Yma3591: CHAPTER 10 DONE SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE!

Special thanks to: Everyone! I love you guys all! I cannot believe you still supported me after I supposedly abandoned this project. In truth, I kinda did because I started writing another fic and got carried away, but I'll multitask!

I may have a changed writing style after a year or so...WARNING!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Underland Chronicles, capishe? Thanks all my ever so dedicated reviewers! :D

Chapter 10

"What was that?" Gregor asked, aghast at what he had heard. The noise was whiny, and had the effect of slowly drilling into your nerves. In that way, it was not only creepy but had a maddening effect on you.
"I presume that this is our so called drinker." Lapblood explained. "Never have I heard of this dreadful noise, not even in the jungle. Surely there can only be one possible explanation, right Ripred?"
"I will have to agree with you, but I really wish that you're wrong." Ripred added. Gregor frowned, no matter how annoying the rager got, he never seemed this subdued angry, maybe, but never like this. Was this possibly what happens when Ripred gets scared? Gregor felt a hand on his arm and saw Luxa's frown. Her eyes were a deep, yet sad shade of purple and they both nodded at what was to come. He put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her lightly and comfortingly, and Luxa smiled sadly. Gregor could not help but feel his heart plunge down with her, both of them might not make it out of the quest alive.
"It will be okay, promise me that you won't…" And the words got caught at his throat there. It was too painful to get out, Gregor could not even think of Luxa dying, not when he had that experience when she was in the Firelands.
"No, you will promise me that, you cannot die. Please do this for me." Luxa whispered fiercely, she was squeezing him tightly now.
"Alright, I won't but if you are in danger…" Gregor trailed off and they both nodded, and Luxa buried her head in his chest.

"Okay we should go around now. Twitchtip, you have done your part and can leave-"
"Certainly not, I will stay with you, just in case." Twitchtip said, her teeth showing. "I might be able to help you on the way." Gregor saw Ripred smirk, and he knew that Ripred had planned for this to happen.

"Man, if he didn't have such a good cause as the leader of the rats, I wouldn't want to see what would happen after Ripred manipulates all the rats to attack Regalia again, I don't think that the humans would win. I'm glad we have him on our side, not the other way around." Gregor thought, a bit awed by Ripred's amazing negotiating skills.
"Is everybody ready? I have finished packing the supplies with help from the Overlander. Which flier is willing to carry some of the supplies? Howard announced, pointing at the supplies. The fliers looked among themselves, they all had a lot of passengers and it would be too much of a strain to carry so much. Finally, Ares came up and volunteered.

"I will." Ares purred, flapping his wings to demonstrate that he could carry it.
"But you do not have the sufficient strength yet!" Howard exclaimed.
"I heal fast, due to the properties of my father, realize this Howard!" Ares said to him. Howard looked embarrassed, and lost his stubborn edge.
"Yes, that will be fine. You can carry the supplies. Accept my apology at my forgetfulness." He mumbled to Ares. Gregor saw Ares shake slightly and stifled his laugh, he knew Ares always had a humorous edge in him, but people didn't see it. Gregor mounted Aurora with Luxa. He sat with his back against her and she leaned back onto his shoulders with a sigh of pleasure, her neck was cool against his. Gregor relaxed his body knowing that it would be the last time he could do it before they reached the Uncharted Lands. They sat that way for a while in silence until Mareth announce that they had reached the borders.

"Careful, we must approach with caution as we do not know what lies ahead from here." Mareth instructed the bats to land. "Currently, we are on the border between the Dead Lands and the Uncharted, good luck to everyone and let us all hope that Sandwich had an accurate account in his journal." And with that, Mareth grimly stepped in the Uncharted. Everyone else followed slowly, the bats were gliding along above their heads with Boots and Hazard.

"Mareth, why do we need to travel by land?" Gregor asked the soldier. "We need to have a good, detailed grasp of this land and not of the brief view we would normally obtain from flying." Mareth explained. Gregor nodded and continued forward. While they were walking, he noticed that Mareth was making notes and sketches. He realized that Mareth was writing a detailed account on their starting exploration of the Uncharted Lands. The sketches were of a map he made.

"So far so good, I guess." Gregor said. He took position at the sides while Luxa took position in the back. Ripred was in front and Mareth was right behind him. The others formed a protective circle around the group and in the center were Temp and Howard.

"I think that we have to go ahead some more to reach some of the drinkers." Perdita said, reading the log. "Apparently, Drinkers live close to the border so we do have our work cut out for us." She let out a dry laugh, and continued in silence. Gregor marched on forward, worrying incessantly about Luxa, if she ever was ambushed by a mosquito. He kept on turning back to check on Luxa, and found that she was doing the same. Luxa's gaze met his and he smiled reassuringly at her, hoping that nothing bad could ever happen to her.

"If only I could spend some more time with her without all this war and quests going on." Gregor thought sadly, but as Queen, Luxa have the time back in Regalia. She just simply had too many duties, as was with him.

About an hour later, Gregor felt a slight drilling in his head. He tensed up and shivered, the feeling was not unlike listening to a dirge, and the primeval terrors of nightmares.
"Ahhhh, it has started, the buzzing." Ripred said. "Perhaps you might not hear it clearly, but you do get a very unpleasant feeling, and that will be the Drinker's buzzing. Sandwich also felt that when he was nearing the Drinkers, he thought it might be the way Drinkers communicate. Gregor immediately felt sorry for Hazard, as he would have to learn how to speak in buzzing. Noticing that everyone was slowing their pace, he did the same and proceeded cautiously.

"Not to disturb you guys or anything, but we are very close to the drinkers," Twitchtip said, nose twitching fast. Ripred immediately started rippling, and Gregor saw the ugliest and most hideous sight he had ever seen. A drinker.

"DRINKER!" Mareth shouted, just as Ripred's tail whistled through the air, casually smacking the drinker down. Perdita ran up and drew her dagger and stabbed the mosquito in the center of its body. The drinker twitched convulsively, leaked some purple blood and died.
"Happy that's over, eh?" Ripred said without even the slightest hint of emotion. Gregor could not agree more heartily.
"How come there was only one drinker?" He asked, it was curious how anyone would travel alone."
"Overlander, every creature or human down here has to have somebody traveling alone. Scouts are the perfect example as the almost always travel alone or in pairs, the desperate would scavenge alone to prevent sharing. There are certain benefits to being alone as there is a lesser chance that you will be spotted, or as to prevent suspicion." Perdita lectured him. Gregor nodded, understanding only about three quarters of what she had just said.
"Right, so Twitchtip are there more around us?" Howard took a brief head count. Satisfied, he nodded his head. No members of the group were to be lost.
"Not that I could sense, but I am sure there are much more ahead." Twitchtip replied.
The motley group pursued further on into the dark unknown. Gregor felt the sickening sweet stench of blood ooze through his nostrils. To his side, he saw empty carcasses of unidentifiable creatures. The shells were all shriveled up and Gregor realized that it was the work of the mosquitoes. Carefully, he stepped over the husks, not willing to step on them. After a few minutes of walking, everybody reached a large river.
"I suppose this is where we stop then?" Mareth asked, staring down at the murky waters.
"I think we fliers still have enough strength in us for a few more flights." Nike purred. Gratefully, Gregor mounted Aurora with Luxa while Howard carried Boots on top of Ares. Ripred hung from Aurora's claws which elicited a laugh from Gregor before his glare stifled it. Lapblood hung likewise from Nike, while the rest of the group rested on her. The bats flew slowly across the river, hampered greatly by the burden of their riders. After a couple of minutes, the bats descended onto ground. As they descended, Gregor couldn't stop from gasping out loud at the sight before him.

Amazing, the support and reviews I got are the only reason I finish this chapter and continue this fic again! Enjoy!