The Hammer - Cor Series Book I

A deep roar pummeled Corvan’s ears. His eyes flew open, and he searched for the source of the sound, but there was nothing to be seen except for a dense curtain of mist that rolled toward him from a patch of ghostly light. The roar must be coming from the waterfall on the edge of the Cor. Somehow, after hitting his head on the rock in the underwater tunnel, he had managed to get through to the open air.

Gently probing the lump on his forehead, he found it wet, hopefully just from the damp air and not because it was bleeding. His arm and shoulder were almost too stiff and sore to get his hood back over his head but once it was back in position, his shivering eased.

As he peered out under his hood, a shadow stepped into the pool of light and took shape in the swirling fog. A large lizard walked towards him; a short sword clutched in its claws. The Chief Watcher had found him.

Corvan struggled to get to his feet, but his body flatly refused. He fell back against a boulder, pain shooting down his neck and left arm then right down to the soles of his feet.

He closed his eyes and dropped his head onto his chest. There was nothing he could do to escape from the black lizard.

The gravel crunched in front of him, and a shadow fell across his eyelids.

“Oh, sir, I am so glad you have awakened, sir. I was beginning to think the death of cold had finally caught you.”

Corvan’s eyes popped open. Tsarek stood before him, a short unlit fire stick in his paw.

“Tsarek?” Corvan exclaimed. “You’re alive?”

“Oh ues, sir, I am very much alive.”

“But how? I was certain you were dead,” Corvan said. “The burak had you in its teeth.”

Tsarek chuckled. “Yes, it did, but buraks like to keep their prey alive until they get you back to their lair so they can eat you later. If you let your body go limp, they think you are too injured to move and don’t bite down hard. They are lazy creatures and like to sleep after a hunt.”

“Then why didn’t you come back and help me get to Kadir?” Corvan said. “Did you get lost in the tunnels? Where have you been this whole time?”

Tsarek hung his head. “I didn’t mean I got away immediately. They take a while to fall asleep and it seemed one of them was more hungry and would look at me if I moved even a tiny bit. Then it got tired of waiting and came to eat me while its mate slept.” He lifted his poison claw. “I had no choice, but it will likely never wake up again.”

Corvan managed a small nod, but it made his head swim and his stomach roll, so he closed his eyes and relaxed back against the boulder. That was why only one burak had attacked Tarran at the portal door. If he had known there was only one left, maybe he would’ve fought it and saved the man. He resisted shaking his aching head. He knew that was not the truth. One or two buraks would not have made any difference. At the time he had simply been too afraid to help Tarran.

“Is your pain great?” Tsarek asked as he gently rearranged Corvan’s cloak close around his neck. “I am so glad you have this garment. Without it you would have died from the cold water.”

Corvan looked up as Tsarek stepped away, a look of consternation on his narrow face. “But why did you close the door on me?”

“What door?” Corvan asked.

“Just after the last burak attacked your friend and dragged him away, I ran to you, but you shut the portal door on me.”

“I didn’t know that was you,” Corvan replied. “I thought there was still two of the buraks and the other one was coming to eat me.”

“But I called and knocked on the door, and you still didn’t open it.” Tsarek’s wounded expression became even more pronounced, and he waved his short arms around. “It took me a long time to find another way in. I had to swim through much dark water and try many small passages. I only made it through the water to the settlement just when you used your krypin to drop into the karst to fight the cave creature.”

“So, it was you who threw the fire stick at my leg?” Corvan asked.

“I could see you were captured by its eyes, so I threw the stick and shouted. I did not want to see it kill you.” Tsarek leaned in and wrapped his short arms awkwardly around him. “I missed you, Kalian.”

“I missed you, too, Tsarek.” Corvan ran his hand down the lizard’s spiny back and Tsarek snuggled in closer to his neck, rumbling in his throat like a contented cat before suddenly pulling away.

“I have something you left behind in the karst,” Tsarek said, then scampered away.

Relief flowed over Corvan. Tsarek had retrieved the hammer. He would need its guidance and light to get back to Kate and find a way home.

The fog lit up as if a car with one headlamp was coming through the fog. Tsarek emerged with a huge smile on his face and a neatly coiled rope draped over his arm. Corvan’s heart dropped as he took the krypin from him. He was glad to get his it back, but without the hammer, he was going to have a hard time getting back to the surface.

Corvan lifted the side of the cloak and wearily clipped the rope back onto his belt loop. “Thanks, Tsarek.”

Tsarek touched his shoulder. “I am so glad we found a spot of air in the tunnel. I know it does not help much to breathe those fire stick bubbles, but it was the only way to keep you from drowning.”

“Was that the silver circle I saw up by the ceiling under the water?”

“Yes. Pockets of air look shiny from below. That is how you can find places to breathe instead of drowning, but there were so many fire sticks in the water, it was hard to see them. That is also why I did not see the rock that hit your head. Does it hurt greatly?”

Corvan put a hand to his head and brought it back to examine his fingers by the light of Tsarek’s firestick. There was no blood. “It’s not too bad. I’m glad to be alive.”

“I am glad too. Is your counterpart also still alive? The one called Kate? Does she still wear the black band?”

“No. The hammer set her free just like it did for you. She at the settlement by the karst but she is very sick. I need to get her back to our home.”

Tsarek looked out into the mist. “That will be difficult. When you locked me out you also closed the only door that leads to the labyrinth and your home.”

“Jokten knows a way out.”

“Jokten?”

“The old man who helped me fight that monster and broke the firestick that pieced its body.”

“I did not see that man after the fire stick exploded,” Tsarek said.

Corvan struggled to his feet, his head swam and his legs crumpled. As he slid along the boulder back to the ground, an arrow struck the rock where his head had just been, sparking and shattering into splinters.

Tsarek yanked him off to one side and he landed with a painful crunch in the gravel. “Don’t move,” his friend whispered, extinguishing his firestick, and running away.

Another arrow whistled through the darkness overhead and one more struck the rocks to his right. Somewhere in the darkness, muffled voices argued.

Corvan listened anxiously but the heavy mist muffled the sounds like a woolen blanket. A minute went by, then two. He sat up and pulled the knife from its sheath.

A fire stick sparked to life. Corvan pushed himself upright into a cleft between the rocks. The light approached, casting a myriad of shifting shadows in the dense fog. At the last moment, Corvan stepped stiffly forward, his blade extended.

“Don’t do that!” Tsarek’s irritated voice hissed.

“Sorry. I didn’t know for sure if it was you. Are they gone?”

The lizard came close and held out the light. “Now my claws are locked again. Please assist to release them.”

Corvan crouched and petted Tsarek’s back until the fire stick clattered to the ground.

The lizard picked it back up. “They were shooting at our light from the other side of the smaller river that flows from the karst. It was the Sightless one and four soldiers.”

“The leader of the Rakash?”

The lizard nodded.

“I thought he drowned in the river.”

“No,” Tsarek said, shaking his head until his spines rattled. “You cannot kill them by water. I do not think you can kill them by fire either. They feel no pain nor do they—”

“Does it still carry a white scarf?”

“Yes. The Seeker was angry they were shooting at our light. It told the soldiers someone name Tarran was on the other side, and they needed to cross the water to find him but the soldiers refused.”

“Why didn’t it cross alone if it’s not afraid of the water?”

“I think it needs the soldiers to help it surround and capture you. Their master wants you taken alive.” Tsarek pointed into the mist. “It has taken the soldiers up along the other side. They are going to circle over the water where it comes out of the cliff, but I have a plan to trick them. I will go up and see where they cross. When they come down to this side, we will attract them with the lit firestick, wait until they are close, then cross the water and leave them behind on this side while we go back to the settlement. They will think we went back to Kadir. It is a great plan, yes?”

The lizard was obviously pleased with himself, and although allowing the Rakash and the soldiers to get so close sounded risky, Corvan could not think of any other way to escape and get back to Kate.

Tsarek helped him down to the edge of the creek where it joined the main river just before it plunged over the falls. Pushing the fire stick into the gravel, and with a final pat on Corvan’s shoulder, Tsarek waded into the creek and disappeared into the darkness on the other side.

Alone in the pool of light reflecting off the water, Corvan thought through the situation. There was a sense of relief that the hammer was out of his hands. He had returned it to the Cor and now his job was done. It was no longer his responsibility. He only needed to find Jokten, locate the other passage, and together they could carry Kate to the surface.

Was Jokten was too old to carry Kate that far? Maybe Jorad would help. Then again, even if he could find the priest, Jorad would ask him to go to the city and rescue Tyreth. Without the hammer they didn’t have a chance of defeating the Chief Watcher. Surely Jorad would understand if he took Kate and left the Cor?

The fog was lifting and hung just above the fire stick in a bright sheet of rolling cotton. Corvan peered upstream to where Tsarek had disappeared. If the fog lifted much higher the soldiers would see them cross back over the stream and know exactly where they had gone.

In the shifting shadows thrown by the fire stick, a dark form spun in slow circles in a back eddy of the stream. Getting to his feet, he made his way along the shore.

The body of a man was floating face down in a shallow pool, the first prisoner who had fallen in and drowned in the karst.

A sharp movement across the water caught his attention. A rantel was perched on the top of a pointed rock, its long, forked tail spread out wide behind it; gray wings folded at its sides, its eyes glinting in the flickering light of the firestick. Jorad was wrong. The rantels were definitely real and this was likely the one that was on the rebel leader’s head. It was spying on him.

Corvan stooped, pretending to check his shoelace while slipping a round stone into his hand. Taking note of the rantel’s position, he stretched as he stood up, then fired the stone directly at it. Pain shot up his arm as the stone smacked the front of the pointed rock and ricocheted into the belly of the rantel. The creature sprang from its perch and sliced through the air toward him, hissing and clicking in anger. Its forked tail whipped down below its body as if it would spear him with the points. Corvan ducked as it swooped overhead and vanished into the fog.

It was likely on its way to show the rebel leader what it had seen. That was all he needed. Now both the rebels and the Rakash would be on his trail.

Moving to the water’s edge he watched the man’s body spin around until the one hand was close to the shore. He should at least pull the body out so it would not get washed over the falls. Wading into the shallow bay Corvan pulled on the stiff hand. The corpse flipped over and turned face up.

It was Jokten.