The Seeker from Above: A Gregor the Overlander Fanfic

Chapter 17

Previously...

No one moved. Not the rats. Not the visitors. An eerie silence surrounded them. Then there was a slight scraping sound from above.

Splash! Something landed off to their right, causing a fountain of water to spray into the air. Splash! Splash! The rats were tipping boulders out of the tunnels and sending them hurtling to the water below.

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"Well, that's weak. None of the rocks are even getting near us," said Gregor.

It was true; the boulders were missing them by a mile. Stella felt a little better, knowing the rats were launching such a worthless attacks.

Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!

Luxa frowned. "Something is wrong here."

Mareth nodded. "Yes, it is not like the gnawers to waste their energies on futile attacks."

Howard's eyes widened, and he began waving his arms frantically. "Get the boat up! Fliers! Get the boat up now!"

Twitchtip sprang up at almost the same time. "They're waking! They're waking! Fly!"

And that's when Stella put the pieces together. The rats weren't trying to sink their boat with the rocks — they were trying to wake the serpents! Aurora and Andromeda latched on to the front ropes; Ares and Orion got their claws around the two loops in the back. They lifted the boat out of the water, spinning it in a circle as they rose.

"Where fly we?" came from all four bats.

"Twitchtip, where lies the tunnel?" asked Mareth.

"Stop spinning the boat so fast and I'll tell you!" said the rat. The bats maintained a slower circle, and Twitchtip indicated a tunnel opening opposite the channel they'd come in by. "There! The one shaped like an arch!"

Stella directed her flashlight beam to where Twitchtip had indicated. It was only about six feet high, and you could've swum right into it. "But it's half under water! Does it even have a floor?"

"Further in. Look, this is no time to be picky," snapped Twitchtip. "The serpents are —!" Bam! Something hit the side of the boat, ripping away a chunk of it. They were knocked sideways. The bats barely managed to hang on.

Stella thought that one of the rats' rocks had made contact. Then she saw it. "Oh geez!" She gasped.

Rows and rows of teeth left the space where she had just been. Stella's legs were glued to the floor and her hands gripped tightly around the hilt of the sword. The creature propelled itself with flippers. Some kind of aquatic reptile that looked as old as the dinosaurs. And as big as the biggest skeletons she'd seen at the museum. 

Its body was a flattened oval. A whiplike tail beat the water, causing waves to roll across the calm pool. The neck was at least thirty feet long, and atop its sinuous, scaly pink length was a bullet-shaped head. There were indentations where eyes might have been, somewhere in its evolution, but they were long gone. What use were eyes to it down here? Its mouth opened, letting loose a low howl that chilled Stella right down to her DNA. Her light caught the creature as it rose again. Crunch! Another piece of the boat was gone!

"Abandon ship!" Mareth choked out.

Stella forced herself to move and stumbled towards Orion.

"On the count of three, everyone jumps!" called Mareth.

It took Stella a moment to realise that he'd meant "jumps off the side of the boat." It was the only way the bats could catch them. She scrambled up onto the edge.

"One — two — three!" Stella put as much power as she could into her legs and pushed off the boat, and then it was gone, but almost immediately Orion was under her. The bat dipped and swerved, Stella gripped firmly onto his fur.

Everyone's flashlight was on high beam now, which was good, since the single torch that had been lit had just hit the water with a sizzle. A prehistoric nightmare unfolded before them. Half a dozen serpents had broken the surface of the pool, and Stella knew that more were coming. They were swinging their heads and tails through the air, trying to take down whatever they could find. Without the eyes, Stella guessed that they must be using a different way to navigate, like, echolocation.

There was no way of fighting them. Stella desperately clung onto Orion's back while the bat dodged the heads and tails frantically. She caught glimpses of Gregor, Temp and Boots on Ares, Mareth and Howard on Andromeda, Luxa on Aurora...but wait a minute! Where was Twitchtip? Stella heard a shriek and saw poor Twitchtip dangling by the tail from a serpent's mouth.

"Orion! Twitchtip!" It was all she could manage to say.

Orion dove for Twitchtip, merely missing a tail that hit Ares in front of them. Stella watched in horror as Boots flew out of Gregor's arms. Temp had fallen off too. She heard Gregor screaming. But to her relief, Luxa caught them. Stella felt Orion's muscles tense under the weight of something. She guessed it was Twitchtip.

"Get in the tunnels!" Howard shouted as Andromeda whizzed by. "The tunnels!" He was sitting upright on the bat, trying to hold on to an unconscious, bloody Mareth.

The tip of a tail came straight at Orion and Stella knew it was too late to dodge. In an instant, she had driven the sword through the top portion of the tail. Blood spewed from the cut, splattering onto Stella and Orion. The rest of the tail disappeared into the murky water. 

Stella was surprised. Had she just cut through that tail? Maybe it was that Seeker thing; and maybe it was slowly brewing inside her.

Twenty-foot-high waves were rolling across the pool now, smashing into the rock walls. Rats who had not moved quickly enough into their tunnels were screaming in the serpents' mouths. The air was filled with drenching splashes from the impact of the reptiles' tails.

Orion was jerking this way and that, dodging the numerous snapping mouths. Then the bat rocketed toward a stone wall, dipped, and they were inside a tunnel.

Orion dropped his burden and collapsed. Stella rolled off his back and hit the floor with a thud; so much for recovering. There was light behind them in the tunnel. Howard was rapidly working over Mareth on the ground, while Andromeda hung over them. One of Mareth's pant legs was soaked in blood. Next to her saw the shuddering heap of wet fur that was Twitchtip. Blood poured from her nose, which appeared to have been smashed in, and oozed from the stump that had been her tail.

There was a sound at the front of the tunnel, and Stella jerked her head in the direction as Gregor aimed his flashlight beam there. She was hoping to see Aurora come in with Luxa, Boots, and Temp.

Instead, shooting down the tunnel at them were three rows of bared teeth.

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