Pulling the new double-headed krypin from under his tunic, Corvan sent it along the tree trunk horizontal branches just as the person with the torch entered the room. The rippling tossed the tangled shadows of the tree's branches against the ceiling of the Gavyn’s garden room.

Corvan quietly slipped into the bowl-like center of the huge trunk as the light moved around below. Skirting the pile of dried leaves in the bottom of the bowl, Corvan crawled up and peered over the lip of the trunk.

A thick branch blocked his view, but he could he hear the person drinking noisily from the spring.

Another torch entered from the far side of the room and a hooded figure strode down the path and through the gate. Corvan ducked out of site.

"I saw where you came from. Don't try to deny it." It was Madam Toreg from the City of Refuge. The first figure moved away from the trunk and spoke some quiet words. Madam Toreg responded and Corvan strained to hear what they were saying. Without thinking of moving it, a tiny bit of lumien power flowed to his ear, humming and crackling, like a radio dial being twisted back and forth to find the right station.

"I've told you before, Atiya. I don't like you going up to the temple," Madam Toreg was saying.

"I was careful," a younger woman responded and there was something familiar in her voice. "Where else are we going to find something to eat? It's not like we can ask for anything from our friends in the 'City of Refuge.'" Her words were thick with sarcasm.

Corvan peeked over the edge. Madam Toreg was sitting on the wall and a young girl in a blue tunic sat beside her, a short bow slung across her shoulder along with a quiver full of arrows. It was the same girl who had run into the Kadir library to report on the Rakash when Corvan had first met Madam Toreg.

Atiya placed a cloth bag on the wall between them. Madam Toreg shook her head in disapproval but reached into the sack and pulled out a slender loaf of bread.

Atiya spoke again. "If it weren't for that boy you found in the library, we wouldn't be hiding here. It's his fault everything has fallen apart."

Madam Toreg tore off a piece of bread and held the loaf out to Atiya. "Don't mention Corvan around the gray men, especially Garek. He doesn’t trust the boy and wants to question him. I wouldn't want to be in Corvan's place if Garek gets his hands on him."

The girl waved the loaf in the air like a sword. "Maybe if you hadn’t been so quick to trust him, the mayor wouldn't have forced us out of our home. The boy obviously gave the hammer to Tyreth, and now she's ruling the Cor like she’s some sort of princess." Her shoulders slumped. "Kadir was better off under the Chief Watcher."

Madam Toreg wagged a finger at her. "Don't say that Atiya. I don't like everything Tyreth does and her alliance with the palace guards is more like something her father would have done, but at least now the poor are getting a fair share of food and eating a lumien seed is swiftly punished. These are difficult times that require hard choices."

The younger woman shook her head. "I still think Corvan should have given the hammer to you instead of Tyreth."

"I told him I didn't want it." Madam Toreg's voice carried a note of regret. The two women ate in silence for a few moments, then Madam Toreg poked Atiya in the ribs. "You said something quite different about that boy after you first met him. Something about him being handsome and different from the other young men? Isn’t that what I heard from you?"

The girl put the loaf back in the bag and shuffled away on the wall to avoid another poke.

Madam Toreg leaned towards her. "I seem to recall that I wasn't the only one who thought he possessed the potential to be our Cor-Van . . . or maybe even a counterpart."

The girl jumped to her feet. "Well, it looks like we were both wrong, doesn’t it?" She pointed across the room. "Garek is returning. Let's hope it's good news."

Corvan looked up as the leader of Madam Toreg's gray men rushed down the path. The strain of Garek's journey was evident in the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Madam Toreg extended her hand, and he helped her up.

"I see we have encountered further complications." The old woman spoke wearily. "What happened to the child?"

"We followed as fast as possible, but the trail grew cold. He must have climbed the cliffs on the rebel's side instead of crossing the river. We only caught up with him at the edge of the abyss. I called to him and asked him to come back with us, but it was no use." The gray man took a step back, his face full of sorrow. "The boy jumped into the river and was swept away into the abyss."

Madam Toreg stood a moment, shaking her head. "That poor child. Gavyn lost all hope after Corvan left."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Corvan had to grip the rim of the trunk to keep from sliding back. Gavyn had jumped into the abyss? The young boy had never spoken to him but Corvan was touched by his childlike innocence and deep joy. It didn’t seem possible Gavyn could be so sad that he would want to drown.

"Madam, there is more."

"More?"

"The Chief Watcher lives," Garek said.

The red hair swished, and the earrings jangled as the older woman shook her head. "That is not possible. No creature could survive the release of that much lumien power."

"I agree, Madam, but as we stood together watching where the boy disappeared, we observed a large Watcher climbing out of the water to stand right where the boy had jumped. My men and I crept closer, intent on capturing it, but the lizard must have caught a glimpse of us, and it also leapt into the falls."

"It must have been one of the natural lizards,” Madam Toreg said. “Why would you say it was a Watcher?"

"It was too big to be a natural lizard, and it had the same long deformed claw as the Chief Watcher."

Corvan nodded to himself. That had to be Tsarek. His claw had grown back, and he had been waiting by the falls. No doubt he jumped in to save Gavyn.

“That makes no sense." Madam Toreg said. "Even if the Chief Watcher didn't die at the temple karst, why would he go over the falls?"

"Madam. I believe we have made an error in judgment,” Garek said, pointing out the door he come in from. “We have always looked at the falls at the abyss as an exit from Kadir. Now I wonder if that same water allows the Watchers and the Rakash to gain entrance to Kadir."

Madam Toreg shook her head in disbelief. "How could that be?"

"We found their footprints in the sandy spots above the falls. More than one set and both coming and going."

Atiya spoke slowly. "Then it must be true. We have searched every tunnel to find out how the Rakash are getting in to Kadir and we know they are not afraid of the water. That’s how the one-handed leader escaped from the temple karst."

"You must take me there, Garek,” Madam Toreg said. “It is the one place in this cavern I have never been, and I must see it for myself. If you are correct, Kadir is in great danger."

The younger woman spoke quietly. "I think Gavyn knew the Rakash were using the abyss as a way in."

"What are you talking about, Atiya?" Madam Toreg said.

"A few days ago, Gavyn was trying to show me something here at the pool. He kept picking up the carvings of the mother and father and pushing them under the water. I told him to stop, because I thought he was playing at . . . at drowning them. He just smiled at me, and then made out like he could jump in the pool to bring the carved people back out of the water." She paused. "I think Gavyn believes the Rakash are holding his parents captive beyond the falls. He was going to bring them back."

Madam Toreg shook her head. "Then the poor boy has been deceived by the evil one. Perhaps even called by Him."

"What do you mean, Madam?" Garek asked.

Madam Toreg sighed heavily, reached inside her tunic, and pulled out a medallion on a silver chain. "Do you know what this is?"

Garek frowned. "I do, but you have never told me you carry one."

"I'm sorry, Garek,” Madam Toreg said, shaking her head. “I thought it best if no one knew this medallion even existed, that it might draw our enemy out into the open at some point."

"No wonder the Mayor was searching your home. Was that the real reason we were chased from the City of Refuge?" Garek's voice was bitter.

"It was." Madam Toreg shook her head. "I made the mistake of confiding in him after Corvan left us."

“What is it?” Atiya asked, reaching toward the disk.

Madam Toreg pulled the medallion out of reach. "This is a key to the council chamber of the Cor. When you wear it, you can be summoned to a council meeting. It is best you don't touch it."

Atiya pulled her hand away. "Where is the chamber?"

Madam Toreg stood. "In times past, the bearers of the medallions ruled the cities of the Cor. Each cycle, on the night of deepest dark, they would gather in the council room. Back then, the hammer and the scepter were kept in that council chamber. They were used to judge the thoughts and intentions of the council members." Madam Toreg walked toward the broken gate, then turned back to face the others. "The council fell apart long before my time, but my mother passed the medallion she carried on to me. It has been dormant all my life, but last night, as I slept, I was summoned to a place I believe was an anteroom adjoining the council chamber."

"And that is why you think the evil one summoned Gavyn to the council chamber?" Garek asked.

Madam Toreg nodded. "Gavyn also carried one of the medallions. How he came by it I cannot say." Madam Toreg slipped the silver disk back under her cloak. "Last night in the anteroom I heard a woman inside the chamber speaking to someone, but the other person did not respond. I believe that was because the other person was our young Gavyn."

"Who was the woman?" Atiya asked. "I bet it was Tyreth."

Madam Toreg gave her a hard look. "Tyreth does not have a medallion." She touched her chest. "This is the one I would have passed on to her. Who the other woman was I cannot say for certain. There is one whom it might possibly be, but she left Kadir long ago. All I know for certain is that the chamber master has been found."

"The chamber master?" Garek asked.

"Only one medallion at a time glowed with the light of the Cor and designated who was the current council leader. The council would share that responsibility, passing the light of the master medallion from member to member. When you carried the light in your medallion you decided when the chamber was open and who was allowed inside.”

Madam Toreg sighed heavily and sat again on the wall. She looked directly at Garek. I believe the master medallion has fallen into our enemy's hand. Whoever that woman was, she is working for Him and has lured our young Gavyn to jump into the abyss with the hopes of saving his parents. Either she or one of the Rakash was waiting below the falls to take the medallion from the boy’s body.

"Why would she want another one if she already has the chamber master?" Atiya asked.

Madam Toreg touched the chain around her neck. "To give it to the one she serves. If he can collect all seven medallions, as well as the hammer and the scepter, he will control the Cor. The dark days since the Great Destruction will be nothing compared to what our people will endure if he can rise to power once again."