Belle and the Prophecy of Grey

Chapter 21

Belle looked from Gregor to his father and back again. The man squinting up at them, this poor, poor creature, was so thin and weak he failed to stand. He made an attempt, but fell down on all fours, then lifted one hand to help tilt his own head back.

"Dad?" Gregor breathed. He dropped to his knees at the side of the pit, reaching out a hand though his father was still fifty feet away.

Belle flew down and helped the pitiful form onto Persephone's back. He was so light, even she could carry him.

Still on his knees, Gregor clutched his father's hand, feeling the many bones beneath the skin. Belle wondered how strong those hands had once been, to now be so frail. "Dad?" Gregor said, and this time his voice was audible. "Dad, it's me. Gregor."

His father frowned as if trying to remember something he'd forgotten long ago. "It's the fever. I'm seeing things again."

"No, Dad, it's me, I'm here. And Boots is here, too," said Gregor.

"Boots?" the man asked. His frown deepened.

"Margaret," Gregor corrected himself. Disconcertingly, a memory flashed into Belle's mind, one not her own: she saw a woman with a cloud of caramel-blonde curls, her belly round with child. Margaret, the woman said. After your grandmother.

"Margaret?" said Gregor's father, clearly confused. He rubbed his eyes. "Grandma?"

The prophecy had named 'one lost up ahead,' but no one had expected to find a man as lost as this. He was skeletal and weak--his hair and beard were white as snow. And the cloak around his shoulders...it was made from rat fur. No wonder he had looked like a rat from above.

"Just want to sleep," said Gregor's father vaguely.

Belle stepped forward and laid a hand on his cheek. "He has a fever, too, but no strength to fight the illness," she explained to Gregor. "He's delirious. This is why he speaks in confusion."

"Maybe if I talk to him for a minute, he'll remember. He's got to remember, Belle!" Gregor cried desperately.

"We must fly now, Gregor," Belle insisted. Now that they had Gregor's father, they needed to flee from this place with all possible speed. She tipped a large swallow from the blue bottle into the man's mouth. "We can heal him properly in Regalia. Luxa, help me secure him." She began to tie Gregor's father to Persephone with a length of silk that Gox was rapidly spinning. "Luxa?" Belle said again.

"No, no need to hurry now." Belle turned at the sound of Henry's voice. Luxa was staring at him in confusion. It was a strange answer, and nobody understood what he meant except Ripred. An odd look crossed the rat's face.

"No, I believe Henry has taken care of everything."

"Henry had to," said Henry. He lifted his hand to his mouth and gave a long, piercing whistle.

"Are you crazy?" yelled Gregor. "What are you doing?" He turned to Belle, who was standing as if glued in place. The rope had fallen from her nerveless fingers. From out of sight she could hear the sound of many feet running. Rats. What had Henry done?

"Ripred?" said Gregor.

"It seems I am not the only spy among us, Overlander," Ripred replied wryly. "A member of the royal family, too."

"You mean...Henry?" Belle couldn't fathom it. Henry, a spy for the rats? Henry allied with those creatures he hated above all else? "He can't be! He can't, I mean--what about Luxa? And Ares, and Belle?"