The Seeker from Above: A Gregor the Overlander Fanfic

Chapter 23

Previously...

"You think we're almost out of here?" Gregor said as they swept out of a tunnel.

"See for yourself," said Ares.

Gregor shone the flashlight around the place they'd just entered. Stella could see Goldshard, Snare, and the third rat lying on the floor.

.

.

.

"No! What are we doing back here?" Gregor gasped.

"Perhaps you should try navigating!" said Ares, he seemed irritated.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," said Gregor.

"It is our scent, Overlander," said Ares. "They track us with such ease. We cannot lose them."

"Hey, I know!" said Gregor. "Maybe we can trick them! We need to confuse their noses."

Gregor ripped the bandage from his arm. It was soaked with blood and pus and ointment. "Fly around the cone, Ares! I need to touch the top of every tunnel."

Ares followed his instructions, if not his plan. "Why do we do this?"

Gregor held out the bandage and swiped it along the inside of every tunnel entrance as they passed it. "I'm just trying to spread our scent around."

They completed the full circle, hitting each tunnel opening. Gregor tossed the bandage up the last one.

Orion hovered in the centre until Gregor and Ares had pulled the plan.

"They come!" warned Orion.

"Get out! Get out now!" said Gregor.

Orion and Ares dipped into a tunnel they had not yet tried. After about thirty seconds, they could hear the rats reaching the cone. And they were confused. Different rats were calling for them to chase down different tunnels. A big argument broke out, and then the sound of fighting.

It grew softer as they moved away, until Stella could no longer hear it at all.

The bats zigzagged down a tunnel, and this one opened out over a nice, wide, shallow stream.

"We must stop for a moment...we must drink..." said Ares. Orion and Ares landed on the edge of the stream, panting. They dunked their faces in the water, gulping it down.

Stella got down and scooped up handfuls of water for herself and the Bane. Gregor knelt beside them and drank.
The stream was not too deep, but the current was fairly strong and she didn't want the baby being swept away.

Ares raised his wet face. "I have only just thought of something," said Ares. "This stream. Where do you suppose it goes?"

"I don't know. A bigger stream." Said Gregor. " Maybe a river eventually, or —"

"The waterway," said Orion, finishing it off for Gregor.

"It's sure worth a try," agreed Stella.

Stella hauled the Bane onto Orion's back, and they took off again.

It was not too promising for a while. The main thing about the stream was that it was long and it had as many twists and turns as the tunnels in the maze. Stella could feel Orion's wings slowing; he was going to have to have a real rest soon. But to stop in the maze was certain death. The rats would catch up to them. The baby would begin to cry again, and then they would —

"A river," Ares puffed out. "A river is at hand."

In another minute, they followed the stream out of the tunnel and into a huge cavern. A river ran through it. They were out of the maze!