Sorry For The Wait Guys, I've Been Really Busy Lately
"How are we to travel through that?" Luxa asked Mareth as she dismounted Aurora and began to help Ripred out of his straps.
"Wait until it clears. If it doesn't, then we must go on. Make sure to keep your face in the fliers fur, the fliers are stronger than we are, they won't get sick," Mareth told.
"How long will we wait?" Gregor asked.
"We will eat, then leave," Mareth replied.
Mareth began to unstrap the food basket from one of the bats. He rummaged around the basket for a few minutes before pulling out a rack of ribs. "From our cows," Mareth muttered as he served the ribs to everyone. A few fliers were told to find themselves fish, but to make sure to stay out of the smoke.
Gregor looked down at the ribs that he had been given. They were small, with very little meat. The cows that the Underlanders owned were very skinny without much meat on their bones, the lack of grass made them smaller than the cows in the Overland. Gregor took a bite out of his ribs. Though they were small and hadn't much meat, the taste was glorious.
"Wow, these are great!"Gregor exclaimed.
"Made by the greatest," Mareth said.
The few bats that left came back heaving. They had few fish, and the fish they had were small and boney. "The smoke, is too much," Zinx cried out between coughs.
"How are we to get through the smoke?" Luxa asked.
"I have an idea," Gregor said as he opened a basket that held first aid items. He took out a slim piece of rope and a roll of bandages made from spider silk. He looked for a knife in the food basket and used it to cute the fabric into a small square. He then poked holes on both sides of the fabric and rand the rope through one of the holes and tied it.
"Maybe this will work," he said as he put it over Ares' muzzle and tied the other end of the rope through the second hole. "Can you still breathe?"
"Yes, perfectly," Ares muffled through the fabric.
"This will make it to where the dirty air doesn't get through the fabric, it filters the smoke and makes clean are for Ares," Gregor explained. "We should make one for everyone."
"Indeed, if it works well we may leave right away," Mareth pointed out as he looked for another roll of spider silk, rope, and a knife. "Howard, Luxa, help make…these things for the fliers first."
Luxa moved over with Gregor to share his roll of silk and Howard went with Mareth. Gregor began to make a mask for Zinx, he made a new thing for it, a thing that goes around one ear so it wouldn't fall off.
"Hey, make the rope go around one of the flier's ears so the mask won't fall off," Gregor said.
When he finished Zinx's mask he began to work on Ares' mask, adding the ear part. When the masks for the fliers were finished Howard and Mareth began to make masks for the humans, and Gregor made one for Ripred.
Gregor went over to Ripred and put the fabric over
Ripred's muzzle.
"I probably look like a complete idiot," Ripred grumbled.
"Try not to talk," Gregor chuckled.
Gregor finished the part of the rope that went behind the ear and ties through the second hole, then he added the part around the ear. "How does that feel?" Gregor asked.
"You really want to know?" Ripred asked.
"Not really," Gregor replied.
"Are we ready?" Luxa asked.
"Indeed, mount the fliers and put Ripred back in his restraints," Mareth ordered.
Ripred rolled his eyes as Howard helped him into the straps. Gregor mounted Ares, as did Temp and Boots. When everyone was ready Mareth and Andromeda took off out of the cave. Ares followed close behind, right into the cloud of smoke.
They flew into a large, long cave. The smoke soon died as they flew farther down the cave. Water dribbled off the walls of the cave, making an eerie dripping sound on the cold cave floor. The floor began to slant down and the air got colder.
"We must land!" Mareth called out.
The group landed on the cold ground. Gregor dismounted and helped Ares take off his mask, and then he took off his own and shoved both of them in his back pocket. "Where does this tunnel lead?" Gregor asked.
"To the stingers cave. We must stay quiet, we mustn't disturb them," he replied.
"How far is it from the Bane do you think?" Gregor asked.
"Not too far, we will have a few bats scout ahead, to see if they can spot him," Mareth told.
Mareth went over and talked to Zues and Zorro, the biggest of the fliers, not including Ares. Zues and Zorro nodded their heads to whatever Mareth had said, still wearing their masks they took off down the tunnel.
"They will be safe right?" Gregor asked.
"Yes, they will be fine," Mareth replied as he got food out of a basket.
Gregor unlatched a water sack from the harness that held the water sacks. He unscrewed the lid and gulped down half of it. He let Boots drink the rest and got a water sack for Ares and Temp to drink. He opened the water sack and held it over Ares' open mouth. Ares nodded his head after two gulps, signaling he had enough. Gregor then let Temp take a drink.
"We all need to keep hydrated, do as Gregor is doing, Luxa, Howard, help the fliers and Ripred get a drink," Mareth instructed.
Gregor leaned back against Ares' stomach. Enjoying the feeling of the bats soft fur against the back of his neck. Ares wrapped his wings around Gregor and laid his head down on Gregor's. Gregor fell asleep like that, from the soothing feeling of Ares' heavy breathing, and Boots' warm body pressed up against his.
Gregor awoke when the two fliers returned. They flew over to Mareth and began to converse with him. By the looks of Mareth's reaction, the news wasn't good. Gregor sat up from his slumber and wandered over to Mareth.
"Whats going on?" Gregor asked.
"They saw a group of gnawers heading deeper into the Fire Lands. When they flew over the stingers, they were deeply sleeping, but they were large, their stingers are more than three feet long," Mareth replied. "We must leave after a good sleep."
Gregor nodded and went back to Ares who had nodded off a while ago. Gregor leaned back against Ares and looked into the dark. He clicked a few times but nothing came back to him. He wondered if Hazard could teach him to speak flier. Did Hazard even come with them? Gregor looked over at Luxa who was sleeping, in the dim torch light he saw Hazard curled up with Luxa. Gregor didn't even remember seeing him come on the trip. He didn't even think he was allowed to come.
Gregor shifted to a position that was comfortable. He noticed Boots was hogging all of the blankets, so he asked Ares to wrap his wings around him, and in the middle of Ares' slumber he did so. Gregor soon fell asleep. When he woke up the group was getting ready to leave. Ares had gotten up, somehow not waking Gregor at all. Gregor yawned and rubbed his eyes. He got up and walked over to Mareth who handed him a piece of bread and dried fruit. Gregor ate them slowly, until Mareth instructed the group to mount up.
Gregor put Ares' mask on and his own mask on. Temp didn't need one, but he helped Boots put hers on. Gregor mounted Ares and Boots crawled on behind him and began to talk in cockroach with Temp. After Ripred was strapped in his seat, the group began to lift up and fly.
They flew down the tunnel for an hour or so. Mareth began to fly ahead of the group at a high speed. The group headed towards a hole in the wall that Mareth had gone through. The hole opened into a large cavern. There was a large body of dirty water in the middle, and resting on the rocks were three very large scorpions, their stingers high above their heads, ready to strike at anything that wasn't supposed to be there.