Gregor the Overlander

  "Wow," said Gregor. Her gentle demeanor bad fooled him.

  Gregor shifted his weight on the bat and something poked his leg. He pulled the prophecy Nerissa had given him from his pocket and unrolled it. Maybe now would be a good time to ask Vikus some questions. "So, do you think you could explain this 'Gray Prophecy' to me?"

  " 'The Prophecy of Gray,'" corrected Vikus. "What of it puzzles you?"

  "The whole thing," thought Gregor, but he said, "Maybe we could just go through it a piece at a time." He studied the poem.

  Beware, Underlanders, time hangs by a thread.

  Well, that seemed pretty clear. It was a warning.

  The hunters are hunted, white water runs red.

  He asked Vikus to unravel the second line. "The rats are traditionally the hunters of the Underland, for they would happily track and kill the rest of us. Last night, we hunted them to save you. So, the hunters were hunted. White water ran red when we left their bodies to the river."

  "Oh," said Gregor. Something was bothering him, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

  The gnawers will strike to extinguish the rest.

  "Are 'the gnawers' the rats?" he asked. "Exactly so," said Vikus.

  The hope of the hopeless resides in a quest.

  The quest to get his dad. So, he'd escaped, the Underlanders had saved him, and now they were at war and off on the quest. Gregor suddenly knew what was bothering him. "So ... this whole thing is my fault!" he said. "It never would've happened if I hadn't tried to escape!" He thought of the approaching army of rats. What had he done?

  "No, Gregor, put that from your mind," said Vikus firmly. "You are but one player in a very long and difficult tale. 'The Prophecy of Gray' trapped you, as it trapped us, long ago."

  Gregor was silent. He didn't exactly feel better.

  "Read on," said Vikus, and Gregor's head drooped to the page. The lights of Regalia had faded away, and he had to squint to read by the faint torchlight.

  An Overland warrior, a son of the sun, May bring us back light, he may bring us back none. But gather your neighbors and follow his call Or rats will most surely devour us all.

  "So, you say this next part is about me," he said unhappily.

  "Yes, you are the 'Overland warrior,' for obvious reasons," said Vikus, although Gregor didn't think the reasons were too obvious. "You are 'a son of the sun' as an Overlander, but also the son who seeks his father. This is the sort of comedic wordplay Sandwich delighted in."

  "Yeah, he was a funny guy," said Gregor glumly. Ha ha.

  "Now the lines that follow are most gray," said Vikus. "Sandwich could never clearly see if in fact you succeed in bringing back light or if you fail. But he most adamantly insisted we attempt the venture or die by the rats'teeth."

  "Well, that's not too inspiring," said Gregor. But for the first time Sandwich had struck a chord with him. The possibility that Gregor might fail made the whole prophecy more plausible.

  "What sort of light am I supposed to bring back?" asked Gregor. "Is there a sacred torch or something?"

  "That is a metaphor. By 'light,' Sandwich means 'life.' If the rats can truly extinguish our light, they extinguish our life as well," said Vikus.

  A metaphor? Gregor thought an actual torch would be easier to bring back. How could he bring back some metaphor thing he didn't really understand? "That could be tricky," he said. He read on.

  TWO over, two under, of royal descent, TWO fliers, two crawlers, two spinners assent.

  "What are all those twos about?" asked Gregor.

  "That tells us whom we must persuade to accompany us on the quest. We are proceeding as if the 'two over' are you and your sister. 'Two under' of royal descent are Luxa and Henry. Henry's sister, Nerissa, as you might have gleaned, was not a possible choice. Fliers are bats. Crawlers are cockroaches. Spinners are spiders. We go now to assemble our neighbors in the order that the prophecy dictates. First the bats."

  The number of bats had been increasing as they flew. Henry led the party into a vast cave. Gregor gave a little jump when he realized the ceiling was bumpy with hundreds and hundreds of hanging bats.

  "But don't we already have bats?" asked Gregor.

  "We need official permission to take them on the quest," said Vikus. "Also, there are matters of war to discuss."

  A towering cylinder of stone sat in the center of the cave. Its sides were as slick as those of the palace. On the round, flat top a group of bats waited.

  Vikus turned back to Gregor and whispered, "We humans know you to be the warrior, but other creatures may have doubts. Whoever you think you may or may not be, it is essential that our neighbors believe you are the one."

  Gregor was trying to unwind that in his head when they landed next to the bats on the huge pillar of stone. The humans all dismounted. Deep bows and greetings followed on both sides.

  One particularly impressive, silvery white bat appeared to be in charge. "Queen Athena," Vikus said, and presented him. "Meet you Gregor the Overlander."

  "Be you the warrior? Be you he who calls?" asked the bat in a soft purr.

  "Well, actually I -- " Gregor saw Vikus frown and pulled up short. He'd been about to go into his spiel about how he wasn't the warrior, but then what? Vikus had whispered something about others believing he was the one. There was a war beginning. The bats weren't likely to send off valuable fliers on a wild-goose chase. If he denied he was the warrior now, the quest would be called off, and his father would be as good as dead. That sealed it.

  Gregor stood up straight and tried to control the quaver that slipped into his voice. "I am the warrior. I am he who calls."

  The bat was still for a moment, then nodded. "It is he." She spoke with such certainty that for a second Gregor succeeded in thinking of himself as a warrior. A bold, brave, powerful warrior that the Underlanders would tell stories about for centuries. He could almost see himself leading a squadron of bats into battle, stunning the rats, saving the Underland from --

  "Ge-go, I pee!" announced Boots.

  And there he stood, a boy in a goofy hard hat with a beat-up flashlight and a bunch of batteries he hadn't even tested to see if they still had juice.

  CHAPTER 13

  Vikus and Solovet arranged to have some sort of private war meeting with the bats.

  "Do you need me to go along?" asked Gregor. It was less that he thought he could contribute to the meeting and more that he felt safer when Vikus was around. Being stranded on top of a tall pillar surrounded by hundreds of bats made him a little uncomfortable.

  And who would be in charge if anything came up? Luxa? That was no good.

  "No, thank you, Gregor. We will be discussing battle position for our forces, not the efforts of the quest. We shall not be absent long," said Vikus.

  "No problem," said Gregor, but inside he wasn't so sure.

  Before they left, Vikus's big gray bat murmured something in Luxa's ear. She smiled, looked at Gregor, and nodded.

  "Probably laughing at me saying I'm a warrior," thought Gregor. But that was not it.

  "Euripedes says you're bruising his sides," said Luxa. "He wants me to teach you to ride."

  That bothered Gregor. He thought he'd been doing pretty well for a first timer. "What's he mean, I'm bruising his sides?"

  "You hold on too strongly with your legs. You must trust the bats. They will not drop you," said Luxa. "It is the first lesson we teach the babies."

  "Huh," said Gregor. Luxa had a way of putting him down even when she wasn't trying.

  "It is easier for the babies," said Mareth quickly. "Like your sister, they have not yet learned much fear. We have a saying down here. 'Courage only counts when you can count.' Can you count, Boots?" Mareth held his fingers up before Boots, who was busy trying to tug off Gregor's sandal. "One ... two ... three!"

  Boots grinned and held up her pudgy fingers in imitation. "No, me! One ... two ... free ... four seven ten!" she said, and lifted both hands in the air at her accomplishment.

&n
bsp; Henry scooped up Boots and held her at arm's length, the way someone might hold a wet puppy. "Boots has no fear, nor will she when she masters counting. You like to fly, do you not, Boots? Go for a ride on the bat?" he said mischievously.

  "I ride!" said Boots, and wiggled to get out of Henry's uncomfortable hold.

  "Then ride you!" said Henry, and tossed her right off the side of the pillar.

  Gregor gasped as he saw Boots, as if in slow motion, sail out of Henry's hands and into the dark.

  "Henry!" said Mareth, in shock. But Luxa was cracking up.

  Gregor staggered to the side of the pillar and squinted into the darkness. The faint torchlight provided by the bats illuminated only a few yards. Had Henry really thrown Boots to her death? He couldn't believe it. He couldn't --

  A happy squeal came from above his head. "More!"

  Boots! But what was she doing up there? Gregor fumbled with his flashlight. The beam was strong and cut a wide swath of light through the blackness.

  Twenty bats were wheeling around the cave, playing some kind of game of catch with Boots. One would take her up high and flip over, sending the toddler free-falling to the ground. But long before she reached it, another bat would scoop her up gently, only to rise and flip her off again. Boots was giggling ecstatically. "More! More!" she ordered the bats each time she landed. And each time they dropped her, Gregor's stomach lurched into his throat.

  "Stop it!" he snapped at the Underlanders. Henry and Luxa looked surprised. Either no one had ever yelled at these royal brats, or they hadn't seen Gregor lose his temper yet. He grabbed Henry by the front of the shirt. "Bring her in now!" Henry could probably cream him, but he didn't care.

  Henry put up his hands in mock surrender. "Take ease, Overlander. She is not in danger," he said, grinning.

  "In truth, Gregor, she is safer with the bats than in human hands," said Luxa. "And she is not afraid."

  "She's two!" screamed Gregor, wheeling on her.

  "She's going to think she can jump off anything and be caught!"

  "She can!" said Luxa, not seeing the problem.

  "Not at home, Luxa! Not in the Overland!" said Gregor. "And I don't plan on staying in this creepy place forever!"

  They may not have known exactly what he meant by "creepy," but it was pretty clear it was an insult.

  Luxa raised her hand, and a bat coasted by lightly flipping Boots into Gregor's arms. He caught her and squeezed her tightly. The Underlanders were no longer laughing.

  "What means this 'creepy'?" said Luxa coolly.

  "Never mind," said Gregor. "It's just something we Overlanders say when we see our baby sisters being tossed around by bats. See, for us, that's creepy."

  "It was meant to be entertaining," said Henry.

  "Oh, yeah. You guys should open a theme park. You'll have a line stretched from here to the surface," said Gregor.

  Now they really had no idea what he was saying, but his tone was so sarcastic, they couldn't miss it.

  Boots wriggled from his arms and ran toward the edge of the pillar. "More, Ge-go!" she piped.

  "No, Boots! No, no! No jump!" said Gregor, catching her just in the nick of time. "See, this is just what I'm talking about!" he said to Luxa.

  He stuffed Boots into the pack and heaved her onto his back.

  The Underlanders were baffled by his anger and stung by his tone, even if they couldn't understand his words.

  "Well, it was not Boots who needed the lessons, anyway," said Luxa. "It was you."

  "Oh, abandon the thought, Luxa," Henry sneered. "The Overlander would never give himself to the bats. Why, when he returns home, he may forget he is no longer in our 'creepy' land and jump from his own roof!"

  Luxa and Henry gave an unfriendly laugh. Mareth just looked embarrassed. Gregor knew it was a dare, and one part of him itched to take it. Just run and jump into the darkness and leave the rest up to the bats. Another part of him didn't want to play this little game. Luxa and Henry wanted him to leap so they could laugh at him flailing around in the air. He guessed they both hated being ignored, though. So he gave them a look of contempt and walked away.

  He could feel Luxa positively steaming behind him.

  "I could have you thrown off the side, Overlander, and have no one to answer to!" said Luxa.

  "So, do it!" said Gregor, holding out his arms. He knew it was a lie. She'd have Vikus to answer to.

  Luxa bit her lip in vexation.

  "Oh, let the 'warrior' be, Luxa," said Henry. "He is no good to us dead ... yet... and even the bats may not be able to compensate for his clumsiness. Come, I will race you to the pitch pool." She hesitated for a moment, then ran for the edge. She and Henry launched into the air like a pair of beautiful birds and vanished, presumably on their bats.

  Gregor stood there, hands on his hips, hating them. He had forgotten Mareth was behind him.

  "You must not take what they say to heart," said Mareth softly. Gregor turned and saw the conflict on Mareth's face. "They were both kinder as children, but when the rats took their parents, they changed."

  "The rats killed Henry's parents, too?" said Gregor.

  "Some years before Luxa's. Henry's father was the king's younger brother. After the Overlanders, the rats would most like to see the royal family dead," said

  Mareth. "When they were killed, Nerissa became as frail as glass, Henry as hard as stone."

  Gregor nodded. He could never hate people very long because he always ended up finding out something sad about them that he had to factor in. Like this kid at school everybody hated because he was always pushing little kids around and then one day they found out his dad had hit him so much, he was in the hospital. With stuff like that, all Gregor could feel was bad.

  When Vikus arrived a few minutes later, Gregor got onto his bat without a word. As they took off, he realized how tightly his legs clutched the bat's sides, and tried to loosen up. Vikus rode with his legs swinging free. Gregor let his legs go and found it was actually easier to stay on. More balanced.

  "Now we must visit the crawlers," said Vikus. "Do you wish to continue dissecting the prophecy?"

  "Maybe later," Gregor answered. Vikus didn't press it. He probably had plenty on his mind with the war and all.

  Something else was eating at Gregor now that he had his temper under control. He knew he hadn't refused to jump off the pillar only to make Luxa and Henry mad. And it wasn't only because they'd laugh at him. No mystery why he'd mentioned theme parks. Roller coasters, bungee jumps, parachute drops -- he hated them. He went on them sometimes because everybody would think he was a chicken if he didn't, but they weren't fun. What was fun about feeling the world drop out from under your feet? And those rides at least had seat belts.

  CHAPTER 14

  They flew through dark tunnels for hours. Gregor felt Boots's little head sink down on his shoulder and he let her go. You couldn't let her nap too long during the day or she'd wake up in the middle of the night wanting to play, but how could he keep her awake when it was dark and she couldn't move? He'd deal with it later.

  The gloom brought all Gregor's negative thoughts back. His dad imprisoned by rats, his mom crying, the dangers of taking Boots on this unknown voyage, and his own fear at the pillar.

  When he felt the bat coasting down for a landing, he was relieved at the distraction, although he disliked meeting up with Luxa and Henry again. He was sure they would be more smug and patronizing than ever.

  They dipped into a cavern that was so low, the bats' wings brushed both the ceiling and floor. When they landed, Gregor dismounted but couldn't straighten up without bumping his hard hat. The place reminded him of a pancake, round and large and flat. He could see why the cockroaches had chosen it. The bats couldn't fly well, and the humans and rats couldn't fight properly with four-foot-high ceilings.

  He roused Boots, who seemed to enjoy her new surroundings. She toddled around, standing on tiptoe to touch the ceiling with her fingers. Everyone else just sat on the ground
and waited. The bats hunched over, twitching at what Gregor supposed were sounds he couldn't even hear.

  A delegation of roaches appeared and bowed low. The humans got to their knees and bowed back, so Gregor did the same. Not one to stand on ceremony, Boots ran up with her arms extended in greeting. "Bugs! Beeg bugs!" she cried.

  A happy murmur ran through the group of roaches. "Be she the princess, be she? Be she the one, Temp, be she?"

  Boots singled out one roach in particular and patted it between the antennas. "Hi, you! Go ride? We go ride?"

  "Knows me, the princess, knows me?" said the roach in awe, and all the other roaches gave little gasps. Even the humans and bats exchanged looks of surprise.

  "We go ride? More ride?" said Boots. "Beeg Bug take Boots ride!" she said, patting him more vigorously on the head.

  "Gentle, Boots," said Gregor, hurrying to catch her hand. He placed it softly on the bug's head. "Be gentle, like with puppy dogs."

  "Oh, gen-tle, gen-tle," said Boots, lightly bouncing her palm on the roach. It quivered with joy.

  "Knows me, the princess, knows me?" the roach whispered. "Recalls she the ride, does she?"

  Gregor peered closely at the roach. "Oh, are you the one who carried her to the stadium?" he asked.

  The roach nodded in assent. "I be Temp, I be," he said.

  Now Gregor knew what all the fuss was about. To his eyes, Temp looked exactly like the other twenty roaches sitting around. How on Earth could Boots have picked him out of the crowd? Vikus looked at him with raised eyebrows as if asking for an explanation, but Gregor could only shrug in reply. It was pretty weird.

  "More ride?" pleaded Boots. Temp fell on his face reverently, and she clambered onto his back.

  For a minute, everybody just watched them pattering around the chamber. Then Vikus cleared his throat. "Crawlers, we have grave matters to place before you. Take us to your king, take us?"

  The roaches reluctantly tore themselves away from watching Boots and led Vikus and Solovet away.

  "Oh, great," thought Gregor. "Here we are again." He felt even less comfortable than when Vikus had left the first time. Who knew what Henry and Luxa might do now? And then there was the matter of the giant roaches. He didn't feel particularly safe in the bugs' land. Just yesterday they had considered trading him and Boots to the rats. Well, at least there was Mareth, who seemed decent enough. And the bats weren't too bad.