The Underland Chronicle Book 6

Gregor and the Trial of Trees

Chapter 2: The Tale of the Havenites

"Regalia is under siege! By who?" exclaimed Gregor.

"Overlander, did you not hear me? I have no time for this! I don't care that Nerissa's vision was that you would be the savoir of the Underland and of the prophecy. Our best hope of survival is training these soldiers, not telling a tale to a fourteen-year old!" Gregor took the screaming as a hint to leave, and that is exactly what he did. As much as he usually respected Ripred, he didn't right now. Gregor decided he needed to ask somebody else about the state of Regalia. Gregor hoped Howard would be available to tell the tale, but it became clear that he wasn't when Gregor became closer to the medical station, he could see that Howard was far to busy. So Gregor decided to see who else was at the camp that could tell the tale. He couldn't believe the Ripred would just tease him into asking about the tale, but get mad when he did ask about it. No one looked familiar, and everybody looked busy; the humans and bats were either training or healing. After searching for an hour, Gregor spotted a lone figure sitting in what looked like the sleeping quarters. When he got near, the man's face became clear.

"Vikus! It's great to see you! You look much better," Gregor said with sudden delight. And the old man did look much better, his face had returned to normal, but still Vikus looked extremely sad. "Of course he did," Gregor thought to himself, "the man had lost Solovet, Hamnet, the entire council, and probably this new war wasn't making him all that much better."

But Vikus did look happy to see Gregor. "Gregor, it is good to see you alive and well! But why are you down here? I thought you had left for good," questioned Vikus. Gregor knew that Vikus fully expected him to return, either from Nerissa's vision, or the next prophecy.

"I was on a trip to New York City, and I saw a scythe on the entrance to the Underland, so I had to come down to see if everyone was alright, but I can tell now that they are not. What has happened down here?"

"Please sit down, Gregor. This will be a long tale and it is not told to many, so please listen. As you know Bartholomew of Sandwich led the humans to the Underland, and then locked himself in his room to write prophecies. What many do not know is that Sandwich did not die in Regalia. When he was very old, he led a party of humans and bats to a 'Haven,' as told by a new prophecy that he didn't choose to write down as he had done with the others. He told of a land that was filled with many creatures and a land surrounded by trees that reached up the Overland. He called this place 'Haven' and that it was the humans' destiny to reach it. Except nobody wanted to follow him as Regalia had already had been set up as the capital. But Sandwich was undeterred by that, so he continued trying to convince some people to join him. Sandwich eventually convinced Maxentius and his loyal group. You see Maxentius was the next in line for royalty, but even he could tell that this wasn't going to happen. So he decided to leave Regalia behind and follow Sandwich. Led by Sandwich and his bat, Zeus, the group left. And they were never heard from again. So the Regalian rulers decided to hide that Sandwich had left and probably had died violently and instead say that he had died from age. So many believed that or that he had died trying to reach 'Haven', but three months ago, our scouts began reporting that an army had traveled from the Uncharted Lands. And to our confusion, it was a human army with black hair and lime-green eyes."

"Halflanders?"

"Yes, Gregor. Halflanders like Hazard."

"That makes no sense! Sandwich and his group should have looked like Underlanders by now. And how do you know they were from Haven?"

"We do not know for sure, but it is definitely the most logical choice, as they would be the only other human army in the Underland that Regalia did not control."

"But why are they Halflanders?"

"It is our idea that when Sandwich led his group to Haven, the journey proofed to be deadly. Much of the group was killed, and definitely not enough were left to start a colony such as Sandwich had hoped. So they tried to make do. Sandwich must have been adamant about this since it looks like he was overthrown."

"What? How could you possibly know that Sandwich was overthrown?"

"Ease, Gregor. I was getting to that. The man leading the army was the only Underlander in the army. And because of intelligence reports, we have found out that the man is Maxentius' great great grandson, Hadrian. What I didn't tell you before was that Maxentius was a cruel, evil man. He was supposed to be the ruler but when Sandwich picked the leader he bypassed Maxentius. Even though Maxentius was next in line, it was well known that he would never be able to rule. So, he decided to take power from Sandwich and rule Haven. This is why we believe that Sandwich lost power and Maxentius got it."

"Okay, I guess. But why is the army Halflander? And where is Haven? And why do they use metal warships? And why…

"Stop, Gregor! Those questions will soon be answered! Please let me tell that tale,"

"Vikus, he doesn't need to know all of this junk. Let me tell him the specifics on what is happening right now. He can figure out the rest of the story in Regalia if we live to get there," stated a voice hidden in the shadow of the cavern. Gregor quickly realized that Ripred has been standing there for quite a while.

"Yes, you are right. We do not have time for long, tales. Please go ahead, Ripred," Vikus said as he quickly left.

"Poor Vikus. The man is a diplomat for his entire life, and then the one time when diplomacy may be the only option, it is useless. I don't think Vikus got to this part so, I must. The Havenites don't speak English. They must have got an Overlander language from the ones they stole,"

"They stole Overlanders! Why?" question Gregor.

"Why do you think? When Maxentius took power, he needed to reinforce the population of Haven and quickly. He had an entrance to the Overland. What do you think somebody evil would do? Anyway, before you rudely interrupted me, the Havenites don't speak English. And as you probably realized Maxentius was evil, very evil. And he wanted his family to rule, not only Regalia, but also the entire Underland. So we believe he started a military campaign against everything not led by him. To do this he needed a very strong military, so he forced the Overlanders to make some new military technology with Underland materials. So they created heavy metal warships and weapons and armor like none other. So once they finished with the invasion of the lands surrounding Haven, they came after us. And they were well prepared. They hit the humans hard and silently. First, they silenced all scouts and started reporting back with fake reports. Of course, the humans had no idea they were in any danger, so they took the reports. Soon after the Regalians thought that the Halflander army has gone, the Fount was attacked. The Havenites quickly killed all communication that the Fount had with Regalia, so that when Regalia was attacked it still would be a surprise. The Fount was hit extraordinarily hard, as more water passages go to it. All the Havenites had to do was bring in their superior navy, and the Fount fell."

"The Fount was destroyed! How could that happen!" screamed Gregor

"The Fount was not destroyed, only enslaved. Luckily, or unluckily, the Havenites only want to destroy Regalia, probably to prove to the rest of the Underland that they could destroy the capital of the 'strongest' species." Hearing that, Gregor could tell that Ripred definitely did not like it. "Before the Havenites marched into the Fount, Howard got away. He flew straight to Regalia in hopes of warning them of the imminent attack. But as the Havenite navy took the Fount, its army moved to Regalia. By the time that Howard got to Regalia, all he could do was close the arena gates, which was actually quite helpful as it was the only open entrance to Regalia and it was the Havenites plan to use it. Now, without any entrances to the Regalia and since they don't have bats to fly the walls, the Havenite army has completely surrounded Regalia, with a huge mass of forces at the northern wall. This small camp barely made it out."

"Wow, that is a lot," thought Gregor, "And it sounds like Regalia needs some help."

"Ripred, what are we going to do! You must have some plan!" asked Gregor.

"Actually, no I don't. Its all up to you, Overlander,"

"What! Why?" Seeing that Ripred's mood from before had definitely changed, Gregor was very confused.

"Obviously you haven't seen the prophecy yet. We only could decipher parts of it from the Havenite's language, but it definitely says "Only the risen Warrior's knowledge may lead the Underlanders to victory." And as much as I don't believe in Sandwich's prophecies, it makes sense. The army uses Overlander technology that we don't have, but on the other hand, you do. Additionally, this line must be the motto for the army, but it's in their language, maybe you will know what it means, oh Great Risen Warrior. "Lorsque le sang a séché, un seul sera gauche."

Thanks for reading chapter two! Please feel free to review this story as it may help me improve my style. Sorry for the massive amounts of story telling, but I do actually have more to tell. Please stay tuned for Chapter 3: The Siege (really it will be The Siege this time! Far more awesome, I promise).

Trentgro

PS: That last line is in French if you want to find out what it means, but I will cover it in the next chapter.