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"What!" Gregor blurted, astonished. How could they have left? He looked over. Ripred was right, a food basket was gone and half of the water sacks were gone. "How could they!"
"The whole group left! I do not know what they were thinking! The fliers and humans. They left I, you, the pup, and a crawler!" Ripred muttered as he paced in front of Gregor. "How could they leave us so defenseless? No fliers! Barely any food!"
Gregor thought for a second. Would they really leave? Could they get the others back without Gregor? They could have left with the water sacks and could have had the basket full and catch fish on the way. How could they leave them so defenseless without fliers and little water and food? Gregor knew they did not like rats, but Luxa was bonded to Ripred. Could she do that to him? Was it legal?
"They have left!" Gregor exclaimed. "Most of the water sacks are gone and a food basket is missing!"
"Now calm down boy. Let us drink and eat to calm our thoughts," Ripred shushed Gregor, noticing Boots and Temp had waken from their talking.
Gregor took a deep breath and came out dizzy. He opened the food basket and took out a cake. He grabbed a few plates and four water sacks from the harness and brought them over to the small group. Gregor handed everyone a slice of cake and handed out the water sacks. He sat down near Boots and took a bite of his slice of cake.
Moments passed which turned into hours. Ripred began to twitch and mutter to himself. The torches were beginning to fade and Boots was beginning to yawn. How long had they been abandoned for? Gregor still could not believe they had been ditched. That was when he heard a flutter of wings. He looked toward the mouth of the cave and in flew all eleven bats, carrying either a rider, basket, or a few water sacks. They landed before Ripred. Ripred stomped over to Luxa, his heavy tread made everyone shutter.
Luxa had her hand on Aurora's head. Ripred stuck his snout up close to Luxa's face. "What were you thinking?! You scared us all half to death! The pup was so scared she almost cried!" Ripred growled, his hot breath blowing Luxa's hair back.
"We were merely filling the basket up to full with fish, and refilling a few water sacks. I mustn't tell you every place I go," Luxa retorted, her arms crossed over her chest.
"I am your bond! If that means anything to you!" Ripred snorted. "You must tell bonds where you go, always! You are a young and naive pup who cannot use her brain! I must watch you or you will get yourself killed! If you ever pull something like this again I will send you back to Regalia! No matter what Aurora says!"
"Bonding does mean something to I! Obviously not you, YOU eat your own young if hungry!" Luxa said, disgusted.
Ripred glared at her. She had touched something that had made him angry. He had lost his pups and wife in a flood. He got ready to lunge, his legs muscles rippling. His eyes burned into Luxa's, he was after blood, her blood.
Aurora fluttered between them, Ripred almost plowed right into her but she did not lose her cold stare on the both of them, Ripred and Luxa. "You mustn't fight! You both do know you know what bondment is! Thee only thing you do not know is how to love!" Aurora hissed.
Ripred sat back on his haunches. "Luxa obviously does not know what love is..."
Luxa glared at Ripred. She jumped onto Aurora's neck and looked back at Ripred. "Run like the river, Ripred," she said coldly. And with that, they were gone.
Howard was about to jump onto Nike's back when Ripred struck him with his tail. Howard was sent flying across the cave. He gasped and Nike fluttered to his side and wrapped her wings around him. And Mareth went over to check his vitals.
"You are just going to let her leave!" Gregor said.
"She will most likely go back to Regalia, if she uses her brain. If not Aurora will surely talk her out of going to the Spirit lands alone," Ripred muttered as he picked up a harness in his teeth. "We must head out."
After the bats ate their fill on the fish they went fishing one last time and filled the empty spaces in the baskets. Mareth packed the water sacks onto Blaze and Poyo's backs, making sure the harness straps were tights but not digging into their skin. Howard, when he recovered, he loaded the baskets onto Zinx's and Tine's backs. After he tightened the straps he had the harnessed bats Zues and Zorro, fly up so he could harness Ripred.
Gregor helped Boots onto Mace's back and sat behind her. Temp scurried up behind them. After all the bats were harnessed up with their loads the rest of the humans mounted their fliers and they took off in the direction of the fire lands.
"Are we they yet?" Boots asked after two hours of flying. They were then flying over dry lands with tiny creeks running through it, with little animals running along the grass.
"Not yet. It will be a little bit until we land. If you have to go pee just say so," Gregor replied as he ran his fingers through her long curls.
"I can't see anything," Boots whined.
"You will be able to when we land. We will light a few torches and the creeks have light bubbles coming from them," Gregor reassured.
Boots laid against Gregor's chest and drifted off to sleep. Gregor yawned. He pulled Boots closer to him and laid back onto Mace's back. His head rested on Temp's shell. Gregor drifted to sleep with Boots' warm body pressed against him he felt like he was back at home. Even Temp fell asleep.
"Warrior, warrior, you must wake now," Mace whispered as he nudged Gregor with his snout.
Gregor opened his eyes. They had landed in a large bare field. No plants, not even vines or moss in any direction as far as the eye could see. Gregor slid off of Mace's back. Boots was already up and she was helping Howard make sandwiches while Temp handed them out. Gregor walked over to Howard's side and helped pass sandwiches out and fish and water sacks. When they were done making enough sandwiches for everyone, Gregor sat down and began to eat his.
"Can we take a walk?" Boots asked after she and Gregor finished their sandwiches.
Gregor looked at Ripred for conformation, the rat was gulping down a whole fish. He nodded before he was going at another fish. Gregor stood up and walked out towards a creek. Boots and Temp followed behind, picking up rocks and tossing them then retrieving them then doing the same thing. The barren land cracked under Gregor's heavy tread while Temp seemed to glide over it.
Gregor stood before a small trickling creek. It had tiny light bubbles bursting when they hit the surface. He knelt down to where he could see little creatures running around on the ground. They looked like tiny bugs, carrying pebbles and little pieces of food. Boots laid her hand on the ground and watched as bugs crawled around on it. She crawled as three climbed upon the back of her hand. Temp's antennae flew over the bugs, like he was passing information back and forth.
"They say we shall not be here, be here not we," Temp hissed.
"Why not?" Gregor asked.
"Area is not safe, many enemies be here," Temp exclaimed.
"What kind of enemies?" Gregor asked, worry in his voice.
"Masked bandits they be," Temp said in a hushed whisper.
Just as Gregor was about to tell them they should head back, Mace came diving down and swooped all three of them onto his back. He flew upward and leveled out behind the other bats. What type of masked bandits could possibly live around there? Gregor thought that he had already heard of all of the creatures that lived in the Underland.
"What is happening!" Gregor yelled over the frantic flutter of wings as he settled himself and Boots comfortably.
"Some creature has attacked the group with spears. They attacked when we moved the group close to a large patch of vines that were not seen when we first landed. We did not see who attacked," Mace gasped. "They way they sounded when they moved. They sounded large. Larger than Ripred."
Gregor looked down at the vines and saw that something was moving through the long vines. He only saw grayish colored fur and a long fluffy ringed tail. The creatures were following the group at a fast pace. The bats flew over the parched land which turned into frost covered ground and it became twenty degrees cooler. The group landed and instantly Boots climbed down to play in the frost and Temp did too, his antennae fluttered above the frost, he was unsure of what is was.
"I thought you guys didn't have f-frost down here," Gregor chattered, he had goosebumps climbing up his arms.
"I do believe we get very little. We are deep in the Underland. It sometimes falls from the air, like moisture freezes then falls. Snow is what you call it," Ripred explained as Mareth unharnessed him.
"Don't you have to have clouds to make snow?" Gregor asked.
"Most likely you must need clouds. That is why we do not understand why this thing called 'snow', falls here in this one place in the Underland. The Underland does not hold a sky. I do not know why it snows," Mareth wondered. "It is cold. We must sleep in a tight group."
The bats formed a circle around the humans, Temp, and Ripred with a large blanket over their backs which made a ceiling thing over the small group inside the circle. In the circle everyone laid with the baskets and water sacks near a pair of bats. Howard took out dried plants and a kit of matches from the first aid basket. He started a fire to cook some fish and meat. Gregor stuck his sword through a chunk of meat and held it over the fire. He missed having Luxa's company. Boots was to young to have a complex conversation with and Temp and the bats kept to themselves. Mareth and Howard were always talking to each other and Ripred was always a grump.
Gregor finished cooking the meat and he cut it into sections and handed a chunk out to each person and Mareth handed fish to Ripred, Temp, and the bats. Gregor sat down next to Boots and ate his meat, his teeth could barely pull of a strip of meat from his chunk. He wondered what type of meat it was.
"Great cold comes at night here," Mareth started as he handed out pillows and blankets. "Huddle up close to your neighbor and use the blankets wisely."
The bats closed the gaps between them and huddled so close the tips of their ears touched one another. Mareth and Howard huddled together with a blanket over top of them. Ripred carefully laid down on their feet to keep frost bite away, he motioned to Gregor.
"It will be very cold. You and the pup need to keep warm," he mumbled.
Gregor curled up to Ripred, his back to the rats furry, warm belly. Boots climbed next to Gregor. Temp came up and huddled next to Boots. Ripred wrapped his tail around the three and Gregor threw the blanket over them and laid his head on the large pillow. He quickly fell asleep, wrapped in the warmth of Ripred's warm belly and the sound of Boots' soft snoring. Ripred seemed to wiggle around a bit, it is not everyday he gets to sleep with an overland rager, a six year old girl, and a cockroach. Gregor fell into a deep sleep.
'Gregor saw a stooped , with long scraggly hair and beard in the prophecy room. He was going through all of the prophecies with a confused look on his face. His dream switched to the man getting killed by a large white rat. The rat bit the mans throat and bellowed he let the body fall to the ground.'
Gregor woke up from his dream with a shudder. Ripred's eyes popped open and he peered at Gregor with his tiny, beady little eyes.
"Bad dream?" Ripred asked as he yawned.
Gregor nodded, but said nothing. He stood up and stretched, his knuckles hitting the top of the blanket. The rest of the group was awakening. The bats shook off the blanket, revealing a blinding cover of snow on the ground.
"Good thing we had the blanket over us, or we would be frozen where we lay," Ripred blubbered as he stretched.
"We must eat then immediately go. It will soon get colder, we may not be able to fly soon for the air will be too cold," Mareth exclaimed.
"I will prepare the food," Howard said as he opened up the food basket.
"How long until we find the Spirit fire or whatever?" Gregor asked.
"No more than a few days time I suppose," Ripred replied.