Hi! Happy Holidays! Here is the next chapter, and a great big thank you to everyone who reviewed the last one! You all get chocolate! Again, I own nothing but the OC's and the plot. Happy reading!

Chapter 10

The next morning, Rylan woke up early. He felt far from refreshed, however. He had stayed up late writing his report for the Queen, relaying all that he had discovered of the rebel group. Now he just had to take it back to the drop off.

He quickly got dressed, strapping on a sword and tucking his report into the waistband of his pants. He crept out of the cave quietly, so as not to wake Torrance and Nerissa.

Taking a lamp from beside the cave entrance, he set off down the path. It took him a while, but he finally found the river where Judith had discovered him. He walked up and down its banks, at last finding the small trail that he had first followed to the river. Following that path, he at last ended up at the rendezvous spot.

"Rylan?" A dark figure dropped from one of the trees, coming to land right in front of him.

"Artemis!" Rylan ran forward and embraced his bond. "Oh, I have missed you!"

Artemis wrapped a wing around him. "I have missed you as well," she purred. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am fine." Rylan pulled back and took out the report. "Here is my report."

Artemis looked up, revealing a small pouch hanging on a string around her neck. "Put it in here."

Rylan did so, and stepped back.

Artemis shuffled her feet. "All right then. I should be going."

Rylan nodded, though a lump was forming in his throat. "Fly you high."

Artemis took off, circling twice before soaring off into the darkness.

Rylan turned and started making his way back. It didn't take him as long this time, but he still had to backtrack once or twice. A half an hour later he finally stumbled back onto the main path, sweaty and tired. He was trudging along when all of a sudden he heard two voices, a man's and a woman's. They were arguing loudly. Rylan stopped to listen.

"Luxa—"

"We have to wait for Ripred. It won't work without him."

"We're perfectly capable of attacking Regalia without him."

Rylan gasped. Attack Regalia?

The woman, Luxa, was talking again. "Gregor, this is Stellovet we're talking about. We need Ripred's experience."

"I've got experience! And you were trained by Sollovet."

"I'm not Sollovet!" Luxa snapped. "And you haven't fought in a major battle since you were sixteen."

The voices had been moving closer, so Rylan had stepped off the path. Now the speakers came into view; a woman whose long hair was pulled into a braid, and an Overlander man.

Rylan caught his breath.

The Overlander looked just like Judith, only with a longer nose and darker hair.

"Well, that doesn't mean I can't fight anymore. I'm still a Rager." The Overlander, Gregor, ran his fingers through his hair.

Luxa frowned. "Speaking of that, I am starting to suspect that Hero…"

At this point the couple walked out of earshot, leaving Rylan's head spinning. There was going to be an attack on Regalia. Judith's mom's name was Luxa, and her dad was an Overlander rager.

Just then, something clicked, and Rylan gasped again.

Queen Luxa wasn't dead.

The Warrior had not returned to the Overland.

They were both here, in the jungle, married with kids.

Queen Stellovet had lied to him.

Another memory swam to the surface.

"Tell me a story, daddy."

His father smiled. "All right. What about?"

"The Queen." The Queen was someone he had been hearing a lot about lately.

His father's face took on a more serious expression. "Alright. The Queen's name is Luxa. She lives in the jungle."

"Why does she live in the jungle?"

His father looked him right in the eye. "Rylan, some people say that Stellovet is the queen, but that is wrong. The true queen, Queen Luxa, is in the jungle because Stellovet made her go there. Hopefully someday she will return…"

Rylan was almost shaking. Stellovet was an imposter. Judith's mom was the true queen. He drew a long quavering breath which he released in a squeak as another thought hit him. If Judith's mom was the true queen… then Judith was the real heir to the throne.

Judith was worried. Overnight, the whole atmosphere of the rebel camp seemed to have change. There was an anxious, furtive feeling in the air, as if something big and secret was going on. Her parents had argued again too, although Judith didn't know what their disagreement had been about.

Rylan seemed to be avoiding her. She had gone over to Torrance and Nerissa's cave for his sword fighting lesson, but Nerissa said that he was not feeling well. She had protested, after all, he had been fine yesterday. But Nerissa had just smiled sadly, saying that he was a bit overwhelmed. Whatever that meant.

At last she decided to go visit Aunt Lizzie. Judith was quite fond of her aunt. The walk to their cave wasn't far, so it took almost no time at all to get there. Pushing aside the vines, she called out, "Hello?"

"Hi!" Hamnet popped up at her elbow, grinning from ear to ear.

"Judy!" Henry appeared as well.

"Hey, you two. Is Aunt Lizzie here?"

"Over here, dear." Lizzie called from the sitting area.

Judith walked over. "Hi, Auntie. How are you?"

Lizzie patted her largely protruding belly. "I suppose I'm fine, considering that I feel about to burst. How your mom managed twins I'll never know. Take a seat."

Judith sat down beside her aunt.

"So what brings you here?" asked Lizzie.

"Well, I was bored. And I haven't seen you in a while. And I was wondering if you might know what's going on."

Lizzie smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry honey, but I don't. You know they don't tell me much. I've asked, but all that they will tell me is that Ripred should be showing up any day now."

"Ripred?" Judith was surprised, although pleasantly so. Then a thought suddenly struck her. "Oh, that's what it is!"

"What?" asked Lizzie.

Judith looked at her aunt. "Promise not to have a panic attack?"

Lizzie shrugged. "Sure."

"I think they must be planning an assault."

Lizzie frowned. Judith could almost see the wheels in her mind turning. "Yes. Yes, I suppose that could work. They would have to target the east entrance to the city though. And that's assuming that they're attacking Regalia…" Lizzie's frown deepened. "Hang on, why am I not in on this?"

"What do you mean?" asked Judith, confused.

Lizzie hefted herself to her feet, groaning as she did so. "They need me to help plan the attack. I'm one of the best strategists. And what if they need a code?" she started for the door.

"Wait—Aunt Lizzie, I don't think that this is a good idea. There's a reason they didn't tell you about this—"

Henry and Hamnet barreled into the room.

"Hi, Mommy! Where are you going?" asked Hamnet.

"Can we come too?" asked Henry.

Lizzie looked at them. "Sure. Why not?"

The boys cheered, and Judith tried to break into the conversation. "Aunt Lizzie! Wait!"

But her aunt was not to be stopped. With the two little boys in tow, and Judith trailing behind, Lizzie led the way to the central command cave. She knocked twice on the door (one of the only two they had in the jungle) and then strode inside.

"Liz? What are you doing here?"

Looking over her aunt's shoulder, Judith could see all of the leaders sitting around a large stone table. Her mom and dad were there, as well as some of her friend's parents. The spinner queen, Velvex, was present as well as the flier king, Janus. Her uncle Hazard, Lizzie's husband, was looking over at them with a concerned expression.

"Hi, mommy!" Henry waved.

Luxa stood up. "Henry? Judith? What—"

Lizzie interrupted. "Are you planning an attack on Regalia?"

Luxa looked surprised. Several people started muttering to each other.

Hazard got up and came over. "Look, Liz, I don't know how you found out about that, but you're in no condition—"

"Hazard, I'm fine," Lizzie said exasperatedly. "Judith and I figured out that you were planning an attack, and I want to help."

Hazard looked at Judith. "You encouraged her?"

Judith shook her head. "Not on purpose."

Gregor now stood up as well. "Look, we don't have time for this!"

"No, we do not," agreed a familiar voice. A large gray gnawer with two scars in the shape of an X over his face stepped into the light.

Judith broke into a grin. Ripred had arrived.

Wow. That's a lot of information for one chapter. The suspense is growing! Eep!

Question time! What would YOU do if you were in Rylan's place at this point?

Also... I have a new oneshot! It's for the Rise of the Guardians movie. If you've seen it, you should check out my fic. It's called Jack's Frost. It's about how his little sister felt after seeing him go through the ice. It's got over 30 likes so far, so I guess it's pretty good.

Have a great New Year's and don't forget to subscribe/favorite/review! Thanks for reading! Queen out!