Chapter 11

They wasted no time. Daedalus and Temp immediately took Lizzie and Boots back to Luxa's chambers, where they would be safe. Luxa, Howard, and Gregor immediately mounted their bats and took off, Ripred running after them.

"Meet me in the fields, and remember, make a plan!" he called to them, and then vanished from sight as he took a different path. All three bats were flying at full speed. Nike's striped wings were a blur as she sped forward; it looked really cool.

All of them had swords; they had kept them to return to the weapon rooms after training, but never got the chance too. The only problem was that they had no armor, but that couldn't be helped.

"So what's our plan?" Gregor called to Luxa.

"I do not know! Shall we attack from behind?" asked Luxa.

"How do we know which way is behind?" Howard called from the opposite side of Gregor.

"I suppose we do not. What else?" Luxa asked.

"We could always dive at them together, and perhaps startle them?" Nike suggested.

"Yes, shall we try that?" Aurora agreed. Luxa nodded.

"Yes, so we shall dive!" she called.

Hera had kept complete quiet while in flight. Gregor wondered why. "Hera, are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, Gregor, I am fine. It's just…I have never been in a real battle before. I will do my best, though, and what with all of the training we have done, I should do sufficiently!" Hera answered.

This was one of those times when Gregor needed Ares more than anything. Ares was strong, fast, and agile, and they flew well together during a battle. Sometimes Gregor wished he had died alongside his bat, so they would be together. He was more comfortable with Ares's flight patterns and styles, and he didn't know exactly how Hera planned on flying.

They got to the fields, and a bloody battle opened up to them. It was not so much that there were many rats, only around twelve; it was that these rats had a vicious look in their eyes, like the humans had gone too far with this compromise. Gregor could tell that they still wanted the humans out of the Underland once and for all. There was also the fact that the rats had taken the humans completely by surprise.

The bats hovered for a moment in the air. "Are you ready, Gregor?" Hera asked.

Gregor got a picture of Ares in his head; his bat was the only thing that could make him feel ready during a time like this. "Okay, I'm ready."

At this, Hera dove, alongside Nike and Howard and Aurora and Luxa. It turned out that both of their possible plans worked, because they were diving at the back of the rats. Gregor had his sword fully extended; it just passed Hera's face. Luxa and Howard were in the same position, except they were each diving at a separate rat.

The rat Gregor was aiming at suddenly turned, when Gregor was only half a foot away from it. It had no time to attack, and Gregor stabbed it right in the heart. It died instantly. Howard had the same luck, except he had to stab it a couple times to get past the ribs.

Luxa, however, was not so lucky. The rat had turned in the middle of Aurora's dive, and Luxa only had time to server the rat's ear and get out. She was constantly aiming for the spot beneath the rat's foreleg, but couldn't get it because of the rat's tail.

"Luxa, take off its tail!" Gregor cried, but it was clear Luxa couldn't do that. She was avoiding the blows. While Luxa distracted the rat to its front, Gregor snuck up behind it and chopped of its tail. It gave a cry of fury, and lunged at him and Hera, opening up a cut on his leg, which had been dangling down off Hera's back. It also tore the tip of Hera's wing, to which she gave a cry, but didn't dwell on too much. Instead, she grabbed the rat's rump with her claws, and Luxa came in and stabbed it. It didn't die instantly, but another blow from Luxa's sword got it.

Gregor moved on to another rat, and the one he chose was clearly a mistake. It had the longest tail Gregor had ever seen, and was smashing it on the ground constantly. Hera dove at it, but the tail was too fast.

"Quick, Hera! Roll!" Gregor cried, and Hera did a move they had practiced in training. She did a roll to the left, avoiding the tail by inches. Gregor swung off, holding on with his free hand, and severed an ear. The rat's tail came for them again, but Hera did a 180 roll and finished upside down, leaving the face clear for Gregor to attack. He got its nose, and blood spurted up on them. The rat's paws immediately went to its nose, but its tail still slashed at them from behind. At that moment, Luxa flew up behind the rat and cut that vulnerable spot beneath its foreleg. It fell backwards, twitching. Finally, it went limp, its tail fanning out lifelessly behind it.

By that time, the three of them had killed four of the twelve rats, but there were still eight left. It was clear they couldn't fight for much longer, because they were all injured in some way. Along with Gregor's cut on his leg, he had a cut on his shoulder where a claw had torn away his shirt. All of the bats had a part of a wing torn in some place. Luxa had a nasty slash on her left arm, and Howard's nose had been pushed in by a tail and was bleeding freely.

"Gregor, look!" Luxa pointed to a blur of a form spinning in the middle of the mob. It was Ripred.

He was doing his spin attack, and had already killed five more rats. The remaining three had gotten the idea, though, and backed away. They ran off, before any humans, bats, or Ripred got them. Gregor heard a rat cry, "we'll be back!" and he knew it was Gushgore, like Brivett had said.

"Let us return to the palace!" Howard called to them all, and they flew off, away from the dead rats.

"Hera, you were great!" Gregor said, because he could see Hera needed some encouragement.

"Thank you, Gregor. And you as well!" She replied.

"How's your wing?" he asked, seeing her white wing stained with blood.

"It has been better, but I can hold to the palace. It is only a small tear." She replied, staying optimistic. "And your wounds?"

"Nah, they're not as bad as some others I've gotten." He answered, thinking of the claw scars the Bane had left on his chest. They would never fade away.

"That is well. I have heard of your past battles." Hera said.

"Luxa, how're you doing?" he asked, turning to her. Then he saw that she was not capable of answering. She was losing blood fast; the gash in her arm was bleeding heavily. She was breathing short, rapid breaths, her eyes closed and her head resting on Aurora's neck.

"Cousin! Are you okay?" Howard and Nike flew over to her.

"I must get her to the hospital!" Aurora fretted, flying faster. In a few moments they landed in the High Hall, and Aurora flew Luxa straight to the hospital. The rest of them just stayed in the High Hall, dropping with too much fatigue to move anywhere else. Finally, Vikus found them.

"Howard, Gregor! Where is Luxa?" he asked.

"Aurora flew her straight to the hospital; she has a terrible gash in her left arm!" Howard answered, to the best of his ability.

"Well, you and your fliers are not doing well, either. We need stretchers!" He called, and some Underlanders came and loaded them on stretchers and took them to the hospital. Gregor was too tired to object, so he just stayed put.

Some doctors came and examined his wounds, and they said the cut on his shoulder must be taken care of right away, or else it would become infected. The cut on his leg was not light, either. He needed a lot of stitches. The doctors gave him some medicine in a blue bottle, and that was the last thing he remembered before he dropped unconscious.