With the circle of fabric safely hidden inside the tree, Gavyn stood next to the bubbling spring, gazing out over his garden.

  Corvan spoke quickly to distract him and pointed overhead. “I listened in to the High Priest talking up in the Hall. All of Kadir is having a hard time keeping things growing and their food is running out. I was hoping to take some from their pantry for the trip to Dubok Kholm.”

  Gavyn helped Corvan to his feet, pulled him through the gate, then let go and ran to a tangle of vines trailing down one of the buttresses between the seven walls. Grabbing onto the long stems he climbed upward, searching between the twisting vines, before jamming things into the cloth pouch that hung at his side. The wiry boy kept climbing until he reached the curve that arced toward the middle of the room and the large lumien. Now he was hanging below the horizontal vines and moving along hand by hand like he was on playground monkey bars — except he was high enough to break his neck if he fell. Corvan followed cautiously along below until the boy reached the center of the room where a few vines hung alongside the fading glow of the big lumien. Swinging from vine to vine like Tarzan, he searched above the central lumien, shoving more objects into his pouch. Finally, he slid down the longest vine, before dropping into the bowl that formed the top of the great tree. Before Corvan could get through the gate, he was at the spring, washing the items from his cloth pouch and laying them in the moss to dry.

  Corvan picked one up. What had once been a ripe lumien, was now wrinkled up like large prune. He didn’t like prunes; his frequent stomach issues meant his mother had fed them to him far too often. Taking the fruit from Corvan’s hand, Gavyn gave the nub a sharp twist, tore off a section of skin, stripped out a leathery piece of fruit and handed it to Corvan. It was tough to chew, not at all mushy like a prune and it was sweeter than raisins. Gavyn finished the one in his hand and put the seed back in his pouch. He pushed the rest of the dried lumiens toward Corvan, pointed above them and rubbed his stomach.

  “I should have brought supplies from Saray’s huge garden instead of having to raid yours.” Opening the side of his pack he tucked a few away then picked up one of the larger ones. The end of the withered lumien had torn away when Gavyn pulled it from the vine and the pointy end of the seed lay exposed. Was it even still alive? Without thinking, Corvan touched his tongue to it. An intense zap of lumien power rocked him back his haunches. He looked up to find Gavyn watching him intently.

  “It’s okay. I’ll take this one along and maybe I can plant it in a dark place if I need some light. It’s definitely still got some life in it.”

  Gavyn nodded thoughtfully as he began sorting through the pile of washed lumiens, choosing two more of the other larger seeds. Taking the first one back from Corvan he ran to the garden with the three seeds, scavenged about in some bushes, then returned as he worked with his hands. Reaching the spring he handed Corvan a packet with the three seeds wrapped in a large leaf and tied with thin vines.

  As Corvan reached under his tunic to open up the bottom section of this pack to stow the packet away, a small pouch tumbled out. Gavyn picked it up.

  “I forgot I had that with me,” Corvan said. “Remember those small seeds from the mother plant in the high priest’s hall? The bright red ones? I planted one in a tunnel at my home, but the vine died off.” He looked away a moment, hoping the young boy would not see the guilt he was sure was on his face for his part in consuming the energy in that plant. “Before we left my home, Tsarek brought the dead seed to me and told me to bring it back to where it belongs. I’m not sure why, as I don’t think it’s alive.”

  Gavyn picked the small seed out of the pouch, carefully examined it, then popped it in his mouth. Corvan gave the boy a questioning look, but Gavyn only shook his head, his eyes smiling as he stuck out his tongue to show the seed on top. He wasn’t chewing it, only getting it damp with his saliva.

  Taking the packet with the dried fruit back from Corvan, he untied the vine, then went to work stripping the fruit from the three oblong seeds and setting it aside. After arranging the seeds in the moss so that their pointed tips were touching in the center, like a three-point star, he pulled the mother plant seed from his mouth, carefully balanced it where the other three met, then stood up.

  “What’s that supposed to do?” Corvan asked, standing beside the boy. Gavyn just took his hand and kept watching. They stood so still for so long that Corvan began to get a cramp in his leg, but when he tried to move, Gavyn only tightened his grip on Corvan’s hand.

  Just when Corvan was sure he would need to stretch out his leg, a tiny white light began jumping about the connection point between the three larger seeds, like the bits of lightening from the magneto in his science set. A single white spark shot up out of the little seed balanced on top, followed by a green one, then a blue one and finally three pink sparks in rapid succession, like the tiniest of roman candle fireworks.

  The small seed from the mother plant began to glow with its familiar internal red light and Gavyn laughed out loud. The boy immediately put his hand over his mouth as his eyes sparkled with joy. He appeared to be surprised or embarrassed by his vocal expression.

  Freed from Gavyn’s grip, Corvan stretched and massaged the cramp out of his calf as the boy tucked the three larger seeds into Corvan’s pouch then handed it back to him. As Corvan stowed it away in the bottom of his pack, Gavyn ran out the gate and climbed the vines back toward the center of the room, the little seed from the mother plant glowing pink inside one hand. Reaching the wrinkled lumien hanging limply from the ceiling like a partially deflated birthday balloon, he swung back and forth holding on to two vines, building up momentum, then he let go of one and with his fingers pointed like an arrowhead with the small seed in his fingertips, he thrust his hand deep into the main lumien. He hung there briefly, his arm buried up to his elbow before he made his back down to the tree and down to the ground. Taking Corvan’s hand again, he studied the main lumien.

  The saggy lumien overhead twitched, then bounced gently on the end of its main support vine. The thick vine bulged, contracted, then did it again. The lumien began to inflate like a balloon with each pulse of its vine until it was back to its full size. Gavyn dropped Corvan’s hand and pointed upward in triumph.

  “But the lights not getting any stronger,” Corvan said.

  Gavyn shook his head and made a large circle gesture with his hand and pointed to out the door.

  “Oh right, it’s the dark phase. When its light again, it will be brighter, and the garden will get healthy?”

  Gavyn bounced up and down, clapped his hands and pointed around the room and then at the spring.

  “So, with the water flowing and the light coming back, the garden will fully recover?”

  Gavyn let go of Corvan’s hand and jumped up on the low wall, surveying the garden with both hands on his hips. Corvan moved in next to him. If the boy started working on the garden now, they would never get away.

  “Gavyn, With the garden fixed up, I think it’s time to find a way into the palace. I’ve been thinking that if you can get me into the prison cells on the side of the palace, then I can get on the roof and in a window. Everyone in the palace will be sleeping and if I can get up into Saray’s old room, I can find the way down to Dubok Kholm.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Gavyn nodded then leapt off the wall and headed toward one of the other arched doors leading out of the seven-sided room. Corvan grabbed his bag and followed along.

  A short distance along a corridor leading away from the garden, Gavyn pointed to a hole in the floor near the wall. Corvan bent down to check it out and the familiar smell of the sewer rose up to meet him. He looked up at Gavyn, “That doesn’t smell like a royal palace.”

  Gavyn gave him an easy shove that sent Corvan sprawling off to one side. Looking at him with a grin, the boy sat into the hole and wiggled in feet first. He was halfway in when the stopped and made motions with his hands of bending his legs forwards inside the hole.

  “It’s that tight?” Corvan asked, his stomach clenching at the thought.

  Gavyn gave a curt nod before squirming his way inside. His head was above level of the floor for a moment while his feet shuffle below and then he abruptly dropped away and vanished into the darkness.

  Corvan crawled over and looked into the hole. He could hear Gavyn moving away below and his stomach rolled, not only from smell but also from having to go feet first into this tight space without knowing how this could possibly work. Gavyn was considerably smaller. Had the boy even taken that into consideration?

  “Are you sure I can fit?” Corvan called into the hole but there was no response. Gavyn had already moved on.

  Sitting up, Corvan stuck his feet inside, using his toes to feel the sides of the vertical space as he carefully lowered his body in. He was at chest level with the floor when his pack bunched up behind him. Fighting off the panic, he turned to one side and straightened his back. His feet let go and he skittered down into the tube until his heels hit the floor. Now he was standing upright in what felt like cocoon made of solid rock. Gavyn’s instruction was to move his legs forwards, but he couldn’t move them as they were bound tightly at his knees. He was too tall for this space. He tried to push out but now the pack wedged him tightly. He was about to call out in a panic when he felt a tug on his ankles. Gavyn was at his feet, dragging his legs ahead on his heels. His knees scraped down the wall before he dropped hard into a sitting position in a low horizontal fissure, his feet out of sight in the darkness ahead.

  Gavyn pulled again and Corvan wiggled and scooted his butt forward until his feet went into thin air. He was balanced on the edge of a sharp lip but a yank on his leg pulled him over, sliding him along a steep incline. Tumbling sideways he came out of a fissure to land with a thump in a sandy hole.

  A pulsing green light came on beside him. Gavyn was holding a small seed pod that he kept rhythmically squeezing to make a row of globes inside glow. He pointed his light pod at a narrow ledge alongside along a trough of sludge moving slowly towards them and off down the tunnel.

  “Oh great, another lovely adventure in the sewers of the Cor,” Corvan said dryly. “I wish you could have warned me about that entry,” Corvan said. “I wasn’t sure what to do and was sure I would get stuck. I should have taken my pack off first.”

  Gavyn patted Corvan’s arm in apology then stepped onto the ledge, squeezing his odd light low and at his side so Corvan could see where to put his feet. The curve of the wall threatened to push Corvan off into the sewage, but the boy was short enough to scoot quickly along. His stomach heaved and he fought it off. No point in throwing up his recent meal of dried lumiens.

  Thankfully, just around the first corner, the raw sewage belched up in clumps from under a wall. Gavyn began to scramble upwards through a vertical channel. Retrieving his krypin, Corvan sent it overhead, then followed to join Gavyn on a stubby platform overlooking a wide round shaft carved out of the stone.

  They were on the side of a high room, like the inside of a grain silo. Smooth walls climbed upwards to a smaller circle light overhead. Corvan leaned out to look closer, but Gavyn pulled him back then squeezed his light pod rapidly and held the brighter light out over the hole.

  A stilt-leg spider appeared, goosestepping its way through the sludge on the floor with its incredibly long legs. Another appeared and then more until the floor was crawling with them, their multifaceted eyes fixed on the light in Gavyn’s hand. Suddenly they all scuttered off to the sides and then a much larger one emerged from a dark hole in the side of the wall down below. Corvan stepped back from the ledge. Gavyn touched the coiled up krypin then pointed to the round hole high overhead.

  “That’s the way up to the palace?” Corvan whispered.

  Gavyn nodded, pointed back down the channel they had just climbed and gave Corvan a mock salute of farewell.

  “Thanks for getting me this far,” Corvan said. “After you find my mother and the scepter, can you also go back to the City of Refuge and see if you can find Madam Toreg or Garek, the leader of the gray men?”

  Gavyn seemed a bit unsure.

  “The High Priest said Tyreth is in prison in Rozan, but she is very sick, and the Rozan guards are willing to trade her for food. Madam Toreg needs to get to Rozan first or her father will make a deal to rescue her. He only wants her medallion and after that he will just abandon her there to die.”

  Gavyn nodded, holding out his glow pod to Corvan.

  “Thanks Gavyn. Are you fine to get back in the dark?”

  Gavyn chuckled, folded his arms across his chest then stepped backwards into the channel. Using only his feet, be descended the smooth walls in the rock as if he were on an elevator platform.

  As soon as his grinning face had vanished, Corvan sent one end of the krypin toward the round lights overhead and tied the other end round his waist. Manipulating the krypin controls he let the rope pull him up and away from the spiders below.

  Giving the pod a few squeezes to activate the light, he held it in his mouth while he examined the hole at the top, It turned out to be only a hands breath across and judging from the sludge caked around it, he was under a toilet seat, just like the outhouse at home. At least fresh air was flowing towards his face through the hole and pushing back the foul odor from below, like rotten eggs, that was making his head swim. He needed to get out of this confined space before the sewer gas overwhelmed him. Steadying himself against the tension of the krypin, Corvan pushed hard, and a larger round disk pivoted up on a hinge. Climbing through he eased the round piece slid back down, turned around and gave the pod one quick squeeze.

  As expected, he was back inside the prison cell where he had first met Morgan and Tyreth on his initial trip to Kadir.

  A soft sigh came from the other side of the room and Corvan covered up the light. A prisoner was sleeping on the stone bench and that meant the door would be locked. Not that it mattered. He would use his krypin again and go out again through the hole in the roof. He looked into the gloom overhead, thankfully there was enough light from outside to guide his rope up the wall and through the hole. He started it up, but the new double headed blue krypin was not as long as his old green one. Instead, he would need to use both ends to walk up himself up the walls and through the hold at the top.

  Sending the other end of the rope up on the curved walls of the room he ascended to where he was hanging off to one side. He was just about to reach up and pull himself though when the door below him opened. Corvan froze as a palace guard stepped into the cell, turned and spoke to someone outside the door. “You can wait for me over there by the guardhouse. This one isn’t dangerous.”

  It was Kharag, the man who had threatened to push Rayu off the cliff when Corvan was first captured. From what Corvan had overheard at the central plaza gate into Kadir, Kharag was now the captain of the palace guard. Now he was both mean and dangerous.

  The large man strode over the stone bench, then prodded the sleeping person. The person grumbled in return.

  Kharag lowered his voice and looked back at the stream of light from the open door.

  “Listen carefully. I know you came into Kadir from another city. If there is still food where you came from it would be very valuable information. I know powerful people who would reward you for show us the way to your city.”

  The figure on the bench waved a dismissive hand at Kharag and the moved closer, blocking Corvan’s view.

  A girl’s voice muttered something at Kharag.

  Kharag shook the girl’s shoulder and she turned onto her side. “Don’t try that with me,” he growled. “You don’t have any rights in Kadir and in the morning you will be taken the Palace for questioning. If I tell them you came from Rozan to steal lumiens, they will give you the death penalty. Your life is in my hands, so you had better think carefully about my offer.” He pointed to the door. “I will be at the guard house all night. Tell them you want to see the Captain of the Guard. That’s me now. I’ll give you until the signal for the start of the new day to decide.”

  As Kharag stomped towards the door, the person below rolled onto their back and opened their eyes.

  There was no way the dark recesses could hide him from the girl down below. Teek was staring at him in astonishment.