Kate heard the old man stumble -at the top of the stairs, just inside the anteroom with the broken door. Wherever those steps led to, it must be quite a climb for he was always tired and breathing hard when he finally emerged through the black curtain. Shuffling across the room, he would collapse onto the closest stool and catch his breath before talking with her.

  This time, as he went to sit down, he slipped off the edge of the stool and fell hard to the floor. He lay there a long while, blaming his current state on a person named Kael. He wanted that person to die slowly in great pain for betraying him and stealing something he referred to over and over as ‘my Lifelight’.

  When the old man finally made it up to his stool, there were also a few choice words and curses for Corvan and his delay in coming back. Kate stole a quick glance at the man. A fresh cut on his forehead was oozing dark blood and his breath was being pumped out in jets of vapor, along with even more complaints and curses. He put a hand to the cut, and she noted that his white gloves had been replaced by thicker gray mittens. Did they have a winter season in the Cor, or was it because of the fading energy in the medallion he had stolen from her? It might be connected to the medallion’s energy as something was changing for her as well. Her connection to what was going on around her, both here in the chamber, and also with her body in Molakar, was ebbing away. Saray had secretly been coming to Corvan’s anteroom when the old man was not around but the last time it had taken a long while before Kate even became aware of Saray’s soft voice calling from behind the black cloth stretched over the star opening.

  “You are fortunate your body is not in this place,” the old man wheezed, leaning towards her. Kate ignored him and kept her eyes closed. The old man had stopped wearing his fake black teeth on his more recent visits and it made him even harder to understand. “For some reason the heat from my throne room cannot penetrate to this frozen chamber even if I leave the bottom door wide open. Instead, a cold draft reaches my healing tub and cools it down.”

  “Then why even bother,” Kate said softly, then instantly regretted it. At least when he visited, she could sense the medallion’s waning comfort to some degree.

  “Because I cannot sense Corvan’s return from down there,” he pouted. Clearing his throat he spoke in a more normal voice. “Have you felt anything from the boy?”

  He was actually asking politely, and Kate opened her eyes to find him dabbing at the cut on his head with the back of his mitten.

  “I have not felt anything since you forced me to call him here the last time. The pain you caused has made me weaker and I am unable to stay in touch with him.”

  “Yes,” he said, pulling his mitten from his head, glancing at the smear of blood on it, then looking intently at her. “I did not consider that possibility. It is unfortunate that our actions can have consequences that we do not foresee. I admit that like other people I can make mistakes when I am also not feeling like myself. Of course, the advantage I possess is that I will live long enough to find a way to win in the end.”

  “How do you know you will live that long?” Kate pointed to his forehead. “You barely made it up the stairs this time. You’re getting weaker too.”

  He sighed deeply, “It gets harder when I must come up here. I feel much stronger in my throne room. The healing waters in my bath are infused with lumien essence that restores my strength and eases the ache in my bones.”

  “Where does the water come from?” Kate asked.

  “Deep below Kholm city. Although it is the deepest city of the Cor, it warmed from the waters below. When that lying son of mine flooded the library and the lower city, he cut me off from the source of the Lifelight but the healing waters from below continue to rise through the old passages and bring a small amount of lumien power to my bathing place. As long as I take my daily bath, I will heal up and live on indefinitely.” He grunted to himself. “I can’t lower the water level in Dubok, but I could always close the water gates and bring my final judgement on all the peoples of the Cor.”

  The vindicative note in his words caught Kate’s attention. “What would closing the gates do?” she asked. Saray had told her to get as much information from the old man as possible and this sounded very important.

  He looked at her through narrowed eyes, then shook his head in disdain. “It doesn’t matter right now, and I need the healing waters every day. Right now I don’t think I could make it to the lower levels on my own anyway.”

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  “Doesn’t that make you are a prisoner in your throne room?”

  He shrugged. “For now. Once I get the Lifelight back I will regain all my strength and then I can come and go throughout the Kholm and eventually all the Cor as much as I please,” His toothless mouth puckered into a sloppy grin, and he leaned towards her. “Perhaps I might even go to the surface and see what your world has to offer someone like me.”

  Kate turned her head and looked to the ceiling of the chamber. Was he serious about going to the surface or was he just trying to get a reaction out of her? It was bad enough to think of him ruling all the people of the Cor. “Will many people in the Cor suffer and die if you rule the Cor?” she asked. “You seem to hate all of them.”

  He grunted out a laugh. “Hate is only for people you know enough to get revenge. The rest are just there to serve my plans. I will give them a choice to serve instead of dying but, having observed them this long, I agree that many of the stupid ones will die needlessly.”

  Kate turned back to him. “Will Corvan have a choice to serve you?”

  “No.” The man spit the word out along with a spray of spittle from his wrinkled lips. “Not him or any of his family. They have defied me and must pay for the choices they made long ago.

  “But what if Corvan doesn’t come back in time? The medallion’s power is almost gone, and you are getting colder and feeling more ill.”

  “Corvan wants to do what is right by you. He will eventually come back here with the scepter. Whether you live that long or not is the only thing you need worry about. You cannot leave here or avail yourself of any source of healing.”

  Kate lay in silence a long moment, pondering his words. If Corvan returned to late to save her what would happen to Saray and the other people of the Cor? Or what if he got trapped on the surface and could never return. “Will the scepter make you stronger?” Kate asked.

  “I believe that when he gives it to me to set you free, that his act of compassion will fully empower the medallion. I am not sure about the scepter will do as I avoided touching the main part of it. I do believe I need all three of them back here. Thankfully, I have been told where the hammer is and soon it will be delivered to me. With the power of all three in my possession I can move out to conquer the Cor and finally get my Lifelight back.” He added in a mumble, “as long as that idiot has not wasted it on healing others in his pathetic family.”

  Kate turned to look at the man. “Corvan has it?”

  “No! Kael has my Lifelight. He would never give it to a boy like Corvan. Kael is smart enough to see that Corvan has been consuming lumien seeds and cannot be trusted. Holding the Lifelight for even one minute would be more than that boy could resist.” He looked up to the ceiling of the chamber, rubbed the dried blood on his head, then nodded to himself. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea, Kate. Perhaps I should spare the boy. Corvan might be convinced to help me find the Lifelight and bring it to me. He of all people will understand its power and would do anything to get his hands on it.”

  “He won’t steal for you.” Kate said.

  The wrinkled face turned back to her. “I don’t think you understand how the desire for lumien power changes a person. Corvan will never be the same again. You may have known him at one time but from now on you will always doubt if you can trust anything he will tell you.”

  “I don’t believe he could be convinced to serve you and leave his family to suffer,” Kate said.

  The old man grasped the edge of the table and pushed himself stiffly from the stool. He leaned in over her and the faint glow of the master medallion swayed in front of Kate’s face.

  “You may be right, Kate. After living this long, one thing I understand is that none of us knows anything for certain. It may be best to stick with my original plan to punish him with the others. I can’t be taking the risk of having any of my children and grandchildren working against me.” His toothless grin came back. “Yes, I think that when Corvan arrives, I will seal him in this chamber until he dies from this wretched cold.”

  The glow swung away, and she watched as the man limped out through the black curtain, leaving her alone in the darkness with her thoughts. Could the man be right about Corvan? If she was honest, she still had some doubts about his new resolve to stop eating lumien seeds. It was likely true that he would always be tempted to use them again and if he did, would he eventually come to resent her for asking him to stop? The questions pressed down on her, accusing her of being na?ve and too willing to believe that people were good at heart.

  Why should she believe people were good? Hadn’t her own grandfather mistreated her and locked her up in a dark place? Even her mother hadn’t treated her much better. Corvan was the one who had declared his love for her and promised to be faithful to her but if he was just going to eventually turn his back on her, there didn’t seem to be much reason to carry on.

  Just as the dark dread of that seemingly inevitable dismal future pressed down on her, a soft breath of warm air flowed past along with the familiar scent of flowers.

  A faint smile lifted with renewed hope. Saray had arrived in her anteroom. There was someone beside Corvan who cared for her, someone she could always trust and confide in. For the first time in her life Kate knew what it meant to have both a loving grandmother and a compassionate mother.

  Calming her mind, Kate waited for Saray’s comforting voice.