Corvan kicked frantically toward the edge of the pool, taking in huge gulps of air along with a good deal of water. Choking and thrashing, his lumien rich muscles propelled him out of the water and onto a narrow ledge.

Tsarek was trying to talk to him, but Corvan couldn't quit hacking up water. When he finally managed to stop, he found Tsarek standing in a low alcove on the far side of a long narrow pool. The lizard pointed at the water and spoke quietly. "You must stay very still. The Volisk was up here when I last came through these tunnels."

"Volisk?"

"The water monster from the temple karst. The tunnel behind you leads down to where its caretaker lives. You made so much noise it will surely be coming up here to . . ." Tsarek's voice trailed off as a thin white tentacle surfaced in the middle of the pool, rose higher and circled slowly in the air. The lizard gestured for Corvan to stay still as the white tip moved over to the rocky ledge at Corvan's left, touching along the shelf like a long finger. Corvan tensed and the remaining lumien power inside his heart, jumped about trying to escape into his veins.

Tsarek's whisper startled him. "You must stay still. It cannot hear us through its arm. It can only sense if we move. The creature sleeps a great deal and is very lazy. Its fat body is somewhere below us and it’s feeling about to see what disturbed the water. It ate a great deal after the wasting. It may be getting hungry again."

The tentacle probed along the ledge and stopped at the water dripping from Corvan's clothes into puddles at his feet. The tentacle stirred the ripples as if to taste them, wavered in the air for a long moment, and then disappeared back into the pool.

"Is it gone?" Corvan's voice echoed off the domed ceiling.

"I am not sure,” Tsarek said quietly. “These are crafty creatures and know how to trap their prey."

"What do we do?"

"Move slowly along the ledge to your right. There is a tunnel there will take you down to the pool below the temple Karst, the place where you talked with Jorad after saving Tyreth from drowning. Stay far away from the water pool and be very quiet, its keeper lives nearby. I will join you and we can escape up the stairs where Tyreth and Jorad went after you thought I had died. Those stairs lead up to the balcony over the water."

Corvan crept to to his right, keeping his back tight against the wall. "How will you get over here?"

"I will wait until you are safe and then come silently through the water to join you. I will be safe as long as its eye does not come here and see me."

"What if it does?" Corvan whispered as he concentrated on moving along the ledge.

"Then I will escape down the way behind me. I have been here before. The water flowing away on this side will take me to the cave where you and your past father fought the beast on the island at the Molakar settlement. I will wait for you by the falls where you buried the past-father Jokten. Then we will go past the falls into the abyss together."

Corvan stopped. "Kate has taken my medallion over the falls?"

"No, not Kate. As I tried to tell you and her, it is your father that is being held below the falls. We need to get to him soon."

Corvan's foot slipped from the ledge and toes rippled the surface of the water.

"My father is in prison below the falls?"

"Yes, but he is very sick. You must meet me at that pool near the falls and then . . ."

A writhing mass of tentacles shot out of the water and grappled onto the cavern ceiling. The arms tightened and a bulbous mass of flaccid white flesh rose out of the black water, swinging slowly around until a huge eye came into view. The eye focused on Corvan and the mouth dropped opened to reveal rows of translucent white teeth. Unable to move, Corvan could only watch as a thick tentacle wound its way through the air toward him. The eye blinked twice and sharp chirps came out the beak-like mouth.

A rock hit the wall to Corvan's left and splashed into the water. Tsarek began shouting at the creature and other rock bounced off the ceiling. A third stone sank into the soft flesh of one of the thicker tentacles, knocking it from the ceiling. The great eye turned away from Corvan as two more rocks thudded into the spongy head. With an angry gurgle, the creature sank back under the water, along with its tentacles.

Tsarek appeared between a jumble of rocks at the far side of the pool, just as tangle of white arms shot out of the water towards him.

"Run!" Tsarek shouted.

Corvan scuttled along the rock ledge toward a fracture in the cavern wall. Squeezing through the crack, he stumbled down a short stairway and tore down a narrow tunnel.

When he finally stopped to look back, he was met with silence. If the water monster captured Tsarek, he would never be able find his father. Only Tsarek knew what lay beyond the falls or even how to get past them.

Slipping on the floor, he grabbed the rough wall to regain his balance. The narrow passage had been cut with fire sticks in the long distant past. The ceiling was sooty from the smoke of torches, and the crude stairs cut into the floor were covered in dirt and slime. Moving cautiously around an abrupt corner, he arrived at a landing that broke off in opposite directions. To his right, circular steps climbed higher and to the left was a yellow glow. It seemed best to go higher and Corvan was heading toward the circular stair when he heard footsteps coming down them. Whipping about, he ran quietly toward the yellow glow, emerging into a high cavern.

Ahead of him was the pool beneath the temple karst in the city of Kadir. Approaching the water located the narrow stairway he and Tyreth had gone up to defeat the Chief Water but going up that way would expose him to whomever was coming behind. Running past the staircase, he headed for the jumble of rocks on the side of the pool. Gavyn's hidden entry into the tunnels running below the city was somewhere behind the largest boulders. If he could locate Gavyn, the boy could lead him below the city and out to the falls.

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Footsteps echoed across the water and the light of an approaching torch flickered on the ceiling. Corvan crouched in behind the boulders just as a tall man in a hooded cloak entered from the tunnel across the water, torch in hand. The man walked up to the water's edge, put the cap on his fire stick, and placed it on the ground. The pale glow from the slimy water illuminated a shrouded, white-bearded face. This must be the caretaker of the water creature.

The man stooped to pick up a few pebbles and tossed three of them in succession into the pool. He waited a moment and then did it again. The rhythmic splashes sent intertwined phosphorescent ripples across the water. The caretaker was calling his pet.

A light at the top of the stairs caught the old man's attention and he slipped back into the shadows on the side of the stairway.

A woman in a white robe appeared at the top. When she reached the bottom stair, she held up her light and pulled back her hood.

It was Tyreth.

Corvan rose to his feet, and Tyreth lifted her torch higher, blinking at him through the gloom. "Kalian?"

A shadow slid in behind her as the old man stepped out from beside the stairway and touched her shoulder. Tyreth's head jerked around to face the robed man and he gave a low chuckle.

Corvan crouched back down and peered over the rock.

"I wish you wouldn't do that." Tyreth said.

"I had to be sure it was you," the man said as he sat on the stairs. “Did you bring food? I'm running low."

Tyreth held out a cloth sack. The man sat on the stairs, rummaged through the bag and pulled out a cluster of dried fruit on a vine. "I guess the dried ones are about as good as I can get, at least for now." He put the sack between his feet, popped one of the fruits into his mouth, chewed for a moment, then talked past his mouthful. "Why did you say the name of that boy, Kalian?"

Tyreth looked back across the water. "Sometimes I wonder what happened to him."

The man snorted. "We can only hope he's gone into the abyss where he belongs. He was a servant of evil. Not a Cor-Van."

Tyreth's dark hair moved lightly as she shook her head. "How does that make any sense? He saved my life and sacrificed his own."

"He was only pretending to be dead to deceive others."

"Isn't that what you're doing, Father?"

The man's head jerked up, and he angrily flipped back his hood. It wasn’t the caretaker! The High Priest was alive!

Tyreth’s father pushed off the stairs. "You know what I had to do to defeat the Chief Watcher, but that boy complicated all my plans." He gestured over his shoulder to where he had entered the cavern. "Do you think I've enjoyed living in the former caretaker's dwellings? It's damp and filthy."

Tyreth patted her father's arm, and he turned back to her. "I was only trying to point out that perhaps Corvan isn't evil either."

"Forget about him. He was too young for you."

"Yes, and Morgan was too old," Tyreth responded with a toss of her head.

"I was right about him too.” The High Priest sat back on the stairs and pulled the cloth sack closer. “Morgan showed us his true colors when he betrayed us and went over to the Chief Watcher."

Tyreth shook her head. "I’m not sure that’s what happened. Morgan told me he was planning to take the palace back from the Chief Watcher."

The old man grunted, rummaged through the bag, and drew out a long loaf of bread. Corvan's stomach rumbled so loudly he was sure they would hear.

"Too bad he failed and died,” Tyreth’s father said, taking a bite from the loaf. “This palace food is much better than what we had over on the priest's side of the plaza. I hope you are enjoying the luxury of the palace, now that the city wants you to rule over them?"

"My quarters are very nice, but why did you have to send Mara over?” Tyreth glared at her father. “She’s not my mother and never will be,”

"She is there to make sure you are not taken advantage of by Jorad or any of the others. This is a big change for you, and you need an older person in your life to guide you."

Tyreth frowned as she stuck her torch into a crack of the steps and sat beside her father. Tucking her feet up under her robe she put her chin in her hands. The long scar from her encounter with the Chief Watcher curved up above her fingertips, but Tyreth was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

The High Priest looked at her. "So, how are things going at the palace?"

Tyreth lifted her head. "I hate the thought of ruling on my own. I still don't see why I had to refuse Jorad's proposal of marriage. He could have been a great help to me."

"No," the old man snapped. "That whole family is full of deceivers. Besides, you aren't on your own. You have our alliance with the guard, and you have me to advise you."

"It's not the same."

Her father patted her knee. "You won't be on your own for long. As soon as things are ready, I will return and take over as the ruler of Kadir."

Tyreth pushed herself off the steps and walked to the water's edge. "And then I suppose you will want me to marry the captain of the guard and give you a son who can eventually be the Cor-Van?"

"Why do you say that?" the man asked, rising to his feet, tying up the cloth bag and setting it aside.

"I know your schemes, Father."

The High Priest joined her at the water. "You must trust me, Tyreth. I know what's best for you and our city. We will need an alliance as they hold the balance of power, at least for now. They will continue to uphold military law until I can secure control of the council."

"The people of Kadir are complaining about the new laws. They say I wield the hammer too harshly. After the palace guard executed a man for eating lumien fruit out in the settlements, I overheard a cook in the Palace kitchen saying that I am more cruel than the Chief Watcher."

The High Priest put his hand on her shoulder. "This will all pass once they see the end result. The priests will come around. When I return from the water, they will realize I speak for the gods. After that, it will only be a matter of time before we drive the rebels from their hiding place and secure peace in Kadir.

"What about the Rakash?” Tyreth asked sarcastically. “Are they going to submit to your plan?"

The old man stared at her a long moment before he spoke. "There is a way to defeat the Rakash. They all serve one master. When we cut off the head, the serpent will die."

"And how will you reach the head? You said he was in hiding in the deepest places of the Cor."

"There is a way, but as you know, your mother stole my medallion when she abandoned us."

Tyreth dropped her shoulder and slipped his hand off. "I don't know much at all. You never speak of her."

"That's because it hurts to remember being betrayed by the one you trusted most." He ran a hand over his beard. "But you're right. I do need to tell you more about those early days. It will be best to wait until I am out of this hole and back in the light of the lumiens. It would be too depressing to bring all that back up only to be left alone here in the darkness." His voice overflowed with self-pity.

Tyreth nodded as she turned for the stairs. "Then let's not talk about it now. I have to get back to the palace. The captain will be looking for me."

“I need you to find out what he knows about where the latest movements of the most recent leader of the rebels. We need to keep a close eye on that one.”

Tyreth nodded, climbed the stairs without looking back, turned at the landing and was lost to sight.

As her light faded away the High Priest lifted his head.

A wry smile creased his white beard as he reached for his light stick.