"And you're sure you know where you're going?" Kismet was standing in the entrance of her cave and watching Thanatos and Henry as they got ready to leave.

About two weeks had passed since they had arrived and disclosed they wanted to go hunt for Longclaw, and in those weeks, Kismet had made it her personal goal to prepare them as well as she could for the task.

Thanatos and Henry had taken to training together, and – under Kismet's guidance – their ability to fight as a team had improved considerably. Especially when it came to predicting and sensing the other's intentions without losing precious time by having to say them out loud.

Multiple times Henry had considered bringing up his new invention idea to Thanatos, but every time he had hesitated, thinking he should first show it to Teslas and talk to the flier afterward, together. It wasn't like he had the materials or means to make it right now anyway. The promise of no secrets gnawed at him, but he kept telling himself he would tell Thanatos soon, just not now – and not without support. The risk of the flier not even finishing listening and yelling at Henry for being "disrespectful" was much too high and he had no desire to deal with any of that at the moment.

Kismet had also spent some time telling them more about Longclaw himself, apparently, the two had known each other a long time ago, and she spent most evenings telling them stories she remembered from their past.

That and, lessons in rat tongue – she had had offered to teach Henry her language back when he first arrived, but he had dismissed it as "not why he was here". When she brought up it could be useful when spying on him though, Henry had reluctantly agreed.

Rat turned out similar enough to nibbler, so that he found himself picking it up fairly quickly. At the end of the two weeks, he understood everything and was able to communicate back well enough that Kismet was pleased.

Now, both Henry's and Thanatos' injuries were healed to the point where they were confident enough to seek actual battle again. They wanted to see the nibblers before starting their hunt for Longclaw, but had decided to go back into the ice caves first. They lied on the way and they hoped to pick up a trail to follow later, as the leader of the gnawers hadn't been to his own arena ever since Thanatos had fled, according to Dustfur.

When they had told Kismet what they'd witnessed the rats doing down there, during their first visit, she had expressed great worry. After fetching a map of the Underland – which she had allowed Henry to keep after a little toing and froing, it was now safely stored in his waterproof container – she had asked where exactly they thought that cave had been.

Turned out it had been closer to Regalia than they had first believed, and both the flier and the exiled prince had agreed they wouldn't just seek Longclaw's trail when going back, but also try to find out what exactly he had been doing down there, so close to the human city.

"We are ready", Henry answered in rat, grinning at Kismet, standing at the entrance to her cave. She grinned back. "Do not forget your training, boy – and do not let that bastard kick your ass. He does not deserve the satisfaction."

"We know", Thanatos responded while his bond was in the process of filling the bags he was wearing with supplies.

"And never make the mistake to believe yourself invincible!" Kismet shouted after a short period of silence and Henry, after turning away from her, rolled his eyes. "I won't, promise."

"You won't promise – or you promise you won't?" She asked and the exiled prince grinned. "PICK ONE!"

"That's not now that works, boy!" Henry only laughed at her annoyed tone.

"And do not forget you are going to a place with the name "ice caves" – you have packed your second coat, haven't you?"

Henry groaned. "Look", he turned around to her, "I appreciate the advice, I really do – but I can take care of myself now." He thought back to how helpless he had felt, on the crawler island, after losing his eye, and that his prediction had turned out correct – this second rock bottom hadn't kept him down for long either.

"And who do you have to thank for that?", she snarled, and Henry laughed – "Myself, of course!"

He felt Thanatos hit him with one of his claws, and continued, still chuckling – "and you, I'm not forgetting you, of course, I am not."

"As you shouldn't", Kismet grinned.

Henry stared at the scarred gnawer who had become so familiar over the course of the last... what? Seven, eight months? "I'll be fine. I'm a survivor, remember? You said that yourself! As well as how I was totally fine on my own, remember – you told it to my face I was good without your help, and that I should leave you alone – for the sake of your sweet solitude!"

They both laughed and Henry was certain she had vivid memories of their first encounter like he did. He had been so intimidated back then, yet determined to show her he was worthy. And now he possessed the same abilities that had impressed him so much, back then.

"And still a self-centered, conceited brat. But yes... you are a survivor – pup. As little as I want to admit this... you were a worthy student, Henry of Regalia. I do not regret taking you in", she snarled. "Never forget that, you hear?"

"I won't forget it. And I won't forget you either." Henry smiled. A worthy student – this was most likely the biggest compliment he could ever expect from her.

"We both won't!" Thanatos called, and Henry's smile widened while mounting up, after having finished packing – "We'll see each other again someday, surely. And we'll make sure to tell your sweetheart Ripred that he is on your mind always, when we see him again!"

Kismet growled angrily – "DO NOT DARE SAY ANYTHING OF THE SORT! We – Ripred and I were NEVER ANYTHING LIKE THAT!"

"Well, if you say so..." Henry pondered for a second. He eyed her and suddenly realized he still knew next to nothing about her past – her connection to Ripred, to the Garden of the Hesperides, if she was indeed related to the former champion Sizzleblood, and why she lived out here, almost as far away from the rats' land as possible. Yet he had a feeling he would have plenty of opportunities to find out in the future.

In a fit of affection towards Kismet, who had become such a close friend over the course of the last half a year, Henry slid off Thanatos' back again and wrapped his arms around her for a hug, one last time.

He had managed to catch her by surprise again, and when she angrily hissed at him, screaming "I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT!" He was already in a safe distance, and then on the flier's back.

"AND I TOLD YOU WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!" Henry called, still grinning, while Thanatos already lifted off.

"RUN LIKE THE RIVER, KISMET!" He screamed, and when he already thought he wouldn't get any response again, he finally heard her call – "Fly you high, pup!"

Thanatos started chuckling and Henry flicked at his ear. "Do not even start. Do. Not."

This time they left Kismet's lair following a different way than the Path of Styx, which only led to the citadel and the Dead Land behind it, and was not their destination now. It took them around half a day to get back to where they had found Longclaw and his followers last time. The cave they had flooded back then, stood half underwater now, and not a single rat was in view.

Henry and Thanatos decided to rest a little on top of a ledge, that lied above water level, eat, and finally traverse through the wall of ice the gnawers had broken through last time. It was a little awkward, for both of them, to be here again – here, where their argument had started.

"I'm sorry for everything I said...", Henry muttered, but the flier shushed him. "It was me who called you a traitor again. Worse, I made you believe I didn't trust you because of it. Do not even for a second think there is even an ounce of truth in that."

Henry threw him a glance. "It's not like I could actually blame you, were it true, though."

"Henry stop – don't say things like that. We both know I do trust you, as I hope you trust me. I... I should be ashamed for claiming I meant what I told Hamnet. It was lies, all of it, I hope you can forgive me."

"Hey", Henry threw him a smile, "of course I trust you. And... no big deal, okay? I shouldn't have made as much of a drama out of it as I did either. Especially now that I know you had a good reason hesitating to talk about it."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while after that, eating their meal and watching the light of the torch flicker on the walls around them.

"Ready to go?" Thanatos asked after presumably half an hour and Henry nodded. "Let's find out what's going on here. And then, to the nibblers. I can not wait for Teslas to see this rock finally." And ask him about my new invention idea, Henry thought – and smiled.

They flew through the broken wall of ice into new territory, Henry had extinguished the torch to not give away their position and only their echolocation guided them on their way through the icy tunnels now.

The sound of rushing water, that was still flooding the caves they traversed, was their constant companion, and loud enough to allow Henry to perceive his surroundings fairly well.

When they first heard living creatures, they had already flown for around an hour. Both Henry and Thanatos recognized the noises and voices of rats and the flier immediately dove into the shade of the ceiling to avoid being spotted. He soon landed on a ledge near the top of the cave from where they had a decent view on the three rats below.

"Do you really think they will come? After we nearly drowned them last time?" One of them sounded, they were standing on a narrow ledge that led along the wall of the cave, above water, and Henry thought they must be talking about him and Thanatos.

"You mean after Longclaw forced us to nearly drown ourselves with them?" A different voice sounded, this one was slightly higher pitched and Henry suspected it was a female. "The guy is utterly crazy if you ask me."

"Ohhh but he knows what he is doing... determined men are so my type!" An even higher-pitched voice sounded, quickly followed by a shriek. Apparently one of the other rats had punched her.

"Get a grip, Silverspine, that is not why we are following him!" The other female sounded again. "Speak for yourself", Silverspine answered and the other two growled at her.

"Arrghh, if I could just SMELL properly among all this ice – it is too watery, too... all-consuming... I swear I wouldn't be able to tell if they were flying above our heads this moment!", the male groaned after a short silence. "And besides, why are we supposed to care if they come or not – quite the opposite. If they stay away, we'll have a nice, calm day out here, so be happy!"

Thanatos and Henry exchanged glances and grinned. Good for you, the exiled prince thought. That moment, he wished he had a way to communicate with Thanatos without speaking – and drawing the attention of the rats. Maybe I should work something out for that soon, Henry thought.

For the time being, he leaned over to the flier and whispered in his ear, as quietly as he could – "We should leave them unharmed and follow them when they go back to report to Longclaw." Thanatos nodded, and they stayed on their ledge, trying not to die of boredom while listening to the rats below bickering with each other.

After more than three hours of scouting, the guards finally left their post to go back to their leader. Not a single piece of useful information had the two spies gathered from their conversations, only nonsensical chitchat.

Henry and Thanatos followed them through the icy caves for maybe ten minutes, always staying as close to the ceiling as they could. Though the rats were so occupied with their own conversation that Henry pondered whether they would even take notice of them if they decided to fly directly before their noses.

Finally, they entered some sort of base camp, located in a cave with only a single entrance. One side of it was bordered by a steep cliff that led into what sounded like rushing water.

The flier and human decided to not try their luck with the heavily guarded tunnel entry but find a way around to enter from the side with the cliff. It took them another half an hour but finally, Thanatos found his way around to that side.

There was but one problem – the walls in the cave were steep and smooth, no ledges to land on. Luckily it was fairly high and the ceiling provided shadow to hide in, but Thanatos could not stay up in the air forever without landing, and the risk of being spotted was high.

They had just circled around the cave once, in search of a landing spot, when they realized they had pushed their luck too much. As soon as the first rat spotted them and screamed "INTRUDERS!", they were lost.

Every single rat in the cave was at their tail immediately, Thanatos tried to escape the way they came, but one of the rats was clever enough to claw his way up the icy wall maybe ten feet and jump at them from there. The flier screamed when the rat's claws dug into his leg and he lost altitude, being dragged down by the additional weight, immediately.

As soon as they were within the rats' jumping height, they were instantly swarmed from all sides. Henry tried fighting them off with his sword but soon, a whipping tail knocked it out of his hand and multiple rats dragged him off Thanatos' back.

He heard his flier's screams – five rats were necessary to hold him in place, they tore at his wings until they almost dislocated and one of them sliced a huge gash into his chest. The ice around them soon started turning red from Thanatos' blood.

Henry was being restrained by two rats and even though he struggled, kicked and screamed at them, his attempts at breaking free were futile. They were much stronger than he, and all Henry could do was helplessly watch them torment his flier.

One of the rats, that was holding him, slashed across his cheek and Henry felt two claw marks on his face burning like fire. It did nothing to silence him though, his screaming only intensified, until one of the rats apparently had enough. He felt something heavy hit him over the head and moments later everything went black.

The first thing Henry noticed when he came to was a voice – one that sounded very familiar. At first, he was too dazed to understand words, but when he opened his eyes, he instantly recognized the brown fur and the huge scar across the chest of the gnawer in front of him.

"Look who we have here now. It's good to see you – champion... or is it perhaps inappropriate to call you that, as you are my prisoner now?" Longclaw sounded hoarse laughter and Henry tried to move his head in search of Thanatos.

"In case you are looking for your flier, he is over there. You know, you should really have finished him off in the arena when you had the chance. That would have been so much more merciful than what I am planning to do to him now."

Henry coughed, trying to make the world around him stop spinning. When his vision became clearer again, the scene before him, illuminated by the faint glow of the water and supplemented by his echolocation, filled him with utter horror.

Thanatos was still held in place by three of Longclaw's followers, even if Henry was certain in his current state, one would be enough too. He was lying on his stomach, amber eyes half-closed and misted with pain. Countless fresh gashes covered his back and stomach, the biggest one almost the length of Henry's arm. It bled heavily and at this point, the flier was lying in a puddle of his own blood.

His breaths were shallow and shaky and one of his wings was lying on the floor, part of it bent in an unnatural direction – clearly broken. The tissue around that part was torn, Henry saw claw marks in the formerly beautiful silky black material the wings were made of.

"What have YOU DONE TO HIM?!" Henry screamed, trying to get up from where he was lying, but one of the rats was sitting on him and he couldn't move an inch. He desperately reached out to Thanatos, trying to at least let him know he was still here, and the flier slightly raised one of his claws, pointing it in his direction, to signal he had understood.

"Aww... how touching. Sadly, I can not let this little reunion last for much longer." Longclaw's voice was cold as ice.

"What... what has he ever done to you?" Henry tried to sound angry, but with the rat on his back, he had trouble even breathing, let alone talking, and the words he managed to squeeze out now were barely audible.

Longclaw hissed. "What has he... did he not tell you?"

"He told me he defeated you in battle... using a trick to make the floor collapse." Henry desperately gasped for air.

"Kettle, let him breathe, will you? He still has a purpose to serve", Longclaw's voice sounded annoyed and Henry felt the rat on his back move away, keeping a paw on him though.

The exiled prince caught his breath for the first time, and after his coughing fit had ended, Longclaw started talking again. "He made the floor collapse... oh he sure did, he told you that. But did he also tell you –" The leader of the gnawers was now standing directly in front of Henry, and grabbed onto the back of his vest, "that he killed my son – with his own bloody claws? He would not have fallen unless your precious flier over there hadn't grabbed and tossed him down!"

Henry threw Thanatos a glance, from what he saw the flier looked as surprised as the exiled prince. "I'm sure he did not do it on purpose! He probably had no idea who the rats he killed were!" Henry defended him, and suddenly the flier himself spoke up, his voice hoarse and strained from pain. "I did not... he was your..."

"Ohh, of course, you did not –", his voice was dripping with sarcasm, "He was barely more than a pup! Not much different from you", he glanced at Henry, "and like I watched my son die, he will watch you die now."

Panic gripped Henry's throat. The rat was holding him up now, his feet dangling over the floor. "Was it not enough TO KILL ARYA?!" Henry screamed, trying to dig his nails into the paw that was holding him.

"The girl? The girl was a start – but I will not rest until the flier is broken beyond repair, you hear? I attempted to break him myself, but then you... YOU undid all the work I had done on him. Apparently, his connection to you is keeping him sane, so I will have to kill you first. Nothing personal, kid, really – you were a fine champion actually, it'll be a shame to lose you. I doubt anyone will ever draw the crowds to my arena like you have... but oh well, you do what you have to do."

Henry glanced at Thanatos, naked fear and desperation now shone in his eyes as he helplessly watched Longclaw carry Henry over to the cliff.

"First, I'll have my revenge on the flier, and then – then I'll decimate your entire species. Once I've taken care of that, the gnawers will pronounce me king, like they should have so long ago, not that weakling Gorger!"

"What... what are you talking about?" Henry furrowed his brows as well as he could, in Longclaw's grip.

"Oh well, as you are about to die anyway, you might as well know." He grinned, "These tunnels here lead right up to the river that feeds your city with water, and the canalization system you humans dug. If we tear down a few more walls and flood it with the water from the waterway – your entire city will be submerged, making you easy prey for an attacking army of gnawers. And my followers here are ready as ever to strike."

Henry froze in shock – that... that was what they were doing! They planned on flooding Regalia. A hundred thoughts reeled in his mind at once, he had to break away from Longclaw, free Thanatos, get out of here and find a way to warn the humans – as quickly as he could. But then he glanced over to his flier and realized it was futile anyway – even if he could magically make the rats on top of him disappear, Thanatos would never be able to fly in this state.

Longclaw laughed, holding Henry even higher. He was now hanging maybe three feet above the floor and slowly but surely the leader of the gnawers was inching closer to the cliff that he sought to throw him down from.

Henry glanced down and shuddered. The foaming water below was over a hundred feet away and icebergs and spikes pierced the surface, waiting to impale him on impact.

"Look closely now, flier – this is the last you will see of the boy, after all!" Longclaw mocked, holding Henry over the edge now.

The exiled prince glanced back at Thanatos, saw the desperation in his eyes and suddenly knew he could not allow the rat to do this. Panic gripped his heart when he realized this was going to be a repeat of Arya's death. Thanatos restrained in place, forced to watch his bond being flung off a cliff.

Henry's breaths were shaky, his mind reeling – he could not let his flier go through the same pain again, even if he himself ended up surviving the fall. He could not... let that happen. He could not.

Do not let that bastard kick your ass. He does not deserve the satisfaction. Henry heard Kismet's voice in his head and gritted his teeth. I have to find a way to make him release his grip, he thought, but first, he has to move away from the cliff.

Henry's mind flew back to his training with Kismet, had she truly never mentioned something that could help him now?

Longclaw now swung him over solid ground again, and Henry realized he would not get a better chance. He used the momentum from the motion to ram his foot into Longclaw's armpit. Go for the joints, Kismet's voice rang in his ears, if you can not reach the face.

The leader of the rats let out a high-pitched scream of pain and let go off Henry. His claws tore the back of his vest but the exiled prince didn't care. As soon as he hit the floor, he rolled off towards his sword and backpack, that were lying maybe ten feet away. But Longclaw's companions didn't have the intention to stand idly and let him escape.

He saw two of the ones, who had held Thanatos in place, zoom in on him immediately, most likely to drag him over to the flier and hold them together, but then their attention was diverted by something.

Henry closed his hand around the handle of his sword when he heard a desperate scream that – if he had heard correctly – sounded like... Thanatos. His head jolted around only to watch in helpless shock how the flier, having mobilized his last strength, most likely, leaped up, breaking free from the last gnawer who held him. But instead of flying at Henry, he closed in on Longclaw, who had his attention focused on the escaped exiled prince, and reacted too slowly when the flier reached him.

Thanatos rammed his head into Longclaw's side and the gnawer stood so close to the cliff, that it was enough to send him flying over the edge. But Longclaw was not defeated so easily, Henry watched how he dug a claw into Thanatos' foot, in a desperate attempt to at least take the flier with him as he fell.

Like in slow motion Henry saw the rat drag his bond over the edge of the cliff until they both disappeared out of view. The exiled prince screamed and leaped up, but when he reached the edge, all he could do was watch the two plummet into the foaming waves.

Henry knew what he had to do the moment he saw Thanatos' head disappear in the water. He gripped the straps of his backpack firmly, having no time to sheath his sword, before leaping over the edge after them, escaping the claws of countless rats that had already extended in his direction, threatening to grab him, into the dark and violently roaring water beneath.

Henry was an expert swimmer, but now he felt like a paper boat in a violent, ice-cold stream when he hit the water. His head was bobbing up and down and he could barely orientate himself. His sword, still in his right hand, was not helping either, the metal was heavy and Henry almost let it go, before he realized he could use it to keep himself over the water.

With as much force as his weakened and disoriented state had left him, he thrust the blade into the wall of ice, above his head. He gripped the handle with both hands when he realized it was firmly stuck, and lifted himself as far out of the water as he could, taking a deep breath.

Then, the blade moved. Henry almost let go of the handle in shock, when he realized it was not the sword itself that had given way – it was the wall. He looked up and saw that, when thrusting the blade into the ice, he had created a split, that now grew into a massive crack. The wall sounded a loud creak when more splits appeared. Henry realized in shock that the ice was about to collapse. From above his head, he heard the screams of rats now, and thought the cave they had had their camp in must be in the process of falling apart now.

With the last of his strength, he freed his sword from the ice, which had been the last straw. A huge piece of ice broke away from the wall and fell into the water behind him, causing a flood that swamped Henry out of the cave entirely.

He was violently thrown around by the current and he feared the icy water would make him pass out and drown when he was suddenly swamped out into a huge cave, entirely filled with water.

Henry was about to lose consciousness from the cold, when a pleasantly warm current suddenly engulfed him, carrying him forward. He meekly tried to swim and keep his head above water, when he suddenly heard noise, somewhere in front of him.

Henry tried his best to paddle towards the sound without dropping his sword and saw the bobbing head of Longclaw and... Thanatos. The flier was barely conscious, and the gnawer tried to hold on to him in order to not drown. Henry used the current to propel himself towards the two, when he reached them, he raised his sword, thrusting it into Longclaw's side.

The rat cried in pain and released the flier, Henry opened his arms when he was about to collide with Thanatos, and wrapped them around his neck, as soon as he reached him.

The flier's eyes were closed, his lids fluttered when Henry grabbed onto him, but they did not open. Henry tried keeping them above water with one hand, the other firmly holding Thanatos and his sword, but had the current not been as strong as it was, he would not have made it.

In the distance, he saw Longclaw grabbing hold of a floating piece of ice that was carried into a different direction, he could hear the rat's curses as he floated away from them. They would have to deal with him another day, Henry meekly thought.

Then, another loud cracking sound tore the silence and a second tidal wave hit Henry and Thanatos, carrying them further away from where they had come from. The exiled prince barely realized the rest of the ice cave must have collapsed and caused the wave before all his attention was taken up with keeping himself and his flier above water again.

We must surely be out in the waterway now, Henry thought, catching a glimpse at the ginormous cave they were in – and the endless seeming water all around them. The same warm current as before still flowed around them, and all Henry could really do was hold on to Thanatos and let it carry them.

The exiled prince had no idea how long he had drifted through the waterway, clinging to the limp body of Thanatos. They were carried along and kept above water by the current, if Henry were to guess, he'd say around an hour passed, before he finally saw land.

When he could feel ground beneath his feet again at last, and they were carried through a river-like passageway further into the mainland, before finally being washed up on a rocky shore, Henry felt he had not a single ounce of strength remaining in his body. All he wanted to do was lie, face pressed against the ground, thanking the universe they had reached dry land, but when he slowly raised his head for the first time and realized where they were, he instantly knew it wouldn't be that easy.

Around them now sprouted the familiar glowing vines, that Henry knew perfectly well at this point, that marked the territory taken up by the Underland-jungle.