Come on. Get moving, people. Don't be like one of those guys who reads everything and leaves no trace but another few views in the stats… (I used to be like that. Please don't be like that).
Thanks to the great people who take time from their day to review: theauthor (x2), The (ever-awesome) Toast Ninja, FanMan2234 (cough *very helpful* cough), and, of course, Vagrant Rohitt. Also to those who added their favorites/follows.
Sorry if the last bit isn't that good. I had to piece it together over several days. Also, the very frequent POV changes are on purpose. Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: You got some guts, pup.
Chapter 10
Operation Cleanup
The green mass resolved into a huge, writhing heap of twisters, flowing like thick liquid. As it approached, a storm of fliers launched up, speeding forward under Joshua's plan. The fliers, carrying large boulders, climbed as high as they could without putting themselves in spinner range. Then they turned and dove, letting gravity pull the rocks downward as quickly as possible, but staying with their payloads so they could make minor adjustments and stay in formation.
Near the end of the rapid descent, they all proceeded to release the boulders simultaneously. The rocks descended at high speed, directly downward toward the empty stone floor in the tunnel for maximum impact force. As the wave of boulders hit the floor, which in fact was a rather thin covering over a large chamber of gas, a cracking sound filled the air as an arc-shaped split appeared.
The front portion of the approaching army crossed over, but behind it, the floor swung downward and backward like a huge trapdoor, carrying countless twisters down into the resulting gap. Its motion was largely powered by the enormous weight of the green mass.
The fliers scattered over the army with warnings to retreat. The gases were flammable and could probably suffocate whoever was nearby.
A cliff appeared on the Regalian side of the chasm, and, as the falling slab hit the bottom of the huge hole, splashes of pink-stained water splattered upwards and the slab shattered. The twisters in the hole soon ceased movement, having apparently suffocated.
The rest of the approaching army paused uncertainly at the edge of the pit. To go in would be deadly, and soon the air would mix in with those gases and form an explosive concoction. That part was underlined by a line of archers on the wall with flaming arrows ready. They could go around it, but that would be risky for an array of reasons. The cutters, the spinners, and the remaining twisters slowly backed off and drained back into the tunnel from which they came.
But the portion that had already crossed over was still huge. It occupied most of the space the Regalian army had left during its retreat, taking up an enormous amount of the open floor. It would take quite a bit of effort to diminish the threat, and it wouldn't be easy. So they set to work.
Luxa made a face. This twister problem was so annoying. First of all, you couldn't make much progress with a sword alone, since a single sword would do next to nothing against the mass that would subsequently engulf you. So weapons had to be used that had a suitable area of effect, or a long reach.
Of course, there were exceptions. If you had a single sword and were a rager, then you'd be having no problems, like Gregor, who was in one of his high-speed spins, armor and sword glinting magnificently.
Claws and teeth worked too. Ripred was spinning as well, raking, clawing, slicing, shredding, gnashing, chomping, and generally causing woe wherever he went. Both ragers moved about as they spun to skim the edges of the giant green sea of twisters, confining it while gradually working the enemy numbers in the downward direction.
A meal had to be soon. Luxa was getting pretty hungry, and she really wanted to see Gregor and his sisters again. Also, she wanted to get to know his friends, as this was probably their first time down here. Even though she had barely met them, their loyalty deeply impressed her.
Larry noticed the flash of movement out of the corner of his eye and felt his limbs jerk reflexively. Before he had even consciously processed what was going on, he had spun around and pinned the offending twister to the ground. He took a breath and let his heart rate settle, while cutting the snake in two with a deft motion.
You couldn't let your guard down for a second against these things. Even though the thickest action had already moved on ahead of him, this was still incredibly dangerous ground to be stepping across. And it had to be done.
He took another step forward, and his boots squelched in the twister gore. Ugh, he thought, I am so going to need a bath after this.
And also: Gregor, your idea has failed miserably. You know, how you were trying to "keep us from having to absorb it all at once"? Well, I'm absorbing quite a lot, thank you very much. What in the world is this? Giant ants? Huge spiders? Like, millions of snakes. And ghostly pale people riding enormous bats? And fighting with swords. And a freaking underground city! What is even going on.
His arm twitched again. He thought he'd seen movement nearby, but it could have just been the thin bodies settling.
Lucky I'm not afraid of snakes, he thought, not for the first time.
Well, he hadn't been afraid of them, before this happened. Now, he wasn't so sure. At least the long reach of his halberd helped him deal damage with less chance of retaliation.
He looked around and saw Joshua nearby. He was carving into the green mass from the back, using some kind of flamethrower thing hooked up to the huge hole to sizzle whole batches at a time. And when they got a bit too close, there was his giant sword to reckon with. The rest of the army mostly kept their distance, which made sense. Piping gas directly from the hole was probably risky, and it didn't seem too easy to control the flame very well.
As if to underline this point, a bright burst of light flashed in Larry's peripheral vision. He looked back at Joshua again just in time to hear a loud bang as the other boy stumbled back. The formation of snakes near him had been completely blown away into a concave shape by the blast, but it filled up again soon enough.
Larry turned his attention back to his immediate surroundings, and took a few more steps forward. He sliced at a snake that had slowly reared up ahead of him.
Something fell down from the ceiling and landed almost on top of him. He jumped and automatically pointed his halberd at it, but then he sighed and looked up to see where it had come from.
The huge spiders on the ceiling had been taken out, too. Apparently the gas was a mixture of two substances: one light component that rose toward the ceiling, and a heavier ingredient, which was staying in the hole and currently turning a muddy color as it reacted with the fresher air coming in. Both gases were evidently flammable. A while earlier, a stray arrow had produced quite a show as the ceiling had lit up and incinerated the giant bugs and their webs. Fortunately, the gas hadn't yet mixed in with enough oxygen to explode catastrophically. The tops of some buildings, however, were close enough to be in the danger zone as well. Hopefully no one had been up there when that happened.
While he was looking up, Larry also saw bats circling overhead. They kept low enough to be out of the influence of the gases, but of course they stayed away from the giant pit too. They were helping to fight the snakes, not with teeth and claws, but with something else.
Angelina was directing a pair of huge bats working together to lift a giant cauldron of oil. She was riding on one of them as they carried the thing.
Someone wake me up, she thought. I'm in a huge underground cave with a city in it, flying on a giant talking animal, to help carry a big pot of flammable liquid that we're going to drop on this invading army of a million snakes. Of course. This all makes sense.
She looked down at the ground far below. They were really high in the air. She could fall screaming for a long time before she reached the ground. Meanwhile all these pale people were casually flying around like this, maybe every day. Was that just how life was? Wake up, eat breakfast. Fly around on a giant bat. As you do.
Right. There was a job to worry about here. She looked down at the cauldron of oil.
This pot-like container seemed too big for one bat, huge as it might be, to easily carry. It also seemed to be too small for a pair of bats to both hold onto, but a long bar had been mounted on the cauldron. The two ends were spaced far enough for two bats to share the load, one in front of the other. This was what was happening now. (Their wingspans were too long to allow carrying side by side.)
She turned back and looked at the stone city, impressed by its appearance, but her companion interrupted the moment.
"This is a good place," the bat told her. "Be prepared to drop the oil. On our signal."
He turned his head back to make eye contact with the other bat. There was a weird pause, and then they both nodded.
"Drop it now!"
Angelina pulled on the rope in her hand, releasing the rear end of the cauldron. It swung down and began to spill its contents onto the snakes below. At the same moment, both bats spread their wings wide, reared up, and flapped hard to slow down dramatically. The big pot swung even farther under its own momentum. Angelina pressed her lips together, feeling a bit disoriented with the sudden movement. The bats ascended a little before they adjusted for the change in weight.
The next step was rather straightforward. Those archers and their flaming arrows weren't just for show. Within a few seconds, an arrow set the oil alight as the bats quickly carried her (and themselves) out of harm's way.
They turned and flew back toward the wall, ready to start another round.
Around an hour later, Gregor decided that progress on the twister job had progressed far enough for him to declare himself done. He flagged down one of the bats and flew back to the armory. When his friends noticed, they quit as well, most of them probably being quite tired. He was debating with himself over whether he should skip getting food and just take a long nap, but his stomach growled in protest.
Well, the meal was pretty soon. He didn't think he'd have enough time to take a bath or anything. But, of course, he was covered in cutter and twister mush and goo and soaked in sweat and stuff. He'd have to find a way to clean off. Plus, with the attack and all, food would probably be postponed a bit anyway.
He took off his armor and put it back with their stuff, but kept his new sword. As he wiped it off and sheathed it, he noticed that it was glowing a dull red with heat. Interesting. He thought back to when he'd noticed some of the twisters sizzling as he cut them up. He'd have to ask Joshua about that later.
For now, he flew back to the palace, his sword still at his hip. He found a nearby bathroom and re-familiarized himself with the layout. Like a locker room, with separate chambers containing toilets and a large tub, almost a pool, of moving water.
Stripping quickly, he left his clothes on a bench and got into the water. Briefly, he watched it turn rather gooey as clear cutter juice washed off of him, tinged slightly red with a bit of his own blood. He cleaned off with that goopy stuff in the dish, then just sat there and let the water loosen the knots in his back and arms. For a few minutes, he just relaxed in the warmth (aided by the fragrant smell), then got up and dried off with the silk towels. It felt a lot like it had his first time here.
When he went to put his clothes back on, he saw that they had already been replaced with silk garments. It was funny how the Underlanders noticed that already, since he estimated he'd only taken ten or fifteen minutes.
On the way out, be bumped into his friends, who looked like quite a mess. They obviously hadn't cleaned off yet, though their armor had intercepted a lot of the grime.
"You look ridiculous," he said with a smile.
"Yeah, I sure do," said Larry pointedly, but then he sighed and got serious. "Do you know where we can get a bath or something?"
"Sure, I just took one. In here. They'll probably burn your clothes, since cloth has a strong smell if your nose is any better than a human's."
"Okay, then. Good thing I hate this outfit anyway," said Angelina. They walked into the bathrooms, then stopped. "Uh, which side do we take?"
"The men's side is on the right. Women's is to the left," Gregor said over his shoulder as he walked off.
He went to see Howard.
When he arrived in the hospital, several floors below, he asked a random guard for directions and found the doctor quickly.
"Hello, Gregor. You need me to patch you up or something?"
"No, just wanted to see you again. How've you been?"
"Busy. This has been a dark time."
Gregor smiled, mentally rolling his eyes. Busy, huh? I never would have seen that coming, he thought sarcastically. After all, he was one of their best doctors and they had just had a massive battle or two.
Howard grinned as well. "Looks like you have nothing to do. Lunch will be served in a few minutes. Vikus has invited you to the High Hall."
"Just me?"
"No, a few other people as well, including the other Overlanders."
"Great," said Gregor, starting for the door. "You coming?"
"I wish I could, but there are just too many in need of care. I will see you later."
"Bye. Good luck."
Gregor wandered until he found a stairwell, then made his way up to the higher levels of the palace. For some reason, the stairs stopped a few stories up, so he had to walk around a bit more to continue upwards.
Conveniently, he met his friends in his wanderings. It turned out the stairs stopped at just the same floor they had been on.
"Well, Gregor," said Joshua. "Nice to see you again. But you might have mentioned there was only one bathtub thing in those bathrooms. It was kind of awkward."
"Yeah, well, did you really think there was only one bathroom in this whole place?"
Larry rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Come on, lunch is soon." He started off, and they followed.
"You know," remarked Angelina, "it's probably going to be a while before we can find our way around this. Plus we know next to nothing either. We're constantly going to ask where the bathroom is and where we're staying and where to eat and where to go and where to find another bathroom because Josie's really taking her time…."
"Hey!" Josie protested. "I still take less time than you!"
"Don't worry about it," said Gregor. "For the next several days, I'll tell you something about this place at lunch, and at dinner I'll tell you about my own experiences. And I'll tell you other stuff whenever we bring it up. By the end of the week you'll probably be experts. Experts on Regalia, on the last few years of my life, and especially at fighting, with the training sessions down here."
"They have training?"
"Where do you think I got the idea from? They have to train their army. But Ripred's probably going to give you special training."
"Which is…?"
"It tends to center around echolocation. Fighting in the dark, trying to locate him. The first time he tried training me, he moved so quickly and stealthily that it seemed like he was teleporting. Of course, that was before I learned to see in the dark, as it were."
"Okay then." Angelina changed the subject. "So where are we going right now?"
"They invited to lunch in the High Hall. It's on the top floor of the palace."
"You've got to be kidding me. Stairs, stairs, stairs," grumbled Josie. "Why does it have to be all the way at the top?"
"It has no roof so fliers can go there easily."
Luckily, the next stairwell went all the way up, so they wasted no time in starting to climb. They were all hungry.
They got to the top, turned a few corners, and found the place. But before they came anywhere near it, the smell of the food hit them.
Their eyes lit up and they broke into a sprint.
Chapter originally posted on 28 February 2014. Most recent edit was 11 August 2018.