The Knights of Grimm - Act 2 - Captured

Chapter 26 - Venator Spectris

Ren

"I miss pancakes." Nora moans as she stands next to Ren as they walk. Ren and Qrow both simultaneously grab the bridges of their noses when they hear her say those words. The name pancake has been forever scalded into Ren's brain as a symbol for Nora now. Qrow then looks at Ren.

"Has she always been like this?" Qrow asks him.

"Yep." Ren answers as they continue to walk down the monotonous catacombs of the Library. Webs and other wildlife scurrying in the darkness and the dust dunes that have formed. A lizard darts past Nora as her belly growls like some kind of primal beast that skulks in the shadows, waiting to pounce on its prey. Only to be the hungry tummy of one Valkyrie.

"Do you eat anything other than pancakes?" Qrow asks her curiously.

"Yeah – but Ren makes the best pancakes." Nora answers as she walks. Qrow looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You need to cook us some pancakes some time, I'll be the judge." Qrow says as he looks at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nora interrogates accusingly, her hands on her hips.

"I mean have someone who is not devoted to Ren in every single way be the judge." Qrow states truthfully and Nora looks down at the floor, thinking of an answer. She then looks at him, her head moving up so quick her body nearly leapt in the air.

"Nope!" She squeaks and Qrow groans.

Ahead of them, leading the team, is Kragen still. His staff held tight in his hand as he walks, and he looks at Winter when she approaches his side with her sword in her hand. She clearly has something on her mind and he can see that as clearly as she displays it. "Something on your mind, Winter?" Kragen inquires, looking forward after asking her.

"Yeah..." She starts off and he prepares to listen to whatever it is she has to say. But he does not stop walking, the constant sound of him tapping the end of his staff into the floor echoes through the halls, Raven walks between the rest of them with her helmet on and hand still on the hilt, ready for whatever that could pounce from the walls at them.

"Well go on then, you have my attention." Kragen assures.

"Qrow told me some of the things you told him – about the Knights." She begins. "You said that they have had many different identities over the years?" She asks.

"Yes, they have indeed. From the Wild Hunt to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." Kragen recites.

"They were wrong, though?" Winter guesses.

"That they were, simply because over the years they have been pinned as many mythological beings to act a symbol of fear. But generations of stories, the facts change into fiction." He explains. "The Wild Hunt for example were not five Knights, they were a ghostly or supernatural group of passing in wild pursuit." Kragen explains to her, before moving onto the other one. "And the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were symbols of extinction: Death, Famine, Pestilence and War...there were five Knights, four now yes, but once five. Death is the only one that is similar to this and Fury is close to War...but that is it. Death, Fear, Loss, Vengeance and Fury...the Five Knights, not the four." Kragen clarifies for the older Schnee girl. Winter then looks at one of the last relics of the Arkhoni Era.

"What did your people call them? You know – before it all fell apart?" Winter inquires.

"We knew what they were – souls that were corrupted by the weapons that they carried. Turned into monsters that would haunt the entire world from their presence alone. But they were once people, and people have soft spots in their pasts. That is why we are looking for these books, their memories are stored here, if we can find a specific memory around one of them that can make them question their own existence as a Knight, then it should be enough to let them rest in peace." Kragen illustrates as he walks, and Winter scoffs.