I'm here, ready to type! I would like to personally thank Assassin Author for such nice reviews, thanks! Righty ho then, this chapter is going to be an Ayla chap,mostly about how she copes with the Underland.

Shoutouts:

Assassin Author( thanks for your reviews!)

-o-

She lay on a bed. Nothing unusual about that, Ayla loved to sleep. But where she lay on a bed was different. She was miles beneath the surface. She was wighing out what options she had. "Well, I could escape by going into this water way, they say it leads near one of the gateways. No, others probably tried that, and no doubt got killed. Next, scratch that. I could hijack a bat and get it to take me home. No, it would never agree to that, it would call all of it's buddies and have me thrown back in here," she thought, scowling unhappily.

When she had arrived, the medicine had worn off, so she was ever so angry with the situation. Then the moment they touched down, she was hauled away to the hospital to be treated for some weird disease she could only decribe as a for of rabies. The bite on her leg was very shallow, so there was no need for stiches. Thank the good Lord.

After they had finished treating her, they took all her weapons. The nerve! She had let them know what she thought about that. The moment she could walk around again, she was going to get her things back. Ayla had always felt naked without her weapons.

There was a tap on the outside of her room.

"Yeah," she called.

Zeva strode through the thick curtain, and almost ran to Ayla's bed. The two hadn't seen each other since Ayla was taken to the hospital.

"Ayla, I found you! Oh, those Underlanders, they kept me in a tiny room, and gave me numorus shots, they said I needed to be amune to the Underland rat diseases. I already have my rabies, why do I need more," she said in a huff, very much unhappy with the situation.

Ayla reached over and hugged her rat around the neck, burying her face in Zeva's fur.

"Ugh, same here, they kept me in this room, and took my dirk. I'm not impressed with their hospitality" her voice was muffled by the fur. She pulled her head out and flopped down on the pillow. "I think I'll be able to walk today, my leg doesn't hurt as much, and it stopped throbing this morning. Hmph, and this food, blah! It's nasty, then again, since when is hospital food good? I need real food, meat, hmm, meat, that sounds good," she frowned.

"Come on, Vikus, or whatever his name is, wants to meet you in a stone room thing," Zeva said.

"Sure thing, I hope this means I get my stuff back, they even took my hat!" she growled, "Wait, I need clothes, these are hospital clothes," Zeva nodded over to a pile of folded white cloth.

"I think those are clothes," Ayla pulled herself from the bed and hobbled over to the white cloth. Sure enough, they were clothes. Zeva exited while she dressed.

There was some sort of shirt that reminded her of a T-shirt, it would work, a pair of long pants, nothing like jeans, she scowled, and a few other necessary garments. When she finished, Ayla slipeed on a pair of braided straw-like sandles, and headed out the door curtain.

Zeva led her through many halls, a few stairs, and more halls. Every now and then, they would see a few Underlanders, whom stared at them as they passed.

They arrived at an oaken door. Ayla was impressed at it's massive size, trees must be hard to come by down here.

The old man Vikus stood next to the door, smiling as they approached.

"Thank you for coming, Ayla. Come, there is something I must show you," Ayla looked over at Zeva, the rat shrugged.

Vikus opened the huge door.

Ayla's eyes popped out of her head a little, the stone room was big, but the size mattered little, it was the writing on the walls. Thousands upon thousands of words and prophacies littered the room, on the floor, and the ceiling as well.

"Ho-ly crap..." she muttered, gazing at the walls.

"You see, centuries ago, the prophet, Bartholomew of Sandwich led many people down to the Underland, after the gates were sealed, he locked himself in this room, and carved prophecies, many we have solved, and many we have not. One mentions you," Vikus nodded, pointing to one in particular on the floor, entitled Prophecy of Moon.

"Moon, huh? You guys can't see the moon from down here, can you?" Ayla asked, leaning closer to the writing.

"We can not. But on one night, very soon, we will. The Night of Light we call it, it happens every three centuries or so, the Earth is postioned just right, so we can see the moon. Read you the prophecy?" he asked. Ayla began reading out loud.

The Moon shines down,

The Moon shines down,

Upon the two of Legend,

The Moon shines down,

The Moon shines down,

The Bones betray the Secret...

Three over, two under shall right the wrong,

The bodies will show, the trickster shall fall,

Let these long dark halls see the light...

Let these long silent halls roar,

These wings will fly, the fire will spread,

The Metal of Curve just may save us all,

It may be the key to stop the fall,

But beware, the Stone Castle grows large,

Go to the Queen, she will hold the Secret,

Hurry, the time is near,

Under the Moon,

When the light fades,

The blade falls,

Under the Moon...

"Wow, that's not at all as dark and foreboding as I thought," Ayla said nudging Zeva, "I'm needed because...?" she asked Vikus.

"You are the holder of The Metal of Curve, you are known as Trickster at your school," he said, pointing to the stanza about the Trickster. Ayla scowled.

"And how do you know my nickname?"

"Zeva... enlightened me," Ayla turned her head in the direction of the rat, Zeva met her gaze and looked up at the ceiling.

"Is that a new ceiling? It looks nice," she said, Vikus was confused, but said nothing.

"When do I leave for this?" Ayla thumbed at one of the words.

"When Gregor arrives, he too is part of this quest," Ayla perked an eyebrow, she was unsure about everything now. "Hmm, in due time I guess," she thought.

All in due time.

-o-

*Siren goes off* Short chapter alert! Short chapter alert! Sorry about that, I am lacking creativity, that prophecy sucked it all from me. I hope it is good enough, I kinda made it up as I went, and I'll figure it out as I go. If you were wondering, yes, I have an unstable idea chart thing, actually, there is no chart, I make everything up as I go, I just wing it, though it looks like everything is turning out fine. What a shocker.

I really need reviews! They tend to give authors a bit more... oomph, so to speak, give us a reason to keep writing. I'm not begging, well, mayhaps a little...

R&R!

}}-AASt- Abbess and Recorder of Loamtree Abbey.