"Are you well, Overlander?" Nike's concerned voice came from beneath them. Was he well? His favorite place on earth was being ravaged by mites, the girl he loves and her bond were dead, and his friends were all either dead or would be soon.
"I'm fine," Gregor lied.
"That is...good." Howard gave him a weak smile that he was able to detect with his echolocation. This whole ordeal must be really tough on Howard. In order for him to reign, so many people that he loved needed to have died. At least Luxa and Nerissa, plus York and Susannah, Howard's parents. More people, if other families had been given the throne first. A lot of regular people would have died, too. His newly-inherited kingdom would be crumbling, people dying by a nearly indestructible force. It was a wonder he was even appearing as well held-together as he did.
"That has to be really stressful for you, Howard."
The king nodded. "Yes, it is not doing much for my sanity." He sighed. "Three and a half months ago. That was the last time I was happy. Before the plight. Anyhow, Ripred has just arrived here in Regalia with a few ideas as to how we can stop the mites, and why they do this. As you may guess, he is not much helping my sanity, either."
As they went to land, Gregor noticed the High hall had a big, waterproof-looking piece of material stretched over the top, and all the entrances.
"In case the mites attack us here. We have moved all the people into the palace, like during the war," Howard explained without being asked. "Unfortunately, the spinners have stopped sending us this treated silk, so it cannot be used for protective clothing, as this is the place of greatest need."
After passing through a series of rooms with flaps and zippers of the same material, they entered the palace, where they were met by Ripred. The rat appeared much more serious than ever before; his brow seeming somewhat furrowed.
"Oh, hello there, rager boy. So you finally decided to show up." Ripred greeted him with a quick scowl, which Gregor returned halfheartedly, before the rat turned back to Mareth and another human that he was talking to. Gregor caught a few words every here and there, like "mites", "cutters", and "siege". The rat then addressed Howard, who had come in on the conversation.
"We think the mites have allied themselves with the cutters, who offer them feasts of flesh, along with nesting lands, in return for helping them get rid of the gnawers, humans, fliers, nibblers, and diggers. We should send a party into the cutter lands, see what they can find out. I will be going." Turning to Gregor, Ripred asked, "Will you be joining us?"
Gregor pretended to think it over, though he'd already made up his mind. "Who's going?" he asked.
"Myself, of course, plus His Highness and the Halflander boy, along with several crawlers and two other gnawers, Tearthroat and Darkdrub. The fewer there are of us, the less likely we are to be eaten. We also won't be taking fliers on this one, as they make too easy a target for mites, and there is little room for them in the cutter lands," Ripred answered him, surprisingly not sarcastically. The threat of mites had made him alert and serious, like he had been during the war, though he was still as snappy as ever.
"I'm coming," he announced. "When do we leave?"
"As soon as you're ready, boy. You should change and bathe first, though." After pausing and taking a sniff, Ripred observed, "You smell a bit like rat."
Gregor didn't expect to hear this. "Oh. That would be Ripred."
"I beg your pardon?" The rat looked confused and slightly offended.
"Ripred's my pet rat. Lizzie gave him to me for Christmas."
Ripred was seemingly unsure of how to reply to this. Gregor could see the sarcastic side of the rat want to say something rude, but the Lizzie-loving side want to be polite. Rudeness won over.
"I am flattered." So much sarcasm dripped from his voice that it almost sounded like the rat was drowning. "Quite honestly, it's the greatest honor I've ever been given, and that includes the whole 'Peacemaker' thing."
Gregor scowled. "Shut up, Ripred," he hissed. He was in no mood to deal with this, and just stalked off to bathe and change. He was in such a good mood this morning, before Howard caught him. Now... now he had the news of Luxa's death to deal with. He was taking it almost too well. Maybe it was like the Prophecy of Time; it would hit him later. Then he'd go numb.
---
He was right. Gregor was bathing when it did. He was thinking about his first trip down here, meeting the Underlanders, escaping to the rats. Gregor smiled a bit remembering when Boots had poked Luxa in the eye in the arena. That was when it hit him...hard. He'd never see her again.
Tears resumed the stream down his cheeks they had made earlier that day, his breath came in short, irregular gulps past a lump in his throat. The room spun in circles, and had he not been sitting down, he would have definitely toppled over.
No! he shouted in his head. No, no, no! Why her? No! Why?
Gregor got one more gulp of air in before he pulled himself underwater. Maybe, just maybe, the physical strain on his body would ease the ache in his heart. It was a stupid idea, but it was worth a shot. Gregor just sat on the bottom of the bath, lungs burning, for an indefinite amount of time. How long had it been? Ten seconds? Twenty? A minute? Two? He didn't care, he couldn't deal with anything but the pain right now. It clouded his mind of everything he didn't want to think of, kept his thoughts focused away from Luxa. Black flashed over his vision, a light flashed in front of his eyes, as he ran out of air, and consciousness. Involuntarily, he inhaled. He tried to, at least, causing water to rush into his mouth and lungs. He struggled for the surface, but the water pushed against him, forcing him to stay down.
He might have drowned himself, intentionally or not, if a firm pair of hands hadn't seized him from the pool. He came up, coughing and sputtering, gasping for air. After clearing all the water from his breathing way, he took several deep, full breaths, causing his whole body to shudder. Someone draped a towel over his shoulders, and put a hand on his back. Gregor wrapped the towel around his waist and looked up to see Hazard, who now stood a full head taller than him, bright green eyes meeting his own.
"Thanks," Gregor breathed, looking gratefully at the thirteen-year-old.
"Do not mention it," Hazard told him modestly.
They were silent for a moment while Gregor caught his breath, before asking, "How did you know I'd do that?"
"It is what Howard tried. I figured you might attempt the same." The Halflander shrugged, as though it were no big deal. He had the most frank and simple way of stating everything from a completely neutral perspective, making Gregor hope that nobody ever had to have Hazard tell them bad news.
Changing the subject, Gregor asked, "So you're coming with us for the quest?"
Hazard nodded. "I will be able to communicate with almost anything we encounter," he said proudly.
This time, Gregor nodded. Hazard's language skills would definitely come in handy on this trip. The boy knew just about every major language here in the Underland, from Gnawer to Cutter. Also, having grown up in the jungle, Hazard knew lots of useful information that was not common knowledge in Regalia, like the Marks of Secret, or the term for "humans" in other tongues.
Hazard handed Gregor some Underland clothes before leaving the room to let him change. On his way out, he informed Gregor that the quest would be leaving in an hour, if he was ready. Gregor changed and made his way to the High Hall, where the journey would begin.