Chapter 16
Clark and Chloe waited for Gaius and his men at the top of a small rise. The way past them to the road was a wide, open meadow, but thick trees on both sides prevented Gaius from easily diverting any of his men to an alternate route.
Clark had made a few, quick preparations, but now he just waited with a sense of anticipation. All of his life in Smallville he had had to hide his true abilities. No starring on the football team and scoring ten touchdowns per game. No starring on the track team and breaking all of the world records. No sports period, just good, old Clark, the farm boy. But like a typical teenage boy, he had always fantasized about strutting his stuff. Of course, in the best 'Wall of the Weird' tradition he wasn't strutting his stuff for his girl on the sporting field. No, he was going up against 30 men on horseback armed with swords, spears, and arrows. Boy, there were times he wished he was just a normal guy like Whitney.
Chloe sat astride her horse waiting for Gaius and his men to draw a little closer. She tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach. She had seen Clark's superspeed abilities and had heard him tell of his amazing strength, but going up against thirty men by himself still left her a little nervous. If Clark got in over his head, would she be able to get them clear?
Finally, the approaching men were about 100 feet away when Chloe shouted out. "LStop or feel my wrath."
Gaius and his men approached a little closer before reigning up. Looking up the hill in the fading light, he saw a young woman on horseback and a man standing a few feet away. "LWho are you?" he called out. "And what do you want?"
"LI am Chloe and I protect the one you seek," she responded.
"LThere are 30 of us and only two of you. I have no quarrel with you. Stand aside and let us pass."
Chloe shook her head. "LI am a powerful Druid witch and this warrior is under my enchantment. You can not defeat him. Get word to Carius to return the magical stones and I will leave him and you in peace. If we are forced to take the stones it will go hard on you."
Gaius turned to several of his men with bows and told them to eliminate the obstacle.
Five men quickly strung their bows and let loose a volley of arrows. Two of the arrows arched up on a trajectory towards Chloe. When they reached her, she calmly plucked them out of the air, one with each hand. The other three arrows were targeted on Clark. One was a clean miss, but the other two hit their mark. Clark didn't bother to catch them like Chloe, but just let them bounce off of his body.
Chloe waved the arrows in her hands to get Gaius' attention back on her. "My magic is stronger than mere arrows. Surrender NOW!" Then Chloe threw the arrows to the ground in a sign of contempt.
As Clark started to walk towards the horsemen, Gaius was momentarily stunned by the ineffectiveness of the arrows. Did the arrows really bounce off that man as it had appeared? However he quickly recovered and ordered six of his men to dismount and take the apparently unarmed man with their swords. Hopefully they would discover some answers to the puzzling developments.
The six men quickly jumped down from their horses and approached Clark. Drawing their swords, the first man motioned for Clark to kneel down and surrender. Clark stopped about ten feet from him, crossed his arms, and shook his head no. Understanding the instructions from Gaius, the first man tried to disable Clark with a strike at his thigh - Take him down, but leave him able to talk.
The swordsman used a stabbing strike to the thigh, but it was like hitting a solid chunk of granite. The point struck Clark's leg and then skittered off to the side without leaving so much as a mark. Clark took a half step forward and hit the man with a right cross and then before he slipped to the ground, Clark stripped the sword from his hand.
Clark selected a large tree about 30 yards off to the right. He threw the sword with all of his strength at the juncture of a large branch with the trunk about 15 feet up. The sword hit with a mighty crack and the branch exploded away from the tree and crashed to the ground. The sword continued on its trajectory without any noticeable decrease in speed until it hit another smaller tree forty feet beyond, splitting it down the center. The two halves slowly tore apart and collapsed to the ground.
After the remaining men on foot got over the shock of this display, they turned back to see Clark waiting with a 'Who's Next?' expression on his face. The next two men jumped quickly into the attack. One came in high from the left and one low from the right. At the last second Clark reached out and grabbed a sword blade in each hand. He tightened his grip until his fingers crushed grooves in the soft iron and then he gave a sharp jerk. The two opponents were thrown to the ground before they lost their grips on the hilts. Clark rapped the men sharply on the skull before tossing these swords away in opposite directions. This time he aimed high and the swords streaked away from his hands with a loud whistling sound. They quickly passed over the nearest trees and were still climbing when they were lost from sight in the gathering twilight.
The remaining three swordsmen on foot swung around to take Clark in a combined frontal assault. However before they had taken a single complete step Clark shifted to superspeed mode. He gave each man a quick tap and then grabbed his sword. One instant the men on horseback were watching their comrades approach this stranger and the next the three were slumping to the ground and the stranger was juggling the three swords. It might not be nine balls or chainsaws, but Clark had some juggling skills, too. After holding their attention for a few seconds, Clark threw these swords at a large rock outcropping on the edge of the meadow. They struck one after the other with a metallic clang and then ricocheted off, ending up imbedded in a large tree trunk in a neat, tidy row.
Finally, feeling they had put on a sufficient demonstration, Clark shifted back into speed mode. He quickly pulled the riders off of their horses and bound their hands and feet with the bridals from their mounts. In less than five seconds the remaining twenty-five riders were all immobilized. Within another ten seconds Clark had moved all of the underlings out of sight under the cover of the trees.
With the situation under control Chloe rode forward to where Clark had left Gaius bound. Looking down at him she said, "LMy magic is great. Look how easily one man I have gifted with my powers was able to defeat you all. I can just as easily enchant many more. Do you think Carius would want to go up against one hundred or one thousand of my warriors? Now tell Carius to give us the stones or next time I won't hold my warriors in check and you will all be dead. I will expect Carius to meet us on the 15th of June at noon on the steps of the temple of Mars in Rome."
Gaius didn't respond, just looked up at her with a look of confusion. Chloe didn't really expect nor need a response. With these men safely out of the way, she and Clark could get back to Lex and Lana.
Turning towards Clark, who was rounding up all of the horses, Chloe called out in English. "Let's go, Clark. I have finished delivering the message."
Just then Gaius blurted out, also in English, "Who the fuck are you people?"
Chloe jumped down from her horse and walked over to where Gaius lay. She held up her right hand and loudly said the word, "Sword."
This was one of the signals she and Clark had worked out in advance. As she closed her hand into a fist, Clark ran by at superspeed and thrust a sword hilt into her hand. To Gaius, who lay bound with his hands behind his back, it seemed as if the sword had appeared out of thin air by magic.
Chloe lowered the sword point and ran it along Gaius' jaw, pushing just hard enough to draw a small trickle of blood.
"I am a lady and I don't appreciate that kind of language," began Chloe.
"Now, since you are the one bound on the ground and I am the one with the sword, I think the more pertinent question is, who are YOU?" Chloe asked with a menacing tone while waving the tip of the sword just inches from his face.
With a quick darting of his eyes he realized that his men were no longer in sight. Taking a deep breath he said, "Tony Campinello."
Chloe drove the tip of the sword into the dirt six inches in front of his face and then settled down into a comfortable position on her knees to have a little chat with this unexpected source of potentially useful information. Recognizing his accent she said, "Well, Tony, what is a good old Jersey boy like you doing hanging out in an ancient Roman backwater town? What is your story and your connection to Professor Carey?"
Tony didn't take long to start spilling his guts. So far these people hadn't killed any of his men and he didn't want them to start with him. Besides this was suppose to a low risk, high paying job.
"I was hired to watch over the Tolosa facility. I have been here for just over ten years. Two more years and I am scheduled to return home. I am supposed to return only two weeks after I left with 12 years worth of bonus pay. Enough to put my daughters through college and for my wife and I to retire in style. And my family only thinks I am gone on a two week business trip."
"How did the Professor recruit you?" Chloe asked.
"The Professor?" answered Tony. "No, I wasn't recruited by the Professor."
"Then who?" Chloe continued trying to maintain a calm, intimidating tone.
"His backers," started Tony and then seeing the impatient look on Chloe's face he quickly continued. "The Professor likes to play the ponies a little too much. Unfortunately, he had a real string of bad luck about four months ago. Well, four months ago back uptime in the 21st century. Shit, this time stuff is difficult to explain."
As Tony saw Chloe's hand reach for the sword hilt, he quickly exclaimed. "Sorry about the language. I have been here a long time and the language is just a lot cruder here."
When he saw her hand drop back to her lap he relaxed a little and continued. "He ended up owing $400,000 to several bookies who pushed it upstairs for collection."
"Mafia?" asked Chloe.
Tony nodded. "When the people came to collect, the Professor offered to cut them in on his project in return for canceling his debt. After providing a suitable demonstration they not only agreed to join his project, but also fronted him the money to set up operations here.
"I was recruited to look out for their interests back here. My main purposes are to monitor the comings and goings of the Professor's people and maintain security for the facility at this end."
"Twelve years sounds like an awful long commitment," said Chloe assuming an almost casual conversational tone.
"Well, I was the only one they could find with the right combination of skills." When Chloe raised an eyebrow he explained. "After I got out of the army I went back to college and got master's degrees in Latin and in Roman history. I had planned on a career teaching Roman literature at some nice quiet college until my life took a different turn. Let's just say I had a unique combination of working knowledge of things Roman and a practical background in leading men in rough and tumble situations. When they offered me a million dollars for every year I was downtime, I jumped at the opportunity."
Chloe was starting to get a better understanding of the situation, but felt it was time to steer the conversation towards topics more immediately relevant to their current situation.
"How many portals does the Professor have in this time period?" she asked.
With a somewhat surprised look, Tony responded, "Just this one, as far as I know."
"Why did he locate it in such a remote location when he spends most of his time here in Rome acting as the emperor's soothsayer?"
For someone who appeared to have only recently learned about the portals she seemed to have a surprising amount of knowledge about the Professor's activities here. "Two reasons. Certain magnetic fields make some locations easier to use than others. Second, the Professor had previously attempted to set up an operation like this in another time period with his portal located in a major city. The locals discovered it with nearly disastrous consequences for him. So this time he set it up in a location under his direct control."
"What did the Professor explain about the current situation when he arrived here the other day?" Continued Chloe.
"He said Lex Luthor, who thinks he is funding the experiment, showed up on campus for a six month review of the project. Apparently, one of the grad students made some comment that suggested to Mr. Luthor the project had been more successful than he had been led to believe. When he eventually started making comments about removing the Professor for unauthorized activities, the Professor decided to remove him from the picture since alternate methods of funding had become available. The Professor decided if he could get Luthor back here, then there wouldn't be any body uptime to worry about. However, the Professor doesn't like to get his own hands dirty. So knowing the girl was a friend of Luthor's, he assumed Luthor would follow him through the portal to save her.
"The Professor set the equipment to give himself a reasonable head start. He then had me send a couple of men up to the facility to eliminate Luthor and the girl. Even if he eluded my men, the Professor didn't think a billionaire playboy would survive for long in this era." Here Tony paused and looked Chloe in the eye. "But obviously the Professor underestimated the resources Luthor would bring along."
Chloe ignored this attempt to extract information from her. "How many others besides you and the Professor are back here at this time?"
"Not many. This is still a relatively small operation since everything has to pass through the Professor's lab on campus. There are plans to build a second portal off-campus, but the last I heard it was still months from completion. Anyway to answer your question; first is a group of three people, an anthropologist and two grad students, who passed through here about five years ago on their way to Jerusalem. I haven't had a message from them in over two years, so I don't know if we will ever hear from them again."
"Jerusalem, as in the crucifixion?" asked Chloe.
Tony nodded. "Yeah, I think the Professor plans to someday go public after he has stolen, I mean made, his fortune. So he has this grand plan to send experts to document some of the most critical/controversial moments in world history."
"Who else is back here?" asked Chloe.
"There are a couple of other scientific teams scattered around the world, but they probably don't interest you. The only other person in this part of the world is Sven Torsnes. He has been here almost as long as I have, but he spends most of his time in Rome. He is some high mucky-muck in the Praetorian Guard."
Chloe got this thoughtful look on her face. "Is he blond, about six foot six, built like Hitler's idea of the perfect Aryan specimen, goes by the name of Patricus Gasparus Venta?"
Tony nodded. "How did you know?"
Not realizing she was speaking out loud, Chloe quietly said, "I always wondered why Carius and Venta seemed so buddy-buddy."
Tony just stared at her and wondered why he had this strange feeling this woman had meet the two of them 'in character' before. But that couldn't be possible since she must have come through the portal with Luthor only two days ago.
Chloe shook her head to clear her memories of long ago dealings with Venta and the Praetorians and got the conversation focused back on issues of immediate concern. "Do you know what the Professor did with the green stones that open the portal from this end?"
Tony shook his head. "I didn't realize the Professor had removed them until you made your little 'Druid Witch' speech, but then I didn't have any reason to search he when he arrived in Tolosa."
"At this point, all Mr. Luthor is interested in is obtaining the stones and returning to the 21st Century. We are willing to use force, if necessary, and the resources and assets we have available to us here may unpleasantly surprise you. I believe Mr. Luthor may be willing to come to some mutually beneficial terms with your people, if you will facilitate his return. Hmm, have you been to Rome since you have been here?"
Tony nodded, "Twice, the last time about three years ago."
"Good, then if you can contact the Professor, tell him that Mr. Luthor would like to meet him at noon on the 15th of June on the steps in front of the temple to Mars. If you decide you would like to discuss alternate arrangements with Mr. Luthor we will be in Rome in about ten days. Do you know the Flavian palace on the outskirts of the city? Good, then leave a message any time after that with Rogerus, the majordomo, and it will be forwarded to us. Explain that the message is about the Tolosa mineral study."
Chloe stood up and pulled her sword from the dirt. "I hope you choose the winning side."
Tony tried one last time to elicit some information. "But who are you and how did you do those things?"
Chloe took a step to the side so that as she held the sword hilt between her thumb and forefinger, the sword tip pointed down about a foot above Tony's abdomen. She slowly rotated the hilt between her thumb and finger and the silvery blade flashed in the lightening bolts that had started to arrive on the leading edge of the approaching storm. After a few seconds she suddenly said in a loud voice, "Sword," and then let go of the hilt.
Tony could still feel the throbbing in his cheek where she had used the sword to cut him earlier. Now the sharp sword tip was falling towards his unprotected abdomen. Even with a drop of only 12 inches the sharp, heavy sword would penetrate several inches. He helpless watched it fall until the tip was less than two inches from his skin, when the sword suddenly vanished as mysteriously as it had first appeared.
Chloe cleared her throat to get his attention back. Once Tony had looked back up, she tilted her head to the side, gave him a big Chloe grin, and said. "Don't think that Professor Carey's little toy is the only, or even the most significant, of Mr. Luthor's black projects."
Letting her grin get even bigger, she ended with; "Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite." Then Clark picked him up, threw him over his shoulder, and carried him off into the woods to join the rest of his bound and gagged men.
A few large, heavy drops of rain had started falling near the end of Chloe's conversation with Gaius, a.k.a. Tony Campinello. By the time Clark had returned from depositing him with his men, the few drops had turned into a torrential downpour. The kind told about in stories where the person turns his face up to the sky and drowns. Needless to say, they were both drenched, as Clark walked up to where Chloe was standing beside her horse. Their togas plastered to their bodies. Their hair dripping into their eyes.
And Chloe just spun around and laughed.
Then she reached up and threw her arms around Clark and gave him a hug and a not so chaste kiss. As she pulled her head back to catch her breath, she said: "That went so well. I must admit I had a few butterflies over the two of us taking on over thirty armed men, but I should have trusted you when you said the fighting would all be over within one minute. And the leader turning out to be from our time, what a stroke of luck."
Clark nodded and leaned forward for another kiss. When this kiss ended he released her and took a step back. "I am still a little nervous about Lex and Lana. Let's catch up with them and then we can all discuss what you learned and how best to proceed."
Chloe sobered up a little and nodded her agreement. She quickly vaulted into her saddle and after Clark handed her the reigns to his horse, she set off at gallop through the warm, refreshing rain.
Clark gave her a little head start to allow himself a moment to watch her. As he was just about ready to follow her, he felt this sudden hunger pang. In all of the excitement he had forgotten the reason they had left their sojourn under the shade trees by the beach was to look for an early dinner. Therefore before following Chloe he made a detour to search the packs on the horses. He had secured them down the valley in a location out of sight of their riders, whom he had stashed in nearby trees. In a few seconds he had an assortment of food and a couple of skins filled with wine wrapped in a large piece of waterproof canvas.
As he quickly set out after Chloe and the others, Clark wondered what wine really tasted like after it had been stored in an animal skin.
End of Chapter 16
Clark and Chloe waited for Gaius and his men at the top of a small rise. The way past them to the road was a wide, open meadow, but thick trees on both sides prevented Gaius from easily diverting any of his men to an alternate route.
Clark had made a few, quick preparations, but now he just waited with a sense of anticipation. All of his life in Smallville he had had to hide his true abilities. No starring on the football team and scoring ten touchdowns per game. No starring on the track team and breaking all of the world records. No sports period, just good, old Clark, the farm boy. But like a typical teenage boy, he had always fantasized about strutting his stuff. Of course, in the best 'Wall of the Weird' tradition he wasn't strutting his stuff for his girl on the sporting field. No, he was going up against 30 men on horseback armed with swords, spears, and arrows. Boy, there were times he wished he was just a normal guy like Whitney.
Chloe sat astride her horse waiting for Gaius and his men to draw a little closer. She tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach. She had seen Clark's superspeed abilities and had heard him tell of his amazing strength, but going up against thirty men by himself still left her a little nervous. If Clark got in over his head, would she be able to get them clear?
Finally, the approaching men were about 100 feet away when Chloe shouted out. "LStop or feel my wrath."
Gaius and his men approached a little closer before reigning up. Looking up the hill in the fading light, he saw a young woman on horseback and a man standing a few feet away. "LWho are you?" he called out. "And what do you want?"
"LI am Chloe and I protect the one you seek," she responded.
"LThere are 30 of us and only two of you. I have no quarrel with you. Stand aside and let us pass."
Chloe shook her head. "LI am a powerful Druid witch and this warrior is under my enchantment. You can not defeat him. Get word to Carius to return the magical stones and I will leave him and you in peace. If we are forced to take the stones it will go hard on you."
Gaius turned to several of his men with bows and told them to eliminate the obstacle.
Five men quickly strung their bows and let loose a volley of arrows. Two of the arrows arched up on a trajectory towards Chloe. When they reached her, she calmly plucked them out of the air, one with each hand. The other three arrows were targeted on Clark. One was a clean miss, but the other two hit their mark. Clark didn't bother to catch them like Chloe, but just let them bounce off of his body.
Chloe waved the arrows in her hands to get Gaius' attention back on her. "My magic is stronger than mere arrows. Surrender NOW!" Then Chloe threw the arrows to the ground in a sign of contempt.
As Clark started to walk towards the horsemen, Gaius was momentarily stunned by the ineffectiveness of the arrows. Did the arrows really bounce off that man as it had appeared? However he quickly recovered and ordered six of his men to dismount and take the apparently unarmed man with their swords. Hopefully they would discover some answers to the puzzling developments.
The six men quickly jumped down from their horses and approached Clark. Drawing their swords, the first man motioned for Clark to kneel down and surrender. Clark stopped about ten feet from him, crossed his arms, and shook his head no. Understanding the instructions from Gaius, the first man tried to disable Clark with a strike at his thigh - Take him down, but leave him able to talk.
The swordsman used a stabbing strike to the thigh, but it was like hitting a solid chunk of granite. The point struck Clark's leg and then skittered off to the side without leaving so much as a mark. Clark took a half step forward and hit the man with a right cross and then before he slipped to the ground, Clark stripped the sword from his hand.
Clark selected a large tree about 30 yards off to the right. He threw the sword with all of his strength at the juncture of a large branch with the trunk about 15 feet up. The sword hit with a mighty crack and the branch exploded away from the tree and crashed to the ground. The sword continued on its trajectory without any noticeable decrease in speed until it hit another smaller tree forty feet beyond, splitting it down the center. The two halves slowly tore apart and collapsed to the ground.
After the remaining men on foot got over the shock of this display, they turned back to see Clark waiting with a 'Who's Next?' expression on his face. The next two men jumped quickly into the attack. One came in high from the left and one low from the right. At the last second Clark reached out and grabbed a sword blade in each hand. He tightened his grip until his fingers crushed grooves in the soft iron and then he gave a sharp jerk. The two opponents were thrown to the ground before they lost their grips on the hilts. Clark rapped the men sharply on the skull before tossing these swords away in opposite directions. This time he aimed high and the swords streaked away from his hands with a loud whistling sound. They quickly passed over the nearest trees and were still climbing when they were lost from sight in the gathering twilight.
The remaining three swordsmen on foot swung around to take Clark in a combined frontal assault. However before they had taken a single complete step Clark shifted to superspeed mode. He gave each man a quick tap and then grabbed his sword. One instant the men on horseback were watching their comrades approach this stranger and the next the three were slumping to the ground and the stranger was juggling the three swords. It might not be nine balls or chainsaws, but Clark had some juggling skills, too. After holding their attention for a few seconds, Clark threw these swords at a large rock outcropping on the edge of the meadow. They struck one after the other with a metallic clang and then ricocheted off, ending up imbedded in a large tree trunk in a neat, tidy row.
Finally, feeling they had put on a sufficient demonstration, Clark shifted back into speed mode. He quickly pulled the riders off of their horses and bound their hands and feet with the bridals from their mounts. In less than five seconds the remaining twenty-five riders were all immobilized. Within another ten seconds Clark had moved all of the underlings out of sight under the cover of the trees.
With the situation under control Chloe rode forward to where Clark had left Gaius bound. Looking down at him she said, "LMy magic is great. Look how easily one man I have gifted with my powers was able to defeat you all. I can just as easily enchant many more. Do you think Carius would want to go up against one hundred or one thousand of my warriors? Now tell Carius to give us the stones or next time I won't hold my warriors in check and you will all be dead. I will expect Carius to meet us on the 15th of June at noon on the steps of the temple of Mars in Rome."
Gaius didn't respond, just looked up at her with a look of confusion. Chloe didn't really expect nor need a response. With these men safely out of the way, she and Clark could get back to Lex and Lana.
Turning towards Clark, who was rounding up all of the horses, Chloe called out in English. "Let's go, Clark. I have finished delivering the message."
Just then Gaius blurted out, also in English, "Who the fuck are you people?"
Chloe jumped down from her horse and walked over to where Gaius lay. She held up her right hand and loudly said the word, "Sword."
This was one of the signals she and Clark had worked out in advance. As she closed her hand into a fist, Clark ran by at superspeed and thrust a sword hilt into her hand. To Gaius, who lay bound with his hands behind his back, it seemed as if the sword had appeared out of thin air by magic.
Chloe lowered the sword point and ran it along Gaius' jaw, pushing just hard enough to draw a small trickle of blood.
"I am a lady and I don't appreciate that kind of language," began Chloe.
"Now, since you are the one bound on the ground and I am the one with the sword, I think the more pertinent question is, who are YOU?" Chloe asked with a menacing tone while waving the tip of the sword just inches from his face.
With a quick darting of his eyes he realized that his men were no longer in sight. Taking a deep breath he said, "Tony Campinello."
Chloe drove the tip of the sword into the dirt six inches in front of his face and then settled down into a comfortable position on her knees to have a little chat with this unexpected source of potentially useful information. Recognizing his accent she said, "Well, Tony, what is a good old Jersey boy like you doing hanging out in an ancient Roman backwater town? What is your story and your connection to Professor Carey?"
Tony didn't take long to start spilling his guts. So far these people hadn't killed any of his men and he didn't want them to start with him. Besides this was suppose to a low risk, high paying job.
"I was hired to watch over the Tolosa facility. I have been here for just over ten years. Two more years and I am scheduled to return home. I am supposed to return only two weeks after I left with 12 years worth of bonus pay. Enough to put my daughters through college and for my wife and I to retire in style. And my family only thinks I am gone on a two week business trip."
"How did the Professor recruit you?" Chloe asked.
"The Professor?" answered Tony. "No, I wasn't recruited by the Professor."
"Then who?" Chloe continued trying to maintain a calm, intimidating tone.
"His backers," started Tony and then seeing the impatient look on Chloe's face he quickly continued. "The Professor likes to play the ponies a little too much. Unfortunately, he had a real string of bad luck about four months ago. Well, four months ago back uptime in the 21st century. Shit, this time stuff is difficult to explain."
As Tony saw Chloe's hand reach for the sword hilt, he quickly exclaimed. "Sorry about the language. I have been here a long time and the language is just a lot cruder here."
When he saw her hand drop back to her lap he relaxed a little and continued. "He ended up owing $400,000 to several bookies who pushed it upstairs for collection."
"Mafia?" asked Chloe.
Tony nodded. "When the people came to collect, the Professor offered to cut them in on his project in return for canceling his debt. After providing a suitable demonstration they not only agreed to join his project, but also fronted him the money to set up operations here.
"I was recruited to look out for their interests back here. My main purposes are to monitor the comings and goings of the Professor's people and maintain security for the facility at this end."
"Twelve years sounds like an awful long commitment," said Chloe assuming an almost casual conversational tone.
"Well, I was the only one they could find with the right combination of skills." When Chloe raised an eyebrow he explained. "After I got out of the army I went back to college and got master's degrees in Latin and in Roman history. I had planned on a career teaching Roman literature at some nice quiet college until my life took a different turn. Let's just say I had a unique combination of working knowledge of things Roman and a practical background in leading men in rough and tumble situations. When they offered me a million dollars for every year I was downtime, I jumped at the opportunity."
Chloe was starting to get a better understanding of the situation, but felt it was time to steer the conversation towards topics more immediately relevant to their current situation.
"How many portals does the Professor have in this time period?" she asked.
With a somewhat surprised look, Tony responded, "Just this one, as far as I know."
"Why did he locate it in such a remote location when he spends most of his time here in Rome acting as the emperor's soothsayer?"
For someone who appeared to have only recently learned about the portals she seemed to have a surprising amount of knowledge about the Professor's activities here. "Two reasons. Certain magnetic fields make some locations easier to use than others. Second, the Professor had previously attempted to set up an operation like this in another time period with his portal located in a major city. The locals discovered it with nearly disastrous consequences for him. So this time he set it up in a location under his direct control."
"What did the Professor explain about the current situation when he arrived here the other day?" Continued Chloe.
"He said Lex Luthor, who thinks he is funding the experiment, showed up on campus for a six month review of the project. Apparently, one of the grad students made some comment that suggested to Mr. Luthor the project had been more successful than he had been led to believe. When he eventually started making comments about removing the Professor for unauthorized activities, the Professor decided to remove him from the picture since alternate methods of funding had become available. The Professor decided if he could get Luthor back here, then there wouldn't be any body uptime to worry about. However, the Professor doesn't like to get his own hands dirty. So knowing the girl was a friend of Luthor's, he assumed Luthor would follow him through the portal to save her.
"The Professor set the equipment to give himself a reasonable head start. He then had me send a couple of men up to the facility to eliminate Luthor and the girl. Even if he eluded my men, the Professor didn't think a billionaire playboy would survive for long in this era." Here Tony paused and looked Chloe in the eye. "But obviously the Professor underestimated the resources Luthor would bring along."
Chloe ignored this attempt to extract information from her. "How many others besides you and the Professor are back here at this time?"
"Not many. This is still a relatively small operation since everything has to pass through the Professor's lab on campus. There are plans to build a second portal off-campus, but the last I heard it was still months from completion. Anyway to answer your question; first is a group of three people, an anthropologist and two grad students, who passed through here about five years ago on their way to Jerusalem. I haven't had a message from them in over two years, so I don't know if we will ever hear from them again."
"Jerusalem, as in the crucifixion?" asked Chloe.
Tony nodded. "Yeah, I think the Professor plans to someday go public after he has stolen, I mean made, his fortune. So he has this grand plan to send experts to document some of the most critical/controversial moments in world history."
"Who else is back here?" asked Chloe.
"There are a couple of other scientific teams scattered around the world, but they probably don't interest you. The only other person in this part of the world is Sven Torsnes. He has been here almost as long as I have, but he spends most of his time in Rome. He is some high mucky-muck in the Praetorian Guard."
Chloe got this thoughtful look on her face. "Is he blond, about six foot six, built like Hitler's idea of the perfect Aryan specimen, goes by the name of Patricus Gasparus Venta?"
Tony nodded. "How did you know?"
Not realizing she was speaking out loud, Chloe quietly said, "I always wondered why Carius and Venta seemed so buddy-buddy."
Tony just stared at her and wondered why he had this strange feeling this woman had meet the two of them 'in character' before. But that couldn't be possible since she must have come through the portal with Luthor only two days ago.
Chloe shook her head to clear her memories of long ago dealings with Venta and the Praetorians and got the conversation focused back on issues of immediate concern. "Do you know what the Professor did with the green stones that open the portal from this end?"
Tony shook his head. "I didn't realize the Professor had removed them until you made your little 'Druid Witch' speech, but then I didn't have any reason to search he when he arrived in Tolosa."
"At this point, all Mr. Luthor is interested in is obtaining the stones and returning to the 21st Century. We are willing to use force, if necessary, and the resources and assets we have available to us here may unpleasantly surprise you. I believe Mr. Luthor may be willing to come to some mutually beneficial terms with your people, if you will facilitate his return. Hmm, have you been to Rome since you have been here?"
Tony nodded, "Twice, the last time about three years ago."
"Good, then if you can contact the Professor, tell him that Mr. Luthor would like to meet him at noon on the 15th of June on the steps in front of the temple to Mars. If you decide you would like to discuss alternate arrangements with Mr. Luthor we will be in Rome in about ten days. Do you know the Flavian palace on the outskirts of the city? Good, then leave a message any time after that with Rogerus, the majordomo, and it will be forwarded to us. Explain that the message is about the Tolosa mineral study."
Chloe stood up and pulled her sword from the dirt. "I hope you choose the winning side."
Tony tried one last time to elicit some information. "But who are you and how did you do those things?"
Chloe took a step to the side so that as she held the sword hilt between her thumb and forefinger, the sword tip pointed down about a foot above Tony's abdomen. She slowly rotated the hilt between her thumb and finger and the silvery blade flashed in the lightening bolts that had started to arrive on the leading edge of the approaching storm. After a few seconds she suddenly said in a loud voice, "Sword," and then let go of the hilt.
Tony could still feel the throbbing in his cheek where she had used the sword to cut him earlier. Now the sharp sword tip was falling towards his unprotected abdomen. Even with a drop of only 12 inches the sharp, heavy sword would penetrate several inches. He helpless watched it fall until the tip was less than two inches from his skin, when the sword suddenly vanished as mysteriously as it had first appeared.
Chloe cleared her throat to get his attention back. Once Tony had looked back up, she tilted her head to the side, gave him a big Chloe grin, and said. "Don't think that Professor Carey's little toy is the only, or even the most significant, of Mr. Luthor's black projects."
Letting her grin get even bigger, she ended with; "Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite." Then Clark picked him up, threw him over his shoulder, and carried him off into the woods to join the rest of his bound and gagged men.
A few large, heavy drops of rain had started falling near the end of Chloe's conversation with Gaius, a.k.a. Tony Campinello. By the time Clark had returned from depositing him with his men, the few drops had turned into a torrential downpour. The kind told about in stories where the person turns his face up to the sky and drowns. Needless to say, they were both drenched, as Clark walked up to where Chloe was standing beside her horse. Their togas plastered to their bodies. Their hair dripping into their eyes.
And Chloe just spun around and laughed.
Then she reached up and threw her arms around Clark and gave him a hug and a not so chaste kiss. As she pulled her head back to catch her breath, she said: "That went so well. I must admit I had a few butterflies over the two of us taking on over thirty armed men, but I should have trusted you when you said the fighting would all be over within one minute. And the leader turning out to be from our time, what a stroke of luck."
Clark nodded and leaned forward for another kiss. When this kiss ended he released her and took a step back. "I am still a little nervous about Lex and Lana. Let's catch up with them and then we can all discuss what you learned and how best to proceed."
Chloe sobered up a little and nodded her agreement. She quickly vaulted into her saddle and after Clark handed her the reigns to his horse, she set off at gallop through the warm, refreshing rain.
Clark gave her a little head start to allow himself a moment to watch her. As he was just about ready to follow her, he felt this sudden hunger pang. In all of the excitement he had forgotten the reason they had left their sojourn under the shade trees by the beach was to look for an early dinner. Therefore before following Chloe he made a detour to search the packs on the horses. He had secured them down the valley in a location out of sight of their riders, whom he had stashed in nearby trees. In a few seconds he had an assortment of food and a couple of skins filled with wine wrapped in a large piece of waterproof canvas.
As he quickly set out after Chloe and the others, Clark wondered what wine really tasted like after it had been stored in an animal skin.
End of Chapter 16