Orion Lion's Home Page

Because of the lack of main characterization which I presented within the on-line version of the Prologue to:
"Star Scroll,"

I have decided to add the chapters from Book 1 of my novel which should give you a legitimate feel for the characterization and plot. Please enjoy Chapter 1 of Book 1, "Uncle Benthor." Chapters 2 through 4 can also be accessed from this page below.

Here Are "The Portals" To My Other Pages.

"REGENERATION" Prologue
"REPLICATION" Ch#6
"THE TROJAN WAR" Ch#4
"STAR SCROLL" Prologue
"THE FRIENDS OF ING" Ch#2
"THE BLACK WOLF" Ch#3
"THE BATTLE OF ELAH" Ch#4
"BURDEN OF TIME"
"CIRCLE OF PRECESSION"

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BOOK 1

Uncle Benthor - Chapter 1 of "Star Scroll"

by R. David Pareis

Chris Dolan's Home Page

"Uncle Benthor" is the first chapter of my novel, "Star Scroll." The main protagonists, King Benthor and Joshua Blackwell, are introduced in this chapter, along with a number of important histories which link the ancient time of Ingdom to the present time. The key elements to grasp are Joshua's "Calling," and the time portal, the "Fountain of the Deep." Please feel free to make any comments about the chapter in my Guestbook. Thanks, Rick.

Cepheus, “The King”

Go View A Java Applet Of Cepheus Here!
(From Chris Dolan's Home Page)
Click on "Constellations" and then choose "Cepheus"

Chapter 1 - Uncle Benthor

“Behold, I send an angel before thee,
to keep thee in the way,
and to bring thee into the place
which I have prepared.” Ex.23:20

Benthor was a short, burly man of approximately five- feet in height with coarse red hair and bushy eyebrows shot with gray that grew together over the bridge of his broad nose. A thick, gray-streaked beard and mustache made his head look oversized. Nevertheless, his deep set, green eyes exuded both the strength and intelligence of a charismatic personality.

“Suppose for a moment that you were about to depart on a long journey into a desolate land devoid of all modern technology. If you were limited to only two provision packs, what items would you choose to take with you?” asked the Dwarf in his gruff-voiced, unusual accent.

Benthor had been studying his nephew, Joshua Blackwell, carefully while he played basketball in his driveway not far from the Bull City of Durham, North Carolina.

“True, the lad is tall, strong, and athletic. But he will need far more than just good physical traits to succeed on the dangerous task that awaits him,” thought the king of Ingdom to himself.

“What kind of desolate land, Uncle Benthor?” asked Joshua just before dribbling past his short uncle and driving toward the goal. They were playing on a large concrete driveway that served as an outdoor court for a well-used backboard and hoop. Young Joshua’s 72-inch, 180-pound frame was dressed in a N.C.S.U. Wolfpack sweatshirt, faded blue jeans, and a ragged pair of old sneakers.

Sweat matted his auburn hair and stung his hazel eyes as he jumped into the air, twisted 360 degrees, and smoothly banked the worn basketball through the frayed net of the hoop. Dropping gracefully to the ground, Joshua grinned while ambling back toward his astounded uncle. Benthor was still staring wide-eyed at the high metal rim while the basketball bounced out its life at his feet.

“Huh? Oh, it’s a land with no modern technology. My Ingdom is only a small garden-valley hemmed in by the mountainous expanses of snowy peaks and glaciers, dark caves and caverns, and a rapid glacier-fed river. Beyond the valley’s treacherous south pass, the Bay of Ingdom is locked in by a vast frozen sea full of groaning icebergs, killer whales, walrus, sea lions, and hungry white bears.

“Over the mountains to the north lies only the frigid embrace of white death. Although my kingdom is brimming with rich underground stone, coal, and ore, it is cursed with the constant danger of hostile invasion,” said Benthor with distance-focused eyes that almost sparkled.

Wiping sweat from his clean-shaven face on the stretched neck of his sweatshirt, Joshua studied his uncle curiously. He found it difficult to believe that he could be related to his Uncle Benthor’s side of the family. Nevertheless, he knew better than to judge his stocky uncle only by his height, for he was full of cunning and was strong as a bull. He still wore black-and-blue marks on his arms and legs from Benthor’s insistent lessons on how to defend himself with only a simple wooden staff.

Just a short month before, Benthor had mysteriously arrived on his doorstep dressed in dark-stained caribou buckskins and moccasin boots proclaiming that he was his long-lost uncle. Since that time, the unusual little man had filled his ears with seemingly ridiculous tales of an almost mystical land full of both unequaled beauty and terrible danger.

“Sure sounds like an interesting place,” replied Joshua just to humor him.

“What would I take? I don’t know, a compass, a flashlight, binoculars...” started Joshua while looking past the house and into the backyard for some sign of his old dog.

“Wait! We need to write these things down, lad,” interrupted Benthor while awkwardly bouncing the retrieved basketball down the driveway toward the kitchen door and motioning for him to follow. Joshua smiled and shook his head at him while calling for his faithful old Shep with a dog- whistle.

It was getting late, and he wanted to feed Shep before his parents got home from work. Their house was only a few miles from the bald-eagle-populated Falls Lake. It was a beautiful gray and white, two-story home sitting on six acres of rural land about eight miles out of the famed City of Medicine.

Old Shep bounded around the corner of the house like a puppy and overtook them before they got half way to the door. Following his uncle into the kitchen, Joshua fed his hungry dog and then opened the refrigerator to grab two cold soft drinks. Tossing one to Benthor, he downed half of the other can before sliding a bag of buttered popcorn into the microwave and setting the timer.

“So, I guess you’re waiting for me to tell you the rest of the survival items I’d take with me to this adventurous place of yours?” asked Joshua after hopping up on the edge of the counter to wait for the bag of instant gratification to finish popping.

“You call out the items, me boy, and I’ll tell you what to keep and what to cross off,” answered Benthor while retrieving a pencil and pad from the counter drawer.

The barrel-shaped Dwarf was still amazed by the wonders of modern technology for his own time did not possess that kind of knowledge. Benthor feared that Joshua would still be unprepared to face the dark threats of Ingdom despite all that he had taught him during the space of the last full moon.

King Benthor had been surprised to see the population explosion Joshua’s world had enjoyed without the everyday dangers of wild animals and harsh natural elements. Even the terrible World Wars of the 20th Century had not managed to slow humanity down, but rather had enabled them to achieve even greater scientific achievements.

Benthor could not help but to reflect upon how difficult it had been for the Elves and Dwarves of ancient Laurasia to defend the frozen northern territories against the constant threat of invasion from Gondwanaland.

“What about fishing equipment?” asked Joshua hopefully.

“No, we can easily net all the redfish you could possibly eat from the Pishon River,” Benthor replied.

“What are redfish?”

“I believe your father called them Salmon. Every year they leave Ingdom Valley and mysteriously disappear. Your father once told me they still emerge in the northern wilderness of your time to lay their eggs in remote tributaries. Humph... maybe they follow some unknown subterranean river of some kind,” added Benthor while stroking his curly whiskers with callused, stubby fingers.

In the whole time Benthor had been visiting, he had not mentioned Joshua’s real father before. Somehow, the mystery of his biological father struck a chord of extreme curiosity in Joshua’s mind which he could not ignore.

“Wait a minute! You haven’t just been babbling all this time, have you? All that crazy stuff you have told me about another time...is it all true? Are you really going back to a place called Ingdom? Did you actually know my real father?” fired Joshua with intense scrutiny.

Benthor slowly nodded his head and gave his nephew a serious expression.

“I’ve been afraid to tell you that I came here to take you back to the place of your birth. But my time is a most difficult one compared to what you have here. I come from a land far in the past which existed long before any of your written history. Ingdom is a land full of beauty, but it is also full of danger beyond your wildest imagination.”

“Then I’ll bring a 9mm automatic and an AR-15,” joked Joshua.

“What are these things you speak of?” retorted Benthor without a trace of humor.

“They are weapons,” replied Joshua with a fading smile.

Benthor shook his head disapprovingly. “Dangers exist in Ingdom of which you know nothing. Just the same, you may not bring any technological weapons with you from this time greater than a knife or a bow. But perhaps you can think of some peaceful gadgets which might be just as useful,” suggested Benthor with one raised eyebrow.

Confused, Joshua turned his head in order to watch the remaining seconds count off the microwave timer. The smell of popcorn permeated the kitchen, and Benthor eyed the swelling bag hungrily through the back-lit, microwave window.

“Ingdom sounds so dangerous, Uncle Benthor. It does not sound like a place I would particularly want to visit,” said Joshua uncomfortably while sliding off the counter to retrieve the piping hot bag of popcorn. Benthor watched his nephew while he dumped the steaming snack into a large, deep bowl. They both ate in silence at the counter for a short time, while Benthor triedt to formulate a plan how to tell Joshua he would have no choice but to return to Ingdom with him.

“I knew your father very well. I was sent through the Fountain of the Deep for the very first time to find the man named David Blackwell whom the Cheruvians chose to travel back in time. I found him, just as they told me, in a small coastal village named Maldon on the Blackwater Bay of Essex County in England. He was born in that small village around the year 1800 by your time measurement.

“Like his father before him, he was a merchant captain. His dream had been to sail up the beautiful Hudson River Valley of the New World. Nevertheless, your father obeyed the Cheruvian’s Call and returned to Ingdom with me. Later, his brother’s family settled in a new town they named Maldon-on-the-Hudson in Ulster county of Upstate New York. As fortune would have it, the family that adopted you are distant cousins of those first Blackwells.”

Joshua stopped chewing his mouthful of popcorn and stared at Benthor in bewilderment. He wanted to believe that Benthor was only a crazy little man that belonged in a soft-padded room. Yet something curious was stirring within his memory of a faraway world that he had known as a small, four-year-old child.

“Tell me more about my father,” demanded Joshua while giving the bowl of lightly salted popcorn back to his uncle. Benthor cleared his throat and took another long swig from his cold soft drink.

“David Blackwell was a man of great renown. He answered the Call to come to my world, and he fought bravely for three years to defeat a powerful army of Druid-Hobgoblins from the deep caverns under Gondwanaland. He, and the Elf king, Baldur, died valiantly in order to save us. But long before that final battle, he had fallen in love with my sister, Cassi. They were married and conceived you,” said Benthor slowly with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“You mean, I’m a Dwarf?” asked Joshua speculatively.

“Only half, on your mother’s side. Cassi died trying to give birth to such a large baby. Still, half of your lineage is of Royal Dwarf blood. Miomi and I adopted you after your parents died, and since we have no natural children, you are next in line for the Corona Crown of Ingdom.

“Although I truly am king of the Dwarves, I must now share my rule in Ingdom with the Elf Senate which was formed after the death of King Baldur. The twelve clans of the combined Elves and Dwarves of Laurasia make up the population of Ingdom Castle and its green valley domain.”

“Right,” sniffed Joshua under his breath while trying to accept all the unusual facts of his family history.

“I received word just two moons ago from my little southern spy down in Gondwanaland that an army of Hybrid Imps was marching to attack my mountain fortress. Then, I had a dream in which a winged Cheruvian told me to return to future Earth through the Fountain of the Deep and bring you back to Ingdom with me,” explained Benthor.

“That’s just great. I’m right in the middle of college, and you want me to drop everything here and go to some God-forsaken place through a time portal? Am I crazy, or what?” asked Joshua while rubbing his forehead and eyes with his hands.

He was feeling unexplainable tension, and he wrestled within himself over what he might have to do. For many years, he had been dreaming of just such a place as the one his uncle had described to him. Something in his early childhood was still haunting his memory.

His adoptive parents had given him a good home and a family, but none of those things helped erase the puzzling memories of his life before his adoption. He now felt the powerful Call of Ingdom, as well as his father’s mystery, pulling at his mind, heart, and soul.

He did not want to believe that his uncle, who looked somewhat like himself except for his small stature and beard, was telling him to leave everything and go back with him to fight some great battle for which he was totally unprepared.

Joshua thought about the business management degree he was working for at North Carolina State University, as well as his girlfriend, Cindy. He couldn’t just leave everything on a wild whim and run off to find some bizarre, time-portal world. He needed some kind of proof to help him decide.

Slapping his hand hard on the counter, he asked, “How do I know that what you are telling me is the truth?”

Benthor looked at him with old eyes before setting the near empty bowl down and then draining the last swallow of his drink.

“The four-faced Cheruvians who appear in my dream told me to tell you to be very strong and courageous . . . for they would watch over you in my dangerous world.”

“That’s it? That’s the proof?” asked Joshua incredulously.

“I’m afraid so, lad. All I know is, if you don’t return with me, all of this that you see here on Earth today may not continue to exist if the Fountain of the Deep falls into the hands of the Draconians.”

“Oh, great. Who are these Cheruvians and Draconians, anyway?” asked Joshua persistently.

Benthor’s shoulders sagged. He was not pleased with his nephew’s immature response to his explanations. He began to feel uneasy trying to explain Joshua’s Calling in a rational manner. Perhaps the decision to bring him to future Earth to be raised had been a mistake on his part after all. Then Benthor began to think that he should have resisted the Elf Senate and raised the orphaned boy himself in Ingdom. However, he was wise enough to know that such a decision would have split Ingdom wide apart and made them even more susceptible to Draconian defeat.

“They were, or rather are, the First Works of the Creator. Listen lad, I’m not going to be able to explain everything to your satisfaction.

You were born in Ingdom, even though your father came from modern Earth. All of your true English relatives are long dead, but you still have Miomi and I waiting for you in Ingdom. The Elf princess, Celia, who played with you when you were both very young is also waiting for you there...”

“Celia?” Joshua stammered, interrupting his exasperated uncle, his young face suddenly looking as if a bright light had shone down upon him from out of a great darkness.

“I know that name! And you say she’s waiting for me there?” asked young Blackwell with renewed interest.

“Yes,” returned Benthor while silently chuckling to himself. What better proof did a young man need, than to know that a pretty girl was waiting for him?

Joshua thought for a while about everything he would leave behind. He cared for his girlfriend in college, but she hadn’t wanted to commit herself exclusively to him while they were still in school.

He realized his adoptive parents had to have been in on the secret of his origin from the very beginning, so they would not stop him if he went back to Ingdom. He could always finish his degree later--that was, if there was a later.

“All right, what do I have to do?” he finally said with a worrisome sigh.

Benthor looked up at him while grinning from ear to ear. A moment before he had been desperate, but now he was jubilant. Perhaps there was hope for Ingdom after all.

“First, let’s make up that list, me boy!”

The next morning they visited a sporting goods store and bought all the items on the list, as well as some camping equipment and a new compound-bow that Benthor had found fascinating. Joshua had withdrawn all of his own personal savings in order to finance the purchases. He understood that he would have to spend the hard earned funds in order to buy all the needed supplies for his survival.

After writing a thank you note to his parents, Joshua then called his girlfriend and asked her to drive Benthor and himself to Pilot Mountain which was just north of Winston Salem. Benthor had told him that the first leg of their journey back to Ingdom was to climb the strange rock formation where the Cheruvians had transported him to North Carolina.

The mountain had originally been named Jomeokee, the Great Guide by the native Saura Indians. The quartzite, monadnock-mountain was well known for its panoramic view of Central North Carolina and Southern Virginia. The local Indians had used the ancient mountain as a landmark because it had always been visible from any trail through the surrounding forests.

Being located within a North Carolina State Park, Pilot Mountain had several hiking trails that made the huge rock pinnacle a local attraction. Therefore, Joshua deduced that they would not draw unusual attention to themselves by carrying camping equipment and backpacks.

Benthor informed Joshua that he had left a long rope tied to the gnarled trunk of a mountain-table pine on the remote northern side of the pinnacle-peak. The last 100 feet up the vertical, quartzite formation was restricted to only professional climbers, so he felt sure the hidden rope would still be undisturbed.

Biting his tongue, Joshua told Cindy that his father had planned to take him back home--which was not entirely a lie. Nevertheless, she kissed him good-bye and drove away from the observatory parking lot of the nearby lower-pinnacle without suspecting anything out of the ordinary. Little did she realize that she might never see him again.

He and Benthor hiked slowly up the Jomeokee Trail and around the prominent remnant of the Sauratown Mountain Range with its pinnacle top rising some 1400 feet above the surrounding plain. They took their time because of the warm December day and the equipment they carried.

They hid themselves carefully among the dense mountain laurels and table pines below the trail until the last of the other hikers filtered away around the 4:00 P.M. trail-closing time. Finding Benthor’s hidden rope, they tied their packs to the end of the 200-foot line, and then they climbed up the dangerous, restricted pinnacle around dusk.

Once on top, they carefully pulled up their equipment and set up a small, fireless camp on the heavily thicketed dome. Catching their breath from the hard work, they sat down on a rock outcrop while watching the stars begin to appear in the night sky overhead.

The excitement of the dangerous climb and the view below had made Joshua’s knees a little weak. But now that they were on the raven-nested peak, an exhilaration like he had never known filled his inner being. Joshua pointed out the dominant Constellation of Orion just rising in the east. The famous asterism would Transit the Meridian around midnight that night.

He began to tell Benthor some of the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greek legends after which the star constellations had been named. Then he made sure to mention that some foolish people even worshipped the constellations in error by looking to the movement of the sun, moon, planets, and stars to guide their daily lives instead of the Creator who had made them all.

Benthor told him that the name Orion meant the “Coming Prince of Light,” in his native language, and that it applied to the same constellation. Joshua learned from his uncle that in the Song of Mazzaroth, the Ingdomite prophecy-scroll of the stars, Orion depicted a mighty Giant who wielded a living wooden staff in his right hand and a lion’s shield upon his left arm.

Drawing with a stick in the dirt, Benthor showed him that Orion wore a golden belt of truth around his waist to which was attached a powerful sword that had the head of a ram on the hilt of the handle. Under Orion’s left foot was the mouth of a great river, the River of Life which Ingdom had applied to the glacier-fed Pishon River that gave life to their miraculous little valley in the arctic wasteland.

Near Orion’s right foot was the asterism of a hare, which was an enemy that raided the valley’s cultivated fields and lived near the river. To the upper right of Orion was a great bull running to Orion’s aid, and to the left, a large wolf chased the hare as Orion prepared to fight Cetus, the horrible dragon trying to take the River of Life by force.

Benthor talked for a long time about the Constellation of Orion depicting a future warrior-king who would one day come to save Ingdom from the threat of the Draconians--one of whom could be seen attacking him from the Constellation of Cetus.

Benthor then showed Joshua how Orion could also be seen simultaneously as part of the Great Thunder Eagle with the stars in the Belt of Orion comprising the eagle’s head, eye, and beak. All of the humanoid tribes of Benthor’s time knew of the ancient legend of the Thunder-Eagle, who along with the Bull, the Lion, and Orion, comprised the Four Faces of Truth.

He shared with Joshua that those well-known asterisms were only a small portion of the overall work of a future galactic redeemer drawn upon the heavens as on a scroll.

Although Joshua was a bit skeptical of the lengthy explanation, he told Benthor he believed that only Jesus Christ could be the Coming Redeemer which the stars predicted. He explained how the Star of Bethlehem accompanied Jesus’ Birth and how the Morning Star would accompany His Second Return.

Benthor answered that Ingdom’s Song of Mazzaroth began with the birth of just such a One as Jesus, who would be born in the Virgin Constellation, and who would be crowned King of Heaven in the Lion Constellation. Benthor went to great lengths to point out that Orion was merely a foreshadowing of the great Lion King who would one day defeat the entire Draconian League and fulfill all the prophecies of the Song of Mazzaroth.

Joshua had never thought of the stars telling a story of redemption before. The Greek and Roman myths and legends were filled with dangerous pantheism and immorality. He began to wonder if, under all the perversion, there might be a shred of truth to the overall meaning of the stars.

Benthor showed Joshua the star of Thubin in the Constellation of Draco, and explained to him that the Draconians had left the Earth 65 million years before to gain access to the high places in the heavens. Once there, they build a great portal network within the visible stars of what Joshua knew from his astronomy class as the Circle of Precession.

Then Benthor showed him the star Vega in the Constellation of Lyra, and told him that the High Council of the Cheruvians sometimes resided there. Finally, Benthor showed Joshua the iota star of the Constellation of Hercules and told him that the now dim star was the North Star of Ingdom’s time period.

They had talked themselves late into the night until finally they spread out their sleeping bags in a wind-sheltered fissure and turned in for the night. Benthor had not told his nephew how they would be transported to the Svalbard portal, and so Joshua’s mind was full of the many stories his uncle had told him.

He lay awake looking up into the heavens for another hour while thinking about the Magi from the East who had foreseen the birth of Jesus by looking at the stars. Then he remembered the War in Heaven between Michael and Gabriel, and the Red Dragon and his angels.

As he lay there in limbo between reality and dream he thought he saw the eye of the Thunder-Eagle growing larger and brighter as if it was focusing in on him. Later Joshua dreamed that he saw the Great Thunder-Eagle fly down upon the peak of Jomeokee and safely gather them and their belongings into its powerful talons. Then the Great Eagle flew them up along the Equator of the Heavens on a path to a far away land.

Uncle Benthor - Part 2

Early the next morning, Joshua slowly awoke from a peaceful sleep to the aroma of fresh brewed coffee and hot biscuits. Blinking his eyes open, he finally managed to focus on the interior of his newly bought camping tent. He slowly turned his head toward rustling sounds of activity, and he glimpsed Benthor at work over a small gas stove. The busy Dwarf seemed to be enjoying his cooking detail while tapping his feet to a halfhearted jig under the swaying light of a hanging gas lamp.

Wondering why the lamp was swinging so strongly, Joshua came to the realization that a terrible wind was buffeting their sturdy little tent from outside. The aluminum-tubed frame shook somewhat, but the well-secured tent stakes appeared to be holding up against the relentless wind raging at them from beyond the zipped flap.

Joshua finally zeroed in on a percolating coffee pot which was billowing its aromatic steam like a mini geyser into the confined interior of their haven of protection. The coffee smelled wonderful, but it was the nearby plate of fresh baked biscuits smothered with honey-butter that really drew his attention.

Joshua felt somewhat confused, as if he had missed an entire day and had forgotten where he was. Benthor turned around in time to see his nephew’s expression and laughed heartily. He then explained that they had been transported during the night from North Carolina to North East Land by his mysterious Cheruvian guardians.

When Joshua looked around inquisitively at their tent and equipment, Benthor was forced to clear his throat and finally confess that everything had been set up for them even before he awoke.

Joshua concluded at that moment that his uncle’s powerful benefactors had taken more than just a casual interest in assisting them. But why, he wondered? Perhaps it was the impending invasion upon Benthor’s kingdom. More importantly, it had to be the threatened security of the mysterious Fountain of the Deep that was the source of the Cheruvians intervention.

As Joshua lay cocooned in his comfortable sleeping bag thinking about the dangers of Ingdom, he suddenly felt the ground begin to tremble under him. Benthor must have felt it too, for he reacted immediately by turning off the rattling butane stove and repacking the opened food supplies into his backpack.

“Hurry lad, the geyser is about to blow! We must leave here quickly and enter a nearby ice cavern. The Fountain of the Deep will soon thrust its golden gate to the surface, but it will only remain visible for a short time. When that happens, we must be in position to unlock its exposed hatch and pull ourselves down inside. Then we will have to relock the hatch before the geyser’s transition period draws the Phaeton tube back into the womb of the Earth.”

Unzipping his sleeping bag, Joshua emerged from his warm sanctuary in order to accept a hot cup of coffee and two buttered biscuits thrust toward him. Downing the meager breakfast quickly between gulps of steaming, black coffee--Joshua tried to rationalize just how he and his uncle could be preparing to enter an active portal which would carry them back through time.

“We’ll have to leave the tent and some of this camping gear behind because they will take too long to pack. The Phaeton tube within the Fountain of the Deep is bubbling up to the surface even as we speak. When the top hatch of the buoyant tube emerges to cool within the nearby cavern, we must be ready to go or we will miss our open door of opportunity.

“I am anxious to return to Ingdom to learn of any new intelligence reports concerning the invading Imps. I’m also eager to take back the delegation of authority I entrusted to the unpredictable Elf Senate. I’ve been gone too long, and I’m not sure what we will encounter when we set foot back in Ingdom Castle.”

Joshua nodded sleepily while pulling on his ski suit and lacing up his hiking boots. After rolling up his sleeping bag, Joshua rummaged through his backpack just to ensure that he still had everything he needed.

Inside his pack was a compass, a magnifying glass, two flashlights with extra batteries, two lighters with extra fuel and flints, a miniature propane torch, an army survival knife, a sharpening stone, a set of files, a dog whistle, a slingshot with a bag of ball bearings, a pair of binoculars, a solar cell scientific calculator, and a windup alarm clock.

There were also two pairs of ultraviolet sun glasses, an overstocked first aid kit, a medical book, a thermometer, a small set of wood carving tools, a pair of scissors, a set of toenail clippers, two bars of soap, two bottles of shampoo, a toothbrush and two large tubes of toothpaste, two dental floss packs, a small mirror, a razor handle with plenty of disposable cartridges, and a comb and brush set.

In addition, he had a precision pen and pencil set with refills, a notebook journal, a small pocket Bible and a concordance, a rain poncho, four packs of new underwear and socks, two bottles of bug repellent, two gas lamps with extra wicks and fuel, a coffee pot, and four bricks of ground coffee.

Benthor had filled most of Joshua’s other backpack with what his uncle referred to as unique provisions. These included a few boxes of fine cigars, a fifth of bourbon, a box of chocolate bars, a bag of butterscotch candy, two jars of peanut butter, two multi-packages of chewing gum and a host of other royal luxuries unparalleled in Benthor’s own hostile world.

The original survival list which Joshua had made for Benthor had been three times longer, but his uncle had crossed off items that he thought could be easily replaced with ones from Ingdom. Satisfied that everything was still in order, Joshua zipped up his backpack and shouldered it while Benthor did the same with his own.

Joshua stooped long enough to pick up the long duffel bag containing his new archery equipment and his star telescope. Then he braced himself for an expected blast of arctic air as Benthor moved forward to unzip the tent flap. Benthor stopped for just a moment to peer deep into his eyes, and then he nodded.

The entire tent nearly exploded like a parachute when Benthor unzipped the flap. The frigid arctic air took Joshua’s breath away, and he struggled to follow his uncle out into the harshness of the blinding, arctic environment. Joshua’s face, nose, ears, and hands were instantly too cold, and he blinked uncomfortably against the freezing steam of his own breath.

The fast, low-lying snow clouds overhead were oppressively gray and almost blended into the white snow blowing chaotically about them. How Benthor knew where to go was beyond his comprehension, but Joshua stumbled upward after the short figure ahead of him while leaning into the force of the driving wind.

A few anxious minutes passed, and then an ominous cavern fissure yawned above them with huge icicles hanging from the overhead cliffs like the terrible teeth of some unknown, subterranean monster. The dark mouth of the ice cavern almost appeared to exhale from the escaping steam of the active geyser inside.

Without a moment of hesitation, Benthor darted fearlessly up through the threatening jaws and disappeared from view. Joshua’s heart thumped so loudly in his chest that he thought he might choke, but then he took one last breath of determination and boldly climbed up after Benthor into that black well of oblivion beyond.

“Over here lad!” shouted Benthor from somewhere to his right and below. Joshua could hear the terrible wind howling eerily outside the cavern entrance like a pack of screaming banshees. Warm, condensing fog from the previous torrents of superheated steam made it difficult for him to see, but Joshua stumbled forward slowly until his eyes gradually adjusted to the shrouded interior.

Benthor was standing in front of a sediment-stained geyser that originated from somewhere deep under the island’s mountain range. The dripping, slushy water recondensing around them would soon refreeze, but hopefully not before the portal carried them away in its embrace.

In the gaping mouth of the geyser was the tip of the hollow subterrain vehicle which looked much like the nose of a submarine. In the center of the black tube’s nosepiece was a hatch-like gate upon which could be seen the outline of a curious lock. Benthor had already retrieved a key from around his neck and was motioning for Joshua to join him.

“Whew, it’s so cold!” Joshua said while rubbing his hands together. He wished he’d brought some gloves and a hat, but Benthor had insisted that Ingdom could easily provide those items. Joshua retrieved a small flashlight from out of his coat pocket in order to help Benthor see the lock better, but the flashlight’s metal casing was so cold in his bare hand that he couldn’t hold it without using the end of his coat sleeve like a glove.

He began to appreciate just how deadly cold the polar region could be and how dangerous the frigid temperature was for all living creatures. At least he could no longer feel the wind blowing while inside the cavern which was a relief since his ears felt as though they were on fire from the punishment of the arctic wind.

“We’re going in now!” shouted Benthor above the echoing wind and dripping water. The Dwarf finally inserted the blue key into the door lock and twisted it to the right. Joshua heard something click, and then he saw the inner half of the tube’s golden gate as Benthor swung it open. A two-yard wide tunnel-hatch opened up to them as they stared down into the subterrain vehicle’s shimmering, aurora-like depths.

Joshua quickly trudged through the refreezing, mineral-stained slush to slide down into the mysterious tube’s embrace after his uncle. Benthor had barely managed to lock the Elf door behind them, when they suddenly felt the tube move as if they were on an elevator going to another world. The geyser’s transition period had rebegun which would whisk them back in time to ancient Ingdom.

The inner cylinder walls appeared to have a time-light distortion effect that made him feel dizzy. As Joshua moved forward slightly, he began to feel a sensation of near weightlessness. Although the entrance had been directly above him, Joshua didn’t feel as though he were about to fall.

He began to wonder if the powerful electromagnetic particle stream flowing around the meteorite tube was bending the Laws of Relativity. As he took another step in slow motion, he felt as though the direction and poles of time were somehow being reversed.

The two travelers ever so slowly worked their way along the Phaeton tube’s endlessly deceptive length which appeared to loop and sway like an optical illusion.

The opposite end of the tube seemed to stretch impossibly out of sight, like an image of infinity being reflected by two mirrors facing each other.

Joshua felt yet another unpleasant sensation, and he realized that the Phaeton tube must have re-submerged into the thermal depths of a deep subterranean reservoir heated by the fractured basaltic ridge of the great Nansen Cordillera.

From deep within that reservoir, the tremendous heat energy of the cordillera was being combined with the focused electromagnetic particle beam magnified by the great ice-lens covering the ancient Fountain of the Deep on top of Mount Norsdon. The combined energies were being employed not only to push them back to the surface, but to thrust them back into the distant past of Ingdom.

Joshua had no idea how the unique tube protected them from the tremendous temperatures of the reservoir’s superheated water and steam, but the Phaeton Tube showed no visible strain from the outside conditions. Like a dam tapping the raw waterpower of a large lake, the unique tube seemed to funnel and harness the heat energy around them.

Amazingly, the inside of the cylinder itself looked like frosted coal which dazzled brilliantly in the aurora of light cascading through the tube. Joshua began to get seasick from the constant movement of the shimmering, umbilical-like aurora which stretched between the distant doors of two different times.

As he watched spellbound, Joshua became aware of patterns of light beginning to form along the frosted walls of the tube around him. Resembling the sun’s powerful magnetic storms, the charged particles being amplified and focused from Mount Norsdon were causing the refractionary vision. Then the magnetic storms began to resemble galactic patterns slowly turning in a swirling image of billions of star systems revolving within a great spiral whirlpool.

As Joshua looked closer, he began to pick out other diverse galaxies--some spiral, some irregular, but most globular--all at unfathomable distances but moving in the same general direction as his own Milky Way galaxy. In that moment, he comprehended that a macro-realm of time must be based on galactic revolutions along the river-like current of the macro-universe.

As he watched, he witnessed time begin to reverse itself. Like a propeller that appears to reverse directions after a critical number of revolutions per minute, the great galaxies appeared to slow down, stop, and ever so slightly begin to move in the opposite direction. Then, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, their journey was over.

Benthor and Joshua may have been in the Phaeton tube an hour, or a day, or even a year--there was no way to know. There had simply been no passing of time as they knew it--for it had been more like a state of suspension between macro and micro universes.

They had at last reached the opposite portal door, and the Phaeton tube had come to a halt. Before Joshua could blink, Benthor was unlocking the other golden gate of the Fountain of the Deep. As the hatch swung open, Joshua could only gape out at the beauty of the fading aurora light reflecting off the icy chandelier-like refractor atop of Mount Norsdon.

Benthor quickly climbed out and then helped Joshua emerge with his backpack and duffel bag. There was no snowstorm howling outside--nor was the refracted light through the tons of ice around them as fearful as the dark, secluded cavern of its future counterpart.

Benthor closed the golden Elf hatch and locked it with the blue portal key. The Dwarf king had another ear-to-ear grin as he replaced the key around his neck. They began to climb up and over the great frozen refractor of the shimmering Window of Heaven, and then the spectacular view of a long green valley stretching out to the south far below them made Joshua whistle.

They were near the center of the snow capped peak of Mount Norsdon, and young Blackwell could see the immense encircling walls and terraces of Ingdom Castle far below at the base of the mountain. Far off to their right and left, he could make out the white boundaries of mountain glaciers. Through the distant south pass, he could see what had to be part of the frozen Norwegian sea.

“Here is Ingdom lad . . . just like I told you!” said Benthor triumphantly as he pointed to his kingdom below. The huge valley was green from barley grain and grass but was poor in large trees. Benthor told Joshua that only shrubs of polar willows and dwarf birches grew within the confines of his tiny kingdom. The valley itself was a huge, glacier-created fjord carved out in some far earlier Paleozoic Ice Age.

Although the warm North Atlantic Current would give the modern world access to Svalbard, the North East Land of Benthor’s time period was glacier-locked except for Benthor’s comparatively small, garden valley.

The first Ingdomite to greet them home was Aquila--Benthor’s faithful peregrine falcon. Joshua was startled when the winged predator swooped down upon them from nowhere and screeched a salute in the somewhat familiar tongue of Laurasia. The falcon made a quick report to his liege of all the important events that had transpired since Benthor’s departure, and then he winged off to herald their safe arrival to the kingdom below.

The long descent from the peak of Mount Norsdon was a dangerous and tiring one. Benthor seemed as surefooted as a mountain ram with his low center of gravity. Joshua, on the other hand, was much slower and clumsier. As the day wore on, Joshua gained even more respect for his uncle as he first watched, and then followed his climbing strategy of circular descent.

When the two of them had finally reached the level of the castle walls, they were graciously welcomed home by the loyal Friends of Ing, who were ecstatic to have their king back from his forty day journey. Joshua was treated kindly, but he felt somewhat uncomfortable under the constant scrutiny of their watchful eyes. Being a full foot taller than anyone else in Ingdom, he felt like a freak in a circus.

A small Elf girl tugged on his hand and asked him if he was a Giant in a Dwarf’s body, or a Dwarf in a Giant’s body. Seeing his obvious confusion with the mother tongue, Benthor came to his rescue. He officially re-introduced him to his subjects as the son of David Blackwell and Benthor’s sister, Cassi. They were all curious about his last name, for in Ingdom everyone was called by their own name plus their father’s first name. The Friends of Ing wanted to call him Joshua David’s Son instead of Joshua Blackwell.

As they had with his father, some of the Ingdomites thought that the name Blackwell sounded too much like a Cromagnite name, for the midsized races of the forests and plains of Gondwanaland had a habit of naming their children after things in the sky and world around them. Benthor had to rescue him once more by telling them that the lad and his father were named after the Fountain of the Deep far above them.

One of the major differences which he recognized that first day was the shorter daylight hours and the cooler temperatures after the sun went down. Walking around with Benthor was like traveling with a politician. The king was always the center of attention. Joshua’s inability to converse for himself became somewhat of an irritation for him, for he had desperately wanted to make a good first impression. However, he did find that he still knew a few of the sign language skills which accompanied the Laurasian mother tongue.

Almost all the buildings within the castle walls were carved and indented right into the solid rock of the great mountain. Steps and columns stood at the entrance of every room and cavern. Beautiful stonework depicting all manner of fruit, flower, and leaves adorned every banister and terrace. He thought it to be unusual not to see any artwork of man or animal anywhere in Ingdom.

Joshua suffered through a few more lengthy conversations between the Dwarf king and certain members of the inquisitive Elf Senate. Seeing Joshua’s discomfort at following him around, Benthor finally had a guide take him to the Royal Dwarf Palace. Benthor told him he could relax there for a few hours before meeting him once more at the Mead Hall for a royal, welcome home feast.

Joshua found some stone-lined, hot spring baths deep under the palace. One of was just the right temperature in which to relax his tired muscles and nerves. Some of the hot spring vents in the valley were hot enough to steam mushrooms and eggs and boil meat. Sweating out his frustrations, he wondered if he’d made the right decision in coming to Ingdom with Benthor. He couldn’t imagine what good he could do for the people of Ingdom in light of their formidable castle and powerful king.

When he got out, he found a stack of well worn, caribou buckskins and moccasins just outside the entranceway with the initials DB etched on their inside leather edges. They were a might too large for him, and he guessed that they must have been worn by his father. For the first time in his life, Joshua began to wonder if he was big enough to walk in his father’s footsteps.

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