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Ares Fortuna and his daughter returned to their home in unimaginable defeat. Their world had been turned upside down by the stranger who had journeyed to Helionia from the other side of the galaxy to fight against them, and had won against all of the odds.
“Father, Tyler Burrows went through a trial by ordeal, both physically and mentally, and he came out of it as the new champion of the masses. He has won enough support tonight to give Marot Pallas the election, what do you intend to do now?” Trajo quietly asked her father.
“Tomorrow morning I will call on my fleet captains to rally to me, hopefully there will be enough of them to enable me to arrest Tyler Burrows and the government and proclaim martial law.” Ares Fortuna said in such a forlorn voice that it almost broke his daughter`s heart.
“But under what pretext father, Marot Pallas has been proved innocent on public television; there will be riots in the streets if you attempt it, and then you will lose whatever followers that still remain loyal to you.” Trajo stated, scared that her father would do something foolish after his defeat in front of the entire world.
“Then what do you advise I do next Trajo, surrender, resign my commission, and resign my leadership of the partisan party as well?” Ares Fortuna said angrily.
“No of course not father, you must take whatever part of the fleet that remains loyal to you and head out for the dark nebula, once there you must advise the remainder of the fleet that you are heading through the nebula to find the Planet of the Light, and give Ares Divilio the revenge he called for. The fleet will follow you father, the people may be Marot Pallas`s now, but that call for revenge that came from beyond the grave is still lodged firmly within the hearts of our fighting men. They will follow you father, they will even go through the forbidden dark nebula for such a mission as that.” Trajo said. Her eyes were alight with a passion that few men had seen before, not even Prion.
“I would agree Trajo, if we knew where the planet was, but there must be thousands of planets on the other side of the nebula, which one should we visit first; we could all grow old searching for it?” Fortuna declared sadly.
Trajo picked up her bag from the chair where she had thrown it, and she pulled out a metal plate, much like the other ones that she had found.
“As the new curator of the museum I can go where I like within its massive store rooms, and spend us much time as I want to delve into the old and forgotten treasures of our world. While I was down there I found this plate hidden inside a tray of antiquities belonging to the Sidon dig carried out one hundred years ago, the Sidon dig was in that area that you always said that I should try my luck in, so this is where I looked first in the museums treasures.” Trajo said dangling the plate as her father`s eyes grew wider and wider.
“Do you mean that the plate shows the location of the Planet of the Light, Trajo?” He asked. His voice was almost shaking.
“Yes father, but it was never looked at, Professor Royton who was in charge of the dig died soon after the discovery was made, and for some reason whoever took over the dig simply forgot about it.”
“As I have often said before Trajo, not only do I have a beautiful daughter but also a very clever one, and now I see that you will be a future leader of our party, one who will be our greatest leader ever, that my daughter I now predict to be the future chosen for you by the gods. Please let me see that plate.”
Trial by Ordeal Page 44
