Gregor and the Prophecy of the Overland (Book VI)

First Discrepancies,

     Eris' fur beneath me is invisible as we fly through the tunnels. I can sense his warmth with echolocation, along with the tense forms of Henry behind me, Vikus on Euripedes, and Kel on Osiris--Luxa insisted Kel come with us in her stead, but I still have no idea why she trusts him. Some sort of sympathy connection or whatever, but I'm not taking my eyes off him.

Two can be saved from the dark
But nine are lost at heart
The killing greed must be undone
It will split the Under apart.

My thoughts drift to the Prophecy. If the lines mean what I think they do, then nine men will be dead before all this is over. I don't want that to happen, but the future usually doesn't give us us a choice. The two names that stuck with me before, Dane and Richard, they're two of the miners that we'll hopefully see in a few minutes. I can't help but hope that their names stuck with me for a reason, and that I can save them.
     Our convoy of fliers and killers lands in the sewer tunnels just inside Gamma, the third most promising diamond deposit according to Henry, and we sit silently for a few minutes, just to make sure there isn't anyone too close. I dismount my flier the moment I know we're alone for sure, and the other humans follow suit. Henry did pretty well during the flight--at least Eris didn't complain about him bruising his sides.
We start single file down the tunnel, me leading the way. We agreed before that we would do without torches--we don't want to scare off the Overlanders before we can talk--so I'm using my sixth sense to guide our group.
I find myself straining my eyes to see what's around me, the darkness distracting me in a way it hasn't before. I think back to the other times I've used echolocation without light, and other than the dungeon when I was first learning, there has always been some sound or motion to distract me from my eyes. Now, in the silent and nearly still tunnel, both senses are fighting to stay in control. It's disorienting and for a moment I lose my balance. I wobble and Henry grips my shirt tighter from behind.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes, hoping it will ease the dizziness.
So I don't notice when the dim lamp light becomes visible up ahead, and I don't slow soon enough to be completely silent before we're in earshot of the four miners.
     "Hey Dane, hold it down there." A voice rasps from just around the corner. I freeze, and Henry, Vikus and Kel do as well. The bats are motionless behind us.
     "What's wrong, Benny?" A higher-pitched voice calls. The echoing of the voice makes me think of wide open caves, and I know the person is in the hole over the Waterway.
     "Quiet, man." The raspy voice says again. "I think I heard something."
     "You're crazy, Ben." A third voice groans. "Ain't no one but us down here. Keep goin Dane. Get positioned and get to picking."
     "I'm serious, Cadun." The raspy voice, Ben, says even louder, anger coloring his tone red. "Now shut your hole before I beat your stupid ass."
     I decide I should step up before any fighting ensues. I nudge Henry's arm and we move forward toward the men, Henry in front. Vikus and Kel hang back for a moment so we don't overwhelm them with strangers. Who knows what they'll do if threatened? Marc pulled a gun on me, and Joey actually shot me, so the odds aren't too good if they panic.
"Hey, Cadun. Ben." Henry says awkwardly. Cadun jumps about a foot in the air and his mouth drops in a gasp.
"Told you, asshole." Ben mutters. "Where you been Henry? You didn't check in last week. We thought you were--" He stops mid-sentence as his eyes settle on me. "What the hell did you bring a kid here for?!"
"I didn't bring him exactly..." Henry trails off into silence.
I take a step closer. "I actually brought Henry here. I met Marc and Joey too, and we need to talk to you and your friends."
"I'm not talking to anyone, freak." Ben growls.
Freak? I wonder if Vikus and Kel stepped into view with their pale skin and wired eyes, but of course not. They're still around the corner where we left them. So why is he calling me a freak? Then I realize my eyes are still closed. I'm going by echolocation, and Ben must think I'm blind or crazy. Oops.
I open my eyes hurriedly. "Sorry, just forgot. But you don't understand. Your mining is fracturing the stone over the Waterway. If you keep it up then the whole thing will collapse and flood the Underland."
"The Under-what now?" Ben sneers a little. "You're crazy, kid. And I don't take much to crazies screwing with my plans. What's to stop me from throwing you down the Delta hole and pretending this never happened?"
"Don't, Ben." Henry steps up next to me, breaking his silence. "He's a good person, and if you come with us then you'll see what he's talking about. The Underland--well there are people living down there, and if the caverns collapse they'll flood their city."
Ben whistles long and low. "What a load of horse shit if I've ever heard any." He steps forward and grabs me by the shoulder before I can back away. I try to pull away but my injured leg goes numb as my full weight comes down on it. I have no choice but to stumble toward Ben and he pulls me around into a headlock, my back to his chest.
Cadun stares on, wide-eyed and eerily eager. The third man, Dane, crawls out of the Delta hole right at that moment. He straightens in his knees, then freezes in confusion at the scene before him: me, a strange kid, in a chokehold; Ben shuffling around, trying to hold on; Cadun watching with near curiosity and interest; and Henry, back from the dead, wide-eyed and helpless.
Then Eris decides to pop in and say hello. His head appears from the shadows around the lamps like a ghostly monster in the night. He hisses a warning at the man holding me, and Ben, like any natural human being, stumbles backward in terror.
Although I can't see behind me, my sixth sense is still up and running, so I see Ben's foot as it steps back onto nothing but air. He gasps in what sounds like shock, and his weight pulls me down with him. I dig my shoes into the concrete and land hard on my back as Ben falls. I scramble desperately behind me with one arm and feel my fingers catch on something meaty as he falls through toward the river. The sound of rushing water fills my ears as I grab onto the man as tightly as I can, and I scream as Ben's full weight pulls my shoulder backward behind me. My back starts to slide toward Delta as his weight drags me into the hole, but then a set of hands grips me legs and I'm still again. I hardly realize that it's Dane, I'm so focused on the wrist I'm gripping tightly in my hand, the weight pulling relentlessly against my surely dislocated shoulder.
"Kel--" I gasp, knowing he's the only one who can help me. Vikus is uncoordinated, his body damaged by the stroke. Dane is holding me tightly, ensuring I don't fall. Cadun is useless, watching me like a kid watching an ant as he burns it's feelers off with a magnifying glass.
Kel steps out of the shadows, toward me, and bends down next to the hole. I can hear Ben's gasping, terrified shrieks beneath me and I know I can't hold on any longer. I feel the weight transfer as Kel takes hold of the man and I let go. Dane drags me away from the opening and I shakily roll onto my side, spots dancing in front of my eyes.
Kel kneels there for a moment, the weight of the miner bending him in half. His muscles flex and I see him start to lift.
Then something goes wrong. The weight bowing Kel in half vanishes. He straightens, almost calmly, and looks at me, eyes wide.
"He fell." He mutters, almost in shock.
"No." I breath, the sound not really leaving my lips. I look up at Dane, the stranger who just saved my life. He doesn't say a word.
And that's when the fourth man rounds the tunnel corner, nearly jogging. He skids to a halt when he sees us: a boy lying on the floor, another kneeling next to Delta, Dane unmoving, Cadun with his head cocked, an old man trembling in the shadows, Henry motionless and wide-eyed, the monstrous face of a bat still just in sight, and Ben nowhere to be found.
"What the blazes is going on?" He asks in confusion. Somehow I don't even have to ask his name, I just know.
"It's a long story, Richard." I struggle to my feet, right arm limp and numb. "Just please come with us. We'll explain everything."
     "Oh yeah?" He narrows his eyes. "How do you know my name? And where's Ben?"
     Vikus thankfully takes this moment to step forward. Despite his pale skin, violet eyes, and disjointed halves, his wise old face and obvious adult age seem to help Richard relax.
     "My name is Vikus." He says, hands out in a placating gesture. "I represent a group of people who would like to talk to you about your mining habits. You're endangering hundreds of lives, and we'd like to negotiate this issue if you would kindly come with us to our home."
     "Really." Richard crosses his arms, but he seems more reasonable than his creepy friend Cadun. Hopefully more reasonable than Marc, Joey, and Ben. Dane is still quietly listening, hands in his pockets next to me. "Why should I trust you? And where the hell is Ben?"
     "Ben..." Dane says softly. I get a look at him for the first time in the eerie lamplight. His eyes are a pale, almost silver blue. A military haircut tops his head, and he looks about 30 years old. There's a small tattoo of a fish just in front of his right ear, and it bobs up and down when he talks. "Ben tried to kill this kid here, dumb idiot, then he fell down Delta."
     Richard takes this in in a heartbeat and opens his mouth to ask another question, then Euripedes moves forward out of the darkness next to Vikus. Richard flinches, but holds his ground. Dane doesn't even move. And of course, Cadun is watching like a creepy unmoving corpse--but a curious one.
     "I searched the water." Euripedes hisses softly. "I could not find him. He is surely dead by now."
     Richard shakes his head. "Glad I never liked the guy."
     "Will you come with us?" I ask again. "Just to talk. No violence."
     Richard doesn't say anything at first. Cadun looks to him for an answer, like Rich is the boss. Dane waits in silence as well.
     "Alright." Richard unfolds his arms and points at the fliers, Osiris having just emerged from the shadows as well. "But first, will someone tell me what the hell those things are?"
     A choked laugh escapes my lips. Silence follows as it echoes down the tunnel, mingling with the splashes from below. Then Eris starts shaking, making the huh-huh-huh sounds of a bat's laugh. Henry joins a moment later, then Vikus and Euripedes. Even Richard and Dane smile, although they have no idea what's so funny. For that matter, neither do I.
     Then the laughter fades. Vikus takes Richard and softly explains to him and Dane about the fliers, and we mount up. I'm with Henry and Dane, Vikus takes Richard, and Kel takes Cadun. One after the other we plunge down Delta, my right arm cradled in my lap. But despite the aching pain, the new stranger behind me, the diamonds glittering in the lamp light every few minutes, and the rush and tumult of the Waterway beneath us, I can't stop thinking about what I saw back there. What I sensed.
     The image is hovering in front of me, like a distorted foggy ghost over my surroundings. No one else notices anything is wrong, no one seems to care. I don't want to say anything, worried that my pain, doubts, and suspicions clouded my judgement. That I just imagined it.
     But all I can see are the sixth-sense outlines of Kel's hands as they grip Ben's thick wrist. And how they quickly, purposefully, let go and drop the man to his death.