Ca.s.sandra clicked her knuckles. "GOOD, IT'S NOT EVERY DAY YOU GET TO BEAT THE c.r.a.p OUT OF A G.o.d."

Hammersmith let out a roar which even made Apollo wince. It reared up and began to run at Ca.s.sandra, kicking aside the giant crabs still trying to reach the beach, Ca.s.sandra picked up her pace too and also started charging like a bull towards Hammersmith, and before the two could collide the giant lizard swung its clubbed tail at the oncoming Ca.s.sandra.

Ansell's shirt was torn away as dragon's wings sprouted from her back, spinning below the tail as it swung harmlessly above her, changing back to her human form as she hit the ground and rolled.

"CHEAP PARLOUR TRICKS WON'T SAVE YOU, GIRL," growled Apollo and he let loose a jet flame from his canister. Ca.s.sandra with her wings ready to fly took to the air, narrowly missing the fire.

Ca.s.sandra soared over Hammersmith's head and changed forms again and into the larger dragon, her hind legs drove down on his chest, sending the Cyclops reeling backwards, Ca.s.sandra landed heavily to the ground and started clawing at his chest; her height just about reached his abdominal area. Hammersmith kicked out and sent her flying, as she crashed to the ground Ca.s.sandra looked up on all fours, charged again and flashed her razor-sharp teeth, her eyes focused hard on Hammersmith as she picked up speed again. Apollo let loose his flame on her and Ca.s.sandra bellowed but kept her head as the flames licked around her head, the fire seemed to enrage her more and she struck Hammersmith with all her might and the incredible giant toppled with Apollo still strapped to his shoulders. Her battered and old horns barely pierced the strong hide of Hammersmith but the sheer force of the blow was enough to send him on his back.

The dragon panted beside the fallen body of the Cyclops, Ca.s.sandra dare not fully return to her human form, as she knew it was far too dangerous in battle. She slowly changed into a dragon girl, just about humanoid in appearance, but her skin was covered in scales. She crouched on here knees and rubbed her aching head.

Slowly rising to her feet she looked over to Hammersmith, still flat on his back, and then she looked over to where her comrades were hiding. Kimberley had shouted something to her but she couldn't hear, Ca.s.sandra cupped her hand to her ear and waited for Kimberley to repeat what she had just said, Kimberley was frantically pointing to Ca.s.sandra's left and as she turned around slowly she was struck by the fist of Hammersmith who had spun around on his back and it was the clenching of the fist that Kimberley had seen happening from a distance.

Ca.s.sandra was sent flying into the rocks and landed face first on the ground, returning to her full human form.

Apollo looked over at his fallen opponent.

"YOU FOUGHT WELL WOMAN, BUT IF EVER OUR PATHS SHOULD MEET AGAIN AND I OFFER TO DO BATTLE WITH YOU, TAKE MY ADVICE...DON'T."

Elias shouted to the others, "WE HAVE TO GO NOW, WE HAVE A CHANCE TO ESCAPE."

"WHAT ABOUT Ca.s.sANDRA?" asked Kimberley.

"SHE'S GIVEN US THE TIME WE NEED," was the reply from Elias.

"WHEN WE GET THE SHIP WE CAN GIVE HER MORE HELP."

"SHE MIGHT BE DEAD BY THEN, I WON'T LEAVE HER."

Kimberley ran out from her shelter and concentrated hard as she watched her steps from the upturned earth caused by the crabs, she had braved the cruel waters back on Olympia, with the Leviathan squid which had claimed her boyfriend, the battle in the arena, and then spent one year asleep in the Prison of Gommerstall and now was running up to a twenty-five foot giant who was beating up her friend. Her hands glowed white, an orb was produced from her hand and she tried to throw it...but it stuck to her hand, Kimberley looked at her hand and panicked, swinging her hand all over her body, the orb wouldn't move.

"I CANT GET RID OF IT, IT'S STUCK TO ME."

Kimberley knew all her orbs were on a timer and she didn't have much time. Finally, using her other hand she prised the orb from the stuck right one and hurled it at the now upright Cyclops; it exploded against his shin causing no damage, merely annoyance.

"IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?" Apollo laughed.

"NO," came a voice unfamiliar to battle.

"HERE'S MILK IN YOUR EYE." Felcey had stepped out from the rock shelter too and he had made a mixture of milk and clay with his powers and with extreme effort and precision, launched a dollop of fresh clay made from his hands at Hammersmith; his aim was true as the wet clay splashed the monster right between the eyes, staggering back the monster roared with pain.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" yelled Kimberley.

"I'M FINALLY DOING WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE AGES AGO, NOT BEING AFRAID...AND HELPING MY FRIENDS."

Kimberley gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen in his life. Faris ran out also.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" shouted Elias.

"I'M HELPING OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, GET TO THE SHIP AND DON'T LEAVE US."

The nod Elias gave back was so strong that it almost took his head off, he and the others left their unconscious comrades hidden in their place and then they made the climb up the rocks to the gantry.

Ca.s.sandra was slowly getting to her feet as Kimberley and Felcey were pelting Hammersmith at the legs with their respective powers. Kimberley was struggling, her orbs weren't at their peak and were still sticking to her hands.

Faris ran beside them and started throwing stones at the monster. Apollo was finding it hard to stay on top of the Cyclops and to even get a clear flame shot at the powered up prisoners was difficult.

"STOMP ON THEM, SMASH THEM, YOU OAF," Faris even farted in front of the creature hoping the smell would waft up and distract it, it didn't work but it made him feel better, literally. Felcey made a beeline to reach the fallen Ca.s.sandra.

"FOOLISH MISTAKE, BOY," shouted Apollo.

Groggy and dazed Ca.s.sandra's eyes widened in terror as she saw Hammersmith's fist raised high in the sky above the advancing Felcey, hovered for a while and then came down, smashing him through the ground.

"NOOOOOOOO!" were simultaneous screams from Kimberley and Ca.s.sandra.

"WASTED HEROIC NONSENSE FROM A NERD," Apollo laughed. "DID YA LIKE THAT s.h.i.t? HE SHALL NOT BE MISSED," he added.

"NEITHER WILL YOU," cried Ca.s.sandra and took to the air in her true dragon form, its huge wings took it high enough to dive bomb with a flame burst from her. Apollo counter-attacked with the flame thrower as Hammersmith protected its one and only eye. He lashed out sideways, striking the dragon and sending her spinning through the air, as it came to the ground it rolled over and sprang up again, raised itself off the ground, hissing menacingly.

Ca.s.sandra made a chewing motion with her mouth before spitting her new deadly venom at the Cyclops's eye. Again it protected it well but the venom burned the flesh from its hand, this pain was greater than any it had endured that day and Hammersmith wailed in agony. Ca.s.sandra clawed her way quickly up its leg and bit hard into the thigh; Hammersmith, in pain, ripped Ca.s.sandra from its leg and threw her as far as it could and stumbled backwards.

Apollo vented his anger out on the giant. "YOU b.u.mBLING BUFFOON, YOU LET THAT SILLY GIRL GET THE BETTER OF YOU."

Hammersmith roared again as its single eye saw from the distance Ca.s.sandra charging yet again, flying at him with speed as the giant let out a tired sigh and ran towards his oncoming opponent.

As the dragon, Ca.s.sandra flew straight into Hammersmith, knocking him over but he held tight onto the dragon's body and they rolled on the ground.

Ca.s.sandra bared her teeth and fastened them tight onto Hammersmith, punching and clawing at each other, Apollo managed just to hold on, Ca.s.sandra hissed and craned her head sideways knocking into the Cyclops, he in return grabbed her wings and began to crush them.

Ca.s.sandra's tortured scream shattered the heavens as she tried to wrench herself free, she managed to free one talon and slashed at Hammersmith's unprotected face.

As the giant Cyclops and Ca.s.sandra struggled on the ground, from beneath the dragon, Hammersmith drove its knee right into her stomach, doubling up in pain the dragon rolled off Hammersmith who mounted it and rained blow after blow onto its hide, each one harder than the last, until it failed to move.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Apollo. "SHE'S LEARNED HER LESSON."

He turned around and looked at Kimberley who had exhausted her powers and had watched Ca.s.sandra in battle for the last few minutes, on command from Apollo, Hammersmith stomped forward through the broken ground the departed crabs had made, towards the remaining people.

And just above them climbing the rocks he saw Elias and a few more prisoners, he smiled knowing that he'd take great pleasure in killing them all, after he'd finished with these two, he rubbed his hands in glee.

"RIGHT...WHO'S NEXT?"

Before he could take another step, something big came from beneath Hammersmith and sent it tumbling to the ground, landing unceremoniously on its back. A huge rock-like humanoid creature about fifteen foot tall climbed from the rubble, its body was ma.s.sively built and the texture of the jigsaw-type rock formation was incredibly smooth, its rocky head was small in comparison to the rest of its hide and it held out two oversized fists to the giant, but under closer inspection, it's body wasn't made up of rocks, it was clay, hardened clay...and milk.

"ME!" the giant clay creature boomed.

"WHO DARESa" said Apollo.

"WINS," interrupted the clay thing.

Hammersmith clambered to its feet and shook its thumping head and stared at this new creature that stood before it.

Not knowing what to make of the bizarre-looking beast, Hammersmith tilted its head quizzically to try and understand. The clay monster bashed both fists together spoiling for a fight and Hammersmith was now only too eager to give him one and charged at it, the clay creature ran too and punched Hammersmith hard into the ribs as he ran into him, Hammersmith fell back as the creature leapt into the air and leading with an elbow came crashing hard onto the Cyclops's chest.

Apollo rolled out of the shoulder harness and collapsed into a heap as Elias and the others continued to scale up the mountain, just about being able to mult.i.task; watching the fight and climb.

Elias could also see Hammersmith get to his feet but from his viewpoint couldn't see the monster start salivating and licking its lips. Yet again making a charge, the impact sent the clay creature crashing against the rocks and Hammersmith was on him in an instant, pounding him with a number of heavy blows, the clay creature protected its face and gave a Hammersmith a mighty shove, giving him enough time to grab the monster's hands, pausing slightly as if to remember something...and then with one leg, he swept it under one of Hammersmith's own, tripping the giant up, he then put a huge foot hard on to Hammersmith's stomach, he stayed away from kicking Hammersmith in the eye, the creature wasn't so callous.

The clay creature thought he had the upper hand until Hammersmith rolled over to his side and whipped his club-like tail into the clay man.

The blow knocked him off his feet and gave Hammersmith the chance it needed to finish the job, it ran right up to the clay man and sent him reeling with another blow to the chest area with his tail, it didn't let up as the club came smashing down on top of its clay opponent, bringing him to his knees and further down into the ground it alternated between smashes with its tail, and by using scaly fists to keep beating on the clay man. Pieces of rock hard clay were shattered and lay all around the crevice as the clay man took a terrible beating.

Hammersmith stopped when the clay man had stopped putting up any resistance. The Cyclops let out a victorious roar and trudged towards Apollo who was on his feet and applauded his partner's efforts. "HEY CHUMP," came a shout from behind the Cyclops, who glanced over his shoulder to see the clay man emerging from the hole in the ground.

"ONE LAST DANCE?"

The Cyclops came running in and swung its tail round to make contact, but the clay man had antic.i.p.ated this attack and ducked, which left Hammersmith exposed and the clay man took full advantage of the fact and hit hard and then low, continuously with a combination of lefts and rights, uppercuts, shots to the mid-section, driving Hammersmith backwards. It was trying to retaliate but was being beaten savagely by the clay giant who now reached for Hammersmith's tail and with a superb effort began to swing it around, lifting him higher and higher and faster with each revolution. The clay creature wasn't dizzy yet and spun for a while more before breaking the cycle by hurling the giant high into the rocks, the clay man yelled defiantly, "STILL THINK I'M A NERD, GEEZER?...THE NAME'S FELCEY...REMEMBER IT."

He then whispered, "I've got milk."

The impact was so strong that some supports connecting the mountain came free and the platform wobbled, as did Elias and his friends who had just made the jump to the first level. Hammersmith tumbled down the mountainside, the guardian and one of the feared mighty seven prison guards fell fast, everybody on the ground stood rooted to the spot as they heard Apollo for the very first time scream in fear. A scream was the only thing he had time to do as the gigantic body of Hammersmith came crashing down on to his own, Hammersmith groaned, but Apollo didn't.

Elias didn't have time to watch the demise of Apollo, the stanchions holding up the platforms were breaking due to the unintentional target of direction that Felcey had hurled Hammersmith in.

Elias turned to his companions, "IS EVERYBODY OK?" Some said *Yes' whilst the others nodded. "Jago, are you ok?" The old man cleared his throat and nodded also. "We have to get up that top floor for the ship."

Elias was still concerned for his older companion. "Do you think you can make it, my friend?"

Jago looked up. I've just climbed half a mountain, so a few flights of steps should bea"

An explosion caused by tumbling rocks above landing on flight equipment just above, rocked their stanchion and cut Jago off in mid-sentence.

"Easy," he finished. "I just hope Nayan got to that ship, if he didn't then that's it, the mountain is crumbling apart before our very eyes...we can't go back."

That was the first time since the prisoners planned their escape that they heard a moment of doubt in Elias's voice, Jago put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "We will reach that ship and you will get back to Olympia."

Elias sniffed hard and exhaled. "OK LET'S MOVE IT, UP THOSE LADDERS."

The whole station was falling apart, explosions everywhere.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING? WHERE ARE THESE FIRES COMING FROM? Elias yelled as Jago looked around.

"THE LANDSLIDE MUST HAVE FALLEN ONTO THE MAIN FUSION REACTOR, THAT'S MY ONLY GUESS, BUT IT MEANS THAT THIS WHOLE COMPLEX IS GOING TO GO UP IN FLAMES."

Less time Elias thought. "GO, GO, GO!" he shouted to the men.

The metal ladders weren't strong but the held firm as they ascended each level, Level 20 was where the ship was and the struggling pack were only at Level 5.

So the men raced through every platform and climbed for their lives.

They lost men on some levels; Janson was blown away by an explosion on Level 8 and Mente failed to hold onto the ladder, Elias held on to him, but he could not pull him up and he fell to his doom.

"NO!" Elias shouted in defeat more than grief, Mente was one of the men who pulled him to safety in the tunnel.

The heat was beginning to grow unbearable now as the flames licked all around them, but higher they climbed still.

"WE'RE ALMOST THERE."

Elias was determined to make it, the ash in his eyes wouldn't stop him and his lungs ached from inhaling all the smoke, he could feel the hairs on his hands burn and his face was turning dark, but then his heart jumped to his throat at what he saw above him, the thrusters from the supply ship glowed and then were ignited, the ship was airborne.

"SHIP'S LEAVING, MOVE IT, COME ON."

There had been causalities but tired and burnt the men reached the twentieth level; Elias panicked and tore with what strength he could muster to the ship, but he was too late, the supply ship, the only thing that could have taken him back to Olympia and back to his daughter, rose into the air, hovered to its left and then was caught in a tremendous blast blowing off most of the gantry.

The huge ship plummeted through the landing bay and Elias and the teachers held on to their ladders attached to the rock face as the flames tore through what was left of the very top floor and the rescue ship, engulfed in flames, narrowly missed their own floors as it hurtled down to the base of the mountain.

Bursts of flame fell from the top stanchion, and debris fell striking some more teachers on the way down. The whole loading platform was falling apart and with it was their only form of escape. The ship had already hit the bottom of the mountain and exploded into a ball of flames at the foot.

Elias screamed from the bottom of his soul, a cry of utter despair and suffering. With no ship they were all doomed; their fate was to burn with the rest of the prison.

"NAYAN, WHERE ARE YOU?" Elias cried. Even in the intense heat Elias was shivering with disappointment more than fear. "I'VE LET YOU ALL DOWN," he said to the group and then had a coughing fit. Prisoner Hoult stepped over and patted him on the back and began coughing also. "You've let n.o.body down, we all had a choice and we chose freedom, we chose to come with you."

"But we've lost good men today, for what?"

Hoult rubbed the ash from his eyes. "I believe we'll see them soon."

Elias mouthed *sorry' to him.

Sympathising with his anguish and despair, he gave him *thumbs up'.

The platform the men were standing on began to quake and everyone knew death was inevitable.

"Let's get in to a huddle," Jago said. "If we fall or if we burn...we will be together and die together."

Terrified cries were now replaced with silence as the remaining prisoners bunched together waiting for death to come. Hoult raised his head from the huddle and cupped his head in his hands, removing his fingers slowly his eyes bulged in their sockets at what he saw.

"LOOK!" he screamed.

Another ship flew into view at the other side of the platform with less debris falling from the explosions on that side it hovered with the entrance ramp open.

Elias took a step back in shock and then the huddle disbanded. "COME ON," Elias roared.

He put Jago on the ship first, and then he made sure everyone got on before him and then the platform gave way and fell in on itself, so the ship was right to move. Elias just about managed to hold on to the landing ramp for dear life, remembering Mente's fate moments before.

"HOLD ON!" screamed Hoult, pulling frantically on Elias's sleeve.

He pulled with all his might on the man who stood tall in the arena and the man who gave them the chance of freedom at Gommerstall, the man who taught him to stand tall in the face of danger. He would not die now, with one almighty heave, Hoult pulled Elias in through the top of the entrance ramp, pressing the b.u.t.ton that closed the hatch and turned to whoever was flying the craft.

"WE'RE IN...WHO THE h.e.l.l ARE YOU?"