I would like to thank The Overlander11, The Toast Ninja, Regina, and Jon for their insightful reviews. Thanks to them I did not do one more chapter of plot set up, but was able to put in a decent amount of Gluxa. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and remember if you see any other problems, review or PM me i appreciate it.
Enos left Gregor, and only two more visitors came that day, Howard and Ripred. Ripred came to inform him that they would be interrogating queen Wevox the next day in front of the council. After he left, Howard entered to give him some more physical therapy, enough to allow him to walk. It took many tries before Gregor could walk without collapsing from pain, but he still cringed with every step. After what seemed like an eternity Howard finally decided they were done for the day. He left after dimming the torches, he rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. He heard a sound and woke with a start, he had not been sleeping for that long. It is probably just Howard he thought, Gregor pulled the sheet tighter around himself. He then heard a small, sweet voice, and a smile spread across his face "Gregor are you awake?".
"Yes, I am awake" he said sitting up, then he added "Shouldn't you be getting some sleep, you have a big day tomorrow, and you can't afford to miss out on rest".
She sat on the side of his bed an awkward silence ensued for some time, then she got up the courage to ask what she had came for "I couldn't sleep, because I couldn't stop thinking of you. I was wondering if you would come to keep me company, just until I fall asleep".
Gregor was conflicted, his initial impulse told him to answer yes. He then thought about how Howard had just began to trust him and Luxa together, but he could not stand to leave her alone, especially if she needed him. He thought to himself don't hate me for this Howard then he answered "yes I could do that". Luxa helped him to his feet and began to lead him back to her room, his hand was intertwined within hers. The hallways were surprisingly empty "where is everyone" he asked her.
"She considered the best way to answer his question "I sent the guards away, because we would not need any protection". He saw straight through the lie, she had sent them away so that Howard had no witnesses. He chuckled and continued to follow her, until they stood before her door. He heard the sound of boots on the floor around the corner. She pulled open the door, shoved Gregor in and slammed it shut. From the other side he could hear a familiar voice.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping" Howard asked skeptically. Why was he still up, and would he have came to her room to check if he had been there.
"I was just heading to the dining hall, why do you ask" Luxa asked, the picture of innocence.
"I could not find Gregor anywhere and i thought you might know where he is..." they began to walk down the hall out of earshot, Howard had been watching him a lot closer than he had originally thought that he would. He looked around the large room, and saw the bathroom. He must of smelled horrible, he headed over to the bath and undressed, slowly letting himself sink into the wonderful smelling water. He sat there contemplating his conversation with Enos, he had known Ares had always been a rule breaker. He did not know however that he would be willing to kill a baby rat, he sighed and thought this is what the war did to minds. Different species became monsters in each others eyes. He got out and dressed, then went and sat on the couch in front of a octagonal board. It seemed like a four player version of chess, he felt one of the smooth pieces and began to wonder how long it would take for Luxa to return. Just as he was considering returning to the infirmary to ease Howard's mind, he heard voices in the hall. "I will see you tomorrow, goodnight" Howard said.
"Goodnight" then Luxa opened the door and closed it gently closed it. She turned, and Gregor was entranced as her beautiful silver hair as it fell to rest on her shoulders. Her deep violet eyes were stunning, she came over and sat next to him. She wrapped both of her arms around him, and planted a kiss directly on his lips. They stayed locked in a kiss, Gregor's hand slid down to her hips then lower. They got up, never stopping moving toward the bed, they got in bed. Things seemed inevitable, but Gregor's conscience stopped him.
He pulled away "I can't" she looked at him confused "I promised Howard not until we were married, and I have to hold myself to that promise".
Luxa said "I understand", and they just layed there together holding each other, until sleep overtook both of them.
Gregor awoke with Luxa in his arms, he did not want to wake her up so he continued to lay there. He realized something, that was the first night that he had not had a nightmare. He stared at her face, memorizing every feature from her hair to her chin. After a while she began to stir, and her eyes opened. She smiled and in a sleepy voice uttered a "good morning".
He kissed her forehead then said "Good morning, did you sleep well?". Sadly his mind was already wondering to all of the tasks he had lined up for that day, at least he could do the first two with Luxa.
"I slept well, you should probably leave now before Howard decides to check in here for you" Luxa kissed him, then she disentangled herself from him, heading toward the bathroom. Gregor got up and headed over to the door to the hallway, and pressed his ear against it. There was complete silence on the other side so he opened the door, letting it close slowly behind him. Then he realized something, he would need a believable story to tell Howard about where he had been last night. Who would help him lie, he thought through several different people. He narrowed that list down to three, Ripred, Enos, and Aurora. He thought a little harder and threw out Ripred, he would make fun of him, then he would tell Howard without a doubt. So it was between Enos and Aurora, while she may have been trustworthy her love for Luxa may get in the way, that left only one suitable candidate Enos. He began to traverse the halls searching for the bat. As luck would have it Enos had been doing the exact same thing. They both turned a corner a little to fast, and ran into each other. It didn't effect Enos that much, but Gregor went flying backwards landing on his rear.
"Sorry Gregor, I should have been more careful" He offered him a claw to help him up. He took it and got up.
"It wasn't your fault, I should be the one saying sorry. Could I ask you a huge favor" Gregor stared hopefully at Enos.
"Sure, in fact I was coming to ask you about the same thing" Enos waited patiently to hear his request.
He breathed in deep, not believing that he was going to disclose this kind of information to Enos. Sure he trusted the flier, but he had not known him for that long "I was with Luxa last night, and Howard was searching for me, I was wondering if you could tell him that we were together in your cave.".
A smile spread across his face and he began laughing, when he stopped he explained "I was coming to ask you the same thing, I was with Aurora last night. We have been in love for some time, and I was wondering if you could witness for me if Jupiter asks. We would have to say we were somewhere other than my cave however, that is where Jupiter was looking for me at". Gregor could see why Aurora had chosen Enos, he was funny and extremely smart and agile. They tossed around a few ideas before Enos burst out with "the fount, it is perfect, you can say that you needed to talk to someone there, and you asked me to fly you".
Gregor thought about it, it was the perfect cover-up "if he asks who I could probably say York". It was perfect, Gregor glanced down at his watch "we will have to go eat now if we do not want to miss the interrogation". Without another word, Enos leaned down to allow him to climb on. Once he was on the sped to the dining hall, suffocating torches along the way. They both quickly ate their meals, then made there way to the council chamber. Enos entered and went to take a seat by Aurora, as soon as he entered however, he could feel a death stare emanating from Howard. Thankfully Gregor new this was a good sign, it would have been quite a different reaction if he had figured it out. He took a seat next to Luxa and whispered "good morning" he wrapped her fingers with hers, and the proceedings started.
"Order...Order!" Vikus yelled over the din of voices, it slowly became silent. In the center of the platform, they had tied down queen Wevox by each one of her eight legs. "We shall commence this hearing of queen Wevox. The first question is, where is the hidden gold.". Gregor could not believe they expected this to work, he looked over at Ripred, who met his eyes and mirrored his feelings.
After another hour of questioning, Wevox had not uttered a single phrase. Gregor was becoming quite fed up with it, he slowly made his way over to Ripred. "We could break her in under five seconds, could we tell all the council to leave?".
Ripred nodded and turned yelling "Everyone out!". Many of the council members sprinted out in fear, but others questioned if they should follow his orders. He picked them up and threw them out, when he came to Enos, Luxa , and Vikus he respectfully said "I need you guys to leave, this can only involve me and Gregor". Still shocked they did not say a word, but left immediately. He turned back towards Gregor "so, what did you have in mind". Gregor walked close to queen Wevox, analyzing what would cause the most pain, with minimal damage.
He came to a consensus "Her legs are her weak point". He drew his sword and dragged it on the ground, making a deafening sound. He got up right next to her and in a menacing, yet steady tone he said "wouldn't it be a shame to lose one or more of you legs". With that he brought the sword up and chopped of the last segment of one of her legs. She made a gurgling sound, and fell to the floor "my question is simple, where is this hidden gold?" Still there was no response "fine" he cleanly sliced off the next segment, causing a green liquid to ooze out. She did not answer, so he raised his sword to take off one more segment.
"Wait" Wevox said, stopping Gregor mid swing "I will tell you where the gold is, we had a vault at the back of our lair. It was filled with every type of jewl and precious medal you could imagine. however that is not where it is, because the stingers came and took it all back to their main lair". Gregor felt like he was about to throw up, it would be near impossible to get into and out of the stingers land alive "I am not lying to you overlander". He looked at Ripred and red his thoughts, time for a quest.
Gregor burst through the heavy closed doors of the council room, leaving behind the hurting Wevox. Everyone was looking at him expectantly, so he said "Who is up for an adventure?".
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