Okay so I got a computer, finally, and it is soooo much easier to type on than my tiny phone so I literally wrote this entire chapter tonight. Sorry about the wait friends :) college has been happening for a week and a day now and it's not as crazy busy as I thought (yet. yet is a very big word) Enjoy! 
-Wordsmith

     Negotiations seem to be going well. Vikus, Luxa, Kel (on Luxa's request), Nerissa, Ripred, Lorax the spider, Avian and Eris the fliers, Thornwill the digger, and a few crawlers are all gathered in the great hall, seated on the floor away from the table.  The Overlanders--Henry, Joseph, Marc, Cadun, Richard, and Dane--sit across from us in a line, with three guards stationed a reasonable distance away. Just close enough to leap into action if the men threaten us in any way, but just far enough to not intrude on the conversation.
     A few fliers circle overhead too. One of them I easily identify as Flite, with his rider, Ade. But the others are foreign. Now and then though, I think I catch a glimpse of chocolate-brown fur and I know Demetri is watching the men. I wonder which one of the newcomers killed Daman, her bond. Or if it was one of the other four miners who aren't here yet.
     "Why should we believe these so-called prophecies, huh?" Richard asks, not angrily, but with genuine doubt. "They sound a lot like some voo-doo ghost crap, and you people look crazy enough, too."
     "Like frickin' ghosts." Cadun says definitively with a sharp nod. He doesn't say much, but when he does it's usually to support one of the other Overlanders, and never in our favor.
     "We are not all Underlanders." Vikus says for about the fiftieth time. "Gregor here is one of your people. He vouches for our honesty and sincerity."
     I nod importantly, trying not to show how bored I am with these negotiations that feel like chasing each other in circles.
Please stop mining.
   But why should we stop mining?
You might kill everyone here.
   What the hell are you anyway? You
   don't even look like people.
We're Underlanders, please don't kill us like the prophecy says.
   Prophecies are crap so why should
   we believe you when you don't even
   look like people?
Gregor is a person, believe him.
   He's a kid, and what would he know
   about mining anyway?
He knows that it might kill us because prophecies are real  and we are real people who might die... Just please stop mining.
     And so on. Over and over again. 
     I make eye contact with Eris and he rolls his eyes in a very human expression of boredom. I pull up the corner of my mouth in a half smile and silently heave a sigh as the conversation again returns to the fact that the Underlanders look like the living dead. Eris' wings vibrate with suppressed laughter.
     Now Marc is talking, his tone abrasive and angry. "Yeah, yeah, we get it already! The great spirit of prophecy that lives in that scrawny skeletal girl say that you're gonna die." He slaps his palm down on the stone floor to emphasize his words. "But we've been mining for weeks now and NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. So no, we won't stop, and for the love of all things not utterly useless can we just get back to it?!"
     Vikus rubs his fingers against his temples wearily. Nerissa doesn't seem to be paying much attention, her eyes flickering around dreamily and occasionally falling on Henry, only to look away again. Luxa doesn't seem to know what to do. Her fists are clenched in her lap, indignant at the lack of respect Marc is showing, and at the lack of understanding for the basis of her entire world.
     It seems it's my turn to talk now, and I try to think of what to say. There are still random images rolling through my head. Not really blood memories of the past, but thoughts of the future and pictures from my recent dreams.
     The woman standing alone, a shadowed figure now approaching from far away, but fading in and out of focus, occasionally colored blood-red.
     Pools of blood with bodies soaking in them. Human figures walking among the bodies with silver stick-like objects pointed in front of them. The blood fading away and reappearing like the flickering of light on water.
     Pools, lakes, and oceans of water exploding overhead. Falling everywhere, drowning me. Drowning us. Before draining away and revealing the same people with shiny sticks, almost like metal.
     "Nothing has happened. In that, you are correct." I say carefully, trying to word my argument in as convincing a way as possible. "Nothing has happened, but that doesn't mean nothing will happen. 'Yet' is a very big word that I think you keep forgetting. Nothing has happened yet. But that doesn't mean it won't. Are you really willing to risk the lives of hundreds of humans, hundreds of thousands of fliers, gnawers, crawlers, diggers, spinners, and others simply to earn a little money?"
     "Of course not." Dane says immediately, at the same time that Richard shrugs and Marc says "What risk?"
     "It doesn't really matter if we stop or not." Marc continues. "We aren't the only ones who know about the diamonds. We have four other guys, and they're probably just starting in the tunnels right now. They were planning to go down Eta about an hour ago. And more people will find out about the gems soon enough. They'll just keep coming, and there's no way you'll be safe then. Prophecy or not."
     "Wait," Luxa says, eyes a little wide. "The other men are mining right now?"
     "Yeah." Cadun nods vigorously. "They said so. Mining tonight, mining tonight down Eta and they're goin' for the big one. There's one the size of an egg, see. I saw it myself. All shiny and sparkly." He wiggles his fingers.
     "Uh-oh." I make eye contact with Eris and he knows what I want to do before I even look at him. He's already moving toward me, silver coat shimmering. Luxa is standing and waving her hands in the air, signaling for Aurora. We need to stop the miners immediately.
     But before any of us can do more than touch our fliers, a rumbling sound comes from outside the palace walls. From the direction of the Waterway. From the direction of Eta.
    A very unpleasant swear word comes from my mouth. One I've never had the occasion to use before, but it seems like a perfectly fine time now. A wave of panic hits me head on. Blood, blood, blood. Dead Underlanders. Gnawers, fliers. Blood.
     The next ten seconds are a blur of riders leaping on their bats. Luxa and I are airborne first. Vikus scrambles onto Euripedes the moment he touches the ground. Kel follows us, looking strangely calm and eerily stone-faced. The guards are up a moment later and the bats overhead join us at Vikus' cry to follow. Nerissa watches with a look of fear before joining Ripred in ushering the other Underland creatures into the palace.
     Eris aims for the top of the wall like an arrow fired from a bow, and angles over it expertly with inches to spare, not wasting a single millisecond in slowing or flying higher to clear it. If the grinding and rumbling of stone wasn't echoing around inside my head, accompanied by images of water and death, I would marvel at his flying skills. But there isn't time. Blood. Pools of it. No time.
     Our small band of Underlanders jets through the dim air over the lights of Regalia. A few moments later another group of fliers comes into view, fleeing from the direction of the rumbling noise. They're waving their arms frantically, mouths clearly screaming but unintelligible from this distance.
     Eris, whose hearing must be better than any of the other bats with us, calls out an interpretation. "They are saying to get away! Water is coming, like a great monster!"
     Luxa looks terrified. She is supposed to be the Queen, the leader, of the Regalians and she has no clue how to handle a disaster like this. Her eyes glance from the front to the city below her, torches flickering and the questioning faces of men and children as the rumbling of shifting stone ripples around us. Waves, lakes, oceans of water. Then Luxa's expression hardens.
     "GET THE PEOPLE TO THE HIGH HALL!" She screams to the group, confidence and urgency lining her voice in a razor edge that leaves no room for hesitation or disobedience. Every flier in our company instantly drops into a steep dive, heading for the people closest to the rumbling sound. Those on the edge of the glittering stone city.
     Eris scoops up a dark-haired woman and two small children in his claws. They scream in surprise and fear, and a little pain. I know Eris is trying to be gentle, but we're running on a death clock, so it's better for these people to be hurt than for him to waste time that will inevitably sentence more to death.
     Back at the palace wall, we deposit the three Underlanders and I scream at the guards to help evacuate the city. To get every flier immediately and help us. As we take off again, our number has grown. About twenty more men and women are racing along with us on bats of every color, from rust to gold to pitch. A flash of chocolate fur catches my eye as Demetri streaks toward the city like a bullet, the fastest of us all, determination and grief fueling her break-neck speed.
     Eris dives again, and I feel almost useless on his back, only weighing him down. I need to help too. Somehow. Bodies floating in blood. Water rolling over in walls of waves. The silver flier seems to read my mind and as he dives again he tilts sideways, tucking in a wing. His claws snatch a man and another child, and I just have time to catch the arm of a teenage girl and pull her along before we impossibly pull out of the dive and race back to the wall. I don't waste time pulling the girl up behind me, but hold her awkwardly against my side with both arms and deposit her the moment we reach the palace.
     Six. Six saved. Now back for more.
     The fliers around us are beginning to thicken into a cloud of wings and claws. The wall is filling up and people are either rushing inside or jumping onto their own fliers the first chance they get so they can help. A few bats bring in gnawers and roaches, although there weren't many in the city to begin with, but most of the Regalians are focused on saving humans and leaving the others for last.
     No one even knows why we're evacuating. In the Overland there would be questions. Complaints and accusations slowing down any rescue operation that might be trying to take place. But the Underland world is full of danger, and the people have seen enough to know that not a moment can be spared with questions when there is even the tiniest chance of a single life being lost. Maybe that's another reason I feel like I belong down here. There aren't enough Overlanders who care about others, but in the Underland you don't even have to know a person to trust that they would help you without a second's hesitation.
     Eris dives again, this time aiming for two old women, possibly sisters, with his claws, and angling his body so I am in reach of a two little children--a boy and a girl--that must be twins. I don't know how Eris will be able to carry all of our weight, but his strength and skill have amazed me so far, and maybe he can continue to do so.
     I feel connected to him in a strange and comforting way. Like a sword is an extension of an arm, I feel like an extension of Eris.
     I know we won't fail.
     But neither of us are expecting what's looming in front of us. The wave--no, the wall of water that comes hurtling toward us. In moments it crashes down a street and comes down on top of us, engulfing me from head to toe. Suffocating.