you need to know: Thanks, didn't think this story was very good
gabbie519: That's great I make you explode :D
I do not own The Underland Chronicles
Third person POV
Everybody was shaken except for Ripred, Twitchtip, The Warrior and Boots, who had no idea what was going on.
Luxa tossed the book to Howard, who glared at her but caught the book and started reading, "Chapter 3,"
Gregor swung the crowbar, but the rat caught it in its teeth and yanked him forward. He was airborne for a moment before he slammed onto his stomach in the tunnel. The crowbar clattered into the dark as his hands barely kept his face from smacking into the cold cement floor.
Grace was terrified now; this is why she couldn't let her family go back to the Underland.
"Gregor!" He could hear his father's anguished cry as the rat pinned him to the ground with its chest. Hot breath hit his cheek. He tried to swing backward but he was helpless.
"Pitiful. Just pitiful," Ripred murmured to himself.
"Pitiful. Just pitiful," a familiar voice hissed in his ear.
Ripred smiled at the similarities, seems he didn't change that much in the future. While everybody was confused, who could it be? Although Gregor glanced at Ripred.
Gregor felt a wave of relief that was immediately followed by annoyance. "Get off me, man!"
The rat simply shifted into a more comfortable position. "You see, the second you lose your light, you're as good as dead."
Ripred chuckled, he was going to have fun messing with Gregor in the future.
The beam of the flashlight hit them. Gregor squinted and saw his dad approaching them with a chunk of concrete in one hand.
"Let him go!" shouted his father, lifting the concrete.
"It's okay, Dad! It's just Ripred!" Gregor squirmed to free himself but the rat weighed a ton. "He's a friend," he added to reassure his dad, although calling Ripred a "friend" was something of a stretch.
Ripred feigned being hurt and put a claw over his heart, "I'm hurt Gregor, you don't think of me as a friend."
Everybody rolled their eyes while The Warrior actually walked towards Ripred with a glint in his eyes, "Of course you're my friend Ripred," He then proceeded to hug him.
Everyone was shocked, even Twitchtip who just backed away from Ripred. After a second The Warrior let go of Ripred and walked back toward Queen Luxa, he smirked as he sat down since he knew, he even surprised Ripred. Everybody was quiet for a few seconds then Howard cleared his throat and started reading again, though he kept glancing at The Warrior and started expecting him to start hugging peope.
"Ripred?" said his dad. "Ripred?" His chest was heaving up and down, his eyes wild as he tried to make sense of the name.
"Yes, I try and give your boy survival tips but he just doesn't pay attention." Ripred rose and easily flipped Gregor over with his paw. The rat's scarred face was accusing. "You haven't been practicing your echolocation, have you?"
"Probably not," Ripred looked at Gregor since knew that The Warrior obviously learned it.
Grace was confused, 'Gregor's been learning echolocation?"
"I have, too!" shot back Gregor. "I practice with my sister."
Lizzie was curious, she helped him practice echolocation?
This was true, although Gregor omitted saying that he mainly did it because Lizzie made him.
'Of course,' Lizzie thought while rolling her eyes, 'I made him do it.'
She was extremely conscientious about homework. When she found out that Ripred had told Gregor to practice his echolocation, she took it very seriously. At least three times a week she'd drag him off somewhere in the building — the hallway, the stairwell, the lobby — and blindfold him. Then he'd have to stand there making a clicking sound with his tongue, trying to find her. The sound of his click was supposed to bounce off her, and somehow he was supposed to know where she was standing. But despite her best efforts, Gregor's echolocation skills weren't improving much.
Ripred snorted, but was surprised that Lizzie helped; he glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes.
Grace was upset again, 'Another secret, piled up on top of each other.'
Now, with Ripred getting on his case, Gregor felt defensive. "Look, I told you, that echolocation stuff doesn't work for me. Where's Vikus, anyway?"
"He's not coming," said Ripred.
"Told you it could be a trap." Lizzie murmured.
"But he wrote me about 'The Prophecy of Blood.' I thought he was meeting us," said Gregor.
"And I thought you'd be alone," said Ripred. He sat back on his haunches and looked at Gregor's father. "Do you remember me?"
His dad was still clutching the piece of concrete, but it was down by his side. He stared at Ripred as if he were trying to remember someone from a dream. A long dream filled with hunger and loneliness and fear and the taunting of voices in the dark. Voices of rats. Like the one who sat before him. His brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of the jumble in his head. "You brought me food. Down in the rat pit...you brought me food sometimes."
Grace was surprised, this rat showed her husband compassion.
"That's right," said Ripred. "And did anyone here bring me food? I'm famished."
Ripred did look thinner than usual. His belly had shrunk down some and the bones in his face were more pronounced.
Ripred grimaced, he was not looking forward to that.
Gregor hadn't even planned to see Ripred, let alone feed him. But his hands automatically dug in his jacket pockets. His fingers found a stray fortune cookie from the night before and he pulled it out. "Here," he said.
"Wow, all that for little old me? You shouldn't have." He said mockingly.
Ripred reacted with exaggerated amazement. "Oh, heavens, is this whole thing for me?"
Everyone was a little surprised at the similarities.
"Look, I didn't even know —" Gregor began.
"No, please. Don't apologize." Ripred's tongue darted out and flicked the cookie into his mouth. "Oh, yes, oh, my word," he raved as he chewed and swallowed. "I'm absolutely stuffed!"
The Warrior actually started chuckling at this.
"How come you're so hungry?" asked Gregor.
"Well, what with Solovet bent on starving the rats out —" said Ripred. Gregor vaguely remembered Ripred bringing this up at dinner in Regalia once. The humans had taken one of the rats' rivers or something.
Luxa had been thinking during the reading, she had been listening but she had been thinking. Where was she? Was she in the forest, where she had been picked up? When she heard Solovet's name she snapped out of her thinking.
"And having to feed that gluttonous baby you dumped on me —" said Ripred.
"The Bane?" interrupted Gregor. "How is he?"
Ripred groaned, "He's a pain."
The Warrior and Queen Luxa both winced, that one rat had almost brought the destruction of Regalia.
"He's a royal pain, frankly. He eats three times as much as the rest of us, yet he can't seem to get the knack of hunting. If we don't feed him he whines. So, of course, we do feed him and then he grows another six inches and whines louder. Believe me, he's doing a lot better than I am," growled Ripred.
Ripred winced and so did Twitchtip, she had been getting used to the smell of the humans, even if it still bothered her.
The rat found an old two-by-four by the stairs and began to gnaw on it. Strips of wood curled away from the board like apple peel.
"What about Luxa? Is she home?" asked Gregor, almost afraid to hear the answer.
Gregor blushed, while Luxa smiled at him, glad that he cared for her.
"No, she's not home," said Ripred, a little less brusquely. "I have it on good authority that she's not being held prisoner by the rats. It's possible she did escape the Labyrinth but...I wouldn't be too hopeful there, if I were you."
Luxa, Howard and Gregor all winced, while The Warrior squeezed Queen Luxa's hand.
Gregor gave a small nod. It had been months. If Luxa had escaped the rats, why wasn't she back in Regalia?
"And the others?" he said.
"Her bat's still missing. And the lovely Twitchtip's unaccounted for as well. Oh, you know who did show up? That crawler who was carting around your sister. What's his name, Tock...Ting...?" said Ripred.
"Temp!" Boots shouted then proceeded to giggle and climb all over Temp.
While Ripred looked at Twitchtip, his tail twitched a little in concern since he didn't show it on his face.
"Temp?" said Gregor's dad.
"That's it, Temp. He got home a few weeks after you left, as good as ever. Spent some time in the Dead Land growing a new leg or two," said Ripred. "He's very excited about seeing 'the princess' again."
"I was, see, I was." Temp said.
Gregor and his dad exchanged a look. Even if they could somehow convince his mom to let him go down, getting her to let Boots return to the Underland would be impossible.
Grace nodded, like she'd even let any of them go.
Ripred caught the moment that passed between them. "Well, you do know she has to come back? I mean, you've read 'The Prophecy of Blood,' right?"
"I've read it," said Gregor evasively. "I'm just not sure what happens next."
"I'll tell you what happens next," said Ripred. "Vikus is sending a bat up to your laundry room at midnight. He expects you and your sister to be waiting for it. We all do."
"And if we're not?" asked Gregor.
"If you're not, there's very little chance of any warmblooded creature surviving in the Underland. There's a plague running around down there causing all kinds of trouble, or didn't you hear?" said Ripred.
Luxa winced, there was a plague and she wasn't there to rule the kingdom.
"Yeah, that plague thing, that's not going to be a real plus when I ask my mom if we can go," said Gregor.
"The plague. Tell us about it," said Gregor's dad.
"Oh, it's some kind of pox," said Ripred. "High fever, pustules on the skin, eventually shuts down the lungs. They call it 'The Curse of the Warmbloods' because it only affects warmblooded creatures. The rats are dropping like flies. The bodies of a few bats who were scouts were found in the Dead Land. And nobody's heard from the nibblers yet."
"Really? The nibblers?" Ripred questioned, while Luxa and Howard thought the same thing.
"The nibblers?' said Gregor.
"Mice. That's what we call them. But listen, they've only had three plague cases in Regalia, and they're quarantined, so you'll be perfectly safe there. That's all we really need you for, the meeting in Regalia. All the warmbloods are sending representatives. Every creature's blood will be tested for the plague by the humans before they can participate. Just show up for that and you can go right home," said Ripred.
The Warrior snorted, 'Liar.' He thought.
"I can?" said Gregor. Usually a prophecy required a lot more of him.
"Why not? All the prophecy says is to bring you from above. After that, what use will you be? You're eleven. No one expects you to personally whip up some cure for the plague with your chemistry set," said Ripred.
Luxa shook her head, she knew there was something else to that.
The rat was right. Curing a plague was really more of a job for doctors and scientists than for warriors.
"Depends on the type of doctor." The Warrior whispered angrily, Queen Luxa squeezed his hand and rested her head on his shoulder.
Gregor looked at his dad hopefully. "It's just for one meeting, Dad. And no one with the plague will be there. That would be okay, don't you think?"
"I don't know, Gregor," said his dad with a shake of his head.
"Oh, the warrior will come. We know that. It's his sister we're worried about," said Ripred.
"What makes you so sure I'll be there?" asked Gregor.
"Because of that bat of yours. The big moody one," said Ripred.
Gregor looked at Ares, what was wrong with him? He was worried.
"Ares?" said Gregor. "What's this got to do with Ares? Are they going to banish him if I don't show up?"
"It's worse than that, I'm afraid." The board Ripred was gnawing on snapped in two. He spit out a mouthful of wood shavings and looked at Gregor tiredly. "Those three plague cases in Regalia? He's one of them."
Everyone was silent; Grace could see distress and saw how much Gregor cared for the bat, Ares.
Luxa was stressed, who were the other two cases?
Howard cleared his throat snapping everyone out of their thoughts, "Who's going to read next?"
"I will," Queen Luxa said.
Sorry for the chapter being short, this was probably one of the shorter chapters. Still deciding on when Lizzie can come in, I know when Hazard is, just still not sure. Review!
- Fandom-girl