Corvan struggled to keep up with Atiya as she jogged through the network of tunnels leading away from Gavyn’s tree room. Eventually, there was no choice but to push a bit of the remaining lumien power to his legs. It felt like sand was scratching its way through his veins and after the energy dissipated, he was even more worn out. An overpowering desire to eat another lumien seed began to build inside him.

"Slow down, Atiya," he called out.

The girl skidded to a halt. "What's the matter, grouchy? Can't keep up?" She grinned at him.

"Quit being silly,” he snapped back. “I'm exhausted. I can't remember when I last slept."

Atiya's smile vanished. "We can take a faster way to the falls, but we would need to make our way through the ruined streets above. We might be seen by a patrol, or worse."

"I don't care,” Corvan said, putting his hands on his knees and breathing hard. “I need to save my energy."

Atiya nodded, then turned into a narrow tunnel on her left. Corvan followed to where it ended. Atiya stood, pointing up a ladder that disappeared into a rounded shaft. Corvan choked back a groan. Atiya tied the sack of food to her belt and swiftly ascended, leaving Corvan gasping for air as he laboriously tackled one rung at time. He wanted desperately to send the last of the lumien power to his lungs, but the overwhelming sensation that his heart might collapse at any moment terrified him. Gritting his teeth, he pushed on. If he had known he would end up like this, he never would have eaten that first seed.

He was about to ask Atiya for help when his hand landed on the heel of her boot.

“We must be quiet past this point,” Atiya whispered from above, and Corvan patted her foot in affirmation, unable to respond. Overhead, a trapdoor opened, Atiya jumped out, then leaned back in to help him into the fractured shell of one of the broken buildings. He collapsed against a wall. Atiya nodded to him, put a finger to her lips and motioned for Corvan to stay put.

She had no idea that he simply could move any further. Sagging to the ground, his eyes closed and before he knew it Atiya was gently shaking his shoulder.

"Corvan, wake up. We need to keep moving."

He managed to sit against the wall and look around. The room he had been sleeping in must have been an office of some kind for it had a huge desk in the center with the same tabletop lumien hooks he had seen in the Kadir library. A gap in the wall revealed the soft light of new day. "How long did I sleep?" he asked.

"Not long enough,” Atiya said, “but you needed the rest. Your face was pale, and you were having a hard time breathing."

Corvan only nodded.

"Are you hungry?" Atiya pulled a purple fruit from the sack, smacked it against the floor and pulled out a membrane full of liquid. He took it from her and chewed on one end. The membrane popped and flooded his mouth with sweet juice. The flavor was similar to lumien fruit and that only served to make him more acutely aware of his urgent need for the flesh, and the heart, of another lumien.

Atiya showed him to spit out the tough membrane, then fed him two more segments before Corvan held up his hand. "No more, Atiya. You finish the rest." She likely thought he was being kind to her, but the truth was he couldn't handle eating something that tasted so much like a lumien without giving any satisfaction.

Atiya had her own method for eating the fruit. After nibbling a tiny hole in the tip of the membrane, she tipped her head back and squeezed a thin stream of juice into her mouth. A bit missed and trickled down her cheek. She laughed, "messy things, aren't they?"

Corvan could only stare at her in response. He wished he could be as carefree as Atiya, but with the lumien power gone, his entire being felt empty and dark. Over Atiya’s head, a lone lumien gave off a weak glow. A new day would soon be dawning, and they needed to get to the abyss, find Tsarek and then rescue both his father and Gavyn. To meet that challenge, he would need to find one more lumien - just one more and he would hold it in his heart for the rest of his life.

Atiya tossed the empty fruit membrane into a corner and held out her hand to help him to his feet. He managed to smile at her, and her eyes crinkled in return. Once he was up on his feet, Atiya peered cautiously out the door, then nodded to him and stepped into the street.

As Corvan followed her out, his gaze wandered up to the cavern ceiling where a cluster of lumiens was glowing brightly. He stumbled, then forced himself to look at his feet. A few steps later the temptation overpowered him, and he looked up again. There had to be a way to get a lumien down. If he didn't eat one soon, he was sure he was going to die.

His foot caught on a loose cobblestone, and he clutched at Atiya's shoulder to keep from falling. She helped him stand, then straightened out her bow and the quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder. "You should watch your feet and I'll watch where we're going. Okay?"

Her eyes searched his until he nodded but he found himself focusing on the arrows sticking out of her quiver. If he had enough lumien power left in his heart he could shoot one of the globes down for himself, but his strength was long gone.

"How far can your arrows reach?" he asked.

Atiya shrugged. "Quite a way. Among the sisters I am known for having the most accurate shot at the greatest distance. Garek says he has never met anyone who can shoot as far."

"Could you hit the ceiling of this cavern?"

Atiya looked overhead. "I think so. Why?"

Corvan tried to sound nonchalant, but his voice cracked. "Jorad once said he could shoot a lumien down from the ceiling with a bow. I wondered if a girl could do it, that's all."

Atiya looked overhead. "That small blue one hanging below the rest. I could reach that one."

"I'd like to see you try."

Atiya stepped away. "If that lumien fell and they caught me anywhere near it I would be condemned to death. Tyreth's new laws leave no room for mercy."

He shrugged. "I don't think you could reach it anyway. It’s pretty far."

"I could so. Why do you think we had so many lumiens in the City of Refuge? We were stealing them from Kadir." Atiya's eyes narrowed. "Not that the stupid mayor gave the Sisters any credit for our service. He showed his gratitude by banishing us from the very city we helped build."

"Then don't shoot it down,” Corvan responded. Just prove you can get close to it. There's no harm in that."

Atiya studied the ceiling before pulling her bow from her back. Choosing an arrow, she moistened her fingers and smoothed out the fletching. With a nod to Corvan, she nocked the arrow and pulled back on the bow. Her arms quivered with the exertion, and she drew a deep breath to steady herself.

At the crisp twang of her bowstring the arrow climbed swiftly to the ceiling, burying itself in the mass of vines high overhead.

"Told you I could reach it," Atiya bragged.

Corvan didn't answer. He was staring at a smaller lumien bobbing up and down next to where her arrow had disappeared.

Atiya sucked in her breath. "I wasn't aiming at that one."

Corvan's heart pounded in anticipation. "I think you might have hit its stem." Even as he spoke the lumien fell, spiraling its stem through the air, glancing off the roof of a building, then landing with a splat in the middle of the street.

Corvan raced up the street and fell to his knees. The shattered lumien quivered on the ground, streaks of light shooting through its pulpy mass. Digging through the flesh he yanked out the heart. It was much larger than the ones he'd eaten up in the cellar, almost the size of his fist. It throbbed in his hand as he lifted it to his mouth, bit off the tip, and chewed in ecstasy. He examined the brilliant gash where he had bitten the seed, and a sharp pain clenched his chest. One more bite and his heart might explode - but he didn't care; he wanted more.

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As he lifted the seed to his mouth, it was savagely kicked from his hand. Atiya stood over him, eyes blazing. Corvan snarled at her, lumien juice dripping from his chin like a rabid dog.

Atiya jumped back, nocked another arrow, and aimed directly at his chest.

Corvan stood to his feet and the point of Atiya’s arrowed followed him. Raw power pulsed through every vein and his energized mind was picking up the smallest details; the tension on Atiya's fingers, a slight twist in one of the fletchings, a hairline crack on the arrows nock, and a twitch in the muscles of Atiya’s bow arm. From the beads of perspiration on her forehead and the compassion in her eyes he could tell she was not going to shoot him.

He glanced to where the seed lay on the cobblestones, its bright liquid oozing onto the crack between the cobbles. Watching it drain away was more than he could bear.

"Please listen to me, Corvan,” Atiya pleaded, her voice quavering. “If you eat any more it will kill you. I've seen this before."

"Leave me alone,” Corvan shot back. “I know what I need. I can handle this." He bent to pick up the seed but kept his eyes on her. "I don't want to hurt you, Atiya."

Atiya's bow twanged and Corvan sprang to one side, but the arrow wasn't meant for him. It hit the lumien heart dead center and the seed exploded in a shower of brilliant shards that died away into dark puddles on the stones. He scrambled on his hands and knees between the pools, but the power had already evaporated into the air. He could feel it dissipating with each breath.

"Corvan!" Atiya screamed.

Jumping to his feet, Corvan found Atiya in the grip of a stocky man, a curved knife held to her throat. Another man with a ragged scar over his nose and cheek stood a few paces away, his crossbow pointed at Corvan. "Ah, yes, the young Cor-Van. I was beginning to think we might have to give up on getting the rebel leader's reward. Now I will be rich, and you will be punished for stealing his woman and blinding his eye."

Corvan took a step toward the man.

"Stay where you are or the girl dies,” the scar faced man commanded.

The other man, holding Atiya, pushed his knife pushed tighter to her throat and a trickle of blood slipped over the top of the blade.

Corvan stopped.

"That's better,” scar face said. “Now, turn around and start walking. No doubt the palace guards saw the lumien fall and are on their way to make sure that justice is served." The man gestured with his crossbow. "If you try anything, you and the girl will die together. It does not matter to me for either way I get paid twice for the palace also offers a reward for a dead lumien eater."

As Corvan turned down the street, the lumien power ran erratically through his mind and body. He could easily jump backwards high enough to clear both men. Before they knew what was happening, he could grab Atiya and carry her away. As he visualized the plan, it crystallized in his mind, sending jolts of power into his legs until they were so taut he could hardly keep himself on the ground. Taking one last step, he brought his feet together and sprang backwards.

Time slowed to a crawl as his body somersaulted through the air. At one point, he was fully upside down as the man with the crossbow appeared below him. Then he was circling down behind Atiya and her attacker. He landed clumsily on his feet, grabbed the man's arm, and yanked the knife away from Atiya's neck. He felt and heard the man's forearm snap. The man cried out and his partner whirled about, his crossbow aimed directly at Atiya. Using the knife-wielder's body, Corvan shoved Atiya aside. The bolt blurred towards him, thudding into the knife wielder’s chest and a sharp pain shot directly into Corvan’s body. The bolt had passed though the man's torso and pierced his own chest. He dropped the man to the ground, where the body rolled over, eyes glazed and still.

The scar faced man was fumbling with his crossbow, cranking back another bolt.

Atiya scooped up her bow and grabbed Corvan’s arm. "Leave him, Corvan. We have to go. The soldiers from the city will be coming."

The arbalist stopped loading his crossbow. "Let's see you fare taking on a whole squad of palace guards, Cor-Van," he sneered, then darted in behind a pile of rubble.

Atiya tugged on Corvan's hand, and he followed jerkily after her, his muscles twitching with the energy trapped inside. Some escaped into his head, and he heard soldiers running in the streets behind them. He could distinguish each set of approaching footsteps. There were ten soldiers in total and one of them was limping. His mind quickly assessed the odds, the location and possible outcomes and in that moment, he knew for certain that if he stopped to fight them, he would win.

Atiya yanked him aside into a crumbling building and he fell hard against a mound of dirt with Atiya on top of him. New sensations flooded his brain: the scent of Atiya's hair, the weight of her body on his, the softness of her finger against his lips and her voice in his ear, urging him to lie still.

On the other side of the wall, a commanding voice called out. "This rebel was killed with one of their own crossbow bolts. They must have fought among themselves over the fallen lumien. Search every building. If we find the other rebels, they'll wish they had never left their vermin holes in the crags."

Footsteps approached their building and Atiya rolled sideways, pulled back on her bow, and let an arrow fly softly over the wall. It clattered onto a stone roof in the next street.

"Over there!" a soldier shouted and the men just outside their door took off running.

Atiya peered over the wall, then bent to help Corvan to his feet. She touched a red stain on his chest. "You are wounded but we must move away from here before they return." Taking his arm, she led him through a gap in the back wall of the building and into a narrow alley.

Corvan followed blindly; his mind fully occupied scanning his body to find the extent of the wound. It was like he was looking about inside a three-dimensional x-ray of his own chest, first at the spot where the crossbow bolt had entered and then to where it had stopped against one of his ribs. An inch higher and the bolt would have pierced his heart. As he focused on assessing the damage, lumien energy instinctively flowed toward the wound. His skin prickled and stretched as the punctured skin began to close up. Even more energy seeped into the rib itself and he winced as the slender bone was pulled back into position and the cracks sealed over.

As the lumien power dissipated in healing his body, Corvan became more aware of his surroundings. Atiya was leading him down a set of narrow stairs along a wide river. There was no guardrail. One misstep, and he would fall into water below. Overhead, the black shadow of a bridge thrust out over the water. He had been here before. They were directly under the bridge where the outlet from the City of Refuge flowed toward the settlements.

Atiya led him into a low alcove and helped him to lean back against the cool stone. The sounds of the rushing water soothed his mind, and he was able to focus on pushing the remaining energy back into his heart.

Atiya lifted up Tania’s tunic, then his cloak and shirt. Pulling out a piece of cloth from her tunic she began to gently wipe the area around his wound. The lumien power inside him was defining every muscle that tensed under Atiya's touch. Corvan studied her face. With her helmet off, her red hair swayed as she worked to remove the blood. She stopped, then stared up at him in amazement. "Did you do that with the power from the lumien?" Her finger rested on a faintly puckered scar.

Corvan nodded. “I'm not sure how. I just sensed where the wound was and then it healed itself."

"Maybe that wound saved your life,” Atiya said. “Everyone I know who ate that much of a fresh lumien seed died right away. Their hearts couldn't take the strain."

Her eyes met his and he was suddenly lost in a whirl of golden specks.

Atiya traced a finger over the scar. "What does it feel like?" she asked.

“It doesn’t hurt, now that it’s healed,” Corvan replied.

"Not that. The lumien. What happened when you ate the seed?"

"It's like. . . like. . . I don't really know how to describe it. You can sense everything around you, and it feels like no matter what happens, you will win. It's incredible but terrifying at the same time. You want more even if it will kill you.”

Atiya nodded. “That’s why I destroyed the seed.”

“I'm sorry for how I treated you, Atiya." Corvan said. "Sometimes the need for more can take over and you lose control."

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean it. I've been through this before."

"If you hadn't destroyed that lumien, one more bite would have killed me. You saved my life."

Atiya looked to one side and Corvan spied a trickle of blood on the side of her neck. He brushed her hair away. "You're hurt too."

"It's from the soldier's knife,” Atiya said. “It’s just a scratch. It'll heal quickly."

"I can help." Corvan said, then diverted a bit of the energy into his mouth and touched a finger to his tongue. Reaching up, he brushed Atiya's hair aside. Every nerve in his fingers came alive, sensing each strand flowing over the back of his hand. He ran his wet finger over the cut on her neck and the skin instantly fused shut. "Does that feel better?" he asked.

Atiya nodded and her eyes brimmed with tears. One splashed warmly on the back of his hand and as she looked into his eyes, Corvan lifted his head toward her. Something inside told him to stop, that he wasn’t interested in Atiya that way, but he moved his face closer until their lips met. A small burst of the lumien energy remaining in his mouth slipped through the connection between them. Atiya drew in a sharp breath, her eyes closed and then she sank against his chest.

Corvan could feel her heart beating against him, rapid at first and then slowing down to a gentle rhythm.

"Was that lumien power?" Atiya finally asked.

"Yes, but only a tiny bit. Did it hurt?"

She pushed off his chest and sat beside him, looking vacantly over the river. "It was like for that moment I could understand what you were thinking and . . .” Her eyes grew moist, she bit her lip, and got her feet. Her voice was suddenly flat and devoid of emotion. "We'll rest here until the night comes. It won't be safe to travel with all the soldiers searching the city. Wake me in a few hours to keep watch. I need to rest."

Atiya moved to the far corner of the alcove, laid down and curled up into a ball. Corvan pushed his cloak and the tunic back down and stared up at the rocky alcove overhead. He shouldn't have tried to kiss her. The lumien energy was messing with his emotions. He wasn’t thinking clearly.

The blue glow of the lumiens overhead bathed the edges of their hiding place, as if the light was seeking a way into the shallow cave to take back its stolen energy.

Closing his eyes, he shut out the light. Would he ever be able to live without more of the lumien power? Probing his body, he measured the amount of energy stored in his heart. It was considerably more than the last time, and he could feel the strain. Letting a tiny bit out, he sent it running through his body and then up into his head.

His ears crackled and he picked up a faint sound over the constant rush of the water.

Atiya was crying.