Underland Chronicles: 1 - The Border's Edge (A Gregor the Overlander FanFic)

Chapter 6

Vikus led Pandora out of the palace, leading her to a small room with a large opening on the side. A platform with pulleys awaited just outside.

"This is the lowest window of the palace," Vikus said. "It is still quite a ways from the ground." He offered Pandora his hand for support as she climbed onto the platform. Two men worked the pulleys to start lowering it.

When Pandora looked up, she saw one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. The city of Regalia was breathtaking. Every building had pictures and designs carved into their stone sides.

When they touched the ground, Vikus and Pandora made their way through the city. After a few minutes of walking, Pandora looked back to get a good view of the palace but was puzzled by what she saw. She would have imagined that the palace would be the most gorgeous building around, but she was wrong.

"How come the palace is so plain, while the rest of the city is so strikingly beautiful?" she asked Vikus.

"It is because in wartimes, when invaders come into the city, the palace can be impenetrable. If there were carvings or features in its face, our enemies could scale the walls and enter our last defense."

"Oh," Pandora said. She thought back to the history books she had read on the Peloponnesian War, back in Ancient Roman times. "That makes sense. When under siege, it is important to have strong fortifications other than the surrounding wall."

They headed to the edge of the city and entered a tunnel. It wasn't long before a great cavern was in sight, and they were standing on a shelf of rock that extended almost to the middle of it. On the ceiling, in the air, and all around, were huge bats.

Pandora silently followed her party to the edge of the shelf, her eyes darting around to watch the bats perform flawless stunts that seemed to defy gravity. Her gaze returned to where they were heading, near the end of the shelf, where one bat in particular seemed to be awaiting their arrival.

"Greetings," she said in a cheerful voice. Pandora could tell just from this one word that the bat had great confidence and pride. Her gray coat had a regal sheen to it in the torchlight.

"Greetings to you, Queen Athena," Vikus replied. "Know you the Overlander, Pandora?" Switching his cane to his right hand, Vikus waved his left towards Pandora.

The queen seemed to falter for just a moment, yet her face remained pleasant. "Hello," she replied. Pandora nodded in greeting.

"We require the assistance of a flyer," Luxa said, impatiently getting to the point of why they had come.

"Whatever for?" asked Queen Athena.

"I'm sorry to say," Vikus said, "but we must keep our motives to ourselves in this particular case, Queen Athena."

"That is no problem," the bat replied. "I should advise you, however, that most of the fliers present already have human bonds -- you will have to let them assist you as well, whatever your need may be."

"Are there any capable fliers here that do not have a bond? We specifically require only the assistance of one bat," Luxa said. "Although I cannot say what it is they will be helping with, I can say the less creatures we recruit, the less chance of any news reaching the wrong ears."

"Very well," Queen Athena replied hesitantly. "I bid you good luck in trying to find a suitable bat to fit your requirements. You have my blessing." After nodding her head at Vikus, the gray bat extended her wings and flew beyond the torch's soft circle of light.