For to thanks, you all: shadowblade546, Fitz Mark, november21, Castaway5, stephanie, alec-alumina, and EbonyClaw.

Alright, we're here. I know it's short, my utmost apologies... just to vouch for myself, though, I updated only two days ago, and next chapter should probably be extra long for obvious reasons... Don't worry, I got a four-day weekend right now so maybe you'll get two more chapters within the next few days! Anyway, here is Chapter 13. Be on the edge of your chair. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Wait seventy-five years. Then it'll all be mine...

13

The Lair

They went back to the splitting chamber, looking to find a tunnel taking them even closer downward to the alcove. If they were really lucky, one would actually lead right into it, though that would, in turn, pull out possibilities of running into cutters, which was an outcome in itself completely undesirable and to be avoided at almost all costs.

They tried three more tunnels, each splitting into its independence only slightly away from the first one. None of them went very far, however, without branching off to begin a steep flow into the distance, away from the alcove and their desired target. Whenever this happened, Gregor and Ripred were forced to return and look for a different route to their goal.

On the fourth one the path dropped quickly, bringing them far lower than any of the others. The road was rougher, harder to navigate, though, and so Ripred was wary of moving on in their search.

Curves took them quickly away from the rock that held the alcove, but Ripred persisted onward even so and Gregor did not protest. If the rat didn't think anything would come from the tunnel, he would not have wasted time by heading deeper into its maze.

And true to their hopes, around fifty meters along the path sloped deeper down still and curved to the right, leading them right back in the direction of their prize. Gregor held back his anticipation, still wishing for a direct route in but trying not to expect one. Rock shifted under foot and paw as steps were taken, and Gregor kept looking over his shoulder for no particular reason. He was sure they weren't being followed. It just felt strange to him to walk so far deep in enemy territory and not go undiscovered. Reflecting, he realized actually how easy the task had been, and erased the tiniest bit of pride that had temporarily grown in his mind.

They turned around a partial bend at the end, and abruptly the tunnel began to narrow, both horizontally and diagonally. After only ten steps Ripred was forced to pull up, ducking low to avoid a violent head bang against the ceiling of the stony corridor. Gregor looked down the extended passage, hoping for it to widen out again. Unfortunately, he saw that it only continued to grow smaller until all walls met in a solid, distant point of cold rock.

Leaning back and standing higher, Ripred swore under his breath. If not for awkward redundancy, Gregor would have joined him. Instead, however, he nudged past the rat and ducked into the gap, looking for any side-passage that would keep them going in the direction. He found none.

"Damn," Ripred said again behind him, striking three claws against the wall. "This is really close to what we need."

"Not really," Gregor replied. "This is close, but we need a direct tunnel in. After this not turning in our favor, I doubt we're going to find one." He rubbed a hand against his parched throat, intentionally ignoring the fire that burned there. He would have time for sustenance later, as long as he got through the pain now.

"Not necessarily," Ripred argued, pressing an ear to the right wall, the one closest to the alcove. "There were many other tunnels, and since cutters are so straight-focused and narrow-minded they might have simply discarded any tunnels they found useless----" Cutting off, Ripred frowned and pressed even closer to the wall, knocking three times with his hairy knuckles.

Gregor remained silent, thinking, curious. His mind wasn't fully paying attention, already on to formulating the next attempt at rescue. He didn't notice as Ripred's eyes lit up with renewed vigor.

"Maybe we don't need those, though," Ripred said aloud, more to himself than Gregor. He quickly switched sides, to his left ear, and repeated the knocking. Gregor stood up and took a step closer, curious and slightly exhilarated. He waited patiently for Ripred to finish whatever it was he was doing to find out exactly what it was.

And when Ripred turned, his face was perfectly concentrated, grim. He crouched down to the ground and looked up at Gregor with contemplating eyes, thoughts racing out in hardly rational statements. "There is an air pocket less than a meter of the way through that wall."

Gregor's eyes widened. "How can you tell? Smell? Are you sure?"

Ripred shook his head and bowed it low, erasing any sight the weakest light was providing to concentrate. "I can smell the water through the rock. Knowing it's there, I even got enough sound to hear it drip."

"The alcove?" Gregor asked, excitement blooming.

"I don't know," Ripred responded quickly, holding out hands in a restraining gesture. "I just said air. I can't even get a clue that it's the same as the alcove. It might just be a random collection trapped by a rockslide or seeping in through miniscule holes."

"But it is air." Gregor marched over and rapped the rock with his own hand, listening for any hollowness deep in the stone. He, of course, heard nothing, but he trusted Ripred's acute senses. "You said less than a meter. Can you dig that deep?"

"Slow down, boy!" Ripred urged. He caught Gregor by the arm and held him firmly in place. "If it is the alcove, then we don't necessarily want to run right in. We don't know how many cutters they have over her, and I really doubt we can take out more than eight hundred combined. Believe me, I wouldn't put it past them to post over her more than a thousand."

"Ripred," Gregor replied, pleading. "Every moment we waste is another they could decide she's run her worth with them. We can't delay any longer. We waited for me to get down here, we waited to train, we waited to rest, we waited to come. I will not wait any longer."

"So we're throwing everything we have at this last small chance in the rock," Ripred growled, displease seeping from his voice. Gregor, despite the harsh, dark glare being projected heavily in this direction, nodded for response. Ripred sighed, shoulders dropping in defeat. Raising a paw to rip a tuft of fur from his neck, the giant rat muttered, "Then either we win stupidly, or we lose horrifically and valiantly."

"Or we find nothing but a simple meter long air pocket in the rock and just try again somewhere else."

Ripred ignored the hard reply and instead turned back to the rock. Both paws came up to feel the depressions in the stone, grazing here and there through the footstep vibrations. He closed his eyes, concentrating for a hold or map of the rock inside his head, looking for weak points or penetration abilities.

Watching him work, Gregor took several deep, calming breaths and laid a hasty hand on his blade for the billionth time of their short stay in the Lair. "Can you dig through it?"

"I don't think so," Ripred barked. Keeping his eyes closed and his mouth straight, he added, "It's dense. All of this is granite, too hard for my claws to get through very far. Maybe a few inches, but otherwise we're out of luck here."

"There's no way?" Gregor moaned, sounding much like a child deprived of his favorite candy.

"No, I didn't say that." Ripred struck a spot above his head with a light but rigid wrist flick. "This is strangely conformed for granite. I might not be able to dig, but this stone is weakened in many places." He reached a foot above his head, never opening his eyes. "Here." He reached to his left and tapped a protrusion. "Here."

"You can tell that by rebounding echo?" Gregor speculated incredulously.

"More or less," Ripred supplied, giving neither a true or understandable answer. Groaning in frustration, the rat moved his hand in a slow motion over the wall until his paws met above his head. "The rock might break----and this is a huge 'might'----might break if a can dig in a bit in every place that's weak, and then we strike the lower points to break foundation."

"That's it?"

"Well," Ripred continued, removing his paws from the wall and shaking them through the air, "it's not as easy as it sounds. Like I said, it's weak; but that weakness spreads upwards as well. The digging part will break down the fragile structure of this stuff, so that less breakage below will take it away. Even with that, though, I'm fearful that the stuff above will come down as well, which might not only ruin the chance of this little hole, but bring the cutters down on us, while we're trapped, to boot. Not to mention the physical danger that much falling rock presents to us."

Gregor nodded, surveying the wall himself with his more limited seeing skills. "So we either get lucky or we get killed."

"If it matters to you, our luck has held amazingly as of yet," Ripred said, stepping away quickly for a few fresher breaths of air. "I really don't think anybody else besides the two of us would've gotten as far as past Equinox. It's a damn good thing you're not claustrophobic."

"Yeah," Gregor agreed softly, running two fingers along a groove in the wall. "That'd be fun." He dropped his hand, breathing through his nose as he got quick bearings. "I feel anxious, too much so. It's getting out of hand."

"Understandable," Ripred replied evenly. "The love of your life is in captive territory, and you ultimately decide her fate by actions that could or could not result in her immediate death."

"That's one hell of a pep talk," Gregor said as he grimaced, stomach contorting into uncomfortable pinches. Thinking of unpleasant outcomes, he switched brain tack mid-thought. "What do we have to do to make this all happen?"

"Truthfully? Hope and pray and all of that. Let me dig softly, and then hack away at the base with as much ferocity as we can. I give about a seventy percent chance that the entire place will come reigning down on us somewhere between the surviving stage and the getting in to get her."

Gregor rubbed his eyes. "Is that all?"

"Also, if it does turn out to be only a tiny air pocket surrounded by rock, I'll kill you."

"Joy. May we begin?"

Ripred sighed and lumbered to the wall once more, tapping here and there. Closing his eyes again to search for weaknesses, he spoke as he worked. "In the event that somehow our luck holds and we actually make it through to the other side, and it's the alcove, and we're relatively unscathed, be prepared for combat. Cutters think differently, but they're not dumb enough to leave their most prized captive unguarded, even this deep inside their own territory."

Gregor nodded, silently letting his senses sharpen as Ripred froze where he stood against the wall.

"Ready?" the rat whispered.

Without waiting for a response he immediately dug a claw into the stone. Wrenching down into the earth, he quickly flung short pinches of dirt out of a fast-forming hole, having eyes only for his hasty job. Almost before Gregor had a chance to concentrate on the sudden motion Ripred had already lunged up to the next spot, clamping into stone and tearing out the earth.

Four holes were finished. Then seven. And finally, stepping away with surprisingly-heavy breath, Ripred turned to Gregor with twelve finished holes.

Speaking quickly, the rat hissed orders at the Overlander. "Listen to me. If she's there, get to her and grab her. Don't assess her condition, don't hesitate in the slightest. If there are cutters, take down any that attack but let my handle the bulk if you can. Don't take any action that'll increase her risk and----MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL..." He paused, staring off at the dark wall they were about to breach. Sighing, Ripred finished, "If I go down, don't stop for me. Get. Her. Out. At any cost. Understand?

Gregor was barely comprehending the words, but he nodded, preparing for the greatest and most dangerous plunge he would ever take in his life so far. With a steadier hand than he expected to possess, he slid the scimitar from its sheath and held it softly by his side.

Ripred turned back to the wall once he received compliance, and immediately leaped at the base, growling over his shoulder, "Hack at it!"

Gregor jumped after him, not hesitating as he tore at the stone with his scimitar. The blade never shivered once, never quivered or chipped as it sliced into the rock as clean as butter. Chunks never flew, only clean lines being cut by the sword and claws, holding strong against the stone. Gregor attacked the rock like he would an enemy, striking at vital points and holding back for future blows. Every time a blow fell the wall became weaker, he could see, and it was only a short matter of time before the entire thing came down.

And then, all at once, a solid crack of stone split itself into and through the air, so loud it jarred Gregor's eardrums, out and up and rebounding off of everything and anything that got in its path, as the massive Lair broke upon its foundation.

Gregor wrenched his blade to a stop in mid-swing, causing it to screech haltingly in a single cut of strength. He froze, waiting for the rock to crumble uncontrollably. But it didn't. And the cracking stopped.

He didn't move. He didn't dare. One move could bring everything down and them with it. Slowly, he raised his head to look Ripred in the eyes, in a strange way both for comfort and for permission. Staring eye-to-eye in the lightest dark either had ever experienced in their life, Ripred raised his chin, lowered it once, and brought it back up.

Gregor took a deep breath, getting a grip on his sword. With a shaking voice, he looked up at his friend, mentor, and comrade-in-arms, and said, "See you in Hell."

With a roar of exertion, he hauled the scimitar out of its hold, bringing half of the wall with it. But as stone showered over and around his head, Gregor wasn't even paying attention.

He was already moving through the opening he had made, on into the Lair, on after Luxa.