Gregor And The Prophecy Of Doom (Book VI)

Chapter 10

The city finally came into sight. It was as Gregor last remembered it, with its giant walls and incredibly complexed carvings, it still looked like a something straight out of a fairy tale. As they landed in the high hall, a few guards came up to meet them, followed closely by Vikus. Gregor could see that Vikus had aged a bit from when they'd last met, especially due to his stroke when his wife, Solovet, had died. But it was quite obvious that Vikus had made a recovery at sometime in the last 3 years, since the side of his face that had been frozen due to the stroke, was now nearly completely healed, though Gregor did realize a slight clunkiness on that side when Vikus smiled at him.

"Gregor, welcome back!" He said, coming up to meet him.

"Hey Vikus!" At first Gregor didn't know what to say. Then he found his tongue. "Man, it is nice to see you people. How are you?"

"I fair well enough." The old man said in his usual formal tone.

"Hey you!" said boots, running up to Vikus and tugging on the old man's coat. He looked down at her, and his eyes lit up.

"Welcome little Boots!" He said, and then he spotted Lizzie. "And welcome to you too, Lizzie." He smiled again. "Ripred has been dying to see you."

Gregor saw Lizzie's face light up like a Christmas tree. "He is?" She asked with a huge grin on her face. "Where is he?"

Vikus's smile faded slightly. "Unfortunately, he is unable to meet you just yet." He said with a slight sigh. "He has an important errand outside the walls of Regalia. But he promises he'll join us for lunch tomorrow." Lizzie didn't seem too upset by the idea, but maybe it was because she was so obviously tired from the night's drama. Vikus seemed to notice that too, since he said to Nike: "Thank you, Nike, for bringing them safely home. Now Gregor, Boots, Lizzie, will you please follow me to your bedroom."

Gregor was taken aback by this. "We don't need to bathe first?" He spoke. Every single time they had come to the Underland, the first thing the Underlanders seemed to want him to do was take a bath, to rid him of the scent of the overland as much as possible. But Vikus shook his head, smiling at Gregor as he said: "No Gregor. We used to require overlanders to bathe because we do not want the gnawers catching your scent. But now, since we and the gnawers have a blood bond stronger than any treaty or paper work, we have no fear of the rats sensing your arrival. In fact, it strengthens all of our hearts to know of your arrival, since the rats and all other creatures alike believe you are the worrier again mentioned in the prophecy of... "Vikus paused, before finishing his sentence, "...doom. "

As they were being led to their room, Gregor suddenly noticed something. "Why is Luxa not here to see us come?" He asked Vikus.

"Luxa is on the same errand as Ripred," Vikus replied, "and so for that matter is Aurora. But they will be back tomorrow with Ripred."

Gregor gathered from this that this errand that Vikus spoke of must be really important. But then he understood.

"Wait," he said, grinning as he finally understood the situation, "was Luxa REALLY meant to go? On the errand I mean, was she and Aurora really meant to go with Ripred?"

Vikus laughed. So did Gregor. It was just like Luxa to sneak off with Ripred on a dangerous errand and leave the council fuming behind her!

"You know Luxa well, Gregor," Vikus said as he chuckled, "indeed, it is as you speak. Ripred went on a dangerous mission to the jungle, in his words, "to retrieve something important for Gregor", and Luxa couldn't just stand by, so she snuck along."

"And Ripred probably didn't object either," Gregor mused, "I mean, he has a sense of danger worse than Boots sometimes." They all laughed at that.

When they finally reached their bedroom, Vikus bid them goodnight, and Gregor climbed into his sweat smelling bed, and fell asleep almost instantly. It was the first night in 2 years, 7 months, and 14 days that he slept without the worry of bad dreams.