The Underland Chronicles Book 6

Gregor and the Trial of Trees

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Gregor knew that today was not going to be a good day. First of all, he was piled in a small bus with a band worth of kids on the four and a half hour trip to New York City. Oh, and the fact that this was the first time that he was going back to the city where an underground civilization laid underneath that had the bad tendency to drag Gregor into its problems.

Gregor knew that truly he loved the Underland, where not only humans lived, but many kinds of giant creatures. However, he knew that he had to leave the Underland once and for all, which he had done, two years ago. But still his mind refused to let it go where the love of his life lived; Plus a bunch of very close friends. What did bother him about getting so close to the Underland was all of the terrible memories that had happened down there: his father being held kidnapped by evil rats, the murder of hundreds of giant mice, and not to mention the death of thousands of creatures in the aftermath of a war, which included his bat bonded to him, Ares.

"Gregor! You okay?" his friend, Drake, yelled at him.

"Yeah, just fine," Gregor said back very well knowing he was lying. Thankfully, Drake had brought him back into the present. Gregor realized that he was just worrying for nothing as nothing was going to happen. He wasn't even going to have to go near any of the entrances into the Underland. All he had to do was go to a jazz band performance at Carnegie Hall and see some of New York's historic sites. But, still when he learned of the trip he begged his parents so that he didn't have to go. Since it was the exact reason Gregor's family left New York City for his family's farm in Virginia he thought it would be pretty effective. He was wrong.

"No, Gregor. You joined this band and now you can't just leave at one of their biggest performances!" exclaimed his mother.

"Gregor, that was two years ago! Both entrances are sealed! And you won't even be going near them," said his dad. Since Gregor's family moved to Virginia, both his father's and his mother's health greatly improved. And now that Boots has started to forget the Underland all together, only he and his nine-year-old sister still think about it. Gregor knew he couldn't convince them, and they were right, so he had to go.

As they neared New York City, Mr. Hilliard, the band director, yelled out the schedule. "When we arrive, we will first go to the Empire State Building and then to Times Square, and then we will have free time for lunch at Central Park." As soon as Gregor heard "Central Park" he started to freak out. He felt like he was going to have a panic attack like Lizzie, but luckily Drake quickly took notice.

"Gregor, calm down! Its okay I'll stay with you!"

Luckily, Gregor had told him a fake story how he had been robbed in Central Park to explain one of the reasons why his family left New York and why he had a bunch of scars.

After the seeming-forever tour of the Empire State Building and walking through Time Square, it was finally time for Central Park. As Gregor got off the bus he had a great feeling of being where he had belonged a few years ago. He remembered taking Boots and Lizzie to Central Park to play. But, he quickly lost the feeling, as he remembered why he never went here after the crawlers kidnapped Boots when they were sledding. Drake wanted to explore the park, so Gregor followed. Drake ran through the huge park, looking at all the sights, and Gregor was always at his side. Since, both Gregor and Drake ran track, they decided to race. But, Gregor knew that Drake was much better at short distances.

"Can't keep up, can you?" yelled Drake.

"Ha, really funny!"

"Thanks! I kno… ouch!" Drake cried as he tripped. Gregor could not stop laughing at his friend. "Why is this even sticking up?" Drake said angrily. As Gregor looked down at where his friend was pointing, he realized where he was in the park, at the entrance to the Underland. But what was on the point sticking up was far worse; a straight line with a little slash at the top. A scythe! It was no doubt clawed into the rock by something of Underland variety, as it was a mark of secret. And a scythe meant death. Death to who sees it or a warning that death will follow, it just means people and other creatures will die. "Come on, Gregor! I'm okay, you see, fit as a fiddle!" as Drake did a little jog to show him, but he was far too perplexed with the sign.

"What had happened in the Underland?" thought Gregor, "and who is it suppose to warn?" But he knew whom it was suppose to warn: Him. Somehow, maybe Nerrisa saw it in a vision; they knew he would be there. And they knew if he saw the scythe, he would have to venture down into the Underland. And he did. But how was the real question. Drake would refuse to leave his sight, since he thought Gregor was terrified of being mugged. But Gregor saw his chance.

"Drake, you're bleeding"

"So? It doesn't even hurt!" Drake said with some confusion over Gregor's sudden caring.

"You don't want it to get infected, go wash it off!"

"Fine, mom," Drake yelled out with obvious displeasure.

"Well, it worked," Gregor thought. And the friend's yelling did get rid of everyone near by, so it was a perfect opportunity to escape into the tunnel.

Gregor quickly pried open the entrance into the Underland, which proved much easier than usually, since it had been recently opened. He made his way down through the modern brick tunnel, down in the natural stone part of the tunnel. Luckily, two years ago he had mastered echolocation. Which allowed him to see in the pitch-black tunnel. He had hoped somebody, like Ripred, would be waiting but no suck luck. When he got down to the entrance into the Waterway, he noticed bright lights glaring off the surface of the water. But when he got a better look, he noticed they were actually burning ships. But, not the ones used in funerals, but large ships, like the one he traveled on during his trip for the Bane. And there were lots of these ships, almost as if there had been a battle. But, that made no sense; the Regalians would have just used their bats. Then Gregor spotted it.

Making its way through the wreckage of ships was a large metal warship: almost like the 19th century warships that had no sails and used cannons. That wasn't right, since the Regalians didn't use metal ships and defiantly not cannons. And Gregor knew no one else in the Underland that did either.

"Drop, Overlander," purred a voice below him.

Gregor's first thought was Ares, but that wasn't right, as not only did Ares perish when fighting the Bane, but also as this voice was much higher. Gregor did eventually recognize the voice as Nike's though, so he did drop, even though something was off about it. It wasn't as happy and joyous as it usually is. Nike quickly caught him, but she had to dart out of the way of the warship's spotlight. The spotlight had been turned the off when Gregor first saw it, but it must had seen Nike move as it had flashed on. Gregor first reaction was that the warship had electricity but that wasn't right. The spotlight had a bright flame and a lens the concentrated the light. He had seen nothing else like in the Underland.

"What's going on?" whispered Gregor.

"Shh, quiet. Ripred will tell you at the camp,"

"The camp? Why not Regalia?

"Quiet! Or they will spot us!" Gregor rode in silence for the rest of the trip as Nike darted around the warship. She finally found a tunnel and flew into it. The tunnel system was very confusing with many turns, but somehow Nike knew the way. She flew for a few hours darting through the twisting tunnels until she finally made it to the camp.

The camp wasn't much. Very little people and creatures inhabited it. But Gregor recognized a few. Howard was tending to some wounded bats, and Ripred was busy with training some rats and humans. No one even noticed Nike fly in. She was obviously tired from the long trek.

"Nike, do you need anything?" asked Gregor.

"No, I will sleep. Go talk to Ripred." Something was defiantly not right. Why was this hidden camp needed? And why was there a metal warship patrolling the waters? Gregor quickly made his way to see the big rat. Just as he was getting near to Ripred, he could tell that the rat wasn't his normal self. He was very thin and it looked like he had fought a cactus, with all the new scars that he had. But by far his most notable scars were the crisscrossing scars on his face.

"About time! I though that Nerissa was wrong about you coming! Probably you decided to be your slow self!" Ripred said with very obvious anger.

"Sorry! Geez, I didn't that I had done something,"

"Fine! I don't have time for this, anyway. I have to train these soldiers," Ripred was in no mood to deal with Gregor and tried to return to teaching a soldier how to launch arrows.

"For what?" interrupted Gregor.

"Oh, I guess Nike didn't tell you. Regalia is under siege and has been for many weeks! Everyone is starving and last I heard the queen was in terrible shape,"

Thanks for reading the first chapter in Gregor and the Trial of Trees. As this is my first fan fiction story I have written, please leave me reviews! And chapter 2: The Siege sh0uld be out shortly. Thanks!

TrentGro