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All is revealed. Part 5 and chapter 36, the chapter of all chapters, are finally here… Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I claim to disclaim.

PART 5

HERO AND WARRIOR

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36

Explanations

"What in damnation is this?"

The Viceroy's voice was dripping with anger. He had turned completely away from her, swinging around to face Gregor as his eyes screamed utter fury. Gregor, though, standing in his torn clothes, wielding a face that cried the definition of composed and confident, didn't back down in the slightest. He didn't even look away or shift his footing. Even as Mareth stumbled forward to intercept the Viceroy's started steps toward her love, Gregor was already locked inside a staring match of evil looks, raised eyebrows, and masterminded eye emotions, and both wore glares so intense she might've guessed early that it was a contest to the death.

She was standing only a few feet from the general and her betrothed, but as the Viceroy moved towards Gregor and Mareth reacted, Howard came from behind and took a half-step in front of her, shielding her from any apparent harm while in a position to move into the mild struggle if he had to himself. Even as he did so Luxa saw Mareth get in front of Arthur and pace a firm hand on his chest.

"Calm yourself," Mareth growled, soft and low so only the Viceroy and the closest participants were able to hear. "If it is false, then you have nothing to lose. And if is true… then you would be smart to hold your place anyhow."

Luxa didn't know what to make of the statement, but she was wise enough to realize that this was neither the place nor the time to open her own mouth for discussion. Besides, her attention was suddenly captured in its full by the sight of Gregor striding elegantly down the aisle dividing the two sides of the room. Not once did his eyes leave the Viceroy's, but he walked on to mount the steps.

Mareth was still ahead of the Viceroy, but he took a few steps downward until he was before Gregor now. Gregor stopped abruptly, arm-to-arm with Mareth, and spoke briefly directly into the general's ear. Mareth replied quickly, and a few more words were exchanged before Gregor stepped off a pace, still staring at Arthur. Mareth moved off quickly to the side and spoke to the crowd. "I apologize for the inconvenience, but at this time I must ask that all attendants except for those members of the council of Regalia please leave."

A soft and slightly muffled chorus of disgruntled voices filled the room, most of confusion and anger tinged with curiosity. There were those few that sounded generally insulted for being asked to leave, but, slowly, the people began to stand and move from the room, still speaking with each other. Any questions and inquiries thrown at the crowd assembling near the front, the entourage of council members, were deflected by Mareth before they reached their target, and even the stragglers who insisted on staying to understand what the meaning of such an interruption was eventually gave up and shuffled from the chapel, sending annoyed looks over their shoulders and whispering grumpily to themselves as they went. Over Howard's shoulder, Luxa saw Aurora hesitate for a long moment at the door from the chamber, staring back at her with great and apparent worry. Luxa just nodded once in her direction, giving the signal that she would be fine, and smiled slightly to tell her bond she was perfectly fine. Aurora still hesitated, but finally, after Luxa gestured for her to continue, she slowly departed. Hazard similarly reacted, but Luxa waved him away, and he obeyed.

Mareth bent down and spoke a few words to the two dozen or so council members who had assembled, all who appeared to have as little idea as many of those who had just left. A brief conversation ensued, but finally, after two of them argued had argued with him over some matter or another, the general once more stood up and moved back to get between the Viceroy and Gregor, who were still eye-locked with each other.

The moment the large doors closed behind the last idler, leaving the room empty but for Vikus, Howard, Mareth, Gregor, Luxa, Arthur, and the council, the Viceroy snarled deep in his throat and spat out his words harshly at Gregor. "Overlander, I will have you slandered and destroyed for such an outrageous claim."

"Bite your tongue before you eat it," Gregor replied with equal venom and without missing a beat. "Any word you say I will use against you, and believe me, if it weren't for common courtesy I would already have killed you."

"Enough!" Mareth shouted, jumping in between the two of them even quicker than before. "The claim has been leveled, Viceroy, and it is within council jurisdiction. We will examine it with every finality."

"You cannot seriously believe his words!" Arthur cried. His mood was betraying no side of his actual guilt or innocence. He was portraying himself very well. For all she knew, he was truly outraged at such an accusation and had no idea what Gregor was speaking of. "You cannot believe----"

"He would not have brought it here unless he was absolutely positive that he could prove it. And if you try to leave until myself and the council dismiss you, then I will have you shot on sight."

For a long moment a shocked silence filled the chamber, much of the council and Vikus visibly surprised by Mareth's statement, Howard taking a step closer in case there was need for him to jump in, the Viceroy's gaze turned horribly on Mareth finally, and Gregor still doing nothing except keeping his eyes locked hard upon Arthur. The room had turned to ice, everyone either staring at Mareth or the Viceroy. Luxa began to think that they would remain like so forever, but, finally, Arthur looked quickly downward and gave the slightest of nods before swiveling ever so swiftly to stare down Gregor again. Once again, the Overlander didn't flinch.

"Gregor," Mareth toned, taking a deep breath to steady himself before he plunged into arbitration of crimes. "You accuse Viceroy Arthur of conspiracy and thwart in the way of sovereignty in the seat of the Regalian throne. Essentially, this is the highest of crimes, second only to regicide. You realize that you face charges yourself by making such a claim, should it turn wrong."

"Obviously," Gregor replied.

"Yet you still wish to go forward."

"Again, obviously."

"Very well." Gregor was receiving several disgruntled glances from the council members, human and gnawer alike, all shooting disapproval for his lack of proper adequate in the addressing to Mareth. He ignored them all, though, his eyes still locked in the same position, and Mareth took equal notice. The general simply nodded at Gregor's reply before stepping slightly aside, still in the direct path between the two heated opponents but allowing room enough for it to seem less than hectic. "It is apparent you understand your position. You accuse the Viceroy Arthur. State how you came about such an accusation."

"To tell the truth, I rightly have no idea," Gregor said. Before anyone could say anything, though, he immediately pressed on. "Ripred came upon it. He didn't know who it was who had done it, but he told me as he was dying, when the cutters tried to take the city after we got Her Majesty back: there was a traitor inside Regalia, one who had helped in the abduction of Luxa and who had handed her over to the cutters when they came. He told me to take over where he had started, find this traitor, make them pay for what they had done for our monarch and sovereign and make the city safe again."

"And you took a dying gnawer at his word?" one older council member stated, earning harsh looks from Vikus and Mareth, as well as Gregor, who finally managed to turn his gaze from the Viceroy, and every single gnawer member of the council.

Gregor's was probably the worse of all. Perhaps not the harshest, but by far the one that held the most anger and contempt. When he spoke a reply, it was in a quiet snarl, filled to the brim with bottled emotion. "When you speak of Ripred the gnawer lord, you seem to fail to remember that he did more for this city in his lifetime than any other creature in its entire existence, save perhaps Sandwich himself. He saved two species from a war which would have destroyed them both, and he realized both the faults in others and himself. When you speak of him, use respect, or hold your worthless tongue and don't speak at all. Yes, I took him at the final words on his dying breath, because I would rather take those than anything coming from yours."

Luxa's jaw dropped at his words, her looks mirrored in Hazard's and Howard's expressions and equaled in Mareth's raised eyebrow. Such a harsh rebuke, especially of an elder council member, regardless of the subject, might have actually given the council the authority to throw Gregor clear from the chamber. In fact, it probably would have, had every single caring member of the council been shocked speechless at that very precise moment. Even despite such an undesirable and truly foolhardy gesture and exclamation, Luxa couldn't help but grin slightly behind her queen's mask at Gregor's courage.

Mareth's recovery was the least and quickest of them all, and he was quick to keep Gregor talking. "And you come to us with nothing but the suspicion of the late Lord, and an uneasy feeling towards Viceroy Arthur?"

"Of course not," Gregor replied, taking a few steps backward for no apparent reason. "I never would have thought that it had been the Viceroy, as it so happened. As far as I could see at the time, the clues seemed to point at nothing except away from Arthur. So I trusted my gut and mind at the time and simply went looking for clues as to who it actually was who this was."

Gregor actually turned away from the Viceroy for the first time, back coming to face Arthur's eyes. For a brief second Luxa thought that her betrothed might actually throw himself at Gregor now that the opening was there, but he did nothing except hold the high ground he apparently had, hands constantly clenching and unclenching rapidly at his side. Seething in quiet was all he could do, but he was doing quite enough of it for one person to host.

Gregor began to pace as this was happening and pressed onward without waiting for anyone to reply or acknowledge his statement. "I started this four days ago. I didn't know what to do. I had no idea who it was, why they would do it, or what was possible that could have been done. I really thought that I would be running around Regalia for a long time, trying not to let Ripred down and doing my best not to screw up everything that had been built up without me. I need help, but I didn't know where to get it.

"First I went for help in my investigation to you, Mareth. You refused. I was already out of options, so I went right to Aurora, Luxa's flier bond. She would never leave Luxa behind to help me with what I needed, so I asked for some other flier she trusted. She told me of one named Eris, who complied with what I needed with admirable ease. She took me back where I need to go to find the answers that wouldn't appear on the outside: the Cutter Lair."

Many of the council members looked perfectly confused, while Mareth was regarding him with a mild expression of understanding. Arthur, though, in contrast, snorted loudly. "So you are meaning to tell us that you flew back into the Cutter Lair and magically an independent cutter told you that I participated in the kidnapping of my own devoted?"

"No," Gregor said simply, not halting his pace or turning to face the Viceroy. "The only thing I got poking around the city, as it turned out, was a lone statement from a guard captain that said it was you, Viceroy, that raised the alarm when it first appeared that Luxa was taken by the cutters. Perhaps you would be so kind as to explain that?"

"I saw a cutter running off with her on its back, from the wall of the castle into the mix of cutters," Arthur replied calmly. "I suppose you are under the insane impression that I put her there."

"No. I'm under the certainty that you put her there. Moving on from the point I was at, though," Gregor continued, "Eris and I flew back into the Lair. She was able to follow the trail the cutters used to enter the city by following their pheromone trail, up until a certain junction in the rock. By the way, she can verify any of this for you, if you still feel like contradicting me. At that point in the journey the trail became erratic, and we had to stop for fear of following the wrong trail. We discovered that on the ground of that chamber there were enough cutter footprints in the soil to represent an entire army, and that the way things looked by the way Eris could smell them, that location would coincide with a precise place for the entire cutter army to congregate before launching a massive attack on Regalia."

"So you discovered a place where the cutters marched from," the Viceroy said. "The relevance of that still escapes me."

"In the soil at the very edge of the floor lining the wall, we found a human bootprint that had completely escaped being scraped over by cutter claws. The foot was only slightly wider than my own, and even less longer." Gregor paused and swiveled until he was facing the Viceroy. "I'm willing to bet that you're print would be larger than mine, if only just, perfectly matching the size of the print that there was. Feel free to insult me if you find me incorrect."

The Viceroy's face seemed to become harder in appearance, but hadn't grown in color like Luxa and evidently Gregor had been hoping. He stared coldly back at Gregor for a long moment, and then, reaching a hand down very slowly, pulled off his right boot and chucked it clearly as hard as he could at Gregor's face. Gregor, in turn, plucked the hurtling missile of footwear from the air with as much difficulty as a gnawer eating anything edible, and only raised an eyebrow towards his opponent.

Swiftly, the Overlander dropped the boot to the floor, where it landed straight. Nudging it slightly with his toe, he pushed it into position to compare to his own footprint. Luxa looked anxiously down, trying to see exactly what the outcome of the measuring would be. Howard peered with her, while the Viceroy didn't move in the slightest. The results weren't long in coming.

The boot, compared to Gregor's own, was exactly the size he had dictated, slightly larger than his own on all sides, widening more and reaching out past a slight amount. Gregor left it there for a moment so that Mareth and then the council see, and then, as the elders whispered frantically to each other, easily flicked the Viceroy's boot back into his hand and tossed it back to its owner. "Care to explain that?"

"Coincidence," Arthur replied, either telling the complete truth or putting on a very good portrayal of it. "Simply because a random footprint matches mine does not mean it was I who put it there. Besides, this notion is completely absurd, and I find it very unlikely, in any event whatsoever, that you would find such a substantial footprint amongst the enemy."

"You have my statement and Eris' to prove it," Gregor declared, resuming his pacing. "And that's only the first clue."

Luxa's entire attention was captured, but she was beginning to see faults already in Gregor's assertions. For one thing, Arthur had slept a room away from her for months now. If he had been planning to get her out of the way, he could have done it in ways much more discreet and simple than a cutter invasion for the sole purpose of stealing the human queen. Besides, from what she could already tell from what Gregor was saying, Arthur would have no reason to do so. In line for the throne by marriage, it would have actually decreased his personal gain if she should disappear. Yet, there they were, and Gregor still looked as confident as the moment he had walked through the chamber doors.

Gregor had already continued his story. "We kept flying on then, but it didn't take long before we started to really get inside cutter borders. The patrols, watching for similar expeditions like Ripred and I executed in the rescue, kept getting bigger and more frequent, and before we could even get close to our destination, the center chamber again where Her Majesty was held the first time, it became too dangerous for Eris to continue with me. I had to go in alone."

"So now it's only your statement that we have to trust?" Arthur growled.

Mareth raised a hand and silenced him in a moment. "Viceroy, you are in a very compromised position at the moment. I suggest you watch your words."

"I have done nothing, and certainly not assisted in the abduction of my betrothed. I will speak as I will."

"To answer your question, Viceroy," Gregor announced loudly, cutting off Arthur with finality, "yes, all we have from here on is my statement. Under the circumstances, though, other things to come to your understanding allowing, I think that the council will find that to be significantly enough. Based on interpretation of the following statements, however.

"You can consider the journey as harsh and difficult as you believe it to be, but it took time. When I finally got there, there was another army amassing, except smaller this time. (While we're talking, I would also suggest having all forces of the city at battle-ready positions now for all times. It looked like they were preparing for war.) I managed to get into the central matrix spire of the Lair, where supposedly they protect their queen. I was originally looking for her, with the intent of interrogation. She would be the only one with selected individuality and would answer. Instead, though, I was fleeing from a patrol and it trapped me inside a separate passage. I managed to cut off the pursuit, but I got trapped inside, in a storage chamber of the Lair. Listen closely, this is where it gets really good."

His seeming ease and relaxation was irritating the council, but Luxa found it strangely amusing, even under the current situation and in light of the most recent revelation. Contrary to both, Arthur appeared neither annoyed nor humored, and that might have simply said that Gregor wasn't affecting his mind at all, and there was truly no battle taking place; the Viceroy was winning and would win without competition, and Gregor was fighting for her for nothing.

But he didn't give any indication of such an event as he kept talking. "There were only five guards in this room but I took them out without hassle. What's really interesting is that there were crates in the storage room. Crates of human design. Crates that carried a human symbol." Gregor paused dramatically, but he really only turned to regard Arthur. "The symbol of The Fount. You just happen to be from The Fount, don't you, Viceroy?"

"Are you instigating that the cutters received these crates from me?"

"No, sir, I am not instigating it. I'm telling you that you did."

She would have sworn right there that the room temperature dropped by twenty degrees. Nothing but hatred was passing in the locked stare between the two men, and Luxa could actually almost feel the suppressed anger radiating off of Arthur. Still he was standing solid and firm, but now both Mareth and Howard were standing right at the ready to restrain him should he instantly leap at Gregor. Or vice versa.

Long moments passed in which the two men stared harshly at each other, Gregor still pacing, despite holding the locked gaze. Luxa was still aware of the metallic tube he held in his hand, unknown to her but evidently a weapon, for the way that he was still brandishing it rather threateningly and at the ready. She couldn't tell how things were shaping out in favor of one or the other, but whatever was happening was wavering very closely with the line of emotional tolerance. All present were treading lightly, hesitant to interfere but anxious for information.

The Viceroy first broke the silence. "First of all, how would I be able to transport crates from my home to the middle of the Cutter Lair without dying? Second of all, why would I? Third of all, how do you not know that the crates are simply the remnant of the salvage of a raid against a merchant convoy?"

"The answer to all of those," Gregor responded, "is one and the same. When I noticed the crates, I went to one of the cutters I had downed but not killed. I spoke to it, hoping for a reply, and, what the hell, it worked."

"A cutter talked to you?" spoke a council member. Luxa's head swiveled slightly to see who it was. An old gnawer, one whose name escaped her, but very wise and peaceful for one of his species.

"Yes, a cutter talked to me. Believe me, sir, no one was or will be more surprised than I about that fact. Now, though, just listen to what that cutter had to say." Intentionally, purposefully, Gregor turned right to face the Viceroy as he spoke his next words, staring his opposite down and halting his feet at the exact same time. "At death, it said that a man came to the cutters, bearing offerings of peace. The man asked for collaboration over a topic that was unknown to the cutter, but it did tell me enough. Including the fact that this man was taller than I." He paused, letting the information sink in. "You are, in fact, taller than me, Viceroy."

"Which says nothing," the Viceroy hissed, concealing nothing behind his eyes. "There are many Underland men so, and even if it were to be true of this cutter speaking exactly what you say, I highly doubt that this person made it out of the Cutter Lair alive."

"Oh, he made it out," Gregor said, nodding his head to himself as he spoke. "He's standing right in front of me."

"I believe I must contradict you. It is not I who you speak of, and I still fail to see why you insist it is such. Speak the truth, Overlander, and maybe the council will spare you a less painful fate that what you are currently in line to endure."

With every passing moment, even after it had still been present during the initial accusation, Luxa felt all the respect for Arthur she had accumulated over many months slipping away gradually, but more and more over time. Even when she heard it, she couldn't believe that such a man she had grown to trust, but not quite love, could be capable of such an atrocious act as what Gregor was proposing. Even now, though, she suddenly had a view of the side of the Viceroy she had not before known, and was fearful to be in even so close to him in their space of the room.

As all of that thought was coming to her, Gregor was taking a deep breath. "The reason I believe it was you, Viceroy, is because I hate you profusely. Oh, and this." With the hand that didn't grasp the foreign weapon, he reached inside of his coat pocket, one she only just realized was bulging slightly. From its depths he pulled out a deep, dark black piece of cloth fabric, which was perfectly stitched and had a hint of crimson trim around the edging. As she observed it with a familiar interest, Gregor bunched it quickly into a tight ball, and tossed it at the Viceroy's feet. For the first time since the beginning of their intense dispute, Arthur took his eyes from Gregor's and placed them over the fabric, which Luxa still scrutinized with interest.

He looked at it once and then flashed his hatred back up towards Gregor. In a harsh voice, he hissed out one word, "Explain."

And then familiarity won out suddenly in Luxa's mind, and before Gregor could answer the forced command she found herself opening her mouth and the words stumbling from her mouth. "That... that is the same fabric of the robes you were wearing to Ripred's funeral. Exactly the same."

She looked back up, not towards Arthur, but to Gregor for confirmation. She was momentarily stunned and surprised to find his gaze resting on her for the first time of the morning, but recovered instantly only to be bombarded by the second shock. In the millisecond his gaze had shifted from Arthur to her, Gregor's eyes changed from devastating hatred to mortifying love, and the fondness in his eyes was so powerful that she almost ran to him, in front of the council and the remainder of her protecting force, to wrap her arms around his neck and wash her horrible predicament away in his embrace.

She managed to restrain herself at the final moment, though.

Gregor kept staring at her for a brief second longer, and then flitted back to Arthur. Nodding his head very slowly at her answer, he spoke with unconditional confidence. "Precisely. Vikus, please verify."

All eyes in the room except for the two men of center stage swivled to rest on Vikus, who shuffled uncomfortably with the effort of his aging memory suddenly becoming taxed. Long moments passed where no one spoke, where Vikus strained for his remembrances, and where a silent battle of dominant eyesight was waged and fought. It was nearly a minute before Vikus took a breath and answered. "I do believe that the Viceroy was wearing something in the make of that cloth."

"As do I," Mareth added.

"So you will try and convict me of a false crime because of what I wore?" the Viceroy said, although his voice was perfectly level and expressionless. "Because I wore clothing of the same item, which is common wear in The Fount, and the Overlander supposedly 'found' in the Cutter Lair?"

Something akin to controlled glee filled Gregor's voice as he kept talking. "Something like that, yeah, Arthur."

She wouldn't have been surprised if ice grew on their locked stare. "If you are accusing me of this with you every last effort right there, Overlander, simply come out and say it."

"Oh, no, Viceroy," Gregor said in a somewhat mocking tone, shaking his head exaggeratedly. "No, I don't pretend to accuse you of the crime with what I've just told you. After all, that was only the half of it.

"I just told you 'what'. Now I'm gonna tell you 'why' and 'how'."

Before anyone could say another word, Gregor had resumed his pacing stance, moving back and forth once again across the floor, already launching back into his words. "I'm guessing that you were always a smart child, Viceroy, am I correct? Yeah, of course I am, you've always been smart. Only I'm guessing that you were always smarter than the children around you, your friends, or, more likely, your enemies."

Periodically, he paused, looking right at the Viceroy to either observe the man's reaction or watch for signs of recognition, or both. Luxa was taking in every word with the intent of understanding, but just found herself confused and not entirely sure she was hearing right. After a moment, though, it became clear that she would only know more by listening, silently and patiently, until he told her exactly what she wanted to hear. Whether she wanted to or not, Gregor was going to say enough to make her listen, anyway.

"Of course, Viceroy, everyone knows that a children's dream is to be the king or queen, ruler or all, monarch and mighty to those beneath them. Parents might not encourage it but they accept it until the time comes when the child grows old enough to begin to realize that they would never become king or queen, which usually happens on their own." Gregor paused, and then turned his back deliberately on the Viceroy as he went into his next statement. "You, however, I believe, smartest of all of your classmates and enemies and ridiculers, never let go of that dream. Because you knew that it was within your reach. You were smart enough to realize that, with the right cards played very carefully, you could someday be the king.

"So, all the way throughout your life, you played those cards very, very, very warily, always weighing the costs and benefits of them closely. You always played everyone on their best interests, making friends where you needed them and could exploit them, choosing your enemies as they were as you went. You did a pretty good job of it, I'll give you that, and eventually you were high enough to do exactly what you had meant to do from the very beginning: ascend in politics to a position of interest to Regalia and arrive ready for the taking of the throne.

"And please, this is all speculation, contradict me if I'm wrong."

Gregor had captured the room's attention greatly, but now all eyes swiveled back to Arthur, waiting anxiously for his response. The man's face was still expressionless, but his lips were clamped so hard together that they had turned even whiter than his Underland skin. He slowly opened his mouth and made his awaited response, but it was directly solely at Gregor's back in its sharpness and horrible anger, disguised by calm tone. "I fail to see your point in this, Overlander."

"My point, Viceroy, is that you were here in Regalia, and close to the queen. You were only that far away from what you had wanted and fought for ever since your young years, and you knew that you would be able to convince Luxa, always the giver for her people, to marry you. So here, thinking back, I'm guessing that you either caused the strain in relationship between Regalia and The Fount completely in the first place or you emphasized the point greatly, making it much more serious to be brought before Her Majesty. You and she would debate and debate, seeing the problem and trying to go for any possible solution. Then you would wait for the precise moment to spring your trap, the one moment where you could act like it was pure thought and last resort and not long-conceived plan. And then Luxa, seeing the brilliance in such a tactic, would agree.

"Suddenly, oh my goodness, Viceroy Arthur is going to be king!

"Isn't that what you wanted all along?"

Not one person in the room wasn't staring at Gregor with anything but confusion, his meaning long lost amongst the strange labyrinth of his words. The council had long been lost in the explanation, and even Mareth looked confused. The general, taking a step closer to Gregor, muttered in an undertone, "Gregor, what is you meaning in all of this?"

"Chill, Mareth," Gregor said, rebuking the general quickly and settling into something that seemed like relaxation. "All in good time, sir, all in good time."

"What does any of this enlightening information have to do with what you're accusing me of?" the Viceroy snarled sarcastically.

"Everything," Gregor answered, swinging around finally to face Arthur again. "It has everything to do with it. Kindly allow me to continue, and you will see exactly what I want you to.

"Here you are, Viceroy, set up to be king. You will be married to Luxa and the ruling male monarch of the Underland humans. The power is yours and the people are happy. You seem to be off and well in life, good to go and not coming back. Then, just as you're beginning to celebrate and savor your long-awaited and long-dreamed of victory, you realize the truth:

"You will be the shadow ruler, the one who sits behind while the other leads and does all that the people love. Luxa would be on top, while you would simply be her husband, who works behind and is never recognized for the brilliant mind that he is. You would effectively disappear, having your great title as King of Regalia... but vanishing as you are beaten from ahead by your queen, who seems to be your better to the people."

For the third time, Gregor began to pace. "So, here you are, king but not King, and you realize that you will not be what you have always wanted unless you were the one the people loved, the one on top, the one who they always look to when they need assistance. Quickly, you decide that you will do anything you must to get yourself into that position you want. Cleverly, you realize the position you are in that will help you towards the whole. And you begin to hatch your plan.

"The cutters are the horrible enemy of Regalia. If they were to strike, and you were to save the day, then you would be the hero. That, however, would be too hard to orchestrate, to execute, and far too romantic to prove plausible in reality. Plus, being the one above, you would also have to be beyond Luxa, the queen, to gain the highest praise. In this way, you wonder if you can't increase your status at the same time as you decrease hers, or use hers to get yourself up top. You probably think long and hard, and then you finally begin to come up with the layout for what will push you into the favor of the entire human species. You'll stage her kidnapping, and then go and get her out, the hero of all of Regalia.

"It's brilliant. All you do is go to the cutters, use enough bargaining and intelligence to avoid death and gain an audience with the queen of the cutters. Somehow, you manage it. You go in to the Lair to offer your goods as peace and speak, meet the queen, and tell her exactly what it is you want: the humans are a grave threat to the cutter species, so they should actually ally. You propose a simple agreement which will benefit them greatly. You tell them to attack Regalia, and then, in the middle of the attack, you will hand them the human queen. Then they'll retreat, and keep her with them, and keep her safe, and their side of the agreement will be fulfilled. In return, you have probably promised a firm alliance and a share of human lands to cede to them.

"But you never intended to keep your side of the bargain. You were going to let them take Luxa, wait a while, then turn out with the big decision to lead a force into the Lair and get her back yourself, taking out as many cutters as possible in the process. They did their part for you, so now they're useless, and they will never get the land they honestly agreed to. Then you return to Regalia, Luxa safe in your arms, and you become the great hero to the human people, the one who saved the queen, and suddenly, while the queen is still incapacitated, the cutters try to retaliate, and then war breaks out, and then you have to deal with it as the active monarch. Judging from how the human army will look with you at the head, you will defeat them easily and return a war hero, even more loved in the eyes of the people. Then you'll marry Luxa and you'll be King Arthur, the high and beloved ruler of Regalia."

Gregor paused, daring Arthur to say anything. Luxa was speechless, slack-jawed. Mareth was staring at Gregor as though the Overlander had just slapped him across the face. Howard looked petrified with surprise. Vikus was frozen with shock. Much of the council shared Mareth's reaction, and all stared at Gregor, perplexed at how plausible the idea actually sounded. Alone, Arthur stood staring at Gregor with the same expression he had started out as, and no one else spoke, leaving the chamber in perfect silence.

After the quiet stretched into straining length, Gregor shrugged and kept going. "I gotta say, Viceroy, that was a damn good plan. You had some room for error, some ability to choose your own points for the certain necessities, even the patience to wait until the perfect time to try and set the whole thing off. So many things went right that you were practically home free the moment you began. Except for the one thing that went horribly wrong.

"Ripred was suspicious. You knew that he wasn't looking right at you, but you were smart enough to see that he was looking at something, and was under the impression that Luxa hadn't simply been picked from her platform by ants. No, he was sure there was someone inside, and suddenly you had a problem. If you went in after Luxa like you had previously planned, just barging in with an army, Ripred might be smart enough to suspect something, then do a little snooping, and then suddenly accuse you. Then you lose everything.

"So you had to modify your plan in the middle. You couldn't go in, so you tried to kill two crawlers with one stone: you were gonna send Ripred in, and hope that he got Luxa back, but died horribly in the process, thereby eliminating the possibility of being caught. You went to him, turned on your sensitive side that doesn't exist, and convinced him to do it. The people would still see you well, especially if Ripred died, 'cause you still would have been the one to think of the master rescue plan. So you thought everything would work just as planned.

"Ripred didn't want to take an army. He wanted to go to the Overland and get me. You were fine with that; you didn't know me, but you figured I'd be average intelligence, not as smart as you, and easily overridden. So you let him do what he did, and hoped for success as we marched away into the Lair after her. You came to the platform to offer assistance just as cover-up to your true intentions, and it worked perfectly. But then we went in, and were doing everything possible to get Luxa back, and you were hoping that fate would bless you and kill the both of us while Equinox flew Luxa right back to you, safe and sound. And then you'd be a hero.

"But we didn't die. At least, I didn't. And we got her back. And Ripred got me the message of the deceit before he died, and I was able to do everything until this point. It was a good plan. You almost got away with it. A few minutes later and you might have had enough authority simply to throw me into the dungeon without provocation. But it wasn't a few minutes later, and now its over.

"You've lost, for the first time in your hard life."

Utter silence met the end of his speech, his entire accusation, and every mouth in the chamber save Arthur's was gaping at him, trying so hard to believe what he had just stated in very close black and white but finding it very hard to do so. Gregor stood, halted in his pace, actually heaving for breath, soundlessly and victoriously as he watched Arthur. Still the Viceroy hadn't moved, holding the same difficult position he had throughout his opponent's entire accusation. Luxa could barely comprehend what was happening for her mind was working so hard to process the following facts. Just as the whispers began to fly through the council, though, she recovered herself enough to hear Mareth speak right to Gregor.

"Gregor," the general said, somewhat quietly and directed only at the Overlander himself. "What you have said... is... believable. But... there is not any possible way that Arthur could have done all of that on his own, without help." Gregor evidently heard, but didn't speak for a moment, his eyes locked, as always, on the Viceroy. Finally, though, he did speak, and he spoke it loud enough for the entire room to hear it.

"That's because he did have help. Equinox was on his side all along."

A series of gasps flew through the room, starting with a startled Luxa, followed by a shocked Vikus and finally ending amongst the members of the council. Gregor held his composure perfectly throughout the reaction, much as the Viceroy did on the opposite end of the stare. Mareth himself was staring at Gregor like the Overlander was both brilliant and insane at the same time.

Howard, oddly enough, chose to break that particular silence. "If that is right, then when Equinox flew you into the Lair..."

"He was doing everything he could to make sure that we never got back out again," Gregor nodded. "And, you know, Viceroy, suddenly all of that makes sense, too. All the stuff Equinox did that was unexpected and unhelpful. He was in from the beginning, wasn't he? What did you promise him? A bond? A mate? Doesn't really matter, probably."

Gregor tilted his head so he was speaking into the direction of Mareth and the council, but kept his eyes, as always, where they had dwelt for the better part of his stay in the current chamber. "Equinox asked me why I wasn't using a torch when Ripred and I left him to go deeper into the Lair, even after he had clearly seen me use echolocation. He knew I didn't need the torch; he just brought it up so that I would think I would need one and then it would act like a beacon to the cutters as we would be running back to him with Luxa. Hopefully, for him, to lead them right to our feet and kill us. When we were flying back to Regalia with Luxa, the cutters on the ground were able to keep up with him in the air. We wondered why that happened, but now it's clear that he did it on purpose. He was probably going for the two of us to get the idea that we had to jump off of him and hold off the cutters on the ground, therefore we would both be dead and he would return unharmed to Regalia carrying Luxa on his back, just as much a hero as you would be, Viceroy.

"And that, Arthur, is the truth of your horrifying betrayal."

The final ending of his accusatory lecture brought a gigantic silence over the room. The council members were either staring at Gregor or the Viceroy, some with mouths agape, some still looking confused, and still others who looked increasingly worried. Mareth appeared nervous, but hid it well behind a relatively firm mask of composure. Gregor and the Viceroy were as they had been for the entire duel. Howard's teeth were clenched beneath his closed lips, and he still stood ahead of Luxa. Vikus was next to her, mirroring Mareth. She was perplexed and amazed and slightly fearful all at the same time, trying to realize just how much had been revealed to her. Also crossing her mind was that she had nearly married the man who had thrown her to the cutters, almost slept with the man who had thrown her to the cutters. Her shivering at that thought was so visible that Vikus reached out a hand to steady and comfort her.

Eventually, Mareth spoke. "What is the council's judgment on this matter? To whom do you back with the truth?"

The council members didn't even converse. All at once one of the oldest gnawers stood and exclaimed, "We cannot make the decision of this. The Overlander's story has truth which seems plausible, but there are also many gaps to fill which he cannot himself. The Viceroy has earned the trust of this council many times over, and we cannot lightly take into account this accusation over that. In any event, it is not our place to judge." The gnawer sat down, leaving Mareth with an annoyed expression.

"How do you propose we proceed, then?" he asked.

"We do not know," another elder, a human woman, said. "This is beyond our jurisdiction."

"What is beyond the jurisdiction of the Regalian council?" Gregor asked, annoyance as plain in his voice as it was on Mareth's face.

"This is beyond the jurisdiction of anything," a younger human man answered. "Such as this has never happened, save perhaps in Sandwich's time. We have never had to deal with something as high as this. Any proceedings will be historical and monumental."

"If you let him walk away," Gregor warned, his intentions and mood clear in his tone, "I will kill him, and I really don't care how many of you I have to go through before I'm able to do it."

"But you present no proof that he is the perpetrator Lord Ripred suspected," a gnawer said.

"Can't you see him?!" Gregor cried, angry at the council members, tearing his gaze from the Viceroy for a brief period of time only to glare harshly at those who had spoken. "Couldn't you hear what he replied as? It's all the defense of a guilty man, and not even you can miss that."

"Excuse me?"

Gregor froze, turning back to face the Viceroy, ready to deflect any attack thrown at him at any near moment. Luxa could see the fingers of his hand running over the metallic weapon he held, as if he were drastically anxious to use it. He restrained himself, though, and simply looked towards Arthur as everyone in the chamber did the exact same thing.

"In the event," Arthur said, pronouncing each and every word in a way that Luxa couldn't identify but made her very insides curl, "that a decision cannot be made, I would suggest that we revert back the tactics that would have been utilized to solve such an issue as this in Sanwich's time, where it originally took place. Essentially, settle our feud the 'Sandwich' way."

At the exact same moment Vikus, Howard, Mareth, and a few members of the council cried, "No!" at the exact same moment as Luxa gasped. Back in Sandwich's time, in a strange new land with nothing established as of yet, there was only a single, bloody way to settle a disagreement, and everyone in the room seemed to know exactly what that meant except for one...

"I'm guessing that he means we have to fight to the death to see who's right?" Gregor said, correctly guessing exactly the scenario.

"Indeed," Mareth answered. "Arthur, I refuse to allow such a happening."

"It is the only way, Mareth. You should see that. There is a disagreement over a grave matter, and we must resolve it, using one method or another. There is simply no choice opportunity in the matter."

Gregor broke the argument with an interruption. "Why would he even suggest this if he had even the slightest confidence that he could prove his own innocence?"

"It doesn't matter that way, Gregor," Howard said, jumping into the mix and earning a warning look from Mareth. "This is not our customary method of punishment... or decision. If we were to go about this wrong, the ethical repercussions would mock us for decades."

"Has anyone even asked me how I feel about this yet?" Luxa cried, slightly muffled behind Howard.

"Shut up, Luxa, you're not helping anything----"

"Gregor!" Vikus and Howard both shouted at the same time.

"ENOUGH!" Mareth boomed, heard above the reprimanding shouts, Luxa's angry voice, and Gregor's commanding insistence. A silence of seconds settled over the group, but it only settled in after a good few moments. Mareth looked around and around the room for that time, making sure he could see everyone's acceptance. When he was reassured he could, he cleared his throat roughly and spoke out. "Whether it is to our choosing or not, the only people who can make the master decision of such an arrangement are the two people who just so happen to be undertaking the duel. It is their choice, and theirs alone."

"So what then, Overlander?" Arthur called, over the space between them. "Will you take the challenge and face me to the death over who is telling the truth and who is the false?"

All eyes turned to Gregor, and Luxa resisted the drastic impulse to scream out and tell him not to do it. Surprising her, his eyes left the Viceroy's and locked with hers, staring deep down into the depths of emotions they barely knew they had. He saw her heart, what she wanted, but suddenly she knew that it would be irrelevant in whatever he decided. He was determined to make the choice that would be best for her, not the one she wanted. So she could only listen intently with the others, anxious and nervous and realizing that her very life and fate could depend upon the next few seconds, as Gregor finally spoke his reply.

"I accept."