Disclaimer:The Underland, Gregor and all that stuff belongs to Suzanne Collins.
Dryadas and Nixclaw belong to me, though. Hah; I own something for once! :P
Since it's so cool, I'll be posting something, a poem, lyrics, anything that inspires me while writing. It probably won't relate directly to what I've written, but...it's cool, y'know? ^^
I never knew there would be a better tomorrow
But you've come into my life and taken away all my sorrow
My days of sadness are a thing of the past
Because I have found true love at last
My days of emptiness are gone for good
Because you fill a void in my heart that you should
You've opened a window; you've shown me the light
And my love for you will continue to burn bright.
~Yvonne Warren
Several hours and rests later, they were at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Waterway, and very near to the stone opening into the tunnels leading to the Overland.
"Ready, are you?" Dryadas asked Nixclaw, who was shifting somewhat nervously a couple feet from the edge.
"As ready as I can be, given the circumstances." Nixclaw climbed onto her friend's back, careful to avoid pricking the bat's skin with her sharp claws.
She was still a fairly small rat, so she was able to ride without giving Dryadas too much trouble. Not to say that it wasn't still a struggle for the bat. A illness limited to the fliers had wrecked havoc with her breath, and she had only in the past few months been able to take on passengers again.
Dryadas kept her wingbeats smooth and even, however, and they reached the tube-like portal in only a few minutes. After darting up through it, she let the rat off her back immediately, and took in deep, gasping breaths, filling her lungs with air over and over again. The cool, rushing air soothed her burning organs, causing the lightning bolts of pain to cease until they were no more than a dull, nearly unnoticeable ache.
"Are you alright?" Nixclaw looked at her with a worried expression on her face. Their bond was an unusual one; one that had survived for over a year, through all the abuse from others of their kind. In fact, many had labeled them as a traditional bond; after all, Queen Luxa and the gnawer Ripred had bonded. Through them, a sort of bond between Aurora, the Queen's flier, and the gnawer had been established.
"Fine. I am, I mean," Dryadas shook her head slowly. "I am still recovering from the breathless sickness, but it is improving." she picked herself up off the ground and shook her fur free of dust. A cloud of it enveloped her, and she lapsed into a fit of coughing until it settled on the stone floor.
"Uhhhm," she cleared her throat, then whispered to Nixclaw, "Let us go now." From there, they found the way up to the stone slab that marked the portal to the Overland. To be specific, the Central Park of the Overland, as the Warrior had referred to it once.
Touching the stone with a wing, Dryadas let its coolness seeped through her fur and into her skin. "Be you sure about this?" she asked the rat, who was inspecting the edges, looking for the best place to heave the rock upwards. She had no doubt of her friend, only of herself and her own considerably meager abilities.
Nixclaw tested her strength against the stone, and it yielded some, but only a couple of inches. "As sure as I can be. I know the way to the warrior's home, so we will not get lost, though we will have to be careful."
Dryadas set herself against the slab with the gnawer, and together, they slid it open just enough for them to slip out. For a moment, the bat was stunned by her surrounding; it was not day, but it did not seem like night, either. The lampposts were positioned all around, and filled the crisp Autumn air with a luminous, golden glow.
"It is much more beautiful than I had imagined..." she whispered to her friend, who nodded in agreement.
"Yes, but let us be off, before some unsuspecting human catches sight of us." the rat nudged Dryadas, and they set off; the flier high above the trees, nearly invisible with her dark fur and the gnawer slipping stealthily from shadow to shadow. Nixclaw seemed nothing more than a shadow herself, with her coat so black that it was seemingly darker than the shadows.
__________
"Here?" Dryadas asked Nixclaw, as they huddled behind a wall of bushes outside a drab, grey apartment building in the middle of nowhere.
The rat scented the air, then nodded. "Here. Follow me; we do not want to be caught just yet." She led Dryadas around a corner, then in a door that was propped open a couple inches with a doorstop for ventilation. From there they progressed through a janitor's ground level apartment and up several flights of stairs until she signaled the bat to stop by flicking her tail.
"They live in here. Knock; I will hide behind you to keep from frightening them. Hurry; someone approaches." Nixclaw urged her friend on with a little more than words, gently pushing the bat forward with a soft-furred paw.
Taking a deep breath, Dryadas came to the door, and knocked lightly with her claw. They waited for several moments before a shuffling step approached the door from the inside. The bat spread her wings slightly just before the door was opened, and a boy stood in the doorway, eyes dark with annoyance. This quickly changed to surprise as he took in the bat, and he finally hissed, "What are you doing here? No, wait; get in. Hurry!"
Dryadas lifted a wing to reveal Nixclaw, and before the boy could react, whispered, "A friend." They got by him, then, and he shut the door cautiously, before turning on them.
"What the heck are you doing wandering around up here? Geez! Someone could have caught you!" his voice was in a whisper, but it was still harsh, and angry, with a touch of...sadness?
Dryadas didn't waste brain power trying to figure it out; instead she explained in a few short words. "We came to ask for your aid." Pulling the pouch from her neck, she proffered it to who she now knew was Gregor, the Overlander warrior. The Warrior who was rumored to have killed himself, in a way.
"Who are you?" He asked, not even looking at the scroll yet.
The bat purred with amusement. "Do I not resemble someone else you knew and were close to?" she turned slowly in a circle before coming to face him again.
He looked more closely at her now, narrowing his eyes before widening them in surprise. "Oh...oh geez! But how?"
"How does not matter right now, Overlander," she said softly. "But I will tell you the truth. I am the only offspring of your Bond, the great flier Ares, who perished in the War of Time."
He slumped back into a chair that was positioned conveniently behind him and covered his face. "This can't be happening, not after all this time."
"And yet it is." Nixclaw said breezily as she looked around the small apartment where the Warrior lived.
"Will you help us?" Dryadas asked again while settling down on another chair right across from Gregor.
The Warrior looked so torn, Dryadas pitied him. The chance to return to the Underland, the place he'd found love, friendship, but also heartache, and the place he'd met Death, though not of himself. He'd been ripped away from that, however, and he still had a family to look after.
Gregor slowly shook his head. "I can't go back. I can't. I do want to help you, though; I can do that up here, at least." he unfurled the scroll, and read it swiftly, frowning a moment before handing it back.
"It doesn't say anything about me...so why did you come?" he asked, an unfathomable look on his face.
The bat looked at Nixclaw, and the rat gazed back. "Well...you are the Warrior. We thought that because of your experiences of the Underland, and your skill as a warrior..." she trailed off, waiting.
He shook his head once more, seeming undecided about something. "I can't go down, but I'll help you back. That much I can do for you."
Finally, finally, another chapter! Sorry all; I didn't intend for this to sit so long without updates, but...yeah. It kind of happened, you know? Anyhow...I'll be updating at least once a week from now on, so long as I'm not gone anywhere on vacations or anything like that. :)
As always, comments and constructive crit are always welcome; flames will be added to the fire of my love to write. ^^