Underland Chronicles: 2 - The Reaper's Gate (A Gregor the Overlander FanFic)

Chapter 22

~ GREGOR

He was completely and utterly stupid! There were probably loads of rebels who dispersed themselves into the crowd! Any one of them could have killed Luxa while she was distracted. Gregor got another bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Someone was dead or dying. Where was Luxa?

"Luxa?" He asked, running towards the crowd of onlookers. "Luxa!"

"I'm here, Gregor," she answered in a distraught tone. Her voice sounded tight, like she was trying hard not to cry.

"Are you ok? What... happened...?" The crowd let Gregor go past them, and he stopped as soon as he saw Pandora on a stretcher. The shaft of a spear was unmistakable. Gregor's stomach dropped. It jutted out of the side of her ribs, but Gregor didn't know much about anatomy. Did it miss her heart? What about her lungs?

Gregor glanced at her hand, weakly clasped onto Howard's. Her skin was almost as pale as his. Medics moved her onto the back of a flyer, and a spinner gently secured her in place. It was the quickest way to the hospital, Gregor knew. Judging by the look on Howard's face, he figured her diagnosis wasn't good.

"Oh geez," Gregor said. "Howard..."

"Pandora?" Howard let go of her hand and placed both arms on her shoulders. It seemed she slipped in unconsciousness... Gregor hoped. "Pandora! Can you hear me!"

"Boy, let them go," came a loud, low voice. York had stepped between them and put his hands on Howard's chest. He blocked Pandora from view, making Howard give the bat some room so she could take off.

"Father, move!" Howard yelled at him. He tried to push his dad away, pressing all his body weight into his shove, but York didn't budge, not even a millimeter.

"Your mother will do all she can," York said, maintaining a clear tone. Gregor noticed how hard he was trying to keep calm and patient. He was still just as loud as ever, but at least he was trying.

"I need to go with her," Howard rasped, tears streaming down his face. Ripred, Mareth, and several others urged the crowd to leave. "She's going to die! I know she is going to die!" Howard gave up trying to get away from his father and collapsed into his arms.

"Howard," Luxa said gently. "Aurora and I will take you to the hospital. I will do all I can to make them allow you to enter. I cannot promise anything, but we can try."

Howard was so distraught and out of sorts that he was shaking like a leaf. He had blood splattered on him in a spray that swooped from his shoulder to his opposite temple, and his knees were soaked. If Gregor had to guess, the blood was from two different people, and neither of them were Howard. He looked like a completely different person.

York looked on as his niece-in-law took his son's hand and helped him onto Aurora's back. He appeared almost as heartbroken as his son.

Gregor took a step towards the tall man as they both solemnly watched a broken Howard ride up to the High Hall. "Are you ready to believe him yet?"

York, for once, was silent. Gregor stayed down behind the palace for a few minutes, talking with Mareth. What were they going to do about the rebels? They weren't quite sure, and Mareth suggested they both go and seek council with Vikus. For now, Luxa was safe inside the palace and the rebels in charge of carrying out the plan were dead.

Using the lift to enter the palace, Gregor let go of the rope that he gripped tightly and stepped inside the lowest window the lift stopped at. It took him a minute to remember how to get to the hospital from the floor he was on, but he eventually made his way down.