Belle and the Prophecy of Grey

Chapter 20

"Move it, move it, move it!" ordered Ripred, herding them all away from the open bank and into a nearby tunnel. He forced them along until they were well out of sight of the ruined bridge, and hopefully out of smelling range. When they reached a small chamber, he gave the order to halt. "Stop you. Sit down. Slow your hearts."

Wordlessly, the remaining members of the quest sank to the tunnel floor. Belle went straight into Ares's wings and huddled there miserably. He held her so close it was as if he'd never let her go again, and she didn't want him to. Persephone and Gregor clustered around them, neither of them speaking.

Belle didn't want to look at anyone. She knew she couldn't blame Luxa, Henry, or even Ripred for not running out onto the collapsing bridge to save her and Boots. But she couldn't stop seeing the thin panels of stone sagging in front of her, and Luxa and Henry sawing at the ropes. When she closed her eyes, she saw Ripred smacking Ares and Persephone away when they tried to help. It wasn't that she had nothing to say to them, but that she didn't know what to say.

And then there was Tick. Sweet, courageous Tick, who had flown at an army of rats to save them. Tick who never spoke much. Tick who shared her food. Tick—who was, after all, just a crawler. Just a crawler who had given all the time she had left so that Belle and Boots could have more.

Belle held Boots tight and felt scalding tears begin to slide down her cheeks. She hadn't really cried yet—not for another member of the quest. This was the first death of someone she knew. Someone she had perhaps even come to care for, and whose terrible death would forever be seared into her memory. She felt an allegiance to the crawlers now which she knew would never fade.

Her shoulders had begun to shake. Probably Luxa and Henry thought she was ridiculous, crying over a crawler, but she didn't care. She allowed Gregor to take Boots gently from her arms, and then she laid her cheek against Ares's chest and sobbed.

Temp, whose antennae had drooped down over his head, reached out and brushed them all with a feeler. "Thank you. To weep when Tick has lost time."

"Boots would weep, too, if she wasn't..." Gregor began, but had to stop as a sob burbled up. A freshest of hot tears wet Belle's face. She was glad Boots hadn't witnessed Tick's death. She would have been upset, but she wouldn't have understood it. Belle didn't really understand it, either.

She felt a hand touch hers and knew it was Luxa. Belle didn't move; she didn't know how to face her yet. "Belle," Luxa whispered. "Belle...know you we would have caught you all if you fell. We would have caught Tick, too, had there been any reason."

Belle peeked out of Ares's wings. Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes red and puffy from crying. No traces of salt stained Luxa's cheeks, but her eyes held enough sorrow for ten.

"It's okay," Gregor was saying to Luxa. "We know." He sniffled and rocked Boots slightly. "I guess you think it's pretty stupid, me crying over a roach."

"You do not know the Underlanders if you think we lack tears," said Luxa. She was addressing Gregor, but her eyes were on Belle. "We weep. We weep, and not just for ourselves."

"Not for Tick, though," said Gregor, with a trace of bitterness.

"I have not wept since the death of my parents," Luxa said softly. "But I am thought to be unnatural in this respect."

Belle felt still more tears slip down her face when she thought how badly Luxa must have been damaged, to lose the ability to cry. She had suffered as much as Belle had—perhaps far more. In that moment, she forgave Luxa everything. She even forgot why Luxa needed to be forgiven. And with a soft sigh, Belle opened her arms.