This is my first fanfiction so please go easy on it. If you like the story I'll keep chapters coming. If not keep it to yourself, please don't hate on it. If you find any errors, whether it be spelling, grammar or anything else please just let me know. I've been reading many of the fanfictions on this site but I just wanted to add my own to them.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Underland Chronicles or any of the characters, save the ones that I will be adding. Both the Underland Chronicles and the characters within belong to Suzanne Collins.

-Ssi


Gregor crept through the outskirts of The Fount in the pitch black. His echolocation was his only ally since Iris had flown away. It was true that she would've been a great help to him here but he'd already risked the lives of others enough and wasn't about to lose another friend.

The walls were thick but the high windows were a perfect place for sounds to bounce off of. The few soldiers and gnawers inside spoke in hushed whispers but at this point in his mastery, that was all it took to map the inside of the nearby rooms.

"I heard the Warrior was back," a squeal broke into his thoughts.

"It means little," a deeper voice replied, "We have a few hundred strong, while they have what? Maybe fifty, perhaps you could count Perdita as ten, and since his injury Mareth is worthless in a real fight. So even the Overlander can't tip the scales of this fight."

Gregor ignored the mundane babble as he moved around the whole complex. However not a single noise was heard apart from the guards talking. The main gates seemed unguarded… maybe this was a trap? What if Vellac knew he was coming?

Whether it was a trap or not at this point Gregor knew he had to do something before he went insane waiting, his nerves were on edge in a way he couldn't describe. After making his way back to the area on the wall where he heard the voices, Gregor started to climb. Although the walls were not quite as smooth as the Regalian Palace they were no joke to climb either.

Reaching the window, Gregor took a deep breath before climbing in and dropping to the floor.

Immediately the man and Gnawer inside jumped into action, however as the sword was removed from the man's sheath, Gregor already had it in his hand. The gnawer swung at Gregor, who ducked behind the Underlander. With a loud crack the Underlander was unconscious against the wall. Gregor's mind targeted each weak spot on the Gnawer but he ended up swinging at the claws on his right paw. The Gnawer howled in pain as three of his long claws dropped onto the ground.

"Where is he?" Gregor growled as he held the blade of his sword to the rat's throat.

Barring his teeth, the Gnawer hissed out slowly, "He is gone Warrior, honestly I have no idea how you missed him."

"What do you mean?" Gregor asked.

The smile make Gregor uneasy. "He left, they all did."

"To go where?" The pit in Gregor's stomach was growing by the second.

"He heard the Queen was back in the palace," he hissed, "We could not have that, now could we?"

His heart fell, "How long?" He grunted in a short breath.

"Only a couple of hours ago," the Gnawer began to chuckle to himself, "But unless you plan on growing wings, you cannot dream to make it in time. I would have smelled your Flier by now, had you had one."

The hilt of Gregor's sword slammed into the Gnawer's head setting him off. The Gnawer swiped back in confusion and daze as Gregor followed up with his knee in the same spot, knocking the large beast out cold.

Gregor sprinted through the Fount looking for any signs of life, but to his disappointment they were all gone.

No! They can't be! He was such a fool to come here. Why preemptively strike where they were strongest? If he had been in Regalia he could still protect her!

Gregor heard the voice of Ripred from his dream again, "When you lose control of that power you become much more vulnerable. Yes, if you deal that death quickly you will not need to worry about much else, however your defenses are near useless and if you let someone get passed them, I guarantee that you will not survive."

Gregor had over extended on the offense… the guards were right, a few hundred verses fifty wouldn't be enough to keep her safe.

Gregor's breathing was sharp and fast as he sprinted out of the main gate. "IRIS!" Gregor screamed at the top of his lungs. But no response came.

"IRIS!" Gregor called out again, hearing nothing but his own echo call back to him.

He had been so stupid to let her go. No matter how fast he ran he couldn't imagine making it back in time… but he had to try.

His fingers tightened around the sword as he ran at a pace that would have most men broken down with no air. As Gregor ran on, his thoughts betrayed him. What if he got there too late? What if he got there and there was no one left to save?

Even if he did get there in time Gregor didn't know what he would do. Sure he'd handled a couple of skirmishes fairly efficiently but he was not Ripred. He would crack long before four hundred to one.

Gregor's ears rang out with warning as his echolocation returned to him revealing a single rat standing in his path only a few meters away. Raising his sword to strike a familiar voice rang through his ears.

"Overlander?" The images of vines and moss buzzed through his head as he lowered his sword and slowed to a stop to breathe.

"Lapblood?" Gregor asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"The Queen asked me to scout The Fount and report back the number under the command of Vellac."

"So you didn't see them on their way over here?" Gregor asked.

Lapblood's eyes widened at his query. "No, should I have?"

"They're going to attack Regalia!" Gregor rasped out.

Lapblood lifted her nose into the air and took a long sniff. "Get on!" She said calmly as she lowered to a crouch.

"What?" Gregor was stunned.

"We both know I am faster and unless we want to fight the army head on we will have to go back the way I came, under the palace!"

Gregor took a moment to think before vaulting onto her back. The moment he was in position and had one hand gripping her fur, she shot off like a bullet towards Regalia.

He was reminded of the time he rode on Ripred's back through the jungle. Lapblood wasn't nearly as fast as Ripred was but her speed was far greater than Gregor's and he was happy for that. There was just a small chance they'd actually made it back in time.

It was only twenty minutes or so before they arrived at the tunnels, where Gregor used to train with Ripred years ago. Gregor dismounted as Lapblood tapped out in the tree of transmission some kind of password on the old stone door. The door opened slowly as a couple of young guards stood back from behind it.

"Have they attacked yet?" Lapblood asked the soldiers as Gregor closed and locked the door behind them.

"Has who attacked yet?" One of the guards asked. "Was there not an order put out to arrest the Overlander?" The other asked uncertain.

Gregor growled, "Spread the word and get every able bodied soldier on the wall, they're coming?"

"Uh, we do not take orders from you?" "Our orders are to guard this door."

Lapblood hissed sharply, "You heard the Overlander, move!"

The two guards looked nervously at one another before leaving their post.

Gregor was already sprinting up the stairs and out onto the streets of Regalia with Lapblood on his heels. As they neared the wall Gregor saw the bats flying overhead. A particularly white one caught his attention.

"Iris!" Gregor called.

Iris' head jerked at the sound of her name as she diverted into a dive landing in front of Gregor. "Lapblood, I'll meet you at the wall, please gather everyone you can," Gregor said before mounting Iris.

As they took off Gregor felt immediately guilty. "I'm sorry, Iris I didn't mean to do that, I should've asked first."

Iris gave a short high pitched laugh, "Really, Gregor? Given the circumstances I would rather have you on my back in any case."

Gregor smirked slightly as they rocketed toward the wall. As they landed Gregor made out a disheartening sight. Perdita, stood surrounded by a few battle hardened soldiers, and what looked like a couple dozen new recruits.

"Gregor?" Perdita called out as Gregor dismounted Iris and made his was over to her.

"Where is Luxa?" Were the first words out of his mouth without him even meaning to.

"She is safe, Overlander," Perdita frowned, "Take heart now while you can for I will have need for you soon and I would prefer your wits about you when I do."

Gregor looked out past her, beyond the wall to see the first lines of Vellac's army appear in the distance.

"Mareth is with her in the palace… she is far safe than us," her voice was filled with sorrow as more and more of Vellac's army came into view.

"How many reinforcements do we have?" "I think that was the last of them" "Only a handful are still in the palace to protect the queen." "We are doomed." "Our light will be lost."

A small part of Gregor agreed as he looked out at the measly number they had as Vellac's army looked like clowns getting out of a small car, one after another, seemingly endlessly.

Gregor looked over at Perdita waiting for some words of inspiration but she just looked back at Gregor with a look of hopelessness. Gregor took a deep breath. If he had to die for anything he knew it would be to protect Luxa. At all costs.

Stepping over to the ledge and looking over the wall Gregor saw the incoming army begin to stop and take position for attack. "The odds were never going to be in our favor," Gregor spoke loud and clear so as all the nearby soldiers could hear him. "But that doesn't mean we can't win"

The more senior of soldiers began to mumble amongst themselves. "I may not be a leader, and god knows I'm not a good follower but I can tell you all I'll fight to my last breath… beside each and every one of you that chooses to join me!"

"I shall fight alongside you," Iris spoke up quietly.

Murmurs stirred throughout the small crowd. It was Perdita that spoke up next, "We all shall… til the last light goes out."

Then it was the senior soldiers who spoke up one at a time, "Fighting beside a Rager! Count me in!" "Til the very end" "As long as I have light" "We cannot evade death forever, today is as good as any other."

Lastly the younger soldiers started to chip in with grunts and short shouts.

"Men and women of Regalia-" Perdita started before she was cut off.

"What is that?" A couple of the men shouted pointing towards Vellac's army.

Gregor looked over to see ripples of commotion throughout the opposing forces as they turned away from the wall. Butterflies rose in his stomach as he saw it. A single rat on the far side of the army was running straight towards it without even a sign of slowing. Gregor knew that it was far, far more than four hundred to one, but that didn't stop him.

The sad excuse for the Regalian army watched from the wall as Ripred collided head on with Vellac's army. Not caring to stop at the outskirts of battle the scarred Gnawer ripped, bit and sliced his way further and further into the army single handedly.

"It looks as though your General has started without you!" Perdita cried out in a solid composed voice, "Let us not let him take all the glory this day!"

"For Regalia!" The small army, including Gregor, called out as he mounted Iris and tightened his fingers around the hilt of his sword. Gregor smiled to himself as he rose into the air and began his glide straight towards his old friend.


I'll be honest I've had a lot of time to think about this chapter, clearly a LOT of time. And I still think it's fairly poor. I had a solid idea in how it was going to end but I really didn't like how I got there or how much I had to rush though other stuff to get there. Once I finish the story I'm sure I'll go back to change more than a few sections of the story and this will definitely be one of them. For those that have waited for a while for this chapter I'm sorry to disappoint but at least it's now at the point I've been wanting to write for a while now. Actually before I ever started writing I had ideas for 4 scenes that I knew I had to have in this story and 2 of them are coming up very soon... then next 2-3 chapters should be the best yet in my opinion. I hope you enjoy the chapter as best as you can. As always please rate and review. Any and all feedback is welcome.

-Ssi'ruuk