Teeka’s mother took a deep breath, put her key away, and then turned to Corvan, a forced smile on her face. "He needs to find our daughter. She is prone to getting into trouble and obviously has not learned her lesson if she is going into public areas and silencing her punishment chime." Brushing past him she returned to her workbench and searched through the racks of vials arranged along the wall. "Teeka’s father tells me you have identified a problem with our plan to eliminate the Rakash from the cavern of Katay Alba. I appreciate your powers of scientific observation and your willingness to ask the difficult questions.” Picking out a vial of clear liquid, she held it out to him. " I will require your assistance with a test on the young Rakash we captured after you rescued our daughter. Would you mind carrying this for me? I am not as steady on my feet after long days in my lab, and it only takes a drip for the burning to begin. You must be very careful with it."

  Reluctantly Corvan took the vial and followed her into the hallway, walking as smoothly as he could. The fluid sloshed about in the open tube and the scent reached his nostrils along with an instantaneous urge to take a drink. How stupid was that? Her potion would kill him, yet he still had a desire to risk a taste. He desperately wanted to look away from the vial but had no choice but to watch the fluid carefully to keep it from spilling on his hand.

  The woman stopped, unlocked another door, and held up a blue key. "My daughter, the girl you rescued, stole this key but was chased back to the door by a young Rakash. Fortunately for her, he fell into one of our traps." She opened the door into pitch darkness. Reaching inside her cloak, she brought out a small orb and shook it. Swirling pinpoints of light appeared, like a snow globe full of tiny stars. "Stay close behind me, the Rakash rarely travel alone but they also have young ones who foolishly seek adventure in the wrong places and break our laws." She held the light lower. "Make sure you watch your step so you do not fall in."

  Corvan looked past the glowing vial. The floor they were heading onto was a honeycomb of octagonal pits with narrow ridges between them. Some were partially full of stagnant water. The woman worked her way out on one of the ridges, leaving Corvan to concentrate on his feet in the shifting shadows from her globe, while at the same time making sure the liquid did not spill on his fingers. Thankfully, she stopped just a few pits ahead and held the light aloft for him to see better.

  Corvan picked his way to where she was standing and looked down.

  The young Rakash Corvan had injured at the river huddled at the bottom of the pit. His head came up and his nostrils flared.

  "Yes," the woman said softly, "you can smell it, can't you?"

  Sightless eyes looked up at them. A bony shoulder was smeared with dried blood and his arm hung limply at his side. A soft sound escaped blue lips, like a kitten crying for its milk and Corvan's jaw clenched. That could easily be him down there: another stupid kid who thought he was strong enough to handle the addictive power of the seeds. He looked away and found the woman watching him intently.

  "You must remember that this is the one who tried to murder our children. His fate has already been decided by the laws of the settlement council and is out of our hands. Do not pity him. If you were to fall in, he would tear you to pieces. Even before he came here, he was already under a sentence of slow death, addicted to the elixir, and that blame rests with the gatehouse master, not you or I." Her lighted globe moved closer to Corvan. "Hold this for a moment. I have a cord we can use for the test."

  Corvan took the snow-globe light and stared at the tiny stars. Up close, it was like looking into a moonless night sky at home. He would give anything to be safely back home with his parents and far away from this brutal place. If only he could find his father and Kate, they could leave and never return.

  "Steady now," the woman said, as she tied a thin cord around the neck of the vial, then took the container of poison from his hand.

  Corvan didn’t look at the boy below. Even though he had hurt or killed the boys and was trying to capture Teeka, he couldn't hate someone who made the same mistake and given in to the temptation. Surely, if these people worked together, they could find a way to help the ones that fell. In that moment, Corvan realized he couldn’t even hate the Rakash leader for abducting his father and bringing him here. The man was also being manipulated by others for their own selfish ends. It was even more cruel when you had a weakness and other people would use it against you. The Rakash leader was not an evil person by nature. He helped Corvan escape the gatehouse and had also demonstrated that his love for Leena was still strong.

  Corvan shook himself free of his thoughts, he needed to stop this woman. There had to be another way. He reached out, but found she was already lowering the vial on the cord toward the long grasping fingers below. He couldn’t risk her spilling it on the boy. She stopped with it just out of reach.

  "According to the laws of Katay Set, I will warn you only once." The Rakash boy did not indicate he had heard her, his eager face fixed on the vial of light spinning in slow circles just overhead. "If you wish to live, and seek the assistance of our people, you must now inform me of your decision,” the woman intoned. “If you decide to drink from this vial then. . ."

  The young Rakash sprang, snatching the vial, then gulping back the fluid, its blue tongue searching inside for every last drop. Growling the Rakash smashed the empty vial on the ground and then leapt straight at them, reaching the lip of the pit at Corvan’s feet before he fell back with a bone-crunching crash. He was gathering himself for another leap but then dropped down, rocking back and forth on his haunches.

  Corvan turned away from the pit, his stomach churning and his eyes filling with tears. No matter what a person had done, no one deserved to die like that.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The woman moved closer and held up her globe to light the way back to the door. Corvan moved forward, wiping tears from his eyes so he could see clearly and not fall into one of the pits. The stench from the partially full ones rose up and he had to swallow hard to keep from throwing up.

  The woman spoke from behind him and Corvan could hear the regret in her voice. "I’ve never seen one that young. The gatekeeper must be getting desperate to increase the size of the Rakash army.” She paused as they move closer to the doorway, then gave a heavy sigh. “Regardless, there is no hope for those who consume the light of a lumien. They can never stop and eventually the Cor well be completely dark, and everyone will have perished. Taking a tough stance is the only chance we have to survive as a people."

  "What do you mean 'they never stop?' Corvan asked, stopping in front of the door and looking at her. “You said this was a test to make sure your poison worked. Did you know for certain he would fail?"

  Her light pushed closer to his face, and he blinked against the bright points of light. "This test was about you,” she said. “I needed to be certain that you would have the conviction to take it to them and not be tempted to use it yourself." Her face darkened as she glanced back. "That one was convicted of a crime against Teeka and the missing boy. He freely made his choice and justice has been served." Unlocking the exterior door, she stepped through and marched down the hall ahead of him toward the laboratory.

  Corvan stared at the woman’s back as he followed along. He would not be a part of her revenge on the Rakash. It wouldn’t work anyway. “When the first one to get his portion of the elixir dies, the rest will not drink it and your plan will fail," he stated.

  She turned to him at the laboratory door and pulled out the red key. "You have a sharp mind, but that vial was concentrated and the effects quick. Our laws may be unyielding, but we do not believe in extending the suffering of those who choose to die. When you mix one vial into the pool, the poison will be diluted. All will drink it together because it will take much longer to begin to work but eventually, they will all perish."

  As the woman unlocked the door, Corvan’s thoughts swirled about like the lights in the glow globe. If it took the Rakash army a long time to die with the diluted dose of poison, they must be in terrible pain the whole time. He would not be a part of this woman's plans, but he still needed the man’s help to find his inside the library. Once his father was free, they would find Kate and Gavyn and leave the Cor for good. This wasn't his fight. She would have to find someone else to carry out her terrible plan. He hoped Teeka would also refuse to do it. She seemed to have a tender heart.

  The woman led him through the laboratory and back to the main hall. The man was standing alone at the map table, studying one of the parchments. He looked up with a question on his face as they drew near, then came around the table to meet them.

  “You were correct about him,” the woman said, pointing to Corvan. “I will agree and let this one execute my plan. We have delayed long enough, and the gatehouse continues to send new recruits.” She nodded over her shoulder and gritted her teeth. “That one was too young. It’s time to put an end to this situation, for the sake of our people but and also those boys.”

  “He needs to rest first and be refreshed.” The man said. The woman nodded and he gestured to Corvan. “Come with me, I have a place prepared for you.”

  Corvan shook his head. “First, I need to find a young boy who was down here trying to help my father. His name is Gavyn and he does not speak."

  The man was about to speak but the woman stepped between them. "Our scouts found a boy like that out in the ruined city but he was seriously injured. Sometimes the younger Rakash will chase other creatures and kill them with rocks." She paused. "We tried to nurse Gavyn back to health but he had lost too much blood. He died shortly before you arrived. As I have told you, the Rakash have no mercy."

  Corvan knees buckled and he leaned heavily against the table. How could Gavyn be dead? He had just seen the small boy in the vision from the broken mirror glass.

  "I can see that you were very close to him." The man said softly. He took Corvan by the arm and helped him through the main hall. "Come with me and have something to eat and a rest. You must regain your strength if we are to save your father from the Rakash before something happens to him as well."

  Corvan followed along. The man was right. He needed to stay focused on rescuing his father. He would have time to think about Gavyn once they were all out of the Cor.

  The man led him across the floor and up a set of steep stairs. At the end of a narrow hallway was a small room where a clay jar and a plate of thin biscuits sat on the floor next to a sleeping mat.

  "I will come back for you when it is time to leave,” the man said.

  "What about my lizard guide? I will need him along with me."

  The man shook his head. "That is not a good idea. Your watcher is quickly fading back to his original state and the special potion they received to heighten their awareness no longer exists. Our council has stated that to be good thing for their kind are not a part of the natural order. To preserve our race, we must trust only those of our own kind. It would be best if he stayed here with the older guide you saw in the library when you to go to rescue your father."

  Corvan sat on the mat and the man walked off down the hall. At least there was no door on the room, so he was not being held against his will. He would go out and look for Tsarek on his own, but he knew it was true that Tsarek was not doing well and was getting steadily weaker. Tsarek had tried to regain his strength from the fluid in the Rakash cells but that had affected him strangely. The man was right. It would be better if Corvan left him Tsarek behind with his old mentor.

  The plate of thin biscuits was close at hand but was too tired to eat. He sniffed the jar, then touched a finger to the liquid and tasted. It was a thick syrupy concoction made from lumien fruit. He could sense its energy but with all the experimenting these people were doing, he decided not to drink it. He couldn’t risk some new type of medicine or potion.

  Laying down, Corvan tried to fall asleep, but his thoughts kept returning to Gavyn. The boy was the closest thing to a brother that he had ever known. Was he going to lose his entire family to the Cor?

  When he finally dozed off it was only to enter a nightmare world where he was searching for his father amidst rows of dead bodies. Each time he turned one over he would first see the face of his father, then the face would change to the sightless Rakash boy from the pit. There was more of them all around him and in the dream, one of the dead Rakash boys managed to grab Corvan by the shoulders and would not let go.

  Corvan tried to wrench himself free, but the Rakash refused to give up. The boy's nails dug into him, and a voice began to beg, "Wake up Corvan, Please wake up."

  Corvan eyes fluttered open to find Tsarek kneeling beside him and shaking his shoulders.

  "I have found Gavyn," Tsarek said.