Last time on Prophecy of Gray:
Gregor finally noticed his friend standing and watching him, "I found my boots, well more like the thief returned to the scene of the crime." he sent a pointed look to Maggie, "I think we should call her the Boot thief."
"Or Boots for short." Luxa laughed.
"Yeah," Gregor chuckled, "Come on Boots, its lunch time."
After lunch, Gregor and Luxa took the time to show Boots around Regalia. Ares joined them as they walked out onto the docks-the last stop on their tour.
"These are our docks Boots." Luxa informed the two-year-old. Boots wiggled out of Luxa's arms and ran to investigate her new surroundings while her brother talked to his best friend and bond.
"She is very much like you." Luxa commented as she watched the little girl.
"Yeah." Suddenly a thought came to Gregor's mind. "Would she stay here with us, or go back? After the quest?"
Luxa brushed a lock of hair out of her face as she thought about the question. "It is hard to say Gregor." She answered after what seemed like and eternity to him. "I suppose it would be best for her to return to her home, however we would have to call upon her in the future, and that may cause some trouble."
Gregor nodded, he knew he couldn't return to the Overland, not now, but he saw how innocent his sister was, and he wished for her to stay that way. She had to go back, he decided.
"Ge-go!" Boot's call and laughter broke him out of his thoughts. He looked over, just to see one of the boats as it plunged into the wild river below.
Gregor felt panic course through him. "Boots!" he screamed. He almost launched himself over the side of the dock into the unfavinable depths and churning, white foaming river below.
"Gregor take Ares and chase your sister! I will get help." Luxa said urgently and ran back into the palace, Gregor jumped off the side of the dock for real. Ares caught him shortly after and flew full speed down the river. Catching his little sister was no small fleet, the river was fast, even Ares had trouble keeping up with the boat.
Not only was the river fast, but incredibly dangerous. Gregor watched in horror as the boat just barely miss huge boulders, and jagged rocked that stuck out of the water.
"Gregor!" A voice rang out. Gregor didn't pay attention to it, for he thought he had been imagining it, but when he heard it again, he listened. "Gregor! Steer her to the beach coming up!"
The eleven year old immediately listened to the voice, raising to a standing possition and jumped off Ares into the boat.
"Ge-go!" Boots giggled. Gregor grabbed the oar that had been placed on the bottom of the canoe and used it to push off a rock, towards the beach. A long cavern lined with crystals sparkled around Gregor and Boots, shinning off the Regalian's torches even from the distance they were.
When the boat slammed onto shore, Gregor just managed to catch himself before he smacked his head on the bottom of the boat. Boots landed in between his legs, she cried a little, and Gregor was quick to comfort her.
The boat was heavier than Gregor thought, a fact he learned the hard way when trying to drag the dinghy across the sand.
Boots wiggled out of his grip and ran towards the tunnel Gregor just noticed branched off of the beach. He hurried after her. Gregor finally caught the infant just before the mouth of the dark hole.
Suddenly something emerged from the dark and into the dim light. Gregor staggered back in surprise as a horrifying face of a rat broke into a smile.
"Ah, here you are at last," The rat said while leisurely leaning back on his rump. "We expected you ages ago. Look, Fangor, he brought the pup."
A second nose appeared over the first rat's shoulder. 'It has a friend,' Gregor thought dryly, 'Perfect.'
"What a tidbit she is," the rat, Fangor Gregor remembered it's name being, said in a rich, smooth voice. "I will allow you the entire boy if I may have the sweetness of the pup to myself, Shed."
The first rat, Shed, scratched under his chin thoughtfully, if a rat could be thoughtful that is. "That is tempting, but he is more bone than meat, and she is such a morsel. I find myself quite torn by your offer."
Gregor found himself shaking as the rats negotiated who would eat who. He had trained for moments like this for the last 5 years, but it was nothing like the real thing, and Gregor quickly figured out he was no where near ready for the real thing.
In his defense, rats were purely terrifying. They were a good six feet tall, and that was sitting on their haunches. Their limbs were thick with muscle, though, the thing that really scared Gregor were their six inch fangs that stuck out of their hairy mouths. When Gregor started listening to the rats' conversation again, he found them talking about him.
"The boy had fish for lunch. Mushrooms, grain, even a bit of leaf. You must admit, Shed, that's flavorful!" Fangor argued.
'Still talking about eating us' Gregor sighed mentally, some things never change. Rats always talked about food, at least Ripred did.
"But the pup gorged on stewed cow and cream," Shed argued back. "Not to mention she is clearly milk-fed herself." Gregor wondered how milk-fed could have made any difference, but it obviously meant something to the rats.
Gregor started wishing that Ares, Luxa, and the others she had procured to help would get here soon. He didn't even have his sword! He had left it in High Hall when they set out on their tour after lunch, some 'warrior' he is.
Gregor dusted off some of the dirt that had got on on his shirt from trying to pull up the boat earlier. "Do I not get a say in this?"
The rats shared a laugh, to Gregor's surprise. "He speaks!" Shed exclaimed. "What a treat! Usually we get nothing but shrieks and whimpers! What makes you so brave boy?" The rat growled in his face.
If he had learned one thing from Ripred's harsh teaching strategies, it was how to mask your fear so your opponent couldn't feed upon it. So he kept his composer as the rat hissed in his face.
"I'm not brave," Gregor said, he could keep fear from showing on his face, but he couldn't keep it from his smell. And he knew all to well that rats had unbelievable senses of smell. "You can smell that."
Shed smiled at Gregor, the rat's hot breath engulfed his face and Gregor tried not to breath in. "True, your sweat carries much fear."
"But yet," Fangor picked at his teeth in attempt to look fierce, no doubt, "You still managed to address us."
Gregor took a deep breath, and checked down at Boots. She had somehow managed to fall asleep in his arms. A good thing, Gregor decided, she didn't need to see this. He didn't have to answer the rat, as his friend did before he could.
"Humans are commonly deary in general." Gregor wondered subconsciously how they would know that, "But I like you boy! Say we keep him, Fangor."
"Oh, Shed, how would that be? It would involve so much explaining, and I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge. All this chatting has given me great hunger." Fangor started towards the two siblings.
"As me, let us eat!" Shed joined his friend as they stalked towards Gregor and his sister. The rats exposed their teeth again. When they got to close, Gregor's reflexes worked on their own. He reached out and kicked Fangor in the chest. The rat staggered backwards a few steps, but Gregor saw his actions only made the rat madder.
"Now you're going to get it boy!" Fangor growled and pounced for Gregor's throat.
The bat came in so quietly, neither Gregor or the rats saw it until it caught Fangor mid-jump. Not a good day for the rat so far Gregor mused. The blow knocked him off course and plowed him right into Shed. They stayed down for less than a few seconds before getting to their feet in a flash. They turned to see their new targets.
Gregor recognized Henry, Mareth, and Perdita-his other trainer along with Mareth- whizzing by on their bats high enough above the rats' heads to be able to dodge the rats' feeble attempts at clawing them out of the air. Though if they did succeed, those wicked claws were deadly sharp, another thing Gregor learned the hard way.
The rescue team got tired of defense quickly and turned to offense, diving at the rats, swords in hand. Fangor and Shed fought back. Blood stained the beach, though who's, Gregor didn't have a clue.
Ares scooped down to land next to him, "Come Gregor, I will take you to safety."
"Flee!" Henry shouted to him at the same time. "Flee Gregor! Take care of the child."
Gregor wanted to make sure that his sister was safe, more than anything, but he knew he couldn't leave them to fight the rats by themselves. He had a part in causing this, so he needed to help fix it. Gregor set his sleeping sister gently on his friend's back before running into the heat of the battle.
At the same moment he arrived back to the scene, Shed caught Mareth's bond Andromeda's wing in it's teeth and hung on like his life depended on it. Because, in a sense, it did. Andromeda struggled to get free, but Shed was locked on her wing and had no intention of letting go if he could help it. Perdita came from behind and took Shed's ear off with a missed swing intended to cut his head off. Shed's grip on Mareth's bond was released when he gave a howl of pain.
Time seemed to slow, for as Perdita pulled out of her dive, Fangor jumped onto her bat. He ripped a chunk of fur off its throat, hurling her towards the ground. Perdita smacked her head on the cavern wall and was knocked out cold.
Fangor strutted over to her, teeth aimed to do the same to her throat as he did to the bat's. Gregor's limbs moved on their own, he jumped forward and punched Fangor straight in his ugly, blood stained face. The rat bellowed and fumbled backwards, straight into Henry's sword. Fangor's life-less body fell to the ground, Henry let his sword go, it falling to the sand with the rat.
Gregor jumped in surprise when he heard Boot's shrill cry from above. Her cries carried around the cavern. They sent Shed into a crazed frenzy, and dazed the bats. Ares quickly flew down the corridor to attempt to weaken the cry with distance.
"How fly you Mareth?" Henry yelled to the solider while their enemy was still preoccupied.
"We can hold!" Came his reply, Gregor doubted for long with his bat spraying blood from her previous wound. Things looked anything but good at the moment. The loss of blood was taking its toll on Mareth's bond, Perdita was unconscious while her bat gasped for air on the ground next to her, Gregor could still hear Boots' screeches echoing down from where Ares had flown, but at least Henry was unharmed. It was only then that Gregor noticed Luxa was not there.
Mareth was trying to keep the rat from Perdita while Henry flew in hope to draw the rat's attention, though he could only get so close without a sword. Gregor ran behind Mareth in attempt to hold Shed off should he get passed the boy's instructor. Shed, though bleeding badly, had lost not a bit of his strength.
The rat leaped and caught Andromeda by her feet, slamming the bat into the nearest wall. Then turned to Gregor. "Now you die!" he hollered and lunged. Gregor stood his ground and braced himself, but impact never came. Gregor opened his eyes, closing them an action he was unaware of, to see the rat let out a gasp and desperately paw at the blade that had appeared through it's throat.
Gregor looked up to see the familiar flash of gold. Aurora. She flipped upright, he had no idea when she and Luxa had arrived, but was not surprised when she made her entrance upside down. It was Luxa's favorite way to enter a room after all. Aurora pulled out of her dive just as Luxa would have been scraped all over the ceiling, which would require much explaining to the King and Queen.
Shed was not dead yet, and as he slumped against the cave wall, his eyes burned straight into Gregor's and he found himself unable to look away as the rat uttered his last words. "We well hunt you to the last rat." With that said, he died.
Gregor took only a moment to collect his breath before turning to his rescuers. Mareth pulled the swords from the two rats, dragged them to the river, and let it quickly carry their bodies away. Andromeda gained her composer and he jumped on her, as he was flying past, he grabbed Gregor by the neck of his shirt and pulled him aboard.
"Torch the land!" Henry yelled after gathering Perdita in his arms and taking off. Aurora wrapped her claws carefully around Perdita's bat. Luxa smashed an oil lamp she had brought to the ground, Mareth handed Gregor a torch and instructed him to drop onto the oil. He did as he was told. The beach burst into flames.
The next morning, Gregor was awoken by a light in his eyes. He opened them to his instructor.
"Gregor," Mareth greeted, Gregor had to squint to see him properly due to the sudden change in light. "The council meeting starts soon, and they wish for you to attend. If you make haste you may eat and wash first."
"Okay Mareth," Gregor went to sit up, but a weight on his arm kept him from moving. He looked down and saw Boot's head was cradled in the crook his arm. Gregor eased himself up without waking her, she had been sneaking into his room almost every night, and he had gotten use to doing it. "What about Boots?"
"She may sleep," Mareth smiled at the little girl. "Dulcet will watch over her."
After being assured his newly acquired sister would be safe, Gregor bathed quickly and changed his night clothes for fresh ones. Though he knew the way, Mareth led him to a room off the kitchen where he could eat.
He wolfed down his bread, butter, and mushroom omelet. He all but chugged his herb tea, which almost burned his throat seeing as it was hot tea, but energy coursed through him none the less.
Mareth chuckled at the young boy's appetite. "Are you ready?"
"All set!" Gregor sprung up and his solider friend had to almost run to keep up with the newly revived 11 year old as he 'walked' to the council room. On the way there, Gregor asked the guard, "How is Perdita and the bats?"
Mareth smiled at Gregor once more, "Perdita has finally awaken, and the bats will mend." Gregor beamed at the good news. They arrived at the correct room just then.
The council, who were a group of about a dozen older Underlanders, were already gathered at a round table. Gregor saw Vikus and Solovet among them, who both greeted him with friendly smiles. Luxa was also there, she was sitting next to her parents and when Gregor walked in, she sent him a smile before continuing her conversation with the King and Queen.
The council started off asking him questions about last nights events, but quickly emerged themselves in their own arguments. Luxa met Gregor's gaze and rolled her eyes at the 'grown ups'. Gregor laughed to himself and went back to watching with amusement as they fought with one another.
He caught phrases like "a son of the sun" and "white waters run red" and knew they were talking about the prophecy.
Vikus rapped on the table, finally shushing the arguing adults. "Who believes Gregor to be the Warrior of the 'Prophecy of Gray'?" It seemed like a stupid question to ask, Gregor had argued with Vikus when the subject had first been introduced, but now he saw that it was true. Surely it would be no question, but the council had to approve everything, only the King and Queen could reverse it.
Every hand went up, save Luxa's. She wasn't allowed to vote yet. "We believe you to be the warrior." Vikus informed him, he could see the twinge of sadness that went along with it, Gregor knew why and he had come to terms with that.
"I'll get Boots and we can go." The council members all shared nervous looks. "Look, she's my sister, and I am taking her with me." He looked around the table, most of them had a convinced look on their faces, they wanted to separate them. Gregor knew he couldn't let that happen.
He looked at Luxa as they argued once more, "What would you do?" he asked so quietly only she could hear.
"You know I do not have a sister." Gregor nodded. "But if I did, I would not let her out of my sight." He nodded again in thanks.
Gregor held his hand up, the council's protesting and arguing faded and Gregor spoke. "If she does not go, I do not go."
I'm so sorry I didn't update in like so long, I'm a terrible person I know. So this is the second chapter in 'Prophecy of Grey'! The plot is very close, seeing as I refer to the book to make sure I get the times right, but there is differences, as I hope you noted. I made this really long (over 3k words!) just for the reason of not updating. I hope to update a different one of my stories every week, so keep me on your author alert!
I still don't own anything...
Yours,
Arty