Two men were arguing, but in Kate’s drugged state their voices sounded like they were coming through the tin cans she and Corvan would connect with string to make simple telephones. Struggling to open her eyes, she watched two elongated shadows jostle on the rough stone wall in front of her. Her lungs burned with each shallow breath. She wanted to cough and clear her throat, but she stifled the urge and listened until one voice came clear.
It was Jorad.
"There was no need for your men to knock me out.” the priest complained. “Did they forget I am the one risking everything to give your rebel soldiers sanctuary within the temple grounds? That you and I have an alliance?"
A man’s high-pitched voice shot back at Jorad. "We had an alliance, but you failed me, the girl escaped, and I lost an eye!”
The distinctive voice made Kate’s stomach churn. She had been near that same man at some point in the past. Was he referring to her as the one who escaped? Was Jorad now conspiring to bring her back to this man?
The nauseating voice pierced the heavy air. “I am the appointed leader of the remnant from Rozan. Soon I will become the Cor-Van, and also rule Kadir. I expect everyone to follow my orders, including you and all the priests of the city. Your instructions were to alert my men as soon as Tyreth came to see you, but instead my men found you sitting with her by the garden pool under cover of darkness?” The voice rose even higher. “Were you planning to take my counterpart away from me? To steal Tyreth for yourself and take over the palace?"
"No! Of course not! I didn't even know Tyreth came to the temple and had no time to wake your men,” Jorad responded. “She hasn't come to see me for two segments. The only person she allows into the palace is the Captain of the Guard. He is the one you should be concerned about. I don’t trust him.”
Kate’s anger rose, clearing the fog from her mind. Jorad had actually promised to help this man kidnap Tyreth. Even worse, now he was trying to fool the man into thinking that she was Tyreth, and that made it personal. She would never trust Jorad again.
After a pause the irritating voice came back lower and slower. "You better hope I don’t find out you are lying to me. At present I need you to get my soldiers in and out of Kadir, but that does not mean I trust you. If what you say is true, then you’re fortunate my spies were there to capture Tyreth before she could escape back to the palace. Now my plans can proceed."
"Are you going to marry her right away?" There was a note of concern in Jorad’s question.
"I cannot take her as my counterpart without the sacred jewels on her head,” the man retorted. “It would be a bad omen. I need that tiara on her head to fulfill my destiny as the Cor-Van."
"But how are you going to get the tiara back? Cor - that boy stole it when he took her from you."
"Yes, but my scouts have tracked him down. He is hiding with one of the sisters in the ruined side of Kadir."
"Corvan's in Kadir?" Jorad asked.
The leader squeaked out more angry words. "I am the chosen Cor-Van. If you refer to that imposter as the Cor-Van around my men, you will certainly die. Do you understand me?"
Jorad mumbled something in response.
“Return to the temple and carry on as normal. As soon as the jewels are back in my hand, I will send for you. If you fail me again, I can always find another priest, one from out in the settlements, to appoint as the new High Priest, and perform the counterpart ceremony."
Jorad spoke calmly. "Another priest would not be ready to aid you in your plans to take over Kadir. Have you considered it might be better to wait until you take over the palace before you join with Tyreth? It could help bring the council of Kadir on side with your leadership."
"No. I need my own men to accept me as the Cor-Van and do my bidding. For that, I require a counterpart, that counterpart must be wearing those particular jewels, and a High Priest must marry us. These three are not negotiable. Nothing else I have agreed to do for you will take place until all is completed. Fail me and you will never see the inside of the palace in Kadir. Now go - return to your temple and wait for my signal."
"I need to speak with your counterpart-to-be,” Jorad said. “I want to let the girl . . . to let Tyreth, know what is happening. I believe I can convince her to willingly go along with your plans for Kadir."
"I have my own ways to bend her will to mine. You will see her at the ceremony and by that time she will be quite aware of her future as my counterpart. You had best go before I change my mind about working with you at all."
Two sets of footsteps faded away along with the light of the torch. Kate closed her eyes as a wave of fatigue swept over her. When she opened them again, she found herself back in the anteroom outside the council chamber.
She stood shakily. Even in this dream place, the drug she'd been given continued to affect her. Entering the chamber Kate discovered the star on Jorad’s door glowing along with its distinctive mark in the center. How could that be possible if he were still awake? Or maybe she slept for a long time from the ongoing effects of the drug in the oily rag, and Jorad was back at the temple in Kadir.
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She brushed the door open, ready to give Jorad a piece of her mind.
Tyreth stood before her, clothed in a white dress with delicate embroidered green vines with purple flowers around its neckline. She was studying a medallion dangling from a silver chain twined around her fingers. She looked up. "Kate! I'm so glad it worked. It’s so difficult to let yourself fall asleep when you know you have to."
Kate stared at the medallion in Tyreth's hand. The doors to the chamber obviously did not work like she thought, or Tyreth would have appeared in a new anteroom, not the same one Jorad was in when she met him here last.
"Please don't think me a coward." Tyreth said, following Kate's gaze. "I picked up your medallion after the rebel soldiers took you and Jorad away, but there was nothing I could do for you on my own. I ran back to the palace and sent my guards to search for you, but they lost the trail in the crags." Tyreth drew closer. "Do you know where you are? Where you’re sleeping? Is Jorad still with you?"
Kate shook her head. "Jorad was just talking with a man who thinks I'm you. That other man wants to marry you right away so his men will follow him. He has a strange, irritating voice and says things that don’t make sense."
Tyreth tried to step over the threshold, but the invisible barrier held her back. "Yes, the leader of the Rozan remnant is both crazy and dangerous. Is Corvan with you?"
Kate looked at the ground, then back at Tyreth. "That leader person said Corvan stole some jewels, some sort of crown you must wear when he marries you. He said he will kill Corvan to get it back and sent his men to find him."
"Then I must find Corvan first," Tyreth said firmly. “Do you know where he is?”
"The crazy man told Jorad Corvan is hiding out in the broken part of the city with his sister - except Corvan doesn't have a sister."
Tyreth’s face brightened. "That's good news. ‘Sister’ is the name of a group of women warriors from the City of Refuge. I may know of someone who can contact them."
Kate frowned. She wasn't so sure Corvan traveling with another girl was good news, even if the girl knew how to fight.
"I believe the rebels must be holding you in their base up in the crags, likely close to the entrance to their dark city. If you can find out the location, in relation to the city of Kadir, I can send the captain of the guard to rescue you. Try to find a place to look down on Kadir and then you can tell me what you see.”
Kate frowned. "I'm in a small cave. It’s dark and I have no idea where it is."
Tyreth nodded. "Then you must find out more and meet me here tomorrow night. Make sure you keep your medallion hidden at all times. Don't let any of the rebels see it."
Kate nodded. Tyreth's treating her like a younger sister didn't bother her. She was glad she had met someone she could trust, even if it were someone Corvan was interested in.
"If you see Jorad, let him know we are coming to rescue both of you," Tyreth said.
Kate only looked at the floor.
Tyreth paused. "What's wrong, Kate?"
"Nothing, it's just I'm not sure that Jorad . . ."
Tyreth's image wavered as if she were on a TV that was losing its signal, then she vanished from the adjoining room.
Kate closed the door and studied the symbol in the center of its star. It was definitely the same one she had seen on Jorad’s medallion when she first met him in the chamber. Later, after she had saved him from the huge animal, he had asked to see her medallion. She had let him look at the one with the tarnished chain she had pulled from the bone nest, and he had looked at it and then given it back. She shook her head fiercely. No, he hadn’t. When she had picked up her second medallion from the bedside table in the priest’s dwelling where she slept, its chain was not tarnished. Jorad had switched medallions because he thought he could get his hands on the master medallion and control the chamber doors.
Clenching her jaw, Kate headed back to her own anteroom. When was she going to learn to be less trusting of others, especially young men? At least she had not shown him the glowing medallion. She turned about in the anteroom and stared into the chamber. No wonder Jorad took so long coming back to see her at the priests’ dwellings. He must have spent the entire time trying to fall asleep so he could test out the tarnished medallion.
She spoke bitterly out into the empty chamber. ““I won’t be trusting you anymore, Jorad. You certainly are not who I thought you were.”
The light in the small room dimmed to darkness, then the cool damp of the rebel leader's cave was back on her skin.
Kate opened her eyes, sat up and tried to get her bearings, but with the torch gone there wasn't enough light to see anything.
A rock rolling to her right brought her head quickly around. "Who's there?" she whispered.
A hand clamped over her mouth and a powerful arm pulled her firmly against a man’s chest. She tried to scream but the arm gripped her tighter and the hand over her mouth stifled her cries.
"You must be quiet," the man whispered urgently in her ear. "The guard is just outside the entrance. Listen to my voice. You and I met earlier in the chamber. I am not going to hurt you. I am here to help you escape.”
Kate quit struggling. It was the grey eyed man with the curly hair and purple robe from the medallion chamber.
The glow of an approaching torch lit up the walls and footsteps approached.
"The guards are coming to check on you,” the man said. “Let me take your medallion for safekeeping. We can't let them discover you have the chamber master."
He tugged on the chain of the medallion around Kate’s neck, but she clutched at it and yanked it back. After Jorad's deceit she would not be trusting anyone with her medallion.
"It's okay. I understand," he whispered. His hand dropped away from her mouth as he lowered her back onto the mat. "But you must keep it hidden at all times." The torchlight was just beyond the corner. "Meet me in the chamber as soon as you can. There is much I need to tell you." The man leaned closer, and Kate caught a glimpse of his face before a gentle kiss on her forehead. His voice whispered in her ear. "I will find a way to get you out of here. I promise."
The man retreated into the shadows of a rocky outcrop just as the light bloomed around her. Two soldiers entered the cave. One held his torch overhead as the other stepped forward, a dirty cloth dangling from his hand. His face was in shadow, but she could hear the cruel smile in his voice.
"Don't try to resist, princess. This is the only way to keep someone as feisty as you calm for the ceremony. Our Cor-Van requires a compliant counterpart."
The soldier holding the torch laughed, his light bouncing shadows around the cave as the oily burnt odor drew near.