Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while, but you know...stuff, and...stuff. No Wolf Tears, you CAN'T have Erin. Geez. Anyway, without further ado, the next chapter,
-Dead Chick Walking
Coming Dark. Chapter 10. We Have a Problem.
Two days later, everyone was ready for the 'quest.' They were meeting in the High Hall before they left to get an overview of their goals and meet everyone. Other than a few bats Gregor was sure he knew all of the people coming with him.
As he walked into the Hall he was astonished by the amount of preparations going on, servants were dashing to and fro equipping bats with baskets of food and skins of water. Everyone else stood or sat looking anxious to leave. Howard stood talking to Erin while Miravet adjusted her armor. Erin was dressed in a black overland shirt bearing the word "Policja" across the back, and a pair of olive green cargo pants. Her backpack was at her feet(in their combat boots of course) and so was her little kitten Cassora.
"You're so tiny, child!" Miravet exclaimed half in envy and half in exhasperation, "I'm surprised we managed to find anything that fit you." Erin gave her an apologetic smile and slipped into a leather vest that laced up the back, the vest had studs in it to prevent a weapon from cutting cleanly. Miravet also equipped her with leather gauntlets, and calf guards. Her thigh pieces were made of some kind of scaled material and strapped around the back. Finally Miravet managed to fit everything on right and Erin was allowed to take all of the armor back off.
But a thick studded belt remained, it was obviously Erin's from the Overland but had been modified to hold a dagger. Miravet packed all of Erin's armor into a pouch, as she did so Gregor heard the distinct clink of blades, there were more knives in there. Tearing himself away from Erin's equipage Gregor examined the rest of the Hall.
Luxa was there, she had pulled her hair back into a braid. Vikus sat at a table next to Mareth and Perdita with whom he was in serious discussion. Ripred slouched against the wall watching everyone with his dark eyes. Next to him was a slender grey rat that Gregor was sure he had seen at the feast, he wondered if this rat was coming with them. The bats were clustered together all except for the pretty female with the silver and black coloring.
After a few more moments of talking to Vikus, Mareth stood up, "Welcome!" he said in his deep baritone, "Will those who are going on the quest please step forward to the table?" They did so. "Thank you, now, Gregor, Boots, and Temp shall be riding on the flier Spica." Gregor smiled grimly, it hadn't been a question this time if Boots was going, they hadn't even thought about leaving her behind.
"Luxa shall be on Aurora, of course. Howard on Nike. Ripred will be riding on Charon." Everyone was slowly drifting toward the fliers they would be riding, Gregor grabbed Boots's hand and they walked to Spica who smiled. Temp scurried up next to the speckled flier as well. Ripred was standing next to the enormous brownish orange bat, Charon.
"And Erin the Overlander shall ride with Ariadne." The silver bat with black markings shyly made her way toward Erin. "We are very fortunate to have Ariadne for this venture, she was one of Queen Athena's Royal Guards and a truly incredible flier." The group nodded to Ariadne and Erin introduced herself.
Something was nagging at Gregor, she was so familiar, "Hi." He said in a friendly voice waving to her, Ariadne dipped her head, "You look really familiar, have I seen you before?" Gregor didn't know what he had said or why it hurt her but tears suddenly began to creep down the silver bat's face. Spica bent down to whisper in Gregor's ear,
"Ariadne was Ares's sister, she has only recently learned of his death." Gregor's face filled with dismay and guilt,
"Oh man, I'm so sorry!" he cried to Ariadne, the bat shook her head. She had stopped crying and she muttered something unintelligible. Shame flooded through Gregor, her brother was dead, and it was his fault. He had managed to keep from remembering Ares except for the good times they had had together. Now to have such a sudden reminder of the dead flier thrust at him, he felt like crying himself. "I'm sorry." he said again laying a hand on Ariadne's wing.
"Do not apologize." She purred, in a low alto, so much like her brother's voice. "I have not seen him in years." Years? Man, he couldn't imagine not seeing Lizzie or Boots for years. "After he bonded with Henry I never saw him. I caught a small glimpse of him during the war, but I didn't know it was him. You were his bond, you must miss him terribly." The bat's voice was barely more than a whisper. Gregor nodded silently, stroking her long fur. Mareth sat down and everyone turned to see who would next address them, Gregor walked back to Boots, Temp, and Spica, he expected Vikus to stand and say something but instead of Vikus, Ripred strode up to the front of the crowd.
"We are going into the Dead Lands, I will lead you to the cave where Terrormaw and her pup Flay are living. Our job is to assess the situation and judge if Flay, the white gnawer, has the potential to follow in the steps of her father. We must be unclouded by prejudice, and judge only by what we see of the pup. There are two choices. She either will live, or she will have to be killed." Ripred sighed at this point, his weary eyes scanning the group.
"No matter the choice we make, we will encounter opposition. Preypounce," Ripred gestured toward the slender grey rat he had been talking to, she gave them an arrogant smile, "Has come from the Tunnels and reports that Furyfire is attempting to convince more gnawers that the white pup must be killed. Fortunately he has opponents, mostly those who don't care whether Flay lives or dies, they just want the fighting to end. The civilians of Regalia will be informed of Flay's existence when we leave."
"Regardless of our choice, someone is going to be upset. Don't think about this." Gregor was beginning to be surprised at Ripred's speech, and was starting to think that Ripred might actually care about whether the pup lived or died, "Your job is to do what is right." With a slight laugh he said, "Either way, we have a problem."
On this note, they mounted their bats and swept into the air headed for the Dead Lands.
A few hours later the group had landed next to a river in the Dead Lands, everyone was kind of quiet and it wasn't until Ripred snapped about food that they started doing anything. Glad to have something to distract them from their solemn quest everyone began setting up camp. Luxa started a fire, Howard set out blankets and Gregor was left to cook.
He wasn't doing a very good job of it. There was plenty of food packed, beef, fish, cakes, bread, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and packets of what looked like spices. But Gregor had no idea what to do with any of it. Finally Erin got tired of watching him stare mutely at the fire and stood up. Striding toward him she leaned down over his shoulder, "Need help?" she asked sweetly right next to his ear. Gregor jumped, jeez, for someone who wore combat boots she was really quiet.
"I got it." He said. Erin rolled her eyes,
"No. I've got it." With that she grabbed the collar of his shirt and pushed him aside playfully. "Here," she shoved something into his hands, "Shut up, go away, and let me cook." Gregor looked at the object she had thrust into his hands. His eyes went wide.
"What is that, Gregor?" Luxa said curiously sitting down next to him.
"It's a machine that plays music." Gregor replied staring at the lime green Ipod Nano.
"It is tiny." she said laughing, "Can you make it play?" Gregor handed her an ear bud and showed her how to put it in, then put in the other one and turned on the Ipod. Scanning through her play list he was amazed at the variety he found, a few well known bands like Three Days Grace, Pink, and Papa Roach. There was a lot less My Chemical Romance than he had expected, some Flyleaf, and some bands he had never heard of: Paperlace, Bouncing Souls, Social Distortion.
While Luxa listened curiously to some of the music Gregor flipped through the photos section; a few of what looked like paintings, Erin holding a huge snake, some girl with white hair and way too much eye makeup, Erin kissing a guy on the cheek, and a touching photo of a ten year old Erin and her mother Catherine.
Then Luxa jumped violently, her eyes were wide in shock. Gregor was a little shocked too, flipping back over to the song list he saw, 'Pretty Rave Girl' by I Am X-Ray. Wow, that was…different. The two pulled their ear buds out of their ears,
"Rave?" Gregor said, Erin laughed.
"Yeah, rave, club music, you know." Gregor shook his head skeptically,
"Well, I don't really go clubbing."
"No?" Erin said as she flipped over the strips of beef she was cooking, "Well, I'll have to introduce you to some good ones, you and Luxa both, take you upstairs and show you New York at night." Gregor rolled his eyes
"Whatever." He said, Erin laughed again and scooped the food off of a makeshift grill she had assembled.
"Dinner." She announced, Ripred scrambled to her side,
"I thought I'd never hear that word."
Erin grinned and doled out portions, Gregor immediately tore into the meat. It was incredible, she had put some kind of pepper on it and it burst on his tongue. The group devoured their meal in silence…well, Ripred was a bit noisy, but that was to be expected. Within minutes everyone had cleared their plates.
"Good?" Erin asked, her eyebrow raised. Everyone nodded.
Luxa turned to regard Erin, "You're music is very peculiar." was all she said. The two girls looked at each other for a couple moments then they both smiled broadly. Gregor stared at them, what had just happened? It was like a whole conversation had gone on between the two teenage girls.
The group sat quietly around the fire for a few minutes, Boots took it upon herself to entertain Temp by singing him a song she had learned in Pre-K. Erin finally sighed and reached for one of her bags, the one that contained her armor and weapons. Slipping off her combat boots she pulled at the soles of them.
The sole near the toe of the shoe came apart from the top, Gregor could see the steel plate on the toe and the nails that had been shoved into them. With painstaking slowness Erin began pulling the nails from the toes of her boots. From the bag next to her she pulled out two small daggers, she replaced the nails with the thin needle sharp blades. "What are you doing?" Gregor asked finally, his curiosity getting the best of him.
"Well, now that I'm out of New York and won't get arrested for weapons I'm putting a knife blade in the toes of my boots. That way even if I lose my dagger in a fight, I'll have blades in my shoes." Erin replied, she was now taping up the sole of her shoe with black duct tape. Gregor stared at the protruding blade, ouch. Erin replaced the tape into her backpack,
"You have everything in that backpack don't you?" he observed.
Erin shrugged, "Well, I was running away from home, I needed everything that would help me. I was trying to get to New Jersey, so I had to be prepared."
"Ok," Gregor took a deep breath, "I've been wondering, why exactly-?"
"Did I run away?" Erin laughed, "Yeah, I thought you'd ask that. Well, about a year ago my mother died of cancer," Her face fell, "And being only fourteen I was sent to live with my aunt Marie." Erin's eyes smoldered angrily, "And my older cousin. Marie squandered all of the money given to take care of me, and took my out of my private school so she could buy Anthony a porshe. Not exactly the best foster-parent. But Anthony had to be the worst, he's seventeen and in her eyes he could do no wrong. Two weeks ago I barely rescued Cassora from being thrown in the dish washer. I can take care of myself fine, so I left."
"Oh." Gregor said for lack of something more appropriate.
Erin laughed again, and patted him on the shoulder, "It's alright, this place more than makes up for it." Gregor nodded silently. Looking around he saw Boots yawn widely, she caught his glance and quickly tried to stifle her yawn with a small hand, but Gregor wasn't fooled.
"Boots, time to sleep." He called, looking a little disappointed Boots walked over to him and laid down on the blankets next to him. Luxa walked toward her blankets as well,
"We should all sleep, it shall be a long flight tomorrow." Gregor slowly drifted to sleep, but just before he dozed off he could hear Erin, Howard and Ripred talking.