Once around, then up the mountain, five shots at the target – Henry clenched his teeth and vowed to stay up all night firing stone after stone would he miss them all again – then down the mountain, and the final loop.
The fingers of his left hand mindlessly fumbled at the weight he'd tied to his right arm until it clanked against the one on his left. He wouldn't miss them all again. Not this time. This time he would break his record.
Henry closed his eye and took a deep breath, then fell into position and prepared to run, before angrily shaking his head to get the strands of loose hair that were too short to tie out of his face. His fists clenched around the strings of the weights, his eye flung open, and he fixated on the suspended stone bowl to his left.
Henry narrowed his eye one last time, then his hand shot up to pull the string connected to the plug sealing the hole in the middle. It gave way and Henry waited not for the gush of sand that instantly shot out, he darted forward together with it.
The exiled prince sprinted like a hundred rats were chasing behind. He blocked out the sand crunching beneath his bare feet and the calm waves breaking on the beach, all he perceived was his own much too loud breathing as he ran along the coastline around the island.
When his stopwatch came into view again he bothered not to check it, he instead took such a sharp turn the sand sprayed to all sides under his foot. Henry clenched his grip around the weights tighter and darted towards the mountain, the spot where he'd stuck a mark into the sand.
Henry picked up even more speed as he approached the steep wall and leaped as high as he could, grabbing onto a ledge, some eight feet up. The bandages he'd applied protected his hands from the sharp rocks as he pulled himself up, fighting the weights that made his arms heavy as lead. Henry squinted when a sting at last shot through the right side of his face, yet it was nowhere near as severe as it had used to be.
His teeth clenched as he got a hold of the wall further up and he shoved all pain and discomfort aside to focus on climbing. Records weren't broken by whining.
He knew not how much time had passed when he pulled himself over the final hurdle to scramble to his feet on the narrow plateau as close to the top of the mountain as you could get. All he knew was it had been too much time.
He darted to where he'd left the slingshot so fast he nearly lost balance and missed it by a mile, before angrily scooping it up and loading it. The torch he'd placed here earlier quietly crackled, illuminating his target – a sloppily drawn white circle on nigh black stone.
Henry narrowed his eye and stabilized his hand. The gravel beneath dug into his feet but he disregarded it and focused, then raised the slingshot.
Miss. Miss again. Henry released an exasperated groan and cursed before raising the sling higher, desperately fixating the circle. The next stone struck the line, smudging the chalk a little. Henry let out a suppressed scream of joy, then reprehended himself – what was he so happy about? It had not even been a real hit.
Miss again. His teeth clenched so hard it hurt and he angrily wiped at his eye to not even give the uprising tears a chance.
Henry's last stone hit the circle, though not in the middle. Two out of five, that wasn't bad overall, the exiled prince squinted in discomfort as he stuffed the sling into his belt. He tried not to think of how the circle was nearly a foot in diameter and how he'd hit a mere dot flawlessly before, instead he knelt to extinguish the torch and began making his way down.
The first twenty or so feet were extremely steep, more than once Henry found himself dangling from a ledge, holding on with a single hand, but he had no fear. Heights didn't scare him anymore, not like they had after the fall. Not when Thanatos was nearby, anyway.
As the thought crossed his mind Henry narrowed his eye at the quiet, glistening sea – where WAS the flier? He hadn't seen him since they'd eaten lunch and now was almost dinner time. Why wasn't he here? Who would catch him if he fell now?
In the next moment, Henry turned his focus back on the wall and shook his head. Fall. Who cared where the flier was, it did not matter because he wouldn't fall. He wouldn't fall so he needed nobody to catch him. Period.
The exiled prince frustratedly chased the intrusive thoughts and clenched his fist around the stone, to focus only on climbing. Ledge by ledge, foot by foot, he descended down. A few minutes later the ground came into reach and Henry leaped the last ten or so feet, rolling off and scrambling up, not even regarding his stopwatch. Home stretch.
Once more, without bothering to stop and catch his breath, Henry began running. The difference to the first lap became apparent instantly, his lungs burned and his limbs were heavy as lead. The weights relentlessly pulled at him and Henry shook his head to chase the fatigue. "Weak", he hissed and gathered his last energy reserves to pick up speed.
As soon as his stopwatch came into view he zoomed in on it, sand began flying from under his feet and he nearly ran it over, unable to stop in time. He barely reached his hand up from where he had collapsed to close up the hole, before sealing it properly with the plug.
I have to look, he thought as he lied on the floor, combatting his stinging lungs and fiddling with the ties of the weights. Both came off eventually and Henry slouched forward, cheek pressed into the cool sand. But he had to look at the time.
"You're going to kill yourself at some point if you keep pushing this hard for much longer."
Henry did not even flinch as the voice sounded on his right. He felt like his body would split apart would he move a single muscle now.
"I mean it. Why even are you doing this to yourself, what are you gaining from –"
"Shut up", he hissed between gritted teeth and pulled himself up. "I can do what I want. If I'm stuck here anyway, I can at least give myself the illusion of success, can't I?" Only as he turned his head he spotted Thanatos, in the same moment a dead fish hit his leg. "Is it dinner time already?"
"Yeah... wait, have you been exercising all the time I was gone?"
"It's not like I had anything better to do." As he peered over the edge of the bowl he made a face. "What? Nearly all gone? I thought I was getting BETTER!" He smacked his hand against it in anger and the bowl swayed back and forth where it was suspended.
"Don't you use less and less sand for that?"
Resigned, Henry plopped back down and reached for his backpack he'd left on the other side of the bowl. "Because I'm SUPPOSED to get BETTER!"
The flier silently watched as Henry slipped back into his shirt and set up a fireplace to cook dinner. Only when two of the four fish he had caught quietly sizzled on the grill he raised his voice again.
"How... how is this helping you?"
The exiled prince froze in the middle of poking one of the fish with a bone. "It's exercise. How is it NOT helping?" It wasn't helping. He squinted before admitting it in front of himself, at least. Not with the real issue.
It was helping to make him feel better, if anything. He barely recalled their first couple weeks here, he'd been in nigh-constant pain, unable to even get up for longer periods of time. It had driven him insane to be bedridden for so long, and ever since he'd felt strong enough he'd immediately picked up a workout routine that involved various exercises he remembered from training back in Regalia. Sit-ups, push-ups, stretching, and gymnastics every morning and evening, and this little parkour he'd set up, whenever he felt like it in between.
Thanatos had claimed it was bad for him to exert himself physically after such an injury, but it wasn't like he had a way to stop Henry. And working out at least gave him the illusion of improving his condition. Sure, his injury had healed, it hadn't really hurt in weeks, and his physical shape had enhanced significantly, but his shape had never been the issue. Not the real issue.
His gaze darted to where the entrance to their cave lied, and his tally. He remembered day 20 when he'd ran out of space below and had to continue above. Then he remembered day 45 when he'd ran out of space on the right and had to continue left. Sixty. Henry sighed and thought about tomorrow morning when he would be compelled to draw the... sixtieth mark.
"This... this is going to end in a debate about how long we're supposed to stay here, isn't it?"
Henry's gaze met the flier again and he bit his lip before taking his first bite from one of the fish. Of course it would. Nearly all their conversations in recent times somehow ended in that.
"I don't understand why you're even so reluctant to leave", Henry cried as he accidentally touched the grill in the process of removing the second fish. "Your wing has healed ages ago, and –" He interrupted himself and lowered the hand he'd raised to cup the spot where his right eye had once been. "This is as good as it gets either."
"I am reluctant to leave", Thanatos inched forward until he lied beside Henry, "because you will be killed by the first enemy you encounter, out there. This island is...", he hesitated, "well, it gets old quickly, but it is safe."
Henry furrowed his brows and dug his fist into the sand. "Well, I'm TRYING, okay? It's not like I can CHANGE that!"
Killed by the first enemy you encounter, it rang in his mind, and Henry suppressed the urge to cover his ears with his hands and scream. Pictures of Goldfang's corpse flashed before his inner eye, pictures of a cave full of ferocious wasps, a Tankard overflowing with enraged serpents.
"I once won a single-handed battle against a former general of Gorger's", he mumbled, staring at the sword he'd leaned on the wall beside the entrance to their cave with disdain.
Thanatos sighed. "I... I know. But losing an eye is serious business, you can't just rush back into action, as unprepared as you are."
"That's NOT THE POINT!" Henry angrily tossed sand into the flame that hissed and sizzled. "The point is", he sprung to his feet, "that it's not going to GET BETTER!"
Henry had no idea how far he'd run before he collapsed in ankle-deep water. The waves gently ebbed up and down though could not soothe his raging insides. Sixty days he'd pined away on this chunk of dirt – and what had changed? Henry narrowed his eye at the water and felt the seething urge to claw it out as well, at least he wouldn't have to look at the pathetic pile of misery he'd become anymore, then.
He'd find a solution – the memory of his own words had Henry feel like crying and laughing at once. A... solution. What SOLUTION? His hand rose to cup the right side of his face. There was no solution.
The sensation of scarred flesh was still unfamiliar, the tissue was sensitive, but it had healed well. Then again, perhaps it would have been better hadn't it healed at all.
"What... are you doing?"
Henry didn't look up as he heard Thanatos' voice behind him. "Leave me", he mumbled, desperately trying to suppress the tears. This was how it had gone for several weeks now. He would wait for Thanatos to go to sleep and then he would cry, only to feel so disgusted with himself afterward he found it hard to fall asleep at all.
The flier was indeed silent for so long Henry had nearly forgotten he was there. "You... don't want to spend the rest of your life here, I get that. But I urge you to be reasonable."
Henry remained silent, only pressed his lips together even harder.
"Remember we once spoke of living with and without reason?"
"Yeah, except you don't LET me search!", the exiled prince cried and fell backward to lie in the shallow water. It gently swayed around the outskirts of his hair and he tightly shut his eye.
"That is not true."
As Henry opened his eye back up, Thanatos' white face hovered above him. "Searching doesn't always equal being out there in danger. Searching means you spend a portion of your life preparing for what's to come. What have you even done so far, to try and improve your fighting skills?"
Henry averted his gaze. He'd done... what was possible, he angrily thought, knowing perfectly well his attempts, which had mostly consisted of occasional slingshot practice, had been lackluster, to say the least. "I... what CAN I even do?", he at last exclaimed, and half-heartedly beat the water.
"There is always something", the flier sighed, "it was you who announced you'd find a solution, was it not?"
"Can you stop that?!", Henry angrily hissed and turned, only to rise and curse after spitting out the wet sand that had ended up in his mouth. All the flier had ever done was reinforce his flaws, not a single word of encouragement he had uttered, only gone on and on about what and how Henry could be doing things better. Was this really what bonds did? "I feel shitty enough, okay?!"
Thanatos winced. "Stop... what? I... I am trying to help!"
"Well, you suck at it!" Henry shook his head angrily until sand flew from his hair in all directions. For a moment they were both silent, then the exiled prince sighed. "Alright. What's your oh-so-great suggestion?"
Thanatos stared at the floor, then defiantly raised his gaze. "My oh-so-great suggestion is, that you stop viewing this issue emotionally. You've been beating yourself up over it for months now, and it seems to be only making things worse. Instead of running that parkour day and night, how about you attempt seriously practicing combat?"
Henry bit his lip, but the flier continued – "Henry, this "solution" is not going to fall from the sky. You don't get anything for free in life, or at least, not anymore. Maybe it's time you learn to work for your gains."
Henry snorted, "Like I've not been working so far", but the flier shook his head. "I know you hate this island. I know you hate being trapped here, and I know you feel like you're good for nothing again. But I also know the Henry I've gotten to know never once allowed life to beat him down. The Henry I've taken in, and fought, and... and been a team with for so long will not stay down, not until the world has drained every ounce of life from his body, is it not so?"
"What about the Henry you bonded to?" For the first time, the exiled prince raised his gaze to look at the flier who fixated the floor. A jolt of uncertainty hit him, and he asked himself why he had left that one out, out of all.
"That is... is what I meant. Team, bond, are they not the same in our case?" Henry only furrowed his brows. "Not really, no. But that's not the point right now." It's never been the point for you, he thought. He didn't bother counting the times the flier had seemingly purposely forgotten that very detail anymore. All he failed to see was... why.
It is not like it changes much... it is the same anyway... Henry dug his hand into the wet sand and asked himself the same questions for the hundredth time – was it just he to whom it had actually meant something?
"Right. I guess what I was getting at is that you need to begin working towards getting out of this rock bottom. Your life isn't over, you know?", he tilted his head and the gaze in his amber eyes was sympathetic. "Don't keep treating it like it is."
Henry only let out a sigh. That's exactly what I've been doing, it flashed in his mind, and he squinted in shame. Getting up in the morning only to exercise, or when Thanatos tossed him out of his sheets, as he did more often than not, in recent times. Spending his day on pointless meddling. Going back to sleep.
"Have you ever considered learning to fight without your eyes altogether?"
Henry nearly broke into laughter at Thanatos' words.
"I'm serious", he urged. "I've heard of this one man who had lost his eyesight as a child due to some illness and later became a quite skilled warrior. Not anything comparable to those with eyesight, but he could fend for himself using his hearing only, at least."
"And how long did it take him to become that good?"
The flier hesitated. "Some... ten years, or something, I believe", he quietly mumbled. "Could have been more, too."
"Pah!" Henry sprung up. "If you think I will rot away on this island for the next DECADE I've bonded to a fool!" He kicked the water but nearly slipped. "I hate it! I HATE IT! I... I don't want to..." The exiled prince sobbed before the first tear rolled down his cheek. He furiously wiped it away.
"C... come, let us go to sleep. Maybe we can find a solution tomorrow."
Henry glanced back at Thanatos and thought the flier had not looked this helpless in ages, before reluctantly trotting out of the water and back towards their cave. He knew perfectly well they wouldn't find a solution tomorrow, nor anytime soon. Nor ever. The thought burned like hot iron. It was useless to remain on the beach though. Sleep was black and soothing, maybe going to sleep would indeed help. Help forget it all. Henry barely noticed he had begun shivering from the cold water.
"Get out of the wet clothes, will you?" Thanatos spread his wings and lifted off, to circle above where Henry had previously lit the campfire. "I'll be ahead." With that, he disappeared in the entrance to their cave.
The exiled prince gazed after him with unconcealed jealousy. His wing had healed well – if you didn't look too close, you couldn't even see it had artificial tissue. But Henry's own injury would never be as before again.
The flier could of course go wherever he pleased. Henry angrily heaved sand onto the fire until it died. He could freely fly over the water, even to the mainland if he wanted. The exiled prince froze when he suddenly made himself aware how much time Thanatos had spent out somewhere, recently. He recalled hours of prolonged absence, even today he'd been gone for nearly half the day. His eye narrowed as he looked back at the cave entrance the flier had disappeared in – what was he doing during that time?
Having fun without me, probably, Henry scoffed as he gathered up his scattered belongings. Being glad he isn't confined here like me. In the same moment, he reprehended himself. Thanatos wasn't one to do stuff like that behind his back. He had always relied on the flier's honesty, and what kind of world was this if he couldn't trust his own bond anymore?
My bond who's not ever told me what he has been doing, or even invited me to come along for at least a couple hours of flying. Henry shook his head. There had to be a reasonable explanation, he would probably do best in simply asking. Then again, even if he takes me, Henry thought, what would I do then? Where would I go if I could leave?
Angrily, he chased the frustration that swelled in him instantly, at his own agonizing ineptitude. Or maybe he wants time away from me, he grimly thought, grabbing his sword to store it away. If he left his hand hanging limp he could not even see the blade anymore, with his narrowed field of vision.
Time away from... The sword nearly slipped from Henry's hand as he recalled a conversation between Ares and Aurora he'd overheard a couple months before his exile.
I just feel like... some time away from him would do me good sometimes, you know? But am I not overstepping in wishing for something such as this? Ares' words rang clear as light in his head. We are bonds, after all. Bonds. They had been... bonds.
Henry narrowed his eye at the dark cave entrance. Even the memory of Ares' words stung like a knife – he hadn't understood at the time, why would his own bond need time away from him? And to this point, he failed to grasp it. Aurora never asked for time away from Luxa either.
Angrily, Henry shook the thought. This was ridiculous. He sometimes disappeared for a couple hours – what was the big deal? Yes, it was out of the question Thanatos wasn't entirely sincere, but it was unfair to instantly assume he did what Ares had wanted, back then. Even comparing Thanatos to Ares was absurd. He and Ares had never been the way he and Thanatos were.
It was a... bond, was it not? This time it was. It was nothing like the half-assed excuse for a friendship that had ended in mutual betrayal he'd shared with Ares. Even thinking something remotely comparable could ever happen to him and Thanatos was absurd. They were... not like that. Even if they did occasionally fight. But really, who didn't?
Henry found himself confused as he didn't recognize the cave he was standing in. It stretched far to his left and right, maybe twenty feet on each side. He carefully took a step forward, attempting to assess where to go, when he made out the shape of Thanatos on his left.
In the back of his head, Henry began to wonder how he could even see the flier. There was no light source. He opened his mouth to ask Thanatos when he processed the expression in the flier's eyes.
Henry froze, only on the side registering his bond's mouth was moving, like he was speaking, screaming something. Something to match the visceral panic in his gaze.
The exiled prince turned to look for a source of danger when the first gush of water swept him off his feet. Henry screamed, yet there was no sound. He barely had time to ask himself how he had managed to not swallow water when something latched onto him. He smacked into Thanatos as the flier dug a claw into his arm, they were helplessly dragged along by the stream.
The water wasn't icy, and crystal-clear. Henry's hand firmly closed around Thanatos' claw as the water rose and rose, but when he turned his gaze upward again, Henry tore his mouth open in shock.
This time he did swallow water and fought to breach the surface. When he finally got his head out of the water and coughed up what he had swallowed he unbelievingly stared at the ceiling, maybe a foot above him. It was no ceiling – not really. It consisted of some transparent substance behind which glowed a white, endless void. Was it... glass? Henry squinted, how was there glass here?
He turned back to spot Thanatos, to ask what the flier thought it was when he processed his hand was empty. Death! He attempted to scream, but it was like he had lost the ability to control his vocal cords. His mouth opened and closed, yet did not produce a single sound. Death!
Henry's gaze darted back up as a shadow appeared above him. His hand could now reach the ceiling and he unbelievingly touched the transparent substance, then jerked back from how cold it was. But he had seen correctly – there was a familiar figure on the other side.
Death?
The flier sat in front of him on the other side, staring down with an unreadable expression. Irritation rose in Henry as he clenched his fist before disregarding the strange cold and banging it on the ceiling.
Death!
The flier remained motionless and Henry's irritation quickly turned to panic.
Death! DEATH!
It became harder and harder to remain on the surface, soon the water would fill the entire cave, and then –
DEATH!
Seconds later Henry was entirely engulfed, an icy chill ran down his spine from the suddenly much colder seeming water. He banged his fists on the ceiling until they hurt, screaming Thanatos' name over and over, but it was of no use. The flier remained sitting motionless on the other side, not rushing to help, not scratching away at the surface to create an opening, not even going to look for one elsewhere. All his screaming did was cause Henry to swallow more water.
Eventually, the boy ran out of air and his vision blurred. Lights sparked before his eye and he could not even raise his hand to bang it against the ceiling anymore. His body grew limp and even though he was overwhelmed with panic he had no control over his body. All he could do was keep his eye on his bond, his bond who motionlessly watched him drown, as he felt himself being sucked into the black oblivion of unconsciousness.
Every fiber of Henry's body was squirming in panic, convinced he was on the brink of drowning, when he shot up on his sheet. It was utter darkness around him and it took the exiled prince a couple seconds to understand he had been dreaming.
He still audibly gasped, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, only to notice his hand was trembling.
"Henry?" The voice on his right belonged to Thanatos and the exiled prince managed to snap his fingers once, twice, to perceive the flier had dropped from his hanging spot to cower at his side.
"Y... you..." The image from his dream flashed in Henry's mind, the image of the flier watching him drown, but he angrily chased it. It had been a stupid nightmare. "I... I..." Before he could finish his sentence he broke into tears.
He sensed Thanatos' presence at his side and fell forward to wrap his arms around his neck. He had wept into the flier's fur for maybe a minute before he could muster up enough self-control to dry his tears.
"How many nightmares has it been, only this last week?"
Henry sobbed and shook his head.
"Too many", the flier spoke on, "yet I can't say I'm surprised, considering what you've been through."
The exiled prince rose and wiped at his face. "This wasn't like the other dreams though." He squinted, forcing himself to remember the chaotic, terrifying pictures that had etched themselves onto his inner eye from the countless nightmares he'd had over the last sixty days. They had varied in grotesqueness and scenery and setting – yet they all had had one thing in common. "This one had nothing to do with my eye."
He sensed Thanatos raise his gaze. "It did not?"
Henry shook his head and shivered, then retold the dream as best he could. He left out only the part about the flier watching him drown, from the other side of what must've been glass. It would just make things uncomfortable.
"Well, you nearly drowned that day as well", Thanatos settled down beside him and Henry soon lied his head on his back and shut his eye. "Still. I... I don't even really remember that part. I... can I dream about something I don't remember?"
Thanatos hummed pensively. "I'm not sure, but it hardly matters. It was a dream. You cannot beat yourself up over what it means or where it comes from, alright?"
Henry sniffed and pulled his legs to his chest. "Can you take me with you, next time you go out flying?"
Thanatos was silent for a moment. "Of... of course. I didn't... I mean, wouldn't you instantly get bored of aimless flying?"
The exiled prince managed a quiet laugh. "Is that why you never offered? Honestly, I miss it a lot. Just flying, you know? Maybe it'll help to make me feel less trapped here."
"I... that's... that makes sense... I'll take you next time." The flier hesitated, "I... I don't want you to think I didn't offer because I didn't want you around, okay? To tell you the truth, I didn't think you'd care for something as mundane as a couple rounds over the water, considering how much you whined on our trip over the waterway."
Henry's mouth curved into a smile. "That's fair. Then again, I should have asked sooner. But yeah, I did feel left out... a little."
Thanatos hummed. "We'll fly together, tomorrow. That sound good?"
"Yeah."
"Then try to go back to sleep now. It'll be morning before you know it."
Henry curled into a tight ball and pressed his face into the flier's fur. Thanatos was right, it would be morning soon. They would fly together then. His jaw still clenched as he failed to shake the bitter aftertaste the nightmare had left. It had been... just a dream. A dream he couldn't beat himself up over. Yet the image of Thanatos on the other side of the glass had etched itself so deep into his mind it haunted him for hours until exertion at last overwhelmed him and he slipped into what ended up being a couple hours of restless, light sleep.
Yet when he woke the next day, Thanatos was already gone. He'd always been getting up earlier than Henry ever since the exiled prince could think, still, he couldn't help but feel somewhat irritated, considering the flier's promise last night.
Just as he'd slipped into his boots to go looking for him, the flier fluttered through the entrance. "Henry, you have to come. The suppliers are here!"
The exiled prince's face immediately lit up and he dropped the backpack he'd just taken up. "You don't say! Oh, do you think they'll have those fruit from the jungle, the yellow ones?" He instantly stormed past the flier and ran the trek to the other side of the island on foot.
Supplies were just what they needed, with how much fuel he had used recently. Something other than fish for food would be great too, he thought and picked up speed as he spotted the elongated, human-made boat that lied on the beach. An entourage of three moths hovered above the boat that was packed with goods, as it had been the last two times.
Only a week after he and Thanatos had arrived here, he had learned the crawlers on the island had a contract with the flutterers who sustained them, in exchange for services from their kin on the mainland. They brought supplies and news, and had also been informed the famed Wielder of Light had taken camp on the island as well. It turned out both species revered him so much they had swamped him with goods even without payment every time they had been here so far, and Henry was not about to complain.
Thanatos' shadow darted over his head at that moment and the flier touched down next to the boat, exchanging greetings with the flutterers. Henry approached as well, eyeing what they had brought. Crates over crates of goods, and after he and Thanatos had helped to unload them, he peeked inside and rejoiced.
Tons of food – grain, dried beef, different types of mushrooms, and yes, even Henry's beloved yellow fruit from the jungle, among others. Then multiple barrels of fuel and a full crate of medical supplies – stacks of bandages, multiple containers with painkillers and disinfectant as well as a small bottle of antipyretic.
"We'll have a feast tonight!", Henry called as he hurled crate after crate over to the base of the mountain, to store them later.
"We will have the supplies to hold one, certainly", Thanatos responded and despite all they'd talked about yesterday, Henry couldn't help but approach the leader of the flutterers – "You're well-informed, right? Do you maybe know someone who could use mercenaries?"
Thanatos' head instantly shot up and he threw him an accusing glare from where he had just sat down a crate with food, but Henry ignored him. The sight of the boat, the means to get to the mainland, had fueled his desire to leave even more. And besides, the flier was his bond, not his parent – he could not tell him what to do. If I stay here a single day longer I'll go mad, Henry thought, eyeing the mountain with contempt before turning his attention back on the moth, who visibly hesitated. "Well?"
"Oh, oh no. Nobody thinks of that at the moment. It is not the time now."
Henry furrowed his brows. "What are you talking about?" From behind he sensed Thanatos approaching, he must have heard the response too.
The flutterer tilted his head, exchanging glances with his party members. "Have you not heard? The Curse of the Warmbloods is upon us. It leaves no time for things that would require mercenaries."
"The... what now?" Curse of the Warmbloods – Henry frowned and thought the term sounded faintly familiar, though he had no idea what exactly it was or where he had heard it before. Whatever it was though, it certainly didn't sound good.
"The Curse of the Warmbloods", the flutterer repeated, "your people call it – the plague. It came over the Dead Land a few weeks ago. The gnawers die in large numbers. Your kind fights it, though we hear both human cities have been befallen."
A plague...? Henry's chest tightened with unease. How had he not heard of it yet – both the Fount and Regalia had been befallen, they said. His mind flashed to everyone he cared about – Luxa, Nerissa, Vikus, Solovet, Mareth... He dug his heel into the sand forcefully. The list was nigh endless.
Then again – Henry pressed his lips together and eyed Thanatos whose face showed the same emotions as his own – how could he have heard of it? He had spent the last two months on this isolated island among crawlers. And there was hardly any plague here.
"This... this is not good...", the flier beside him muttered, "Have you by any chance information on whether the nibblers are affected too?"
The nibblers! Henry spun around to the moth, eagerly awaiting a response. He hadn't even thought about his friends in the jungle – but as much as he feared for his loved ones in Regalia, he had more reason to fear for Teslas, Lovelace, Curie, Cevian, and all the others. They had not nearly the equipment and medical skills the doctors in Regalia had.
"Not that we have heard of. We prefer to stay hidden for as long as it lasts. We are not warmbloods, so it does not affect us, but it is still safer this way", the flutterer replied, and Henry and Thanatos exchanged glances.
"Looks like we might leave here sooner than anticipated...", the flier mumbled, visibly unnerved, and even Henry clenched his jaw nervously at the thought of the previously so eagerly anticipated departure. This was not the reason he had wanted to leave for.
"We'll go check on them, right?" Henry paced up and down in front of the entrance to their cave. "Like, we have to check on them. I don't care what you say about leaving, this is not about me anymore, it's –"
"Henry – Henry, yes, of course, we'll go check on them. Do you hear me protesting? A... a plague... how – what – how did this ever even happen?"
"I don't care!" Henry took a stance before him. "We'll leave as many supplies as we can spare in the stash here, and fly for the jungle. Maybe they'll have more information as well. Though I have to... have to..." He wrung his hands anxiously and stared at the floor. "I just want to see them again. In general, too. The colony is safe enough, is it not?"
"Henry, for the second time, I am not objecting. Let us pack, and then let us leave. If you so want, we can stay there a while as well, if they are not affected. But you are right... there has seldom been a better time to leave than now."
Henry turned his attention on the supply crates again. "I'll... I'll make bread first, okay? To take with us. We can eat and then we can leave, I'm really hungry." To his surprise, now that their departure was imminent, the thought of it had seized giving him joy.
Thanatos nodded. "Do what you must. I am hungry as well after we skipped breakfast today."
It took Henry several hours to finish up baking and the end product was corny and bland for he had no salt but for sandwiches, it would suffice.
Thanatos landed beside him with four fish, just as the exiled prince pulled the bread from the stone he used as oven and prepared to store it in his backpack. "Smells like a success."
"Hopefully", Henry grinned and threw some mushrooms in the empty oven. "How about we try it?"
They were both so hungry they finished lunch in only ten minutes and Thanatos had already spread his wings – "You ready to go?" when Henry remembered something. "I... wait, give me five minutes, okay?"
"Did you forget something?"
Henry ignored the question and made his way back into the cave. He went on to rummage through some discarded leather pieces he'd meant to throw away and picked out one that had the approximate right size. With it he stepped back out, to be faced with a confused Thanatos. Instead of asking, this time, the flier simply watched Henry as he pulled out Mys and cut the leather into his desired shape. When he was then satisfied, he raised and tied it around his head, before turning back to the flier. "Well, how do I look?"
The flier blinked in surprise. "Not... bad. Kind of suits you. Though... I mean, you've not worn one so far, why did you feel compelled to make an eyepatch now?"
Henry pressed his lips together as he fumbled with the leather patch. "We'll see people we know again now, that's why. You think I'll let them see me with that abomination on my face? It'll only make the babies cry." He ignored Thanatos' concerned expression and made his way past the flier to look at himself in the water.
His reflection was somewhat blurry, the waterway wasn't an ideal mirror, but he could see the patch had the effect he'd wanted it to have – while it didn't cover the scar completely, it made it look much less gruesome. And then – Henry tilted his head and his mouth curved into a smile – it also made him look sort-of unruly and raffish, like a true veteran outcast – someone like... the Death Rider.
He hadn't regarded the prophecy much in recent times, but the man who stared back at him from the water now at least looked the part. Henry's grin widened at the thought and he turned away, deciding he very much liked this new look for himself. "Let's say, even I find it looks better with than without", he called in Thanatos' direction and finally mounted up.
"If you say so", the flier mumbled with concern but nonetheless spread his wings for lift-off.
The anticipated rush of joy at last engulfed Henry when the flier leaped in the air and performed an honorary round around the island, shouting "Run like the river – thank you for your hospitality!" to the crawlers who had assembled below them now.
"Run like the river!", Henry echoed and then turned his gaze away from the island. Not for a single moment he glanced back.