Page 23 (1/2)

Chapter 23

Ares insisted Gregor sleep for a few hours When he woke, they began their trek into the tunnel It was narrow initially, but soon opened up into a space wide enough for Ares to fly, which was a relief, since Gregor's ar the Bane

They stopped to break for a drink at a stream in a cavern

"Remeor "Wait, maybe" They had stopped here to rest when Ripred was their guide "Is this where Henry tried to kill Ripred in his sleep?"

"Yes, and you stepped between theure out if you knew Henry was going to try to kill hior

"I did not It was one of or could tell he didn't want to talk about it anyan to whiain How bizarre this h the air on a bat, being held by a hu had happened to its or fed it the rest of the chocolate bar from the Labyrinth He had one left but decided to save it for a real ean to peror knew that they were fast approaching the cavern where they had first encountered the spiders, Treflex and Gox Ares landed at the entrance, and they went in on foot The sulfur-scented water still rained down the walls There, on the floor, was the husk of Treflex's body, all that remained of the spider after his companion, Gox, had drained his insides

"Want to rest?" asked Gregor

"Not here," said Ares

"Good," Gregor said, even though what lay ahead was nasty

The tunnel dripped the evil-sh it with the idea of concealing their scent fros when they caor had been wearing a hard hat the first trip, which had offered soer to find his father instead of dreading theBoots on his back, not a rat in his arms

Poor Ares had ridden on Te Now he li his head in the eye-stinging drizzle

In or trudged along, putting one foot in front of the other He and Ares did not speak the entire tih it was ered out of the ave way under hiround hard He expected the Bane, who'd been squir for most of the trip, to try to run off Instead, it burrowed up under his shirt and pressed against his chest

Ares sluainst a rock next to hior

"About ten are coht?" said Ares

"That is ant," said Gregor

Neither of them made any attempt to onal scar that split Ripred's face

"If I had known that you were co, I'd have fixed the place up," said Ripred

"Don't bother We won't be here long I just caor

"For ht or

"Not because I expected anything in return," said Ripred His nose was beginning to or's shirt

"You're getting soor said, and pulled up his shirt The Bane slid out on the floor in front of hi another rat, the baby started to run to Ripred, but it jumped back at the violent hiss that issued from his mouth and scurried over to Ares

"You don't like little kids, do you?" said Gregor Ripred had hissed at Boots, too

"Not this one in particular," snarled Ripred "What's it doing here?"

"I didn't knohere else to take it," said Gregor

"You were supposed to kill it!" said Ripred

"But I didn't I brought it to you," said Gregor

"And what makes you think I won't kill it?" said Ripred

"I don't think you'd kill a pup," said Gregor

"Ha!" Ripred said, pacing angrily in a circle Gregor wasn't sure whether that meant yes or no

"Okay, how about I don't think you'd kill the Bane? Because if you do, you'll never get the other rats to follow you," said Gregor

It was lucky he'd been sitting down, because Gregor smacked back onto the rock so fast, he would have cracked his skull open if he'd been standing up As it was, it hurt plenty

Ripred pinned hior's face "And have you also thought that, under the circuor sed hard The ansas yes But instead of ad it, he looked Ripred dead in the eye and said, "Okay, but I think I'd better warn you that, if we fight, you've only got a fifty-fifty chance of winning"