The Seeker from Above: A Gregor the Overlander Fanfic

Chapter 13

Previously...

But what amazed Stella was what Twitchtip did: "Oh, here, give her this," Twitchtip said, and scooted a chunk of cheese over to Boots, who gnawed on it happily. Everyone gawked at Twitchtip, who snarled. "It reeks of humans, I can barely choke it down, anyway!" And everyone looked away. Stella knew rats weren't liked in the Underland — but this was a first, a rat giving a human her food.

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Howard was the least concerned about the food issue. "We are surrounded by food, we need only reach in and get it," he said. He lowered nets into the water and sent the bats out to dive for fish. 

He was right. It didn't take long to assemble a good-sized pile of seafood. Unfortunately, there was no way to cook it. This wasn't a problem for anyone but the humans; most of the others preferred their catch that way.

Stella remembered that she had tried raw fish before: tuna that came in those small cans. And salmon at one of those Japanese restaurants. It wasn't as bad as people said it was. It tasted buttery and the seasoning added a rich flavour to it.

"You should try it. It is not as bad as you think," Howard said, popping a big piece into his mouth and chewing it up. "Sometimes we serve it this way at the Fount, although it is not done in Regalia."

Stella sat up and leaned her back against the boat. She turned to Orion who was diving and resurfacing with a decent-sized fish in his claws. He would throw it in the air and catch it in his mouth. Stella bit a small chunk out from the side of the raw flesh. It didn't taste that bad; it just needed the seasoning.

Stella watched, amused, as the other humans tried their efforts at eating the raw fish. Gregor and Luxa didn't seem to it. Boots took a bite and unceremoniously spit it out, then wiped her hand repeatedly over her tongue. "No like! No like!"

Twitchtip, who had put down about half a dozen fish in a snap, suddenly lifted her head and began to scrunch her nose around. "Land. We're coming to land."

Mareth pulled out a map and scrutinised it. "We should not be, not for several days. I hope the whirlpool has not thrown us off course."

Howard consulted a compass. "No, we are going in the right direction. Can you tell the nature of the land?"

"Perhaps one mile around," Twitchtip said, wriggling her nose.

"Around? Oh, then it is an island?" asked Howard. He pointed to a spot on the map. "I place us here. But there is no island recorded in this area. Although it has been many years since these waters were charted."

"I believe it's recently formed," said Twitchtip. "It has the smell of fresh lava."

"Is there life on it?" asked Mareth.

Twitchtip closed her eyes and concentrated. "Yes, a great deal. No warm-bloods, though. It's all insect. But I don't have a name for their scent."

Stella had a bad feeling about this island. She didn't know what it was. It was just there in her instincts. She didn't want to fill her head with too many thoughts, so she just reclined back and waited.

After about another half an hour of sailing, the bats began to raise their heads. Now they were picking up the island on their radar, too.

"How big are the bugs? Can you tell?" asked Gregor. Stella knew that it was ethically right for Gregor to ask that question. Everything was so oversized here.

"Not large," said Ares. "Tiny, in fact."

"Then they can't be that bad," Stella breathed relieved.

Until Aurora added, "But there are millions of them."

"Okay, I'll just take that back," Stella reconsidered. Gregor laughed nervously at this.

"Can you recognise them, Pandora?" Howard asked. The bat shook her head. "No, they are most like the mites we encountered on the Island of Shell. But these have a different voice."

"What were the mites like?" asked Gregor.

"Oh, they were harmless. As small as the head of a pin, and while they did bite, it was not lasting," said Howard.

"And they were very tasty," added Pandora. "Not unlike bluebits."

This comment seemed to arouse the interest of all the bats. Whatever bluebits were, Stella had a feeling that, for bats, they beat out raw fish by a mile.

"Perhaps I should do a flyover. We could get very full, if they are like bluebits," said Pandora.

Mareth was reluctant to let her go, but Howard thought it would be okay. "If they are mites, what harm can they do?"

"Go, I would not, go," Temp said, but no one much ever listened to him.

"Why not, Temp?" asked Gregor. "Do you know what kind of bugs they are?"

Temp didn't. Or he couldn't articulate it if he did. "Bug bad" was all he could say.

Stella turned her head back to the bow, just in time to glimpse a silhouette become visible.

"There it is!" Luxa said suddenly, and the place emerged from the darkness. It was visible in the light of a small volcano that slowly bubbled out lava at the centre of the island. In a couple of places, the lava spilled over and ran into the water, entering it with a hiss. A junglelike growth of twisted plants covered areas that were not in the lava's path. Stella had studied the behaviour of plants at school. She had learnt that some plants can grow without sunlight; they use other light sources to flourish. It must be the same with these ones.

Then there was that hum. The whole place vibrated with life that they couldn't see. Stella didn't like its aura. She guessed Temp didn't, either, judging from his comment earlier. But the other Underlanders seemed curious about the new island.

"It seems a shame to pass it by without any examination," said Howard. "We may gather knowledge that will help future voyagers."

And there was no holding Pandora back. "Yes, it is our duty to at least ascertain if it would make a hospitable place for resting. Some of our stronger fliers could make the crossing, if they knew they might land here."

It was agreed that Pandora could make a quick reconnaissance flight to get a closer look at the place. She flew off swiftly and was soon over the island. It didn't take her long to circle it and report back to the bats in pitches the others couldn't even hear.

"She says it is safe," said Ares. "And the mites are even more delicious than bluebits."

"Well, you may as well fill your bellies," said Mareth. "But only in pairs. I do not like all of you away from the boat at once. You may join her, Ares. Then Orion. Aurora, and Andromeda may go finally."

So it might not be bad after all. Thought Stella. Since she said it was safe.

But it wasn't.

Ares was almost to the island when it happened. A black cloud exploded out of the jungle and engulfed Pandora. She had no time to react. One moment she was darting around eating mites, the next moment they were eating her. In less than ten seconds they had stripped the writhing bat down to the bone. Her white skeleton hung for an instant in the air, then crashed into the jungle below.

Then a puzzled little voice next to Stella asked, "where bat?"

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