A HENRY STORY 2: Trials Of The Fallen Prince

XXXIV. Faith

"Henry, are you certain that you do not need some sort of handle?"

Henry glanced at Teslas bemusedly, shaking his head. Then he turned his shining eye back at the at-last-completed result of their work. "Please, I am a master of the aerial."

"If you say so," replied Teslas with a grin. "Well, venture out and test it, then. Preferably over a water body, just in case you do fall off."

With a scowl, Henry picked up and hoisted the prototype onto his shoulder. "I shall not fall off. I have never fallen off a flier's back, except when I meant to. And today will not be the day."

"Whatever you say!" was the last thing Teslas uttered, and Henry rolled his eye. The moment he stepped through the curtain that concealed the workshop, his frown fell, and his pace quickened. This was it—finally, what he had been waiting for since the day he had received Charos.

At first, Thanatos had refused as adamantly as in the beginning, but eventually, Teslas and Henry had persuaded him with joint efforts to at least partake in "a few experiments."

"Death, let us experiment!" exclaimed Henry the moment he stepped through the vine curtain and spotted his flier on the beach.

"Oh no." Thanatos lowered his head again the moment he spotted what Henry was brandishing. "Did I seriously promise that I would let you try this?"

"Indeed!" Henry grinned. "I shall say what I always say: What is the worst that could happen?"

"I could be seen," said Thanatos sourly, but nonetheless, he allowed Henry to strap the prototype around his neck. "Now all we need is a leash, and the humiliation shall be flawless." Narrowing his gaze, he stared down at what indeed resembled a wide leather collar.

"Not at all," assured Henry. "It looks like quite a fashionable accessory."

"Why do you not wear it then?"

"Were I a flier, I would!"

Thanatos stared at him with a scowl. "The things I do for you never cease to amaze me," he mumbled, allowing Henry to mount up more reluctantly than usual. "Let us just get this over with."

Henry pulled himself into the prototype and momentarily found it odd to sit on an artificial surface. He swayed back and forth but eventually decided that, despite the unfamiliarity, the saddle prototype was decently comfortable. He brushed the smooth leather, tested the accessibility of the lever, and nudged Thanatos, signaling that he was ready to commence the test run.

Thanatos lifted off at once, and, despite his confident act, Henry found himself immensely grateful that nobody was here to watch. Floating above the clear lake, the thought crossed his mind for the first time that maybe adding a handle would have been a good idea after all. With gritted teeth, he threw one last glance down; it was far too late now. "Are you set?"

"As I'll ever be."

Henry inhaled, then gripped the lever tightly and pulled it to the right. Subsequently, the saddle did exactly what it was supposed to—it rotated. Initially, it moved precisely ninety degrees, but Henry's shock caused him to cling to the lever, causing an additional ninety-degree rotation. And this, in turn, sent Henry—who was utterly unable to maintain his grip with only his own strength—face-first into the lake.

Mere moments later, his head broke the water's surface, and he coughed, shaking his wet hair out of his face. The first thing he registered was Thanatos' laughter. "Did you not even think to add a handle?" he mocked before he could be bothered to heave his bond out of the water.

"I needed no handle when we performed a maneuver like this fighting the cutters!" yelled Henry as he lay in the white sand, clothes and hair dripping like a drowned rat. "To involuntarily fall off the back of a flier . . . What times!" He crossly dragged the wet hairband out of his hair and pulled his drenched shirt over his head. "Do not dare tell anyone about this."