Corvan peered past a lita berry bush to where Saray was working next to Rayu’s grotto. After he and Tsarek had come through the pool, the water level rose a foot higher from the increased back pressure caused by the underground river flowing down from the mine. It was clear they would not be going back that way when it was time for them to leave the Cor.

  Saray was busy moving the submerged plants away from the edge of the water so they would not drown. She would be at it for a long time and would not be distracted until all the plants were saved. This was his opportunity to leave Molakar and rescue Kate from the chamber.

  Turning back to the lake he found Gavyn on the dock. He had spread Saray’s map out and he was adding his own markings with a stick that was leaving green chalklike marks. As Corvan watched over his shoulder, Gavyn drew two small circles near the palace building in Kadir, then looked up to Corvan.

  “Is that the jail cells?”

  Gavyn, nodded.

  “If we can get inside one without being seen, I can get us onto the roof and into Tyreth’s room. Then you and I can find the passage down to Dubok Kholm. Kate will die if we don’t do something. I can’t wait for the others to get together and I don’t think Kael will agree with Saray’s plan anyway.”

  Gavyn pointed to his chest then walked his fingers on the map from Kadir to Dubok Kholm. He shook his head.

  “You won’t go along?” Corvan asked.

  Gavyn shook his head, then shrugged and nodded.

  “Do you mean you can’t go right now?”

  Gavyn nodded.

  “That’s okay,” Corvan said. “If you can get me into the passage, I think I can find my way from there. Tsarek is good in the tunnels, and we can figure it out together.”

  Gavyn looked towards where Saray was working, his eyes raising his obvious question.

  “No. I’m not going to tell Saray I am leaving. If you can get me into the palace, I will go to down and set Kate free and bring her here to Saray. While I do that, can you find my mother and help her get through to Kael in Katay Alba?”

  Gavyn cocked his head to one side and studied Corvan a long moment.

  “I need your help to save Kate’s life,” Corvan said. “She doesn’t have long to live, but I also need my mom to be safe.”

  Gavyn looked to where Saray’s was working, then nodded in agreement. Rolling up the map, he took off running around the lake. Corvan wanted to shout at him to stop but Saray would hear. “That kid has got to quit eating so much of the large lumien.” Corvan muttered to himself as he ran after him. “He’s got way too much energy.”

  Gavyn skirted the water’s edge and made his way toward the rubble that had fallen in from the collapsed tunnel to Kadir. Corvan recalled Saray’s warning about the burning vines, but Gavyn had already disappeared behind the largest of the boulders at the base of the steep slope.

  Corvan followed quickly, expecting to see the boy climbing upwards but instead, in behind the boulder, he discovered a low opening amidst a jumble of rocks. Dropping to his knees, he crawled in after Gavyn.

  If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  White light shone from up ahead and the short crawl opened into a wider space under an intersected arc of angular slabs, like a natural cathedral. The light in the room was from tiny white flowers growing in thick swaths across the floor and up into the cracks and crannies between the stones. They reminded him of the small alpine flowers that grew in the mountains except each of the star shaped flowers at the tip of the slender stems sparkled with its own internal light.

  In the middle of carpet of light, sitting on a large rock as if he were the priest of this stone chapel, was Tsarek. A pile of fruit was in front of him. He looked up as Corvan walked up the clear pathway towards him.

  “I was wondering where you were hiding out,” Corvan said.

  “I could not let the Saray see me. She does not have a good opinion of me and would not be happy to see me again.”

  “She has seen you before?”

  Tsarek grimaced, as if the fruit he was gnawing on had turned instantly sour in his mouth. Then he shrugged, swallowed, and took another bite.

  Gavyn moved past them into a patch of the white flowers and each of his steps sent out a wave of light through the white blooms. He rooted about in the dirt and then returned with something fuzzy wiggling in his hands. As Corvan watch he waded through the flowers to the other side of the room, then busied himself near a short bush.

  Corvan turned back to Tsarek. “We need to leave here right away. Kate is dying. I am going to the palace in Kadir so I can use Jokten’s passage to go down Dubok Kholm and save her.”

  Tsarek choked, then spat out a chunk of fruit. “I can’t go to Kadir! The people in the city believe that the Chief Watcher with the long claw is still alive.” He held up the long single claw that had been severed when Kate closed the portal on him. “The palace has promised a great reward for anyone who can bring my body to rulers of the city, and everyone is so hungry that will all be looking for me. I can’t ever go to Kadir and it’s also not good to go with you to Dubok, my old master is in the Kholm. He will want to put another band on me and make me . . .”

  Corvan touched Tsarek’s long claw, and his friend stopped talking.

  “I understand Tsarek. I will find a way to get to Dubok Kholm so I can make a deal with TaKalian in return for Kate’s life.”

  “He won’t make a deal, I know . . . “

  “I have something he wants,” Corvan stated. “I need you to go through the water in the Molakar karst and then over the falls to Katay Alba. Gavyn is going to look for my mother in the Kadir library but in case she is already gone, I need you to find Kael and tell him that his sister Neera is in the Cor and that she wants to meet with him. Hopefully they have the tunnel to Kadir cleared by now.”

  Tsarek jumped off the rock. “I can do that. I know how to avoid the Volisk that guards the abyss and Kael and I are friends again. I will help him find your mother. I would like to meet her.” He cocked his head to one side. “But what should we do about Tyreth. Gavyn says she is being held in a prison in Rozan.”

  “I believe that Jorad will go set her free after guiding my mother to the library in Kadir. At least that is what he told me he would do.”

  “He will never get past the palace soldiers guarding the passage to Rozan,” Tsarek said. “It will be better if I sneak in and check on her after talking to Kael, Then I can tell you where she is being kept and perhaps help her in some way. Those in the Rozan prison do not live long. It’s very dark and there is no food to eat.”

  Gavyn came over to stand by Tsarek’s rock and Corvan put a hand on his shoulder. “Gavyn knows a way to get me into the palace of Kadir without being seen. After that, he will find my mother and see if she needs help. With the three of us working together we can find a way to save Kate, Tyreth, my mother and father. I want to get them out of the Cor and back to our home.”

  Tsarek straightened the first aid pack at his waist, then lifted his long claw over the rock. Corvan looked at the other two, then also put his hand into the middle.

  “All for one and one for all!” Tsarek called out.

  Corvan cocked his head to look at him. Surely Tsarek hadn’t read the Three Musketeers. There had been a copy in their home at one time at it had gone missing. Maybe it had been on a radio program?

  Gavyn added his hand, the motion sending waves of light radiating out though the flowers in all directions. He grinned at the two of them and Corvan smiled back.

  This had to be the strangest trio of adventurers the Cor had ever seen.