A HENRY STORY 2: Trials Of The Fallen Prince

IV. Jungle Trails

Gregor was unsure of how long Hamnet had let them all sleep, but upon waking up, he felt stiff and achy. It took him a full minute of stretching before he could stand up and join the others by the re-lit campfire.

Hamnet was grilling fish and mushrooms, and by his side sat Frill, Hazard, and Boots. When Gregor searched for Luxa, he spotted her on one of the rocks in front of the vine curtain, playing with two mouse babies.

Just as Gregor had taken a step toward her, the Death Rider emerged from the curtain, joined by two mice, a gray one with long fur and another young one, all white and maybe half as tall as the grown one. Before anyone could say anything, the junior mouse had darted past Gregor and Luxa toward Thanatos, nearly running him over in enthusiasm.

The Death Rider laughed and the gray mouse joined in. "Someone has been missed," he mumbled, then turned to Gregor. "Platonius," he said, pointing at the gray mouse. "And the one climbing on Death is Curie. We rescued them from a gnawer prison a while ago. And so is the tale of how we first ended up here."

Gregor exchanged a few words with Platonius and found that, with every day he spent here, he liked the mice more and more. Not a single species in the Underland had ever treated such a diverse group as them so hospitably, not even the humans.

It turned out that Platonius had been sent by Lovelace to share food with the questers, and Hamnet could add salad and a type of berry to the menu.

"Would you like some of this too?" The Death Rider held out a clunky-looking loaf of bread. "While it may lack salt, it is still suitable for making sandwiches."

Hamnet froze mid-cutting the salad. "Some . . . what?"

"How do you know about sandwiches?" asked Luxa. She had risen from her rock and taken a step toward the Death Rider, closely followed by the two babies she had played with. "I had not heard of such a thing before Gregor explained it during our first journey together."

"Oh, he most certainly picked it up on your boat last time," Ripred replied in the outcast's stead, audibly spitting out the head of his second fish. "Is it not so?"

"It is," said the Death Rider after a split second of hesitation. "It's quite striking, so it stuck with me."

"It is striking." Gregor could have sworn he heard something like relief in Luxa's voice. He barely had time to wonder why she would be relieved, then Hamnet was already beckoning them all to take their seats around the fire.

And so, they shared what Gregor found to be one of the best meals he had ever eaten on a quest: sandwiches with salad, mushrooms, and grilled fish. But it was not only the questers; a few mice joined their circle shortly, among them Platonius and Curie. Lapblood occasionally threw them dismissive glances, but in the end, she said nothing for the sake of the food.

Hazard soon found himself surrounded by the babies who had played with Luxa earlier. The gray one was called Scale, and the brown one was Cube. As soon as Hazard had finished eating, he began feeding the babies, talking to them in their own language. Boots tried to participate in the conversation, but of course, she only made random squeaking sounds that seemed to irritate the mice more than anything.

Eventually, Gregor became so uncomfortable that he scooted over and picked her up, meaning to ask Temp or Frill to keep her entertained. But before he could look for either of them, Hazard ceased squeaking and stared at the Death Rider with round eyes. "Can . . . you understand them too?"

Gregor tuned out Boots' protests about being interrupted and turned to look at the Death Rider, like they all did. The outcast gave the assembly a lazy grin, then he pointed at the mice and produced the same squeaking noises that Hazard had made earlier.