Torrent awoke to a sharp rap on the door. "Just a minute," he grumbled. It felt far too early for Moorhen to come in. He just wanted to sleep more.

The SeaWing prince peeled open his eyes and took a peek out the window. He frowned. It really was far too early for Moorhen to come in. It was long before dawn. Why would Moorhen want him now?

Torrent shook himself out of bed and opened the door. He was surprised to see the snout meeting him outside the doorway. "Mallard?" he asked. "What are yo—"

Mallard put a claw to his mouth, silencing him. She took a quick glance around the hallway before entering Torrent's room, then shutting the door behind him with her tail. "We need to get out of here, now," she hissed.

Torrent frowned. "What is it?" he asked quietly. "Did something happen to Moorhen?"

Mallard shook her head. "Queen Coral sent out an order for you to be brought back to the Sea Kingdom as soon as possible, and King Gill offered a reward for anyone bringing you back. At the peak of dawn, our messenger will tell Moorhen, and you'll be taken to the Summer Palace, whether you like it or not."

"Wait, hold up," Torrent said, his heart beginning to race. "Did you say Queen Coral?" he asked.

Mallard winced, and looked at Torrent, her eyes offering an apology. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "Orca lost her challenge against Coral. I'll spare you the gruesome details."

"What?" Torrent exclaimed, almost yelling, before remembering that he didn't want to wake the entire Mud Kingdom. "No! Tell me!"

Mallard sighed. "She accidentally impaled herself on a narwhal horn attached to Coral's tail during the challenge."

No, Torrent thought, no, that can't be right. Orca can't be dead. This has to be some sort of trick with her animus magic. Maybe she switched bodies with Coral somehow, and is now ruling the Sea Kingdom in her name? Still, his gut and the map told him that Orca couldn't still be alive. He felt stiff, and his breath became shallow.

"We have to go," Mallard hissed. "I can get you out of the palace without us being seen, but we have to be out of the city before dawn." She pulled on one of Torrent's wings, urging him on.

Torrent looked at Mallard, and suddenly worried about her. She was risking her neck to get him out of the palace. "Why are you helping me?" he asked. "Queen Moorhen could have you imprisoned for something like this, or worse! You could just take the bounty and buy some more scrolls or something."

Mallard thought for a moment, as if she wasn't quite sure herself why she was helping Torrent. "You're my friend," she answered. "And friends help each other out, right?" He saw a hint of melancholy within Mallard's eyes, and wondered where that had come from. "C'mon," Mallard ordered, smiling again, "let's get you out of here before I change my mind. You know how tempting a good scroll can be."

Mallard opened the door to Torrent's room, and took a peek around the corners. "All clear," she whispered.

Torrent nodded, and quickly grabbed his stuff. He didn't have much to take, just his scrollcase, his satchel, which still had a bit of salted fish, and his dagger. He put them on his strap, and moved after Mallard.

The walk down to Mallard's quarters was long and slow. The MudWing librarian was cautious, and made sure to check around every corner before the two continued on. The most worrying part of the trip was when they went through the center of the palace: the hall of tapestries that Torrent had seen when he first entered the palace.

The hall was large and open, and Torrent was almost certain a MudWing guard would burst into there any second. He could see the tapestries placed around the hall in all their brilliance, although due to his nightvision being used, they were all in black and white. Yet, by using his nightvision, it finally struck him where he had seen something similar before: the Mausoleum of the Queens in the Deep Palace. He had visited the place a few times, but its eerie stillness always discomforted him. Supposedly it held the bodies of every SeaWing queen since the Scorching, along with many of the princesses, kings and other royal family members, although many of those were placed in the undersea catacombs even further beneath the ocean floor. Orca would be placed there, and Torrent may even end up there eventually. He remembered Orca telling him how many of the queens were buried with enchanted items, and Torrent's claws went to the amethyst on his dagger. It was cold.
Torrent tried to put Orca out of his mind again, focusing on the task at hand. He needed to get out of the MudWing city if he didn't want to be taken back to the Sea Kingdom, which he didn't. Orca was dead. There was nothing left there for him anymore.

Mallard and Torrent passed through the room of tapestries without any incident. After a few more turns, they reached Mallard's room, positioned below the rest of the palace. She opened the doors and brought Torrent in. At least to him, it looked like a dead end. How did Mallard expect him to get out from here? Unless . . . it was some sort of trap?

"Now," Mallard explained to the unnerved Torrent, "this room was an unused dungeon before I turned it into the great library it is today." Torrent gulped a little, even though he had figured the possibility. "But, one of the prisoners in here, long ago, decided to make this little beauty."

Mallard grabbed one of the scrollshelves and pulled it away from the wall with ease. A small room was positioned behind the shelf, with a few scrolls scattered around that Mallard had apparently wanted hidden. A dark tunnel at the end of the room led beyond it. "Apparently he got free, and was never found again." Mallard smiled. "So I can only assume that it leads out of the city."

Torrent gulped, his heart pulsing. Either it lead out of the city, or the MudWing's bones could still be down there. "Are you telling me you've never been in it?"

Mallard foolishly grinned. "I've been down it a little ways, but never the entire thing. No nightvision for MudWings, unfortunately, so you'll have to lead. You might be a big dragonet, but you should still fit."

Torrent took a deep breath and tucked his wings in. He stepped into the cramped tunnel. He hated the feeling of the earth closing in on him; SeaWings were supposed to live in the large, open sea, not in some underground tunnel made by an escaped convict. "Is this safe?" he asked.

"Probably," Mallard replied, not making Torrent any less anxious. "Well, hurry up, we haven't got all night, you know."

Torrent tried to steady his heartbeat. If a MudWing prisoner could do this, then so could a SeaWing prince. "We?" he asked.

Mallard snorted. "Of course! You think I'm just going to let you have all the fun? I'm not wasting this chance, how often do you think I get dragons with nightvision down here?"

Fun, Torrent thought. This is just fun. That's all this is, fun.

Fortunately for the two, Mallard was correct: the tunnel wasn't collapsed somehow, and led all the way out of the city. As the dawn light finally hit his eyes. Torrent breathed a sigh of relief. There was nothing better than not being in an awful tunnel like that. Except for Orca being alive, a small voice told Torrent in the back of his mind. Don't think about her, don't think about her, Torrent told himself, pushing the thoughts away.

Torrent stepped into the muddy water of the swamp, his claws uncomfortably sinking down into the mud below with a squelch. He glanced behind him. Sure enough, the walled city which surrounded Queen Moorhen's palace was there. He thought he could see the guest room where he had stayed at. Torrent quickly ducked beneath the swamp's trees, hoping to prevent any MudWings overhead from freeing him. Mallard followed a little behind him, the MudWing comfortably splashing through the swamp. A wave of dirty water hit the SeaWing in the side. Torrent tried to brush it off, but the mud sticking to his claws only made things worse.

"Well," Mallard said, looking back at the city, "I guess this is where we part."

Torrent looked at her, concerned. He wasn't really sure he wanted her to go already; he could use someone to travel with, to wherever he was going next. He was also a bit worried about what Moorhen would do if she discovered the librarian had helped him escape. "Are you sure you don't want to join me?" Torrent asked. "It could be dangerous back at the palace; Queen Moorhen won't like that you snuck me out of the palace."

Mallard smiled. "Thanks for the offer, but I've got other things to do. Scrolls to tend to and all. And don't worry about me, if Queen Moorhen asked where I was, I can make something up on the fly. I'll be fine."

Torrent wasn't sure that Mallard's confidence was fully warranted, but he didn't press her further. "Alright," he said, "thank you for everything."

The librarian grinned. "It's nothing. Just come and visit me if you ever come by the palace again, promise?"

Torrent nodded. He was a bit sad that he had to part with Mallard here; he hadn't really gotten to know her as much as he would've liked, but hopefully he would see her again. He waved his claws goodbye, and started to walk off. Mallard went in the other direction, back towards the palace.

Before Mallard took off to fly back to the palace, she looked back at Torrent. "Oh!" she warned Torrent. "Try and avoid the swamps to the north, there've been a bunch of missing dragons around there lately! Stay safe!"

"You too!" Torrent called back before Mallard took off. He pulled out his map of animus dragons. Sure enough, there was a small blotch to the north of the palace. He clutched his dagger. Apparently it made it so that animus magic couldn't harm him. If there was an animus north of the palace causing these disappearances, it might be worthwhile for Torrent to check the area out. It wasn't as if he had anywhere else to go.