~ PANDORA

"Leave this room at once!" Eurymedon shouted. "I refuse to have such a dishonorable man in my presence." Vikus looked stunned, a hand on his cheek, but he didn't say anything; neither did Luxa, although she looked absolutely furious. Pandora was concerned, not only for Vikus but also for Gregor. Something was wrong.

"Wait! Please," Pandora said, getting up from her chair quickly and heading to the back of the room. Gregor was still standing, breathing hard, with his eyes closed and hands massaging his temples. "Gregor?" she asked, reaching out slowly to touch the back of his hand. She braced herself for any sort of aggression.

Gregor flinched and his eyes shot open, but he did not retaliate.

"Will you listen to what I have to say?" Gregor seemed to have a hard time training his eyes to look at Pandora's, but he eventually nodded. "You don't have to sit down if you don't want to. Just listen." She walked to the front of the room.

"May I?" Pandora asked Luxa, gesturing to the front of the room. Luxa nodded and motioned for Pandora to join her.

"I don't mean to undermine what you've already planned in any way, General," Pandora started, not wanting Eurymedon to take offense and get any angrier. "But I just wanted to share my opinion with you. What you're probably going to do is use Regalia's existing army of fliers and their bonds, right?"

"Of course," Luxa affirmed.

"That is the obvious starting point," General Eurymedon said.

"What I'm guessing is you just tacked on our allies after that. Stingers here, gnawers there, crawlers here, et cetera." The queen and general were silent. "Let me take you back in time... thousands of years ago, to the time of the Romans." As Pandora talked, she kept her eyes mostly on Gregor. For some odd reason, he was having trouble calming down. It reminded her of how she felt when she saw the stingers for the first time – completely incapacitated. Maybe Gregor was having a similar feeling, although Pandora didn't know why.

"The Romans used a tactic known as the phalanx, a deadly battle strategy," Pandora explained. "Each member of the army carried a large spear and a shield. They fought in a tight formation that had many advantages. One, the people in front couldn't turn and run away because the people in back kept pushing forward. Two, not only could they protect themselves, but they could protect the people around them. Since they needed to thrust their spears out, this left only half of their bodies covered by the shield. Each member of the army was expected to protect the person on their left with the other half of their shield." Pandora paused for a second to let all the information sink in. "They relied on one another. They fought together as one unit, and I think the Underlanders might feel more connected and more empowered if we used a strategy like the phalanx. I think it would be really useful, but with a few changes."

Pandora looked back at Gregor once more; he seemed to be more focused and more relaxed. She smiled kindly. "What do you think about that, Gregor?"

~ GREGOR

Gregor had failed at controlling his emotions again. He was so frustrated with himself that he almost forgot what had set him off in the first place.

Cold. Heartless. Uncompassionate. How could the general call the other Underland creatures disposable? And then he had the nerve to say Gregor was disrespectful! If anything, the general was the one who was disrespectful! His tone didn't help Gregor's already-shot nerves either.

When he slapped Vikus... he knew he had to reign his rager side in.

Gregor felt like he was possessed. Hurting the old man was something Gregor would never do.

He rubbed his hands on his temples, eyes closed, trying to remember what Ripred had said to him. He told him to focus on one thing, and Gregor attempted to focus on the memory, but in his rager state, he couldn't remember all the words. He wanted to cry... and the intense emotion of sadness mingled with his anger, increasing his anxiety with every pound of his heart and every ragged breath he took.

Then somebody touched his hand.

It was the girl in the front... Pandora. They said she was from his apartment building, but now that she was closer to him, Gregor didn't recognize her at all. She was quite pretty, with long brown hair and light eyes that were not quite blue. He switched his tactic so he was focusing on her words instead of trying to remember Ripred's. She was telling him to listen, so he nodded.

By paying attention only to Pandora, Gregor was able to clear his mind. He was grateful for what she had done for him, whether she knew how much it helped or not. He would have been devastated if he had done any more damage to the people around him.

"I like the idea," Gregor said when Pandora asked for his opinion. "What kind of changes would you make?"

"Well, for starters," Pandora replied, "the one disadvantage of the phalanx is the one unprotected side of the final row of soldiers. There isn't another man's shield to block their spear hand."

As Pandora talked, Luxa retrieved a piece of parchment and started drawing. Gregor walked from where he was at the back of the room to join them at the front. As she dipped a pen in ink and started writing, Gregor glanced back at Vikus. His cheek was still red from where Gregor hit him. Vikus gave him a forgiving smile when Gregor looked at him apologetically. Once Luxa was finished, she placed the parchment on the large table for everyone to see. It was a hasty drawing of the fields of Regalia, just outside the front gates.

"A gnawer on the final soldier's unarmed side could work," she said. "Or the formation could be running beside a wall of crawlers. What think you of this, General?"

"If we place them strategically on the fields and on the arena, the fliers could cover a different front."

"Yes, from the side," Mareth suggested, leaning forward in his chair to get a closer look at the map.

"What about the stingers?" Gregor asked. He watched as Luxa drew small shapes or arrows on the parchment to show troops and directions. "They're not the type of creature who enjoys fighting."

"How about near the wall to keep cutters who survive the main assault from climbing over?" Mareth asked. "It could be more efficient than boiling oil. And less hazardous to our own troops." Gregor shivered at a memory that was suddenly brought up from the deep reaches of his mind. A rat drenched in hot oil, then lit on fire. He took a deep breath and stared at the map Luxa was still drawing up. He couldn't afford another outburst.

"What about the arena? How could the cutters get in there? It seems pretty secure on its own," Pandora asked.

"It usually is secure," Luxa said. "The moths that cover the entrance filter out any scents, so it is very difficult to trace the tunnels leading to it. Other than that, it has no defense. However, the tunnels are very small. Would this phalanx strategy work there as well?"

"Actually, it might work better," Pandora said. "The phalanx is pretty effective in those types of spaces. A very small Spartan army took on the entire Persian force at a narrow pass known as Thermopylae. It forced the giant army of Persians to thin out, so when they got to the phalanxes, there were less of them. It acted as a bottleneck, with the Persian forces slowly trickling out. I think it would be best to have phalanxes stationed in front of the tunnel entrances at the arena."

"I would also post my own battalion of fliers in the arena. Along with stingers and gnawers mixed in with the troops. And a line of crawlers to blockade the city for a last defense," General Eurymedon suggested.

Once Luxa had everything scrawled onto parchment, the group studied them, trying to find any holes in the plan. After a minute or two of silence, Mareth spoke up. "This could work."

"Yes, I believe it will," Cleon said.

"There's only one way to find out," the sandy-colored bat replied.

"Let's hope we don't have to," Gregor replied.

Mareth quickly wrapped up the meeting and Gregor was relieved that he could finally leave. As he walked out into the hall, he thought about what just happened.

He was impressed. Not only was Pandora smart and helpful, but she was also comforting and supportive. He wished he had known her earlier, back when his family lived in the apartment building. That way, it wouldn't have just been Ms. Cormaci giving them a helping hand.

Howard's father, York, entered the meeting soon after everyone sat back down. Although Gregor could tell he was still in a bad mood, York seemed to have calmed down. He probably went for a walk around the palace to settle his nerves.

The rest of the meeting time was spent discussing every Underland creature's strengths and weaknesses, including the cutters, improvements to the plan, and any new developments and pieces of information that they received from scouts. It was all very dull to Gregor, who had no interest in being a part of the war. He was relieved when the meeting was called to a close.

"This debating has made me famished," Vikus said as he slowly stood up. "Would anyone care to join me in the luxury room for a meal?"

"I would love to," Pandora said politely.

"Me too!" The little sandy-colored bat next to her exclaimed. Mareth, Perdita, and York agreed to go as well. Luxa, Eurymedon, and Cleon stayed behind.

"Yeah, I'll go," Gregor said, following everyone as they exited the war room. Joining up with Vikus, Gregor decided he needed to apologize to the old man. "Hey, Vikus?"

"Yes, Gregor?"

"I'm really sorry about hitting you. It happened so fast, I couldn't stop myself. And I regretted it immediately afterwards, and..."

Vikus stopped him by raising the hand that was not using his cane. "I understand, Gregor. I'm quite alright, and I accept your apology."

Gregor returned the old man's smile.If he could stay as far away from the Underlander's war as humanly possible,Gregor thought, he might be able to stay calm enough to keep his rager sideunder control. He had many friends who understood his gift and were willing tohelp, not to mention a personal tutor who went through very similar problems.Predicting an optimistic future, which was something Gregor refused to do as akid, was becoming easier to do.