Page 5 (1/2)

Chapter 5

Gregor's feet autoan to pivot He just had time to turn once before the rats ithin sword's reach He'd gathered enoughin on his left -- one in the neck and one in the eyes -- with the first cut The person fighting to his right drew off another pair But a trio of nasty-looking rats was still corit and stood his ground These three ue's buddies see, nearer to Ripred's size A cos Their scarred faces indicated years of fighting But it was the look in their eyes, the pure viciousness that told Gregor that he was dealing with a whole new level of opponent They kne to fight as a tea at him with multiple attacks, so that it was nearly ih, he did, because now the rager effect was in full gear, splintering his vision, allowing him only to perceive the deadly teeth and claws and, in rare limpses of their vulnerable eyes and necks where he could counterattack

The sort of white-noise roar that soer state was there, but a voice was h it was hoarse al to one creature

"Oh, look who's decided to show up! Slad you could make it Had a nice little vacation, did you? While the rest of us were out here breathing sulfur and eatingwell, not eating exactly Howard had the idea of cutting off the leather pocket on your old back-pack That gave us so to chew on for a while but I can't really call it filling No, not satisfying in the way one ht have hoped Oh, and then there's been the littlethe nibblers As you can see, the rats didn't especially go for the idea" Gregor wanted to tell Ripred to shut up, tell hi But he didn't have a breath to spare and for words at theto talk to someone in a dream but no sound came out A claw came within inches of his throat and he took off the rat's foreleg at the joint It fell back with a screa to know that girl-friend of yours," Ripred continued almost lazily, as if they had all the tiirlfriend!" Gregor wanted to yell at Ripred, but the words wouldn't cos about Luxa Denying it would only bring on another speech

"She's got grit, I'll give her that You should have seen her taking those nibblers right out frorandor needed noas to think about Solovet, as Luxa's grand off

"But frankly I'ht one of the rats in the windpipe and it retreated But now Ripred's words had his attention Why was he concerned about Luxa? Was she sick? Injured? "What?" he e brute with teeth gnawed into razor-sharp points

"She needs some clean air We didn't have masks until the ar this stuff for days," said Ripred "I'ht in the thing But as a rodent, her than hers"

"She's sick?" Gregor got out His opponent was relentless Gregor had stabbed hie him

"Sick? Well, yes Frankly, I'm not even sure she's still alive," said Ripred

Gregor's hand faltered, and the rat he was fighting nailed his head with its tail He fell to the right, pinning his sword aror braced himself for the teeth when suddenly the rat was yanked up into the air, howling in rage Ares had sunk his claws into the thing's ruh into the cavern The rat tried to twist around to attack the bat, but it was hopeless When Ares released it, it screaround, and then was still and silent

Ripred stepped over Gregor, cuffing hi to have to have a little et up!"

Gregor rubbed his head in confusion Was this Ripred's idea of on-the-job training? Had that thing about Luxa been just a test? Was she really okay? Gregor wanted to ask, but he was pretty sure Ripred would knock him into next week if he did

"Get up!" Ripred repeated with even less patience

Gregor sprang to his feet Ripred had the center point of the arc again On his left was a wonized, Perdita She had alor had fallen to the Underland He had tried to escape, ran into two rats on a beach, and was rescued by a party of huht But she'd recovered froor had trained with her She fought with a sword and a dagger and could hit alor could, which ht was a or had never seen before He would have remembered him, too, because he must have been close to seven feet tall With both hands he wielded a thick broadsword that would easily have coht

"By me!" Ripred ordered and flicked his tail to indicate where Gregor should fight next to Perdita

"She lives, Overlander!" said Perdita as he stepped into place, and shelook between attacks

"Thanks," said Gregor He was at first grateful, then embarrassed because he realized Perdita no about hiht He couldn't think about that now He had to focus on the battle

Gregor wasn't the only one joining up with the forces at the tunnelall of their soldiers there There was no time to ask for an explanation of the battle orders It was all he could do to keep alive

He knew Ares was an excellent fighting partner, but the bat was proving to be quite reht Since so round, their bats were executing a full-scale aerial attack on the rats Mainly they would dive down, rip a clawful of flesh from a rat's backside, and whip quickly back into the air to escape das But Ares was one of a handful of bats with the strength to lift a full-grown rat off of the ground and drop it to its death Again and again he picked off the deadliest fighters, saving or could hear desperate people begin to call out, "Ares!" hoping for a last-ri satisfaction that hissome appreciation

It was hard to tell how much time had passed -- thirty an to call, "The nibblers are in! The nibblers are in!" He guessed this meant that all of the nibblers had ood look at them, so he had no idea what condition they were in Pretty bad, probably

A few iven to retreat into the tunnel Ripred took a second out to growl, "Not you, boy!" at hi trickier by the moment because he was now up to his knees in bloody ash, and keeping a foothold was harder than ever Around hian to make for the tunnel He heard repeated cries of "No torches! No torches inside!" and could only wonder what that was about Those carrying torches hurled the some welco the humans and bats could execute quickly, because in athe tunnel mouth Then they, too, under the trean to slowly fall back Soon, even the front line, still coor didn't knoas forced into the tunnel

"Fliers, go!" Perdita called Ares and the last two bats swept across the rat ar them with torches, and then dove into the tunnel