Okay, now it's time for chapter five to occur. And thanks for the person who pointed out I've been spelling Ripred wrong this entire time. Can't believe I missed that. Fixed it by now, of course.
Disclaimer: ?selcinorhC dnalrednU ehT nwo I kniht llits ot hguone bmud eb uoy nac woh siht daer ot hguone trams er'uoy fI
Aurora set them down in the arena next to Ripred, who was obviously waiting for them. The stadium was as packed as it had been the first time Gregor had ever gone there. Maybe even fuller than then. Mostly it was humans who were filling the stands; apparently there had not been enough room for all of the bats, and they were circling very, very slowly above the heads of everyone else. Luxa and Gregor slid off Aurora's back to stand next to the huge grey rat, who eyed Luxa critically.
"Are you sure you're ready? You look like Nerissa."
She nodded coldly. "Gregor and I have formulated a plan on how we will be able to survive this."
"Well, good, because to be honest, I've got nothing," said Ripred. Luxa moved forward so that she was obviously the one about to speak to the crowd. Gregor stepped close to Ripred and muttered so Luxa wouldn't hear,
"I thought you didn't believe in Sandwich's prophecies?"
"I don't," he hissed back. "But just because I don't believe him doesn't mean sometimes I don't agree with him. I think the humans have been down here quite long enough. Regalia is an excellent place for the rats to spread out to. With no more war, our own lands are getting pretty crowded."
Gregor stared at him. "You mean you want all the humans to clear off so the rats can rule the Underland?"
"Hey, I'm being practical here. If they're bent on leaving...I'm just saying it would be nice if the rats had some more space. I'm not going to shove them out the door, but if they're going, I'm not going to try and stop them. It'll be pretty great down here when we aren't third-best."
"Third-best?"
"You think just because we're allies now means that the humans treat us any differently? Please. We're not at each others' throats, but trust me, humans and rats don't like each other any more than they have for centuries. We're not really allies. The humans are still pretty much completely in command. We're after the humans, and then after the bats. If the humans leave..." The grey rat shrugged. "We'd get to be first again. Everyone would be first, really. Without the humans, the bats would totally leave us alone. They don't have any use for the city. You think the crawlers want Regalia? C'mon. They only really started associating with the humans because of your sister, the singing princess. No, the only one who might want this place would be the nibblers, but if the rats get here first, they probably won't even try."
Gregor wanted to say something back, but at that moment, Luxa opened her mouth to address the crowd.
"People of Regalia," she said loudly, and her voice echoed around the entire arena. Not a single creature in there couldn't hear her. "We have discovered a prophecy by Sandwich that concerns all of you here." A murmur rippled across the crowd. Gregor doubted there had been a prophecy specifically describing every single human in the Underland before. They always just sort of mentioned individual people.
"What does it say?" called a deep male voice from somewhere in the crowd.
"The prophecy tells of a thing that must happen when humans and gnawers are allied, when the warrior has gone home. That time is now."
"What does the prophecy predict, Queen Luxa?" called another voice. Gregor thought it might be a bat.
Luxa took a deep breath.
"It tells of the humans returning to the Overland."
Silence filled the enormous arena. It was not the expectant, slightly confused silence of before. Now it was a silence of shock. Everyone seemed to be waiting for Luxa to elaborate, but she looked like she didn't quite know how to do that.
Gregor stepped forward to help.
"I'll read it for you," he called, unrolling the scroll that he had never set down anywhere. "So you all know what has to happen."
And he did that, reading the words of the prophecy in a loud, clear voice so that no one would mishear. When he finished, he rolled the scroll up again. He felt like he should add something else, but had no idea what to say. The silence continued for about three more seconds. Then all hell broke loose. The people in crowd began to stand up, screaming and shouting. Luxa looked totally lost, but Ripred then accomplished something Gregor thought would be impossible.
He stood back on his haunches and let out one long, incredibly high-pitched squeak. It was so high that Gregor had to cover his ears and seemed to have the same effect on most of the people in the crowd, because loads of people shut up and clapped their own hands over their ears. Gregor remembered his dad telling him once that high-pitched sounds could be a lot more audible than low ones, even if they were quieter. Soon, Ripred had silenced the entire crowd, which Gregor thought was pretty amazing. He knew how loud and uncontrollable the Underlanders could be when they tried.
The rat fell back onto all four paws, looking winded. "Go ahead," he gasped. Gregor knew it must've taken a huge set of lungs to squeak for that long without pausing.
Luxa nodded.
"Listen to my words," she said to the crowd, who looked about to start freaking out again. "We must not panic. Regalia has dealt with thousands of Sandwich's prophecies in the past and survived. We shall survive this."
"How?" demanded a voice. "How will we survive in a world we know nothing of?"
"Yes!" shouted another voice. "And without our bonds?"
The cry of "How?" began repeating around the arena, but before it could get out of hand like before, Gregor spoke again.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Listen up! I know this has gotta be scary for all of you. I would be terrified too! But you can't start panicking every time you think about what you have to do. You have to focus or you'll just be sliding backward. Listen to Luxa!"
He shut up then, realizing he sounded kind of stupid.
"Thank you, Gregor," said Luxa. Then she turned back to the crowd.
"We are not leaving this day," she said. "Our warrior has not gone forever. I am going to the Overland with him so that he may show me how to survive. And once it is time for you to join us, he will continue to help us live there until we are able to do so on our own. We will be able to survive, even without our bonds. I am leaving..." she paused, looking back at Gregor. "today. In the meantime, I would like everyone to start preparing to leave. Farmers, you will need to work with the kitchen staff to prepare..."
She began listing off jobs for everyone to do to get ready to leave. Gregor was pretty impressed with some of the stuff she thought of, because he certainly would've forgotten. When she finished, all of the people in the arena began to go off and to whatever duty they'd been assigned. Gregor thought that, after the initial shock, they were handling it pretty well. He supposed after years of danger and prophecies telling them to do crazy stuff, they were used to dealing with horrible surprises.
Luxa turned to Gregor. "When can we leave?" she asked.
He was a little surprised. "Um...now, I guess," he said. "It's the middle of the night, though. No one will be up. Although if we get back before anyone wakes up then they won't know I was gone. But if I come back with you, they'll know I must've been gone..."
She looked perplexed. He didn't blame her. His explanation was confusing, even to him.
"Sure," he simplified. "Let's go now."
Sorry that this chapter was kind of short. I wanted to give you guys something to read and thought it would be faster if I kept this one a little on the small side. Hope you like it! Plz review!!!
Peace and carrots
