Disclaimer: I do not own The Underland Chronicles nor anything within.
Lizzie took the book as her dad passed it to her. She began reading quickly.
Gregor was almost within striking distance of one of the rats when something caused Ares to veer straight upward. A third rat with an unusual gold coat had bolted into the cone right beneath them.
'That must be Goldshard,' Lizzie thought, startled. 'But didn't the other rat say that she'd been left with the Bane?'
"That makes three to fight," Gregor thought as Ares shot up and off to the side, but as the ground came back into view, he could see the gold rat tearing the throat out of one of his attackers.
Lizzie made a squeaking sound from the back of her throat, like a mouse being trod on. Scanning ahead and seeing stuff she did not want to read, she pushed the book at Ripred, who took it without question, and covered her ears, squeezing her eyes shut, too.
Grace was instantly on guard. Something bad must happen if Lizzie was freaking out. She listened, tensed, as Ripred began to read.
Then it spun around, blood flying from its muzzle, to face the other gray rat.
Gregor shook his head slightly, to clear it. What was going on?
"Don't be an idiot, Goldshard! He's come to kill the Bane!" snarled the gray rat.
"I would rather have the Bane dead than have it trust you," the gold rat hissed back. The rat's voice was slightly higher pitched, like Twitchtip's, and Gregor felt certain it was female.
"All you guarantee is your own death!" The gray rat crouched down to lunge.
"Someone will die, Snare, the question is who?"
"Both of them," Gregor muttered to himself.
Luxa heard and quickly turned to him. "Both of them?" she mouthed.
Gregor nodded glumly and turned back to the book.
said Goldshard. As Snare sprang toward her, she went into action.
Gregor had never seen a full-scale rat fight before. Ripred had killed two rats in a tunnel en route to rescuing his dad, but they hadn't had time to fight back. Then the big, scarred rat had taken on some of King Gorger's soldiers. But Gregor hadn't witnessed it because he was busy leaping to what he thought would be his death. Now he had a bird's-eye view.
Grace grimaced. 'Great.' She figured that this was why Lizzie had reacted so badly. She went over to her oldest daughter and rubbed her back comfortingly, ignoring the fact that she was sitting next to a giant, talking rat, reading out in gruesome detail the fight between two more giant talking rats.
When Goldshard had killed the first time, she'd had the element of surprise on her side. This time her opponent was on the offensive. And Snare, who Gregor was pretty sure was a male, was a lot bigger than she was.
The combat was vicious. The rat attacked each other in violent bursts. They'd circle for a minute, looking for an opening, then one of them would leap and there would be a blur of teeth and claws. As they pulled apart to circle again, both would have new wounds. Snare lost an eye. Goldshard's ear dangled from a shred of fur. You could see the bone in Snare's shoulder. Goldshard's left paw was snapped in two.
Everyone, even Gregor, looked disgusted at the words. Lizzie squeaked again and pushed her hands harder against her ears.
Only Ripred appeared to be unaffected by what he was reading and calmly continued.
Finally, the gold rat came in on her opponent's blind side and locked her fangs on his neck. In the final throes of death, Snare got his hind feet between their bodies and slashed open the length of Goldshard's belly.
Gregor stilled. He remembered a battle similar to this. 'As the Bane sank his teeth into Ares's neck . . . For a moment, they hung there, interconnected, supported by teeth and swords and claws. . . . Ares still dangled from the Bane's jaws. . . . The entire front of his neck had been torn off. . . . "Ares? Ares? Don't go, Ares, okay? Don't. Ares?' Gregor let out a small cry of anguish, curling up into himself and pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to keep the images out.[1]
Everyone turned to him, startled by his sudden reaction. Luxa was the first and only person to understand. She wrapped her arms around him as she recalled the shiners' description of Ares. ' . . . throat torn open, blood everywhere. It was awful.' She imagined that this battle was just similar enough to freak Gregor out.
Luxa noticed everyone's questing gazes and shook her head at them, mouthing to Ripred to keep reading.
She lost her grip, staggered back, and collapsed. Her intestines spilled out on the ground.
Mrs. Cormaci and Gregor's parents all turned slightly green. Luxa grimaced, thinking how awful that must have been for Gregor to watch. She tightened her grip on him as she noticed him shaking slightly.
The rats lay a few feet apart, eyes locked in hate, bodies helpless. With a terrible gurgling sound, Snare suffocated in his own blood.
Lizzie gave another small cry of distress. Luxa turned a concerned gaze to Gregor when she felt him jerk.
Gregor remembered blood. 'The blood was leaving his body fast. Seeping out of his chest and mingling with Ares's blood, then running onto the ground to join the Bane's. . . .'
Goldshard turned her gaze to Gregor. The look was pleading, and he was sure she wanted to say something to him. "Don't . . . ," she whispered. But before she could finish, her eyes glazed over, and she stopped moving.
Lizzie startled when her mother nudged her a bit. She glanced up at her and asked her with her eyes if it was over. Receiving a nod, she uncovered her ears, noticing her brother for the first time. She turned to her mom. "What . . . ?"
Grace shook her head. "I don't know," she choked out.
"What just happened?" Gregor blurted out.
"I do not know," said Ares.
"Are they dead?" asked Gregor.
"Quite dead. All three of them," the bat replied. He coasted down to the ground, avoiding the pools of blood that were spreading out from the rats' bodies.
Luxa jumped a little when she heard Gregor muttering to himself. She only caught bits of it, but she didn't like what she heard. "Ares? . . . Don't go. . . . Ares? . . . So much . . . blood. . . ."
Luxa ran her hand up and down Gregor's back. "Gregor? It - it will be alright. You shall see. We will make it better. Maybe when we have completed the books it will be better."
She felt Gregor shaking. It was a while before he responded. " . . . Maybe. But I don't see how it could ever get better."
"I know you do not. You forget, I felt just as badly after my parents were killed. I understand."
Gregor gave a bitter laugh, muffled because his head was still on his arms. "Yeah. I know. I'll bet Ripred understands, too."
Luxa shot a confused look at Ripred, who, to her surprise, looked startled. He must have known what Gregor was talking about.
Lizzie gasped. She, too, knew what Gregor was referring to. "Gregor . . . how?" Lizzie started to ask her brother, but Ripred quickly kept reading before anyone could question him.
"Do you know who they are?" asked Gregor. "Did you recognize their names? Goldshard? Snare?"
"Not Goldshard," said Ares. "I have heard of Snare. He was one of Gorger's generals. He was out fighting the war when Gorger fell. He must have joined with the Bane then. It would make sense. Whoever is close to the Bane would have much power when he becomes king," said Ares.
Gregor hadn't spent much time thinking about the rats' political struggles, but now that he did, something seemed strange. "So why hasn't the Bane become king yet? You'd think a rat as big and strong as he is would have taken over by now," said Gregor. "What's he waiting for?"
"Perhaps," Lizzie said, voicing for the first time her suspicions. "Perhaps it is because he is not as big and strong as everyone had been led to believe."
Ripred and Luxa turned startled looks to the girl. How did she know? Gregor's shaking even slowed a bit as he took in what his sister had said.
"Lizzie? What do you mean?" Mrs. Cormaci asked the young girl.
Lizzie shook her head. "We're probably all about to find out, so my telling you would be pointless."
"Even the Bane must gather an army around him," said Ares. "He has his own enemies among the rats. Ripred, for instance. He wants the Bane dead."
"Of course I did. Only problem being that the Warrior over here has a heart." Ripred said. His tone was mocking, but his eyes showed sympathy when he glanced at Gregor.
Luxa glared up at him. "I don't see how having a heart could be a problem, Ripred."
"Well, of course not." Ripred smirked and kept reading.
That was true. Part of Ripred's plan for his own rise to power included killing the Bane. Snare had wanted to keep the Bane alive, but Goldshard was willing to let Gregor kill it rather than let it trust Snare.
"Any smart person would have made that decision," Ripred commented, knowing personally what Snare was like.
"I'd rather have him trust Snare than Twirltongue," Gregor muttered, almost incomprehensibly.
Ripred smirked ruefully. "Yeah, that's true. But you took care of her."
"No. PearlieGirlie did."
"Really?" Ripred had to admit. He was impressed. "How'd you manage that?"
Gregor grimaced, though no one saw. 'Where's Twirltongue? Where did she go? Twirltongue? Twirltongue? She's dead . . . She's dead . . . You killed her! Just like you killed my mother!' He sighed softly. "You'll see."
There was something else about Goldshard. That last look she had given him. Like she was begging him, almost. What was it the rat had wanted to say to him? Don't? Don't what? Hurt her? It was a little too late for that.
Ares's head snapped around to the tunnel entrance.
"How many?" asked Gregor.
"Just one, I think," said Ares. "It is hard to tell. The path spirals." His chin jerked up again. This time, Gregor did not have to ask; he had heard the scratching himself. The sound stopped. Nothing emerged from the tunnel. Suddenly Gregor knew why.
"It's the Bane," Lizzie breathed. She couldn't believe it. The entire book boiled down to this moment and, if she was correct in assuming that the Bane was still only a pup, it was going to be very . . . interesting.
"It's the Bane," he whispered to Ares. The bat gave a nod of agreement. It had to be. The other rats would simply attack, but the Bane knew it was being hunted. By a human. By an Overlander. By the warrior.
The words of "The Prophecy of Bane" came back to Gregor.
HEAR IT SCRATCHING DOWN BELOW,
RAT OF LONG-FORGOTTEN SNOW,
EVIL CLOAKED IN COAT OF WHITE
WILL THE WARRIOR DRAIN YOUR LIGHT?
Yes, he would. That was what the warrior had come to do.
"No," Grace sighed. Her son shouldn't have to kill anything. Or anyone.
There was another faint scratch. It was in there then. Just a few feet away. Waiting.
The tunnel mouth was small, only about five feet high and four feet wide. There would be no flying in on Ares. The Bane must know that. It wanted to lure him in alone. Okay, then. He'd face it alone.
When Gregor winced, Luxa, knowing what he was thinking, pressed her forehead into the crook of his neck. "Gregor," she whispered. "You very nearly died fighting him with Ares. I do not believe you would have made it, had you been alone."
"Yeah, but Ares would have lived."
"So would the Bane. And then you would be dead and the Underland in ruins. Do not pretend to yourself that everything would have been better had you gone it alone."
Gregor slid the pack off his shoulders and onto the ground. He didn't want anything restricting his movements. He checked the switch on his flashlight; it was already on high beam. Gripping his sword, he began to move toward the tunnel.
Ares's wing came up to stop him. "You cannot fight him in there, Overlander."
"Well, he's not coming out," said Gregor.
"Wait, then," said Ares.
"For what? Another bunch of rats to show up?" said Gregor.
'Why does he have to be so logical about this?' Grace thought desperately.
Ares dropped his wing reluctantly.
"Look, I've got a feeling it was supposed to be this way, anyway. Like I was supposed to do it alone," said Gregor.
"I should've remembered that for later," Gregor mumbled to himself, making sure Luxa couldn't hear.
"But you be ready, because after I kill it, we've got to get out of here fast. Okay?"
"I will be ready," said Ares. He extended his claw, and Gregor grasped it with his hand.
Then Gregor turned to the tunnel. In the dozen paces it took him to reach the opening, he could feel himself slipping into rager mode, the heightened senses, the rush of adrenaline, the selective vision. Every molecule in his body was preparing to kill.
He moved swiftly inside and almost immediately encountered the spiral Ares had mentioned. Another corkscrew-like path. With his bad hand tracking along the wall and his good one leading with his sword, he went around one, two, three full turns and burst out into a square chamber.
It was trying to hide from him, the Bane. He caught just a glimpse of white fur, a flash of pink tail in a cave off to the side of the chamber.
Gregor thought of Luxa, who would never be queen, of Twitchtip bleeding on the ground, of his dad crying on the phone, and of Boots . . . sweet, trusting Boots . . .
Grace sniffed, feeling tears come to her eyes. Her family and their friends shouldn't have to suffer like this.
Heart pounding, blind to everything except that patch of fur, he lunged toward the cave. He raised the hilt in the air, flipping the sword so it would come down point first, at an angle. His bad hand joined his good one, and with every ounce of strength he drove the blade toward the Bane.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for what would come next.
But just before the point made contact, the creature made a sound that hit Gregor like a cannonball.
"Ma-maa!"
"I knew it!"
[1] So, yeah. I don't know how well that moment went. Still kinda' iffy about it, so tell me if it was okay.
If anyone thinks that Gregor's reaction to this was too much, tell me (give me a good argument, too) and, if I'm convinced, I'll try to change it as best I can.
10 virtual cookies to whoever can guess who shouted "I knew it!" Nah, just kidding. We all know who did. :)
EDITED: 1/25/2012