Gregor And The Potion Of Power

Chapter 9

Gregor's POV

"Wait, are you serious? Hamnet was your bond? But... then, Ripred said you were dead!?" I say, with utter surprise.
"I was pulled under the water during the flood, yes, but I managed to escape and hideaway in the labyrinth after I escaped. No rats found me except for one that was greyish, and detected my size and colour and went after me." Helen replies - with a frown, for I am jumping about.
"It was Twitchtip! I exclaim, happy to be thinking about her presence during yet another quest.
"Yes, she was a scent seer. She lead me back to her own cave above the tankard, which I am sure you recall."
I nod, as I do remember the circular structure which some of the serpents live in. 
"Then I slowly made my way out, following Twitchtip's instructions. Once I made it to Regalia, everyone was shocked to see me alive. But when I asked them where Hamnet was, they said he had died fulfilling the 'prophecy of blood', which is why I am here to take my revenge on you!" 

And she flew at Gregor, but then stopped dead in her tracks, laughing her head off. Gregor decided now would be a good time to get back to work before she tried that again and he went into serious rager mode. He didn't want to risk hurting Helen. 

Then he heard an ominous growl and turned around, thinking 'What now?' 

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"Get down it's a polar bear! Everybody get down!" I yell while everyone simply stares, clearly in shock. I draw my sword and dive to the right as it charges at me with tremendous speed. Everyone draws their swords, and I say " No one hurt it!  Everyone put your swords down, like with the stingers 7 years ago!" The polar bear pauses as we all put our swords back into their scabbards. Slowly, other creatures that I had taken for rocks emerge from the shadows. I am shocked by the size of the beasts. I myself have never before seen a polar bear in real life, but I have seen pictures. Nothing I've ever seen before would be even half the size of the creatures that lay before me now.
"Hazard. You know what you need to do." Hazard takes a deep breath and steps forward.
"What language shall I try?" he asks nervously. 
I look at the white spread of creatures laid in front of us, surprised but also hugely relieved that sheathing our swords seems to have done the trick in calming them.  I figure they have probably never before stopped mid-fight... even a fight they knew they were going to lose. 
"Try rat, Hazard."
There was a high pitched squeak, and one of the polar bears stepped forward and squeaked back. Everyone sighed with relief at the sound. If they couldn't communicate, the fight would surely have resumed.
"What did they say, Hazard?" I ask gently.
"I just asked 'can you understand this?' And the leader said yes" Hazard replies, keeping his voice calm and quiet just as I had. 
"Try telling them that we only wish to search the area. We don't want to harm them in any way. Also ask if they have seen something shiny because that could be the object we are looking for." Hazard starts squeaking. I think he's about to finish when the leader lets out a colossal roar. Everyone in the group makes to draw their sword, unsure.
"Hazard! What did you say?!" 
"I said exactly what you told me to say! I don't know what is happening!" Hazard whispers back urgently.
"They speak a mixture of crawler and hisser, son" says a familiar voice. 

Hazard is as blown away as I am.
"Dad!" Hazard rushes over to the man with incredible speed. Howard also walks over to me as calmly as he can. Which isn't very calmly. 
"Gregor, your group has all the food, and if we want to live, we will need that food" Howard says with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. But I'm not listening. I am staring at a man I thought I would never see again.
Click-clack-clickety-clack-clack! go the polar bear's feet as he/she rudely interrupts the conversation. We remember immediately that the polar bears are still angry at us about something.
"Hazard, can you please ask them what they are angry about, otherwise I think we are about to have a fight" I say, whilst trying to remain calm.
Hazard clicks again to the leader before finally turning back to me to give his answer.
"They know where the ore is. But it has long belonged to them."
'Go figure' I thought to myself.  Of course they could rely on Sandwich to not care about that. 'Just like the diggers!' says the angry rager voice inside my head. 
"Then we need to find a way to convince them to let us have it." I say calmly again. Luxa kicks the ground in frustration.
"Why don't we just fight them! We have a rager AND fliers AND outnumber them!" Luxa yells, showing no effort to hide her frustration. Then a bloodcurdling scream splits the air, and everyone turns to look at the spot where just a moment ago, Boots, Lizzie, and Hazard stood.  They have all disappeared.