A HENRY STORY 2: Trials Of The Fallen Prince

X. Athena

Quickly after they had entered, the tunnel began declining at an alarming rate; Henry thought it was so steep that he would have difficulties traversing it on foot.

After two hours of laborious and careful navigation from Thanatos, they finally reached a point where the path's angle decreased enough for Henry to walk on foot. His torch illuminated a shift in the wall's makeup, as evidenced by the way it reflected his light.

"It's volcanic rock," Thanatos answered when Henry asked. "Obsidian, I believe. Tock spoke of black walls, so we must be close."

"We are definitely in the Firelands," said Henry.

From then on, Thanatos proceeded with even more caution, but all Henry felt at the unfamiliar sight was a peculiar sense of curiosity. Although he and Ares had occasionally journeyed along the fringes of the Firelands, they had never ventured far into its depths. Rumor had it that the majority of the land was tainted by toxic gases, and within the volcanic caves dwelled dangerous creatures, many of which remained shrouded in mystery.

Yet he had little time to satiate his curiosity because, only ten minutes later, the tunnel began to narrow until it became too tight for Thanatos to properly fly, and he was compelled to land. Uncertainly, they fixed their eyes on the sole tunnel that lay ahead, its width barely reaching three feet.

"Should we turn back?" asked Thanatos. "We may try to take that side path we crossed five minutes—"

It was then that a sudden, violent blow sent Henry reeling. He cried out in pain and shock as a powerful force knocked him off his feet and catapulted him into the opposite wall. For a few moments, he was disoriented and dizzy, but he could hear Thanatos' high-pitched shriek cutting through the confusion.

As he struggled to catch his breath, he realized that he was being pinned to the wall by what appeared to be a fleshy . . . tail.

Henry squirmed and screamed, but the tail's owner kept him firmly in place. In the flickering light of the dropped torch, he barely glimpsed Thanatos. It seemed his leg was ensnared by some sort of rodent, though he couldn't be sure before the torch extinguished with a hiss.

Complete darkness surrounded Henry, and a surge of fear pierced his heart. Where had the attacker emerged from, and how had they managed to sneak past Thanatos' keen sense of hearing? Gasping for air, he desperately fought against the tightening grip of the tail around his throat. He had to do . . . something. On instinct, Henry reached for Mys' handle, swiftly drawing the blade, but just moments before it could strike, the tail loosened its grip.

Henry collapsed onto the ground, wracked with violent coughs, releasing his grip on Mys to clutch at his own throat.

"A flier and a human down the Path of Styx . . ." The sound of an unfamiliar voice made his head jerk up. "I can only presume that you were seeking death. It is the only thing to be found here." The voice had a peculiar quality that reminded him of Thanatos when they had first spoken—it was similarly rough and unpracticed, as if the speaker rarely talked.

Henry coughed one last time and peered into the inky blackness, struggling to make out any shapes. Gradually, his vision adjusted enough to spot the crouched shape of a rodent in the mound of the tunnel from where they had come.

By the voice, she was a female and too large for a nibbler. Henry squinted again. "We were looking for you," he said after a pause, pulling himself to his feet. If she was not a nibbler, she was a gnawer, and finding a different female gnawer than the one they sought in this uninhabited, barren land was highly improbable.

"For . . . me?" She shifted, yet Henry could not tell if she relaxed or assumed an attack position. "Ha! Whoever could have sent you on the suicidal quest to find me? Have I not spread gruesome rumors amongst the local species to ensure my peace and quiet?"