Chapter Text
"I will use you to save Regalia. I will spend you to save Regalia. And I shall honor your memory for as long as I breathe."
The words were exactly what Gregor needed to hear, especially from Solovet. His tears had not yet dried, and his heart rate was still elevated from his panic attack. But this harsh, hard woman helped him to look at his own impending death, accept it as a price worth paying, and focus on all he might accomplish first. Solovet's eyes were the most gentle and empathetic he'd ever seen from her. The two tall, powerfully-built soldiers behind her looked on him with genuine admiration. And he knew he could do this. On his first visit to the Underland, he leaped, believing he would die, but fully willing to do so on behalf of his sister, father, and companions. The only difference now was he had more time to think about it, to ponder the cost, and realize all he was giving up.
But he also had time to dwell on what his life would buy. Not just a handful of lives. The whole Underland. So many people he'd grown to care about. Maybe even Ares might be saved, though he couldn't imagine his bond letting him fight the Bane alone.
And beyond those he personally knew and loved, there was all the other humans, and fliers, and crawlers, and nibblers…
...and hundreds of children like him.
Well… not quite like him. Because he leaped. He already knew what it meant to choose someone else to live instead of you.
I… I can do this. I really can. And… it… will… be… worth it.
"Are you ready to obey my commands, Gregor?"
Gregor looked up into her eyes. "Will you hear my suggestions before giving commands?"
The two guards looked a bit startled at that. This was not the sort of thing people typically asked Solovet. But she considered. "When there is time, I will hear your thoughts. But I will always choose what will benefit the greater number. And there will be times of urgency when you must obey instantly, without question. In war, discipline is life."
"Okay." Gregor tried to sound as formal and respectful as possible. "I have a suggestion. A way to show your soldiers and the gnawers what it means for the warrior to fight under your command."
Solovet raised an eyebrow. "I'm intrigued. I will never promise to act according to your wishes, but I will hear you out."
"You sent two divisions to the Firelands. But now we know the rats aren't coming for Regalia yet. Right now, the Bane, and Luxa, and a ton of nibbler families are all out there."
"All true. The stakes are very high. If things go ill in the Firelands, the loss to Regalia might be devastating. I almost regret committing so much of our military to such an uncertain mission."
"Don't regret it. Your instincts were right. I say: double down. Strike so hard the gnawers think twice before they come for Regalia. If you lead the army there, and I'm there in case we find the Bane, we might win the war right away."
"So… you propose a course of action… where the best case scenario would cost your life?"
That should have hit Gregor hard. But it didn't. He wasn't numb to it. He had simply… chosen. He could grieve for what he would lose. He could wish he didn't have to die.
But he would make it count. And at the end... he would be like the stone knight.
"If I die to kill the Bane, the best chance for Ares to survive will be you and your army."
"Dive, Gaia, dive!"
Gaia the flier obeyed, plunging toward a huge, scarred gnawer that shouted orders to those around it. Riven's legs squeezed just a bit tighter, as this maneuver made it a little harder to keep her properly seated. Gaia's heart pounded with fear, hope, and thrill, and Riven drew back her curved sword, ready to swing.
The big rat noticed them just in time to whirl, tail lashing out. Gaia pitched to the side, and Riven's swing severed the tail, which flew past them. As they'd trained a thousand times, they didn't just pull up from the dive. Pushing her wings to the limit, Gaia whipped around to the right. Her left wing barely avoided being shredded by the claws of a small leaping gnawer, but the reckless maneuver bore fruit. Gripping hard, Riven kept her seat and landed a follow-up slash to the veteran gnawer's throat. With life gushing from both tail and neck, the rat fell to the ashy ground.
Gaia barely pulled up in time to avoid getting tackled by an equally large gnawer, whose bloody teeth suggested he'd already killed one of their friends today. Young Riven leaned and twisted, dodging the swiping claws, and they rose higher than any gnawer could jump.
For a moment, the two bonds caught their breath, recovering from those few seconds of frenetic, life and death combat. The large chamber was well-lit from support teams affixing torches to the walls and ceiling, allowing the humans to see and fight. Gnawers and fliers didn't need light, but it made it easier to take in all the details of such a terrible battle.
The floor of the chamber churned with gnawers, who leapt, struck, and gnashed their deadly teeth, eager for the Regalian army to come within reach. The swirling ash and harsh fumes of the Firelands would have made breathing painful if not for the masks their army was issued. The gnawers had no such gear, but they had tougher lungs.
In the midst of the milling, eager rats, there were smaller forms, torn and limp. Fliers and their human bonds that didn't survive their diving attack runs. As they watched, Eros failed to pull up in time, and was tackled by two rats at once. The flier was pinned to the ground, and Neronia managed to parry only one claw strike before they were both overwhelmed and slaughtered.
Gaia's heart ached at such losses, and she knew it would soon be far worse.
The nibblers were on the move, and the only way to protect them was by spending human lives.
This battle was waged at the order of the young Queen, who declared the nibblers must be defended at any cost. And the cost would indeed be great..
One side of the chamber had a low ceiling. A stream of ragged mice sprinted through, staying close to the wall. They were rescued from the gnawer death camps, but this was the most dangerous stretch of their path to Regalia. Gnawers outweighed nibblers three to one, if not more, and battling them in the open would mean a terrible massacre.
Humans would face such battle instead.
More than half of the human soldiers in the chamber now fought on foot. They stood in a long, fragile line, screening the retreating nibblers, defending them at horrific cost. Humans on the ground were at a terrible disadvantage against the larger, stronger, faster gnawers, and lives ended every second. The fliers that deployed their bonds to hold that line now fought alone, and their ability to contribute was vastly reduced. Before Gorger's war, General Kratos commanded an elite force of unbonded fliers trained to kill rats without assistance. But that entire battalion fell in the bloody defense of Olympus, leaving most bats dependent on human swords. Now, the fliers strafed the rats with their claws, but most could do little more than anger gnawers and perhaps distract them. One flier, Asclepius, distracted the enemy too well, and was pulled from the air to die screaming.
So many fliers would lose their bonds today… so many of Gaia's people would be bereaved. As Gaia watched, a young soldier was overcome. His sword arm tore away, rat teeth ripped out his throat, and he was hurled into the mob of rats to be devoured.
A brave young woman, delivered by her flier bond, took his place.
Seconds later, she died too.
More than anything, Gaia wanted Riven to overlook that terrible bloodbath. She headed toward the opposite end of the chamber, hoping her bond would be content fighting as they usually did. Choosing their moments, moving in with bold quick diving attacks, lightning-fast strikes, and quick returns to a safe height.
But no… she wouldn't be Riven if she accepted that. Gaia bonded her because she saw the breadth of her selfless courage, her deepest need to defend the weak. With so many soldiers giving their lives to protect the nibbler refugees, she would hate herself if she took a safer role.
"The other way, Gaia!" Riven commanded. "That line must hold! They need every sword!"
Gaia's heart sunk. Would she really deliver Riven into that charnel house?
"In dark, in flame, in war, in strife…"
Would her bond, who represented half of Gaia's soul, have any chance of surviving on the ground?
Then Gaia saw… it might not be necessary.
Hundreds more fliers poured into the chamber. The elite veterans Horatio and Marcus were at the front of the formation, and Gaia quickly recognized this as Solovet's division. Gaia barely had time to hope before those hopes were proven true.
Ajax and Ares entered the chamber, side by side, bearing the Head of Regalia's army and the warrior of prophecy. Gregor held the deadliest sword in the Underland, and he was clad in armor of ebony black.
Scouts must have already relayed the strategic situation for Solovet, for she began issuing orders immediately. While most of the soldiers of York's and Perdita's divisions had to fight on the ground, physically shielding the nibblers from the rat army, this full strength reinforcement division could leverage their air power. Squadrons of bats dived in vicious attack runs, drawing as close as they safely could to the bloody fighting on the ground. Rats near the human line had to split their attention to face this new, deadly threat, taking pressure off the desperate human line.
But Gaia still had to get Riven to the deadliest part of the fighting. In the heart of the melee, Gaia recognized three soldiers who fought side by side, covering each other, fending off the seething crowd of murderous gnawers. They were Riven's brothers. Two of them never fought in a real battle before today, but they all held the line.
As Gaia dived toward them, seventeen-year-old Kleave hacked a leg off a gnawer, but left himself open in the process. A thick rat tail grabbed the slender boy around the waist and flung him into the crowd.
He never reached the ground.
Ares caught the young man out of the air, and the Overlander flipped down to land in the bloody ash right where Kleave had stood.
Then the boy advanced to meet the crowd.
Twenty bats flew low, their bonds hacking and slashing, disrupting the rat formation, but the gnawers still surged to meet the hated warrior.
Gregor began to spin.
His sword slashed the face of one rat, took off the forelimb of another, and severed the tail of a third.
Then Riven's sword struck from above.
Her swing slashed across the backs of three rats that were too focused on Gregor to notice the threat in time. Then, at Riven's order, Gaia rolled.
Riven landed between the two of her brothers fighting on the ground, while Gaia veered off to find Ares. The huge black bat had already used the chamber's high ceiling to allow some fancy maneuvers, and Kleave now sat on Ares' back. The pair dived near the line of desperate fighting, and Kleave stabbed at a passing rat as Ares sunk his claws into another. With the strength for which the bat had attained almost legendary status, Ares hauled the rat into the air. When it tried to strike with its tail, Kleave severed it.
Then Ares dropped the rat to its death.
Looking every which way, and pushing her echolocation to the limit, Gaia saw the battle was already turning. Solovet's orders came fast and continuous, micromanaging her airborne division to punish the enemy focus on trying to reach the nibblers. Horatio and Marcus converged on the rat General Flayer, cutting down two of his bodyguards and then leaving the General thrashing in his own blood. As Commander Nipswift tried to take control of the rats, Ripred seized the opportunity provided by the chaos to plunge into the enemy army. Nipswift realized he was making right for her, and she turned on her heels and ran. Laughing, Ripred started shouting obvious taunts in the gnawer language, casually slaughtering the rats that tried to surround him.
And the warrior followed Ripred's example.
Gregor charged forward, putting the human line farther behind him, and started up another spin. Rats that tried to mob the two ragers came under coordinated attack from Solovet's forces, who strafed them in wave after wave. Ares dropped a large rat to crush two of the gnawers trying to overwhelm his bond, and Kleave's sword drove into a third.
With a roar, York of the Fount charged, with Perdita at his side and the Lieutenants Lenwen and Marian right behind. Gaia caught Riven's voice rising in defiance, and she whirled to see the impossible.
The human line rushed toward the gnawers… on the ground…
…and the gnawers ran from them.
With Flayer dead, Nipswift fled, and the Ironheart wielding her armies like scalpels, the enemy force suffered total collapse of morale. The rats scattered, squealing in fear, and another hundred never made it. With ruthless brutality, Solovet's force hounded the rats as they fled, breaking off only when the last of them reached side tunnels.
Gaia landed in the bloody ash, and Riven threw her arms around her. The young woman's entire body quivered. Clearly, she had not expected to survive fighting on the ground. Her youngest brother, Cleft, didn't try to hide his tears. Ares dropped off Kleave, who hugged his brother Trent. Then their father, Lenwen, crashed into the four siblings and did his best to wrap his arms around them all.
Gaia swept her eyes over the battlefield, noting the crowd of nibblers staring in awe at the might of their allies. But many of the mice also looked in solemn grief at the mangled humans that gave their lives defending them.
Sixty died holding the line. But without Solovet's arrival, Gaia knew it would have been far, far worse.
With the Ironheart and the warrior fighting for the Underland, the Bane would soon know fear.