"Don't be impertinent. Is it yes or no?" said Ripred impatiently.
Luxa only took a second to consider the proposition. "Yes," she said. "Howard, will you come?"
"I will have to, Cousin, if you insist on doing this," said Howard doubtfully. "Cartesian will want to join us."
"He's too beat up," said Ripred. "But with you two on fliers and me on the ground, we might be able to break them out."
"I am sure they will follow me, if we can get in close enough for them to hear my voice," said Luxa.
"I'm counting on that," said Ripred. "Let's say four hours' rest, and we begin."
Gregor had begun feeling like he was invisible. No one was involving him in the plans at all. "I'll be ready," he said.
"No!" Ripred and Luxa spoke in the same breath and with the same intensity.
"What?" said Gregor in surprise.
"Not you, boy. You're taking the pups back to Regalia," said Ripred.
CHAPTER 26
"No, I'm not!" said Gregor. "I'm going with you!" "You cannot!" said Luxa. Her eyes darted around as if she was trying to find a reason. "What about Boots and Hazard?"
"I don't know, they can ... Howard, you could take them back," said Gregor.
Ripred, Howard, and Luxa exchanged glances. Gregor had an awful realization. They didn't want him to come. They were thinking about how he had choked in the fight with Twirltongue and they thought he would fall to pieces again.
"You don't think I can fight," he said bluntly. "Well, fine, okay. Maybe I did freak out when I lost my light, but it's not really dark here, with the volcanoes and all and I think there's been a few other times when I've shown that —"
"It's not that, Gregor. Everyone knows you can fight. Far better than I can," said Howard.
"Then what? You're still mad at me?" he asked Luxa.
"No, I am not," said Luxa.
"So?" said Gregor.
"Has he not been told anything?" asked Howard.
"About what?" said Gregor in frustration.
"Just this. You've got to get back to Regalia. Now that the war's begun, you're of no use to us without your sword," said Ripred.
Gregor's hand went to his hip in confusion. His fingers wrapped around the hilt of his weapon. "I've got a sword."
"Not any sword. Your sword," said Ripred. His eyes narrowed. "You didn't lose it in the tunnel, did you? When you fought Twirltongue?"
"What?" said Gregor, totally confused. "Yeah, I lost that sword. I threw it behind me at the rats. So, what? There's, like, thousands of them."
"No, Gregor. He means the sword Vikus gave you. Sandwich's sword," said Howard.
"Oh, that," said Gregor. It was true, Vikus had tried to give him an impressive, jewel-studded sword that had once belonged to Sandwich, but Gregor had refused to take it. He knew where it was, though. It was in the museum, which had always seemed an odd place to keep it, since the museum held items from the Overland. It was on a shelf wrapped in the same silken cloth that Vikus had originally presented it in. For the first time Gregor wondered if Sandwich's sword was there because everyone believed it belonged to him now, whether he had accepted it or not. "That's not really mine."
"Yes, it is. It says so in that prophecy I mentioned to you, about killing the Bane. 'The Prophecy of Time,'" said Ripred.
"And it says I need Sandwich's sword?" asked Gregor.
"Among other things. I had assumed Vikus had at least let you know of the sword's importance. That you were destined to inherit it," said Ripred. "That we all believe it is your sword. Any of that sound familiar?"
"No. He just seemed happy I wouldn't take it," said Gregor.
"Ever the optimist, your grandpa," said Ripred to Luxa and Howard.
"Yes. Perhaps we should arrange for him to spend a bit more time in the field," said Luxa grimly.
"Listen to you," Ripred said with a chuckle.
"Do you know what he said when we were taken prisoner by the spinners that time? He said he thought things would be different because of some recent trade agreements he'd made with them," said Luxa. "I was eleven and I knew that was idiocy."
Ripred grinned. "He might have been right."
"We might have been dead," said Luxa.
"We would have been dead if it wasn't for your grandpa," said Gregor, suddenly protective of Vikus. "The spiders were going to kill me until I mentioned his name."
"Yes, yes, you don't have to defend Vikus. But the sword. You know where it is?" said Ripred.
"Yeah," said Gregor.
"Good. Go back and put it in your belt and don't let it leave your side again," said Ripred.
"What is the big deal about telling me about the prophecy?" said Gregor. "I've been through four of them now. How much worse can they get?"
"We didn't really know if it was going to happen. Some thought certain events were supposed to occur. But after today, it seems they have," said Howard.
"And?" said Gregor.
"And no one wants to tell you because ... the odds are ... look, we don't even know if we're interpreting it right," said Ripred. "We're usually wrong, aren't we?"
Gregor knew he could no longer wait for Vikus to explain things. "What's it say, Ripred?"
"It says ... well, it suggests ... you're probably going to —" Ripred broke off abruptly. "Vikus will tell you. That crazy girl, what's her name? Nerissa. Ask her about it. She'll explain it better than me," said Ripred.
"But I —" said Gregor.
"No!" said Ripred. "You ask in Regalia. As soon as your bond is rested, you can leave. Take the pups and Cartesian and Temp."
"To fight, I stay, to fight," objected Temp.
"No, Temp," said Luxa, kneeling before him. "I would wish you at my side, but we have much greater need of you at home. You must go to the crawlers, tell them what has happened, and rally them to our cause."
Temp shifted back and forth on his feet in indecision.
"And I beg another favor as well," Luxa continued. "I need you to look after Hazard now as you have looked after Boots for Gregor. I put him in your care."
"My care, the boy be in, my care?" said Temp in surprise.
"If you will take him. For there is no one among us who perceives danger so quickly and accurately as you do," said Luxa. "Or meets it with such courage."
This was true, as they had all found out the hard way. Temp had warned them against exploring the island with the mites, they had ignored him, and Howard's bond, Pandora, had been eaten alive. Temp had warned them not to wander into the jungle after the sweet odor of fruit, they had ignored him, and one of the rats, Mange, had been swallowed up by a carnivorous pod. Temp had warned them about the volcanic gas, Luxa had ignored him, and both she and Aurora would have ended up poisoned if Ripred hadn't listened. Yes, this was true, but...
Gregor flashed back to the girl he had met when he first arrived in the Underland. The girl who had made fun of the roaches ... their slowness, their inability to fight, their cowardliness ...
She had certainly come a long way.
"You, so say, you?" said Temp.
"I, so say, I," said Luxa. "Will you do this, Temp?"
"Yes," said the cockroach.
"Thank you," said Luxa. She laid her hand on his head and his antennas gave a quiver. It was the only good moment in a very dark day.
Gregor volunteered to watch while the others slept. He was just going to spend the next day riding on Ares, anyway. Luxa said she could not sleep and walked off to the edge of the rock. She sat, her legs hanging in space, unimpressed by the sheer drop below her. The sadness on her face made Gregor's heart ache. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her. It didn't matter. She didn't even notice. But someone else did.
"What's the story with you and the queen?" said Ripred softly.