Chapter 26
She sat on the floor rocking back and forth laughing, the very picture of madness.
"Man, somebody needs to help this girl," thought Gregor.
Vikus came up and crouched beside her on the floor. "Nerissa, perhaps you should rest longer. Are you feeling ill?"
"Oh, no, I am well. We are all well!" giggled Nerissa. "The warrior has fulfilled the prophecy."
"No, Nerissa, he did not succeed in killing the Bane," Vikus said gently.
"Vikus," said Nerissa. "The baby lives. So lives the warrior's heart. The gnawers do not have their key to power." Vikus looked like a lightning bolt had hit him. He plunked down on the floor next to her. "This is what Sandwich meant?" he said. "We never considered it."
"What?" said Gregor. He wasn't sure what was going on.
"The baby in the prophecy was never your sister, Gregor. It was the Bane," said Vikus.
"The Bane? Why would it kill my heart if the Bane died?" said Gregor.
"Why did you not drain its light?" asked Vikus.
"Because it's a baby. It's just wrong," said Gregor. "It's the most evil thing...I...I mean, if you can kill a baby, what can't you do?"
"So says your heart. So says your most essential part," said Nerissa.
Gregor took a few steps back and sat on the cube. Nerissa's meaning was slowly dawning on him.
DIE the baby, die his heart, Die his most essential part.
His most essential part was the part that had spared the Bane. If he had killed it, he would have never been the same. He would have lost himself forever.
"You know," Vikus said to Nerissa, as if they were the only two in the room, "I am continually amazed by how badly we can interpret one of Sandwich's prophecies. Then the moment it is understood —"
"The whole thing is as clear as water," agreed Nerissa.
Vikus quoted a section from the prophecy:
What could turn the warrior weak? What do burning gnawers seek?
Just a barely speaking pup Who holds the land of Under up.
"The gnawers have always sought the Bane...," said Vikus.
"Who is just a barely speaking pup. Sandwich even went so far as to use the word 'pup.' The gnawers' own word for baby," said Nerissa.
"And the Bane holds the land of Under up," nodded Vikus.
"Because if Gregor had killed it...," continued Nerissa.
"Total war," said Vikus. "Its death would have been enough to rally them. Taking that pup to Ripred was a stroke of genius, Gregor. Oh, they will not know how to parry that move."
"Queen Nerissa, are we to continue this trial?" asked the head judge.
Nerissa looked up, as if she was surprised at her surroundings. "Trial? For the warrior? Of course there will be no trial! He has saved the Underland." She got to her feet, using Vikus for support, and saw the other defendants staring at her. She gave them a small smile, but directed her next line to Ares. "And all who helped him are held in our highest regard."
Ares ducked his head. Maybe it was a bow or maybe he couldn't look at her.
"Will you dine with me, you four? You look half-starved," said Nerissa. It was kind of ironic coming from her, but a welcome invitation.
Somewhat dazed by the recent turn of events, Gregor, Ares, Howard, and Andromeda straggled out of the courtroom after Nerissa. She led them to a small, private dining room. The table could seat no more than six. In one corner, water trickled in a fountain. Old tapestries hung on the walls. Gregor guessed the first Underlanders must have brought them from above, because they depicted scenes from the Overland, not this dark world. It was a calming place.
"It's nice in here," said Gregor.
"Yes," said Nerissa. "This is where I often take my meals."
They all took seats. People brought in platters of elegant food. Large fish stuffed with grain and herbs, tiny vegetables arranged in geometric patterns, steaming braided bread studded with fruit, paper-thin piles of roast beef, and Ripred's favorite, that shrimp in cream sauce. Heaping plates were placed in front of each of them.
"Do not suppose I always dine so sumptuously," said Nerissa. "This food was prepared for the coronation. Please, begin."
Gregor lifted his bread, dipped it in the cream sauce, and took a big bite.
For a while, they all concentrated on the food. Except Nerissa, who seemed to be mostly rearranging hers.
"I am afraid I am a poor conversationalist," said Nerissa. "Even at my best. And at present, grief for my cousin's fate has robbed me of what little I might venture to say."
"It is the same for all of us," Howard said sadly.
"Yes, no one here has been spared," said Nerissa.
It was true. The journey to the Labyrinth had given them all ample reason for grief. Gregor was glad that Nerissa acknowledged it and that they could continue in silence.
After days of insufficient food, Gregor's stomach was soon heavy with the rich dishes before him. The others stopped eating as well. You would think they'd all be shoveling down seven or eight helpings, but it didn't work that way.
Nerissa then sent the four of them down to the hospital. Andromeda and Howard hadn't received medical care or been allowed a bath, either.
"When did you guys get back?" asked Gregor.
"About twelve hours before you arrived. Andromeda was astonishing. She barely rested at all. When we landed, they took Mareth to the hospital, and locked us up. But I knew one of our guards. She whispered word of Mareth's recovery to us," said Howard.
At the hospital, all four of them were immediately sent to bathe. Gregor realized he must be knocking people over with the rotten-egg smell. After several days, he didn't much notice it anymore. He sank into a tub and felt all his injuries object. The squid-sucker marks on his arm, the aching ribs, the bump on his head from Ripred, the various abrasions and bruises from the stoning, the rope burns around his wrists. Wincing, he scrubbed himself down. It was lucky that the bathwater was continually carried away by the current. It would have been the color of mud by the time he was through.
The doctors treated his wounds. He spoke only when they asked him a direct question about an injury. When he finished, the others were waiting for him.