When Goldshard had killed the first time, she'd had the element of surprise on her side. This time her opponent was on the offensive. And Snare, who Gregor was pretty sure was a male, was a lot bigger than she was.
The combat was vicious. The rats attacked each other in violent bursts. They'd circle for a minute, looking for an opening, then one of them would leap and there would be a blur of teeth and claws. As they pulled apart to circle again, both would have new wounds. Snare lost an eye. Goldshard's ear dangled from a shred of fur. You could see the bone in Snare's shoulder. Goldshard's left front paw was snapped in two.
Finally, the gold rat came in on her opponent's blind side and locked her fangs on his neck. In the final throes of death, Snare got his hind feet between their bodies and slashed open the length of Goldshard's belly. She lost her grip, staggered back, and collapsed. Her intestines spilled out on the ground. The rats lay a few feet apart, eyes locked in hate, bodies helpless. With a terrible gurgling sound, Snare suffocated in his own blood.
Goldshard turned her gaze to Gregor. The look was pleading, and he was sure she wanted to say something to him. "Don't...," she whispered. But before she could finish, her eyes glazed over, and she stopped moving.
"What just happened?" Gregor blurted out.
"I do not know," said Ares.
"Are they dead?" asked Gregor.
"Quite dead. All three of them," the bat replied. He coasted down to the ground, avoiding the pools of blood that were spreading out from the rats' bodies.
"Do you know who they are?" asked Gregor. "Did you recognize their names? Goldshard? Snare?"
"Not Goldshard," said Ares. "I have heard of Snare. He was one of Gorger's generals. He was out fighting the war when Gorger fell. He must have joined with the Bane then. It would make sense. Whoever is close to the Bane would have much power when he becomes king," said Ares.
Gregor hadn't spent much time thinking about the rats' political struggles, but now that he did, something seemed strange. "So why hasn't the Bane become king yet? You'd think a rat as big and strong as he is would have taken over by now," said Gregor. "What's he waiting for?"
"Even the Bane must gather an army around him," said Ares. "He has his own enemies among the rats. Ripred, for instance. He wants the Bane dead."
That was true. Part of Ripred's plan for his own rise to power included killing the Bane. Snare had wanted to keep the Bane alive, but Goldshard was willing to let Gregor kill it rather than let it trust Snare.
There was something else about Goldshard. That last look she had given him. Like she was begging him, almost. What was it the rat had wanted to say to him? Don't? Don't what? Hurt her? It was a little too late for that. Ares's head snapped around to a tunnel entrance.
"How many?" asked Gregor.
"Just one, I think," said Ares. "It is hard to tell. The path spirals." His chin jerked up again. This time, Gregor did not have to ask; he had heard the scratching himself. The sound stopped. Nothing emerged from the tunnel. Suddenly Gregor knew why.
"It's the Bane," he whispered to Ares. The bat gave a nod of agreement. It had to be. The other rats would simply attack, but the Bane knew it was being hunted. By a human. By an Overlander. By the warrior.
The words of "The Prophecy of Bane" came back to Gregor.
Hear it scratching down below,
Rat of long-forgotten snow,
Evil cloaked in coat of white
Will the warrior drain your light?
Yes, he would. That was what the warrior had come to do.
There was another faint scratch. It was in there then. Just a few feet away. Waiting.
The tunnel mouth was small, only about five feet high and four feet wide. There would be no flying in on Ares. The Bane must know that. It wanted to lure him in alone. Okay, then. He'd face it alone.
Gregor slid the pack off his shoulders and onto the ground. He didn't want anything restricting his movements. He checked the switch on his flashlight; it was already on high beam. Gripping his sword, he began to move toward the tunnel.
Ares's wing came up to stop him. "You cannot fight him in there, Overlander."
"Well, he's not coming out," said Gregor.
"Wait, then," said Ares.
"For what? Another bunch of rats to show up?" said Gregor.
Ares dropped his wing reluctantly.
"Look, I've got a feeling it was supposed to be this way, anyway. Like I was supposed to do it alone," said Gregor. "But you be ready, because after I kill it, we've got to get out of here fast. Okay?"
"I will be ready," said Ares. He extended his claw, and Gregor grasped it with his hand.
Then Gregor turned to the tunnel. In the dozen paces it took him to reach the opening, he could feel himself slipping into rager mode, the heightened senses, the rush of adrenaline, the selective vision. Every molecule in his body was preparing to kill.
He moved swiftly inside and almost immediately encountered the spiral Ares had mentioned. Another corkscrew-like path. With his bad hand tracking along the wall and his good one leading with his sword, he went around one, two, three full turns and burst out into a square chamber.
It was trying to hide from him, the Bane. He caught just a glimpse of white fur, a flash of pink tail in a cave off to the side of the chamber.
Gregor thought of Luxa, who would never be queen, of Twitchtip bleeding on the ground, of his dad crying on the phone, and of Boots...sweet, trusting Boots...
Heart pounding, blind to everything except that patch of fur, he lunged toward the cave. He raised the hilt in the air, flipping the sword so it would come down point first, at an angle. His bad hand joined his good one, and with every ounce of strength he drove the blade toward the Bane.
But just before the point made contact, the creature made a sound that hit Gregor like a cannonball.
"Ma-maa!"
***
CHAPTER 22
Gregor turned the sword at the last second, driving it into the stone wall of the cave with such force that the blade snapped off near the hilt and clattered to the floor. His teeth rattled at the impact.
He fell back from the cave. "Boots?" he said hoarsely. But he knew it wasn't Boots's voice. There'd just been something in it that was so like how Boots had sounded when she was upset, the pitch, the distress, and the way she'd break that word into two long syllables. "Ma-maa!"
The chamber reeled around his head. Where was the Bane? What was that white furry thing a few yards away? Because it sure wasn't some ten-foot rat trying to attack him!
Gregor forced himself forward and shone the flashlight into the cave. Huddled against the wall, shaking in fear, was a small, white rat. Suddenly it all made sense to him -- why almost nothing was known about the Bane, why it had not taken over the rat kingdom, why it had not attacked him. It was only a baby!
Still, it was the Bane. He was supposed to drain its light. His blade had broken off, leaving a jagged daggerlike weapon in his hand. It would be so easy to kill the creature in front of him. But...but...
"Ma-maa!"
But it sounded just like Boots!
"Oh, geez. Oh, geez," Gregor said, and tossed aside what remained of his sword. He knelt down and reached out his hand to pat the thing. "It's okay. You're okay, baby."
The rat shuddered in terror and pressed back against the wall, wailing its head off. "Ma-maa! Ma-maa!"
"Shh! Shh! It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," Gregor said soothingly. "Ares!"
He shouldn't have shouted. He'd scared it again, and now it was sobbing.
Ares scampered out of the last curve and wobbled into the chamber. "What is it? Where is the Bane?"
"In here," Gregor said, gesturing to the cave. "And we've got a problem."
"What? What?" Ares had come in ready to fight to the death, and now he was completely disoriented. "What is the problem?"
"This is the problem," said Gregor. He leaned down and scooped up the baby rat in his arms. It weighed about as much as a full-
grown cocker spaniel. One day it probably would be ten feet tall. But today, he could pick it up and rock it. He turned to show Ares.
"What is that? That is not the Bane!" said Ares.
"Actually, I think it is. Or at least, it's a baby Bane," said Gregor.
"I do not believe it! That is some decoy. Some trick of the gnawers to lure us into a trap so that they may destroy us!" said Ares.
"I don't think so. I mean, look at its coat. How many white rats have you ever seen?" asked Gregor.
"None. Save this," said Ares. "But perhaps it is not a rat! Perhaps it is a mouse they have captured and used to deceive us! I have seen white mice!"
Gregor examined the baby, but he was no rodent expert. He held it up for Ares to inspect. "You take a look. Is it a mouse?"
"No. It is most definitely a gnawer," said Ares.
"So, you think there are two white rats?" said Gregor.
"Yes. No. I do not know. Two white rats at one time, it is highly improbable. It must be the Bane. Ohhh. Oh, Overlander. What are you going to do with it?" said Ares.
"Well, I can't kill it, can I? I mean, it's just a baby!" said Gregor.
"Aha! I doubt that argument will hold much water in Regalia!" said Ares. Gregor had never seen him off-balance. The bat was fluttering around the chamber, so agitated that he bumped into a wall.
"Hey, you bumped into something!" said Gregor. The bats never bumped into anything.
"Can you blame me? I am...we are...do you have any idea what you hold in your arms?" said Ares.
"The Bane, I guess," said Gregor.
"Yes! Yes! The Bane! The scourge of the Underland! The creature who may well cause the extinction of fliers, humans, and countless others. What we do at this moment determines the fate of all who call the Underland home!" said Ares.
"What am I supposed to do, Ares? Run my sword through its head? Look at the thing!" The Bane wiggled out of his arms and ran for the tunnel. "Hey! Wait a minute! Hold on, you!"
Gregor chased the baby rat through the corkscrew curves and out of the tunnel. What he saw made his heart ache.
The little white rat was trying to curl up in the curve of Goldshard's neck. "Ma-maa," it whimpered. "Ma-maa." Getting no response, it pawed frantically at the dead rat's face. "Ma-maa!"
He heard the rustle of Ares's wings behind him. "So, that's it. She was its mom. And when she said 'Don't' to me..." Gregor had to stop for a minute. "She was trying to say, 'Don't kill my baby.'"
"She must have been desperate to keep it from Snare. He would have taken the pup and raised it to do his bidding," Ares said quietly.
Blood was staining the baby's white fur. Its cries were piteous. As if that wasn't enough to deal with, Ares's head whipped up.
"How many this time?" asked Gregor.
"A dozen, at least," said Ares. "You must decide what to do, Overlander."
Gregor bit his lip. He couldn't decide. Everything was happening too fast. He needed more time. "Okay, okay," he said. He bounded over and lifted the baby into his arms. "We're taking it with us."
"We are?" Ares said, as if the thought had never crossed his mind.
"Yeah. Because I'm not going to kill it, and I'm not leaving it here for the other rats to use," said Gregor.
Ares shook his head in a combination of exasperation and denial, but he offered his back.
Gregor grabbed his backpack in one hand, threw a leg over Ares, and settled the Bane in front of him. "Okay," he said. "Let's run like the river."
As Ares lifted into the air, a dozen rats galloped into the cone. They took in the dead bodies, the bat, the baby in Gregor's arms.
"The Overlander has the Bane!" shouted one, and the whole pack went wild, howling, leaping into the air, slashing at the invaders with their claws.
"Hold on!" said Ares. Of the dozen tunnels that led out of the cone, about four were big enough for Ares to fly down. He dove for one, and they were off.
It was like the most horrifying theme park ride ever. Gregor hated those rides, but they were nothing compared to this spinning, jerking, flipping around in the dark, with only his flashlight beam, and insane live rats jumping out at him from every turn. Gregor clung to Ares with his legs and one hand while he kept the other arm wrapped around the baby.
At one point, when they were darting around a cave barely evading several sets of snapping teeth, Ares cried out, "Use your sword!"
"I don't have it! It broke and I left it back in the cave!" said Gregor. He hated dumping this whole escape thing on Ares, but what could he do?
Ares twisted sideways and made it into a tunnel with the rats hot on his tail.
The baby rat had given up crying "Ma-maa!!" and was now issuing a series of high-pitched alarm shrieks. "Eek! Eek! Eek!"
"Make it stop, Overlander. Its voice carries great distances. Every rat in the maze can hear that the pup is threatened!" shouted Ares.
Gregor remembered how far Boots's cry carried -- through doors, down hallways, you could even hear her on the elevator when you were coming up. It was like nature had designed her baby cry so it would travel. Must be the same with rats.
At first he tried to calm the Bane with his voice. It wasn't enough. It might have helped if they were sitting somewhere quietly on the ground, but it was useless here in this nightmare of motion. He tried stroking its back and head, but that didn't work, either. Gregor's human voice and touch and smell were just more scary unknown things to the rat. Finally he managed to get a hand into his backpack and pull out one of the candy bars. He ripped it open, broke off a piece, and stuck it into the baby's wailing mouth.
There was an "Eek!" of surprise, then a smacking sound, and the Bane was consumed by its first wonderful taste of chocolate.
"More!" It was so weird to hear the rat baby talking, but it was. "More!" it said again, just like Boots would have.
Gregor popped another piece of chocolate into the little rat's mouth, and it was gobbled up. The Bane seemed to think better of him now that he had given it chocolate. It relaxed a little, back into his body, which made it easier to hold on to.
"You think we're almost out of here?" Gregor said as they swept out of a tunnel.
"See for yourself," said Ares.
Gregor shone the flashlight around the place they'd just entered. Lying on the floor were Goldshard, Snare, and the third rat. "No! What are we doing back here?" he gasped.
"Perhaps you should try navigating!" said Ares. What with him insisting on taking the Bane, having no sword, and being pretty worthless in general at the moment, Gregor could tell the bat had lost patience with him.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," said Gregor.
"It is our scent, Overlander," said Ares. "They track us with such ease. I cannot lose them."
"Hey, I know!" said Gregor. "Maybe we can trick them!" He'd seen some movie once where a guy running from bloodhounds had fooled them. "We need to confuse their noses." But with what?
Gregor ripped the bandage from his arm. It was soaked with blood and pus and ointment. "Fly around the cone, Ares! I need to touch the top of every tunnel."
Ares followed his instructions, if not his plan. "Why do we do this?"
Gregor held out the bandage and swiped it along the inside of every tunnel entrance as they passed it. "I'm just trying to spread our scent around."
They completed the full circle, hitting each tunnel opening. Gregor tossed the bandage up the last one.
"They come!" warned Ares.
"Get out! Get out now!" said Gregor.
Ares dipped into a tunnel they had not yet tried. After about thirty seconds, they could hear the rats reaching the cone. And they were confused. Different rats were calling for them to chase down different tunnels. A big argument broke out, and then the sound of fighting.
It grew softer as they moved away, until Gregor could no longer hear it at all.
Ares zigzagged down a tunnel, and this one opened out over a nice, wide, shallow stream.
"I must stop for a moment..
.I must drink..." Ares landed on the edge of the stream, panting. He dunked his face in the water, gulping it down.
Gregor got down and scooped up handfuls of water for himself and the Bane. The stream was not too deep, but the current was fairly strong and he didn't want the baby being swept away.
Ares raised his wet face. "I have only just thought of something," said Ares. "This stream. Where do you suppose it goes?"
"I don't know. A bigger stream. Maybe a river eventually, or --" Gregor caught Ares's drift. On his very first night in Regalia, when he'd tried to escape, he'd followed the water out of the palace. It had led to a river that had led to the Waterway. "It's sure worth a try."
Gregor hauled the Bane onto Ares's back, and they took off again.
It was not too promising for a while. The main thing about the stream was that it was long and it had as many twists and turns as the tunnels in the maze. Gregor could feel Ares's wings slowing; he was going to have to have a real rest soon. But to stop in the maze was certain death. The rats would catch up to them. Gregor had no sword. The baby would begin to cry again, and then they would --
"A river," Ares puffed out. "A river is at hand."
In another minute, they followed the stream out of the tunnel and into a huge cavern. A river ran through it. They were out of the maze!
Ares flew up high above the water. There were stony cliffs along the sides.
"Any rats around?" asked Gregor.
"Just the one on my back," said Ares.
"You want to pull over and take a break?" said Gregor.
"In a short while. I want to put more distance between the gnawers and us. They will be coming, Overlander. We have the Bane," said Ares.
"Yeah, I bet they hate that," said Gregor. He petted the Bane's head. It was getting used to him now. It curled up against him and gave a big yawn. "You've had a pretty big day, huh, little guy?" It didn't take long for it to fall asleep.
They flew awhile in silence. Then Ares spoke in an odd voice. "Overlander, I think I know this place. I think we both do."
"What?" said Gregor. How could he possibly know where they were?
"Shine your light down," said Ares.
Gregor obeyed. There below them was the river, very wide now, and very strong. Hanging down from the high banks on either side of it were the remnants of a broken bridge.