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After the group ate, Howard and Mareth began to harness up the bats. Ripred sat in his sling, his head resting on his paw. Gregor mounted Mace, Boots was sitting on Mace's back sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce, talking to Temp in cockroach and human. After everyone was safely harnessed or mounted, Mace flew up behind Nike and squeaked to her. The bats squeaked back and forth, words that humans could not understand. Gregor watched the vines, looking for any sign of movement but found none.

"You will not catch sight of them. They are quite sly. We not even saw them coming," Mace claimed.

Gregor looked up from the vines, feeling sheepish. Why did he think he could see them? Maybe because he saw ones tail earlier. He laid his head down on Mace's neck. He heard rustling of branches and vines, he heard a whiz of something flying through the air. Next thing he knew a arrow went straight through Mace's delicate wing and Mace screeched. He plummeted towards the ground and skidded on his stomach when he hit the ground. Mace rolled, head over heels a few times, spilling Gregor, Boots, and Temp onto the ground.

Mace writhed around on the ground, flapping his good wing. Boots had been picked up by Temp who had took to the air when he had been flung off of Mace's back. Temp landed perfectly before Gregor, with Boots on his back. Gregor had skidded onto his face, he lifted his head from the ground. Gregor's nose hurt, he wondered if he had broken it. Mace screeched and wiggled, trying to lift himself from being so vulnerable on the ground.

The rest of the group had landed. Ripred had somehow got himself out of the sling and Mareth and Howard had their swords drawn towards the vines around them. Mareth walked over to Mace's side, looking his wing over. It was in an awkward position, it jetted straight out behind the bat in an uncomfortable position, blood oozed out onto the ground making a dark puddle.

"What ambushed us?" Gregor muttered as he lifted himself from the ground and brushed his pants off.

"We are not sure. They have gone now and we caught no sight of them. The fliers had heard them but did not see where they came from," Mareth informed as he stretched Mace's wing out.

Mace let out a long squeak of pain. Howard knew more of doctor things and he knew that Mace's wing was badly injured. It had been dislocated when Mace landed and flipped, the skin was badly torn with a large gash, big enough to see through. Mace tried hard not to move when Howard put his wing back into place. Howard then began to work over the skin. He dabbed medicine on it and pulled string and a needle from the first aid kit. He slid the needle through the bats skin and connected the skin back together. When the whole was no longer open Howard cut the string and tied it tight.

"Stretch your wing to make sure the string is taut," Howard instructed.

Mace slowly stretched his wing, wincing from the pain. It was stiff, but the string did not loosen or rip when Mace flapped it. Ripred came over to examine the wing and frowned.

"This will surely slow us down. You can fly, if you want to rip it more and dislocate it again," Ripred emphasized. "The best thing to do is rest one day. We are running low on food. The fish was polished off yesterday. We still have some meat, bread, cakes, and greens but we need to find more food if we want to last to the Spirit lands."

"Ripred is right. One day's rest will help my wing. I am sure I can manage flying for a few short periods of time as long as we rest," Mace said.

"Let us rest. Fliers form a circle and Howard unstrap the fliers and take out blankets and food," Mareth instructed.

When the bats were relieved of their baskets they formed a circle. Howard put a blanket over the top of them to keep the chill out. When he was done he made meat and oatmeal for the people, the bats, Ripred, and Temp ate slices of cake. After they ate everyone went to sleep. Gregor curled up next to Ripred with Boots and Temp. He stopped shivering from Ripred's warmth and Boots put her cold nose into Gregor's warm chest.

When Gregor awoke, the hair on his arms stood up straight. He could see his breath even though it was pitch black. The bats shook of the blanket. The ground held a new blanket of frost. Ripred stood up and glared at the snow. He was cold, his teeth chattered.

"Will the snow slow us down at all?" Gregor asked.

"It should not. Unless there is frost in the air. If there is it will bother the fliers eyes. We must find some food then eat and leave as soon as possible," How declared.

"We can manage the cold," Blaze sputtered.

"We will let a group go out to look for food. Temp will go, he knows about fish. There is a good creek not to far. Maybe there will be fresh fruit. We will meet that group up from the creek," Mareth mentioned.

A few bats left with their baskets and sacks and Ripred. Howard and Nike and Temp went with the bats. Gregor and Boots ate then they carefully mounted Mace. Mareth came to the bat and told him if he felt sore just land, and that he should fly easily. Mareth then mounted Andromeda and they flew off. Mace followed along slowly behind Andromeda. Gregor kept his ears focused on every noise and kept his eyes to the vines. They flew over a frosted ground with vines dotting the sides.

Gregor looked at the frosty ground and saw a frozen rat carcass, luckily Boots could not see in the dark like he could. Gregor and Boots soon fell asleep. In his dreams he could smell the sweet scent of Boots' hair and feel the wind running through his short hair. Mace soon landed which woke Gregor and Boots. When he woke he noticed the rest of the group had caught up with them. He slid off of a panting Mace and set Boots on Temp's shell and Temp carried her over to Mareth so he could put a blanket around her.

"We caught a few fish and got some water. There was not any fresh fruit," Howard said as he unharnessed a bat and put the basket on the ground.

"So,how does this whole thing work out? How many people and what people come back with Ares?" Gregor asked Mareth who was helping Ripred out of his harness.

"We are not exactly sure who comes back. We believe some will return with Ares, the others will come back but we must find them. The fire is said to show images of whom we must seek. There is no number of whom can return. Anyone Ares was heard of, feared, loved, worshiped, can come back. All of these people can be seen through his claw." Mareth replied.

Ripred came over to Gregor. "Only a few days left till we are there," he said.

Gregor looked in the food basket. They had caught a few fish for the bats and Temp. Other than that all was left was meat, bread, and greens. Temp could go weeks without food, even though it was sickening to let him starve. Mareth looked at the food. He was astonished. He told everyone they only got a handful of food except Boots who got to have her fill. Mareth took out the loaf of bread and cut it into slices. The bats ate the fish and so did Temp, and Ripred ate one fish and whined afterwards for how hungry he was.

Mareth handed out little rations of bread to the humans and handed a water sack around. Boots ate like she hadn't eaten in months. Gregor had to give up his bread for her because she was still hungry. Gregor remembered when a rat named Twitchtip gave her food to Boots. Twitchtip was a scent seer, just a more reason to hate people. The rat had been tortured by the other rats until she died.

The bats huddled around the group after they ate. Mareth spread an extra thick blanket over the bats. It was so cold, even Temp let off steam from his body. Gregor wrapped up with Boots and Ripred under the blanket, he soon fell asleep.

'"So when did you figure out your 'gift'?" Gregor asked a rat.

"I learned it when my mother was with me. I was lying in my nest and my mother was cleaning. I asked her if she had ever left her earlier pups. She asked me how I knew that," the rat began. "I told her I could smell her biggest secret. She had left her first litter for there was no food and she could not bare to eat them."

"Oh, well how did she feel about it?" Gregor asked.

"She thought it was amazing. She told everyone. Some thought of me as a freak, some thought I was a gift," the rat started. "I...still do not know which to believe."

Gregor scooted closer to the rat. "You are not a freak. I wish I could do that! I mean, with being a rager who can see in the dark and that put on top, I think that would be awesome," Gregor indicated. "I think you are amazing."

The rat smiled faintly. "It is not all fun. I do not want to know others secrets...only my own."'

Gregor jolted upright. Boots stirred and tossed her head to the side and snored loudly. He had to pee. Even if it was cold outside he had too pee before he wet himself. How embarrassing that would be with a rude rat, and a six year old who just got out of pull ups. Gregor slipped on his boots and carefully squeezed through the bats. The cold air made his nose burn and the hair on his arms stand up straight.

He pulled down his pants and peed into the vines which instantly froze when it hit the ground. The cold air crawled up his skin which made his hands tremble when he pulled up his pants. He tripped on his shoe lace and fell face first into the cold frost. When he rolled over he met a pair of glowing yellow eyes in a dark, black mask.