Page 17 (1/2)

Chapter 17

Gregor's supper consisted entirely of raw fish as he gave his small ration of bread and meat to Boots Temp, Howard, and Ares did the sa yawn, she said, "We shut eyes?"

"Yeah, we shut eyes, Boots," Gregor said, and she snuggled up next to hihost-white except for the purplish bruise that stained his jaw, insisted on steering so that Mareth could get soht

Before the rest went to sleep, Twitchtip spoke up "We're getting close now I can smell rats ahead"

"What of the serpents?" asked Mareth "Do they still sleep?"

"Yes, but it won't be long before they surface And they are deadly," said Twitchtip

It really wasn't the last conversation Gregor wanted to hear before he went to bed Ratsserpentsdeadlyespecially when he was already preoccupied by words like ragerkillingBane He could not get his mind to settle down He went in and out of a sort of doze, never really losing consciousness, so he was the first one to rouse when Teone!" he croaked

Gregor sat up and opened his eyes and sawnothing It was pitch-black He could hear Howard fu, vile creatures!"

He flipped on the flashlight he always kept right next to his bed Everyone was stirring now

"What is it? What has happened?" Mareth asked, springing to his feet

"The shiners have deserted!" Howard said, getting a torch lit

"Deserted? They were bound for the entire journey!" said Mareth

"By what? Their honor? They have none Their word? Equally worthless! The shiners are bound only by their stomachs, and as we cannot satisfy those, they have broken with us!" said Howard

"But where could they go?" asked Gregor It was days and days back to where they'd first hooked up with the bugs

"They'll go to the rats," Twitchtip said flatly "They'll receive food and safe passage hoe for information on our whereabouts" She looked around at their disood side, on't have to listen to them whine anymore"

For an instant, everyone else was too startled to speak Twitchtip had made a joke! Then, everybody -- hu they all could agree on, it was how annoying the fireflies had been

"Yes," agreed Luxa "That will be a blessing" She and Twitchtip eyed each other "It is a shah"

"Oh, shiners taste nasty," said Twitchtip "I only threatened them to shut them up"

"Well, no one shall miss them, but they have left us with more trouble," said Mareth "How holds the fuel, Howard?" Howard shook his head "Not well Much of it was in the other boat We will get to the Labyrinth, but ill not have htlifethe words were interchangeable to the huht! I have light, too!" said Gregor

"You have the greatest task ahead of you, Overlander," said Howard "You ht"

"Well, I will, soor du the one he slept with, plus his ood batteries He'd used the flashlights very sparingly on the trip since the fireflies were on There was also that roll of duct tape

"Hey, Luxa, give me your arm! Not the sword one!" he said Luxa held out her arht on her forearm so it would shine out over the top of her hand Then he wrapped duct tape around and around, securing the flashlight to her sleeve, but leaving the on/off switch clear "There! That way you won't have to hold it, and you won't lose it, either" Luxa flipped the flashlight on and shone it about "Oh, yes, Gregor This ell"

Gregor fixed up Howard and Mareth with flashlights, too, then attached one to his own arh, since the other was so wrecked fro, and a little hand reached up and patted his stoht, too!"

"Sorry, Boots, I' on," he said He took the ht and taped it onto her sleeve

Very pleased, Boots hurried over to the cockroach "Boots have light, too, Teot to turn it off Save the light, right?" Gregor said, flipping off her switch He said it to Boots, but the others, who had also been flashing around their beaor shts were pretty cool

He only had about six spare batteries The Underlanders insisted that he keep theht about Gregor being the guy who had to take down the Bane, and that sure wasn't going to happen in the dark, with hior was about to turn off his own flashlight, soe void, with no land in sight except for that deadly island Now he could see towering rock walls flanking them on either side They must be in so like crazy "We will be there in minutes And Photos Glo and Zap have done their work The rats are waiting for us"

"Can you tell how many?" asked Luxa

"Forty-seven," Twitchtip said without a pause "They are waiting in the tunnels above the Tankard"

"What's the Tankard?" asked Gregor

"It's a round, large shaft, very deep, half-filled ater The serpents sleep on its floor," said Twitchtip

"So, the serpents are soor

"No, they breathe air But they can sleep underwater for long periods," said Howard

Gregor thought of alligators They could sleep underwater, too He hoped these weren't giant alligators -- the regular-sized ones were scary enough

"I can smell it!" Twitchtip said She rose up on her back feet, leaning her front feet on the bow "I can sor had been secretly half-hoping they'd gotten the whole thing wrong That , and the rats had just been planting the rumor it was around But if Twitchtip could sor "I mean, how do you know it's the Bane and not another rat?"

"I can smell its whiteness," said Twitchtip "Only a flash, here and there It's deep in the Labyrinth, and there are many layers of stone between us But it's definitely there"