Henry immediately noticed there was one set of footsteps less than there should be, after he had given the signal to move. He cautiously walked a few feet to listen for the missing pair, then turned to check whether something was wrong.
His echolocation painted a strikingly clear image of his surroundings, and the gnawers in the adjacent caves. His mind flashed with how they could perhaps smell them out even without light, then he took in the pungent reek of burnt oil and blood that always hung over the arena like a sickening blanket and shrugged.
When he then perceived Dalia's frail shape by the wall he opened his mouth to hiss for her to press on before he spotted what she held in her tightly clenched fist and his every fiber froze. He took in her tense posture, her piercing stare, her somewhat characteristic yet oddly persistent silence on the flight here. Her untouched meal she had tossed back into the lake earlier... and a wave of sudden panic engulfed him when his brain processed what his senses were showing. And that he... recognized it.
A glimpse at her sufficed for his memory and his echolocation to piece together her plan. The only thing it could not tell him was how to prevent it. He stood frozen and stared at her, his every fiber screaming to do something, but his mind was blank. I can not save her, it flashed in his head and a part of him felt like he would pass out. I can not save her from making the... same mistake I made.
"Don't." His barely audible whisper rang deafeningly in his ears yet, of course, Dalia could not hear. Even if she could, Henry sensed well enough she was past the point of no return. "You don't –"
He didn't even know what he had wanted to say exactly. You don't have to do this, maybe. Or you don't know what you're doing. You don't realize what you are getting yourself into. All of them at once, perhaps, yet out of his mouth came no sound. He could only stand and stare as she raised her arm and switched on the light.
Soon rats streamed in from all sides, in the back of his head Henry thought he should attempt to fight but he could not move a muscle. Even as Longclaw, at last, emerged to step at Dalia's side, to congratulate her. Gorger never congratulated me, it flashed in his mind. He ignored me, mocked me. Dragged me off a cliff.
Achilles, the name rang uncomfortably in his ears and his eye darted up at Thanatos. He and the fliers still dodged Longclaw's leaping followers but they had nowhere to escape. He perfectly perceived they were surrounded.
"It looks like for as epically as Tonguetwist failed with your flier, Achilles, here, she succeeded."
Henry's head darted back down at the words yet before he had time to process them his arms were restrained by rats and he was lifted off the floor. A part of his brain screamed at him to struggle, an overwhelming other felt painfully helpless.
Still, as the fliers were finally seized and his party dragged off towards the prison, his eye remained fixated on Dalia. Why, he meant to scream. He had had a why. She must have one too. Everyone did.
"This is not going to go the way you think!" His voice sounded hoarse when he forced words out of his mouth. Who he had addressed, the towering Longclaw or the sunken Dalia, not even he could tell.
Moments later they had disappeared out of sight and Henry squinted against the light of a brazier before he was carelessly tossed into a pit. He released a violent cry as he landed harshly on his shoulder, next to himself the unnervingly loud groans of the others. Everyone, he counted dazedly as his eye squinted shut. Everyone was here, the questers, the fliers... all but Dalia, of course.
Go, go, go, go. Stand with your friends. Ripred's voice rang in Henry's ears and he shuddered. Stand with your friends. They had not been his friends. And they were not Dalia's either. If only she knew... if only... she knew what he knew... If only...
The pit was narrow. He squinted harder, it barely fit all nine of them. Henry's head shot up. Nine? They were not nine. They were seven. For a moment he thought his dazed brain had interpreted the image his senses painted incorrectly but even as the mist cleared it did not change.
With as much grace as he could muster he scrambled to his feet and opened his eye to scan the pit for the others... and found someone else instead. Her dress was torn, her hair unwashed and disheveled, and her face, her hands, and her naked feet smeared in dirt – but she was alive, widened eyes locked on the newcomers. "It is you!" Stellovet's eyes lit up and she leaped from the corner she had cowered in, directly at Henry, but was caught in Howard's embrace instead. "You live!"
Her face instantly darkened and she released Howard. "I –"
"You fwiends?"
The entire party shrieked when a tiny voice interrupted from the corner Stellovet had previously cowered in. Henry's gaze darted in the direction and only now he remembered he had perceived nine, not eight. He blinked. Or was it more?
Stellovet nodded and stepped towards the corner. "Yes, you can come out!"
"What is –", Howard froze when suddenly something moved in the shade of the corner. Stellovet leaped to support whoever it was and when she emerged, on her shoulder leaned the cream-colored figure of a flier.
Henry grinned and his eye searched for who else he sensed, yet when he found an iron shackle around the flier's left foot instead, his smile faded.
"Who is –", Luxa took a step forward but before she could finish, Stellovet cut her off – "May I introduce", she released the flier, allowing her to lie down, "this is Hera. She is a prisoner like I. We... kept each other company." She paused, then glanced back into the corner. "Come out, you three, they don't bite. Well, most of them don't." Henry's smile returned as he found his echolocation had been correct.
"And these are..." From behind Hera cautiously emerged a tiny white head, from under her belly came a light-brown one, and from in between Stellovet's legs emerged a dark-brown, third head. "They fwiends?", the tiny white bat on her mother's head asked again, and Stellovet nodded. Henry thought he had seldom seen her smile so genuinely.
"These are Leda", she pointed at the white pup, "Danae", the light-brown one, "and she here is Io." Stellovet picked up the third little bat and caressed her dark-brown fur. "They are Hera's pups."
Only moments in Henry properly registered the abnormal silence. Everyone stared at Stellovet equally aghast and when he asked himself why, he realized the way she stood there, among the family of fliers, with her torn dress, her bare feet, and the disheveled hair – he barely recognized her.
"Well", it was at last Howard who broke the silence and stepped forth, "we are delighted to meet you. Will you let me take a look at your injury?"
Only now Henry registered Hera's silken, cream fur was torn by a large, already crusted cut. When Howard rose a hand to inspect it she winced. "It is most likely infected", he mumbled and exchanged a glance with Stellovet, then looked back at the others. "All of you line up. I will examine everyone. You especially, Stello." Nobody bothered to protest.
As it turned out, none of them had serious injuries, though to check the fliers thoroughly posed nearly impossible. Henry and Howard attempted to loosen the heavy chains shackling Thanatos' wings for minutes, in vain. Of course they had tied the fliers down. The exiled prince knelt beside his bond throughout the rest of Howard's check-up and though the flier insisted over and over he was fine, Henry did not believe him for a second.
When Luxa's cousin plopped down next to Stellovet and Hera, they all cautiously inched closer. Henry's gaze wandered over the frozen expressions of Gregor and Luxa, over Howard's disheveled hair and sunken eyes, Stellovet's miserable figure. Then the uncomfortably twining fliers... and his own soiled hands. The blood came from a semi-fresh puddle at the bottom of the pit, but to Henry, it seemed like it was the blood of those he had endangered... the blood he had spilled... by so foolishly embarking on this mission. By having left Longclaw alive.
Howard gave Hera the rest of the water from his backpack and minutes later she was strong enough to tell them her own tale. Apparently, she had been on her way from the flier's land to the Fount, together with her partner and her newborn pups. They had had official permission to stay, as her partner Chronos had accepted a courier job for the Fount. But over the waterway they had encountered a waterspout, it had driven them off-course, and she had been separated from Chronos. She had barely been able to save herself and her pups into a tunnel, but soon they had encountered rats. They had caught and brought them here, only a day before Stellovet had arrived.
"I am deeply sorry for your loss", Howard gave her a respectful nod, "And, as I am certain my sister has already told you, we are the children of the family that administrates the Fount. Should we escape, you are very welcome to come with us and stay, even if your partner should be lost."
Hera nodded back gratefully. "Your offer is very kind. We will gladly accept." Her heavy eyes fell shut again and Henry averted his gaze as he could not stand the grief they emitted. She knew as well as they all her partner had to be dead.
What followed was a period of miserable silence. Henry's gaze met Luxa and Gregor, huddled with their bonds, then Howard with his arm tightly around Stellovet's narrow shape. Had he wanted, Henry could have most likely understood what he spoke to her, but he could not bring himself to listen. He could only lie with his legs pulled on, face pressed into Thanatos' fur. The more time passed, the more the overwhelming guilt and helplessness began to suffocate him and it became harder to suppress tears with the second.
Had I only taken care of Longclaw sooner, it reeled in his head, had I only kept my promise. Had I not been so careless, none of us would be here now. None of the others would have to suffer.
"I'm such a miserable piece of shit", he mumbled into the fur of his bond.
"This is not your fault", came the instant reply, "do not blame yourself, please."
"But it is my fault", Henry pulled his legs on tighter, "had I only acted sooner, had I only... only... I promised I would take Longclaw out, and what have I done so far?", he sobbed, "None of us would be here if –"
"And how, honestly, did you ever expect to take him out?" Henry remained silent as his bond spoke on – "Even... find him? Get so close without being butchered? Granted, this here is less than ideal", he heaved and Henry's hand instinctively tugged at the chain compressing his torso, "but it is the chance we have waited for. He has allowed us into his safe zone... do you not intend to make use of that?"
The exiled prince remained silent. His flier was right, yet at the same time, he could not shake the feeling he had somehow failed. At something... something... "But Dalia would not have –"
"What Dalia did was not your fault either." Thanatos sounded agitated. "I know it must have been horrible to watch her do the same thing you did", his voice lowered even further, "but Henry, Dalia made her choice as you made yours, then and now. You had no part in that, therefore she is not your responsibility."
"Tonguetwist turned her", he muttered, recalling Longclaw's words he had previously not been able to process. "She turned her as she did me."
"Which still does not make this your fault."
"I know, but –", Henry squinted furiously, "why? Why is she doing this?"
"Dalia?"
"Tonguetwist! She condemned me before, why must she and Longclaw still haunt me? Us?" He sobbed. "I thought... I wanted them dead. But more and more I feel like I just want them to leave us at peace..." He curled up as tightly as he could and suddenly sensed the overwhelming weight of all the misery, that had plagued him for so long he barely remembered the time before, squeeze the last bit of hope out of his heart. When will it be enough, he internally screamed, when will all this suffering end at last?
"Why... why can they not leave us at peace?!" Henry could barely keep his voice down so much he did not alert his fellow prisoners and thought seldom had he wanted for there not to be people around as much as now.
Thanatos remained silent, there was little he could have said or done, other than let Henry weep into his fur. At least the others were all taken up with themselves, enough so that he did not have to explain his now relentlessly streaming tears. For how would he explain?
He did not have to explain last night either, somehow, miraculously, none of them had asked. Yet he remembered his distress after hearing Luxa's and Gregor's conversation far too well.
Henry relished his ability to hear better than any other human, it brought with itself an array of incredible perks. But it also had side effects. Hearing Luxa and Gregor talk had shaken him to the core, far more than he would have expected. He cursed his own still apparent attachment to all the memories he had locked away in the back of his head, yet the carefully erected dam had broken last night, and he found he could not bear the bittersweet sting of it all.
It is hard for me as well sometimes, to remember him for more than what he... did, in the end, but then again, there are so many good things to remember. Henry still heard Luxa's trembling voice and shuddered. I try, you know? To remember the good things. Because... if not I, who else will? Nobody. The thought burned like a seal of hot iron... traitor.
He had not even attempted to sleep after breaking up the conversation. Most of the night he had spent quietly talking to Thanatos, and despite the imminent comfort his bond had provided, still cried himself to sleep.
This here was just not his place. As little certain as he was about where exactly he belonged, last night had shown he did not truly belong here, on a quest with the same faces that still haunted him from his past. Here with them may be the place of the... Death Rider, he thought bitterly, yet not that of Henry. Because as much as the Death Rider seemed to have grown on them – Henry, they would never accept again.
The exiled prince suppressed an exasperated sigh and raised his hand to wipe his tears when an angry voice cut into his thoughts – "I can still not believe it, how DARE SHE?!"
Everyone in the pit winced simultaneously and Henry pulled the hood deep into his face before he slowly rose, only to see Stellovet had pulled away from her brother and taken a couple steps back.
"I... I am sorry, Stello, I... can not even begin to tell." Howard rose too and stepped closer, but she retreated until she nearly ran into Gregor and Ares who had huddled together by the back wall.
"She had planned it all!", Stellovet cried and her narrow shoulders began to tremble yet her fists were angrily clenched. "She had meticulously planned to have me abducted by those wretched rats – threatened she was, she told you? PAH! I am telling you, she stood there, cold as stone, and watched as I was dragged off! The lying, scheming BITCH!"
"Stellovet!", Howard frowned in disapproval, then shook his head. "I am only retelling what Dalia told us."
"But... but why would she do this?!", Stellovet cried in her unbridled rage, though Henry thought as tough as she wanted to sound, she must be on the brim of tears. "I... I don't understand..."
"None of us do", Luxa spoke from behind Howard, her voice was cold as stone. "But I doubt the traitor's motive should be our priority now."
Stellovet darted around to Luxa, yet before she could open her mouth, it was suddenly Gregor who spoke from his corner – "She... played us all, actually." Henry had seldom heard his voice more dejected. All eyes fixated on the Overlander and he visibly shrunk a couple inches. "She... I mean, it was her who even convinced me to talk to Luxa about coming along. I didn't... I mean...", he shook his head and his frown deepened. "I'm sorry. I got us both into this mess because I let her get to me. I shouldn't have –"
"Gregor, nobody here blames you", she cut him off. "Nobody is to blame other than the traitor." Luxa's expression hardened and for some reason, Henry's own heart sunk. "But at the same time... sitting here will not help us." She turned his way, "We must... do something."
When the exiled prince found all gazes on him, he finally rose. "Luxa is right." He glanced over at the still furious Stellovet and the dejected Gregor, "I... understand your desire to get behind this. And I promise, if the chance should arise, we will do our best to find out her motive. But for now, we should focus on what we came here to do", he attempted hard to keep his freshly cried tears out of his voice and pulled his hood deeper into his face, "to bring you back home. And to eliminate Longclaw."
"Yes...", Howard hesitantly spoke, and after a few moments of silence, Henry glimpsed up, at their exhausted but not yet defeated faces, and realized they were all looking to him for a plan. To tell them what to do. He squinted, his thoughts were a mess and all he really wanted was to curl back up and shut the world out, but he could not. Not now.
So he forced his thoughts back into place and cleared his throat – "Then again, as awful as that sounds, I don't think there is anything we can do right now." He cut off Luxa who had opened her mouth to protest, "For, what do you want to do? CLIMB that?" He pointed up the steep border of the nearly fifteen-foot-deep pit. "But... I doubt we will be here for long."
At the array of confused expressions, Henry sighed and plopped down beside Thanatos again, the rest of the questers huddled around them. "I mean, Longclaw isn't the type to let us starve in a pit. He's a drama king, like, by nature", he exchanged a look with Thanatos. "I believe he will sooner or later fetch and force us to fight for his entertainment."
His announcement earned a collective, audible gasp. "I know that's not exactly ideal either", Henry groaned and desperately combed his mind for a way to use this to their advantage, "I mean... you all can fight, right?"
The party exchanged uncertain glances. Luxa looked at the shackled shape of Aurora, then nodded. Howard frowned and tilted his head, but finally nodded too. "If I have to..."
"You'll actually have the biggest problem if you're pinned against an opponent by yourself", Henry regarded him, "for you have no flier. As the only one experienced in grounded battle I can say with certainty none of you are even remotely fit to fight standing on your own feet."
Gregor nervously twitched, and Ares nudged him. "He here might. Perhaps you should tell them..."
Henry's and Howard's gazes were confused, only Luxa rolled her eyes. "Oh right, Gregor is a rager, how could I forget..."
Henry's eye widened. "YOU? A rager... REALLY?"
The Overlander sighed. "Yeah... I found out last year, I mean, before the whole episode with the Prophecy of Bane and our trip over the waterway, but I mean I –"
"Well then it's settled", the exiled prince cut him off, "should they ask for volunteers, either I or Gregor will go first, depending on whether Longclaw even wants me to fight. I mean, he's watched me battle like, fifty times, so maybe he'll want a new face."
All eyes darted at him and he shrugged. "It's... a long story. I'll tell you when we're not in life-threatening peril, okay?"
"We will prepare to fight then?", Luxa mumbled and Henry sighed, "Only if we must, to buy ourselves time. But mainly, we must decide who will be the one they hand a weapon, for on them our whole escape will rely. If somehow possible, it should preferably be me."
Luxa silently nodded, then glanced back up. "So you have... solved your... eh, eye-related issues?"
Henry hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. Ripred had... something for me to try and... well, it worked quite well. But again, I'll tell you when we're in less than now, or preferably, no shit whatsoever. Promise."
Stellovet and Luxa giggled and Howard raised an eyebrow, but when Henry proceeded to loot their backpacks for any sustenance they could distribute, he quietly cooperated. In the end, they found themselves with the contents of Henry's water bags, as well as a full bottle of a shiny, transparent material he had never seen and a full pack of cookies from the Overlander's backpack. "My mom packed those for the trip", he mumbled as he reluctantly handed them over, and Henry halted to pat him on the shoulder encouragingly. "Well, they'll be put to good use now."
Everyone quenched their thirst and Howard swapped their bandages, then Henry handed out the cookies. It was a pack of twenty, so they had plenty left and as Henry bit down on the unfamiliar substance, the sweet sugar rush instantly reinvigorated him. "Man I miss sugar", he muttered and barely restrained himself from taking another one. "That's genuinely one of my least favorite things about being an outcast, the boring diet. MAN these are good!"
Thanatos threw him a somewhat amused but also concerned glance, and Henry shrugged. "Yeah, I mean that. Are there worse things? Definitely. But a varied and lush diet is not to be underestimated."
Unfortunately, after the meal, came the wait. Henry had always hated waiting, especially with something dangerous looming over him. So, while each of his fellow prisoners, by Howard's order, fell asleep in the next ten minutes, all he could do was toss and turn, where he had curled up. He had not gotten much rest last night and though he was insanely tired, his relentless doubts and worries would not let him rest.
He could not tell how much time had passed when he finally jolted up, his light doze disrupted by sudden movement beyond the pit. Before he could even properly scramble up he sensed rats in the pit with them, then one of them violently jerked him up by the arm.
"Time for you to play!"
Henry squinted and caught a glimpse at his fellow questers, all in similar disarray. He had heard that before. That same phrase he had –
"You can't just LEAVE them here!" Luxa's cry rang in his ears and Henry darted around, to see her wriggle free and leap at the still shackled Aurora. None of the fliers had been moved, and a swell of panic engulfed him when he turned to catch a glimpse at Thanatos' frozen shape.
Yet the rats cared little. One scooped Luxa up by the leg like she was a weightless ragdoll and tore her away from Aurora with force. Her violent cries vibrated Henry's every fiber and despite the overwhelming helplessness and fear that engulfed him as he was lifted out of the pit, he himself could not scream.
Only as he was dropped on white, dusty sand, beside him Gregor, Luxa, Howard, and Stellovet, he realized his whole escape plan would not work. Even if one of them... if he got a hold of a weapon to catch Longclaw, what was the point if they still had their fliers? Maybe I can trade his life against theirs, he dazedly thought, if I can catch him at the point of my blade, maybe –
His head darted up and he forced his senses to focus, to analyze the situation. They were five grounded humans against more than two dozen rats he sensed up and around them, slowly but certainly more streamed in to fill up the bleachers. Despair instantly crushed his blossoming spirit – they stood no chance. Not even if they had their weapons.
"Well, look at this oh-so-special entourage. Seems we have high-ranking guests in this humble establishment today. I am deeply honored."
Henry's head jerked up at the familiar voice and his eye met the towering shape of Longclaw strolling into the center of his arena. To his surprise, squeezed over the large gnawer's ear was a most awkward-looking but familiar golden crown.
"That's a couple sizes too small for your large head", he mumbled and despite Longclaw's aggravated hiss, the rats who restrained him had to suppress a giggle.
"Achilles", the large brown rat yanked him up by the collar, "why do you look so dire? This is a celebration!", he swayed him back and forth and as much as Henry struggled in his grasp, this time the gnawer took care to not expose the pit of his paw. "A most joyous day in the history of the once glorious yet nearly fallen kingdom of gnawers."
"Let me guess", Henry hissed between clenched teeth, "your coronation?"
"Quick-witted you have always been", the rat grinned, "and as much as this day deserves to see the Great Achilles battle... they say to keep the best for last, do they not? And we have so many other options to pick from." He strolled towards Henry's party and spread his other front paw – "How about, we begin this celebration with a test, namely whether the famed Overland-warrior can live up to his ever-spreading reputation?"
A collective cheer ran through the now filled ranks and Gregor at Longclaw's feet visibly shrunk by a couple inches. "They say he is undefeated", he continued, "that he escaped the Labyrinth unscathed, right from under the noses of our gnawers! That he defeated Fangor and Shed, armed with nothing but a torch – well, let us see if the rumors are true, if this measly boy deserves the title of WARRIOR!"
Henry squinted and attempted to silently get Gregor's attention, to remind him of what they had discussed earlier. But the Overlander persistently stared at the floor, visibly trying not to shake.
"Or even better!" Henry's gaze darted up again when Longclaw took another step – "To celebrate the rise of the new king of the gnawers, we watch the one and only future QUEEN OF REGALIA battle for us!"
The already nigh-deafening cheers grew louder and Henry's heart sank at the sight of the now quivering Luxa. In her dusty clothes and with her disheveled hair, held together only by the golden ribbon of her crown, she looked smaller than she had in a long time, against the dreaded white sand.
"Well, it seems the people have spoken. We will let them BOTH fight! As for the two of you", Longclaw ignored the deafening screams and regarded the huddled-together Howard and Stellovet, "maybe we'll have time in-between. But for as far as I'm concerned, you were the bait and you –", he squinted at Howard, "I am honestly unsure why you are here, but for whatever the case, I will never complain to get more than bargained for."
He twirled around and dropped Henry on the floor to wave at an approaching rat who carried between his teeth a sword. Everyone but Gregor was restrained, yet as soon as Henry caught sight of the blade something in his head clicked. He had no plan, not even the vaguest framework of one, all he saw was a weapon and a chance.
Before any of Longclaw's rats could grab him he darted forward. His outstretched leg rammed into the stomach of the rat who carried the sword and it flew from his mouth at once. Before it could hit the ground, Henry's hand closed around the hilt.
He twirled and the blade sliced the neck of the gnawer who had carried it earlier. An outraged cry ran through the audience yet around Henry, it was like time and space slowed, blurred, until he only perceived what he had to perceive. Calculated distance ahead, target cowering, will leap in two seconds, recommend to dodge and counterstrike... angle and movement calculated, proceed as follows.
His eye shut and he thought he had seldom hit the mark his echolocation presented more perfectly as he flawlessly dodged and leaped at Longclaw. His blade whizzed down and he was so certain he would land his focus shattered like glass when instead of flesh, his blade clashed with metal.
He cried and let go of the sword, to most ungraciously land on his flat stomach. As soon as he had shaken the daze his eye darted up... only to be caught by the shine of a curved, golden-shimmering blade. A... familiar blade, Henry blinked, in the paw of... a familiar gnawer.
"And so we meet again." Her slick, silvery fur contrasted harshly with the gold of the dagger she held above his head, and though her voice was gentle and soothing as always, Henry's insides wreathed as soon as he recognized who it was. "You must excuse my absence during your time as Longclaw's champion, but we feared any... old grudges you might still harbor against me would get in the way of an overall enjoyable experience... for you and the audience."
Henry had leaped to his feet in the blink of an eye, yet as soon as he raised the sword he had scooped back up to slit her wretched throat then and there, a different voice cut him off from behind – "I would not do that, if I were you, Achilles."
Henry froze with the blade still raised and as soon as his mind had processed the new image his heart sank. He slowly turned, to spot Longclaw, with the twining shape of Thanatos in his grasp. "WHOEVER even so much as thinks of raising a weapon, loses a flier!"
Only now Henry registered two of his followers next to the enormous rat, they held the desperately writhing Ares and Aurora. Thanatos could have wriggled free, but all fliers were still shackled. They could not fly... not escape. In the next moment, the sword slipped from Henry's hand to uncomfortably clank to the sandy ground. Something deep within him screamed in protest at the strangely familiar sound, yet the exiled prince held his focus on the shape of his bond in Longclaw's grip. He had not seen his eyes so dull and drained of hope in a while.
"Who... would have ever thought...", Henry twitched and spun around when the disgustingly pleasant voice spoke again, "that all it took to get to you was the life of another. I never took you for the hero type."
Henry could barely suppress a wince at the sight of her strange yet familiar blue eyes until his gaze met the dagger she still clutched. He suddenly saw before his inner eye the face of Hamnet, looking up as he knelt in front of Henry. Take good care of it for me, okay? "That's mine."
Tonguetwist let out a melodious laugh. "Oh, yes", she twirled the dagger, the same dagger Henry had so desperately searched for, the day he had cut off King Gorger's tooth. Every fiber of his wished nothing more than to yank Hamnet's gift out of her filthy paw.
"Which is why I could hardly believe my eyes", she tapped the blade with her claw, "when Longclaw brought it with himself from the resting spot of Gorger, the day he went to claim his crown. I could hardly toss it back out, with what memories it holds, for you and me... Silverchild."
"Don't call me that."
"Oh right, you go by other names now", she laughed, "Achilles, is what Longclaw calls you, though I've never quite understood why you chose that name, of all. The Death Rider, I hear, is what the humans call you." She smiled, though Henry saw the blatant fakeness. "What a powerful name indeed. One worthy of the great champion you played for a while... though, in all honesty, it is hard for me to call you anything but what I always called you. Even in my head, whenever I picture your face", she squinted, "as much as you have changed... you will always remain the Silverchild."
"ZIP IT!", he yelled, "I will not be called that anymore! Never again!" It took Henry a couple seconds to process he was no longer holding a weapon and only in the last moment he stopped himself from leaping at her throat. "You... YOU, all this is your fault!", he screamed, the seething rage he had kept in for so long manifested in his gut and boiled over until it seeped from his mouth. "You... you took EVERYTHING FROM ME!"
Before he could leap at her, a heavy chain tightened around his torso and he let out a harrowing scream as he twined furiously. "You... what is your PROBLEM?!" He nearly choked on the stream of his own words, "Why do you keep HAUNTING ME?! WHY can you not LEAVE ME IN PEACE?!" For as little as he wanted to cry in front of them all, suddenly he had to fight with all his might to hold back tears.
"What my..." Tonguetwist stared at him and slowly lowered the paw with his dagger. And for the first time, in for as long as he had known her, Henry watched the look in her distinct blue eyes grow cold until he stared into two bottomless pits of relentless ice.
She waved her paw and the rat that restrained him let go, only for Tonguetwist to lift him herself, by the uncomfortably tight chain. "What my... problem is?" Henry had to suppress a shiver from the ice in her eyes. "You... ha, you really don't know, do you?" She squinted, "You claim I condemned you when in truth, all I ever did was give you an opportunity. A once-in-a-lifetime chance to break free from your place as the Silverchild... and what do you do with the chance? You FAIL!"
Henry winced back as her unnervingly white teeth flashed right in his face. "You dare and fail me, you miserable wretch, and you... HA!", her laugh was high-pitched and dripping with disdain. "You dare claim I took everything from you... when it in truth was YOU who took everything from ME!"
Henry's eye widened yet before he could speak, she cut him off. "Do you have any clue as to who I was before? Gorger's most trusted confidant...", for a moment, the soothing velvet returned to her voice, but it instantly drowned in spite again. "And then you come and send him down a cliff! He, and so many others I loved... I am all but relieved my dear Twirltongue was not there." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "You... have you any idea what I lost, the day he died? It was not his end alone, it was mine too – the end to everything I held dear. I had to flee or the vagabonds would have butchered me, to pine miserably in a damp cave for MONTHS until I at last found Longclaw. Finally, a civilized gnawer who mourned the king as I did... by striving to become a worthy successor."
Henry jumped when he registered his golden blade in front of his face. "So, by that, it is only fair for me to return the favor. You know, it is a welcomed coincidence he loathes your flier as much as I loathe you. If we really think about it", she swung him around and Henry's gaze met the questers the rats had rounded up on the other side of the arena, "had you only not failed me then... things would be so much better, for all of us."
"F... failed?" Henry barely pressed the word out of his mouth, his head spun in an attempt to make sense of what she was saying.
"Failed...", Tonguetwist hummed and suddenly, her voice was back to how it had always been. "I had nearly given up, after two consecutive fails. Though after both you and your flier have disappointed me so miserably, coming across a human who is strong enough to pull through and take her given chance was almost a surprise."
Henry twitched yet before he could speak, Tonguetwist beat him to it – "Dalia... oh, so lonely, so mistreated, and misunderstood. And she was not even selfish like you. Everyone deserves what they earn, yet sadly, not all of us get it. And now... now you are here again. You are a stubborn one, indeed... which is not a bad trait in itself, yet you... it is truly remarkable how persistently you refuse to ever learn."
"W... what?"
"Oh, come on", she narrowed her eyes and glanced over to the miserable pile of the others. "You know as well as I they would not be here, without you. And now... well, Longclaw, as civilized as he is, he enjoys his share of blood. They will suffer, Silverchild, those who you once called friends... family. It is quite saddening to think you could have prevented it all."
Silver... child. Henry's head spun worse than before. For a moment he thought he would pass out as his vision blurred, then focused again... on the look in Tonguetwist's blue eyes, condescending yet compassionate, calculating yet sympathetic. Then his gaze met the others. Their dejected shapes... they are here, he thought, they are here... because of me. Because of my feud. Because of my inability to do something. To prevent this. To... ever learn.
"SHE LIES!"
His head darted up as a single, high-pitched cry permeated his ears and Tonguetwist jumped around to where two other rats had now leaped at Longclaw's side to help him restrain the furiously struggling Thanatos.
"ALL LIES!", his flier cried and Henry cautiously released a strained breath, then unclenched his fists. Lies...
"That's about enough", Longclaw hissed and Henry screamed when a rat suddenly grabbed him from behind to drag him over to the others. "Tonguetwist, you're such a mood kill. We had meant to celebrate, had we not?", he showed a toothy grin, "Bring that warrior-boy in here and lock the others away again. Spin your intrigues later, will you? There'll be plenty of time."
For a second, Tonguetwist's gaze hardened again, but she did not protest as they dragged Henry off.
"HEY!"
Longclaw, who had just handed Thanatos over to the other two rats, darted around again.
"Do we not get to at least watch?!" Henry uncomfortably twined in the rat's grasp, his mind reeled with panic at the thought of splitting up even more. The other fliers they had already taken out of sight, and if they could not stay together they could not make a plan. And if they could not make a plan they were –
"Alright, fine, have it your way, Achilles", Longclaw dismissively waved and turned, like he had better things to do. "Let them watch. Let them partake in the fun, why not?"
He could hardly hold back a sigh of relief when the rat who held him shrugged and signaled the others to chase the questers into the secluded area where he had always prepared for battle. Fifty times, it reeled in Henry's head as he fell onto the familiar sand, beside the others. His gaze met the way leading up to the wall and towards the lake, towards Kismet's cave. If only he could reach her somehow, if only...
Then again, his gaze met the cheering audience as they pushed Gregor into the arena, then tossed a sword at his feet. Even Kismet could not help against such a massive number of rats. To fly out of here would be the only option. Yet like this, with their fliers restrained somewhere... somewhere out of sight, out of reach. Henry squinted, they were lost.
"Wait... WHAT?!" Henry winced as a permeating cry rang in his ears and he spotted Longclaw, more hectic than he had ever seen him, dart out onto the arena. "HALT!"
Gregor and the rat that flanked him stopped, shortly before Longclaw would have run them over. He came to a halt in front of Tonguetwist who cowered at the other side of the arena and exchanged a few words with her, too quiet even for Henry, before he released an exasperated groan. "Fine. We will deal with this now... BACK TO THE PIT! ALL OF THEM!"
The audience, when they understood the battle had been postponed, groaned and booed, yet Longclaw's ears nervously twitched. "We will get back to this in due time, don't worry", he attempted to soothe, "but we must ensure the safety of your experience, first and foremost."
Henry frowned, yet before he could properly process the happenings, he and the others were all lifted and carried out of the arena, even Gregor who had to drop the sword he had just picked up. He blinked and barely suppressed a pained cry when he, once again, landed at the bottom of the prison pit. Something must have happened... something dire, or else Longclaw would not have disrupted the festivity.
For a second Henry wondered whether he had any reason to hope, yet as soon as his gaze met the sunken, dejected shapes of Howard, Luxa, and Stellovet, and Gregor who had curled into a trembling ball where he had landed, he sank back to the ground.
He wanted not to remember the last time he had despised hearing any sound at all, but suddenly Henry sensed the awfully familiar desire to shut the whole world out for every sound screamed in his pounding skull.
It was me, it repeated in his head, me... me who could not prevent this. Me who brought them here. Me who has no place here... no, he pressed his face so hard into the cold stone his nose began to hurt. They do not belong here. He was the one who deserved this, they did not. They would not be suffering, had it not been for him.
His hand twitched as it instinctively searched for black fur. For a moment his ears peeked, to listen for a voice, a voice to tell him he was wrong, to chase all chaos and pain with flawless logic, but all remained deathly silent. Alone... his nails dug into the unmoving stone. Why was he alone?
Had he done something wrong... again? Had he at last woken up from the sweet dream to the truth? To... alone, the word pierced his head like a blade. He had done everything right this time, had he not? Had he not suffered... not learned? Could he... learn, or was she right? Was he truly forever condemned to this cycle of endless suffering, to waking up after making the same mistake, over, and over, and over, and over, and –
He could not have been able to tell if he had lied there for minutes or hours when a sudden sound had Henry's head dart up. His hand in the rough leather gauntlet automatically raised to wipe his wet cheeks and for a moment he sat still to listen, to check whether he had been wrong.
Only when his unbelieving eye met three shadows darting over the pit and finally landing in their midst, he dared believe his senses. Henry nearly fell over when Luxa darted past him with an overjoyed cry – to wrap her arms around the neck of... Aurora.
He blinked, then his vision focused, to search for... before Henry had even properly spotted him, the white face of Thanatos rammed into his chest, knocking him to the floor. "D... Death?" Only after his arms had wrapped around the neck of his flier he processed he was here. Not alone, he squinted in a desperate attempt to hold back tears of joy. Not... alone.
He could not tell how much time had passed when he heard Gregor's strained voice ask, from somewhere behind him, what reeled about in his own head – "How... how did you...?"
Thanatos rose a little, yet not so much he would have shaken Henry who still clung to his neck. "It is quite simple, yet... most unbelievable." His flier released a strained sigh as he found all gazes on him. "It was... Dalia."