Author's Note: This story is set about 83 trine before the film. A possible scenario to explain what happened to the 4 skeksis we see in the manga but are gone by the time of film.

Chapter 1: Unease

Evening was nearly upon them, the three suns would soon sink below the horizon.

Quietly, the tiny band of gelfling picked their way through the wood. There was just four of them, all that was left of their family now. Up at the front Sola could see her father with her young sister in a sling upon his back, while beside her shuffled her grandfather.

Sola had learnt to fall into stride behind the two adults as they made their way through the forest so that she didn't have to push her way through the thick foliage. But now they were coming to a stop. Grandfather was tiring.

Near silently they stopped at the edge of a clearing, Sola gladly flopped down upon the mossy spongy soil, tired from the long day's trek. They had been walking for nearly ten days now, a tiny fragment of a group of gelflings that had hid away in the mountains, until inevitably the garthim had found them. Everyone had fled in every direction, like dust they had scattered to the wind. Whether anyone else had survived the attack remained unknown. Going back was impossible, so instead they traveled to find the last gelfling stronghold left. But without any method of long distance communication, there was no guarantee this stronghold still existed, or worse yet if it had ever existed to begin with.

But Sola trusted her father, and she trusted her grandfather too, they were both wise and she didn't for a moment let doubt cloud her young mind. She was more interested in thinking of the future, of the new friends she would make, the excitement of exploring a new home, the new places she could play.

"Sola, stay close," her father reminded her quietly as he noticed her staring intently at a funny looking bird in a nearby tree. He turned back to her grandfather. "How are you holding up, father?"

"I'm still strong, but admittedly tired," the old gelfling rasped.

"We've got a long way to travel yet, but we are so close now. If we are fortunate, we will be there by sundown."

Sola, growing bored, waved to her sister upon her father's back. The infant gelfling had just woken up and was now blearily looking around, her tiny little face lighting up as she spotted her sister, she burbled contentedly. When Sola then began to do a silly little dance, imitating a long-legged swamp bird, her baby sister shrieked with glee. At the abrupt outburst of noise, her father turned to scowl at her in warning.

"Stop that Sola," her father chastised quietly. "Or the garthim will find us."

"It wasn't me!" she whined, scrunching up her face and crossing her arms. "Anyway, we would hear any garthim long before they got here. We could easily escape."

"Garthim never tire," her father told her sternly. "And there are rumors of worse creatures yet in these parts of the wood."

Sola smiled mockingly, broadening her shoulder, attempting to look fearless. Her grandfather sent her an amused look, but her father just tiredly disregarded her once more.

It was only once she knew that neither of them were looking that she glanced about the clearing nervously.

...

Golden eyes, somewhat faded to a rusty color with age, watched the gelflings pass into the clearing with anticipation. He had not had the joy of hunting gelfling for nearly a dozen trine - they were just so rare a prey these days - and now here were two of them!

Well technically there were four, but he did not count the two younger gelflings, both too young to make viable essence or slaves of; it would be easier to simply kill them on the spot.

This was not to say that skekMal was impatient, though this in itself was unusual, as patience was a rare thing amongst the skeksis, they preferred an immediate reward to that of a long term one. But skekMal the Hunter had learnt how to use patience to his own benefit, after all, unlike any mortal creature he would live forever, he was a skeksis, and time was nothing.

He had been tracking these gelflings for nearly a day now, and finally he had caught up. His patience had paid off.

Slowly he drew an arrow from the quiver and notched it upon his bow, steady, steady, he aimed at his target, teeth bared as he relished in his plan. Attacking head on he risked losing some of group, gelflings were surprisingly fast and being smaller and less bulky than he they were better suited in running through the thick undergrowth of the woodland. Which was why he aimed his arrow not to kill but to hobble, the gelflings would never leave one of their own behind after all.

A twig snapped below his foot as he maneuvered into a better position. One of the gelflings paused to look his direction.

"This should slow you down," he muttered, and let the arrow fly.

Abruptly there was a burst of movement, the gelfling that had looked back had indeed seen him, letting out a warning cry as it tried to run back into the forest.

But it was too late; his aim was true.

There was a familiar agonized yelp, a creature in pain. skekMal charged out into the open, swinging his bow back over his shoulder so that it was out of the way. Ahead of him the wounded gelfling stumbled and fell, crumpling back to the ground. He bounded over and kicked the gelfling onto its back so that he could see its face, one clawed hand locking around its throat as he lifted the struggling creature from the ground.

skekMal was disappointed to see that the gelfling was a lot older than he had first thought, and in terrible condition. He could feel every bone vertebra running along the back of its scrawny neck as it stared back at him with eyes hollow with fatigue. skekMal had seen the look before, in starved and beaten creatures; it was unlikely this gelfling would survive the journey back to the castle. The Emperor would have appreciated fresh stock...

But oh well, it wasn't the end of the world, he was beginning to feel very hungry after all.

His attention was brought back to the other gelflings by their distressed cries. Predictably, the other gelflings had stopped running once they had seen one of their own was hurt, and were now anxiously torn between running and returning, the bigger gelfling was trying to shield the two young ones.

"Monster!" it yelled at him in its primitive dialect, and not moment later a pebble was thrown his way. Unsurprisingly the pebble missed him by several meters, but skekMal was pleased, assured that this gelfling would make good hunting and good essence. The Emperor would be pleased.

Smiling maliciously at the furious and terrified gelfling, he tossed the old one aside and slowly began to advance towards his new quarry.

For a few seconds the gelfling determinedly stood its ground, eyes flickering rapidly between him and its injured companion, then natural cowardice seemed to take over and it fled into the forest, skekMal following close behind.

The gelflings for many trine now had told of the tale of skekMal the Hunter, so fast that he could outstrip any arrow fired his way; and though while this wasn't completely true - everyone knew that gelflings were terrible archers as well as avid story tellers - it was true that skekMal was unusually fast.

This gelfling was still swift though, and had the advantage of small size when it came to ducking through and avoiding branches and heavier foliage, but predictably it followed a game trail, and skekMal was easily able to follow close behind. It occurred to him that the gelfling was running the opposite direction from which it had been heading, the youngling gelflings were no longer with it, and skekMal knew then that his quarry was deliberately trying to lead him away from them. No problem though, he would just trek back the way he had came once the hunt was over. And if there was no trace of the young gelflings, then he would simply inform skekZok that it might be profitable to send some crystal bats to survey the region.

Up ahead the gelfling skidded to a halt, finding itself at the edge of a ravine. It realized its mistake too late, that skekMal had deliberately corralled it so that it would be unable to escape.

Drawing a sharp blade from a scabbard at his hip, skekMal advanced slowly, arms spread wide so as to stop the gelfling if it tried to bolt past him. The foolish creature took a step back and began to edge along the ravine, moving backup a hill crest. This was a bad move though, the crest was narrow and allowed skekMal to circle around, completely blocking any chance of escape.

Tilting his head to one side, he gave the gelfling a toothy knowing grin as he moved closer. Now almost within striking range, he readied himself. The gelfling watched him with the wide-eyes of a frightened animal, skekMal's greatest worry now was that it would throw itself into the ravine just to get away from him – as past quarries had done before – skekMal knew he needed to be quick.

Just then there was a strange high pitched wail from the forest edge, the sound of a distressed infant gelfling.

skekMal looked back, and to his amusement found that the youngling gelfling had foolishly followed them. It was now fruitlessly trying to quieten the infant gelfling it was carrying in its arms, as it stood amongst the foliage at the edge of the forest, poorly hidden. His quarry took this distraction as an opportunity to escape and run back to the younglings. But hundreds of trine hunting and predicting his prey's every movement meant that it was only too easy for skekMal to catch the gelfling as it ran.

He simply swiped with one long arm, his claws locking onto its narrow shoulder.

The gelfling yelled and shrieked, struggling fiercely in his hold, to steady the fearful creature skekMal firmly placed the blade at the creature's throat and immediately it froze in terror.

"I will go to the castle willingly, if only you spare my children," it gasped fearfully. "I will not fight, you can drain me and take my life, but please, just let them go!"

Normally skekMal did not talk to his prey, that took away too much from the hunt, but skekMal was irritated, he was starving and hadn't seen the dark crystal's light in over two days now, he was beginning to feel exhausted.

"Oh not worry," he said in a sickly sweet voice, speech pattern broken and distorted by his poor memory of the gelfling language. "I not drain them, or kill you. I just make sure you not run."

To its credit the gelfling did not struggle as skekMal dragged it towards the forest, it was only when it saw that he was heading for the younglings that its frantic struggling began anew.

"No!" it cried. "You said you would leave them be!"

"I spare them being drained, be grateful that they die quick," he shook the gelfling once in warning.

"Grateful that you would kill my children?!" the gelfling yelled, still struggling. "Monster! Monster!"

skekMal yelped in turn as he felt blunt teeth close on his wrist, the surprise causing him to misstep and twist his ankle, but he never let go. As a hunter he had been bitten by many things, and this bite barely stung, but the significance of the action disgusted him. How dare this puny creature bite him!? skekMal wrenched the gelfling free of his wrist and then lifting it off the ground, shook it violently until it stopped moving. The youngling gelfling at the forest edge shrieked and screamed at the sight, but foolishly it did not run, it made no move to flee, no attempt to escape.

Killing them would be easy.

Holding the now limp gelfling below one arm, he reached into the bushes for the youngling. But it stepped out of reach, still wailing obnoxiously, moving deeper into the undergrowth, then darting behind a fallen log, as if foolishly thinking that this offered some form of protection.

skekMal leapt upon the log heavily, rejoicing in how it creaked below his weight, how much bigger he was than the tiny wailing gelfling, how powerful he felt as the Hunter. He crouched down and reached forward again, but the youngling managed to avoid his grasp again. For a moment, skekMal's patience died and he leapt forward quickly to try to catch the youngling by surprise, however in this moment his feet slipped upon the mossy surface of the log and he hesitated. Just as he was regaining his balance, the limp gelfling below his arm abruptly sprung to life, taking him by surprise it broke free and darted away.

"Argh!" he snarled in frustration.

Swiping at the fleeing gelfling in a desperate bid to stop his prey from escaping, he took another misstep, his injured ankle knocked painfully against the old tree. He drew back, his long ungainly body twisting as he tried to find another foothold, but his heavy weight meant that his clawed feet simply slid upon the mossy bark of the log now, leaving great gouges behind as he fell backwards.

'Kathunk!'

skekMal gasped as the air was knocked from his lungs.

"Run, run!" he heard the gelfling yell at the younglings, and then there was the crackling and snapping of undergrowth as they fled into the wood.

He did not get up to stop them, he could not, and for several moments he lay there unable to comprehend why. The fall was only a meter or so, he had fallen further distances before. His robes stuck to him stickily, but it wasn't sweat that seeped over his chest, it was heavier and warmer than that.

For a few fleeting moments he feared he had cut himself with his dagger in the fall, but then he spotted the pointed blade lying a short distance away from him, clean and shining. But that also meant that it wasn't the gelfling's blood on him...

Then he saw what had truly happened.

skekMal had fallen upon a dark broken branch, the end of which now emerged out from below his ribs, through his hunting clothes, where the heaviness was greatest. He was pinned, like one of the bugs that skekLach kept collections of in glass display cabinets.

Snarling and cursing he clawed at the ground. He felt no pain in that moment, he did not know why, he did not care, all skekMal knew was that he had to get back to the castle immediately. He had to be present at the next Ceremony of the Sun so that his wounds would heal and he would live another day.

It could not end like this!

Unexpectedly memories of his past life as an urskek swirled in his mind's eye, none of them pleasant. Born of all the bad memories of MalVa, he knew nothing else.

There was nothing dramatic in his death, no deadly foe lay beaten before him, no one was even there to see him die. Snarling and growling, he cursed the world as it spun a giddy dance above his head, swirling, brighter and darker, brighter and darker. All alone, he cursed the world a thousand times.

Meanwhile, in the Valley of the Mystics, urVa the Archer lay surrounded by his fellow mystics. They sensed his pain, and sung in low tones to comfort as they watched him drift away. His faded sandy robes, covered in dream conjured spirals unique to UrVa alone, collapsed in on itself, fading to pale and delicate gossamer, it glowed a fading white as the three setting suns' rays shone upon it once last time. They then lay a death blanket upon his robes, to guide urVa's soul to the Tree of Life, and gently carried away his remains.

In the forest, unknown by anyone except a few curious forest creatures, lay a mound of faded coarse green and brown robes, below which the Hunter's infamous bow lay hidden out of sight. And of the whom had worn them, not even a few hours ago, there was not a trace but crumbled grey dust.

The evening meal was over, and most of the skeksis were lounging around on the upper floors of the castle, or in the throne room. But that was not where skekTek the Scientist was at this time. He had left early, hoping to finish up his work in the laboratory for the day, turn off or check on anything that had he had left to boil or simmer, and then retreat to his chambers to sleep.

Unfortunately, the last person he would have wanted to talk to had noticed him leave and followed him.

skekLach appearing in the Chamber of Life was inevitable, as it had been every time before. Once a place he could retreat to when the squabbling of his fellow skeksis grew too tiresome, skekTek now did everything he could to avoid being there alone.

"There is none left," skekTek pleaded desperately. "Even for the Emperor himself! There haven't been any gelflings captured for many months now and essence expires so quickly! It doesn't last more than few days outside of a host!"

"The Emperor won't be pleased, and neither am I," skekLach drummed his claws impatiently against the table, peering down cynically at the cowering Scientist. "But I see nothing more can be done here, if the stock has indeed run dry... Perhaps a future investment would be a better plan for me?"

skekTek didn't like the way this was going, but knew he had no option but to listen. skekLach's word was as good as the Emperor's; angering him would be angering the Emperor.

"When the next batch arrives," skekLach began. "I want three-quarters of the draught-"

"The Emperor would notice," skekTek sputtered nervously. "He would think that I am drinking it myself!

"That's where I have a plan," skekLach smiled unpleasantly. "Essence of gelfling is clear, like water. I want you to dilute the Emperor's portion. It has no taste, he won't notice, it won't bother him...and you will do it or else telling him that you've been taking the essence for yourself is exactly what I'll do."

skekTek stared back mutely in horror, only subconsciously aware that he in wringing his hands his own claws had cut into his skin once more. He had over 100 trine now knowing that every day could possibly be his last, if the Emperor ever found out about the missing essence he would take skekLach's word over his in a heartbeat, and then he would be dead. No more skekTek...

He felt he could barely breathe.

Fortunately at that moment, skekUng came lumbering into the Chamber of Life, cutting off whatever further threats the Collector might have had in store for him.

"Garthim Master, what are you doing down here?" skekLach sounded pleasantly surprised, though skekTek knew that in reality the Collector was annoyed.

"I'm here for the polish for the newest garthim shells," skekUng sounded irritable, but then again he always did. "I cannot begin soldering them until the individual pieces are completed."

"Ah, yes. I forgot about the replacements. Several more went missing on the last patrol didn't they? Surely you could have sent a podling?" skekLach said, but uninterested in the answer he stalked out of the chamber before the Garthim Master could reply, looking back once at skekTek and hissed: "The Emperor won't be pleased."

As soon as he was gone, skekTek slumped in relief.

"You came at opportune timing," he said to the Garthim Master. "I would thank you, if I did not know of your blunt honesty."

"Hmmph," skekUng huffed indifferently.

The Garthim Master had never been one for words, it as not that he was a fool or inarticulate, it was simply that he rarely seemed to think it worth talking. skekUng was unusual amongst the skeksis in that he had no and kept no secrets - or none that anyone knew of - and this made him potentially very dangerous as blackmailing or bribing him was nearly impossible. He would have been the Collector's greatest enemy, if it weren't for his infamous lack of ambition. skekUng had only relatively recently gained the title of Garthim Master, before that it had been skekUng the Metallist, and never had he vied for a different position. Secretly several other skeksis had made suggestions that he was up to something, though more yet thought he was just a fool, but none of them would have said so to his face - skekUng had a notoriously short-temper and the brute strength to back it up.

skekTek quickly sorted through his shelves, the metal of his right leg clunking loudly against the desk as he had to reach up to one of the higher shelves where last of the stored bottles of polish were. He made a mental note that he would need to make some more soon. Holding the dark bottle up briefly to the light to confirm that it was full, he limped back over to the Garthim Master and handed it over.

"You shouldn't let him bother you like this," skekUng grumbled. "It's unbecoming. The way you cower whenever he is around, do you think that no one else has noticed?"

"He's got me by the throat," skekTek retorted, wringing his hands once more and wincing. "Metaphorically speaking. I cannot stand against him without standing against the Emperor!"

"No one can, but they don't get into such a state that they wound themselves," he glanced at skekTek's scratched hands.

"Hah, just a coincidence. I shattered a glass vial before you arrived, the shards must have cut me," he lied, and hastily changed the topic. "I overheard a commotion earlier, what happened?"

"Nothing of interest," skekUng sounded bored, and skekTek felt jealous - it had been many trine now since he had had the luxury of feeling boredom! "However, rumors are that skekNa no longer follows skekZok..."

"You think he might switch alliances?" skekTek asked tentatively. "He's been skekZok's ally for hundreds of trine now, why would that change?"

"I do not know," skekUng was already turning to leave. "But it might have something to do with skekZok's current unpopularity with skekLach."

The three of them had been in the throne room. skekEkt had been taking the Emperor's measurements for a new dress-coat that he had ordered - a rare occasion as skekEkt rarely made new clothes for anyone now. skekAyuk had been there to talk over menu planned for the next day. skekSil had simply been there to be in association with the other two, and to remind the Emperor that he was still around, that he was still doing a good job.

And then skekLach had come prancing into the room, with him were his foul arduff hounds, tugging at their chains, snarling and snapping.

Needless to say, the three of them had left quickly as dignity would allow.

"It cannot go on like this forever," skekEkt said simply once they were back in the hallway, skekAyuk hastily nodding in agreement. "The Emperor will tire of him eventually. He will grow bored of him and then he will be nothing. skekLach has long since lost any allies outside of the Emperor."

Back when skekSil had been the Emperor's favorite, he remembered that as skekSo had aged and become more paranoid, the old fool had begun deliberately picking fights with him. skekSil had always done his best to avoid quarreling, even going so far as to agree with the insults the Emperor spat his way, but it had all been in vain. The Emperor had been only too happy to toss him aside when a seemingly more promising skeksis appeared. For a while skekSil had tried to win the Emperor's favor back, it didn't take him long though to realize that the Emperor found these attempts amusing, but more often than not he would be ignored altogether. And all the while the Collector watched him knowingly from over the Emperor's shoulder, relishing in the Chamberlain's repeated humiliation.

How he despised them both!

"The Emperor has grown increasingly paranoid," skekSil replied irritably. "However he would take the Collector's word over that of anyone else. It is not as simple as getting the Emperor to distrust skekLach, because he would sooner distrust himself than think badly of his dear Collector."

"Perhaps we're going about this the wrong way," skekEkt said, wrapping a lead around his wrist a little more tightly. For a moment skekSil scowled down at the two little pet creatures the Ornamentalist had timidly cowering at his feet, they were quiet and well-behaved but they reminded him too much of skekLach's hounds for him to simply ignore them. "Perhaps it is not the Emperor's trust in skekLach that we should break, but skekLach's trust in himself."

"What do you mean by that, skekEkt?" the Chamberlain asked curiously.

"He must have secrets of his own. If we can find out what they are, then we can tackle him directly, no need for the Emperor to be involved!"

"Whatever we did, he would make it so that the Emperor was involved, and then we would only be putting ourselves in harm's way," skekSil replied dismissively, he had already learned this firsthand shortly after skekLach had first risen to power - it had been a humiliating defeat...

The Chamberlain paused worriedly when he heard the scuffing of robes upon the stone floor in the next room, his fears about an eavesdropper were without cause though, it was just the fool skekVar lumbering mindlessly out into the courtyard.

"Do you think he overheard anything?" skekAyuk asked in hushed tones.

"Don't worry about him," skekEkt wove a gloved hand dismissively. "skekVar is under skekLach's thumb, he hates him just as much as we do."

"You know, I don't think he even realizes that skekLach has been telling tales about him to the Emperor for quite some time now," skekAyuk chuckled briefly. "Hardly tales of praise, if you know what I mean."

"skekVar is a fool, but unhesitatingly loyal to the Emperor, we must be cautious with what we say around him," skekSil said sternly. "He might be easily tricked, but the same cannot be said for his allies. skekSa is much sharper than he leads others to believe and skekMal...well, he is stealthy."

"I cannot stand either of those two," skekEkt said haughtily. "skekSa smells as if he has bathed in the moat for a week and left his clothes to rot, and as for skekMal-"

"-he is a cantankerous creep," skekAyuk finished the sentence for him. skekEkt turned to face the Gourmand with a grin.

"Exactly," he hissed with glee.

"No need to fear the Hunter, he is undignified, savage and of poor reputation," skekSil replied. "And he too would gladly see the Collector gone. But that brings us back to the main problem. skekLach is still the Emperor's favorite, and if something is not done, he might remain that way forever."

"It appears that skekMal the Hunter is dead," skekZok had announced.

The Ceremony of the Sun had barely finished when the projection of a crystal bat had appeared within the heart of the crystal, humming and glowing bright.

skekVar the General was still peering into the crystal's depth disbelievingly, where the scene as shown by a crystal bat was still visible. A mound of bloodied robes beside a jeweled dagger near the edge of wood.

The castle had begun to suspect as much of an outcome after the Hunter had failed to return in time for the evening meal for three consecutive nights. At first it had been thought that he might be simply delayed, but when he had repeatedly failed to report in with any of the crystal bats, they had sent out further bats to scout for him. It was only now that they had finally found any trace of what had happened to him.

skekVar ground his teeth uneasily, his gaze shifting to one side to look at the other skeksis in the room inconspicuously as possible. The Collector, as ever, hovered near the Emperor's shoulder, while the Chamberlain slunk in the shadows. Every skeksis was present there with the exception of the Garthim Master who was still overseeing the construction of the newest batch of garthim following the disappearance of several in the hills the week previously.

skekSa the Mariner stood close by, though anything he felt regarding the matter was well guarded, skekVar could read nothing on his blank narrow face. Though prone to surliness, skekSa was a good ally, being both intelligent and poker-faced; but he was just one skeksis, and not a particularly influential one at that. skekVar did a little thinking of his own, self-admittedly not his greatest forte but he knew intelligence wasn't everything when it came to gaining power, usefulness was what the Emperor preferred...or skekLach.

"Have the slaves retrieve his belongings from the wood and return them to the castle," the Emperor waved one hand dismissively at skekZok. "Arrange a funeral, and figure out what killed him. It wouldn't do for us not to know."

"I could be of use," skekLach said silkily. "Your highness, allow me to send the hounds. They will be much faster retrievers than any garthim and podling."

"A challenge?" the Emperor joked to the Collector quietly, only just loud enough for skekVar to overhear. "It would be fun, but I must decline. This is an unusual matter, better to leave it to the garthim."

skekVar narrowed his eyes at the flickering image in the crystal, not looking the Collector's way but listening in nonetheless. In the last 100 trine, skekLach had ingratiated himself into the Emperor's favor, skekVar couldn't stand him, as the liar had cast many shadows on the General's reputation. There was no way of retaliating either, skekLach's word had become as good as that of the Emperor's, but skekVar wasn't the only one that despised the Collector.

"This could cause problems," the Mariner said to him quietly, still looking at the crystal. "Now there are only two of us."

skekVar didn't answer, looking amongst the gathered skeksis again. skekSil was also watching the gathering, unintentionally they locked gazes. The Chamberlain gave him an unpleasant smile, and skekVar quickly looked away with a huff. He would find no follower in skekSil he knew, nor the two pompous windbags the Chamberlain called allies...

The Mariner hissed impatiently, leaning on his walking stick, he tilted his gaunt weathered face to look at the General questioningly.

"skekUng is essentially our ally, we've never had a problem with him," skekVar muttered quickly to the Mariner. "And he is allies with skekTek. Not all is lost, we could be the most powerful group yet!"

"skekNa follows no one at this time either," skekSa looked back to the crystal indifferently, but there was cunning in his words. "He might well join us. skekZok's popularity with the Emperor is in decline, without the Slaver and his soul-speech under his command, his ability to spy is significantly less. It doesn't help that skekLach seems to have taken a personal dislike towards him as well."

Soul-speech was a talent few skeksis had learnt, in the early days when they had still lived in peace with the gelfling some had taken the initiative to try to learn the method by which gelflings communicated with their animals, even so most of them had failed to grasp the talent. Since then it had become a jealously guarded secret, with a great value when it came to spying. skekSil was rumored to know it, which was why no secret was safe within the castle, there was also word that skekLach knew it too though the Collector had always denied this. The only skeksis confirmed to be truly fluent in soul-speech was skekNa the Slave Master, whom otherwise seemed to lack any discernible talent whatsoever.

Powerful and valuable allies were important.

It was a time for a new power to arise, and skekVar was determined that it would be him.

A/N: This initially started off as a script for the current Dark Crystal short film competition - but since then I have realized I don't have the time or patience to try to animate anything. So I changed the original plot a bit (so that it no longer focused on the gelflings) and made it into a 5 chapter draft.

Also it's sort of cannon that skekMal actually did eat gelflings, creepy!

Notes: all 4 gelflings had names in the original version (Bahrd [grandfather], Nel [father] and Teekee [youngest gelfling]) and the scene at the beginning was written mostly from their perspective - but I changed this for simplicity as this story is no longer going to focus on them. The leader of the last gelfling stronghold was to be Neffi, and it was to be revealed that Lahr had gone missing several years before and it was still unknown what happened to him (I have since shifted the timeline for this fic a lot further forward, so this is no longer possible anyway).