Jack the Overlander

Eight (Part 2)

When breakfast rolled around again, they dined at a stone table that had been carved in as part of the street. Jack thought that was pretty cool, actually, and wondered if they had those in Regalia, too. Although it couldn't really be classified as outside, since they were still underground the waffle-iron roof of the Fount's cavern looming overhead. But whatever. Neat idea.

Once they were all seated, Jack finally focused in for a good look at the moths. One was slightly smaller than the other, but they were both huge; the size of cars. They were white and fuzzy, like prickly clouds, with oblong, roughly cylindrical bodies. Stubby, cream-colored legs allowed them to crawl along the ground if they needed to, but it was obviously not their preferred form of movement. Their mouths were nearly invisible, and if they had noses, Jack couldn't see them, so their black eyes and black feelers, which were at least three feet long, stood out. Their wings were like sheets of glass - sleek, glimmering, and incredibly delicate-looking. The smaller moth's wings were patterned with large spots of royal purple, and trimmed in black. When Jack wasn't looking directly at him, he thought he caught flecks of gold in there, as well. The wings of the other, larger moth were speckled with slashes and dots of a lime green color. Jack was reminded of bird footprints, if the bird had stepped in green paint or something.

As he'd noticed before, the moths sat perfectly still most of the time, completely immobile. When they ate, the only things that moved were their feelers, and the inside of their mouths must've been white, too, because the food seemed to just disappear into their faces. Weird.

"One hour, reach Silk Palace. Alliance, uphold appearance, prudent, Queen," said a slow, buzzing voice. After a second, Jack realized it was the purple-spotted moth. It was hard to tell because of that mouth thing.  "You, flier, alone, better impression."

"Yes. I have been thinking this as well. Thank you, Chrysanthemum," replied the Queen. So the purple one was Chrysanthemum. Jack thought the other one might be Mint.

"I believe this would be most easily accommodated if Gregor swapped to Nike and both of the Overlanders rode on Persephone," continued the Queen, looking at Jack.

"Yeah, that's fine," he said. He smiled at Amber, who returned it. He wasn't sure, but he thought he might have heard Ripred cough.

"Excellent. Then we are ready to be on our way," said the Queen. She exchanged a few more words with York, while the rest of them finished up their meals. Then the riders mounted and the three bats and two moths rose into the air.

For the first ten minutes or so, Jack was uncomfortably aware of Amber, seated a foot behind him on Persephone. He'd tried to sit up as close to Persephone's neck as possible, but that had only resulted in his being unable to move farther up the bat. Oops. He kept seeing her in his peripheral vision, too, every time he looked to the sides. At least he had a torch to distract him now. The Warrior had lit one and handed it to him right before they'd taken off. Now that he thought about it, there was probably a steady stream of sparks flying back at Amber.

"Hey, is the torch bothering you, Amber? Sorry, I just realized," Jack said.

"What? Oh, no, you're fine! It's mostly going off to the side. Don't worry, I'll let you know if it starts to get me. Thanks," said Amber, sounding genuine. Apparently she'd recovered from her bout of normal human speech, too, because she switched tracks rapidly and addressed Persephone.

Jack smiled. He was beginning to feel a companionship that he'd never known before, with this giant bat and this hyper-talkative girl who was way out of his league. Who'd have thunk it, right? Last night, when he'd returned to his room, he'd thought he might wake up feeling embarrassed about his conversation with Amber. He'd never disclosed a lot of those things to, well, anyone, really. Not willingly at least. But he didn't feel half bad about it. More like some heavy weight had been released from his chest.