Sorry guys, my wifi access was cut since Saturday, since I'm up in the Mountains. By the time I update this, it will probably be at the little College near my house. So, if it's very far from Saturday the 30th, I apologize. Anyways, this is Chapter 26! This story is really coming along, and starting to get lengthy. I put all the chapters so far into a word document and it came out to one hundred ten pages without the author's notes too. Kind of scares me. Before I bore you, I think I should stop talking about nothing, and say that I'm going to be start adding a more… deep aspect to this story, that falls into line with angst. Or at least I will try.

Chapter 26: Fair is Foul

(Gorger's POV)

Gorger marched along with his troops over the rugged terrain, spanning tens if not hundreds of miles. It was only the second day of marching, and his rats were already tiring. "Damn all of them," He thought. "Out of shape—"

Gorger's lieutenant, Benvol, walked in to step with him, and whispered,

"Majesty, the troops are concerned…"

"Of what Benvol?" Gorger said coolly, reserving his anger. It would be inconvenient to show it here.

"Our destination—"

"What of it?" Gorger interrupted, growing impatient. Even if it would be inconvenient, Gorger hated stupidity; and Benvol wasn't helping.

"The Cutters, Majesty; they fear that we might be walking to a massacre."

Gorger stopped abruptly in his tracks, and asked simply, "Why would it be a massacre?"

"They outnumber us a thousand to one, Majesty." Benvol said, uneasily.

"Stop. I will speak to my men."

"Halt!" Gorger yelled, catching his soldiers by surprise. Walking onward ten paces, Gorger turned to face his forces.

"Pathetic." He could indeed see the cowardice in their eyes; the fear left in them after failure with the Bane.

"Men!" Gorger projected, his voice echoing menacingly through the tunnels, strong enough to reach the Cutters even. "I have been told that you are fearing our 'trip' to the Cutters. Why is this so? Where is your courage? What do you believe you are allowing yourselves to fear?"

"We are Gnawers, the fiercest species in the Underland! Those infernal, unintelligent pawns shall put themselves in their place on their own soon enough. It is then, that we will break fair bonds we've set out to make, and destroy them after they have finished serving their one purpose for us: annihilating the human scum!

"So let me ask you again," Gorger said, looking over his shoulder as he resumed his march. "What is it you are letting yourselves fear?"

(Gregor's POV)

When Gregor awoke, he could feel the tendrils of wind weaving through his hair, and the gold fur in front of his eyes. Groaning as he sat up, Gregor observed his surroundings; the flying, somewhat misshapen V formation of bats was still kept together, with him at the edge of the point. Before Gregor could play Sherlock Holmes any longer, smooth hands caressed his stomach, pulling him into a gentle hug. Gregor smiled, squeezing those interlocked hands.

"Hey Luxa." He said, softly. Luxa rested her chin on Gregor's shoulder.

"Hello Gregor."

They just sat there for a while, subconsciously trying to capture this feeling of togetherness, as they each had their own quiet suspicions of what would happen in the days that were ahead of them.

"Hey, Luxa?" Gregor asked. "How many days has it been since I fell back down here?" Luxa thought for a second, and answered,

"I think today is the fifth day since then, is it not?"

Gregor huffed at his luck. All this time, he thought he would either be dead or separated from Luxa on this day so he couldn't give her that necklace…

"The necklace!" Gregor said under his breath. He felt his pants pocket, and felt the lump that was the amethyst medallion. Sighing in relief, he turned to Luxa, taking out the necklace.

(Luxa's POV)

"Luxa, the reason I came down here was so we could celebrate your birthday. Funny thing is," Gregor said chuckling. "That would be today, right?" Luxa nodded, surprised. How did he know when her birthday was?

"In that case," Gregor continued, smiling his brilliant white smile.

"Happy birthday, Luxa." Then he took out the most beautiful necklace Luxa had ever seen.

It was different from her Underland ones, which were usually one piece plates, made out of solid gold. Luxa never really was interested by those, especially because of how uncomfortable they were, but this; this silver chained necklace with a purple stone at the end, was so different… and from Gregor… Luxa could not help but love it.

"Thank you, Gregor." Luxa said, taking it and holding it for herself. The stone had some weight, but it wasn't overbearing. Luxa struggled to put it on, as it wouldn't fit over her head. Gregor laughed, and said,

"Here, Luxa. Do you see this part?" Gregor pointed to a little circle with a small lever sticking out the end.

"When you push this back," Gregor did as he said, opening the metal circlet, leaving room to attach to the opposite end.

"The loop opens, so you can put this ring in, and it will stay around your neck."

Luxa nodded, and tried it for herself. She worked it out behind her neck, and, after a few seconds, felt the pieces attach, letting go of the little lever. "Ah!" Luxa said, happily. Then she hugged Gregor for real, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you Gregor." She said again. "Your welcome, Luxa."

(Gregor's POV)

"I hate to interrupt you two!" A snide voice said, definitely loving the fact it interrupted them. "But we are about an hour away from Regalia! You better make yourselves presentable by the time we're there! Knowing you both, it could indefinitely take longer!" Gregor didn't even bother looking over, as he already knew the only person that could say that in such a way, that it would grate on his nerves. "Shut up, Ripred." Gregor said pointedly.

"I would take your advice about being presentable, but as long as a certain rat looks worse than me, I think I'll be okay."

Ripred snickered. "Ever since I met his sister, I lost what little intellectual interest I had in him. Can you see why?" Ripred asked Sixclaw.

Sixclaw was smart enough and didn't say anything; out loud at least.

Before Gregor knew it, the docks of Regalia came in to view, and there were screams of recognition. They soared over the Wall after the docks, and continued on to the Palace.

Landing in the High Hall, Gregor hopped off Aurora, and Luxa followed shortly after. The guard on duty immediately went to alert Vikus and the rest of the Quest members gathered at the large table, and sat down in the chairs, while the bats gathered in a group and slept, exhausted.

It was about ten minutes before Vikus made his way up to the hall, apparently having been in the middle of a meeting. Right after sitting down, he got straight down to business.

"What is the status of the mission?" Vikus said, to no one in particular. When no one spoke up, Gregor sighed grouchily, and said, "We have discovered the Lost City; although, Vikus…" Gregor took a breath. "There is a poison that seeps up from the sediment in the ground, and rises to the ceiling of the Cavern. As for the item, we didn't find anything significant—"

"I wouldn't say that," Ripred interjected, sitting himself down at the table. Apparently, he had been stretched out on the floor until Gregor said what he did.

"What of that sword on your back, Warrior? Could that not be counted as important?" Vikus was also interested in the sword. "Gregor, could you draw your weapon?" Gregor looked incredulously at Vikus, but didn't refute his request, drawing his sword. Vikus took it in his hands, and looked down the blade.

"Um, Vikus?" Gregor asked, carefully. Could Vikus have finally lost it? "What are you doing?" Not answering, Vikus continued to inspect the sword. Eventually, he handed it back to Gregor, without a word. "Vikus?" Gregor tried again. "What's up?"

"That sword was made by a smith with the skill of Sandwich; and even the same insignia. I can almost conclude that this smith was an apprentice, or under the tutelage of Sandwich in some way."

The Quest members exchanged a few quick looks, and telepathic conversation. Vikus, out of the majority of his life being an ambassador, quickly picked up on the telepathy going on. "What is it?" he asked. Once again, Gregor stepped up and spoke.

"Would an apprentice likely be someone like Sandwich's brother?" Gregor said blatantly.

Vikus maintained the calm look on his face. "It would definitely make logical sense, although Sandwich did not have a brother."

Gregor didn't know what to do with the awkward situation. He didn't want to argue with Vikus, who had held this believe his entire life, against Gregor's childlike knowledge of Regalian history.

"Vikus," Luxa took over, much to Gregor's relief. "We have reason to believe that Sandwich had a brother, a man by the name of Matthew. Know you of him?"

Vikus thought for a couple of seconds, and said, "I believe there was a man named Matthew that was second in the hierarchy of construction. That might be sufficient evidence to prove he was the smith of this sword. However, how could you possibly prove he was related so closely to Sandwich?" Vikus asked.

He was right; all the evidence they had so far was Matthew's word, and that would never blow over with any Regalian when going up against hundreds of years of mainstream history, even if it was hearsay. Gregor answered, "We can't. All we have are a few letters."

"A diary of sorts." Luxa said. "I believe Eurydice still has it, does she not?"

"I think so." Gregor agreed.

At that moment, a flustered guard ran into the hall, and fell to his knees before Luxa and Gregor.

"Scouts— Gnawers moving— on Cutter territory—"

The guard collapsed in front of them, breathing heavily, possibly going into shock.

Gregor stared at the guard, still trying to piece together the meaning of his warning. Why would the Gnawers be moving in on the Cutters?

"Why would the Rats be marching on the Cutter's territory?" Gregor asked.

"I can understand if there are still rebels from the war of time, so wouldn't a coup be of more used to them now, instead of preparing to fight the armies that are trying to wipe us out?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Ripred said, intervening. "Who says they're going to fight?"

"So they are making an alliance?" Luxa asked.

"No, that's highly improbable." Ripred replied, beginning to pace.

"Even in the likely occurrence of rebels from the War of Time," Perdita said, thinking out loud. "It wouldn't make any logical sense to reason with the Cutters, who have created a track record for hating all that aren't their kind."

"That couldn't be more true;" Ripred said. "Which would lead us to the conclusion

that—"

"It's a fake alliance?" Gregor interrupted. After glaring at him, Ripred continued.

"From the outside looking in, yes. However," Ripred said, spinning to a stop in front of Gregor.

"Since the Cutter Queen dedicated her children to going to war with the humans, it would mean that the fortification of the Cutter's domain has lessened."

Luxa sat up in her chair. "Could it be to such a great extent…?!" she exclaimed, mind racing hundreds of miles an hour.

Ripred regarded the Queen with a realist's grim expression. "This would be the perfect time to take out the Cutter Queen."

Well guys, hoped you liked the chapter. I'm sorry it was late. I guess I don't have the creative juices going the way they used to quite yet. Anyways, I'm trying to determine how much of some things (not going to say what) will go in to the story. I'm trying to get the timing right so I can be proud of the main storyline, and the original idea from it. So, hopefully, I can get it right so you can enjoy it. Like one guest review said, it will probably be around fifty chapters, if not more. Until next time, all of you.