Gregor and the Pirates

by PnQ

Gregor is away from New York City on business and thinks he is safe from the influence of Underland, but now trouble in Overland has found him. Can Luxa save Gregor before it's too late?

Book 9 – Gregor and the Pirates Summary

Gregor is away from New York City on business and thinks he is safe from the influence of Underland, but now trouble in Overland has found him. Can Luxa save Gregor before it's too late?

Preface

I thought it was about time that Gregor was in over his head rather than there being a problem with Underland. Pulling on some seeds I had planted in my earlier stories, namely Gregor's profession in Overland, I managed to come up with a fun plot with trouble far from New York City. I have gone in a bit of a different route trading prophecy for visions and dreams, and being an Overland adventure, much of the fantasy elements are not in this story, but it's still a wild adventure and was enjoyable to write. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Again, be sure to read my other stories first. This is my fourth Underland story and each one builds on the other, the characters have grown up and the Underland has evolved. While I have stayed true to the originals, much has changed. In chronological order, my other stories are as follows:

The Prophecy of Peace
The Prophecy of Snow
The Flowering Tree

My day job business card does not say "Literary Genius" and my profession isn't one that is known for having keen writing skills, as such, your feedback and constructive criticism is welcome and encourage.

Sadly, I have started a new original writing project and may not be returning the Underland fan fiction community anytime soon. I do plan on being active on fan fiction's sister site shortly, fiction press, under the same nick so if you are interested, please follow me there.

Enjoy,

PnQ.

Chapter 1 – Regalia

It was a room, small, with metal walls. Light came from a single bare bulb that was dim and flickered periodically. One wall was curved, along the bottom was a recess where water collected and slowly drained along the curved wall and out of the room under another wall. Rust was everywhere, the paint, maybe a dozen layers worth of different colours, was flaking away wherever there was rust. Opposite the curved wall was a door, it had rounded corners, and was roughly four inches off the floor. A large wheel was present in the middle of the door to lock it.

The sound of dripping water. The smell of diesel and salt water. A boat. No sense of movement; a large boat.

Dirty hands moving up and grasping the wheel. Stuck? Locked? Trapped.

The hands turning, palm now up and open. Blood? Further up the arms, long straight marks; injuries.

The wheel on the door now rotates slowly on its own. With a clank it stops turning. The door opens, a large figure stands shrouded in the shadows. With no words or sense of movement there is suddenly a gun pointed in the room.

A scratched black metal barrel spotted with rust overtop a wooden stock. A large curved magazine could be seen below the barrel. From its condition it had obviously been around some time and had not been well taken care of.

The gun goes off, the noise in the little room is immense, ears ringing, but that is of little concern because death is coming.

Gregor awoke suddenly, cold sweat covering his body. Not just a sheen of sweat, but almost dripping. His heart was racing, pounding hard enough he could hear it in his ears. "That was messed up," he thought. It would take some time to clear his mind and slow his heart. Knowing from the past sleep would not be returning soon, he decided to get up.

Carefully not to wake Luxa, he carefully rose out of the bed, the silk sheets sticking to his sweaty back. Despite no heating, the temperature in the room was pleasant like it usually was everywhere in Underland. Although the stone floor still had a chill in it the plush area carpet beside the bed was soothing and shielded his feet from cold.

Pulling on some lounge pants and a shirt he made his way out of Luxa's chamber. Calling it a chamber was a bit of an understatement, it was more like a small apartment complete with multiple rooms. A common space, an office, a bathroom, Luxa's bedroom and Judith's bedroom. Despite the fact that Luxa was queen of the humans of the Underland, the space was tastefully furnish – nothing excessive or flashy – but still conveyed sense of solid and quality furnishing even if somewhat understated. But that was Luxa, she thought herself of the people, not above the people, and she really was. Her people loved and respected her. All of the Underland respected her and so she was the unofficial overall authority of the Underland.

Gregor snickered, thinking of his Skype account, he had programmed Luxa's name in as Queen of Underland, partially a joke, partially a truth. The gnawers would never acknowledge that title or position, but they still took their lead from her.

"Ripred definitely wouldn't," he thought still thinking of the queen of Underland title. Ripred was a gnawer, a giant intelligent rat, and was a difficult, hard individual. The de-facto leader of the gnawers but also he was also both Gregor's and Luxa's friend. Gnawers and humans hadn't always co-existed peacefully but Luxa and Ripred had done well in maintaining the current peace Underland enjoyed.

Gregor, now out of Luxa's chamber, walked down the hall of the castle, Luxa's castle, in Regalia, the human city in Underland.

Underland was under land literally. A whole world under New York City, which except for a very select few Overlanders, no one new existed. Sixteen years ago Gregor had become one of those select few when he fell through a passage between the two worlds in his laundry room. Then, and many times after, he had been part of a prophecy, each one had scarred him, physically and psychologically. He feared he lost a bit of his soul every time he endured a prophecy with the enviable violence each one contained.

But had to admit that they were all necessary to either save or protect the Underland. The prophecies were a product of the Underland's founder, Bartholomew of Sandwich, from some 400 years ago. Gregor had always held a healthy amount of skepticism for the prophecies thinking they were just broad general statements that could be made to fulfill a million different situation, but given the repeatability he had experience with them, he was beginning to maybe think there was something more to them. Their seemed to be some truth in them, or at very least too many coincidences and too much accuracy for them to be completely written off as wide arching generic statements.

Not having any specific destination in mind, he found himself at the castle's kitchen. "A cup of tea would be a good idea," he thought as he walked the kitchen. Like the rest of the castle, a number of the torches were currently extinguished for night. Underland had no sunlight but they still kept day and night, and despite not having clocks, it always mirrored night and day in Overland in New York. Without clocks one would think it would drift, but it never did.

In the shadows Gregor noticed a familiar face. Not in any hurry, and knowing the other wouldn't be either, he stumbled around the kitchen finding a mug and a tea bag, and Overland tea bag, a rare luxury to be seen in the Underland. A luxury that Gregor always ensure was stocked for the familiar face in the shadows. The kettle was still hot and took no time to bring back to a boil on the hot oil burning stove.

Taking his now full mug over to the table he sat opposite of the only other person in the eating area. Like a lot of things Underland the table was a grey stone that was shiny in spots from a long life of service and had a chill to it. There were words, no acknowledgment of the other, which was their way, both were comfortable with silence. Gregor's thinking had returned to his dream, his nightmare while he drank his tea. He hadn't had nightmares since he was a little kid, but this last year they had been re-occurring. He didn't know what to about them.

"Accept them," Nerissa said without looked at him. She took a sip of her tea and Gregor caught the scent of the herbal tea that filled her mug.

Nerissa used words sparingly, like each one had immense value. Perhaps they did. She was Luxa's cousin, and a friend. She was also a visionary, a prophet. Her visions told of tales, some in the past, most in the future, almost all were of violent and disturbing events. Death. As a result her sanity was a tight rope she walked, always close to falling. Knowing death but not knowing if you could stop it, a hard thing to live with.

Gregor turned to look at her, raising his eyebrows in question. He noticed Nerissa's usually sad face now had a knowing smile, very unusual. They drank their tea in silence for a while.

"Your dreams, accept them, it will make it easier." Nerissa didn't invite any further conversation and was seemingly done with her advice so they again sat in silence.

Then with a final sip, she picked up her now empty mug and took it to back to the kitchen. Passing back through the eating area her thin, wispy, frame paused at the entry, "Good night Gregor."

"Good night Nerissa," he replied unsure if she had heard as she was already gone. She was so quite as she came and went, almost like a ghost. It was more than just being quite, you often couldn't even sense her present, like her movements didn't even disturb the air in the room.

Gregor wouldn't ask her anything further, one had to wait for her to offer. For Nerissa, tonight was almost outright chatty. How she knew about the dreams was odd, Gregor hadn't told anybody. Luxa knew he was having problems sleeping, but he didn't understand the dreams or why they were coming so he had said nothing about them. How could you explain something you didn't understand? Luxa knew he would talk about what was troubling him when he was ready.

Given the value Nerissa put on words, her words tonight were important, they had purpose for Gregor to figure out. Thinking about it a bit more, "Had she been expecting me?" Gregor thought. Nerissa probably had been, it was a little scary how she did things like that.

Finishing his tea, he stood from the stone bench leaving the little spot he has warmed and returned the mug to the kitchen. He returned back to Luxa's chamber to try and get a little more sleep before morning.

Chapter 2 – Return to Overland

Gregor awoke to find himself alone in Luxa's large bed. The room was quiet and it was just as quiet through her whole chamber. A stillness could be felt in the air. Luxa and Judith were both gone, not a living soul, human or otherwise was near.

Enjoying the quiet and appreciating Luxa's consideration to let him sleep in, he took his time to wake up. He put his arms above his head, his hands closed in fists and stretched with a groan. He flinched slightly, a pain in his side. It had been a year since a pike had been jammed deep into his side almost extinguishing his light. While he had recovered and it no longer slowed him down, he still felt it, like many of his other injuries. Arrows in the back, claw marks across his chest, uncountable lacerations on his arms and legs, he was the warrior of the prophecies. Luxa's warrior. And he wouldn't wish it any other way, he had Luxa and he had Judith, nothing else mattered.

It was Monday and while he should be at work in Overland right now, he was actually leaving New York on business and was flying out of John F Kennedy Airport. Going straight to the airport had allowed him to spend an extra night in Underland before leaving. An extra night with his family and close friends.

Every Friday night Judith and Gregor came to the castle, and every Sunday night they returned to Overland to Gregor's apartment. He like the independence, his job was rewarding and both he and Luxa had agreed it would be better for Judith's upbringing.

Judith would be the future queen of the humans of Underland and while the Overland didn't know about the Underland, they both felt it was only a matter of time. If the two worlds collided, Judith would be need to be comfortable in both to protect her people the best.

Gregor was an engineer and worked for a company called WaterTec. They were a non-profit that provided both temporary and permanent large scale water treatment to third world or war torn areas. He had taken so much life and witness so many horrific acts, it was rewarding to give back, to help.

He would be gone for six weeks and it would give mom and daughter some quality time together before Judith started preschool when Gregor came back. Both of them were excited for some girls only time, Luxa already had big plans for them.

With a final stretch his feet swung out of bed and again met the fine carpet beside the bed. "Time to get ready," he told himself. A quick trip to the bath room and some casual clothes anticipating the ten hour flight to Egypt and he was heading down the castle corridors. They were lit much better now given it was now day time. He headed to the kitchen expecting to find Luxa and Judith there having breakfast.

Passing into the eating area he spotted them among the crowd, Nerissa and Mareth sitting with them. After grabbing a plate and a modest portion of food he headed over to their table and joined them. Underland food was familiar, but odd. You could see influence of Overland from when the recipes were brought down centuries ago, but without sunlight and the ability grow the same crops, there had been some improvisation.

Luxa was beside him and she leaned over and gave him a peck on his cheek. "Good morning sleepy head, rough night?"

Feeling the warmth of Luxa beside him he quietly said, "Nothing that seeing you doesn't fix."

Hidden behind Luxa came another voice, "Moring Dad." His beautiful little girl, growing so fast. Leaning forward he could see a sliver of Judith's face on the other side of Luxa and with that sight he knew he was a lucky man.

After some casual chatter, the conversation moved over to Gregor's trip. While they were curious of the Overland, they didn't much want to experience it. The thought of sunlight and nothing over head was frightening. They bodies had adapted over the centuries underground, with skin almost translucent and eyes that have never seen or been exposed to sunlight, it would be hard to handle. Luxa had once, but it was a necessity to find a cure for a disease which was threatening the Underland.

Mareth, Luxa's military general, ask the most questions, always wanting to understand the tactical nature of situation. Gregor was happy to answer. He was to fly from JFK airport to Cairo Egypt, then a train to Port Said. In Port Said he would meet a freighter that was carrying a water treatment plant that was designed and shipped by his company WaterTec. The freighter contained mostly relief aid supplies, the water treatment plan was but just one item. He would board the freighter and go with it through the Suez Canal to Mombasa, Kenya, where the water treatment plan would be unloaded and transported to the site roughly a day's drive from the port. He would disembark the ship in Mombasa and accompany the plant to its destination where he would stay and work with the local construction team to assemble the plan.

While dreading leaving behind Luxa and Judith, Gregor was excited about the trip, he usually did the project kick offs remotely, rarely going to the locations the plants were setup. This plant was a little bigger and more complicated than most his firm did, so Gregor was going to make sure the construction project went according to plan.

Too much time had slipped away chatting with his friend and Gregor realized he was now going to be late. Excusing himself, he collected his luggage from Luxa's chamber and met Phobos on a balcony. Luxa and Judith were there waiting for him.

Judith was already trying to climb onto the flyer. "Hold still bat!" she said. Phobos was playing with her giving Gregor and Luxa a moment.

"I am a flyer," Phobos said. Judith still mixed up Underland and Overland names. While Phobos looked like a bat, his size made him more like a flying horse but with the intelligence of a human. Their banter made Gregor smile to himself.

Gregor and Luxa were touching nose to nose, forehead to forehead, with their arms around each other. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the closeness.

"Skype me?" Luxa asks. With some help from his sister Lizzie, they had some rudimentary Wi-Fi in the castle and a couple laptops. Luxa had one of them.

"I will, but I don't know when. Getting an internet connection will be hit and miss." He was already missing Luxa and he hadn't even left yet. They went back to Overland every week, but were always back the following weekend, this would be longer.

She kissed him on the lips. Their time was coming to a close. "Be safe, I love you."

Gregor gave a goofy grin, "I'm always safe!"

Luxa laughed, "That may be so, but trouble still seem to find you."

She did have a point. But it was always an Underland issue and he would be far from Underland. "No problem," he thought. "Fly you high, Luxa, queen of the Underland. I love you too."

"Fly you high, Gregor of Overland," and with a final kiss let each other go.

Gregor went to Judith taking her off Phobos' back. "Good by little one, be good for mom. I love you."

Passing Judith to Luxa's waiting arms she said, "Bye dad, love you."

Seconds later Phobos cleared the stone railing and they were gliding through the air on his enormous wings. For a flyer, Phobos was larger than most and was darker than black itself. With most black animals there was always something that gave them away, a puff of white fur sticking out of an ear, a grey claw, a pink belly, but with Phobos there was nothing. Even his eyes never betrayed his presence, almost like they were matt instead of shiny.

Twenty minutes later they were nearing the passage that would lead to Central Park. "Keep an eye on them for me Phobos." There was no question to who Gregor was referring too.

"That goes without saying Overlander." Flyers and riders were sometime bonded, dedicating themselves to each other and swearing to protect the other to death. While Phobos and Gregor weren't bonded, the trust and respect they had for each other went deep. There was no question they could count on each other.

Now on the ground, Gregor pick up his luggage that Phobos had carried in his claws and turned to face him. "Thank you Phobos, I'll see you in six weeks. Fly you high."

Phobos jumped into the air, "Fly you high, Overlander," and he vanished into thin air.

Gregor climbed the damp dark stone stairs, almost slate like but harder, up to Central Park. The passage was covered by a large flat rock, sliding it slightly aside, he peaked through, seeing no one in the vicinity he slid it the rest of the way and hopped out and promptly replaced the cover. Within minutes he was back walking among the crowds of Overlander. "Two truly different worlds," he thought thinking of Underland and Overland. Even things that were the same, were still different and foreign.

It didn't take him long to find a yellow cab and he was on his way to the airport.

Chapter 3 – Airplane

A shipping crate, a sea can. Large, blue, rusted. Many more stacked all around. Voices. They were searching. A glimpse of one of the searchers. A tall thin man, well-worn clothes on him. An equally well-worn gun was held in front of him leading his search.

In the limited moon light, a crescent moon, a shadow cross the deck. The searchers focus on their task, are oblivious to the moving shadow or dismissing it as a cloud on this cloudless night.

Moving, another blue sea can, and another. They all look the same. A glimpse of the ocean beyond a row of them. Then another searcher obscures that view.

Shouts, getting closer. Moving, more blue sea cans visible.

Cornered. Searchers all around leading with guns. Eyes boring into him conveying hate. Before the searcher can fire his gun blood starts to pour out of chest. A slight reprieve, now turning, running, another searcher now taking the bleeding one's place. Nowhere to go, running between the blue sea cans, getting closer to the ocean.

Gun fire from all around. Pain. Suddenly no more ship deck. Falling to the ocean. A dull roar could be heard.

Gregor awoke to a dull roar in his ears, the sound of jet engines. He was on an airplane over the Atlantic heading for Cairo, economy class. "At least I have a window seat," he thought as he took a deep breath to try and slow his racing heart. The window was his preferred seating when flying, he enjoyed the view, but over the Atlantic in the middle of the night there wasn't much to see except for the odd blink in the sky from another plane. Despite the early afternoon departure they were flying east and had lost the sun and clouds to darkness only a few hours after takeoff.

Glancing at his watch, which was still on New York time, he realized he had slept longer than he thought before the dream watched him. The falling bit at the end always did him in. Another deep breath to try and relax a little more. The falling dreams were the worse ones.

Thinking of the dream his thoughts slowly went to what Nerissa had said. Accept them. "Easier said than done," he thought. He wasn't sure why either. She would have a well thought out reason to tell him that, but she would only tell him what he needed, not a word more or less. The rest was up to him to figure out.

Pushing his arms down him stretched in the confines of the small seat. He casually looked around the Boeing 777 in front of him. Probably two thirds of the people were either sleeping or trying to sleep. He saw a few lights on, people reading or working. A couple laptops open and on.

It was a non-stop flight meaning they should be on the ground in about two hours, roughly 6am in Cairo. Preferring to get on with business despite the cargo ship was not leaving for another two days, he would go straight to Port Said today.

Thinking of going to the lavatory, he noticed both people between him and aisle were asleep. He could wait. Sleep wasn't going to return on this flight so he turned on his overhead light and pulled his e-reader out and started reading.

A Pike Logan novel. The lead character was Pike Logan, a bit of a brawler, incredibly intelligent with amazing intuition, but still somehow always managed to find trouble. To be fair, it wouldn't be much of a book if he didn't find trouble. Gregor was a bit of a brawler himself. He was what the Underland referred to as a rager. When he was threatened, a primal instinct took over him. Time slowed, reflexes sharpened, he knew what his opponent would do be they did.

When the ability first took him over, Gregor had lost all control and it had scared him. No doubt it had saved his life and the ability had let him fall seasoned fighters who would have done the same to him. The problem was he hadn't known how or when to stop it, once it started you couldn't stop the ride half way.

His friend Ripred the gnawer had the same rare ability and had helped Gregor with it. It had taken years to control and hone the ability to be a fine tool and while it still scare him, he appreciated the ability for what it was and what it could do.

A number of thoroughly enjoyable chapters later they were landing then taxing in to the terminal. On same taxiway as them, but going the other way was a small private jet, something a rock star would own. Amazing they were granted permission to use a runway at an international airport. Someone must have pull. A name was stenciled on the door of the small jet, 'Grolier Recovery Services.' It sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn't place it. Oh well, must not be important.

The pilot was now on the intercom talking through the local conditions and it wasn't long before they were stopped at the gate and the doors on the jet were opening.

It was a slow slog through customs, but with all his paperwork in order, it was painless. Now reunited with his bags and out of the airport he flagged down a taxi and was on his way to the train station. After a few hours waiting in the train station he was soon on the 1:45pm express for Port Said and should arrive just after dinner.

Having now paid the conductor – he couldn't pay at the terminal – Gregor settled in his seat on the train and watched the scenery wiz by. Palm trees and camels, not the usual site for someone from New York City. With the gentle swaying of the train his head was soon nodding and his eyelids were heaving and before long he was asleep.

He awoke sometime later. His sleep had been deep and dreamless for a change. The lights in the train car had been dimmed and it was dark outside, they must be near Port Said. He looked at his watch and realized the time didn't mean anything, it was still on New York time.

Looking around the cabin, most people were awake and doing something, mostly reading or busy on laptops. Now mostly awake he realized he was hungry. Very hungry, after the late breakfast at Regalia, he had skipped lunch at the airport, but there had been snacks on the plane, and he had takeout at the train terminal, but that was it. A little more than twenty four hours since that good breakfast. His hunger was probably what woke him up.

Pulling out a water bottle from his bag he took a big sip hoping to take the edge off the hunger. He heard the couplers for the train cars crunch, they must be slowing, and hopefully that was for the terminal. Sure enough, the atmosphere in the car changed and everyone started moving and stretching. The lights were brought up to a brighter level, they were definitely getting ready to disembark.

It wasn't long before he was outside the train terminal in Port Said. "Food first," he thought. Then he would find the boat.

Chapter 4 – Serval

Falafels were everywhere. Apparently they had originated in Egypt and why argue with the local cuisine. Also, not being able to speak any Arabic, it was the easiest thing to order since there was a picture of one on most menus.

It was getting on 9:00pm local time and had arrived at the ship, the Serval. Although to Gregor it seemed huge he realized that in the world of cargo ships it was on the smaller size. The vessel was loaded with a number of containers and had a crane both fore and aft. It was a dark navy blue with just a hint of its red hull showing above the waves. The ivory bridge and cranes peaking over the top of the containers.

They weren't scheduled to go through the Suez Canal until the day after next, but he hadn't wanted to go to a hotel, Gregor had rather getting the trip over as quick as possible and settling into his bunk. Not that sleep was coming, he was wide awake; it would be roughly mid-morning back home in New York. That thought alone made him feel a touch of homesickness.

He missed his family and friends. "I'm such a homebody," he thought. It was going to be a long trip, but once he was on the ground dealing with the water treatment plan and back in his element time would past fast. Pulling out a book he continued where he had left off on the plane.

After finishing the book and managing a few hours of sleep he was up and met some of the vessels crew for breakfast. The meal was surprisingly good – much better than he had expected – and had sat with the captain. The captain, Mark, was a jovial fellow and Gregor instantly like him. Large in most ways including his giant grey beard. He was what you expected in a captain, a strong presence that projected confidence, and a weathered and aged look that made him look wise. They talked to some about the ship, some about how long to Mombasa and some about the Gregor's cargo, the water treatment plant.

"The blue containers, mostly in the same area above deck. You should be able to see them when you board," Mark said referring to the containers holding the treatment plant.

Since the ship was going to be in port one more day, Gregor went to shore to find himself some Wi-Fi and a cup of tea. While coffee was a big thing in any Arab country, in Egypt tea, or shai, had the distinction of being the national drink which bode well for Gregor, who didn't like coffee.

With some awkward gesturing and a the recognition of the word coffee, a port worker had pointed Gregor in the direction of a cafe and about twenty minutes later he had sat down and was enjoying a cup of black tea. With a bit of help from the server it wasn't long before he was connected to the Wi-Fi.

Loading up Skype he tried to call Luxa but to no avail. Maybe later. Instead he checked his email, wrote Boots a note, then did some work. He had only been gone a little over a day and already had a pile of emails. He had put his out of office on as he had been told there would be no Wi-Fi on the ship, so no one was expecting a reply, but he replied to the more urgent ones anyway. One email now was one email less next time he was connected.

Feeling a little guilty taking up the seat for so long using the free Wi-Fi and after enjoying the first cup, he asked for a second cup. Returning back to his laptop waiting for the tea to cool he heard the familiar ring for Skype. Queen of the Underland flashed up from the system tray. Luxa was calling. A few seconds later they were connected.

"Did I miss any excitement?" Gregor asked.

Luxa had been smiling since her video had loaded on his screen, happy to see Gregor. "Nothing crazy. Boots is trying to convince me to go out with her on a girl's day."

Thinking of Judith Gregor asked, "And my little girl?"

Luxa laughed, "Getting into everything! Everything is a mess!"

Gregor talked a bit more about nothing specific. He had nothing really to say, and could tell Luxa didn't really either, but neither of them really wanted to hang up. Eventually it was time, "My tea ran out, I should head back to the ship."

"And I should go find out why our daughter is so quiet, probably making another mess," Luxa said.

They gave each other a final greeting and ended the call. Gregor shut down and closed his laptop and headed back to the ship. Although he wasn't in a hurry he was soon back at the port making his way to board. He noticed a number of blue shipping containers on the vessel where the captain Mark said they would be. They were his crates containing the water treatment plant, and while he couldn't see all ten, he could see a number of them. Soon enough he would be opening them up and assembling the plant and being modular it shouldn't take much time.

Now back on board, the crew was noticeably busy. The last of the containers were being locked in, last minutes supplies were being brought on board and the on board cranes were being secured. Not wanting to get in the way, Gregor retired to his quarters and pulled out his e-reader again. They would set out early in the morning.

After dinner he went for a walk on the deck, after doing a number of laps around the deck he lost count and just kept going. Eventually he went to bed happy they would soon be on their way.

They had cast off around 2am cueing up for their 3:30am slot. Given the instruction to proceed from the port authority they were now headed to the Suez Canal as part of a convoy with a number of other vessels. The majority of the canal was only wide enough for one ship with a passing area roughly half way, to maximize how many ships went through the canal they were sent in large convoys. A convoy would start at each end, passing in the middle where it was permitted.

Now making his way to the bridge Gregor could feel the vibration in the ship ramp up and they started to slowly build up speed. They were finally underway.

Mark had an open door policy with the bridge and Gregor was enjoying it up there. "Hey Gregor, could you pull that lever over there?" Mark asked.

There was a small black leaver along the front panel underneath the window among a number of other gauges, instruments, and controls. Gregor pointed, "This one?" he asked back.

Mark nodded, his face straight. All business like the rest of the crew on the bridge as they maneuvered to the canal. Gregor pulls it and with an enormous sound from the bridge deck he jumps letting go of the lever. The crew was beside themselves with laughter. It was the boat's horn.

Despite the bear, a wry smile could be made out on Mark's face now, he corrects Gregor, "Uh, you're supposed to hold it for three seconds sailor, try again."

Appreciating – despite being the victim – what was looked to be a standard gag for the crew, Gregor did again pull it and this time held it for the required three seconds. The loud horn filled the air clearly announcing their presence and the vessel continued on its way to the canal.

Gregor found it interesting to watch the crew work. They were busy for the first day, but weather that was because they were in the canal or just the nature of starting a voyage, Gregor wasn't sure. Now into the second day of the voyage and past the canal the voyage had become a little more relaxed.

Getting to know the crew a bit, he had had tours of every part imaginable. The engine room was particularly interesting with the large diesel engines and huge drive shafts the drove the propellers. "Very cool," Gregor thought.

But soon enough they passed into the Red sea and they days passed slowly. There was nothing to see, it was quiet on board and Gregor was tired of reading books and watching movies. He had forced himself to walk endless laps on the bridge deck and while that kept his muscles active, his brain was going numb.

Gregor yearned for some action.

Chapter 5 – Pirates

Gregor noticed an increase in activity and an increase in tension on the ship. Once out of the canal and onto the open ocean, not much happened and the crew had been relaxed. The journey from Port Said to Mombasa was to take around fourteen days. They were ten days at sea, so it should be a few more days yet before they were preparing to enter the port at Mombasa.

Curious to what was going on, Gregor made his way to the bridge. As he climbed the stairs he noticed a stronger than normal vibration in the steps. "The engines?" he wondered. He entered the bridge and wasn't even noticed. The captain was at the windows with a set of binoculars looking behind them, the first mate was on the radio, and the second mate was pouring over navigational charts.

Casting a glance towards the helmsman he noticed the throttle levers for the engines were indeed all the way forward, not a normal practice.

The atmosphere was professional, but tense. From the first mate on the radio he caught the word 'pirate'. That was a concern.

Gregor walked over beside the captain. "Captain?" he asked.

A look of concern was on the captain's face. "If only I hadn't quit smoking," he said more to himself than Gregor. Then to Gregor, "We radioed for help, but it won't be here in time. The pirates will catch us in roughly twenty minutes."

Gregor thought there must be something they could do, "Don't you have water cannons or something?"

The captain laughed, "No, nothing. We're not a high value target, I've made this trip a number of time and it's never been an issue."

He wasn't sure what to do, "Any advice Mark?"

The captain thought about it, "Don't fight, don't draw attention to yourself, wait in your quarters. They will either want some of the cargo, in which case it will be a day or two and they will be gone, or they will ransom us and the ship wanting money from the shipping company, that could take a few months."

Gregor's face showed concern and the captain read it and continued, "You look like a tough lad, if it's the latter, it probably won't be pretty."

Wanting to know more, Gregor was going to ask another question when the engineer interrupted, "Captain, we have a problem with the port engine, the temperatures are getting up."

"Excuse me Gregor," Mark said then went off with the engineer.

He took a look around the bridge still not sure what to do. He noted their heading and speed then headed to his quarters as the captain had suggested. "The captain never mentioned rescue," he thought. Probably not likely then. Either they would take some cargo or wait for a ransom, then leave. Neither seemed like a very fun situation. Commandos coming to the rescue like in the movies was probably not a realistic scenario. Like the captain said, they weren't a high value target.

Now in his cabin he went through his luggage until he found what he was looking for. He was going to be in remote Kenya for much of the trip, so WaterTec had given him a satellite phone. Now seemed like a good time to try it out. The phone booted up and after going through the menus the phone came him his coordinates which he texted to Boots.

He then called Boots, but voicemail picked up. "Boots, it looks like the ship is going to be attached by pirates, I already texted our current coordinates, our heading is two hundred forty degrees and we are making about twenty five knots." Gregor went on to give her the two scenarios the captain had given him. "Call the police, see if they can get someone to send help. I don't know what happens in scenarios like this. I plan on staying under the radar and will call you back if I can or when it's done. Love you sis."

Hanging up Gregor then proceeded to erase the call history and text history out of the phone. Leaving the phone in his quarters the pirates would likely find it, but that probably didn't matter, he expected the bridge had already relayed on the same information he just sent Boots. Turning off the phone and putting it back in the bottom of his luggage and sat on the bed and waited.

It wasn't long before the vibration in the deck stopped. The engines were being shut down. Then some yelling. The pirates were here. Gregor stayed put remember the captain's advice. From what he could hear, beyond some yelling it seemed like a fairly orderly affair. That thought ended when the door to his quarters opened to reveal a large African man. The man had a rough appearance with a large beard and clothes that didn't looked like they were good for much but rags. Gregor wondered how the man had become a pirate as his size wasn't conducive to life on a ship. But it wasn't the size or the lack of sympathy in the man's eyes that concerned Gregor, it was the large gun in his hands.

"Move." Not a question, not a request, an order. That man's heavily accented English was almost undecipherable, but the waving motion of the large gun conveyed the message clearly if the English was unclear or not understood.

While the gun didn't look to be in the best of shape with the marked up barrel and the beat up wood stock, he didn't want to take any chances with it, odds were it would still work well enough to kill him. Gregor didn't know what type of gun it was but figured it didn't matter, regardless of the details, the bullet it shot would make him dead. He stood, keeping he hands where they could be seen, no need for any misunderstanding.

The large African pointed to the door with the gun barrel. Still calm, Gregor walked out the door as directed. He was then directed through the ship by the pirate and soon they were under the main deck. From his previous tours Gregor knew they were near the engine room. He was soon directed into a room off to the side. Entering he saw three other crew. The door behind him was slammed closed with a loud clang followed by a click. Locked.

His eyes were still adjusting to the limited light in the room, but even then he could tell the men were concerned. He recognized them, but didn't know their names. Part of the engineering crew. "Well," Gregor said, "what are we in for?"

The men looked at each other, then shrugged. They didn't know.

Since they didn't know, Gregor took a different tack. "How many pirates?" Can never have too much situational awareness.

One of the men answered, "Roughly a dozen? All with AK-47s."

Well, he knew what kind of gun it was now.

Chapter 6 – Luxa

Luxa was worried, she had not heard from Gregor in sometime. Knowing Gregor's itinerary she had expected there to be periods when he could not Skype or email, but it had been too long. But there was not anything she could do about it though. He would have had Wi-Fi access in Mombasa and he should arrived their three days ago. Gregor was expecting some free time between docking and going to site. It would take a while for the shipping containers to be taken off the ship and loaded on trucks to be taken to the site and he would be riding in one of the trucks.

In front of her was Mareth, general of Regalia's army, her army. He was updating her on something but she was not paying attention. Her mind had wondered, concerned about Gregor.

"Your majesty?" Mareth asked.

Luxa immediately felt guilty, "Sorry Mareth, my mind is not here today."

Mareth knew exactly what was bothering her. "Our warrior is fine Luxa," he said referring to Gregor. "Why not let me address to the castles business today, there is nothing pressing."

Luxa appreciated her friend's kindness. With a smile she replied, "Thank you Mareth. I shall see if Aurora is interested in some flying." Flying was calming for her, just her and Aurora sailing through the open sky. Or rather the Underland enclosed version of the sky. Aurora was her bond, they were inseparable.

Instead of Luxa finding Aurora it was the other way around. "Luxa, Boots has asked for you in the Overland. While she puts on a brave face, there is something wrong."

Not relishing the thought of being in Overland, she scrunched he face. Boots would not make this request lightly. Mounting Aurora she said, "Let us go."

A short flight later and Luxa found herself climbing through a passage to the Overland. Now standing in the Landry room in Gregor's apartment building, she slid the grate back over the drain she had just climbed out of. Assuming Boots would be keeping he parents out of whatever issue was concerning her, Luxa went to Gregor's apartment and knocked. Not that she needed to, she had her own key now, but out of respect for Boots' privacy.

Boots answered the door. She looked like she had noy slept in a week and whatever reservations Luxa had had about coming to the Overland were gone. "Boots? What is wrong?"

"Listen," was all Boots said. Now in Gregor's apartment, the door closed, she pulled out her cell phone. The cell phone would not work in Underland, Boots request now made sense. Putting speaker phone on Luxa heard Gregor's voice.

Pirates? Was that right? "Again," she said to Boots, who obliged.

When the message was done playing a second time Boots said, "He sent it a week ago and hasn't called back. I tried to call and text him, no answer or reply. I tired the police, but they can't seem to get anywhere with it, I called his company who don't know anything."

"Oh Boots," said Luxa and she hugged the young woman. Boots had obviously held it together the last week, but now that Luxa was here, she let it go. Tears streaming from her eyes. A mix of emotions evident on her face. Guilt, grief, anger.

Luxa just held Boots. It wasn't long before the tears dried up and with a deep breath Boots said in a whisper, "Thank you Luxa."

Luxa smiled, Boots was a strong woman. She then stated what she intended to do. "Let us go get him then."

Boots looked surprised, but she already knew that was the only option. "But he is on the other side of the world!"

Holding her smile, Luxa replied, "One problem at time. Why not pack for the trip and come to Underland, tell your parents you will be there a while then we can work on the next steps." Luxa, a parent herself felt bad telling Boots to not tell the truth to her parents, but she needed her help and her parent would not likely let her go.

Boots nodded and went on her away. Luxa now alone sighed to herself, "Oh Gregor, what have you gotten yourself into this time." Trouble always seemed to find him. She went around Gregor's apartment and gathered when she thought she might need for whatever might come next.

It was not long before she was back in the castle in the High Hall. She had originally planned on going to her strategy room, but Phobos had insisted on being part of the discussion. Aurora had come too. Mareth, Boots, and Amleus the Underland's cartographer where there as well. Luxa's laptop with its internet connection sat in front of Amelus as he worked away on the keys.

The discussion started with a declaration from Luxa, "I am going to get him." There was no room for debate in the statement and the look in her face did not betray any doubt of her conviction. Even Mareth, who had to on occasion remind her of her duties to Regalia as the queen, did not dare to argue with the declared course of action.

Phobos was next, "I am going too."

Luxa appreciated the flyers commitment but countered, "Phobos, I appreciate the dedication, but we cannot have the Overlander's seeing a giant bat."

Boots jumped before Phobos could reply, "Luxa, there is a bigger problem, we won't be able to get you on a plane to fly." Last time Luxa had flown she had used Boots' passport. Some contact lenses, a haircut and dying her hair had been required, but it had worked.

"But what about your passport Boots? Like last time?" Luxa thought that would have been straight forward.

Boots was shaking her head, "Security will be tighter going overseas; you won't get away with it this time. Besides there are two of us this time."

It was Aurora who stated the solution. "Then I will have to go and take Luxa." It was apparent Aurora did not like the idea, but without any other solutions she was be committed to it.

Taking in what Aurora had said, Luxa pondered the idea for a bit. She caught a glimpse of Phobos smiling, his fangs exposed. The flyer had already come to the same conclusion knowing Aurora was right, and if Aurora was going, he was going too.

They knew the plan, now it was just a matter of logistics. With some help from google the how slowly came together.

Boots would return to Overland, she would first book herself flight to and accommodations in Mombasa. Then she would go shopping, two GPS units, extra batteries, and waterproof maps. All the supplies but one GPS unit would be given to Phobos through a passage to bring back to the castle. Luxa and the two flyers, Aurora and Phobos, would then leave the Underland through a larger passage they had recently came in possession of. It was large enough for the flyers and had a barn overtop which provided them cover for any curious eyes. They would fly at night, hitchhiking on cargo ships when they could, and hide during the day. Boots, would stay in New York for a week to touch with the authorities trying to impress upon them some sort of urgency. She would then leave and arrive in Mombasa a week ahead of them. Once Boots was there, she would have some sort of accommodations arranged for Luxa and the flyers and they would begin their search for Gregor.

"As good of a plan as any," thought Luxa as the meeting broke up. Everyone had gone their separate ways to start the preparation. That had been almost a day ago now.

Boots had left some time ago, the supplies had come back, and Luxa was getting ready to leave, Aurora was waiting for her now. Having everything she needed she opened the door to her chamber to find Nerissa standing there.

Initially surprised, but then realized she should probably been expecting a visit from Nerissa. "Nerissa?"

"Take the dagger cousin," Nerissa says. Luxa did not have to ask which dagger. There were probably thousands of them in the castle, but only one that had a hunger violence and a thirst for blood. While its jeweled hilt looked elegant, it was truly something evil.

Luxa raised her eyebrows questioning the suggestion. Nerissa replied, "Take it. Fly you high, Luxa."

"Fly you high, Nerissa." With that, Nerissa left. Luxa, instead of going to Aurora, went to the armoury. She needed a specific dagger before she left.

Reaching the armoury, Luxa said, "I need a dagger."

The armourer gave her a questioning look, verifying that she was asking for the dagger and not a dagger.

She nodded despite not really wanted it. The armourer presented a golden dagger with a jeweled hilt. It should look beautiful, but it did not. Its appearance betrayed its purpose, its evil, its need to feed on blood.

Luxa picked it up and with a determined look on her face put it on her belt then went to find Aurora.

Chapter 7 – Trans-Atlantic

Luxa and the flyers were in the barn. They owned the barn in a roundabout way, something Ripred and Lizzie had sorted out, so it was safe territory. While Luxa could manage just fine in Overland, she did not like it. The openness was disconcerting and it felt like the sun was always trying to hurt her.

But she had been in Overland many times before and despite her purple eyes and translucent skin she would reasonably fit in with no one taking notice of her. It was a simple matter of sunglasses, a hat, and long sleeve shirts. The flyers on the other hand had never been to Overland and could not afford to be spotted. There was nothing like them in Overland and they could not give up the secret that was Underland. It was high risk for them.

Phobos and Aurora were peering out the door of the barn, not wanting to leave. "It just goes for ever," Phobos said referring to the sky.

Luxa smiled sympathetically and stood between the two flyers. "It feels like you might just fall off the earth does it not?"

Phobos gave her a displeased look, "Not helping Luxa."

Apparently his sense of humour was missing tonight. Luxa sympathized though, she had the same feeling and while it was no longer as strong as when she first came to Overland, it was still there. "I have been in an airplane thousands of feet above the earth, higher than we will go, and I am still here. Nothing happened."

For the first time since coming into the barn Aurora spoke, "Could we fly around the barn first to taste the air?"

Nodding, Luxa thought it was an excellent idea to try before heading to the port. If they were going to have a problem, better here on a farm rather than over the city. The two flyers edged out of the barn, their wings still tucked in tight. The pair stood there for a moment, taking it in, then as if shaking off a chill, Phobos shivered. Determined, he stretched opened his wings to their full extent and with a flap vanished into the dark night sky. Aurora paused a bit longer then tentatively opened her wings and followed Phobos.

Phobos returned a few minutes later, his fangs showing as he grinned, "Why are you hiding in the barn Luxa, surely you do not think you will fall off the earth?" Obviously flying in Overland had been to his liking and his dry sense of humour had returned.

Aurora landed beside Phobos, her demeaned indicating she was not thrilled with the situation, but her earlier anxiety had passed. They were ready to go. Luxa locked up the barn and mounted Aurora and they took to the sky.

They had worked out the plan before leaving the castle and gone over it a number of times. From the barn they would head to the port, look for a cargo ship heading east across the Atlantic and hitch a ride. It was a few hours, but they were soon over the port then out across the ocean.

The problem with the plan is that they had no way of knowing which vessel they should be on, so they watched from the air, waiting for one that appear to be going trans-Atlantic and not just up or down the coast. Who knows where on the other side of the Atlantic they would end up, but it would be closer than they were now.

Once stowing away on a ship Luxa planned to periodically turn on the GPS to get coordinates to compare to her map to make sure they were heading in the right direction. Keeping it mostly off would preserve the batteries as they wouldn't last the necessary two weeks to get them to Mombasa.

Land was long out of site, but the flyers sense of direction and distance was impeccable and a few hours later they had found their ride. The flyers made their home hanging on an anchor on the front of the ship and Luxa was on the top of a stack of shipping containers which was slightly shorter than the other stacks which prevented her from being seen from the bridge of the vessel.

The ship's crew made patrols, but they were not looking for stowaways, so it was easy for Luxa and the flyers to stay hidden. Even better they soon realized the patrols were on a schedule so they could be relatively free to do as they please between the patrols. Luxa did some limited exploration during the day, more to get out of the elements than anything, and the flyers did some flying at night.

Luxa had been checking the GPS and her map periodically and was pleasantly surprise to find themselves rounding the south of Spain heading into the Mediterranean Sea. They had no idea where the ship had been headed when the boarded, and once they committed they could not switch to another vessel. The flyers could only fly so far before they needed to rest. They could have ended up in a number of places on the east side of the Atlantic that were still quite far from Kenya. London or Stockholm were two realistic possibilities.

Given what her GPS was indicating Luxa was pretty sure they were headed for Barcelona. Since they wanted to be on the south side of the Mediterranean Sea – not the north side where Barcelona was – they would need to disembark soon. Once darkness fell they left the ship, from here on in it would be harder to stay out of sight.

They had left the contain ship roughly an hour ago and were flying through the night sky, Luxa's GPS giving them their direction, it would be a number of hours yet, but she was targeting making landfall somewhere between Algiers and Tunis.

They had to give a wide berth to a few ships to avoid being seen which added time to the journey, but they still make landfall before the sun came up. Finding a desolate and unhospitable area of beach with cliffs and some shelter for them to hide in, they settled in for the day. They would take back to the air when night came.

The flyers were asleep in short order, but Luxa stayed away, sleep would not be coming to her. It would be good for someone to keep watch anyway. She could sleep tonight on Aurora's back while they were in the air.

She walked the beach and despite her aversion to sunlight she enjoying the watching the turquoise water sparkling in the sun. Luxa let her thoughts revolved around Gregor, while she had no doubt he was alive, she hoped he was faring well. "How does trouble always find him?" she thought. She brought her thoughts back to the beach, she was not an effective watch if she was not paying attention. The beach was nice to be on after the ten days on the ship that was always rolling with the waves. The first few days on the ship she thought she would throw up and give herself away to the crew.

Returning to near where the flyers where Luxa found a comfortable spot near the cliff with some shade among the scrubby and mostly brown shrubs that covered the hillsides and settled down. Night could not come soon enough. "Be your light strong, Gregor," she said wishing him well, the wind carrying her words away.

Chapter 8 – Torture

Gregor didn't know how much time had passed. He had kept track of the days at first, but lost track at roughly a week, maybe sooner, and that was some time ago. He was kept in the room with the three other crew men with no indication of time except a periodic meal, which he presumed only came during the day. If he had to guess it had to have been around two weeks.

The room probably stunk, but they were well past smelling it. In addition it was dingy, poorly ventilated, and hot. The men were sweating most of the time and the bathroom was a bucket in the corner which the pirates periodically swapped for an empty, but no cleaner, bucket.

And the food, it was awful. Sometimes half rancid leftovers, most time unrecognizable. Always an insufficient amount, but they ate it all anyway. When he had ate in the ship's mess the food had always been surprisingly good, to keep good moral up with the crew Gregor had supposed. Maybe the pirates should free the chef, then they could eat well again, their captivity might be even bearable then. "I'll never complain about hospital food again," he thought with a smile thinking of the bland tasting food he had experience on his most recent hospital stay.

A smile? Maybe he was starting to lose it.

Then the screaming started. It echoed through the confines of the passage ways under the main deck. Unrestrained, panicked, fear of god screaming of grown men. The crew. Even when it stopped Gregor could still hear it in his ears.

And not a single thing he could do about it. 'Fly under the radar' the captain had said, now he was starting to understand why. The captain seemed to have had some insight on what captivity at the hands of the pirates might entail.

Not knowing what time it was or what day it was, Gregor had dozed off on a spot on the floor, his back against what he presumed was the hull as the wall had a slight curve to it. The door to their room burst open three pirate barged in waking him up. Two of them held guns and covered the hostages to ensure they didn't do anything, the third, with no gun, went for Gregor and before he knew what was going on his arms had been zip tied behind his back and a hood put over his head.

Gregor didn't know what this meant. Did someone pay for his release? Was he going to get to go home? They dragged him through the ship, but he wasn't familiar enough with the ship to track the path in his head.

He didn't have to wait long for an answer. They had gone up some stairs and through a door with a lip, he could feel a light breeze and the smell of the ocean air was like a fine luxury compared to the stuffy room he had been locked in. Any hope of being released and any enjoyment from the fresh air became short-lived. He could feel his legs being tied to something and the zip tie holding his arms was cut and wrists were now being fastened above his head. The hood was still on his face.

Without warning he felt immense pain across his chest and he screamed in agony. Before he could recover he felt the thin like of pain across his chest explode through his body again, the only thing now keeping him standing was his bound wrists; the pain and shock haven taken all the strength out of his legs.

He could hear rough men, the pirates, laughing around him. They were enjoying the spectacle. He had no idea what they were hitting him with, a wet rope, a whip, a bamboo stick, something like that. The hits were spaced out, giving him some time to recover between hits, it was like they were taking turns. Most hits were on his chest, but his arms and legs weren't spared.

After a dozen or so hits his bonds were cut and he fell to the ground. The pirates didn't even bother to restrain him, he wasn't going anywhere. They dragged him below decks and threw him back in the room he had been collected from.

His co-prisoners tried to make him comfortable, but there was little they could really do besides prop him up in a position that minimized the pain. The pain kept him in a haze, he couldn't really focus on anything and couldn't sleep either.

They came for him again, he wasn't sure how much time had passed, maybe a week? The wounds from last time he had been the entertainment had scabbed over, but were still painful. The process was the same, zip tied, then dragged to the main deck, the bound.

This time however, once he was bound the hood was removed. There were a half dozen rough and mean looking pirates around him. All armed. Why had they removed the hood? Were they going to kill him now or had Gregor just watched too many movies?

The pirate in the middle stepped forward, he was of average height and average build, for a pirate at least. He spoke in heavy accented English. "Some interesting scars you have there, perhaps we were too easy on you last time."

After the last beating Gregor's clothes were shredded, leaving his collection of scars from the Underland on display. He normally kept them under a long sleeve shirt not wanting to invite any questioning about them. He looked at the pirate, trying to look as week as possible hopeful they would show some mercy instead of ramping up their entertainment. Gregor didn't really have to act, between the lack of food, lack of care, and previous torture he felt completely drained and weakened.

The pirate prompted him, "No tales to tell white boy?"

Gregor said nothing. Then one of the pirates produced a set of jumper cables. As the pirates setup their entertainment Gregor tried to separate his body from his mind to feel less pain and to make sure he didn't bite his tongue off.

The pirate's heavily accented English continued, "Protecting that cargo of yours? Those blue crates? What is really in them?"

Gregor still said nothing. What could he offer? They wouldn't believe him anyway. Then the current from the electricity in the jumper cables flowed across his chest, in response his back arched stiff as a level of pain he had never felt crossed through his chest.

While he succeeded in not biting his tongue off, he hadn't separated mind from body. As the torture continued he felt every bit of pain and this round made the last round seem like the pirates had used feather whips. Electrical burns, muscle cramps, cigarette burns, whip marks, likely two black eyes, a bleeding nose which might be broken, and much more. Once again they cut his bonds and let him fall where he was. Despite being on the verge of blacking out and not being able to move on his own, he kept his eyes open and forced himself to take in details of his captors. He had no plan, no opportunity, but he wanted to take the fight to them and he would need as much intelligence as he could collect.

He took special note of the one who had spoken to him. Despite looking like the least dangerous pirate, the cold look in his eyes clearly conveyed he was indeed the most dangerous, their leader. Gregor noticed his appearance, his gun, and the knife on his belt. The knife was long, not suitable for throwing, and had no catch to hold it in its sheath.

While taking in the others, two men, one for each arm, pick Gregor up and started dragging him away, back below decks. "They aren't killing me today," Gregor thought. A small victory. And with that he let the darkness take him and he passed out.

Chapter 9 – Land

Night had returned and they were back in the air. They needed to be careful to avoid populated areas and with the map and GPS they took a meandering course to do just that. The problem was that it took longer, but it was better than the alterative; being spotted.

The second problem was that was much of their journey was desert and with no way to manage or survive in the desert they had to follow the coast, adding even more time.

They quickly fell into a pattern, Luxa would stand watch during the day, then they would take flight at nightfall, Luxa would check the GPS and maps, then sleep on one of the flyers. Although she was bonded with Aurora Luxa spent equal time on each, splitting the duties of carrying her or the camp supplies between the flyers. They were pushing the flyers to their limit traveling between three hundred and five hundred miles a night.

Phobos and Aurora both said they could do it and Luxa believed them, but what concerned Luxa was if they be exhausted when it came to rescuing Gregor. Was time more important than physical exhaustion? She did not know.

Once Luxa checked the GPS and map she would confer with the flyer she was on the go to sleep. The flyers had amazing sense of direction and could probably even do it without Luxa's direction, but it was a good confirmation. Once on their way they would navigate on their own until the night was ending where they would find a comfortable camp in the middle of nowhere.

They were a few nights into the journey, they were in the air and Luxa was fast asleep. The conversation between Aurora and Phobos has been almost non-existent the entire trip. While they respected each other and frequently worked together they never shared a personal connection so they had both expected the lack of conversation and had not thought much of it. Neither were chatty flyers to begin with.

"You are not bonded Phobos," Aurora comment. While for flyers being bonded was closer to the exception rather than the norm, it was unusual to see some who had spent as much time in battle with a single rider as un-bonded. Phobos had even gone a step further and refused any rider besides Gregor.

"To have that Overlander kill me? I do not think so," Phobos said referring to Gregor. Everyone knew how Ares, Phobos' dad, had died while enabling Gregor to make the fatal blows to the Bane, a giant white gnawer, saving the Underland from certain war. There was no question that Gregor would of done the same for Ares had he been able to. They had saved each other many times before.

Aurora knew better, "You know he would not do that," referring to Gregor as well, "or you would not be here for him, further from Overland than any of our species have been."

Phobos didn't reply and as always stuck with the tough guy attitude. Aurora was right though, Gregor would give his life for his, he knew it, but did not want to admit it. Then he let the façade crack a little and spoke the truth, the core of the issue, "I miss my dad, why did he have to go and be a hero?"

Aurora was older than Phobos, old enough to be his mother. She smiled, a sad smile. Phobos was just a kid who missed his dad. "You need to let that go Phobos, it is holding you back."

"I know, but not today," was the response before a Phobos gave a flap of his giant wings pulling ahead of Aurora ending the conversation.

A few more nights and they were now past the Red Sea. Now adjacent to Eritrea they left the coast and headed inland directly to the first set of rendezvous points Boots had given them. They still had to meander their flight path to avoid populated areas, but the route across Eritrea, then Ethiopia, then Kenya was still more direct than fallowing the coast of the Arden Sea around Somalia.

They were now half way across Ethiopia – probably two more nights of travel to get to Boots – and making camp for the day.

Luxa had done her usual walk around and found a place that worked well for a look out. It was late afternoon when she heard the voices. She stood trying to find a view of the source as she let her ears tell her the direction the voices came from.

The voices were slowly getting louder, she could hear a language she was not familiar with. If they were searching they were not very subtle, but why else would someone be out here in the middle of nowhere?

Luxa left her position to get a better take on the newcomers. She watch them tromp through the area, one was quite animated, flapping his arms and pointing into the wilderness. Well that settled it, the one had observed the flyers.

They were actually getting relatively close to the flyers, they would find them. The flyers could not leave without being spotted either. Luxa needed to get the flyers out of there.

With an idea she backtracked their trail. They could not have walked all the way from wherever they came from. It did not take long before she came to a dirt trail and small military vehicle. There were no guard left behind and she quickly set to searching the vehicle, in the console she found what she needed, a lighter.

She felt a little guilty as she went to the rear of the vehicle. These people were not her enemy, but she could not be discovered either. At least the vehicle was a government vehicle and was not the prize possession of a farmer.

Leaning under the vehicle she saw the gas tank. Using a rock she drove her dagger into the tank letting the fuel puddle on the ground. The strong smell of gasoline filling the hot and dry air. Tucking the dagger back into its sheath on her belt, she pulled the lighter out and lit the gas. Departing the scene rapidly she could feel the heat on her back. Taking a glance behind her she could tell it would not take long for the vehicle to be engulfed in flames. Dark black smoke towered into the sky.

She started to make her way back to the flyers taking a circuitous route to avoid those searching. Half way there she passed the men, they were hustling back to their vehicle, their voices loud an animated, many of them pointing to the black smoke.

She made it back to the flyers and quickly set collecting up the gear from camp and mounting Aurora, "Let us go and stay as low as you can."

They took to the air unobserved and quickly put distance between them those searching for them, the search now seemingly abandoned. Setting down a few miles away they took cover. It was mid-afternoon now and none of them would sleep now.

They were all be on alert but the rest of the day passed uneventfully and when night returned they resume their journey.

Chapter 10 – Boots

Boots was walking down a street in Mombasa. The neighbourhood was run down and industrial based – what she was looking for wouldn't be found in the better neighbourhoods – and she had been flashing around too much money. She knew it was a problem but given the time constraints had decided it was worth the risk.

Two men were following her and she was sure they weren't out just for the fresh air. With the strong smell of decaying fish and diesel fuel she didn't think anyone would go out for a leisurely stroll in this neighbourhood. She had noticed the men when she had left the wharf area, they had been jittery and paid her much too much attention.

Boots was dressed mostly in loose plain work clothes, looking as much as a dock worker as she could manage. As an extra measure she had chosen dark clothes, although red seemed to be a favourite among the workers, it was too flashy for her purpose. In addition, she wore her long brown hair tucked up under a New York Yankees ball cap. Despite that she couldn't hide that she was white and female and that made her still stand out.

She slowed her pace, there was a dark alley ahead, and she wanted the men to catch her at that spot. Her hear was racing and she could feel a slight tremble in her body from the sudden hit of adrenalin in her system. "Be cool Boots," she told herself as she took a few deep breaths to settle herself.

Given the look she had taken of the men she didn't anticipate a gun, but there would be a knife or two. The bigger question would be if one man held her while the other threatened with a knife or they both stayed in front of her, each threatening with a knife. Not that it really mattered, she couldn't control that and both scenarios had their pros and cons.

Taking a hard shove Boots crashed to the ground in the alley. The two men blocked the alley, one held a knife, the other had his hands at his side. They were both grinning, happy with their prize. "Money," the one with the knife demanded, the other gesturing with a hand that her money was to be placed in his left hand.

Boots dramatically rose back onto her feet playing the damsel in distress. Letting her gain her feet was a mistake they would pay dearly for. She was expecting they would want to take her money then would likely rape her. She started fumbling in her pockets, making a show of looking for her money. There actually wasn't much money in her pockets, just enough to back up her talk to the boat owners at the wharf, not that it would matter.

The men were starting to get impatient. "Money!" the demand was repeated, the knife was jabbed in her direction to emphasize the point and to encourage her to hurry up.

Boots held out the cash she had on her, a bunch of bills, maybe a hundred US dollars. She motioned to the unarmed man who was indicating that he was to receive the money with her arm shaky. From her shaky arm she dropped the bills on the ground making the action look accidental. The man bent to pick the bills up.

As soon as the man took his eyes off Boots she was in action, the timidness and fear she had been showing was gone in a blink of an eye. She reached out with her right arm and grabbed the armed man's right wrist right behind the knife that had been threatening her. Using that as the pivot point swung her body into the man's chest, her left elbow making contact with the man's head.

The other man, money now forgotten was standing back up moving to restrain her but Boots hasn't stopped moving, her foot now coming up and squarely meeting the money man between the legs. "Right on the money," Boots thought smiling to herself. He crumpled in pain and was trying to move off to the side of the alley away from Boots.

The armed man was no longer armed as Boots now held the knife. He was still trying to shake the cobwebs from his head after receiving Boots' elbow to his ear. Although on his feet, he wasn't really moving.

Boots picked her money back up and held the knife loosely at her side, ready for action again. A vicious smile formed on her face, she bent her legs at the knees, one foot forward, ready to leap into action. "Boys?" she asked.

The two men, looked at each other and decide Boots wasn't worth the effort, there was easier prey elsewhere, and they slinked off.

Boots enjoyed the moment. You don't spend as much time in Underland as she had and not pick up a thing or two. But the moment passed quickly, Gregor was still out there and needed her help, so she continued on, heading back for her hotel.

The plan to rescue Gregor had required her to obtain a boat. The problem was to rent a boat big enough for the flyers to land on would require renting a boat with a skipper. She couldn't have a skipper observing what they were up to, so she had moved on from the legitimate rental businesses down to the seeded fishing wharf she had just come from.

That had been successful though, the owner had insisted that she spend a few days at sea with him – essentially as free labour on his fishing boat – to 'prove' she could handle a boat. They agreed upon a rental rate which Boots was pretty sure what the boat was actually worth, which had to be paid upfront when she took the boat out.

The boat had a small cabin upfront and enough room for a few nets and a small fish catch in the back. Barely enough room for the flyers. Calling the boat sea worthy seemed to be generous, but it had faired fine in the few days the Boots had provided free labour on it. Regardless, it would do the job.

Tomorrow afternoon she would check out of hotel and return to the wharf with a number of supplies she had acquired, pay the owner of the boat, then head off on her own.

Both her and Luxa's GPSs had three rendezvous coordinate programmed in them. She would go to the first and scout it, if it wasn't suitable she would go to the next, and so on. They had check the three locations out as best they could on google maps, but couldn't guarantee they would be suitable hence why they chose three. Hopefully one of the locations worked.

Boots would find out soon enough.

Chapter 11 – Escape

Once again Gregor was completely unaware of how much time had passed. He vague recalled his consciousness coming and going a few times. A few of those time he had tried to eat, the first few time he threw it back up, but her persisted. He needed his strength.

He had taken stock of his injuries and determine despite being in rough shape with many serious injuries, none were life threatening. He was still in much pain, but with a hospital he would make a full recover. While he had never had felt so much pain in his life, he had suffered worse injuries. He recalled a pike that had punctured his side and almost extinguished his light.

He was now rising out of the fog into consciousness. His scabs were starting to flake on the edges, indicating he had been here some time. Infection would be his enemy now, while some of the wounds had puss, nothing seemed to be deeply established in his wounds.

He looked around the room, he had not been returned to the same room as he had been previously been in with the other prisoners. This one was much smaller and he was alone. He contemplated why he was alone, was it his weakened condition after the last beating or had the pirate that spoke to him saw something in Gregor that concerned him and warranted isolation? "Who knows, probably neither, not that it matters," thought Gregor.

Looking around the room Gregor noticed the curved wall, once again he was against the hull. A single flickering light bulb, the flickering meant they were on the backup generator and not running off the main engines. Another bit of information to file away for later.

The whole room was severely rusted, the flaking paint revealing a number of layers, whites and blues were favoured through the exposed historic layers of paints. Water ran across the floor at the base of the wall that was also the hull.

A strong sense of déjà vu took hold in Gregor, but he couldn't place why. He tried to work through it, his mind still processing slowly from the pain, had he been in this room before? Had he been shown the room in the tour or maybe a similar room? He looked around the room again hoping his one good eye and his other swollen eye would catch another detail he had previously missed.

Struggling to his feet a wave of dizziness hit him but thankfully no nauseousness. He reached out and put his hand on the round handle on the door to steady himself. "Why not," he thought as he brought up his other hand to the door lock and gave the wheel a tug. Locked, not that he had expected different.

Then the déjà vu was gone because he knew exactly why he had felt it. His dream. A quick double check to make sure he was awake and not dreaming again and he knew what he needed to do next. Instead of standing in the middle of the room he stood off to the side of the door. He chose the side of the door without the hinges as this would be the last place the pirate's eyes would look and by then it would be too late.

Gregor waited, knowing he couldn't wait long – he was too weak to stay standing – but knowing he wouldn't have to wait long. Nerissa had said to accept his dreams, now was the time to believe.

The round wheel on the door began to spin and Gregor prepared himself. He was committed to this course of action, either death or freedom would follow. He let the rage buzz in his chest, his vision sharpened, time slowed, and his pain faded as it was forgotten until later. Now the door opened and he saw the gun barrel poke through the half open door. Without waiting he grabbed the barrel and pulled hard. He caught the pirate off guard as planned and the gun went off as his captor stumbled into the room.

The bulled from the gun ricocheted harmlessness in the room, but the gun had left him temporary deaf with a ringing in his ears. As the pirate had stumbled through the door Gregor had noticed a knife his belt. Gregor now reached for the knife and before the pirate could regain his balance the knife flashed by his throat with a sickening wet slice.

Gregor glanced out the door and seeing no one went to the downed pirate and searched him. The gun was large and not being proficient with guns he left that. Finding some cigarettes he tossed them to the side but kept the lighter, but nothing else of value was found. The knife was of most value to Gregor despite its cheap quality and poor condition.

Going to the door he looked each way down the passageway and seeing no one he left the room closing and locking the door behind him. The first problem was evident, he had no idea where he was; the second problem was he didn't know where to go. The two problems kind of cancelled themselves out being a function of each other. He randomly picked a direction and started down the corridor listening carefully for any other pirates. If they found him he was going down fighting, no way he was going back to that room to wait to be tortured again.

It didn't take long before he orientated himself on deck and about the same time he knew what he goal was. He needed his satellite phone, so his quarters was his destination.

The decks were quiet as Gregor steadily made progress from the maintenance decks to the living decks. Borrowing someone else's shoes as he entered the living decks – one always had two pairs of shoes on a ship, one for the living area, one for the rest of the ship – he continued on. The browed shoes preventing his filthy feet from leaving a trail.

He was soon in his quarters and briefly thanked his Underland paranoia. In addition to the satellite phone he had a razor sharp knife, a single pieces skeleton knife about six inches long that was extremely sharp and a medium size led Maglite. Turning on the phone to let it boot up and find some satellites he quickly change of clothes and took his knife, the Maglite, the phone and the pirate's knife with him.

He was surprise his absence wasn't noticed yet. He expected the pirates to make a racket when they discovered their dead mate. They didn't strike Gregor as likely to be quiet and stealthy when they discovered what had happened.

Sure enough right then he could hear some yelling, a commotion, on the main deck. Gregor was now the hunted.

Chapter 12 – Search

Gregor headed for the main deck and despite being careful the moment he stepped out he was rewarded with bullets sparking off the door behind him. He dove to the ground and quickly switched to a different passageway trying to put as many corners between the gun and him. "Not good," thought Gregor. He now made his way for the shipping containers hoping to hide among them. He could hear the pirate near him yelling, they didn't know his exact location but knew Gregor was close. They would find him quickly unless he kept on the move.

Finding a recessed fire station on the starboard side of the ship that offered some cover he pressed himself into the small space. There were shipping containers over the passage way he was using and in front of him was a rail and beyond that nothing but ocean. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and quickly texted the current GPS coordinate of the phone to Boots. Not wanting to get caught with the phone and not having any place to keep it he tossed it overboard hoping he wouldn't need it again. The pirates didn't need to know that help might be coming. Hopefully Boots had managed to encourage someone to come rescue him. Boots wouldn't relent until he was safe, but the question was could she convince someone to help as she couldn't do it on her own.

Gregor could hear the pirates closing in on his position, one was especially close. He was near the aft crane and debated making a run for it but didn't think that would escape the attention of the one pirate.

Closing his eyes and forcing himself to relax he tried to hear or 'see' what was beyond his hiding space. Much in the Underland relied on echolocation and while he would never be as good as a flyer, after much training and frustration he had the rudimentary basis of it, about as good as any human could expect. Good enough to see a pirate around a corner.

He firmly gripped the knife he had previously taken off the other pirate with the hilt against his pinky and readied himself hoping the pirate would not pass his location. The pirate's footsteps betraying his form and location as he searched for Gregor.

What Gregor had hoped to avoid was now inevitable, the pirate would find him. With his back against the wall he swung his left arm completely straightening it and about the same moment the pirate would discover him the knife found home. The knife went in the eye, about six inches worth went in before the blade had caught on bone.

While he had been aiming for the throat this was better, quicker death, less blood, less mess. Stepping out of his hiding spot quickly he took inventory of what the pirate had. He took a knife, which was good because he didn't want to recover the other one. Pulling it out of the eye would make a mess and it was better if no one knew had been here.

He debated on the gun a bit more seriously this time, but figured if he found himself in a gun fight he was probably a goner anyway so why take it. It was big and would bang loudly if it bumped into something as it hung around a shoulder, the odds were it would give him away before it saved him. Finding nothing else of value he went to toss the pirate overboard. The dead weight and Gregor's weakened condition made it a struggle, but eventually the body went over and there was a satisfying splash.

"Two down," Gregor thought, but without knowing how many were on the ship to being with it didn't mean much. It had been roughly a dozen when the pirates had first boarded, but that was weeks ago, maybe even a full month now. Would they of brought on more? Gone to a minimal complement with everyone locked up? Or stayed the same? Regardless, it was still two less.

Time to move on. His plan had evolved a bit more though. Despite the text with the coordinates he still had no idea if Boots would be able to get someone to come rescue him so he couldn't count on that. Gregor was also concerned that when the pirates couldn't capture him, they would resort to either more torture or killing of the crew to force him to turn himself in. That concern and the unlikely possibility of help coming meant he would have to rescue the crew.

He figured he would hide among the shipping containers until night, then locate the crew. He was now even closer to the aft crane which was centered on the ships keel, the large base of it in front of him. He had debated hiding in it, but if they found him in it he would be cornered and that wouldn't do so he had passed on the idea.

His ear were still ringing from the gunshot when he had escaped, but they were working well enough to pick up the ring of a hard boot off the metal deck behind him. The pirate should of worn runners if he wanted to be stealthy.

"What self-respecting pirate wants to wear ATSM approve work boots anyway?" thought Gregor. Maybe they had a standard operating procedure for boarding parties. Do a little toolbox or safety meeting before they throw the grappling hooks. Gregor suppressed a snicker at the thought.

Gregor dived for the deck making for the other side of the crane base. Bullets passing through the air where his head had been a fraction of a second ago. The bullets ricocheted off the crane harmlessly. Not stopping on the other side of the base Gregor took off in a run using the crane to shield himself from the pirate and was soon weaving among the containers.

He managed to avoid any further contact with the pirates for next hour and a half and dusk was now settling in over the ship. Time to start his search for the crew.

The moon was out and the while the sun was gone, a slight glow from it still emanated from the horizon. Gregor edged around a number of blue shipping container realized they were his shipping containers and while that knowledge wasn't particularly useful, it did refine his position a bit more.

He was making his way around the containers when bullets clattered off the blue container, hot metal burning the skin on his arm. Gregor pulled back instantly, running to the other fore end of the container intent on putting some distance between him and the shooter.

He thought about the shooter for a second and realized he hadn't had any warning, no sound of the approach. The shooter had been waiting not searching. The pirates had stepped up their game and Gregor's lack of anticipation of that, essentially sloppiness on his part, had almost killed him. He had figured for a strong arm tactic, threatening hostages, not a strategic approach. They knew he would go for the crew, all they had to do was way. Gregor didn't have any other options.

Peeking around the corner, he saw no one, and sprinted to the next isle over, he was pretty close to amidships now, still among his blue containers. He would have to revise his tactics now. The unassuming looking pirate that had talked to him during his second session, the leader, was behind this new approach, of that Gregor was sure. Gregor recalled the hard look in eyes, an intelligence, although not entirely stable. The other pirates were just grunt labour, albeit labour trained in the use of an AK-47, but still just grunts.

Gregor needed to move fast before they surrounded his position. He quietly moved to the aft end of the container intent on doubling back on where he had been shot at, perhaps he would have an opportunity at the pirate that had shot at him which may give him a hole to escape through.

Sunlight was essentially gone now, the only light coming from the crescent moon. Poking his head out of the shadows of the containers he took in his situation. The pirate who had shot at him had remained at his station, covering this passage. Gregor decided to go back to the bow end container.

He was still in the shadows, very little of the already minimal moon light reaching him. Peaking around the container again, there was no one covering this passage way and he decided to move one more isle over closer to the gun man who shot at him.

Making a quick dash around the blue container a shadow blinked over the whole deck momentarily making it even harder to keep his footing. He moved back to the aft isle the shooter was covering. Yet another one of his blue containers at his side, which made three in a row.

He risked another peak around the corner. The shooter was still their covering the passage, deciding to move one more isle over to try and ambush the shooter he headed back to the bow end of the container.

As he approached he heard noises, the pirates were closing in. Taking a peak around the corner he saw another pirate with a gun near the port rail and hear another one close behind him. Surrounded. Trapped. With his back to container on his port size he tiled his head back and closed his eyes, took a deep breath in the process. He needed a plan, a way out.

On his second deep breath he thought of his daughter Judith and Luxa his queen. He needed options, he needed to see them again.

On his third deep breath déjà vu hit him. His dream from the plane. In the dream, right before he had ran and been shot the first pirate had died. The sparkle of gold had protruded from the first pirate's chest before the blood had flowed and he fell. Luxa was here, that was the only way that dagger, a dagger he knew well, could find that spot. And the shadow, the flickering moon, Phobos was in the air, only his enormous wings could block out the moon. He knew exactly what he what to do.

In the dream he had faced port, paused, then turn and then ran for the starboard rail. That hesitation is what caused him to be shot in his dream. This time there would be no hesitation.

He took his Maglite and pointing it straight up flashed it three times, then dropped it and ran. This time he didn't even look to port and went straight to the starboard rail. He heard a thunk behind him, likely the first pirate falling with a dagger in his chest.

Pushing as hard as he could, Gregor roared, the noise surprisingly loud in the quiet night air, coming to the rail he vaulted up and pushed off like he was trying to fly. He heard gun fire behind him but he was already falling and below the main deck level, plummeting to the ocean.

Where was Phobos?

Chapter 13 – Reunion

With no way to communicate with Luxa, Boots was to stay at the first available rendezvous point anchored every night until they were reunited. Boots was at the second set of coordinates, the first had turned out to be a popular informal harbour for boats to overnight at which wasn't suitable for her purpose. It was her second night waiting and she was anxious.

Morning was coming, an orange glow just starting over the horizon, and she set about pulling up anchor. She was hunched over working the manual winch when she heard a slight disturbance in the air. Turning she saw Phobos' claws extended and catching the stern of the boat and sat their motionless like a gargoyle.

"A little late to be arriving?" Boots asked. She was concerned about getting the flyers hidden before there was too much sunlight. At least they had made it.

Phobos looked at her, indifferent about the time.

Boots continued, "At least get in the boat so Aurora can land and you're out of sight."

Phobos complied, his wings filling slightly as he gently hopped down from the stern and made his way to the bow.

Aurora and Luxa landed shortly after. Luxa was smiling at Boots, obviously happy that they had been reunited and the plan had worked so far.

Boots waited patiently as Luxa dismounted Aurora, but it was too much. She went straight to Luxa and hugged her tight. "I'm so happy you made it." That didn't really tell the whole story though. She had let herself think of to many what ifs, in her worry she had told herself she was just coming up with a plan b, but in reality, all she had done was scare herself with hypotheticals. Hardly productive.

Luxa was smiling while she held her. "Oh Boots, I would not miss this for the world."

Boots composed herself, and when she was ready stepped away from Luxa. She could feel herself relax now that Luxa was here. Unconsciously tugging her shirt down she returned to the anchor, they need to make for land post haste.

They returned to Boots' camp. Boots had found a secluded section of beach on an island near the border of Tanzania. The area was a nation park which mean there was minimal development in the area. Boots anchored the boat then the flyers took them the last hundred meters to the shore. It wasn't long before Boots and the flyers were asleep. Luxa took day watch. Her schedule had worked well for her while they had travelled here, she intended to keep it.

She walked the beach and then explored out onto the island. Pleased with Boots' choice she returned to camp and finding a suitable lookout location let her thoughts wander back to Gregor.

Despite his habit of finding trouble and despite how complicated her life was with him, she counted herself lucky to have him. She had even contemplated what marriage to him would look like, but while they loved each other and were dedicated to each other, they were firmly set in their separate worlds. While their relationship could endure that, she didn't think a marriage could. Maybe when Judith was done school, then Overland's hold on Gregor will not be as strong. Judith needed the Overland education should the two worlds, Underland and Overland, ever collide.

Luxa was not sure if she could do that, managed the two worlds meeting. Despite her relation with Gregor and the time she spent in Overland, she just did not know it well enough, nor were her people ready for the culture shock. Her view however was that the union was enviable, it maybe tomorrow, it may not be for one hundred years, but it was going to happen.

Life was complicated, but it was good. She just needed Gregor back first.

It was mid-afternoon when Boots woke. "Good afternoon princess," Luxa said using an old nickname from the Underland.

Luxa had been rewarded with a smile from Boots. After Boots readied herself for tonight's adventure they sat together, each with a cup of tea. No cream and sugar though, this was a slim operation.

Luxa repeated plan they had come up with before leaving New York, "So we all go to the coordinates, you and Phobos trace the heading Gregor sent, Aurora and I will go on the heading that matches the ocean current."

The ship was likely drifting, the second option was they continued on the same heading under power as before, and the third option was they took it somewhere else altogether. The first option was the most likely, but as the second was easy to cover off so they were going to do that too. There was no way to predict the third option so they did not yet contemplate it.

Boots nodded in agreement with Luxa, "Nothing has changed. Look for lights, there should be some on and hopefully make the ship easy to see."

With nothing more to say they sat in silence, waiting for darkness to come. "Thanks again for coming Luxa."

Luxa could hear the relief and the heart felt appreciating in Boots voice. She may not be married to Gregor, but Boots was family. She had risked her life for Overland and Luxa would do the same for her. "It is I who should thank you Boots, I would not know of Gregor's situation, or even know where to start planning his rescue without you." It was true and good for the young Boots to hear, to build her confidence. She would a strong woman.

Boots gave a slight nod of her head of thanks.

From elsewhere in the camp came a buzzing sound. Luxa watched Boots leap to her feet and run to the sound. From a backpack she produced a phone. Boots held it up and said "We're near Vanga," like it explained everything.

For Luxa it did not, but given Boots' gestures it likely explained why the phone worked. Luxa had not moved, still holding her tea in her hands, when Boots let out a cry. Boots covered her mouth trying to be quiet. "It's Gregor," Boots said holding up the phone, "He sent more coordinates!"

Chapter 14 – Rescue

In picking the rendezvous points Boots had purposely picked locations south of Mombasa. They had figured that Gregor's vessel would be either disabled by the crew or shut down by the pirate to conserve fuel. Either way it would be drifting. The picked south for two reasons, the first set of coordinates from Gregor had their ship just catching the southerly current, secondly, the pirates would want to drift south as well, not north where the busy shipping lanes were.

Boots was busy inputting the new coordinates from her phone into the GPS. Once in, she told the GPS to navigate to the new point and was pleased with what she saw. "Luxa, its only seventy miles to Gregor. They're drifting!" She could feel the excitement build in herself. Her brother was near.

Boots could see Luxa quickly do the math, she wasn't use to Overland units of measure. Then Luxa said, "Only an hour and half away. If we leave now, we will arrive at the ship just after the sun has set."

No one objected to the idea of leaving now while it was still light out and they were soon in the air.

Luxa sat on Aurora, her legs looped around the front of her wings. After using the GPS to point Aurora in the right direction, she started to prepare herself for what was coming. She did not know what they would find, but she would need to be ready to act regardless.

Beside her on Phobos was Boots. Boots looked to be struggling to keep herself in check, but she was managing. The flyers were fine, although this was the first time in Overland, neither were strangers to battle.

Luxa pondered their flight. "I have gone from living in a broom closet to flying through infinity," she thought to herself. Reflection on the universe would have to wait though, she could just make out some lights in the distance. They were getting close.

She indicated to Aurora to circle the ship so that they could see what they were up against. Soon they were doing a circle round the ship. "A bit tighter Aurora, and tell Phobos to keep his distance and altitude."

The flyer immediate started to move closer to the ship, at this point they were only a few feet off the ocean surface trying to stay under line of sight of those on the ship. Aurora also relayed the message to the other flyer who was now gaining altitude and soon would be well above any line of sight from the deck as well.

She noticed the pirates on the deck, they all seemed alert and ready. The pirates had had the ship for nearly a month, surely this was not their normal state of alert? "Gregor is causing them issues," Luxa thought. The other reason was they had been spotted on their approach, but the pirate's attention was focused in on the ship, not out on the ocean. It had to be Gregor.

Phobos was high above her, she saw him cross over the ship, doing reconnaissance as well. Luxa was concerned he would create a shadow and give them away.

Aurora confirmed what Luxa was thinking, "Phobos says that the pirates are focused amidships looking for something. He cannot see what but he suspects it is Gregor." The flyer made a sounds equivalent of a snicker, "He also says only Gregor could find this much trouble in the middle of an ocean."

"I would tend to agree Aurora." That was when she heard the gun fire. At first she was not sure what it was having never experienced it, but after a moment of thought Luxa was sure that was what it was. "In even closer Aurora, tell Phobos to keep high." Events on the ship were accelerating, they would need to be ready.

She noticed the slim crescent moon wink. "Aurora, tell Phobos to watch his shadow, we do not need him to give us an away." Things were going to happen fast soon and Luxa preferred to keep the element of surprise.

Watching the deck none of the pirate had noticed any of her team yet, they were still well focused on their own problem on the ship. "As slow as you can go Aurora and tight with the ships rail, just high enough so I can see over." One more pass, maybe two, and she would board.

This time she caught a figure dodging between the containers, the pirates were closing in on the figure. It would not be long now before their noose tightened. "Swing out Aurora and come in straight on the port side, I want to see those two pirates coving the isle between the containers."

Luxa now had a clear view of the passage and the two pirate's right ahead of her. "Hold this as long as you can, then let us set down on the bow." They needed to act sooner rather than later, time to board.

Aurora spoke, "Gregor is going to run Luxa, we will not have time to board." Pobos must of saw something and relayed the message to Aurora. Phobos was now diving to the sea on the starboard side opposite of her. It was happening now.

She saw a flash in the shadows infront of the pirates, someone was running. Gregor. The pirates infront of her were going to shoot him. They were out of time.

"Hold," she told Aurora urgently. They were out of space for flying but she needed another second. She pulled the jeweled dagger from her belt and threw it at the pirate closest to Gregor.

As soon as Aurora saw the dagger flash by she pulled up. Luxa held tight, the ride was going to be bumpy. She could feel Aurora grip the rail with her claws to try and push off to gain a bit of altitude. They lost all forward momentum and the flyer tucked her wings and they were now falling to the ocean. Gaining some speed Aurora now extended her wings as far as she could reach, her wings gripped the air and none a moment too soon. They skimmed the top of the ocean, another foot lower and they would have been swimming.

As if reading Luxa's mind Aurora said, "Flyers do not swim."

Boots was watching the deck of the ship carefully. She had caught a glimpse of a figure hiding between the containers but with the poor light couldn't get a good look. "Watch you shadow Phobos," she said.

"I know," came the reply. "Luxa and Aurora have already reminded me." Boots didn't worry too much however, even if the pirates looked up they probably wouldn't see Phobos. The flyer was completely black. He was so completely black that he seemed to absorb light, not even a reflection off his eyes to betray him.

A moment ago Luxa had been tight to the ship, but Boots now noticed she had gone out wide circling around. It looked like she was going to come at the main pirate search party head on. She doubt the pirates would noticed, they were too focused on their search, and it would give Luxa a good view of what was happening.

A flash of light caught her attention, then two more flashes. Boots instantly knew what was happening. "It's Gregor, he's going to make a run for it!" But she didn't have to say anything, Phobos was already diving.

They were near the bow of the ship about the same height as the deck and pulling a hard corner. She had caught a glimpse of Gregor before they had gone too low and he was running. Boots heard him roar from just in front of their position and then she saw him leap from the ship's railing and was falling through the air.

Boots could feel Phobos under her twist through the air and she held tight to stay seated. "I have him," she heard Phobos say and they started to gain height and put distance between themselves and the pirates.

Chapter 15 – Shore

Gregor felt the familiar yank on his shoulders and the pain that accompanied it. Phobos had grabbed both his shoulders this time, an improvement over one. He didn't really care though, he was just happy to fee of the pirates.

He could feel they were slowly gaining altitude but more importantly moving at a good forward pace, presumably to distance themselves from the ship as fast as possible. When they had enough altitude he felt himself flipped up into the air and assuming to land in the typical rider position bumped awkwardly into another body. He was momentary confused and since leaving the ship he had let his mind shut down, happy to let Phobos take care of things.

With the extremely minimal moon light he confirmed the flyer was indeed Phobos. He and Phobos had been through much together, both thinking they had lost the other at points, as such it was extremely rare to see a different rider on Phobos or Gregor on a different flyer.

Realizing he still needed to hold on, he took position behind the other rider. As he took position the wind blew a mouthful of hair of into his face. From the smell he knew it was Boots. He should have known. "Oh Boots, thanks you," was all Gregor managed. Phobos grunted prompting Gregor, "And thank you for almost ripping my arm off Phobos."

Phobos grunted, satisfied with Gregor's response. Gregor was safe now and let himself fully succumb to his ordeal and passed out.

Gregor felt the warmth of the sun on his skin. He didn't know how much time had passed but he knew he was safe. Remembered flying with Boots and Phobos, he remembered a kiss from Luxa, but that was it. His mind was foggy, but from the feel he was pretty sure it was not from his ordeal but from drugs. Boots had likely given him something. He needed to get up, needed to go back to the ship, to its crew. But the drugs and the warm sun easily overpowered his weakened state and he drifted back off to oblivion.

His mind was much clearer when he woke this time. The warm sun still on his skin. Or maybe it was again not still if a night has passed. Gregor had no idea how long he had been out. He stretched out and made a grunt. He continued to lay there with his eyes closed not moving. He felt a body snuggle up beside him. A peck on his cheek. A clean shaven cheek. Luxa always hated when he had stubble, she must have shaved his month old beard off.

"Welcome to the living my warrior," Luxa whispered in his ear.

"Not quite yet," Gregor replied and rolled over on top of Luxa, his lips meeting hers. Luxa started pulling Gregor's shirt over his head and he squeaked with pain.

"Sorry," she said and they took it slower.

A while later they were just lying on the beach, enjoying the sun. "This is nice," Gregor said, "We should do a vacation like this, like normal people."

Luxa laughed, "You just had all my clothes off, did you not see my sunburn?" She was right, the sun was not friendly to her; tropical vacations were off the list. While she did her best with sunblock, sunglasses, long sleeve shirts, hats and anything else she could cover up with, the sun still found her. Some colour on the back of her neck, a red V down the front of her chest from a v-neck shirt, ears that looked painful as they peeled. Then she added reflectively with a slightly sad tone to her voice, "We are not normal either."

Gregor appreciated her sentiments, he felt them himself, "But if we were both normal, I would of never met you," he said. It was the truth after all.

Neither wanted to dwell on that, so with a final kiss they got up. Gregor looked around the camp, they had been here some. "How long was I out?" he asked.

"About two and a half days," Luxa said. Gregor was surprised it was that long. Luxa continued, "You were in rough shape. Boots really struggled with it, you were not even recognizable when we brought you back, but with her training from Howard, she took good care of your injuries." Howard was Luxa's chief physician who ran the Underland hospital. Boots was actually scheduled to start collage in the fall with the intent of becoming a doctor.

"That was a nice toss, thank you,"Gregor said thinking back to his escape. Luxa's throw of the dagger had been perfectly timed for his escape. She smiled back accepting the complement with modesty and even a hint of embarrassment. The embarrassment added some nice colour to her normally pasty white cheeks, although a bit of that could have been the sun as well.

Being still in the camp instead of a hospital meant his friends were still planning on finishing some unfinished business with the pirates which suited Gregor just fine. "Where is everyone?"

"Boots has gone for supplies, the flyers are asleep in the trees; they have been keeping an eye on the pirates at night." Hearing that from Luxa Gregor smiled. A return trip to the Serval on his terms would definitely be in his future.

Gregor's thoughts returned to the crew, "How is the crew?" He was worried they would have suffered some retribution for his actions.

He could see a conflicted look in Luxa's face. The news wasn't good. "Tell me Luxa."

And she did, "They tortured the captain yesterday trying to find out more about you and your cargo. He is still alive and the rest of the crew is fine. The pirates think you are dead in the ocean now."

Rage buzzed through Gregor's chest, but now was not the time and he tamped it down. There would be a time for that later. The sound of a boat could be heard approaching and Gregor looked to the ocean to find it.

"It is Boots," Luxa offered and soon Gregor was reunited with his sister.

Brother and sister hugged. Boots had tears streaming down her face. Gregor could see her make an effort to pull herself back together and soon enough she took charge and said "Sit, I have more supplies to take care of your injuries."

Boots set about rewrapping his injuries, and now that he could see them Gregor was surprised at the extent and number of them. And the smell, it was horrible, infection had set in. Boots finished cleaning and rewrapping his wounds and handed him a bottle of pills and a bottle of water. "Antibiotics, we have been giving them to you but you can do that now. Take one three times a day."

He stood back up and took Boots in his arms. "Thank you Boots, for everything." Boots or Luxa would have struggled to put his rescue together on their own, but together, they had been unstoppable. It had been impressive, Pike Logan couldn't have done better. Boots was on the verge of tears again and he changed the subject and asked, "Any food around here? I'm starving!"

They ate military freeze dried emergency rations, and while not particularly tasty, they filled him up. A bit too salty, but that was probably to hide the true flavour of the rations. As they finished their meal the flyers joined them.

Gregor looked at the group, his friends, feeling the mood. There would be no patrol tonight, they were all returning to the ship. "So," he started, "what's the plan?"

It was Phobos who had the plan and he didn't disappoint.

Chapter 16 – Return to Serval

They were in the air headed to the Serval. Gregor was behind Boots on Phobos and Luxa on Aurora. The pair of flyers with their passengers were side by side flying swiftly through the night air. While there had been a crescent moon when Gregor had been rescued, tonight there was no moon, darkness prevailed with exception to the stars in the sky.

The complete darkness suited the team from Underland, it was their element; it was all the flyers and Luxa had known and Boots and Gregor had spent more than enough time in Underland to be comfortable with it. Everyone knew the plan they all continued without a single word. With the ship now in sight, Aurora peeled off and with Luxa would keep their distance for now. Phobos flew in tight to the ship and check for any sentries.

Gregor had rode behind Boots because he would be first on the deck. Once Phobos confirmed they wouldn't be spotted, he touched down near the bow for but only for a second to let Gregor off then left with Boots to join Aurora.

From the flyer's previous patrols and observations they knew there were ten pirates on the Serval, the pirate skiff was tied to the larger vessel on the port side, aft.

Gregor took in his surroundings again using his echolocation skills. The pirates had a sentry walk the main deck every few hours, but the schedule was pretty loose, it happened every two to three hours. Gregor would position himself, then wait for the sentry.

The sentry would walk around the perimeter of the main deck, over that passage way were containers almost enclosing the route. Gregor climbed among the containers above the passage to find a position where he could swing down fast onto the main deck. Finding a spot he settled in and waited.

A long half hour later there was noise in the passage way. Someone was coming, and that someone wasn't taking any care to be quiet. Stealing a glimpse Gregor confirmed it was a pirate.

Counting in his head until the time was right, Gregor grabbed a structural part of the container supports and swung his body out over the ocean around the structural steel. His feet came around first and into the passage way where the pirate was. He hit the sentry hard with his feet knocking him toward the middle of the ship, the pirate's head bounding off another container. Gregor was now on his feet beside the downed pirate and hesitated debating mercy when the pirate started to raise his gun. With a gun coming to bear on Gregor no mercy was given as one of the knives Gregor carried was instantly in his hand slicing the sentry's throat preventing any cries altering the other pirates.

And then there were nine.

He didn't need to signal, he knew the flyers could see what he was doing in the dark and would now be approaching. He headed to the bow of the ship where the containers would block any line of sight from the bridge. He arrived the same time as the others.

With Boots and Luxa now onboard, the flyers took back to the air. The human's would now work their way to the aft crane then go below the main deck. Gregor took port, Luxa and Boots took starboard, and they started to silently make their way down the vessel.

Gregor was beside his blue containers yet again and noticed they had been opened. His performance must of made the pirates thing his cargo was valuable. He smiled at the idea, the pirate's futile effort to find something of value. A package water plant was pretty standard industrial equipment, nothing special there. Gegor kept moving and soon found himself at the aft crane. Luxa and Boots were already there and each gave him a thumbs up which he returned.

Gregor pointed at Luxa who then gripped the handle of the door. He counted down on his fingers and then Luxa pulled the door open and Gregor went through fast and down the set of stairs that were right there. The passage was clear so he motioned the others in and they closed the door.

Now below the main deck they would have to start to search for the crew, when he was imprison he recalled the curvature of the hull on the one wall indicating he was fairly deep in the vessel. The crew would likely be lower, so they went down to the first deck below the water line before they started searching.

Assuming the crew would be in the rooms against the hull like Gregor was, that's where they started opening doors and checking. They were torn between speed and stealth, they couldn't do both searching, and settled on a speed somewhere between the two. The sentry Gregor took down would be missed by the other pirates soon enough and the other pirates would come looking.

They started checking compartments and on the third one they noticed that the locking mechanism had been worked on recently. The typical heavy multilayered paint and rust had been scraped and was now showing bright silver metal underneath. Likely the door had been modified by the pirates so it would only lock from this side of the door, a promising sign.

Spinning the wheel the pulled the door open and a figure in the dark room skittered away from them to the far curved wall. The large figured was covered in long thin wounds similar to what Gregor had and was warred in dirt from head to toe.

Entering the room, Luxa behind him, he realized it was Mark the captain. "I'm sorry Mark!" Gregor said feeling that his escape was the cause of the beating. He went to the captain to help him to his feet.

Mark was taking a moment to adjust to his unexpected guests. "Gregor?" he asked. Seeing Gregor nod some of his old bluster returned, "No matter, they would have just found another excuse to beat the captain, it was coming regardless."

Their reunion was cut short by the sound of gunfire from the passage way, Gregor turned and through the partially open door saw a spray of blood in the air and Boots crumple to the deck. "Nooo!" Gregor yelled.

The raging buzz he normally kept under control flooded his body almost instantly. Mark and Luxa disappeared from his awareness, there were only pirates now. He could hear footsteps in the passage way rapidly approaching, they were going to lock him in the room.

Waiting until the right moment he burst into the passageway swinging the heavy metal door wide open catching one pirates behind it, the crunch of bones from a leg could be heard. He slapped away the barrel of a gun held by the second pirate and as the pirate tried to recover his gun Gregor reached out and pulled a knife from the enemy's belt and sliced deep across his gut; intestines spilling out.

Gregor then flicked the knife at the first pirate with the broken leg catching him in the throat, then as the second pirate was falling he took the gun he had initially swatted away. Hearing more incoming pirates he aimed the gun to the other end of the passage he started to make his way towards them and pulled the trigger.

Out of bullets he tossed the gun aside and felt something on his shoulder, he spun around ready to attack, fists raised. "Gregor!" Luxa yelled at him.

He froze, then realized he still had his fists raised at Luxa and lowered them. The cold brutal stare on his face slowly replaced by fear, his mind trying to process two different lines of thought. Was Boots OK? And he had just utterly lost control – something he thought his years of training would never let happen – and almost hit Luxa.

Chapter 17 – Split Up

Struggling for control he met Luxa at Boots' side who despite the injury was already struggling to sit up. "Boots?"

Boots smiled weakly, but it was Luxa that answered, "She will be fine." She was finishing tying some ripped clothing around her upper arm. "The bullet went right through and missed the bone."

Blood was leaking down Boots' arm, dripping off her fingers. It looked like a lot, but Luxa was right, she would recover. He put his hand out on Boots shoulder, forcing a smile onto his face he said, "A close one, you still with us?"

She tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace with the pain, "Let's take it to them." Brave words from his little sister.

Gregor stood and took a couple of steps down the passageway, a little lost, a little unsure. He had lost control, he couldn't go off without a plan or completely unrestrained like that. He again felt a hand on his shoulder but this time didn't react. He knew it would be Luxa.

Luxa seem to know his dilemma, he wasn't sure how she could see into his soul like that. "You did what you needed to do Gregor. No more, no less. Do not worry, I would never let you lose yourself to the rage." Gregor always felt like a part of him died each time he let the rage out, even a little bit.

Still his mind still unsettled, Luxa took charge. She knew him so well and knew he needed time to pull it back together. "My queen, I'm lucky to have her," he thought focusing on her goodness; the qualities that made her a good mother, a good queen, and loved by the people of Regalia.

After a quick discussion with the captain it was determined the remaining four pirates would likely be in the living area of the ship. Luxa and Gregor would go after them, Boots would accompany them to the main deck and join up with Phobos, and Mark would free the rest of his crew.

Gregor knew for Mark there was no other choice, while the captain didn't feel responsible for the attack, he felt responsible for keeping his crew safe, the man had a big heart and put everything on the line for his crew. Leaving Mark behind Luxa led the way up to the main deck. Gregor's resolve improving with each step as his control over the rage and his confidence returned.

They were coming on the main deck by the aft crane using the same door as before. Gregor was behind Luxa and watched her as she cracked the door and took a peak out.

"It looks clear," she said and proceeded to open the door further only to be greeted by a hail of bullets. "Mother of diggers!" she yelled as she fell back into the stairwell and into Gregor's arms.

Instantly concerned, Gregor asked, "Are you hurt?"

Luxa flinched as she flexed her hand, "Just some burns and scratches on my one hand from ricochets."

Gregor glanced down at her hand. It was worse than she had indicated but nothing that would slow her down. With Luxa still in his arms he couldn't resist kissing her. From below Boots called up, "Guys, remember the gun fire? You can get a room later."

"Get a room?" Luxa asked, unfamiliar with the phrase.

Boots and Gregor laughed, "I'll explain later," he said. With the access cut off they were moving back down the stair and they were approached by a number of men. Gregor smiled as he recognized the lead man, the ship's chef and behind him the ship's engineer. They were in good company now.

Luxa indicated what the needed to do, looking for some support from the crew as they knew the vessel best. "We need to get behind the pirate on the deck to take him out and we need to get to the bridge. I am sure we will find the other two pirates somewhere along the way."

The engineer spoke first, "Best way to the main deck without being seen is the port stairwell."

The chef continued, "Fastest way to the bridge is the starboard stairwell."

Gregor looked at Luxa knowing they were splitting up. Seemingly reading his mind again she reassured him, "You are no less of a person for it, you control the rage, do not let it control you." Gregor watched her turn to the engineer, "Let us go," and they were off.

Next Gregor turned to Boots who was starting to look a little sick, shock was setting in from the gun wound. "Are you able to make it Boots?"

She shook her head, her skin as pale as an Underlander. "I can't do it Gregor."

One of the crew from behind the chef spoke up, "We can take her to the medical room and look at her; a number of the men are going there. She will be safe there." The medical room on the ship was tiny, not meant for an event like this, but she should be safe with a number of the crew.

Gregor saw Boots nod that she was OK with that and Gregor thanked the crew member that had offered. He now turned to the chef, "Are you with me?"

The chef grinned, "Wouldn't miss it, just need to make a stop on the way." Then he and Gregor made for the starboard stairwell.

Chapter 18 – Shadows

Luxa followed the ship's chief engineer through a maze of passages. They had not said anything to each other and were making good progress, both moving quietly. They stood before a door and the man pointed to it, indicating the needed to pass thru it, then motioned her to stand beside it. He stood to the other side then pushed it open.

Nothing happened. Poking her head around Luxa did not see any cause for concern. She realized she was rubbing her injured hand with her good hand. There had not been any immediate cause for concern that time either.

Now fully through the door and holding a knife in her hand Luxa looked up the stairs before her. The engineer went past her and up the first set of stairs. She noticed he now carried a knife in one of his hands as well. It looked like it had been liberated from one of the pirates Gregor had shot.

He motioned her up and she went up to him then past to the next landing, a door was in front of her. The engineer met her there and bending close to her ear whispered, "Main deck," then pointed at the door.

Repeating as they did at the first door they stood to either side and he pushed it open. They both cringed as the door squeaked all the way open threatening to give their location away. The sound was probably not nearly as loud as it seemed. They both moved onto the main deck, neither moving to close the door behind them. Best to leave it open than repeat the squeaky movement.

From what Luxa could tell, they should be aft of the shooter so they started creeping forward. It was not soon before they discovered the shooter. The pirate was out of their reach and with only knives they had no way to get near him as he was up on a catwalk.

Well, if they could not get to him, they would have to get the pirate to come to them instead. A plan formed in her mind and she hoped the flyers were ready.

They moved forward and were now hiding behind the row of shipping containers immediacy fore of the crane and passage where the gunman was. She started taking off her long sleeve shirt – something she always wore in Overland – and the engineer gave her an appreciative look. Because of the climate she had been only wearing a sports bra underneath, while she was not modest, she was now thankful for Boots' advice for what to wear on the trip. She gave the crewman a stare and he quickly put his attention elsewhere.

Snagging the neck of her shirt on the tip of a dagger she held it to the edge of shipping container to just a hint of the shirt could be seen by the pirate. Then she stomped hard on the deck creating a loud noise. The crewman was immediacy alarmed, but quickly figured out what she had in mind.

They were not disappointed and bullets flew in their direction, she pulled the shirt back noticing holes in it. "That was a good shirt," she whispered in no one in particular, disappointed about the holes in it. The merino wool hiking shirts were a favorite of hers, they breathed and kept the sun off her skin.

She turned to the engineer and no longer trying to be quiet said, "Run to the bow."

He did and she followed, intentionally not trying to be quiet. Arriving at the bow they hid behind a large spool that had an anchor chain around it. Using her knife again she poked her shirt just above the spool and was again rewarded with gun fire. The pirate was now in the open air of the bow.

Luxa smiled knowingly. The engineer beside her was starting to get jittery thinking they were cornered. But he did not know what lurked in the shadows of the night. He did not have to wait long to find out. With a scream and some random gun fire they were suddenly alone. The two stood up and the crewman asked, "What happened, where did he go?" referring to the gunman.

"Phobos is what happened," thought Luxa but she replied with "Just wait." Then from the sky a body crashed to the deck. The engineer was even more puzzled, but it would have to wait as they heard gunfire from the bridge.

She recalled the bridge on her prior visit, the front a continuous glass window. Having an idea Luxa was back in action and went to the pirate and retrieved the gun. It looked serviceable. She handed it to the engineering and asked, "How does this work?"

The crewman gave it a quick check, "It has a full mag," pointing to the safety said, "off and on," then the trigger, "pull to fire."

She pulled her newly vented merino wool shirt back on and took the gun back, "I am Luxa by the way," then flicked the safety off.

"I'm Dave," he said somewhat taken back by Luxa's style.

She smiled, she was about to blow Dave's mind with the impossible. "Thank you for the help Dave," she said, then gave him a wink. Luxa was enjoying herself.

"I might be a bit crazy," she thought to herself. Not everyone's idea of fun was taking on a ship full of pirates intent on killing you. In the darkness under threat of death she was in her element. An apex predator. It was almost unfair for the pirates with both her and Gregor coming for them. Almost.

Then holding the gun in her right hand ready to fire she held up her open left hand straight in the air and called to the night. "I need a lift," at which Dave gave her a puzzling look.

From the darkness Aurora arrived without a sound, just a slight disturbance in the air gave her away. Dave instinctively took a step back. Aurora's claw wrapped around Luxa's wrist the same time Luxa gripped Aurora's fibula and Luxa was carried in to the air. "To the bridge Aurora, straight on with speed."

Chapter 19 – And Then There Were None

Gregor and the chef were about halfway up the stairwell to the bridge. "This is our stop," the chef said and they left the stairway and entered the deck. Gregor followed him and they were soon in the kitchen. From the drawer he produced a small hand gun and a large knife that didn't look appropriate for meal preparation. It was immediately apparent the chef was comfortable with the two weapons; being the ship's cook obviously wasn't the man's first career.

The knife was a ka-bar that looked like it had seen some rough action, but unlike the pirate's knives and guns, it looked well taken care of with a sharp smooth blade and not a spot of rust. A butter knife would be sharper than some of the knives the pirate were carrying around.

"I hope you didn't use that carve the roast the other night," Gregor said with a deadpan face.

With a mischievous look the chef just shrugged and they were back on their way to the bridge. He seemed to be enjoying this.

They were now on the same level as the bridge in the stairwell, both flat to the wall either side of a door. Gregor pushed the door open the chef peered around, his gun ready.

Gregor watched him and after the chef went through he followed suit. The room they were in was vacant, but they cleared it checking any hiding spots just in case. Off to the side was the captain's ready room and they check it as well but found it vacant.

They took position around the room's fore door. The door to the bridge. Gregor could feed the rager buzz in his chest again. He took a deep breath and told himself, "I control it," and felt the buzz settle. The rage was still there, but a calm settled over it. Closing his eyes he took another deep breath and let it out, he was ready now. Now eyes open he turned to the chef who was grinning ear to ear.

They had talked before entering the stairwell below the main deck and had decided stealth was the way to go except for this door. This door would be about catching them by surprise. "Hit them hard and fast," the chef had said. Gregor believe the man had experience in this type of thing. The grin staring back at him confirmed his believe.

Gregor nodded to the chef and as he did he could feel time slow, his senses sharpen, just like when the rage came on, but this time more controlled. It was his tool to control, the rage would work for him, not control him.

They both burst through the door and were on the starboard side of the bridge, there was a man near the door, and presumably it was his job to watch the door. He didn't do his job well though as the chef's knife cut his throat before the watch had even moved. The chef hadn't even slowed his step.

The slid in behind a console as gunfire erupted. The familiar rubber and electronic smell of the radar console filled Gregor's nostrils but was soon replaced with the acidic smell of spent ammunition from an AK-47 and shorted out electronics from the console.

Pinned down Gregor looked around for options and caught the impression of movement in the darkness outside heading to the bridge. Stars blinked in and out, something was coming. "Down!" he called to the chef and pushed him to the floor face first following suit himself.

As they fell flat on the floor as all the glass along the front of the bridge exploded in a hail of bullets. In the middle of the explosion Luxa flew through the air and rolled to a stop against the aft of the bridge. She was laughing, delirious from her crazy stunt, "Take that pirate!" she said pointing at the pirate that had been shooting at Gregor and the chef. The pirate that had been shooting at him had been perforated by both bullets and shards of glass. Gregor wasn't sure which had finished the pirate, not that it mattered.

Now standing Gregor went to Luxa but she brushed him off pointing to the port side of the bridge. "He went out there, my ankle is buggered; you are on your own."

He turned to leave, but Luxa pulled him back and down to her level on the floor giving him a kiss on the lips. "Come back to me."

Gregor smiled, "Luxa, there was never any question." He then stood again and ran after the pirate.

He had recognized the pirate when they entered the bridge, it was the unremarkable looking one with all the authority. The leader, the one that had taken extra pleasure in Gregor's torture. Running out onto the open deck beside the bridge he vaulted over the railing and into the air. Phobos was immediately under him.

"He is going for the skiff," Phobos said. He took a wide circle to the other side of the ship to let Gregor see the situation for himself and then put Gregor down near the pirate but out of view.

He had noticed the pirate with a hostage and no gun so he didn't see any point being stealthy. The best approach would be to just walk up and get as close as he could without putting the hostage in too much risk.

Round a corner the unassuming but extremely cunning lead pirate stood there in front of Gregor, near where they had originally boarded. Still trying to get back to his skiff for an escape. "You will let me leave or the captain dies." He was holding Mark the captain from behind, the golden dagger with the jeweled hilt at the captain's throat.

Figuring the pirate would kill the captain regardless to slow Gregor down, he ignored him and said, "You told me to lay low, remember Mark?" and gestured to the deck with his eyes.

Gregor could see the confusion on Mark's face wondering why Gregor brought that up now, then understanding replaced the confusion. The pirate's impatience extremely apparent, Gregor needed to make this happen now.

He could feel the rager in him buzz in his chest, but he tamped it down letting determination and control take its place. Behind his back and out of view of the pirate Gregor slid his small skeletal knife out of its sheath and felt its weight. The knife was razor sharp but not an ideal weight or balance for throwing. It would have to do.

He nods to Mark and the captain drops like a sack of potatoes, the jeweled dagger slicing his chin in the process. The pirate struggles to hold him up momentarily taking his attention from Gregor. Using the distraction Gregor throws his knife catching the pirate in the throat, not a killing blow, but good enough. He charges the pirate, the gap closed as the pirate looks back up towards Gregor, one hand trying to get the dagger up, the other trying to cover the slice in his neck he was losing blood from, the captain now forgotten.

The pirate didn't have a chance.

Gregor delivers a vicious blow to the pirate's nose with the base of his palm, his full momentum from running to the pirate driving the hit that much harder. Then in a single fluid motion relieves the pirate of the jeweled dagger, pushes the captain aside and sinks the dagger to its hilt in the pirate's chest.

The pirate falls to the deck and Gregor looks over to the captain. All that is heard is the soft sound of the ocean. After a few seconds Mark says, "I'm too old for this shit Gregor," and pair starts to laugh.

Chapter 20 – Return Home

It wasn't long before Gregor felt the familiar vibration of the ships engines return to the deck. The captain had been bandaged up and was on the bridge despite protests from the crew's designated medical officer and was probably on the radio by now. They would be at Mombasa port by morning.

They had talked before Mark had gone to the bridge, "My friends were never hear Mark."

"Aye, I figured as much" the captain said, "Who would be believe us anyway? Giant bats and all." He was right. He paused before he went to the bridge, "Do they need a lift?"

Gregor smiled. "That would be appreciated," he said, nodding at the same time.

"The ladies can board in the port, have the bats board after we set sail. We won't be in port for more than a few days." Then he was gone, off to lead his men.

The ships medical officer had tended to Boots and while it was a nasty injury, she would recover with just a scar marring her beauty. Gregor didn't think she would mine however, more like she would wear it with honour, proud of it. She had told Gregor about the street punks who had to tried to rob her, she would blame the injury on them since she couldn't admit to being on the ship.

Soon after being bandaged up, Gregor helped Boots onto Phobos and with Aurora and Luxa they were off. "Boots, just do not bleed on my fur like your brother always does," Phobos had said as they took off.

Boots was almost passed out and hadn't heard the comment, Gregor had given him a stern look to which the flyer had replied, "Do not worry Gregor, she is safe with me." Gregor knew she was, despite Phobos' comments, he really did care; he just didn't like to show it.

The flyers would stay on the island until it was time to board the Serval but Boots and Luxa would pack up camp return their rented fishing boat in Mombasa and board the Serval, Luxa would do it under the radar which wasn't hard at the busy port, Boots would play it up as the dramatic sister since she was injured and in Mombasa legitimately with her passport.

At the port they were met by the police, whose investigation was somewhat cursory, they took some general statement from the crew, then collected the pirate's skiff and bodies then left. The captain didn't expect them to return.

Also at the port was a physician hired by the Serval's owner to take care of them. The man was efficient and proper. He was also somewhat suspicious of Gregor's injuries, "These were taken care of sometime ago," the doctor had said.

Gregor had shrugged indifference and the doctor didn't purse it. Gregor felt the doctor had been in situations before where it wasn't a good idea to ask questions. "The stiches are well done, but you should be taking this," and he handed Gregor a prescription for a different antibiotic. "I suspect the doctor you don't seem to recall has you on the wrong antibiotics and while it would work, this one is more appropriate. Finish the one you are on, then take these."

With some further instructions of care for his injuries the doctor moved onto the next member of the crew.

Some of the crew had flown home rather than return the Serval, understandably they wanted to be with their families. Mark still had enough crew to run the ship and because he was loyal to his men and because of the cargo would pick up once they left port he refused to take on more sailors insisting the spots were reserved for his men after they had time with their families.

Three days later they were setting off. Boots had been given her own quarters and had been moving around the ship freely. Luxa without a passport had been hidden, but now away from the port was happy to be out and about. Night would be coming soon and Gregor expected the flyers would arrive shortly after.

A few after sunset two giant shadows shifted what little light there was and settled on a stack of containers near the bow, Aurora and Phobos were here. After a short greeting they were ushered from the cargo area to the passageways. The flyers struggled with walking in the narrow confines and over the raised lips for the doors, but were happy not to be flying and avoiding people through the wilderness. Mark had arranged for an empty container to be on deck for them which they could sleep in and come and go from as they please. Although once they met the cook they seemed very willing to endure the less than idea conditions to get to the crew's mess.

Thanks to the flyers they had fresh seafood every night for dinner which was masterfully prepared by the Serval's chef, also thanks to the flyers there were never any left overs.

The trip home was thankfully uneventful.

Epilogue

Gregor was sitting on the examination bench of his family doctor in New York City. He had thought of going to the Underland and having Howard, Luxa's chief physician who ran the Underland hospital, look at him, but if he needed prescriptions it was easier managed in Overland. It was a novel conversation with his doctor as this time he could tell the story of his injuries whereas with his other injuries he couldn't. Saying he fell down the stairs only work so many times. Besides, even if he had told his previous adventures, who would believe that a giant rat that was trying to kill him had caught Gregor in the chest with a claw leaving three long jagged scars.

"Some interesting scars you have their Gregor." The doctor had been the family doctor for as long as he could remember, and while the doctor had seen Judith many times, Gregor tried not to use him much.

"The pirates were brutal," Gregor responded flatly.

The doctor looked at him carefully and said, "Some of these injuries are much older than that Gregor."

Gregor said nothing. A silence took over the room. The doctor, uncomfortable with the silence, gave in first, "Well at least it looks like you had good care with each injury."

Gregor had to agree with that. Howard always did do a good job and cared deeply for his patients.

Realizing Gregor wasn't going to offer any more explanation, the doctor excused himself. "Take care Gregor and if you ever need to talk or need some help," he paused, glancing at Gregor's old injuries, "you know where I am."

They had been home for about a week and whereas on a Sunday usually just Gregor and Judith would come home to Overland, Luxa came this time as well. Monday morning was the first day of preschool for Judith and Luxa didn't want to miss it.

Although they were both nervous, Luxa was exceptionally nervous. Gregor looked at her and playfully said "You flew through a window six stories in the air while firing a machine gun, and you're nervous about meeting Judith's nursery school teacher?"

The first day was a bit of a meet and greet so that the parent could meet the teacher and see the class room, it also let the kids do the same with their parents at the school so it would be easier for them do it on their own the next day.

They were walking to the school which was near Gregor's apartment. "Shhh!" she said. "The other parents do not need to hear about pirates."

Gregor smiled, he was enjoying being outside, the fresh air, and most importantly, the time with his family. "No, they probably don't."

Judith added her thoughts on the subject, "Mommy beats up bad pirates." A statement of fact from their four year old that was not to be debated.

Luxa looked shocked in what her little girl had just said. Gregor on the other hand, despite not what the little girl should be repeating at her age, thought it was funny and added his own opinion, "That she does honey, that she does."

It was the middle of the night and Gregor had awoke. A dream, while not a nightmare it had still woken him up. His recollection of it already fading. He rolled over wrapping an arm around Luxa who he was happy stayed an extra night after Judith's first day at school. "She is amazing and I'm lucky to have her," he thought.

About to go back to sleep he heard a knock at the door. Only Nerissa could time a visit with his dreams. Careful not to wake Luxa he got up and answered the door.

Without a word he let her in. She went to the kitchen table and took a seat. Gregor went to the kitchen to put the kettle on. Soon he was seated at the table with Nerissa, each of them with a cup of tea warming their hands and both comfortable with the silence.

"There was truth in your dreams." It wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact.

Thinking back to Nerissa's visit that precipitated the last adventure Gregor said, "There was Nerissa, they saved my life twice." While he didn't understand it yet, in fact he had been a firm non believer in things like this not too long ago, he was thankful his dreams had keep his light burning bright. First the prophecies, now his dreams, it was all a bit disconcerting.

Nerissa took a sip of tea, savouring the drink. "Tell her."

She was referring to Luxa. "How can I tell her and explain the dreams if I don't understand them myself?"

Sitting quietly, Nerissa slowly took another sip of tea then put the mug down. "Luxa will be your wife, she will understand."

Gregor froze. A cough from the bedroom door made Gregor move his eye from Nerissa to the doorway where Luxa now stood. Luxa seeming equally surprised as Gregor. Looking each other in the eyes they said in unison, "Wife?"

With a happy smile Nerissa said with confidence, "Not yet, but soon."

Author's Notes

A good example of a package water plant like Gregor would be delivering and setting up:

/products/package-water-treatment-plants/

Port Said and Mombasa are the locations of real cargo ports:

wiki/Port_Said

wiki/Mombasa

The Serval is a real ship that does dock at Mombasa.

en/ais/details/ships/shipid:269919/imo:9106481/mmsi:636017246/vessel:SERVAL

Booking passage on a container ship is entirely possible.

. /

Cairo to Port Said train service is real, here is the schedule:

#Cairo - Port Said

Pirates attack off the coast of Somalia are a real issue:

wiki/Piracy#/media/File:Somalian_Piracy_Threat_Map_

wiki/Piracy_off_the_coast_of_Somalia

wiki/Piracy

Being held for ransom by pirates does occur, here are a few accounts I read while researching for this story:

International/story?id=7287055

lifeandstyle/2011/jun/11/kidnapped-by-somali-pirates-experience

world/2015/jun/02/my-977-days-held-hostage-by-somali-pirates

WaterTec is a fictitious company Gregor works for. A cross between a clean water nonprofit and engineers without borders. Clean water is an issue in Kenya and there are a number of Non-Government Organizations (NGO) working in Kenya to provide clean water.

wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Kenya

Pike Logan is a real book series by Brad Taylor and I highly recommend it. Grolier Recovery Services is a business front used within that series which uses the premises of archeological recovery to gain legitimate entry to countries for covert operations. Egypt's rich archeological history would be a prime location for Pike Logan and his taskforce team to use this front.

t/brad-taylor/

In addition to being a fan of Brad Taylor, I'm also a fan of Lee Child's Jack Reacher and couldn't resist using the line "Gregor said nothing," in this story. Jack would be proud of Gregor's toughness.

c/lee-child/

wiki/Jack_Reacher

A bird can fly 250 to 500 miles in a day. I did take the liberty of assuming the pirate attack on Gregor's vessel did take place in this range assuming flyers have a similar range. Pirate attacks can and do take place much further from shore than that.

A freighter would take roughly 10 to 20 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean depending on port locations, ocean currents, and wait times at the ports. An hour of air travel is roughly equivalent to how far a freighter would go in a day.

The Indian Ocean does have a current but the current splits between north and south is slightly south of Mombasa so in reality the Serval would of actually drifted north (the ship would have no reason to be south of Mombasa to catch the southerly current if it was coming from the Red Sea to the port in Mombasa), but for the purposes of my story I had them drift south.

wiki/Indian_Ocean_Gyre

oceans/indian-ocean/6-main-currents-in-the-indian-ocean-ocean-geography/2682

Bats don't have ankles for Luxa to grip for her claw to hand maneuver.

.

US doctors do have a duty to report certain injuries.

"And then there were none" is a literary reference to an Agatha Christie murder mystery of the same name.

wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None