It was almost a half hour later that Pyralis came back to them in a rush. She was panting, her hair matted to her face in the dank humidity of their subterranean environs. “Helethra,” she huffed. “She’s doing something crazy.”

By the time Flint, Luned, and Pyralis returned to the rat king’s chamber, it was abuzz with activity. There were two other orphans there, closer in age to Helethra, elves with minor deformities to mark their respective mutations. They were sulking, defensive, and in the middle of yelling back at a gaggle of younger elves that were accosting them. Flint listened to their argument before deciding it had devolved too far into petty name-calling for him to glean the cause of the fight.

“Quiet,” he barked, straightening to his full height as he did. The nearest boy to him, an elf with what looked like cauliflower ears, spun on him with a sneer that quickly faded. Flint pointed at him and loomed. “Name.”

“Uh,” the boy said. “Addoc?”

“Where is Helethra?”

Some of Addoc’s anger returned, tempered by fear into a sullen bitterness. The boy expected to get chewed out for his answer, and he was clearly considering a typically teenaged response. “She got all pissed off when I told her she was being a bitch. She left.”

“Left where?” Flint said.

“Tenner’s, I guess,” Addoc said, slowly. “She wanted us to hit there, but we’re not ready. I told her we’re not ready, and I’m not getting skinned just because she’s in a mood. So she made my bug buck me and took off. Tossed Sulli too.” Addoc nodded at the other teenager, who shrank away as attention shifted, even briefly, to him. His face was mostly hidden behind a mop of violet hair.

“Your...bug?” Luned said.

“Yeah,” Addoc said. “You know? Big, lots of legs.” He mimed antennae. “Bug.”

Flint grinned. So it was true. Helethra wasn’t fighting Swanra’ann with an army of orphans. She was fighting Swanra’ann with an army of mutated sewer creatures. He wondered at it briefly, but the idea made certain things make sense. If nothing else, it explained how Helethra had survived the sewers when she was a child. Flint had almost died, multiple times, moments after stepping foot here. He had a multitude of questions, but no time.

“Tenner’s,” he said. “The plaza? Edge of the smelter’s district? What’s there?”

“A drop,” Sulli said, softly. “Or we thought it might be.”

“Skinner’s got people there, day and night,” Addoc said. “They bring stuff into a warehouse in bags, but don’t bring anything back out. We only just started scouting it though. We don’t know what it’s for. I tried telling Hel that. It could be nothing, or it could be the Skinner’s summer house. It’s stupid to go there before we know more.”

“She was really mad,” Sulli said, looking at Flint sidelong through his hair. “Not thinking straight. I just didn’t want her to get hurt.”

“She went alone?” Luned said.

“No, Dizzy was with her,” Addoc said.

“Take me there,” Flint said. “Now.”

Addoc looked around helplessly. “But she took my bug.”

“Your legs work,” Flint said. “Do you not know the way?”

“Well, yeah, but it’s...I mean, it’s a long way.”

“Then start walking,” the brute growled. “Go. We will catch up with you.”

Addoc wanted to argue, but not with Flint. He jerked his head at Sulli, who instantly fell in line with him, and the pair hurried through a passage somewhere in the dark. Flint noted it from the corner of his eye. Luned glanced at him, then hurried after the boys.

He turned to Pyralis. “You have defenses here?”

She seemed surprised that he was talking to her. She glanced around in a slight panic, then his question sank in and she nodded quickly. “You need to collect everyone left down here,” he said. “Find safe spaces. Prepare your defenses. Hide until Helethra, Luned, or I return.”

“Is someone coming to get us?” one of the younger orphans said.

“I don’t know,” Flint said. “But the whole surface world is looking for an excuse. I’m going to assume the worst until I know better.”

“What’s the worst?” Pyralis said.

“The worst is that Helethra might have just given them the excuse they’ve been waiting for. Swanra’ann has something up her sleeve, something expensive, and if the grahfs don’t think that’s enough they’re going to take matters into their own hands.”

A murmur went through the children, but Flint silenced it with a look over the group. “Fear later,” he said firmly. “Prepare now.”

And then he moved off to follow Addoc, Sulli, and Luned.