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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' to spread our scent around"

They coor 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 theu

It grew softer as they er 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 e of the strea it down

Gregor got down and scooped up handfuls of water for himself and the Bane The strea and he didn't want the baby being swept away

Ares raised his wet face "I have only just thought of sooes?"

"I don't know A bigger streaht 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 pro about the strea and it had as or could feel Ares's wings slowing; he was going to have to have a real rest soon But to stop in the or 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 streah it They were out of the h 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 , 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 hi yawn "You've had a pretty big day, huh, little guy?" It didn't take long for it to fall asleep

They flehile 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 knohere they were?

"Shine your light down," said Ares

Gregor obeyed There below the down froh banks on either side of it were the reor And theacross the bridge, trying to go back for Boots, Ripred carrying hi sround by Ripred's tail while the rat and Luxa and Henry and Gox had hacked away at the ropes that held the bridge and the pack of rats catching up to the cockroaches and his baby sister and -- and --

It was the place where Tick had died

"You're right," said Gregor "How did we end up here, do you think?"

"The Tankard, the Labyrinth, and what ree are all in the rats' domain," said Ares "At least noe have some sense of where we are"

The bat coasted in and landed on the riverbank across froe had been hacked off "It will be safer on this side The rats would have great difficulty swi the river, which is, as we know, filled with flesh-eating fish"

Gregor cli softly They were at the ht bea how they'd been filled aiting rats on their first visit Now the rocks were e in the tunnel?" he asked Ares

The bat shook his head "Not as far as I can tell I believe we are safe for the moment Overlander, I must rest"

He could see Ares's weary eyes starting to shut

"You go ahead and sleep I'll keep watch," he said "And, Ares? You were areed, and promptly fell asleep, his back to the tunnel wall

Gregor trained his flashlight down the tunnel If any intruders appeared, he would be ready He sat cross-legged on the ground with the Bane on his lap The baby stirred restlessly in its sleep, probably reliving the trauma of the last few hours He patted its back to quiet it The Bane's fur was stiff with its led closer to hi Boots Boots Why wasn't he crying about her? He had cried for a roach, in a cave just across the river there, but hadn't shed one tear for his sister He remembered how Luxa had told him, in that same cave, that she hadn't cried since her parents died It had been that bad Maybe soor

His fingers traced the outline of one of the baby's soft ears

So it turned out Sandwich had been right again The rats had killed Boots, and he could not kill the Bane Although, Gregor didn't think he could have killed the Bane even if Boots had survived Or could he have? If he had thought that only one of them could live? He didn't know But it didn't ht "Nohat?" He had to think clearly He had to figure out what to do with the Bane

He couldn't take it back to the rats' land Goldshard had lost her life trying to protect it froalia, he bet the humans would decide to kill it If they let it live, which seemed unlikely, the rats would definitely overrun the city trying to get it back For a brief moment he wondered if he could take it home with hi a ten-foot rat, especially when Boots had --

Okay, so what did that leave? Nothing, pretty much

He looked out over the water

This was such a sad place Not just because of Tick, but because when he'd coh here on the first quest, he'd been in a party of ten, and of that ten, how many were still alive? He did the math in his head Three Only three Tick had died here Henry and Gox were lost when they rescued his father Luxa, Aurora, Temp, and precious Boots drowned at the Tankard The only ones left alive were he and Ares and Ripred

Ripred He was going to go crazy when he found out Gregor hadn't killed the Bane He wanted the Bane dead That's why he'd brought Twitchtip and tried to teach Gregor echolocation But then Ripred hadn't known the Bane was a baby, either Would that make any difference to the rat? Maybe, justto form in his head

Ares awoke after about three hours, fae fish, not one of the flesh-eating kind The Bane awoke and wolfed down fish with the bat while Gregor scraped the mold off a piece of cheese and finished the last of the bread

While they ate, he bounced his plan off Ares "Okay, I have an idea about what to do with the Bane"

"I a," said Ares

"This tunnel, it leads back to Ripred's nest," said Gregor

"Does it?" said Ares

"Yeah, remember? Twitchtip said his nest here we first met him And we first or

"Oh, yes, after we had fought the spinners," said Ares

"Right, so I say we go find Ripred and give hior Ares opened his or held up his hand "Wait! Only tell me e can't do it if you can come up with a better plan"

There was a very, very long pause "I do not have a better plan, but this one has no possible good endings," said Ares

"Probably not," said Gregor "So, should we give it a try?"