Chapter 4
Aurora was hanging from the ceiling on a ledge Gregor had not noticed before. He supposed Luxa had had it carved out especially for Aurora. But the golden bat had her head in her wings and Gregor could hear sobs. Her fur was all gnarled, like she hadn't bothered to groom it. Hera fluttered over to her.
"Aurora?" she said softly, brushing her sister with her wing.
"What?" Came a high, muffled reply.
"It is Hera, and Gregor is here as well." Hera replied. Gregor came forward. Aurora gave a cry.
"I am sorry, Gregor! It is all—my—fault!" she wailed, and began swiping at herself. Hera grabbed her in her wings.
"Aurora, drop it! You will not help her at all by hurting yourself!" she said sharply. Aurora wailed again.
"I do not—deserve—to live!" Aurora said. "Luxa is gone, thanks to me!" she shrieked. Gregor was a bit uncomfortable, but Hera was handling it.
"The prophecy does not predict Luxa's death, only that she will disappear! That is why Gregor is here, to help s find her!" she said, while Aurora wailed. "Can you talk to her, Gregor?" Hera asked him.
"Uhh, sure." Gregor said, and walked uncomfortably up to the miserable bat.
"Aurora, it's not your fault." That was all he could think to say.
"Yes it is!" Aurora sobbed, burying her face in her wings again. "You must hate me now, for now you may never see Luxa again, because of me!"
Gregor stopped a second. Aurora did know what went on between him and Luxa, about their relationship. But the last thing he wanted her to think was that he blamed her for losing Luxa.
"I don't hate you." He said. "We'll find her, don't worry." He told the golden bat. Aurora responded with another cry. Hera fluttered back up to her, but spoke softly this time.
"Aurora, we will find her, but we need you to help. You must pull yourself together. No one blames you in the slightest." She said. "Will you come down and have some food? Please?" she asked her.
"All right." Aurora hiccupped. She slowly flew off of her perch. Hera caringly ran her claws through her sister's fur, smoothing down some of the knots. She looked a little better, but still miserable.
Gregor mounted Hera and they flew back to the High Hall with Aurora. Some Regalians in the corridors of the palace took surprise at the sight of Aurora. She had probably not come out of the room for days.
When they reached the High Hall, they entered the dining room off of it. Kendra, Renaldo, Boots, Howard, and Nike were already there, along with Hazard and Nyx and Persephone. Nyx, Ares's sister, had first been opposed to the compromise between the gnawers and humans, but was now for it and on the side of peace. Gregor had become fairly close to the kind, brave flier. Persephone, her daughter, was full grown now, and she was around the size of Hera and Aurora. She still looked exactly the same, though. And of course, Ripred was sitting at the foot of the table, slumping as usual. But when he saw the arrivals, he got up.
"Well, look who's out of the bubble." He said, staring at Aurora. She sneered at him.
"You do not have to make me feel any worse then I already do, Ripred!" she said, with another sob. Hera rolled her eyes, but glared at Ripred.
"You are only upsetting her more." She muttered to the rat, who turned away from Aurora and instead looked at Gregor.
"Well, back again, Warrior." He said. "Your sister has been singing us some amusing song involving a baby beluga. Would you perhaps tell us exactly what a baby beluga is?"
Gregor couldn't help but laugh. "It's this big animal that lives in the Overland ocean. A type of whale." He said, snickering. Ripred seemed to know what a whale was, but then again, he did know a lot about Overland things.
"Gregor, I can sing!" Boots said, bounding over to him.
"Baby beluga in deep blue sea!
Swims wild and free!
Hera above, sea below
White whale on go!"
She sang. Well, the words weren't exactly right, but you couldn't expect a five year old to sing it perfect. Hera looked astonished to hear her name in there. Of course, Boots had meant to say "heaven". Gregor smiled.
"That's great, Boots! But now it's time to eat. You hungry?" he asked her, setting her down in a seat beside him.
"Yes!" she cried, drumming her hands on the table.
In a few minutes, some Underlanders brought trays of food and set them in front of the group. Gregor piled his plate full of his favorites and ate while listening to Ripred and Vikus talk about the quest.
"Well, we obviously have to follow the river to find her, so should we take a boat?" Vikus was asking.
"It'd have to be a strong one, to withstand that current." Ripred answered. "But I think we should have at least one, to carry supplies. And I would have to use it too, because there's no way I could run. And after what happened to Apollo, there's no flier that would be willing to carry me."
Gregor nearly choked on his fish. "What happened to Apollo?" he asked. Apollo was a flier who he had met about a year and a half ago, who had been banished from his lands for reasons he would not explain. But he had been allowed to return and had carried Ripred on their previous two quests.
"He vanished as well. One trip to the Firelands and he never returned." Ripred shrugged. "We really haven't had much time to look for him, but Queen Athena's sent a few scouts to look, but no luck." He added.
"Wow." Gregor said. It seemed like everyone was disappearing lately.
"We may find him on the quest, but we have no clue of his whereabouts." Vikus said, and then turned back to Ripred. "Yes, I think one boat will work efficiently. But it must be able to withstand the current."
But Gregor hadn't heard that. He was thinking about what was going on. There were so many things he had to catch up on! But there was only one thing that immediately caught his mind.
"Hey, Vikus, has anyone seen Luna and the rest of the Terrorwings?" he asked. The scars on his back gave a twinge, as if reminding him of the flier who had given it to him. The old man shook his head.
"Not a sight of them. We are worried about that, for they could be plotting something else. Nyx has discovered their old hideout, but they were no longer there." He said, gesturing to Nyx. Gregor turned to her.
"Where was it?" he asked the big black and red speckled bat.
"Right off the Path of Hephaestus. It is a wonder we did not see it when we were traveling it." She answered solemnly. They had traveled the path when going to retrieve the Bane's bone a year ago. It had caved in, but they had taken the alternate path.
"Wow." Gregor said. If that was true, then they had been so close to it, and they hadn't noticed it! They might've been able to stop the whole bloody battle over the Bone from happening, and disabled the monster by beheading it. But it was too late now.
"So, how've you been, Nyx?" he asked her.
"As well as I may be." She answered. "But we have all been busy lately."
"That's good." Gregor said. Everyone was finishing up their meal now. Gregor turned back to Vikus. "How soon are we leaving?" he asked him.
"Tomorrow, if all goes well." He answered. "But we should begin preparation right away. Hazard, would you and Boots go to see Dulcet? She will keep you busy." He asked the boy sitting to the left of him.
"Okay." Hazard nodded. "Come on, Boots." He said. The two kids got up and walked out, Boots chattering happily away to him about things she had learned in school.
"Aurora, are you okay for now?" Vikus asked the golden bat. Food seemed to have revived her a bit. She now looked less miserable.
"I am fine. I think I will go for a quick flight around the city, to clear my head." She said.
Hera and Nike exchanged a look. "We should probably accompany her." Nike said.
"Yes." Hera agreed, and the three fliers left.
"Persephone and I should probably get the message to Queen Athena that we will be leaving shortly." Nyx said. Her and Persephone took flight.
"Grandfather, would you not like me to show you around Regalia more?" Kendra asked Renaldo.
"That would be great, Kendra." Renaldo agreed. "Would you excuse us?"
"Not a problem." Vikus said. Those two left. That left Gregor, Howard, Vikus, and Ripred.
"That is just as well, since we have things to discuss privately." Vikus said.
"Well, then let's discuss." Ripred said, putting his back legs up on the table.