After that meeting, I was banished for life. But I had no intention to leave the Labyrinth. I was not even full-grown yet; there was any number of things that could be waiting for me out in the Dead Lands or places like that. No, I couldn't leave. But where would I go?

I finally decided to escape to one of the caves near the Tankard where the Serpents lived. It was probably the last place any gnawers would look for me, but still, it was extremely unsafe. It was lucky I was a Scent-Seer and would be able to sense any approaching gnawers, or else I wouldn't have risked it.

It was a terrible life. I heard barely anything of the Labyrinth outside my cave, and I hunted very rarely. I couldn't let anyone spot me at it. I ate mostly fish from the Tankard near me, but a lot of them had been eaten by the Serpents when they weren't sleeping.

Part of me longed to go find Striker, to persuade him to come and stay with me here, but it would arouse too much suspicion. I hoped he wasn't becoming dad's slave, or worse, his mini-me, but there was no way to find out without revealing my presence. So I stayed put.

My meal that night consisted of a few rotted fish. I was starving, but I smelled gnawer troops marching near my hideaway day in and day out. Supposedly security measures had tightened even more. I guessed that the humans had done something else to anger the gnawers. Man, they were stupid. I still didn't like them any more than I did when I was a pup.

I laid down to sleep that night with perhaps the emptiest stomach I had had in a very long time. The fish had been all but inedible, their flesh was diminishing and their taste was terrible, not to mention their stench. I was beginning to hate being such a good scent seer; but I knew it would come in handy sometime soon. My sanctuary was becoming more dangerous with every passing hour.

But I was lucky. For another five years I stayed in my hideout, being extremely careful. It was going quite well, actually. I stayed out of sight and hunted only when I was sure it was safe. I was quite thin and not so big, but I was alive, and that was what mattered. Even after all that I had been through, I still wished to live. I was not ready to die yet. But then everything went downhill from the moment I overheard a conversation between two of the Labyrinth soldiers.

"Torchpaw!"

I awoke with a start. I had been suffering yet another dream regarding my mother's death. They haunted me all the time now. A gnawer was extremely close. I could smell him. He was calling to another one, whose scent mixed in with the other's within moments. I silently listened.

"Did you hear about the battle in Regalia? Of our success?" the first gnawer asked the second, called Torchpaw.

"Yes I did, Slashtail! We killed the king and queen!" Torchpaw rejoiced. "But doesn't their daughter Luxa remain? We did not manage to kill her."

"It doesn't matter. She's only about eight years old." Slashtail waved away this fact dismissively.

So the gnawers had finally managed to kill the king and queen of Regalia, a feat they had been trying to manage as long as I could remember. Well, at least we weren't weak.

"But we have lost some others, too." Slashtail said grimly. I listened even closer. Who had we lost?

"Really? I have not heard that! Who?" Torchpaw asked, sounding astonished.

"That general, Ripper, was killed. Along with his son, what was his name? Striker?" Slashtail replied. Then I stopped listening.

Well, I was glad my father was dead. It served him right for killing Swiftstep, Silvertoes, and most importantly, my mother. He had had it coming, and all I had to say was 'good riddance'. At least I would have no chance of running into him again.

But Striker's death…that was what made me saddest of all. I felt a deep remorse for not hunting him down and persuading him to join me in hiding. After all, he was my brother. But if he was fighting with dad, then he must have sided with him, and forgotten all about me. That made me terribly upset. How could he have sided with him? Why didn't he run away as well? He knew how evil our father was; why had he stayed with him? This did not only make me upset, it made me angry. And there was the problem.

I was so mad! Striker had betrayed me, father had betrayed me, all those I had come to love in my lifetime had left me! I couldn't stand life any more! I clawed at myself, anywhere I could reach. I longed to attack something, to kill something, but I knew it would reveal my refuge.

I was bleeding all over now, but I didn't care. My will to live was no more, I actually wanted to die so I could go yell at Striker and the rest of my family for leaving me! I was all alone, and I hated it! There was no more reason for me to live, my life was pointless now. So why not commit suicide? It would actually do me good.

A scream of rage and fury escaped my throat when I had not meant it too. I immediately clapped my paw over my mouth and came to my senses. Who was I kidding? I didn't want to die; I hadn't lived a full life yet! And now I had ruined my chances with one little cry. What had I done?

I heard the gnawers react to my wail. I heard their feet pounding as they ran toward my cave. Oh no. I would either have to cower in the corner of my cave and let myself be killed, or else fight and flee for my life. I chose the latter.

The first gnawer had reached my cave when I sprang out at it. It gave a start of shock, but then pulled itself together and lunged at me. It opened a cut on my shoulder, and I screamed in pain, but pounced back.

"It is the traitor, Twitchtip! She is in one of the Tankard caves!" the gnawer cried. I automatically smelled others rushing towards me. I had to flee, and quick.

I steered around the gnawer and made it to a path that forked. I wasn't sure which one to take. I smelled gnawers coming down one of them, but I couldn't tell which. But then I heard a roar behind me. One of the Serpents had awakened, and was coming at me. I had to choose, and quick.

I finally decided on the one to the right. It smelled the safest. I used my nose to guide me through the Labyrinth. I could no longer stay in the gnawer lands; I was perhaps the most wanted rat in the Underland. But where could I go?