It's a Long Way To Dearest Gravesfield

Chapter 25: Belos

The Collector beams, "You'll play with me?"

"Sure. But I have to make it through this first. So however King needs you to help, listen to him, OK? This isn't going to be easy."

"OK. I'll do my best."

"Great, thanks. I'm going to get going now, though – but I'm glad we had this talk."

They nod, "Yeah. Me too." Hunter turns to leave and the Collector asks, "Hey...what's your name?"

"Hunter," he replies.

"I was there sometimes when he was talking to you. I know about the Grimwalkers. I know how you were made. Do you want to know?"

Hunter pauses at the window, "Not right now. But maybe after this is all done, we can talk about it."

"OK. Bye now!" the Collector says.

Hunter sits on the staff and slides out the window, waving, "Bye – hope I get to see you later." He flies off toward the head, hoping he hasn't lost too much of the lead he has over his friends.

The Collector leans on the windowsill and looks after him, "I hope he makes it. he was nice."

***

When Hunter arrives at the head, he finds the entrance that will lead him to the cavern in which he last fought Belos; he takes Clover in his hands and lightly kisses her head, "Go back to Willow. She's probably heading this way along the same path. Keep her safe. And remind her how much I love her, especially if things go wrong."

Clover flits up to his cheek, nuzzles against it, and then flies off in the early morning light.

Hunter takes a deep breath and, alone, walks through the entry, every fiber in his body telling him to run. But he doesn't, forcing himself to breathe steadily, even as his knees tremble. He has to force himself to only look forward, not down into the chasm. A part of him is shocked that the bridge is intact, given when they fled. But he also considers that the child-god he was just talking to took apart the world to play Owl House and could probably just as easily put it back together. He tries to force his mind to focus only on what he's going to say when he sees Belos instead of on the memories that surface as he walks toward the room at the end of the bridge.

When he finally reaches the great doors, he stops and tries to gather the courage to enter. Instead, the door creaks open just enough for him to enter without him ever touching it.

"I know you're out there," Belos says.

Shaking, Hunter enters the room. Belos has transformed into his human shape and instead, Philip stands in front of the platform that once held the portal door. Hunter walks partway across the room and is lowering himself to one knee when one of Belos' tendrils whips from behind Philip and strikes his shoulder. Hunter falls to the floor, slamming into the stone. He hears his knee pop as it strikes and he cries out in pain.

"Why are you here, Hunter?" Philip asks, disarmingly calm.

"I just want to talk," Hunter gasps, "Please, don't kill me yet – I have too many questions." He pushes himself onto his side and tries to straighten his leg. His knee pops back in place and he briefly sees stars before he can steady himself, lowering himself onto the other knee, bowing before Philip.

"I suppose you do. Ask them quickly and I'll decide if I want to answer."

Hunter nods and starts talking, "Why did you kill Caleb? Why did you make Grimwalkers just to kill us? Do I really not have magic? Why did you call Flapjack Evelyn? And if, by some miracle, I walk out of here, is it even possible for a Grimwalker to live a full life?"