Corvan slipped a bit farther back from the edge of the balcony as the men pushed back from the table. Some started to leave but the man in black spoke up. “There is one other matter we must discuss and that is what we are to do about the opening my men uncovered in the Cor shield at the Molakar settlement. It has been reported to me that there is an open passage beyond the break, leading upward.”

  “It must be closed,” Jorad stated emphatically. “No doubt the Chief Watcher was using that opening to bring the Rakash and other creatures, like the one that died in the Molakar karst, into the Cor. We must not wait for more evil to enter; we must keep ourselves separated from whatever and whomever is out there if we hope to rebuild and survive.”

  There were nods of agreement around the table but not from the man in black.

  “Take some of the priests with you tonight,” the old priest said to Jorad. “Close it if you can, then relocate all the lumiens and the people to one of the other settlements. After that, seal off the entrance to the Molakar settlement. We shall pass a law banning anyone from going that way again. Now that we have the hammer back, our laws will be judged swiftly and severely.” He pounded his fist three times on the table.

  The men stood and made their way to the front door, but Jorad and the old priest remained by the table.

  Corvan waited on the ledge, keeping his eyes on the two men below. Without Jokten to show him his secret door, the passage beyond the crack in the Cor shield was his only hope of getting Kate home to safety. He had to beat Jorad and the priests back to the settlement.

  The old priest pointed at the tapestry. “You must also destroy what is left of the great tapestry. Without the key in the center, it is useless anyway. Partial knowledge is more dangerous than you know.” The old priest left the room and as soon as door closed behind him, Jorad walked toward the tapestry, nodding to himself.

  “It is useless to you, but not to the one who holds the key to discovering where it leads,” he said to the empty room.

  Corvan pushed back farther on the ledge and out of sight. Did Jorad have that piece of the tapestry? He could recall the Chief Watcher cutting it out, but the creature had left it on the chair. Yes, and that was the same chair that Jorad had been sitting on after the lizard left. Jorad must have taken the folded-up piece of tapestry and was not telling anyone else that he was in possession of it.

  As he moved farther back where Jorad could not see him, Corvan’s feet brushed the open door and it let out a muted squeak. He glanced back but Gavyn was nowhere around. Retreating through the small door, he left it open and quietly descended the stairs.

  Retracing his steps he found Gavyn back in the storage room with the secret, three peg door, propped open with large purple melon. The boy was nibbling his way around the table like a fussy mouse.

  Corvan quietly shut the secret door. “Gavyn,” he whispered, with one eye on the regular door coming into the pantry, “I need to get to the Molakar settlement as soon as I can.” Gavyn did not seem to understand where Molakar was located, so Corvan drew out a map of the Kadir cavern in the dust on the table, outlining Molakar and telling the boy why he desperately needed to get Kate home before she died. “The only way out is through that crack in the wall the soldiers discovered.” He made an X on his dust map where he thought it might be. “But I have to get there before Jorad does.”

  Gavyn added some of his own markings to the map, drawing strange figures around the falls. A tear splashed into the dust as Gavyn touched his chest, shook his head, and pointed to the broken bridge, then the places beyond. More tears welled up into his eyes.

  “Are you saying you can’t go with me past the bridge?”

  The boy nodded.

  “I’m sorry, Gavyn, but I have to go. Kate needs me. Can you take me as far as the bridge?”

  Gavyn nodded and his eyes brightened. He moved around the room, filling a small cloth sack with various items from the baskets on the table. Drawing the string tight, he handed it to Corvan and beckoned him to follow him back down to the garden room.

  As Corvan followed he wondered how long it would take Jorad to get his men together and make it out to Molakar. If they shut the crack, he would need to find out who had the key to open the portal door overlooking the city. If Tsarek was still alive he might be able to help but right now there was no choice but to try to beat Jorad back to Molakar.

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  The journey beneath Kadir took them through what appeared to be dried out sewers. Gavyn did not seem to be in any great hurry to get to their destination, and Corvan kept urging him on.

  Finally, they climbed up a ladder, out a round hole and into the streets on the ruined side of Kadir. There was no fog and he saw no one as they passed through the ruins and came to the side of the river. There was only a low wall here alongside the road to keep people from falling into the water. Following it along they drew near a suspension bridge that cross river. An opening in the wall revealed the stairs he and Jorad had carried Kate up after escaping from the City of Refuge through the water discharge tunnel.

  Gavyn tugged on his sleeve then pointed out over the river and shook his head. Corvan knelt down and Gavyn touched his forehead to Corvan’s. The boy made a noise in the back of his throat as if he were trying to say something, then threw his arms around Corvan’s neck and cried silently on his shoulder.

  “I will miss you, Gavyn,” Corvan whispered in his ear. “You’re like a little brother to me.”

  The young boy pulled back, a pleased smile on his tear-stained face. Reaching inside his tunic, he pulled out the star-studded holster and held it out to Corvan.

  “No, Gavyn,” Corvan said. “I want you to have it. I don’t need it now that Tyreth has the hammer.”

  The boy pressed the holster into Corvan’s hand. There was something inside it and when he unsnapped it, he found the black hammer inside. “Where did you get this?” he asked as he pulled it out. There was no glow, and it was a lighter than before and not quite as smooth. He grinned at the realization that Gavyn had whittled a replica from a block of dark wood. Corvan put it back inside the holster and closed the snap. “It’s beautiful. I will always carry it with me to remind me of you.”

  He buckled the holster back in place at his side wishing that he had something to give Gavyn in return, something the boy might find valuable and meaningful . . . he did have a gift like that. He fished out the pouch with the red seeds. Afterall, the seeds born from the mother plant and Tyreth’s blood belonged here in the Cor, not in his world, and nobody would appreciate their worth more than Gavyn. “I want you to have these, Gavyn, so you won’t forget me.”

  The boy tugged on the cord and as the pouch opened up a red glow lit the tracks his tears had traced down his face. He looked at Corvan in awe. Pointing to the roof of the cavern, he traced a wide arc with his hand, then took out one of the pulsing red seeds from the bag and tucked its glow inside his tunic. Closing the pouch, he handed the two remaining seeds back to Corvan as if the pouch contained all the wealth in the world.

  Corvan reluctantly returned it to his pocket and his hand fell on the connected pieces of broken mirror glass. Maybe Gavyn could find a use for it. He held it out and Gavyn accepted it with a smile, then pulled the two sides apart. He touched the white side to his heart, then closed Corvan’s hand around the blue one and pushed it up to Corvan’s chest.

  “For us to remember each other?” Corvan asked.

  The boy nodded, studied Corvan’s face intently, then reached into his own robe and tugged a slender silver chain over his head. Pulling Corvan back to his knees, he pushed the chain under Corvan’s hood and around his neck.

  There was something on the end of the chain and when Corvan lifted it out he. found another silver medallion, identical to the one that Kate carried. It did not glow when he touched it so most likely Gavyn carved this gift as well. It would have been quite the task with the finely interwoven design. “Thank you, Gavyn, I will never. . .” He looked up but the boy was already gone. A mournful tune from Gavyn’s pan pipes floated over the ruined city.

  Corvan turned towards the bridge, surprised to find the metal plates had been replaced and bolted down. He crossed to the other side, half expecting to find Garek and the grey men hiding in the shadows but there was no one nearby. Overhead a few of the remaining lumiens were getting lighter and at the thought of Jorad rousing his men to get out to Molakar, Corvan quickened pace. Jogging around the bend in the river road he approached the dam, then followed the aqueduct across the fields to dry pool. Climbing out the other side, he began to ascend the settlement trail.

  At the first corner of the switchbacks, Corvan looked back at the city. He had to get back to Kate, but strangely he was finding it hard to leave Kadir behind. Now he was actually saying farewell to people who were now a part of him: Tsarek, Rayu, Madam Toreg, Gavyn, and especially Tyreth. He had not felt this lonely since his journey began. His father was right. To love others was to embrace pain, at times enough to break your heart.

  Climbing the first set of stairs, he passed the scarecrow with its painted eyes and thought of the Rakash. He knew they could swim, and he had not seen them in the temple karst when he dove down to rescue Tsarek, so one of them might still be on his trail, possibly the one that lost his hand to the black knife. He looked back over the valley. Nothing moved on the ground, but high overhead a small shadow on dark wings swooped past the blue lumien moon.

  He dropped in behind the wall and waited until the rantel headed toward the crags on the other side of the river. Had it seen him? He pushed the thought away. One thing he’d learned on this journey was that he didn’t need to focus on the fear of what might be coming around the next bend. He just needed to take the next step. He looked at his feet and moved one in front of the other. “Okay, Corvan, that’s one. How about another?” He moved his other foot forward. “Good enough. Let’s keep going.”

  Where was he going? He was going to take Kate home. How would he get there? He wasn’t really sure but what mattered most was simply taking the next step. His heart lifted and his head came up. He was not going to give in to fear. Stepping past the scarecrow, he whistled his father’s tune.

  Someone else began to whistle it with him.

  He was not alone after all. A ghostly grey man was walking beside him.