Wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his cloak, Corvan turned away and guided Kate cautiously into the crack. As he held the firestick out in front of them, flickers of light shot out into the rock and disappeared. At first, the crack was wide enough for the two of them to walk closely side by side, but it quickly narrowed. Moving through without touching the walls would be difficult—or impossible. He shuddered at the thought of being entombed in the Cor shield, like two bees encased in amber.
“I need to go ahead of you and lead the way,” Corvan said stepping in front of Kate. “But remember what Jorad said, we must not touch the walls.”
Kate shook her head. “I can’t breathe in here. The walls are moving closer. I want to go back.”
Kate’s breath came in shallow gasps as her hand waved frantically in front of her face. She hated enclosed spaces. She tried to turn back, but with his free hand, Corvan pulled her in close against his chest.
“Look into my eyes,” he said softly.
Kate raised her head and her eyes focused on his.
“Try taking a breath,” Corvan urged, all the while working to keep his own fears from overrunning him. He felt her take a shallow breath, her heart beating madly against him. “I promise you Kate, there is enough air in here for both of us.”
“Where’s my light?” Kate asked. “Can I have it back now?”
“Yes. Let me get it for you.” Fumbling inside his tunic, Corvan retrieved the glowing medallion and pressed it into her hand. Immediately she relaxed against him and breathed deeply.
Tugging Tyreth’s scarf from under his cloak he held it out. “Remember how we used to play Blind Man’s Bluff in the castle rock? If you tie this over your eyes, I’ll hold your hands and lead you through the crack to the open space on other side. Is that okay?” Even as he said the words, he wondered if there actually was a passage back to their home on the other side. What if this was a dead end?
Kate nodded faintly, then tied the scarf over her eyes. Taking her by the hand, he turned and thrust the firestick out far front of them. The back edges of the crack were visible just a short distance ahead. “We are almost there,” he said calmly, but the way the crack shimmered and appeared to move closer choked back his words.
A shout from out in the cavern jerked Corvan’s head around. Beyond Kate, firesticks were moving toward them between the stone columns. Kate strained against his hand and tried to turn back, her free hand tugging at the scarf.
Corvan pulled on her hand. “We need to keep moving Kate. We’ve got to get away from here.”
Through the crack, Corvan caught sight of the tall captain from the council meeting leading a group of red cloaked guards were mixed in with the green cloaks of the priests.
The voices from out in the cavern echoed around them as the company drew nearer.
Something bounced off his foot and Kate twisted her hand free from his.
“I dropped my light,” she said, panic rising in her voice. Raising the scarf, Kate dropped to her knees, turning back to follow the medallion as it rolled along the floor, its glow fading as it bumped along on its points toward the approaching soldiers.
The captain’s deep voice called out, “Something is coming through the Cor shield! Shoot it! Shoot at the firestick!”
Tossing the firestick into the void behind him, Corvan dropped to the ground as an arrow whistled overhead. Grabbing Kate’s ankle, he desperately dragged her backwards, but Kate shouted and tried to slap his hand away.
“It’s going to attack!” a man shouted, and two more arrows clattered off the walls overhead.
Reaching behind him, Corvan grabbed ahold of the rocky floor and yanked hard on Kate’s leg, dragging her backwards, then tumbling them both out into the shadows on the far side of the crack.
They lay in a heap, the fire stick hissing behind them in the rocks as it sputtered and burrowed its way into the rock, slowly plunging the open space around them into near darkness.
The noise from the soldiers died away.
“Where’s my light?” Kate asked loudly.
Corvan leaned close and whispered in her ear. “We must stay quiet, Kate. Don’t move or talk and I will find your medallion.”
She nodded and he pulled the scarf back down over her eyes, then crept closer to the crack. If Tsarek was correct, with one touch he could seal the crack in the Cor shield. They would be safe, but also stranded with no way to go back if this passage turned out to be a dead end. Besides, it would be hopeless to get Kate to leave without her medallion.
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He peered into the crack. The firesticks on the other side had been extinguished but the glow of the medallion was nowhere to be seen. A shadow shifted on the floor and in the soft glow of the Cor shield he could see someone crawling slowly toward him.
Corvan moved his hand closer to the wall. If the people from the Cor made it through to his world, there was no telling what creatures like the Rakash might do. Medallion or not, he needed to close the crack.
The man in the crack coughed and crept closer. Corvan’s hand faltered. The soldier was just obeying orders. He should at least be given a chance to escape.
“You need to go back,” Corvan hissed. “I’m going to seal the crack now.”
The man kept coming until he was just a few feet away, then he looked up.
A grin spread across the wrinkled face of Rayu. “You’ve kept this old man running all over Kadir trying to catch up with you. I happened to be in the soldiers barracks when the call came to come out to Molakar and given all the excitement, I was certain it had to be you.”
Rayu pointed back to the Molakar cavern. “They are arguing about what to do,” he said quietly, “and that usually takes quite a while. The captain wants the crack left open for the time being, but Jorad wants it sealed immediately. I was listening in to see if Jorad would mention you and then Saray found me. I haven’t seen her or Jokten for a very long time.”
Rayu came closer, his gaze on the darkness beyond the Cor shield. “Saray told me where you are going and told me I had better come check to make sure you made it through. She said I must do whatever it takes to keep them from following you.”
Rayu opened his hand and the medallions green glow lit up his kind face. “It’s a good thing I did because you dropped this. It would be very bad for the Cor if Jorad or the captain were to get their hands on this one. Saray said you were to keep it safe until you return.”
He held out the medallion. Corvan leaned forward and as he took it from Rayu, its light flowed through him, warming his hand and his heart.
Rayu gestured to where Kate sat on the ground. “I’m glad you found your counterpart again.”
“Yes, but she is not doing well. That black band did something to her before she decided to choose the medallion instead.”
“I think she will recover,” Rayu said. “She is strong, and you will need her beside you when you return to help us restore Kadir and the rest of the Cor.”
Corvan shook his head and thrust the medallion back to the old man. “I’m not coming back. Tyreth has the hammer, and she can lead the Cor. You must take this medallion to her instead.”
The old man protested, saying something about Tyreth, but shouts from the far side of the crack drowned him out. Fire sticks blazed to life, thrusting their light up through the crack. The clash of swords mingled with the cries of “the Rakash! the Rakash!”
Rayu pointed at Corvan’s chest. “As I expected, the now, one-handed leader of the Rakash, does not want you leave until he gets that cloak back.” Rayu patted Corvan’s forearm. “But do not be afraid. I will not permit the Rakash to follow you.”
Pulling his hand back, Rayu shoved himself deeper inside the Cor shield. “It is time to say good-bye, Cor-Van. May your love for others always be guided by the truth.”
Before Corvan could say anything, Rayu smiled, then patted the exposed edge of the shield wall.
A soft hiss of escaping air, like a pop bottle being opened, flowed past Corvan. He blinked and then he was looking at a perfectly smooth wall.
He sat in the dead silence for a long moment, staring as the glossy rock faded to dark stone. Had Rayu sealed himself inside the rock or had only the leading edge closed off? He needed to hope it was the latter.
“Who were you talking to?” Kate asked from behind him. “Did you find my medallion?”
Crawling back to her, Corvan removed the scarf from her face and placed the glowing medallion in her outstretched hand. She studied it a moment, then wrapped her fingers around it and looked up at him. “Can we go home now?”
“Yes, Kate. Now we can go home.”
The firestick was deeply embedded in the floor, but he managed to ease it free, then lead Kate away from the Cor shield and up a passage that was heading steeply upward. If it kept climbing this way, it had to eventually come out at the surface.
“I still can’t see the stars,” Kate said.
Corvan took her hand. “We’ll find them, but first we need to go on a long walk.”
The corridor before them was shaped like a squashed tube and the floor was rippled from an ancient stream slowly carving its way through the rock. No water flowed in the channel now, and Corvan was keenly aware that they had none with them.
Kate didn’t have much strength and they had to stop often to rest. Corvan had no doubt that the journey out would take just as long as the days it took to reach the Cor. It would be best to let Kate rest whenever she was tired.
When the fire stick finally died out, they moved on, ever upwards by the light of Kate’s medallion.
“I need to sit for a few minutes,” Kate said quietly.
“Here’s a good spot,” Corvan said and together they reclined against the sloped wall. Kate nestled in beside him and shivered. Pulling out Tyreth’s scarf he draped it over her shoulders, then removed his cloak and spread it over her body. She snuggled in closer and fell into a deep sleep.
The medallion had slipped from her hand, and this time, when he picked it up it kept glowing for him. Tsarek had said the medallion gave him a sense of calm, a feeling of hope for the future, and Corvan had to agree. Its light grew stronger as he studied the markings, turning the words around, flowing them from truth to compassion to justice and back to truth. It made sense that the medallion would be connected to the hammer. To be a good leader you had to hold all three attributes in tension. If any of them were missing, you would make a mess of things.
His thoughts went above to the long black box his father has shown him on the Castle Rock. The hammer represented truth and the medallion was about compassion so whatever the third item was, it must bring justice to a situation. He would ask his father about that when they got back.
Kate groaned in her sleep and Corvan brushed her long bangs away from her eyes. A faint smile fluttered across her face.
Lifting the edge of the gray cloak, he lay down behind her and put his arm around her. Her hand reached for the medallion and closed about his own.
Corvan took a deep breath, and drifted off to sleep.