The Seeker from Above: A Gregor the Overlander Fanfic

Chapter 22

Previously...

She hadn't discovered her power yet. But it would come to her later. Heart pounding, she lunged toward the cave, running behind Gregor. She watched as he raised the hilt of the sword in the air, flipping the sword so it would come down point first, at an angle. Stella stood ready to attack as Gregor drove the blade toward the Bane.

But just before the point made contact, the creature made a sound that hit Stella like a cannonball.

"Ma-maa!"

.

.

.

Gregor turned the sword at the last second, driving it into the stone wall of the cave with such force that the blade snapped off near the hilt and clattered to the floor.

He fell back from the cave. "Boots?" he said hoarsely.

Stella forced herself to move and ran over to Gregor and helped him up. He was right though, that had sounded like a baby.

The chamber reeled around her head. Where was the Bane? What was that white furry thing a few yards away? Because it sure wasn't some ten-foot rat trying to attack them.

Gregor moved forward and shone the flashlight into the cave. Huddled against the wall, shaking in fear, was a small, white rat.

Stella gasped. Suddenly it all made sense to her — why almost nothing was known about the Bane, why it had not taken over the rat kingdom, why it had not attacked them. It was only a baby!

Still, it was the Bane. They were supposed to drain its light. Gregor's blade had broken off, leaving a jagged dagger-like weapon in his hand. Stella still had her's. It would be so easy to kill the creature in front of her. But...but...

"Ma-maa!"

But it was a baby!

"Oh, geez. Oh, geez," Gregor said, and tossed aside what remained of his sword. He knelt down and reached out his hand to pat the thing. "It's okay. You're okay, baby."

The rat shuddered in terror and pressed back against the wall, wailing its head off. "Ma-maa! Ma-maa!"

Stella knelt down and lay her sword on the cave floor. She reached out to the Bane "It's okay we're not going to hurt you," Stella said soothingly. The Bane sniffled and looked cautiously at Stella. She scooped up the baby rat in her arms. It weighed about as much as a full-grown cocker spaniel. One day it probably would be ten feet tall. But today, she could pick it up and rock it.

Gregor seemed to have lost hope, "Ares, Orion!"

He shouldn't have shouted. He'd scared it again, and now it was sobbing.

"Ugh," said Stella in frustration.

The bats scampered out of the last curve and wobbled into the chamber.

"What is it? Where is the Bane?" Said Ares.

"In here," Gregor said, gesturing to the cave. "And we've got a problem."

"What? What?" Ares had come in ready to fight to the death, and now he was completely disoriented. "What is the problem?"

"This is the problem," said Gregor. He gestured towards the rat in Stella's arms.

"What is that?" Asked Orion, in perplexity.

"That is not the Bane!" Said Ares.

"Actually, I think it is. Or at least, it's a baby Bane," said Gregor.