"Well, how much further is it?" Henry asked, tugging at the straps of his backpack. He regretted having taken all of his things with him, the pack was heavier than he was used to.

The brown moth Kuthe had sent to escort him to the spinners' lair made an unidentifiable noise. "Not far. Half an hour perhaps."

They continued in silence. Anxiety rose in Henry all of a sudden – what would await him at his destination? He remembered vaguely having visited the spinners during the quest for the Prophecy of Gray – and having been taken prisoner immediately. Back then they had barely escaped, and he remembered talking to Luxa about how nothing in the world could get him to return there ever.

Now look at me, he thought, doing what I said I never would. But that had kind of become a habit as of recently, he realized, doing things he said or thought he never would.

"I will not go further. I do not want to anger the spinners. If you do, that is your problem", his guide suddenly stopped. "Just follow the tunnel until the end, cross the river, enter the passage there and you will reach their lair."

Henry nodded. "Tell your queen it was nice making deals with her – and, if she ever needs a mercenary – or knows someone who does – she can always call me!"

He nodded, before disappearing into the darkness. Henry turned back ahead and continued walking down the tunnel. When it ended, he suddenly found himself in a cave – a cave with a river streaming through it.

Henry realized he recognized the location. This was where he and the other travelers had met Ripred and his companions for the first time – and were attacked by them. They had told Gregor and his sister to run and warded the rats off as well as they could.

Painful memories suddenly tugged at his heart, not just of his friends, but also of his own state at the time. Henry remembered the sleepless nights he spent, thinking about whether he'd made the right decision allying himself with Gorger, and what consequences that would have for his family. For himself.

He remembered the feeling of being torn, scared and confused. The feeling of being conceited and vain – untouchable. Nobody would thwart his plans, his was the only right and admirable choice.

Henry almost chuckled at how foolish he had been. But, he realized, he only found it funny because he knew the rats for who they were now. Would he be stripped of that knowledge, he didn't know how he would act. If he would even act differently.

Henry stopped for a moment – when, how, did all of that even begin? His memory reeled back to a day, maybe a year ago, when he had been out on a trip with Vikus, Solovet, and Luxa, without their fliers, as they had been called to their homeland for some sort of celebration for a few days. He and Luxa had played a ball game, and the ball had rolled off into a side tunnel. Henry had run after in – and directly into the claws of a rat.

He had thought he was done for when he first saw her – but she hadn't harmed a hair on his body. Instead, she had sat down on her hind legs and started asking him questions.

He remembered her fur, shiny and silvery like the metal. And her eyes – every single other rat he ever met had always had hatred in their eyes when they looked at a human, but not her.

As she had asked him questions, she in return told him about herself. What had her name been again – right, Tonguetwist. She had been friendly and almost caring and he had enjoyed the conversation with her. When he had to go back that day, she had asked him to meet her again.

Ever since then Henry had used the secret tunnel in the nursery to sneak out of the palace to meet her. Gradually she had filled his head with pretty lies, like how the gnawers were simply misunderstood, and that most didn't even want to battle the humans. King Gorger had sent her as an emissary, but she had been rejected and chased away at the gates of Regalia.

Henry had listened, and he had believed. He didn't have any reason not to. All the things she had been saying had been in his own head as well, after all – how the war was unnecessary and how the rats and the humans should unite instead, to rule over the Underland as the two strongest species – together.

She had told sad stories of her own life, about her dead mate, and her two pups of which one, whose name Henry had forgotten, died only a few weeks after birth. The living one, he was almost certain her name had been Twirltongue, was the only thing still precious to her in life.

And one step at a time, one sob story after the other, she had gained more and more control over his confused and desperate for power and attention teenage brain.

Henry shook his head about himself. How did he ever allow someone – let alone a rat – drive him to betray his own people? He sighed. It had been hard times, he had been young and scared – and yet, none of that excused what he did, he was perfectly aware of that. Though, it wasn't exactly like he had gotten away with it either. After all, here he was – in exile and alone – suffering the consequences of his actions.

Henry decided to take a quick break at the very same river. He caught a fish and grilled it over the torch before making it into a sandwich with the last bread he had. While eating he eyed the tunnel across the river that led into the spinners' lair. He needed to think about how he was going to proceed. After all, queen Wevox had seen his face before, even if only briefly. She further almost certainly knew his name.

Henry groaned. Did he really have to introduce himself as "Wielder of Light" again? The name was fancy and all, but he wasn't sure if it was a good exile-name in general.

He decided to try and avoid having to introduce himself as much as possible and pulled a hood over his head to conceal his face. It was dark in the cave, there was no way they would recognize him after almost half a year of exile and with the hood on.

When he was about to cross the river Henry realized he was putting all his trust in the fact that the spinners would not web him if he said he was here to do trade. And what if they wouldn't care?

Angrily he shook his head. There was no use worrying about that now. His mind was made up, he would go in no matter what. Looks like he'd just have to risk it.

In front of the entry to the spinner tunnel, Henry refilled his torch and sighed. It was all or nothing now, he thought, as he pushed a few webs aside and entered the tunnel.

It was completely dark, yet the giant cave was filled with scurrying, buzzing life, like it always was. The spinners were many things, but lazy was most certainly not one of them.

There was no reason to expect a change anytime soon, and yet, all of a sudden, a faint glow, almost like from a torch, came into view, near the main entrance. Every spinner in the cave immediately turned their head and squinted their eyes at the unusual brightness. They all knew an intruder was approaching, and three of them immediately took positions at the entrance to greet them, according to who they would turn out to be.

When the curtain of webs, that covered the exit to the tunnel, was finally pushed aside and the intruder with the torch stepped into the room, he immediately found himself surrounded by almost two-feet-tall spiders.

"He– ", before he could finish the yell, he remembered the spinners hated noise. He quickly regained control and even dimmed the bright light of his torch by holding it closer to the wall and continued in a much more quiet voice – "Hey, sorry, but – no need to web me. I come to do trade."

Thanatos' ears winced when he heard the voice and his eyes jolted open. He was in a far corner of the cave, hidden out of sight by thick layers of web, and only if he cricked his head to see, he was able to make out silhouettes at the entrance, not nearly enough for details or faces. But he would have recognized that voice anywhere.

The spinners that surrounded the human intruder remained silent at his statement. He seemingly casually shifted from one leg to the other. "Listen, I'm not interested in trouble. But you guys kind of kidnapped a friend of mine a while ago, and I'd like him back now please."

A few of the spinners hissed.

"Hey, I'm not saying I'm not willing to pay for his release – business, remember? And I believe you all will be very interested in what I have to offer."

Thanatos would have rolled his eyes if the situation hadn't been so grave. He had known that just hearing his voice didn't justify any sort of relief. What in the world was he doing? He had nothing to offer, at least as far as the flier thought. What was his plan – did he even have a plan? He sighed internally – the kid was utterly hopeless. Though, one question remained, being how in the world had he even found him, especially after all this time...?

Suddenly a single, huge spider lowered itself down on a string from the ceiling. Her body was of an unusual orange and the others drew back respectfully when they noticed her.

She now cowered before the intruder, and started speaking, by rubbing one of her legs against her chest. Her voice was deep and quiet, but a certain commandeering tone couldn't be overheard either.

"I am queen Wevox of the spinners. We do not like humans here. Our only prisoner now is the flier. He is already sold. You must leave now or we will web you."

The matter seemed to be settled for her now, as she turned from him again, ready to disappear into the darkness.

"However much those other guys paid you for him, I am most certain I can give more."

The queen froze at his words and Thanatos would have given a lot for the possibility to facepalm.

"More? What more?" She asked, seemingly eyeing him.

"Something that you all want more than anything, so I hear." He turned his back on them and took off his backpack. After a quick search, he pulled something out that Thanatos couldn't see properly and turned back to queen Wevox and her spinners.

He held it high up in the air, and yet the flier still couldn't see what it was. But apparently, the spinners did. Every single one of them in the entire cave simultaneously turned to the intruder, something like a mix of a gasp and a murmur filled the cave now, seemingly coming from every spinner present at once.

Queen Wevox leaped forward towards him and started – in a very un-queenly fashion – scurrying around as if she was bursting with excitement.

When she started speaking again, Thanatos could almost hear something like an excited shaking in her voice. "You bring us a buzzer wing? He brings us a buzzer wing, he brings us a buzzer wing."

The murmur around the cave grew louder and Thanatos realized he had underestimated Henry this once. Whatever that – wing – was, he had certainly come here with the knowledge the spinners would adore it.

"Oh yes, I bring you a buzzer wing. Will that be more than... whoever it was... promised you? Because I am pretty sure it is."

The queen was still visibly excited. "The wing is more than enough. The slimers gave us only half the value of a wing. Give me the wing."

Henry stopped showing off the wing and stared at the queen in surprise. "Wait... the SLIMERS hired your assassins? Really?"

Thanatos heard the amusement in his voice and silently steeled himself for about a hundred questions regarding the reason no other than the Underland-snails wanted him dead. That would be fun.

"Ah-ah", Henry pulled the wing away from the spinner queen, when she tried to grasp it. "First, I'd like to see him, please."

Wevox hissed angrily at his tone but acknowledged his request. She signaled for the spinners to clear a path to the backside of the cave from web, and slowly but surely the torchlight came closer and closer until Thanatos had to squint his eyes from the brightness he wasn't used to anymore.

Henry had never seen the flier so helpless as now. Not even when the rats had wanted to publicly execute him, all those months ago, shortly after he had met him for the first time.

He was in the back of the cave, completely covered in webs, hanging from the ceiling in an uncomfortable seeming position. His eyes were closed but his ears carefully pointed.

"Alright, it's time for our trade then." After a moment of hesitation, he held the wing in Wevox' direction, who snatched it from him immediately and passed it to a different spinner who had approached and scurried away into the darkness with it.

Henry found it hilarious how they freaked out about the wings, and asked himself what they would say if he pulled out the other three he had.

"Now, here's your payment", his tone was casual, "I'd like... hmmm..." Henry stepped a few paces forward, putting his hand to his chin as if having to carefully consider what to chose. Then he finally pointed at Thanatos "ONE, preferably not-webbed, flier, please."

Wevox gave him a, how he assumed slightly confused look, which he couldn't really blame her for, but gave the order to cut Thanatos down.

The webs around his body were neatly severed and, having been left no time to spread his stiff wings, the flier plummeted to the ground and hit it with a loud, painful-seeming, thud and a suppressed scream.

"Hey! Careful with the merchandise, please. I paid for a HEALTHY flier." Now that he had started, Henry couldn't stop the joke anymore. He thought he saw Thanatos give him an accusing glance, he wasn't sure in the sparing light though. The spinners were just confused.

"What will we tell the slimers?" Suddenly, a second, light crème-colored spinner approached the queen. "They had personal interest in this one. He was meant for the slime bath."

Wevox dismissively waved him away. "The Jainex only capture, but never warrantee to deliver. You as their leader should know. If a better offer arises, we take it."

So this was one of the spinners who had kidnapped Thanatos back at the cliff – the group that worked as mercenaries. Henry asked himself if it would be considered rude to ask what the "slime bath" was, but decided that it didn't matter. He was convinced, should they indeed decide to attack him he could buy his freedom in an instant with one more of the wings.

Hearing the question, the crème-colored spinner turned to him. "One of the most feared execution methods in the Underland. The slimers only sentence traitors, killers, and ones guilty of great insult to the honor of their people to it. They drown you in slime. It often takes hours until death comes, it is a gruesome way to die."

Henry shuddered at the mere thought. That sounded horrible indeed. Though, if it really had been the slimers who paid the Jainex to capture Thanatos, that explained why they hadn't come to get him yet. They were probably still on their way here.

Thanatos had managed to stretch his stiff limbs in the meantime and spread his wings, careful not to cover them in web again.

"Hey, you done yet?" Henry grinned, putting his hands to his hips. It felt good being the one to get the flier out of trouble instead of the other way around.

Thanatos threw him an annoyed yet also partially thankful glance before lifting off a few feet to test his wings, instead of an answer. Henry turned to follow him in the direction of the exit when he suddenly realized he had three more buzzer wings, and nothing to do with them.

"Hey, what would you say if I told you our business wasn't over yet?"

At his words, Wevox, who had stayed behind when he had walked towards the tunnel entrance, came closer again. "You have more buzzer wings?" Her voice had that slightly excited tone again.

"Let's say, hypothetically, I did. How much of your other wares would I get for it?"

The queen whispered with some of the other spinners, before starting to talk again. "We have clothes in your size. We will give them to you and anything else you need."

Henry snorted. "Seriously? You think I'm going to believe a set of fresh clothes is worth as much as a life to you?"

Wevox and the others started murmuring again. Then she made a new offer – "We will provide you with our goods for a while. Until your credit has run out."

The exiled prince smiled. "That sounds much better. I'll make sure to inform myself as to how much these things are actually worth to you – not that I don't trust you or anything, but you did just try to make me believe all I'd get out of it was a fresh set of clothes."

Henry thought he saw the queen acknowledge his confident bargain with something like a nod. Then he pulled out the last three wings he had and held them out to her.

The entire cave echoed with the gasping noise from earlier when they saw he had not one, but three more wings. Two spinners scurried over and took them from him. The queen rubbed two of her feet together. Maybe that was equivalent of a smile not only among the flutterers but also the spinners.

"Provide the Bringer of Buzzer Wings with whatever he asks for", was her last command, before she disappeared into the darkness.

About half an hour later Henry, closely followed by Thanatos, finally left the spinner cave. The exiled prince had taken an entire stash of cloths, among which, some specifically made for the bandaging of wounds, others firmer, for carrying or tying things together. He had also gotten a new set of pants, his old ones he had needed to stitch after Goldfang had torn them when she injured him, and a new shirt.

The spinners had given the impression that, as long as he fulfilled his duty as "Bringer of Buzzer Wings", he was welcome any time, and Henry made a mental note to never visit them without any in the future.

He decided to rest at the river again, for he saw Thanatos was in no condition to fly now. This wasn't the safest spot ever, but it would suffice. The flier needed to eat and sleep a few hours, in a more comfortable position, and Henry knew he was way too proud to ever ask for a rest himself. Though it was painfully obvious he was in bad shape. His fur was disheveled and dull, and he seemed to have lost weight.

This time it had been Henry who caught the fish for their meal – he had gotten quite skillful fishing with Mys over the last weeks – and Thanatos had gobbled down three of them within minutes.

"Hey, did they not feed you anything or what?" Henry chuckled while still roasting his own over the torch.

"The food was sparse and tasteless."

The exiled prince didn't bother asking what it was. For the next ten minutes, they sat at each other's side in silence, eating.

To Henry's surprise, it was Thanatos who raised his voice first, after they both had quenched their hunger and thirst – "I had already given up hope, you would ever come, long ago. Actually, if I am entirely honest, I never believed you would."

Henry chuckled. "Oh come on, how little faith do you have in me?"

"None...?"

They both broke into laughter. There it was, the exiled prince realized, that overwhelming feeling of security, that had been absent as long as the flier had. Now he felt it flooding him again, and for the first time, in what had been around two weeks, he was able to completely relax again.

"I mean, how was I supposed to know you angered the slimers – THE SLIMERS – out of everyone, so much they'd hire someone to capture you!" The exiled prince broke into suppressed laughter. Thanatos only rolled his eyes.

"Not that you were easy to find or anything", he continued, "actually, you were incredibly hard to find. I had to take on an entire angry swarm of buzzers to get the flutterers to help me scout out your location. And those only helped me because I had reinforced my status as savior of the crawlers once again when I prevented that rat invasion on their island by killing the gnawer that led it. And I didn't even get to use my flaming sword – I'm telling you, Death, that was the hardest battle of my life! She tore my leg open too, but I killed her, of course I did, and then –"

Thanatos interrupted his flood of words. "Wow, wow, slow down Henry, will you? I mean I won't be able to prevent you from telling me every single detail that happened while I was gone, but can you at least let me sleep first?"

"Prevent – why prevent? Aren't you curious at all?" Henry couldn't keep his voice from giving away some of his disappointment.

Thanatos chuckled. "Oh well, maybe a little. Especially as to how you even survived without me."

The exiled prince laughed. "Oh please, I was perfectly fine. You know, it turned out I was more capable of taking care of myself than both of us thought. Actually, I was doing great. I made new friends, found a possible hideout for later – and guess what, I've decided to start my own little mercenary service. It's going really well too – two jobs done so far, both customers were extremely satisfied!"

"Wait – you're a MERCENARY now?" The surprise in Thanatos' voice was audible. Henry chuckled. "Yep. And it's actually a really nice way to earn a living in the Dead Land. You know, you kill a guy for them, they give you stuff – and you gain experience too. A win-win for both."

The flier shook his head. He eyed Henry from the corner of his eye and could hardly believe the witty, confident and clearly skillful young man before him was the same scared and confused boy he had taken in almost half a year ago. Wouldn't he know better, he'd say Henry had profited greatly from life in exile, in almost every way.

What had happened to him during the last couple weeks? Thanatos burned with curiosity but took care to not let it show. He remembered Henry as the boy who relished in the safety of the nibbler colony, talking about how he was scared of ever going to the Dead Land on his own, and here he now was, evidently very capable of exactly that.

A thorn of fear suddenly pierced his heart. This "new" Henry before him, the very same that he now, more than ever, owed his life to – did he even need him anymore?

He would rather die in the slime bath than admit it, but Thanatos had secretly enjoyed taking care of the boy. He had been alone for so long that he had nearly forgotten how it felt like to care for someone, but when Henry had come along, everything had changed.

He had known from the moment he first talked to him that he wouldn't be able to just abandon him again as he had claimed, and over the course of the months, the boy had grown dear to him like a brother. He remembered the rule they had made, back when they established their alliance – never should one risk their life for the other. He almost laughed about how little either of them followed it.

He would give his life for him in an instant, the flier realized, and the thought scared him greatly. Wasn't that what he had sworn would never happen again? That he became so attached to someone that losing them would mean losing a part of himself? It wasn't anything he had control over though, and that was almost even more scary.

Though the reason why Thanatos was willing to give his life for the boy was less emotionally justified then logically – Henry still had a chance. Not at ever being able to get his old life back, but at having a life at all. He was young and strong, if someone guided him now and showed him how the world worked, he could grow into a capable, intelligent man that could make a difference in the world. His own life, on the other hand, and of that he was firmly convinced, had ended when he had decided to never go back to Regalia, seven years ago.

If he could dedicate a portion of his remaining existence to guiding Henry, then that was the best he could still hope for. He knew that it was only a matter of time until Henry wouldn't need him anymore, though he had hoped that time wouldn't come so soon.

For a moment they were both quiet before Thanatos asked the one question Henry had feared – "Well, if you're doing so fantastically on your own – why did you even bother making the effort to look for me?"

Henry hesitated. He had given this more than one thought and finally found an acceptable solution. "Because we can profit from each other."

Thanatos raised an imaginary brow in surprise.

Henry continued. "We might not have mutual need anymore, but life with each other will be more comfortable than on our own, don't you agree?"

The flier eyed him, suddenly with a hint of new-found respect. This wasn't the kid who depended on him anymore, he realized. This was not a cry for protection and comfort, it was an offer for an alliance. One that would be between equals, more than it had ever been in the past. The term "bond" popped up in his head for a second, but he dismissed it immediately. Such a thing would never happen, he had given up on bonding when he had given up on society.

"So what you're offering is a renewal of our alliance contract?" His voice was firm, not giving away any of the doubts and exhaustion that were pressing on him at the moment.

Henry smiled. "That is exactly what I'm offering. But hey – to make this clear", he put his hands to his hips, "no more bossing me around and forcing me into submission by threatening to leave. You're not my babysitter, you're my ally – my equal. That is my condition. After all, we are completely even now, are we not? I believe what I did for you today makes up for you saving me from the fall entirely, does it not?"

Thanatos nodded, unwilling, but still. The boy had a point. There was no more even than they were now.

But Henry wasn't done yet. "I'm not offering this because I need your company – but because I want it."

The exiled prince had never before experienced Thanatos speechless yet – before today. After a moment of silence the flier turned his head in his direction – "well said", was all he responded.

He didn't need to say more.