four

  Through the Portal

  Day 152 Helionia Calendar

  The Defender finally arrived at the planet of Helionia and contacted the authorities, who told them that they were sending the co-ordinates that would allow the Defender to land upon their planet. Moments later Tyler received them and passed them over to Ray, who proceeded to land the ship in a large grassy meadow, before the high foothills of a massive mountain range. They were met by a tall elderly aristocratic looking man.

  “Welcome to Helionia, Tyler Burrows. I am a friend of the Pallas family, my name is Aswan Trajan, and I have been asked by Patina Pallas to hand you this message.” Aswan Trajan was speaking through an android who was accompanying him for this specific purpose. Trajan was a tall aristocratic looking man of sixty years of age with grey wavy hair and grey eyes.

  “Thank you.” Tyler said and took this second electronic tablet from the Helionian and listened to the message from Patina Pallas, which had been translated into English.

  “The portal is inside of the large enclosure that you see directly opposite your ship, you will find your family waiting inside the portal, they entered just minutes ago so please do not delay, but enter immediately, and without questioning the messenger.”

  Tyler almost dropped to the floor as he took in all that he had heard. He looked over to his friends who also appeared to be in shock.

  “No, Appolon that female demon has taken my family through the portal, what sort of demonic people are they, never could I have believed any civilised people to be so barbaric.” Tyler now looked across at the man who had delivered the message.

  “You heard the message; that evil bitch has taken my wife and our babies through that gateway of yours to hell. Just how could you have been so fiendish to allow such a thing to happen? If it wasn`t so urgent that I enter that portal I would teach your people a lesson they would never forget, and I would also take the greatest pleasure in killing you where you stand.”

  The elderly man was shocked following Tyler`s verbal attack on him, but he had also heard the message via his Android, and so understood the cause of the attack. He too was at a loss to understand how Patina could have been so evil to commit such an act.

  “Sir, on the behalf of the people of this planet, and also on behalf of Marot Pallas, I apologise for Patina Pallas`s actions. I cannot understand why she should have acted in such an evil way; I can only think that her brain has been temporarily deranged by the kidnapping of her husband. I knew nothing of this; the old mystic Magi brought this android tablet to me, and asked if I would meet you here. Magi said that she had to run an important errand so couldn`t be here to greet you. I can now understand why she didn`t want to hand this message to you in person. I understood that you had agreed to enter the portal with your friends in a bid to rescue Marot Pallas, I knew nothing of your family or its involvement.” The tall alien was almost too embarrassed to continue following what he had heard, but he knew that he must. He had a note in his hand that he now began to read.

  “It says here that you must all take a magnetic key from the box that you will find set into a niche in the wall just inside the portal that you can see in the cliff face. You must charge the key in a slot that is just inside the portal`s entrance, if you fail to do so you will not be able to gain admittance to the dark domain of the portal. It also states that you must push the key into a similar slot at every other portal that you pass through.”

  Tyler was in shock as he walked away from Aswan Trajan, he attempted to clear his mind for the ordeal ahead of him. Tyler Burrows and his friends moved through the open gate of the large enclosure, earlier Patina Pallas had acquired a key to the gate by simply bribing the security guard. It had stood open ever since she had walked through it with Tyler`s family. Quickly they walked across the compound to the portal where they found the box of magnetic keys waiting for them.

  “We have no choice but to go through the portal my friends, please follow me through to hell, for I am surely in need of your help today.” Tyler asked his friends.

  With that, Tyler stepped forward and went through the portal, with his four friends close behind, and into the cavern. The first thing he saw on entering was Caroline, relief flooded to her face when she saw her husband as he entered into the large cavern. The next moment found her in his arms and kissing him, and then their children rushed forward to hug their father amid their wild cries of daddy. Tyler was delighted to be so constrained. Caroline had her arms around his neck, Callisto and Perseus had their arms around his legs, and Apollo had his arms around Tyler`s waist. Tyler and Caroline moved apart so that he could kneel down to give his children hugs and kisses.

  “Are you and the children alright darling?” Tyler asked looking up at his wife.

  “Yes darling, we are fine now that you are here to protect us.” Caroline`s smiles took in her brother and their three friends as she then thanked them too.

  “Thank you for leaving your own families to come to this evil planet to save the lives of my children and myself.” Caroline said to them, they smiled and walked forward to hug her.

  Tyler looked over at his friends and noticed that the Phaser strapped to Appolon`s side was showing empty, maybe Ray was correct he thought.

  Tyler now saw Patina standing in the shadows of the large cavern, and the look he gave her almost froze the blood within her veins. She was unable to move as she looked across at Tyler, but not for long for her patrician eyes could not hold his gaze and her eyes dropped to stare at the floor before her feet. Tyler whispered some words to his children who stayed where they were, with their arms firmly around him as if scared that he might suddenly disappear. Patina was now once again looking up at him much as a rabbit might look at a cobra, her eyes grew wide as he took out his Phaser and pointed it at her, forgotten were the assurances of the old crone. Appolon who was near to him didn`t move to stop him as Tyler slowly squeezed the trigger, Patina moved her hand to her mouth as if to shield herself from the powerful energy bolt that was soon to come her way, but nothing happened of course for the Phaser pistol was completely drained.

  “Ray was correct; something in the portal does drain all of the energy out of this type of weapon.” Tyler said coldly, he then stood up and put the weapon back into its holster, but not before Caroline had seen that it was set on its lowest power setting anyway, as his weapon was at all times. She had also heard him whisper to his three children that he was going to scare the horrible woman by pretending to shoot her, and that they mustn`t give him away by laughing. The android had also seen the setting on Tyler`s Phaser, and because of his acute hearing he had also heard Tyler`s words to his children, but he said nothing, he did decide though that Tyler Burrows merited further study.

  “Tyler, you are still armed with your bow and your spear, kill the two of them, do it for not even the gods would blame you, and we certainly would not move to stop you.” Appolon said. When he was full of anger, Appolon sometimes forgot that his people believed in the one true god now and not the many of his peoples recent past.

  “No Appolon there will be plenty of time to deal with her later, who knows we may still need her, and her android.” Tyler replied grimly.

  “Tyler you cannot kill the android, he was kind to us when the starship travelled through the vortex.” Caroline said in defence of him.

  “It is just an android darling?” Tyler argued.

  “I know darling but the children trust him, and I think that I also trust him up to a point, if he doesn`t attempt to harm us please let him live.” Caroline said in support of the android.

  “Ok I will not terminate the android darling.” Tyler replied while thinking back to an old sci-fi movie.”

  “Tyler, I checked out this part of the cavern and there doesn`t appear to be any way out except for the tunnel over there.” Caroline said pointing to a tunnel to her right.

  “Right darling, I assume that you all have your magnetic keys?” Tyler asked.

  “Yes T
yler I have our keys here in the backpack they gave to me before entering through the portal, at least they supplied us with food and water for the ordeal.” Caroline replied.

  “Come on children you heard your mummy, there is only one way out of this place, so let`s see what lies ahead of us.” With that, he scooped up Callisto.

  “You never know Callisto, maybe we will find the secret home of Santa Claus somewhere along here.”

  “Santa doesn`t live here daddy, you are silly, Santa lives on Orion.” Callisto said very seriously. Tyler had brought the idea of Santa Claus to Orion to bring a little magic into the world of his children, and it had worked, for every year, they helped him to decorate a tree, and then they left out a glass of milk and biscuits for Santa, and some carrots for his reindeer. It was just a little harmless fun shared by his children, and it was catching on with some of the other families in their village, with Tryon and his family being amongst the first and most enthusiastic.

  “Just a moment darling there is something I need to do.” Caroline said and with that she walked up to Patina and punched her hard on the jaw, so hard in fact that Patina was knocked off her feet to land spread eagled on the floor in front of Caroline.

  “If you come anywhere near my children ever again I will kill you, no matter what my husband might say.” Caroline said staring icily into the other woman`s eyes, her voice alone would have made any water nearby turn instantly to ice.

  Patina was already white with fear after Tyler had put the fear of god into her, now she was even more so, if it were possible. She lay rigid upon the floor afraid for her very life, not daring to move or to say a word. Caroline looked down at her with contempt and turned away. It was only out of deference to Tyler that Caroline hadn`t killed Patina there and then.

  “I am ready now darling, let`s go.”

  As she reached Tyler, he turned to her smiling. “Feeling a little better now darling?”

  “Yes I think that I am darling, but then I always do after a little exercise, it relieves the tension in the body.” Caroline said, smiling once more at the man she loved.

  The android hadn`t stepped in to carry out his duties as body guard for two reasons; one he felt that Caroline wasn`t going to kill his mistress at this moment in time. The second reason was that had he moved to intercept Caroline, it could have brought the five Orionist men into the ensuing fight with extreme consequences for his mistress, and for the missing Marot Pallas, so he had hung back and awaited developments.

  As the friends walked along the rocky tunnel they passed a smaller side turning, that had they taken would have taken them onto the maintenance portal and saved them so much time. As it was, they stuck to the main tunnel. Patina was keeping some ten feet behind them all the way, and the android could clearly see that his mistress, who was normally so in control of herself and anyone else come to that, was afraid for her very life. However, he got the impression that Tyler wouldn`t kill her, as long as nothing further happened to his family that is.

  “Mistress I think that you are over worried about the intentions of the people from Orion, maybe if you sort to ingratiate yourself with them it might help you at a later date.”

  “They are barbarians android; I would not lower myself to ingratiate myself with such people as they are.” Patina said, trying to hide the tears in her eyes, and the fear in her heart. Her face was already showing an ugly bruise where Caroline had punched her.

  “They appear to be very civilised to me mistress, maybe they have not yet progressed as far as the people of Helionia have technologically, but they appear to be good people.” The android wasn`t sure just how civilised some of the Orionists were, and should any of Tyler Burrows` family be harmed the thin veneer of civilisation might easily fall away even from him, this was mere supposition of course so he kept it to himself.

  “I was also thinking mistress about the Phasers belonging to the other parties who entered the portal, if they were also drained of all their power then they would have been utterly defenceless against whatever is before us, they wouldn`t even be armed with the crude weapons that the Orionist`s possess.”

  Patina shuddered as she thought that her husband could be dead, and all of this could have been for nought. Tears came to her eyes and then slid down her pale cheeks, proving that even she was not quite the evil bitch as Caroline thought her to be.

  It was now that Tyler, seeing that his wife was unarmed, offered her a weapon. “Take my new spear Caroline, we don`t know what we might meet further along the way, for something prevented the earlier teams from surfacing, and anyway it`s getting rather heavy.”

  Caroline smiled at her husband. “Thank you darling I was feeling positively naked without even a knife to defend myself.”

  “Not now darling, wait until we are alone before you try to turn me on.” Tyler said, keeping a straight face as he looked at his wife.

  “Tyler why can`t I say anything at all without you thinking about sex.” Caroline said pretending to be annoyed with him.

  Apollo watched his parents joking with one another and he felt a lot better, for seeing his parents fooling around again Apollo knew that everything was going to be all right.

  They had been walking through the tunnels, and in and out of large caverns for almost ten minutes when they came out into the daylight, and realised that they were no longer on the planet of Helionia, for above them was a huge ringed planet, and that they were only upon a large moon that was in orbit around it. They had exited the tunnel at a point that was high above the valley floor that lay far below them. The way ahead of them followed a ridge, that was thankfully mostly flat, but even so Tyler warned everyone to be extra careful, and to steer clear of the edge in case some sections of it were unsafe, for to fall down to the hard ground hundreds of feet below them would mean certain death. The sun was high above their heads and lighting up their way, and at least the day was warm with just a few small clouds scudding around the blue heavens.

  Appolon came over to Tyler and asked him a question that had been rolling around in his mind for an hour or so.

  “Why is it that on all of our adventures that we share together you always have a beautiful woman to accompany you, when all I get is Tryon or Cimon or Argo? It was the same when we were walking from the Heliot crash site to far off New Eden, you once again had Caroline to keep you company of an evening. Even on the planet Genesis that ancient city computer insisted that Caroline accompany you, whenever you returned to help the natives climb back up from the depths to which they had fallen?”

  Tyler looked at his friend and smiled as he handed Callisto over to him.

  “It is the will of the gods my friend, I get Caroline and you are stuck with Tryon. But here you are Appolon, you may carry the fair Callisto for a while, for I am sure she gets heavier by the second and my arms are beginning to ache, but my friend I will want my gorgeous daughter back in a little while.”

  “I am getting bigger daddy, soon I will be big and strong enough to carry you when you get tired.” Callisto said to her daddy before looking at her Uncle and smiling.

  Appolon kissed Callisto on her cheek and turning, said to Tyler. “Thank you my friend, it is only what I deserve.”

  Caroline, who had been carrying Perseus for a while was also beginning to tire, for little Perseus was also getting heavier by the step, and so she walked over to Tryon and gave her youngest son to him.

  “Here you are Tryon here is someone for you to cuddle, because my arms are positively aching.” Caroline said to her friend.

  “Hello Perseus, would you like me to tell you some of the tales about the many heroes that have lived on Orion in the time when dragons flew above the clouds and elves lived in the meadows by the river that runs through our village.” Tryon asked the youngest son of his two friends.

  Perseus positively beamed and said that he would. Not to be out done Apollo was being spoilt by Cimon and Argo as they swung him between them.

  It could have been a Sunday wa
lk that everyone was on, it could have been but it wasn`t. Caroline was feeling a little weary after all that had happened to her and her children, and her legs and feet more so, they were beginning to ache. As they travelled along the ridge, she caught her foot against the large root of a scrubby bush and fell forward very near to the cliff edge. Caroline screamed out loud as she saw the emptiness of the deep chasm fast filling her view. Unfortunately, she fell at a spot where a large and dangerous looking crack ran around a large chunk of the ground, and the impetus of her fall coupled with the fact that the floor also fell sharply down towards the edge of the mountainside, meant that when she crashed to the ground, her momentum took her sliding towards the edge. Even as she screamed out to Tyler for help, she was slipping over the edge, and had Tyler been a second slower his hand would not have caught hers as she slipped over the edge. Caroline looked up into his eyes and was just about to say thank you, when the entire section of rock that Tyler was laying spread-eagled on cracked and then broke away, carrying the two of them hurtling down the mountainside towards the depths below. Tyler somehow pulled Caroline up towards him so that if they must die it would be together, and he was not a second too soon for the rock struck an outcrop with a tremendous crash that almost threw both of them off the comparative safety of their rock and down to the hard rocks below. Down and down they hurtled, riding their rocky chariot and holding each other and the rock for dear life. Then all of a sudden the incline they were now on began to flatten out, and the rock slid spinning viciously along the stony ground to come to a sudden stop when it struck a large rock. Tyler and Caroline were hurled from their rocky sled into a fast flowing river that ran just below the narrow embankment upon which the rock now lay. Tyler surfaced first, followed by Caroline, who waved frantically to her husband. The river was running fast along this section of its course, and they were quickly carried two hundred yards before they finally managed to swim to the bank and climb out of the river, dripping wet and gasping for breath, but alive. Tyler and Caroline looked at each other and burst into laughter, the gods had protected their favourite when all had seemed lost. Tyler looked up the mountain, and some four hundred feet up he could just about make out his children and his friends looking down anxiously at them.

  “We cannot climb back up here Appolon, we will see if we can find somewhere further along.” Tyler shouted up to the others.

  “What is it with you two Tyler, why do you both keep falling down holes, and now off cliffs, and getting soaking wet?” Appolon replied referring initially to their narrow escape with the Troglodytes on Orion some eleven years earlier. Tyler and Caroline waved back up to their children who were now waving down to them and calling to them.

  “Apollo would have loved to have done that Tyler.” Caroline said to her husband.

  “Yes darling but I hope that we won`t have to watch him if he ever gets the chance to do it.” Tyler replied, even the thought of such a thing was too much to contemplate.

  “Caroline are you feeling naked again, because I see that you have lost my new spear.” Tyler said faking anger. Caroline punched Tyler on the arm and looked at him with contempt.

  “Appolon or one of the others will have picked it up Tyler, you will get it back later, now give me your knife.”

  Tyler smiled at her and after giving Caroline his knife, which had been a present from her just after they had met, they started along the bank of the river with the warm sun drying their clothes as they went. The way was rough going, necessitating much scrambling over large rocks and wading through small icy mountain streams that ran down the side of the mountain to join the larger river which they were following, but they didn`t appear to be getting any closer to the ridge far above them, all they got was tired.

  The only other forms of life that they saw were a few mountain goats and various bird life, but Tyler assumed that there might be a carnivorous animal. In the river Tyler saw the odd fish fighting against the strong current, but then he saw the paw prints of something much larger than a goat on the muddy river bank, a bear maybe, hopefully they wouldn`t run into it or they would be forced to kill it, unless it killed them first.

  Tyler and Caroline had just finished a rest period along with their friends and family far above their heads when Tyler broached the one subject in both of their minds.

  “It must have been about seven hours since I came through the portal and nine hours since you and the children did Caroline. We need to get back up onto the ridge and along to the next portal within another fifteen hours if the Helionians are correct in thinking that the keys have a time limit set into them. During that time, we will have to rest up for a while, so darling I suggest that we try to get up there now, because it does appear to be slightly easier just here, well easier than it has been up to this point. In any case the children will begin to fret if we leave it much longer, and I am already terrified that something will happen up there without our being able to do a thing about it, if we are still stuck down here at the time.” Tyler said to his wife, and Caroline had been thinking along the same lines as her husband and so agreed, however she had some reservations.

  “Ok Tyler, but it will still be a hard climb, I should be able to make it without too much trouble, but please be careful darling, for the only climbing experience that you have had was when we climbed up the Troglodyte mountain chimney.” Caroline said.

  “Don`t worry darling, if it gets really bad I will just close my eyes and hope that I really am the chosen one of the gods.” Tyler said smiling at his lovely wife.

  “What you will do my darling is follow in my footsteps, that way you should be able to make it without too many problems.”

  With that settled Caroline led the way up the mountainside, but only after having first scanned the high cliffs above her to decide on a route that they both should be able to make.

  Up above them Cimon was looking down the mountainside for a sight of his two friends when he noticed that they were missing from the track along the river, and then he saw that they had both begun to climb up towards the main party.

  “Tyler and Caroline have left the river bank and appear to be attempting to climb back up to us, you don`t have to worry anymore children, your parents will be with us in no time at all.” He called over to his friends, maybe now things would be ok, or at least Cimon hoped and prayed that they would.

  Unnoticed by all except Appolon, the skies were becoming filled with fast moving clouds and the breeze that had refreshed them on their long walk was now freshening as if it was preparing for a storm.

  While all the excitement was happening, Patina had kept well back, and had demanded that the android keep close by her to be ready to defend her against a further attack by one of the primitives. She had not known whether to be pleased or scared when Caroline and Tyler had plunged down the mountain, for although she wanted revenge against the two of them, and especially against Caroline, she was also terrified that Appolon would immediately kill her if anything happened to either of them. She had also forgotten that her mystic had said that the only chance she had of getting her husband back was if Tyler Burrows was present and alive inside of the dark domain, to aid in the search and protect them from any danger.

  “It shouldn`t tax Caroline too much but Tyler has never climbed up the side of a mountain before, and he is still carrying his backpack. I think I will take the rope and climb down to that ledge jutting out below us, I will wait for them there, just in case they need some help.” Appolon said. The ledge he was looking at was about two thirds of the way up from the riverbank.

  “That is a good idea Appolon, because the going does look to be a little tricky just below the ledge.” Tryon said, just a little worried too for his friends now.

  Appolon dropped his weapons to the floor and his backpack, and then he started down the mountainside towards his sister and his friend.

  Down below, Tyler began to climb up after Caroline, who moved with the ease of a mountain goat, unfortunately he didn`t find
it quite so easy. He followed in Caroline`s footsteps searching with his fingers for the suitable handhold that Caroline had used before pushing up with his foot, never once did he look down, for he knew that to do so could prove fatal to him, for he never did have much of a great head for heights. He was moving quicker than he had expected though, as Caroline had purposely chosen the easiest way up the mountain, even so he found the going difficult. He soon began to tire as his unused muscles began to complain about the amount of use being asked of them, he nearly toppled to his death once when the rock that he was holding onto came away, and for one heart stopping moment he thought that he would fall as he felt it move. In panic he quickly sort for and thankfully found another rock to grab a hold of, and so was able to breathe again having prevented his falling back down to the waiting rocks below. However, he did have to stop for a moment to allow his racing heart to quiet down before he followed Caroline on and upwards, for to stay still for more than a moment longer could have seen him frozen to the spot through fear, and his children needed him up above. They both had to stop for a rest though, it was at a place where they could both sit together and recover a little for the climb ahead. Tyler took the opportunity to take off his backpack to help ease his tired and very over worked muscles, but it was just as the breeze had begun to stiffen into the beginnings of a strong wind.

  “We cannot stop for too long Tyler, I don`t like the look of the weather, we will have to start for the top soon, or make our way down again, and then we may never get to the top in time to pass through the next portal.”

  “Give me one minute only Caroline, and then we can move up again, for our children`s lives may well depend on our efforts.” Tyler said as his rapid pulse rate slowly dropped back towards normal.

  Caroline gave Tyler almost two minutes, but then they were moving upwards again, but at a faster pace to try to beat the approaching storm. Caroline having looked up at the mountainside above her called down to Tyler.

  “I am going to traverse over to the right a little, I think the going may be a little easier on us and it may also be a faster way to the top.”

  “Ok Caroline, whatever you think is best.” Tyler called, having to shout now to stop his words being blown away with the howling wind. Caroline was moving swiftly to the right of a ledge now directly over Tyler`s head and then he too began to move gingerly across the face of the mountain never knowing whether this second would be his last, and being careful not to dwell too much on it.

  High above them Appolon was fast approaching the ledge that he had seen from above, and as he looked down towards the area that he was expecting to see his sister and her husband, he saw Caroline below him, but she appeared to be moving away from the ledge.

  “Come this way Caroline, I have a rope to help you up that difficult piece.” Appolon called.

  Caroline didn`t hear most of what he said but she did hear her name being called from somewhere above her, so she stopped for a moment to catch her breath. She looked up to see that her brother was only thirty feet above her, and approaching the part of the mountain that she was trying to miss, then she saw the rope. Turning round she called over to her husband.

  “Tyler, Appolon is just above us and he has a rope with him, see if you can move up nearer to him so that he can help you up the more dangerous part, which is a little further up above your head, I will climb up to Appolon.”

  Luckily the wind was blowing towards Tyler so he was able to hear Caroline quite clearly, and stopping for a moment Tyler looked up to see Appolon waving to him with a coil of rope over his shoulder, so he quickly decided on a way up and began to ascend. The only problem was that the wind didn`t want to be cheated of its victims, and it had increased in strength so that even Appolon was having trouble by the time that he reached the ledge. He quickly uncoiled the rope, tied one end around his middle, and dropped the remainder of it over the edge of the narrow ledge, down towards the ascending Tyler who was almost exhausted after increasing his pace up the side of the mountain. His fingers were sore, his arms and legs ached and the cold strong wind was beginning to give him a headache, overall he was very happy when he finally reached the rope and was able to tie it around his waist. Looking to his right he saw Caroline moving up the side of the mountain like a mountain goat in a hurry. He on the other hand would have liked to rest, but he knew that with the full force of the approaching storm soon to hit them, they either completed their climb to the top quickly or not at all, so he called up to his friend.

  “Appolon I am tied on down here, what do you want me to do?” Tyler called up the rock face.

  “Begin your climb Tyler, I will ensure that you do not fall and also help you up the more difficult part of the climb.”

  Appolon had his feet braced against a large piece of rock in front of him, with his back pressed against the rock face behind him as he prepared to take the full weight of his friend, should the need arise, which it did more than once.

  Tyler began to climb up the mountain once again, his fingers barely finding a place to grip, his feet often pushing on thin air, but Appolon ensured that he kept moving. As did Caroline, who had arrived at the ledge to give her brother a hand to help him to pull her husband up the sheer face of the mountain below her. She was ecstatic when she saw his fingers gripping the top of the ledge, and finally saw his smiling face appear and finally to hear him say, Hi.

  The wind was howling angrily around them, they had to sit with their backs pressed flat against the rock face to stop from being almost blown off it, when Caroline offered a suggestion.

  “I saw a cave in the rock face just to the right of us, it appeared to go back a fair way, we should investigate it, and you never know it might carry on towards the top.”

  Appolon`s face quite plainly said that he doubted that they could ever be so lucky, but he thought that it was worth a try, for anything was better than being stuck on the ledge while they waited for a break in the storm.

  “Can you climb over there Caroline, to see just where it does go, for to climb back up the face of mountain will be very dangerous at the moment? Call across if it looks good, and we will follow you across?” Appolon said. “But first give me your backpack Caroline, as I am a little less tired than you are. Caroline was soon moving across the rock face, leaving Tyler feeling a little useless, but maybe fate just wanted to teach him a little lesson in humility, for up until now he had always been the leader.

  Caroline soon reached the entrance to the cave and scrambled in with the wind tearing by her and screeching up through the caves inner recesses, the cave certainly went a long way back into the mountain side, and the way the wind roared by her seemed to suggest that it exited elsewhere. Caroline then had a bright idea, entering further into the cave she called out the name of her oldest boy.

  “Apollo can you hear me, it is mummy?”

  Up above Apollo who had very keen hearing looked around, for he had indeed heard his name being called.

  “Mummy where are you?” He shouted, and loudly enough to cause the others with him to turn around and look towards him.

  “What is it Apollo?” Tryon asked.

  “I can hear mummy calling to me Uncle Tryon, from behind that bush.” Tryon walked to the bush, and saw behind it an entrance to a cave.

  “Come here Apollo and see, it is a cave, try calling down to your mummy.” Just then, Perseus rushed forward. “I will, I will, I can call louder than Apollo can.” Perseus then proceeded to prove it by screaming out the words, ‘Mummy, are you there?’ Far below Caroline heard her loudest child calling down, even with the noise of the rushing wind his voice was clear, and so she called back up to him.

  “Perseus, wait for me I will be there soon with daddy and Uncle Appolon.”

  She them turned about, hurried to the mouth of the cave, and called for the other two to join her. Tyler and Appolon followed where Caroline had led, but they were not roped together now, for if one of them fell then the other had no hope of saving either himse
lf or his friend. Thankfully though they were both soon across and finally out of the gale force wind, and safely within the large open mouth of the cave. Now they followed Caroline back into the depths of the cave and found the tunnel that she had called up. It had obviously been carved out by water, probably during the wetter time of the mountain`s year, and they thankfully found it to be large enough to journey up towards the ridge where their family and friends were waiting upon the mountain ridge. It was a much easier climb, easier than the Troglodyte mountain chimney had been, and they soon heard voices coming down to them from up above, and so they called up to their waiting children. Callisto squealed with delight whilst the two boys shouted down to their parents, and then Caroline saw her three children waiting just inside the mouth of another entrance into this cave system, and she knew that she and Tyler were finally safe. The climb had taken two hours and although the three climbers were all exhausted, Tyler told Appolon that he would only allow them an hour to rest up. Tyler slipped his backpack off his shoulders as the others also came into the cave to escape the worst of the gale force wind. They were all overjoyed to see their friends safe and sound, and they all enjoyed the short break. They spent it teasing Tyler about his lack of mountaineering expertise. How it was lucky that he had such an able wife to keep him safe. Tyler merely admonished them all for not being as prudent as he was, for not to have married a similarly useful woman seemed to him to be the height of foolishness, Caroline of course agreed with everything that was said.

  They rested up for two hours rather than just the one, this being due to the force of the wind, but it finally quietened a little, and their rest period ended when Tyler insisted on moving on towards the next portal. Getting to his feet he slipped his backpack back over his shoulders and set off wearily along the ridge, with little Callisto once more in his arms telling him that she couldn`t climb very well either, and that maybe they should practice when they finally got back to Orion.

  The reason behind Caroline`s mountaineering skill was because when she was much younger she joined Appolon and Tryon when they went trekking up the side of the mountain nearest to their village. Disregarding their protests Caroline always insisted that they took her along with them. As she got older, she quickly outshone the two men. She was likened to a mountain goat by all of the other villagers.

  As they set off once more Caroline carried Tyler`s spear once again, for Tryon had picked it when Caroline and Tyler had had their dangerous fall down the mountainside, and Tyler once more had his knife back.

  Patina could see that the Orionists were firm friends who enjoyed each other’s company, and who would risk their own lives for the sake of any one of their friends. This fact made her feel angry, for she had never known this sort of friendship, perversely she hated Caroline even more than when Caroline had punched her. The reason being was now she knew that she had missed something that this ‘barbaric cave girl’ had in spades, and that it was more important that the luxurious life that she had, one that she had led ever since she was born. Patina thought of Caroline as a cave girl after hearing the Orionists talking of their homes, their village, and their life. A life that was wonderfully peaceful until Tyler had arrived, they jested.

  Ahead of them, a huge mountain chain blocked their way, but their route now thankfully took them away from this and along the ridge, that now perversely began to merge into the foothills of the new mountain chain. The foothills rose up from the canyon below that had been carved out by the same river that they had been following for so long. Tyler and Caroline saw that had they not made the climb they would have been forced to cross two wide mountain rivers in full flood. They emptied into their river turning it into a raging torrent that leapt down a massive waterfall into a deep gorge that dropped steeply down another one hundred feet before the river calmed down once more, and then ran alongside the huge mountain chain before them.

  As they came down off the ridge, there before them they saw an exact duplicate of the first portal, dark and foreboding it blocked the way through to the mountain chain and whatever lay beyond, the only way was through its open doorway. At least they knew that they had arrived in time to pass through the portal together, first though Tyler insisted that they all get some rest so that they would be ready for whatever lay before them, and they took refuge from the still strong wind within the confines of yet another cave although this one was much smaller.

  Patina of course was in a hurry to proceed, and Tyler told her she was free to pass through the portal. However, the rest of the party was staying put on this side of the portal, and that he would not proceed on through until his wife and his three children were fully rested, and he too was fully recovered from his climb, and was once again capable of leading them safely through whatever dangers lay ahead of them. Patina, while angry realised that to go on ahead without any weapons, or men to protect her, would be foolish in the extreme, so she sat down near the portal and fumed silently, and thought what she would like to do with these obnoxious and barbaric cavemen.

  Tyler looked over at his friend. “Thank you Appolon for coming down the mountain side and rescuing me, I really am not sure what might have happened if you hadn`t come to our rescue.”

  “Caroline would have probably still caught sight of the cave and you would have managed to gather your strength and make it into cave my friend. Anyway it was your quick actions that saved the life of my only sister, and if she had died I would be the one who would have to tell our parents, so you see you helped me too.” Appolon said laughing along with the others including Caroline who looked at the men around her and feigned anger as she pleaded with god to save her from such a bunch of feeble minded men.

  The android looked at the happy scene before him, and could find nothing to detract from his initial evaluation of the Orionists, for he still liked them. Patina as always sat a little apart from them and felt that her life would be in peril for every single moment that she was forced by circumstance to stay with them. Never once did she concede that she had endangered her own life, and that the Orionists were far more civilised than she appeared to be.