Jamming his long lumien flap pole behind the last tier of the priests seating, Corvan pushed off the wall and vaulted himself out past the seats over the water. Releasing the pole, h dropped in feet first, swiveled about below the surface and swam toward Tsarek as fast as he could go. A severed tentacle floated toward him, and he knocked it to one side.

  Grabbing Tsarek’s paw, Corvan towed him towards the dark opening where the water creature had lived. Hopefully it had fled the battle or had been crushed when the stage collapsed. The dead weight of Tsarek’s body made it hard work but he would not let go. His lungs were almost bursting as he surfaced in the low cave.

  Gasping for air and pulling the limp form behind him, Corvan swam to the closest shore and dragged Tsarek onto a slab of rock that hung over the water’s edge. Rolling Tsarek onto his side he rocked the small body gently. “Don’t die on me,” he groaned. From the cuts and gashes covering Tsarek’s body, Corvan had no doubt that Tsarek was the reason the water monster had released he and Tyreth. It must have been quite the battle for such a small creature.

  Water trickled from Tsarek’s mouth, but his friend didn’t cough or move.

  Across the pool, a shadow fell on the surface of the water in the light flowing down the stairs. Corvan glanced up, expecting to see a tentacle reaching his way. Instead, he found Jorad standing at the bottom of the steps, black knife in hand.

  “When I saw you dive in,” the man said, “I should have known it would be to try to save that evil creature’s life.”

  “Tsarek helped me save Tyreth’s life, Jorad. Besides, the Chief Watcher is dead, this is a different one.”

  Jorad picked his way around the pool toward Corvan, his eyes flickering to his left over the dark water. “I was the one who saved Tyreth. You were in the stands helping the palace guard drown our priests.” He drew closer. “I can’t understand what the Chief Watcher could have possibly offered you to help him destroy us. Surely you didn’t hope he would give you Tyreth.”

  “I have never talked to the Chief Watcher,” Corvan replied calmly, “and you can ask Tyreth. She’ll tell you that I saved her from drowning earlier.”

  Jorad planted his foot at the front of the stone slab. “I will ask her, but first I will make sure this creature is dead.” He pointed the tip of his knife at Tsarek’s throat.

  Corvan leaned in over Tsarek and spread his arms wide. “I won’t let you touch him. He is a good friend, and he has saved my life more than once.”

  “Then he has deceived you,” Jorad said. “His kind can only serve their own selfish desires or the purpose of the one who commands them.”

  Corvan looked at Tsarek. “You told Madam Toreg not to judge too quickly, yet you do the same thing. This creature has a good heart.” Corvan rested his hands on the small spines on the back of Tsarek’s neck. “If the hammer were here, I would swear on it that he is not evil.”

  “What you swear makes no difference to me.” Jorad’s eyebrows knit together. “What you believe may feel true to you, but there are some things that do not change. The Watchers were created by evil and the only way to safeguard Kadir and the Cor is to make sure they are all dead.”

  “This one already is,” Corvan said, but even as he spoke, he thought he felt Tsarek’s spines tickle his palm.

  “I will spare your life Kalian, in return for saving my life at the bridge, but I will not let you leave here until I know this lizard is dead. Their kind are masters of deceit and are known to feign death, just as the Chief Watcher just did on the balcony.” Jorad bent lower over the slab of rock.

  Corvan jumped to his feet and leaned in toward Jorad, standing the man back up. “When you choose to judge someone before you know all the facts, you act more like the Chief Watcher than the new High Priest.”

  Anger flashed in Jorad’s eyes. He grabbed the collar of Corvan’s cloak and Corvan in turn wrapped both hands around the wrist that held the knife. Locked together, they rose up to jostle each other over Tsarek’s body. Jorad stepped in hard, and his added weight tipped the stone slab Tsarek’s body rested on steeply toward the water.

  Locked together, Corvan was able to keep Jorad from falling in but together they could only watch as the lizard’s body slid down the rock and slipped beneath the water.

  “Jorad, are you down here?” Tyreth’s words came down the stairs along with her shadow. “Did you find him?” The blue words from the hammer reached the landing and then danced on the ripples from Tsarek’s departure.

  Corvan pushed himself away from Jorad’s blade. The man stepped back and the rock tilted back up.

  “Don’t let her see you,” Jorad hissed. “She believes in you. It would destroy her to know you were helping the Chief Watcher.”

  “But I wasn’t. . .”

  “It doesn’t matter now.” Jorad whispered as he released his grip on Corvan’s collar. “Tyreth will lead Kadir now that her father is dead. Seeing you alive will only confuse the situation.” He pointed behind Corvan. “Hide behind the rocks until we leave. Do this for me and I will help you escape the Cor and return to your home. It’s the only way to save Kate’s life.”

  Corvan reluctantly nodded and Jorad whirled about to make his way back to the steps. Retreating into the shadows Corvan crouched behind a jumble of rocks.

  The blue glow flooded the cave as Tyreth reached the landing and descended the flight of stairs leading toward the water, the hammer at her side. She smiled at Jorad, and the man took her free hand and helped her over the final broken steps.

  Leaving Jorad by the stairs, Tyreth approached the water’s edge and gazed over the surface. “That boy must have seen a priest fall in and jumped in to save him just as he saved me earlier.” Her fingertips brushed her lips. “I didn’t even get a chance to thank him and I don’t even know his real name.”

  “His name was Kalian,” Jorad said.

  “Kalian. . . precious one,” Tyreth said, nodding. “That’s a good name for him. I felt something for him I can’t explain. It was like my connection with Tarran.”

  Standing in behind her, Jorad shook his head slowly while looking in Corvan’s direction. “He is gone, Tyreth. He was sent to bring the hammer back to us. That was his mission and thankfully he completed it before he left us.”

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  “Left us?” Tyreth said, shaking her head. “I don’t believe he is gone. With Tarran I knew he was dead, but with Kalian it feels like . . .” Her voice trailed off as she searched the surface of the water. “My father believed Kalian would be our Cor-Van,” she said, lifting the hammer and looked into its glowing words. Her face appeared much older in the blue light, and also more tired. “Now some of the council are saying I should lead the people. I don’t think I am ready.”

  Jorad came forward to stand beside her. “The burden of leadership is great, Tyreth, but I believe you will succeed. You are much stronger than you know.”

  Tyreth shook her head and raised the hammer. “But am I wise enough on my own? All my life I have been pulled in different directions as people have used me, used my position as the High Priest’s daughter, to their own advantage. Now that I have the hammer, the stakes are much higher, and the deceit will be more subtle.”

  Jorad moved in close to her side. “I can help you to know whom to trust. I will be at your side supporting you. You know I would do anything for you.”

  Tyreth smiled as she looked into his eyes for a long moment.

  Jorad leaned in closer as if he would kiss her.

  A sharp tug on the back of Corvan’s hood almost made him call out. He whipped around to find Gavyn grinning at him. The boy motioned for Corvan to follow him and tugged on his sleeve. Corvan nodded, but as they moved into the shadows, he turned back for one last look at Tyreth.

  There was nothing but blue ripples on the water.

  Swallowing the lump in his throat, he turned to Gavyn and spoke quietly. “I need to go as quickly as possible back to Kate. Can you help me.”

  Gavyn only looked back at him with a puzzled expression.

  “The girl on the litter Jorad and I were carrying in the City of Refuge,” Corvan said. “She’s at the Molakar settlement.”

  Gavyn nodded eagerly and scampered away to disappeared beneath a rough wedge of rock that was propped against the cavern wall.

  Corvan followed into a crawl beneath the rock that opened into a low passage with tunnels branching off in multiple directions. Gavyn obviously knew where he was going and he forged on ahead of Corvan, the glow of the fire stick Gavyn had lit often the only sign of his presence around the next corner or at the many intersections. Why was he running so fast?

  Crawling after him through a low spot, Corvan discovered Gavyn’s light stuck in the rocks, but the boy was nowhere in sight. Sitting on the floor, Corvan leaned back against the tunnel wall and closed his eyes. An intense weariness swept over him and drained his will to move another inch. Tipping his head against a large boulder he closed his eyes.

  Before he knew it, Gavyn was back and tugging on his sleeve again. The boy held out a cup of something cool that tasted like weak apple juice. Corvan drained it.

  “That’s good, Gavyn. I could drink a gallon of that,” Corvan said.

  Gavyn took the cup back, nodded enthusiastically and pulled Corvan to his feet.

  Corvan head swam, and he stood swaying on unsteady legs. He needed more rest and something to eat.

  The firestick in the rocks sputtered and died. Gavyn held onto both of Corvan’s hands and began walking backwards, guiding him around corners and over ledges. Corvan stumbled along after him.

  The sound of a rushing waterfall invaded his hazy thoughts, and a dense mist fell on his face and hands, as if he were walking right through a cold spring rain. The sound faded, they turned another corner and were welcomed by soft light ahead.

  Gavyn let go of his hands as they walked under an arch into a larger round room. Overhead was a high domed roof from which hundreds of lumiens hung. Lush green foliage covered most of the stone walls and vines ran up the walls, trailing strings of tiny globes like strings of Christmas lights. In the very center of the room, hanging from a stout stem, was one of the largest lumiens Corvan had seen so far, at least this close up. It was nearly the size of the one that had been in the High Priest’s Hall. He gazed in wonder as he walked under it, then tripped up against something hard, caught his balance and looked about.

  All around him, raised garden beds divided the room with each growing a different variety of tree, shrub, or flower. The entire floor of room throbbed with life and color, like a living mosaic.

  Up ahead, surrounded by a low stone wall, stood the strangest tree Corvan had ever seen in person. Its trunk was bulbous and as smooth as the baobab trees that grew in Australia, with thick branches fanning out horizontally on top. From below it looked like a giant’s green table on a stout pedestal.

  Gavyn dragged him along the path toward the great tree. Passing through a low gate in a circular wall around the tree, the young boy pulled him down on his knees into a thick moss that surrounded the trunk. A spring bubbled up from between the gnarled roots, then flowed into a stone catch basin and from there into channels that led to the various sections of the garden. Filling a carved wooden cup from the spring, Gavyn passed it to him, and scampered away.

  Corvan drank deeply then re-filled the cup from the basin and drained it. It was the same apple flavored water Gavyn had brought him in the tunnels. The young boy had picked up on his desire for more of this spring water, but this place was not where he needed to be. He had to get right back to Kate with some food to strengthen her while he looked for a way back home.

  As he waited for Gavyn to return, he studied the cup in his hands. It was carved with symbols similar to the ones on the hammer. The words had been cut around the base and above them were symbols representing people and animals, one of which was a lizard with a bright grin on its face.

  Setting the cup into the moss behind the pool, Corvan discovered a ledge supported on the tree roots that was crowded with many other intricately carved wooden objects. Some were of creatures he did not recognize, but in the middle of the carvings he saw a set that was the same as those in the central plaza statue in Kadir. It was a family of three people, but the woman’s head wasn’t broken off like the real one in Kadir and in this small carved version, the mother had long flowing hair and a smiling face that reminded him of Gavyn.

  Gavyn ran in through the gate and placed a basket of strange fruits at his feet. A grubby hand picked up something dark blue, about the size and shape of a lemon, and held it up to Corvan’s mouth.

  “Thanks, Gavyn, but the water made me feel a lot better. We need to get going and I’ll take this along to Kate. She’s sick and needs it more than I do.” He tried to get his feet, but Gavyn pushed him firmly back onto the moss.

  The boy pointed at Corvan’s chest and held the fruit up at him again. He would not be letting Corvan go until he ate something.

  Corvan took it from him, tried to bite the blue fruit and almost broke a tooth on the tough skin.

  Gavyn laughed, took it back and smacked its pointy end on a nearby rock. It split into sections. Poking his finger under a thick white membrane, the boy pulled out a squishy purple tube from one piece and dropped it into Corvan’s hand. When Corvan went to nibble the end, Gavyn stopped him, pulled out another of the tubes, and showed him to put it all in his mouth and bite down hard. Corvan followed his example, and sweet nectar exploded in his mouth.

  Corvan grinned with pleasure, and purple juice squirted out between the boy’s two front teeth. Gavyn laughed again and this time Corvan chuckled with him. A fresh surge of energy flowed through his body. Gavyn was right. Eating was a good idea. He would be no help to Kate if he was too weak to walk. He grinned at Gavyn and sticky juice trickled down his own chin, sending the young boy into hysterics.

  Corvan ate another section of the fruit and this time his body responded with a desire to close his eyes and lie down. It was a long walk back to the settlement. He would never make it if he didn’t take a short rest. “Gavyn, can you wake me up in twenty minutes?”

  The boy cocked his head and Corvan realized how little sense that would make to someone in the Cor. “I need a short sleep, but don’t let me sleep long, okay? I’ve got to take some food to Kate, and I’ve got to get back home to my mother.”

  Gavyn nodded seriously. Sitting down next to the spring, he pulled out a dark piece of wood from a cleft in the side of the large tree and began to carve on it. It was slow going with his crude blade he was using and Corvan dug into his pocket, pulled out his Swiss Army knife, and tossed it to the boy. Gavyn pulled out every blade and examined every tool with focused curiosity before he chose one and resumed his whittling. An even larger smile of satisfaction grew as he worked.

  Corvan closed his eyes, and let the exhaustion overwhelm him.