Corvan waded into the river, washed his arms, then splashed cold water on his face. He and Tsarek had travelled a long way through the sewer, at times down on all fours to make it past partially collapsed sections. The--- nauseous rolling in his stomach was just beginning to subside.

  "You will soon be clean and unstinky, Sir." Tsarek spoke from a cleft in the rocky bank, where he was wiping his regrown long poison claw over and over on a patch of purple moss. The lizard nodded to where the river swept under a low arch built into the cavern wall, just beyond the dark boxy shape of the guardhouse. "We must follow the flowing water under the stone. It is not a far distance and the water will carry us quickly along but it is the only way to get to your father."

  Corvan turned to the dark water slipping below the cavern wall, but his thoughts were on Tsarek. At first, he was sure he must be mistaken, that Tsarek would never drink the gatekeeper’s blue liquid, but the lizard was behaving strangely, talking fast and fidgeting, like his father would when he drank too much coffee. "Is it also where Gavyn is being held?" he asked, turning back to Tsarek.

  "Yes, well, at least I think so. He seems to come and go where he wants."

  "And my father. Is he still alive?"

  "When Gavyn met your father, he was very sick, so I cannot say for sure." Tsarek left the bank and waded out to Corvan. "I am sorry, Sir. We tried our best. Gavyn knew how important this was to you. He often held the white stone you gave him and said your name."

  "Gavyn can talk?"

  "Not in your speech, but he can communicate with me in Hoksa, the simple tongue of some of the more intelligent animals. It is crude but you can communicate basic ideas and feelings." Tsarek touched Corvan's hand. "I think you should rest on the riverbank while I find you a breathing stick. Consuming the elixir can make one a bit tired after a while."

  Corvan looked up the wall to the dark windows of the gatehouse. The gatekeeper might be looking out his screened window and the light of the lumiens was growing. There was no time to find a firestick.

  "How long do I need to hold my breath?"

  "Try for me, and I will tell you if it's good enough."

  Corvan breathed deeply in and out to get his lungs working to full capacity. Even without lumien seed power in his heart, he felt stronger. He took one last breath and held it.

  A sense of ease settled over him. Normally he would have to concentrate while holding his breath but not this time. He was keenly aware of how much air remained and exactly when he would need to breathe again. Closing his eyes, he waited until the last possible second, then slowly exhaled before drawing in fresh air. When he opened his eyes, Tsarek was nodding enthusiastically.

  "That is much longer than needed for where we must go. I have not seen a human hold their air so long. It must be because of the gatekeeper's lumien juice. It does the same for me."

  "You drank the lumien juice? The elixir?"

  Tsarek shrugged. "It was the only way I could have the strength to lift the metal circle and set you free." He looked up at the gatehouse looming over the river. "In the early days the ruler gave us a more potent form of lumien fluid so we could communicate with them and think clearly. But unlike humans, my kind does not digress into violence, unless we eat the lumien seeds themselves. I think that is what the Chief Watcher must have done for he was always growing larger and more angry."

  "Don't you get to where you must have more and are willing to do almost anything to get it?"

  Tsarek's cheeks flushed as he turned back. "As time goes by, I know that if I do not get more of the refined juice, I will go back to being just another one of the unknowing creatures of the Cor.” He looked into Corvan's eyes. "I can't let that happen. Now that we are friends."

  "But how long will . . ." Footsteps above them on the wall were followed by gatehouse door on the wall above opening and shutting. Tsarek ducked into the water up to his neck and Corvan drew in closer to the steep edge of the bank.

  A man's deep voice floated from the wall. It was the same guard who had taken him before the gatekeeper. "Leena. You gave me a start. What are you doing out here?" the man asked.

  "I need to find out what became of that boy,” Leena replied from overhead. “I know for certain he is not the one who stole the lumien seed from the energy house. He saw one of the Rakash take the seed, a Rakash with one hand. How could he know about the missing hand unless he saw the Rakash leader?"

  "You can't trust what that boy says for he also is one of the Rakash, or soon will be. You know the signs as well as anyone, Leena. He started down that path and there is only one place it can end."

  "Is there?" Leena's voice was tense. "Or does the gatehouse make certain they can never come back because your master turns them into Rakash?"

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  "We help them stay alive. Without us, death is the only option."

  "Then it would be better to let them die.”

  "Your father does not think so,” the guard growled. “He willingly serves the master of the gatehouse, and I believe he might be the one who has been stealing a few seeds from the energy house of late."

  "You knew it was my father that took those seeds and yet you took that boy inside to make him into a Rakash?” Corvan could hear the rising anger in Leena’s voice. “What will the rest of the city think of the gatehouse when the truth is known?"

  "If you want to know the truth about Anamir and the city council, you should ask your questions directly to the gatehouse master himself. I can let him know you would like to meet him in person. Shall we go now?"

  Leena's voice grew quiet. “I don't have any questions."

  The night grew silent and Corvan was about to climb the bank when a rush of footsteps came from up on the wall, someone cried out in pain, then a body hurtled overhead to fall thrashing into the river. Leena! Corvan waded into the water and dove down to where she had disappeared. The current grabbed at him as he descended. He kicked deeper and his hand tangled into Leena’s clothing before his shoulder bounced off the smooth bottom of the riverbed.

  Gripping Leena's tunic Corvan pulled her body toward the surface, but it was too late. The river had already pulled them beneath the edge of the cavern. He would need to wait until they reached the next open space. He waited until his lungs constricted, warning that he would need to breathe very soon. Were they far enough? It was still pitch-black overhead. Corvan pulled toward the surface, feeling above with his free hand. His fingers reached into air and he raised his head above the water. Pulling in a deep breath, he choked and coughed. The air on this side of the wall was thick with rot and decay, it was barely breathable.

  Dragging Leena's body, Corvan kicked hard toward the sides of the river where patches of the purple moss glowed among the rocks. His knees scraped the bottom. Struggling get his feet under him in the swift current, he dragged her onto the shore and rolled her over.

  It wasn't Leena. It was the guard who had been talking to her on the wall; the hilt of a knife protruding from his chest.

  Corvan jumped as something sharp poked his leg. Tsarek stood dripping beside him. "You should not have attempted to rescue him," Tsarek hissed. "That man was dead before he even hit the water."

  "Leena killed him?"

  Tsarek shook his head. "No, she lacks the strength to throw him so far and she was already gone when the guard cried out. It was someone else much stronger that her. Come, you must follow me away from here but be very quiet. Many nasty things hide in these rocks. This is a dangerous place and that will attract them." Tsarek pointed to the river where slender fingers of blue scum were rising to the surface, the remains of the gatekeepers elixir were dripping into the river.

  "What about him?" Corvan pointed to the body.

  "Leave him. Nobody here will care about another dead body. The smaller scavenging creatures will soon make short work of him. There is not much to eat here."

  Corvan followed Tsarek away from the shore. The evil smelling air invaded his lungs and made him gag. Tsarek frowned at him and Corvan repressed the reflex.

  His grandfather's wet tunic clung around his legs but at least it preserved his body heat. He ran a hand over the straps of the pack on his back. He could use the acetylene lamp for a bit of light and heat but no doubt that would attract unwanted attention from the flesh eating animals Tsarek had referred to.

  Tsarek scrambled up a cleft in the bank and moved onto a narrow shelf that followed the curve of the river. Corvan joined him but a short distance ahead, the shelf ended in a steep drop off. Turning away from the river, Tsarek climbed toward a rocky outcrop A small boulder bounced past Corvan's head to splash in the water below. Tsarek was a bit too hyper and careless right now. Corvan moved to the right to find a safer place to climb.

  He had just pulled himself onto the top of the riverbank when a girl's cry for help broke the silence. Tsarek scrambled over to him and tugged on his cloak sleeve. "You often hear such voices in this place," he whispered urgently. "Some of the creatures here can mimic human voices in order to trap others. We must leave."

  The cry came again. It definitely sounded like a young girl. Corvan yanked his cloak from the lizard's grasp and crawled ahead to peer over a mound of rock.

  Below, in a rocky bowl near a tight bend of the river, three boys were circling a young girl like a pack of coyotes around an injured fawn. One grabbed at her, and she cried out. The boy whooped and held a torn piece of her clothing over his head. Corvan jumped up, only to have his feet yanked out from beneath him. Tsarek was pointing to the scene below. "Look over there," he whispered.

  Corvan turned back in time to see a dark figure jump in amongst the group of boys. One of the boys was thrown through the air and fell into the river, shouting and gurgling as he was swept around a bend in the river. Another was tossed to land headfirst with a crunch in the rocks and the last one ran into the dark crying out in terror.

  Corvan turned his attention back to the girl, but she was already hoisted over the shoulder of her attacker. Corvan shouted and her captor twisted about. Sightless Rakash eyes stared in his direction as the thin face searched the rocks for the source of the sound. It was one of the boys the gatehouse had fed their poison to before sealing his eyes.

  Corvan leapt to his feet. "Leave her alone!" he shouted.

  The Rakash boy stumbled.

  Grabbing a fist-sized rock, Corvan hurled it to one side of the Rakash. The scrawny neck twisted to find the sound and the girl wriggled free of his grasp.

  "Run!" Corvan shouted at her, but the girl only stared at him with eyes that had no white, only dark pupils. Corvan could tell she was seeing him through the darkness as clearly as he was seeing her. Corvan gestured frantically to tell her to move away but now the young Rakash straddled her body, his feet in tight around her.

  Corvan grabbed two more rocks. One went high overhead to clatter down the slope behind the Rakash. The boy turned to check out the sound and the girl was able to slip away.

  Winding up like a pitcher on his mound, Corvan let the rock fly. It glanced off the skeletal shoulder blade of the young Rakash and he cried out, staggering off to the side.

  The girl leapt up and disappeared away from the river among the larger boulders. The Rakash whirled back toward Corvan, snarling, and clicking past thin lips. Corvan held his breath and stood still. The blinded face swiveled about trying to sense his location, then in a flash the Rakash leapt over the ridge behind it and disappeared.