The professor found himself pacing anxiously up and down the entrance to the monastery, biting down on his already worn down thumbnail. It's been so long, where are they? It's been three days now and nothing. He was leaving tomorrow with his family and he'd like some comfort of knowing if they were alive or not. Truthfully, he found himself growing attached to Benjamin and he hoped, along with the rest of his family, that the young lad would come and stay with and them.
Feeling someone watching him, Barnabas turned to see his wife and Guinevere standing in the door frame, Vita had her hands on Guinevere's shoulders, his daughter looked a bit worried just as Barnabas was.
"Any sign of them?" Vita asked, with a headshake in response, Guinevere looked down and bit her lip.
"C'mon sweet-" Before Vita could finish her sentence, the sound of toy airplane filled their ears, breaking away from her mother, Guinevere ran forward and looked out towards the sky. Looking with his daughter, the professor used his hand to block out the harsh sunlight as he looked for the toy plane. Finally, the two of them found it, the little metal plane making a B-line for the monastery.
Seeing the plane didn't make Barnabas feel any better, in fact, it made him even more anxious over the fact that there was no sign of any dragons or dragon riders. Guinevere started to shake slightly, the closer Lola gotten, the more she noticed how banged up the little plane looked, and the fact that Firedrake was nowhere to be seen didn't help her anxiety.
Finally, the little plane got close enough to land on the ground below them, giving the rat some space to get out of plane, they watched as Lola had to kick the glass in order for the plane to let her out. The poor rat looked so distressed, her whole body shaking, her little whiskers twitching like crazy, still, as she made her way out of the cockpit, she carried out a small velvet baggy attached to a necklace. The professor held his breath when he recognized the baggy as Ben's. The baggy that the boy seemed to always have around his neck.
Slowly, the professor brought his palm out for the upset rat to climb on, she gratefully jumped on his palm, baggy in her mouth.
"They're dead...aren't they?" Guinevere squeaked out, her voice on the verge of breaking. Lola looked down at her paws sadly, a sob left Guinevere's mouth and quickly Vita started to shuffle her daughter away saying words of comfort to her. Once gone, Lola sat down on the professor's hand.
"I..." The professor started, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything, instead he took off his glasses with one hand wiped his misty eyes, not wanting to be seen crying. Doing his best to compose himself, he put his glasses back on and grabbed the baggy with his free hand. "This was Ben's? Yes?" He asked the rat who nodded.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't bring his whole bag back with me..."
"It's alright...It's something to remember him by...He was such a sweet child." Barnabas murmured softly as he stroked the velvet bag. He could feel items inside the bag. Placing Lola on one of the stone statues, he used both hands to open the baggy. Peeking inside it, he frowned, there was some silver dust from the basilisk, and a folded piece of paper. Gently he grabbed the folded paper and realized it was actually a photograph. Slowly, he unfolded it and sighed gently once he got a look at what it was a picture of.
Shutting his eyes, he folded it back and placed it within the baggy once more.
"Thank you, really, it's...Something...I should.." He paused for a moment to wipe at his misty eyes once more, "I should go and check on Guinevere." He breathed out and started towards the monastery. However, he heard Lola squeak out something that made him pause in midstep.
"He's still alive...Ben...He told me to give those to you guys...Told me to tell you guys that he died with everyone else."
Turning back around, the professor looked over towards Lola, his gaze an equal mix of confusion and depression.
"...He's still alive? Why would he ask you that? Is it because he's stuck on the mountain? We could get help for tha-"
"Nettlebrand...That monster made Ben his slave...Ate Twigleg right in front of the boy. I saw everything...I went to go back and help Ben while the monster slept, but, there was nothing I could do, the human was too big for my plane and he seemed to understand that, so, he gave me that baggy there...I...You didn't see him...he might as well be dead, he lost all hope..." Lola spoke, her voice weak, the professor just stared off at the mountain above, he then shook his head,
"It would of been better if he was dead...If he was stuck on the mountain it would of been one thing...but, he's a slave to that monster...there is no hope. Not for him..." The professor breathed, the feeling of depression starting to flow though him, turning back around to the monastery, he could see the Dalai lama rushing towards him, obviously going to see what had his daughter so upset. Before he walked to the lama to break the bad news to the monks, he spoke one last time to Lola,
"Truthfully, I would of felt better thinking he was dead, at least then I would of known he was at peace, they don't need to know that...As far as they will know...The dragon rider is dead and Nettlebrand as reigned victorious..."