The Banished

Chapter 33

They ignored him most of the way. They just walked and walked, hardly ever paying him any mind. The only time he was unbound was for bathroom breaks, which were rare, and to eat, which was even less frequent. Vlad was nice enough though not to burn any humans in front of him or anything like that. Mostly they ate any small game they found running around. And water was scarce, as they stayed clear of the waterway to avoid detection, so Gregor was getting very little on that end as well. Honestly, he was starting to regret ever going along with Luxa's plan. Then again, when didn't he regret going along with her plans?

He didn't see much of Zander after that. The little boy was apparently towards the front of the procession, probably with Vlad or some kind of caretaker, while Gregor was in the back, hands bound and blindfolded. He mouthed off a few times, about how blindfolding him did no good. It was the same as if he had just closed his eyes; he could still use his echolocation.

His thoughts drifted though, the longer they walked, away from Luxa and more onto his family. He hadn't sent them a message or been up in a long while. The last Boots had seen him was before he disappeared looking for Nike. He hoped that they weren't worried about him, though he knew they were. Err, well, his mother and Boots would be worried. He figured that Lizzie would find her academic future much more troubling than her brother's misadventures in the abyss down below.

He worried about the state of the union in Regalia as well. Were they at war then? When the Fount? With the gnawers? Had Ripred really assembled that big of a group to fight in his honor? That was something to think about as well. There was no way that Gregor wanted that kind of blood on his hands. It wasn't fair for people to go to war, go to battle, for him when he wasn't really as bad off as they thought. He was just stuck in another one of Luxa's half thought out schemes.

He tried to way it against some of her other decisions, but it seemed like one of the worst there had ever been. She had sent him to negotiate with the most dastardly of enemies, sent him into battle unprepared, and even locked him up in a dungeon, but this seemed to win out as the worst by a wide margin. She had handed him over to the enemy in hopes of him being a doubt agent, but as it was turning out, no one was buying it.

Hmmm… Maybe it was his job to sell them on it then? To make them believe that he was on their side? It made sense.

Kind of.

The problem lied in the fact that he did not know what to do to convince them. He figured just coming out randomly with his hate of Luxa would do no good, as that would seem like he was just trying to get them to believe him. But e couldn't not try either, as that would seem like he had just given into his fate and was accepting of the fact that the jig was up. He had to find a balance or at least hedge his way into the whole bashing Luxa thing.

And boy did he have some great things to be pissed at her about.

"Whoa," Gregor mumbled as his eyes were unbound some time later. The man was holding a torch and the light was bothering him.

"Weak, Overlander?" the man asked, almost sneering.

"It is my head wound."

"Head wound?" The man made a face, looking hard at him for a moment, as if studying him.

"After the battle, I was struck from behind with a hammer. Then, when that wretched woman had me arrested, her men hit me in the head, as to aggravate the wound. They rather don't like me, the guards. You know how it is with bosses and workers, yes?"

"Your head is bothering you, then I shall inform King Vlad," the man said simply. "Not much we can do though."

"Aye," Gregor agreed. "On my way here, I saw one of your people die from treatable wounds, should they have been behind palace walls."

"It should be us behind those palace walls."

"Aye," he repeated. "You would need the doctors there though, to show you how to do everything."

"We would not eradicate the entire city, Overlander."

"No?"

"Of course not," he said with a shake of his head. "We would only kill those who oppose us. And few would do that, if they knew what we knew. Not to mention, when the queen dies, who shall take her place? She has no husband nor any children."

"Aye." Gregor rubbed his wrists when they were unbound. "So how far to this pound?"

"Eh?"

"The water that I am supposed to swim in. How far?"

"There is much to do before that ever happens, Overlander," the man told him simply.

"Sorry," Gregor said. "I'm just a tad antsy, I suppose."

"Makes sense," the man told him. "I am sure that the crown has sent men after you."

"What makes you think that?"

"You are an escaped convict, yes?"

He shook his head slightly. "I am sure that they have their hands full. That woman, Luce, mentioned that they are currently about to start a war with the Fount as well as the gnawers."

"Women are spiteful," the man told him. "You have scorned the queen. She shall come for your head. And when she does, we shall be ready."

"You d not think she herself shall come, do you?"

"I think that she will need to get you back, to stop her uncle from marching on her lands, to calm the gnawers." He looked Gregor dead in the eyes as he said, "I think that she shall do whatever she must. If that means coming to plead with you, then so be it."

Gregor doubted that, realizing not for the first time that the banished did not know their enemy at all. Should this fabricated situation have been real, the only reason Luxa would follow Gregor was to behead him. There was no way that she would ever allow him to do this to her. Even though she had been the one to start it, she would most definitely been the one to finish it.

"We shall see," Gregor said simply.

"Aye," the man sighed. "We shall."

When they stopped to camp again, King Vladimir had one of their men check Gregor out. They gave him some kind of mashed up herbs or something that were meant to alleviate his pain. Gregor had his reservations about it, but figured it was best if he just took them. Even if they did drug him, they weren't going to hurt him. If they were, they would have while he was bound and defenseless.

And boy, did those herbs ease his pain. They also eased his mind. Of everything. If that was what Nerissa felt like all day, everyday, he could see how she would fear not being level headed because damn if Gregor didn't have a coherent thought n his head. Everything felt like it was swimming, a current pulling him along and he wasn't even fighting it.

They left him bound only by his feet. He was supposed to be eating something, some kind of meat, but he did not feel like it. He just laid on his back, staring up at the blackness, while breathing softly. He felt very alive. Very, very alive. Like, if he were to be stabbed in that moment, he didn't think he'd feel it. In fact, he almost welcomed it.

"So this is what makes the warrior weak?"

Gregor blinked, staring up at Vlad as the man came to stand over him, staring down at his eyes. He didn't say anything though, just stared.

"It's from the Prophecy of Banes, yes?"

Bane. He had said it wrong. It wasn't Banes. It was Bane.

"All this time, it was not a little rat, it was merely plants."

Gregor narrowed his eyes at him before finally forcing some words out. "You…drugged me?"

"Don't tell me you weren't expecting it."

He was. He just didn't care. His head had been in so much pain that e would have taken anything they gave him.

"I figured now would be the best time to talk to you," Vlad said, just standing there all smug and what not, grinning down at Gregor. "When you are slightly incapacitated. I figured that you are more likely to tell me the truth."

"I have told you the truth."

"Have you?"

Gregor nodded, not moving to sit up. He felt too tired to put all the effort into it. "Luxa wanted me dead. I ran. I ran into you guys instead of Ripred. It's just as well, I guess."

"Why do you guess that?"

"Ripred'll hate me soon too," Gregor assured him. "We butt heads a lot."

"I've heard of this Ripred character," Vlad said slowly, nodding his head. "Strong man. Yet I hear that you're stronger, ghost."

"Ghost," Gregor repeated slowly. "I'm the ghost now."

"Yes."

"…When do I getta hear 'bout them then? Your prophecies?"

"Not any time soon," Vlad said. "And I am the one asking questions here, Overlander."

"Ask away," he said before falling into giggles, almost like a young girl. God, what did they have him on?

"What did you do to make the queen so upset with you?"

Gregor did not sober, but did answer. "I do not know."

"You have no idea, Overlander, why your woman has decided that it is worth of war to kill you? That she would rather her entire army turn on her than allow you safe passage back to the Overland?"

"Luxa is very…moody," Gregor said slowly, closing his eyes then. "Her love is violate. Besides, I think she has become…involved with another."

"Another, you say?"

"Barrett," Gregor told him, not having to feign the resentment in his tone. "A general. He wishes to be king. He has been…courting her for some time."

"And you think that he is succeeding now?""

"I believe so," Gregor said slowly, opening his eyes once more. The truth was, no matter how much he denied it, he was jealous of Barrett. He was everything that Gregor was, but better. Because he was from the Underland. And that meant that he would win. When it came down to it, he would win. Eventually, Gregor would lose Luxa and he would take him.

"Then, Overlander, should you truly be on our side, when this is all said and done, I shall let you be the one to kill him, this Barrett gentleman. And then, you can have your pick of all the women in the Underland." Then Vlad winked at him which about made the young man vomit. "I shall even let you take a crack at Usha, if you'd like."

"I think I'll pass," Gregor mumbled, closing his eyes once more.

Vlad snorted then. "You are a brave one, Overlander, or either severely overdosed. Many do not reject a king's offer."

Somehow, Gregor didn't think that he could ever explain to Luxa that for his mission to continue and to become a success that he had to have sex with Usha. He couldn't even imagine the words coming out of his mouth. He remembered an epic poem he had to read, from the few times he was in high school, called The Odyssey where that guy got away with that excuse, but he figured Luxa wasn't the forgiving type.

"We both need each other," Gregor told him finally. "You need me to fulfill your prophecies and I need you to take care of my Luxa situation. So let's not pretend like this is something it's not."

Vlad laughed at him then, turning his head back up to the sky and laughing loudly. Then, sobering far to fast to have truly found anything funny, he looked back down at Gregor and said, "Careful, warrior, before I truly make you a ghost."

He could still vividly remember the first time they got caught. It was right after he started his position as head guard, so they were still getting used to that oddness of it all. As Luxa had just come into full power and he was having to adjust to her being his superior, they were finding that they did not have much time to be alone. Before, they could sneak off and do whatever they pleased for a few hours. It's not like anyone really let it happen, but no one out right stopped them either.

Boy did that stop when Luxa become of age.

God, it was like they couldn't do anything alone. Even when Gregor was being her guard, they were on watch constantly. She was either busy or with a general or advisor or something. So they found another, better way to be together.

It wasn't like it was the first time that he had snuck in there. And it wasn't the first time that he had spent the majority of the borrowed time in there relaxing on Luxa's bed. It was, however, the first time that he planned to stay the entire night.

That was their mistake, of course, to think that they would ever work out to their advantage. But still, they were both only teens, sixteen and almost sixteen. Though they were both of age in the Underland or at least nearly, in the Overland it was expected that they would make dumb accidents such as that. Sure, they made a lot of adult decisions and had since they were young, but at the end of the day, they were still kids. And kids don't always use their head.

It wasn't like they were doing anything too bad. Just fooling around, really. They had done far worse in the past. Far, far worse.

"Shirt for a shirt?"

"Gregor-"

"It was just a question."

She made a face at him then in the darkness of the room. He just kept laying there, staring at her, until she finally conceded.

"You first."

This was nothing to him and he easily pulled his shirt over his head, only wincing slightly. During training the other day, he had ended up with a few bruised ribs and they were still bothering him. Luxa only turned on her side, ghosting her fingertips gently over them.

"Sore?"

"Nah," he said, shaking his head. "I'm fine."

She still just kept gently stroking his flesh.

"Uh, Lux? Your turn."

He shifted onto his back then while she moved to sit up, slowly moving to pull her shirt up and off.

"That's better," he told her softly, grinning as she fell back then and he shifted onto his side to stare down at her.

They just laid there like that for some time, both grinning at each other. Eventually though, Luxa lifted up her hand and Gregor readily held out his own, pressing it against hers as if to compare the height of each of their fingers.

"We must go to court tomorrow."

"We?"

"We," she told him, shifting her hand slightly then to let her fingers fall between his. "You are my head guard, Gregor. It is duty."

"Fuck duty," he said then. They were still teenagers then, high school age, really, above, and cursing was still all the rage. Especially for Luxa, who was supposed to be very proper all the time. Most of the words she picked up from Gregor were only said by men and only under heavy alcohol use or something or that sort. They'd both mostly grow out of it in the coming year or so. "This job sucks. I just follow you around all the time. I mean, God, Luxa, my one injury is from sparring with some guys after my shift!"

"I do not know what you were expecting," she told him then. "What exactly did you think would come of being a guard?"

"I dunno. It always looks so cool, back home. Like the Secret Service and shit. Taking bullets for people. It's just so boring here."

She slowly retracted her hand then before moving onto her side as well, cupping his cheek. "You did not take this job for excitement, Gregor. You took it for the freedom to be with me, nothing more. To get out of the Overland, so we did not have to sneak around as much. This was the only way that we could be together."

"I know that," he told her before leaning forwards to press a kiss against her lips gently. "That's why I'm still here."

"Would you just leave then, if you wished?"

"Would you stop me? Huh?" He grinned then. "Lock me in the dungeons?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea."

"Right up your alley."

"I would torture you as well."

"Would you then? How? What medieval torture would you think up for me?"

She looked off then. He thought that she was in thought, but then she simply said, "You do not wish to hear what I would do."

"I think," he began, pausing to kiss her once, "that you do not really plan to torture me at all. That you do not have the mental power to do so."

"Then you are greatly mistaken. I could do many things to you."

"Many things?"

"Many things."

He liked that for some reason, though she was being as literal as she possibly could be. Still, it got him to kiss her again, which was great, as he kept doing it, only stopping when Luxa pulled away, laughing softly into her palm, which she brought up to cover her mouth.

"Why are you laughing?" he asked her, moving towards her once more. "Torturing me is funny now?"

"Torturing you was funny always and will be forever."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she mimicked him, the foreign word almost sounding wrong coming from her tongue. Most words she learned from him did. She had called him bro once in passing and he had almost fell out from laughter.

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Ye-"

That time, when he kissed her, he shoved her onto her back, smiling down at her. Her face was blank then as she watched him watch her. It was still for awhile after that, for a good minute or two.

That was truly the end of that though, as when Gregor finally laid back, this time on his stomach, he merely absently threw an arm over her with a slight groan.

"If you would take your medication-"

"I am not taking pain pills for some stupid bruised ribs."

"They're clearly bothering you."

"I only irritated them slightly."

"I wish you would take better care of yourself."

"And I wish you would shut up."

"Shut up," she repeated in that tone that made him smile.

"God, I love you," he said right after, before she could say anything else. And she did say anything else after that. Neither did. For some time at least.

They had both mostly fallen asleep then, Gregor more than Luxa. He was usually able to find sleep easier those days, as he had few worries any more. Most of his problems from before had vanished. His father was already dead, his grandmother as well, and he could raid the museum as much as he wanted to get money for his family up above. The weight was off his shoulders, but the entire Underland was still heavily resting against Luxa's.

Which of course made him a horrible guard, as he did not hear the hurried footsteps outside the room until it was too late. In his defense though, he was technically off duty. Not to mention, it was kind of Luxa's royal wing. He figured she'd have taken care of anyone being able to bother them.

"Queen Luxa, there has been an attack against- Oh!"

The light was what bothered Gregor the most at first, the torch fighting off the darkness far too quickly for his liking. Then, once that was gone, he looked back towards the doorway, the voice registering to him about he same time that the face did.

"You two," Perdita began turning her back swiftly away from them, "cannot allow this to…you cannot… Damn it, Luxa! Do you know how early into your reign we truly are? This could completely kill everything."

She merely huffed, shoving Gregor away from her before moving to get out of bed and find her shirt.

"What did you want?"

"Luxa, you cannot-"

"You are not my mother. You merely head my military. What did you-"

"I am not your mother, I am not your grandmother, but I would like to think-"

"Do not think," she hissed at the woman's turned back. "Merely tell me what-"

"There has been an attack in the nibbler's territory, perpetrated by the gnawers. I thought it best to get you up now. There is much to be done if you plan to retaliate."

"Of course I do," Luxa retorted then before glancing over at Gregor. "Get up, Overlander. And hurry. There is much to attend to."

He had honestly froze, more out of shock than embarrassment at first though that quickly shifted. Then he did not feel so good about being caught in his recently sworn queen's bed. Nodding slightly, he pushed to get up as well.

"Not that I shall enjoy any of that fighting, I'm sure, but fine. It is the duty of the head guard, to be with you at all times."

"Is that the excuse we are using?"

Luxa sent a glare at the older woman's back. "I do not…barge in to your chamber and then criticize your bedroom habits."

"You are more than welcome to, though I fear they shall be rather boring compared to yours."

He could remember the look on Luxa's face then better than he could anything else. Almost as if she were…embarrassed. Not just of the situation, but actually of him. Not that she had been caught with a man; she was a queen after all. From what Gregor understood that Egyptian queen Cleopatra took many men to her bedchambers. No, Luxa wasn't so torn up by what she was caught doing (or in that case not doing, unfortunately for Gregor), but rather who she was caught doing it with.

It was probably then, the first time that Gregor questioned his actions. He knew before becoming her guard that he was no longer what he was in the Underland, that his status with the human's had definitely diminished. Even before that though, it was made rather clear to him that his relationship with the queen was not going to be tolerated. Still, he never thought he would be someone to be ashamed of. To be hidden away.

Maybe it was the loneliness or maybe it was the drugs that the banished continued to give him, but it was finally starting to make sense in Gregor's head. All of it. When you really, really want something, something so badly that you cannot fathom denying yourself it, but at the same time, it such an embarrassing thing, something to be ashamed to have, to covet, then what are you to do except hide it away? To pretend it does not exist? And when it is brought to light, in those rare moments that someone else notices it, sees it, how can you do anything, but lash out at it? Demean it? Make it seem worthless and hope that others see it that way as well?

Because when you can't have something you want, you only have two options. Either get angry at yourself for craving that thing so much or you loathe the thing you want for ruining your perfect world.

And there was no chance of Luxa ever hating herself. Ever.

They beat him one night, after they made camp. He was drug away from the weak and the children, per usual, when it happened. He was bound of course, he was always bound. He was so tired of being bound.

"Think of it as an…initiation of sorts, yeah?" Vlad whispered as he tossed him to the ground before giving him a swift kick to the stomach, causing Gregor to almost vomit up everything in his stomach. Then again, considering at that moment he had only herbs in his stomach, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

It wasn't only mean, but they were the worst. Luxa and Perdita drove it home to him all the time that women were just as strong as men and he did not doubt that they could be come so, but it was the men of the banished that he feared. It was obvious that though the hierarchy seemed to be gender neutral that the men were given more food or sustenance, as the ones attacking him seemed much more muscular than the women. How could they do that, you'd think. Right? How could they take the food, the meat, from those weak elderly and children that Gregor had seen? It seemed inhumane.

Or maybe the banished weren't human at all. Really, Gregor doubted that for himself most of the time.

They did not use weapons on him, did not cut him or hammer at him, but they just kept pummeling him. All of them. It was an onslaught on a heavily bound, drugged, and weakened man. And for what cause? What did it prove? You could harm a restrained man, fine, but so what? There was not a one of them that Gregor feared in battle, in true battle.

Not that that seemed to matter much in that moment.

He feared, in his induced state, that they were planning to kill him. He did not know why they did not just stab him or behead him, but he did not figure the banished ones of honor. Perhaps revenge even, as a way to get back for how he killed their men? The men that clearly stood no chance against the Regalian army. But was that his fault then? For defending what he thought of as his home? Was it not Vlad's? Or Usha's? For pressuring them into an unwinnable plight?

He was not so certain that he did not have internal bleeding when Vlad finally called for a stop. It was after his call though that Gregor opened one swollen eye to find someone standing over him.

Brand. The archer. The man just grinned down at him, as if in a menacing way. Then he delivered a powerful punt to his head.

You would have thought it would have ended it then and there for Gregor, that he would have passed out at the least. But he held on long enough for Vlad to sneer one more time at him.

"If you make it through the night, you are in. Your commitment is proven. If not, then, well, I guess you are not the ghost after all."

Finished this one while watching Donnie Darko again. Hope you guys liked it.