The bottom of his hanging cage met the ground with a heavy thud as the guards finished lowering the chains. Nearly three times his height and as broad as battle tanks, the trolls that oversaw him grunted and growled as they approached, causing him shrink back against the iron bars.

"What are you doing?" Walter Strickler tried to sound brave as they unfastened the lock. "Why are you taking me out?"

"Because," Vendel's strong voice rang out from behind the two hulking masses. "You have agreed to help the Trollhunter's mother. I cannot very well break the enchantment without you, now can I?"

The guards stepped aside, and Vendel came between them as Walter rose from his knees. He reached a hand out to the changeling. "That is, if you are ready."

Strickler's shoulders sagged in relief. "Well," he said, "I didn't exactly agree; I said I'd consider."

Vendel nearly rolled his eyes, "Did you manage strike a deal with the trollhunter?"

"Yes," answered Strickler.

"Then you agree." The white troll gestured to the empty room. "As I said, you have little choice; regardless of whether or not you want to save this 'Barbara', you will want to save yourself. I made you an offer. Will you uphold your end of it?"

Strickler held a finger up, "one more thing."

"It amazes me that you continue to maintain the delusion that you have any say in this matter, but what is it now?"

Strickler's head sunk, green eyes closing against his next words. "Erase her memory," he said. "Everything before the binding; everything I was to her. Erase it. Neither Jim nor his mother can know, you'll have to disguise it as part of the incantation. They'd never agree to it."

Vendel paused, and then he shook his head, incredulous. "Undoing the binding will be hard enough without adding this extra element. During the separation, you will be taking the pain of her body into you own, meaning that your suffering will increase twofold. To include more in that process could prove too much, even for a changeling."

"Please," he said as he took a step closer to the larger troll. The guards growled in response, to which Vendel raised a hand. The changeling lowered himself back down to one knee. "I can take it."

The great leader leaned against his staff. "Why?"

"Taking away the pain of her body is pointless if you don't undo the treachery I have unleashed upon her heart."

"She is strong; she will survive it." Vendel said, and started to turn away.

"Master Vendel, I can't." He heard his voice echo within the cavern, heart beating fast.

The white troll stopped, turned, waited.

"I've committed countless crimes," Walter continued, his eyes tracing the cold stone of the ground, "broken many promises, injured a myriad of innocents, but this...I abhor what I have done. I took someone who very bravely patched herself together after many years of being torn apart, and roughed her up all over again. Perhaps I've picked an inconvenient time to grow a conscience, but if it's all the same, then I beg of you to do this. Maybe it is selfish, but it'll be one less human who knows about our world, and one less soul that has to suffer.

"Hmm," Vendel mused, "you have a point about the humans having knowledge of this realm- there are already too many-but it's not enough to convince me that taking this risk is worthwhile. You must face the consequences of your actions, Stricklander, and so must she…if you want to erase these memories so badly, then you should have considered not creating them in the first place."

"You think I don't know that!?" The changeling growled, blood boiling as he stood. In a flash of green, he morphed into his other form, and lunged at the elder troll. This time, the guards did not refrain. An arm grabbed him roughly from behind, gripping onto the scruff of his neck, making him cry out in pain, while an axe head blocked his path from Vendel.

"Get off of me," he hissed, tilting his head back so that his horns would dig into the guard's arm. The guard let go, but only briefly enough to shift his grip in order to grab both of Walter's horns. He tugged the changeling's head back, grinning while the other troll held the sharp end of the axe against his neck.

"Violence will not do you any good here, changeling." Vendel's voice ebbed calmly above the chaos. "And it certainly won't help the fleshbag mother."

Despite Vendel's words, Walter continued to struggle, his unbroken long reaching up to claw at the guard's grip on his head. His captor merely lifted him further into the air.

Vendel pushed the axe aside, stepping up to Stickler, who hung in the air like a kitten. A large, white hand reached out to brush against the glowing purple wound on the changeling's neck.

Strickler cried out and green limbs froze, curling in upon themselves like a spider's. He could hear Barbara's confused and anguished cry in the distance. He struggled only a moment more before he deflated, shoulders sinking down and yellow eyes closing in shame as he let go of his rage.

"Agh!" He cried out as another wave of pain shot through his shoulder. Vendel nodded and the guard let go of his horns. He fell to the ground, palms hitting the cold floor with a thunder crack of stone. Still reeling from the fight, the troll who'd held him gave him an extra kick in the stomach.

The changeling fell to his side on the ground, cape splaying out behind him. He sucked in a breath as his insides knotted up in pain. This time, Barbara all but screamed.

"I've had enough," he wheezed through labored breaths, "I've had enough," he said again.

The elder troll scowled and pointed his staff at the overenthusiastic guard. "Demonstrate a lack of restraint one more time and you will be joining the changeling behind bars, is that understood?"

The other troll pouted with a nod as Vendel, ever patient, returned to Strickler's side. His great, grey eyes scanned the changeling's exposed back where the cape had fallen free, and widened.

"By my horns," he said roughly, and with no attempt to hide his surprise. "What on earth has happened to your wings?"

Walter's eyes squeezed tight against the lingering pain.

"Gunmar happened to them." He moaned into the ground. His claws scraped the stone as he propped himself up on one arm. "He tore them off to use as leverage against any inclinations of betrayal I might harbor in the future. I was a cunning soldier, ambitious, and rose quickly among his ranks-often at the expense of my comrades. Gunmar saw greatness within me—usefulness, I should say—but also a propensity for mutiny."

The changeling began to rise, free hand clutching his stomach as he lifted from the ground. The scars along his back shone dully in the candied, crystal light. When he faltered, Vendel helped, until he stood gingerly at full height. He eyed the elder troll with a look that bordered on surprise. "My wings were beautiful," he continued after a time, still regarding Vendel with his yellow gaze. "Each the height and breadth of one of your rock-for-brains goons over there, and twice as strong..."

The guards snorted.

"They were the source of my prowess," Strickler gestured to the air. "To take them from me was to steal my very soul. Gumar knew this, and he knew that—much like your precious Heartstone-what made me powerful also made me vulnerable. One day, I made a suggestion. Just a suggestion, that he treat my kind with more consideration. You see, I'd found one of our top soldiers, Nomura, on the ground, scrubbing up the carnage of a trio of goblins he'd pulverized earlier. We were elite warriors, not common house drudges. I merely implied that she could be put to better use serving him in another way." His green hands balled into fists, "he very kindly stripped me of my wings as a result. I won't describe the pain-you can't imagine it-but I can assure you that whatever pain you fear may come, I can endure. "

Dangling limply at the Strickler's side was his injured arm, along with its sling from which it had fallen loose. Vendel sighed as he moved to fix and fasten the injury. "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. In your own words, changeling, you've had enough."

"Funny," Walter mused when Vendel stepped away. "You think my kind is weak." He adjusted his cape to cover his old scars. "Gunmar thought the same. Now he relies on our 'lack of strength' to get him out of the Darklands. Do not make the same mistake in judgement. The strength of our species can be yours if-"

"I do not respond to pointless bribes and veiled threats," Vendel interrupted him, staff hitting the ground like a gavel "Your coercion tactics will not work here."

"That is not how I see it." The changeling held Vendel's gaze, "I simply haven't offered the right prize. If you can't be persuaded by pity or power, then you can be compelled by your own desperation. This. Must. Happen. It will protect her and me. As I said, there are threats beyond these walls that you do not know of. Those of us who walk in the light can clearly see them. I need to know that her associations with me cannot be traced by magic, or by some truth-seeking elixir. You have to seal her memories. If you're worried about punishment, my punishment." He paused, feeling the cold dread of fate rolling down his spine, "then maybe I have something to offer."

Vendel breathed in, then out, and nodded his great head. "I am listening," he said.

"The eye of Gunmar," Strickler growled, and with a flick of his fingers, he produced the glowing treasure out of thin air, holding it up to Vendel's clouded eyes. "It is with me," he flicked his fingers again, and the artifact disappeared, "and only I can access it through magic. You kill me, and you will lose it. Do what I ask," he produced the eye once more, "and I will give it to the Trollhunter. He needs it. You all do to win this fight."

"And what is your punishment?"

"A life like yours," he answered as he folded his free arm, "scratching around in these caves. If the Trollhunter succeeds in defeating Gunmar in the Darklands, then he will undoubtedly stumble upon the den of familiars trapped in that realm. You know the legend, the stories of our creation—we need a human counterpart to fulfill our duty. If he rescues my familiar, I will not be able to do this…" A flash of light and he was human again. Walter closed his eyes. "The only kindness I have ever known is from humans, from being able to share in their existence. I feel more at home with them than I do with troll-kind. Without my humanity, I will be stripped of every comfort I have ever known. "

Vendel lifted his chin to the top of his staff, using it as a resting post. Several cold heartbeats pumped through Walter's veins before the troll spoke again.

"I can't help but to think that you have some other plan at work here, but the Eye of Gunmar…that is indeed an offer I cannot refuse. Hold the artifact up to the light. I will not take it from you."

"You can't," the changeling said as he held the eye skyward.

"Oh, believe me, I can." Vendel's hand rose. He held his palm over the glowing piece, inches away, though he did not take it. Soft, low words began to flow out of his mouth, their tone rising and falling like the glow of hot coals. When Vendel stopped, he paused and looked up at the changeling.

"This is Gunmar's eye," he said, sounding unsurprised. "Well then, Stricklander, you will have your way after all."

The changeling's smile bordered on smugness.

"When the Trollhunter's friends return with the incantation, I will see whether or not it is possible to work an additional chant into its uttering. If so, then I will let you know at once. I can pass it off as the side effect of meddling with botched-up Gumm-Gumm spellwork. If I can't weave it in, you will still give us the eye. I wasn't just testing its validity a moment ago, I placed a beacon on you that will send an army of frost-hounds your way at my bidding . You must give the Trollhunter that artifact, or you will suffer a frozen fate. "

"That's hardly fair," he snorted, the artifact vanishing in an instant. "I told you-if I die, it will be lost."

"Oh, they won't kill you." Vendel added. "You're not the only one with clever tactics."

"Fine," Walter said, his eyes flashing yellow.

"One more thing," said Vendel as he gestured to the air. "Working with memory spells is tricky business. I can't 'remove' her memory so much as I can condense and reassign it. If I do this, all of her associations with you will be filtered into one or two significant moments. These moments will be ushered deep into her subconscious mind. I can't guess which ones they'll be, because her mind will be the one that choses them, but I will warn you...if she is ever given cause to remember one of them, she runs the risk of remembering all. Did you ever give her anything of significance? Any records, letters, photographs...? They must be taken out of the picture."

Walter paused, thinking through his times with her. Memories churned through his mind in fragments and broken slivers-kisses and cars and strawberry shortcake. "I…" he paused, taken aback by his own conclusion. "Nothing. I never gave her anything."

The emptiness he felt was staggering. He bit his lip, running a hand through his hair. It sounded terrible, he knew. In the end, it hadn't been about buying his way into things, or showing off. He simply wanted to spend time with her. Humans had so little of time, and he'd unjustly stolen hers. Now, he only wanted to give what he could back.

"You are sure there is nothing to remove?" Vendel raised a brow. "If her association with an object, location , or even an individual is strong or unique enough, her memories with start to trickle here and there. Then they will burst, like water through the walls of a cave."

Walter shook his head. "She has no reason to come near my dwelling again, and there is nothing else aside. Nothing. Now, are we settled?"

"Very well." The larger troll nodded. "If you are sure, then steel yourself. The time has come for you to say goodbye. We must hurry."

Vendel's hand came around his back and, gently, the leader nudged him forward. He obeyed, each step thundering as it led him forward, heart fluttering around like a caged bird within the confines of his chest. A bird, he thought, that knew it was about to lose its wings.