Jorad pushed through the curtain with the bck knife extended, and grim determination etched on his face by the flickering firestick. “You will not leave the Cor until you give me the counterpart to the hammer, the medallion Kate was wearing. It belongs here in the Cor. You, however, do not belong here and never will.”

  “Those are strong words.” The old woman stood to her feet and stood next to Corvan. “How did you come by this knowledge?”

  Jorad gred steadily at Corvan. “What I have learned is that even the innocence of youth is false. I have decided to take matters into my own hands.”

  The old woman leaned forward and peered into Jorad’s face. “And what do you intend to do with a medallion?”

  Jorad turned his attention to her and stood up straighter. “As the new High Priest, I will maintain the bance of power between the pace and the priests. A medallion will give me the leverage I require to ensure that the pace cooperates.”

  Corvan threw his hood back. “You aren’t talking about the pace.” He shook his head in disgust. “You mean Tyreth, don’t you? You don’t even trust the woman you hope to convince to marry you.”

  Jorad pushed the tip of the knife at him. “You are a foolish boy. Not only were you spying on others, listening in on private conversations, but you also left a map in the dust down in the temple pantry. That’s how I knew exactly where to find you. You know nothing of how to handle power. That is why you will never be a leader of the Cor.”

  Corvan did not pull back from the bde. “I don’t want to be your kind of leader. I don’t want to control people; I want others to know that I care about them.”

  Jorad’s gaze went to Corvan’s neck, then he lifted the point of the knife to Corvan’s throat. “You can say what you want but since you are leaving the Cor, you will give me the medallion you are wearing on that chain. In return, I will permit you and Kate leave through the Cor shield before I close it and seal off this settlement for good.”

  Corvan looked at the bde, then to Jorad’s face. “How do I know you are telling the truth?”

  “Because I am now the High Priest of the . . .” Jorad’s voice trailed off. He stood blinking in the silence.

  Corvan withdrew Gavyn’s medallion from within his cloak. For a brief moment, he regretted itwas only a replica and not the glowing one that soothed a person’s fears. The real one might actually heal Jorad’s hard heart.

  Keeping his knife extended, Jorad yanked on the medallion Gavyn had given to Corvan, the chain biting into the back of his neck before the thin chain snapped. Intense satisfaction shone in Jorad’s eyes as he tucked it away. “My men will arrive any minute with enough fire sticks to bring down the rocks and seal off the tunnel to this settlement. If you wish to try to leave through the crack in the Cor shield, you must go immediately. I cannot allow them to see you.”

  He pointed the bde at Corvan’s arm. “I will take back the scabbard I gave you earlier.”

  Corvan pulled up his sleeve to expose the sheath and the old woman help to untie it, then put it in Jorad’s outstretched hand. As he tucked it inside his robe, Corvan turned away, bent down to Kate and gently shook her shoulder. “Wake up, Kate. It’s time to go.”

  Her eyes fluttered open and focused on his face. “Where are we going?”

  “We are going home. I’ll take you to see the stars.”

  Kate nodded and Corvan helped her to her feet, shielding her from Jorad while making sure to cover her hand that still clutched the glowing medallion. Pulling her in close he whispered in her ear. “May I carry this for you while we walk, Kate? It would be nice to feel its warmth close by, just for a bit.”

  To his surprise, Kate willingly released the medallion into his hand. He tucked it secretly inside his tunic, gd for once it did not glow strongly for him.

  Taking Kate by the hand, he led her into the kitchen room. “Why is it so dark out?” she asked.

  “It’s nighttime,” Corvan said.

  “Where are all the stars?”

  “They’re covered up right now,” Corvan replied, “but we’ll see them soon.”

  Jorad held aside the curtain into the entry. “Quickly now. We have no time to lose.”

  Corvan helped Kate out of the dwelling and into the Mokar cavern. Jorad followed and once they were outside the door, he lit a long firestick and held it up to light their way.

  From the entry a thin voice called out, “Farewell, Cor-Van. May you walk in the truth until we meet again.”

  “Wait here a minute,” Corvan said to Kate, releasing her hand and running back to hug the hunched-over shoulders. He crouched low and looked into her eyes. “How can I say good-bye? I don’t even know your name.”

  “My name is Saray.” She kissed his cheek and lowered her voice to a whisper. “When you come back to us, you must be sure to find me. I will help you become a great Cor-Van.” Reaching into his cloak she unclipped Gavyn’s carved hammer, turned it over in her hands, fumbled with the holster and then clipped it back into pce. “You must keep this as your pledge to return to us. Unless you return this to the Cor, our people will continue to suffer.”

  “You don’t understand,” Corvan said softly, gncing back to make sure Jorad was not coming closer. “The real hammer is with Tyreth. Gavyn made this one, and I think he also carved that medallion I just gave to Jorad. I have the real one with me but I think Kate still needs it.”

  Saray nodded and patted his arm and smiled. “It’s alright. I understand where all this is going and soon you will too.”

  “The others are arriving.” Jorad called out, holding his firestick aloft and pointing at a faint glow coming from the entrance into Mokar. “The captain informed me he would be bringing his guards along with my men to ensure we close off Mokar completely. We need to move quickly.”

  Saray gave him a tear-filled smile. “Until we meet again, Cor-Van,” she said, then turned back to her dwelling.

  Corvan ran back, took Kate by the hand, and moved along the path leading past the karst and towards the where the gardens had been.

  Jorad fell in behind them. “Do not think you were sent to be our Cor-Van,” Jorad said quietly. “A true Cor-Van must know how to wield power and shape the world in which he lives. Instead, you have been used by others to accomplish their goals. That is not the destiny of a Cor-Van.”

  Corvan did not respond. There was no point arguing with Jorad. He tightened his grip on Kate’s hand and pulled her faster down the path.

  On the far side of the karst, they entered a roughly hewn cavern full dirt, debris, and pieces of uprooted pnts. A bit of light shone out from a few clusters of small lumiens overhead. Farther along, a new corridor ran straight ahead between crude stone support pilrs cut out of the solid rock. At the end of the double row of ragged columns, a patch of the Cor shield was exposed against the cavern wall. A long crack ran up the center of the glossy rock, easily wide enough for a person to walk through.

  “Do not touch the walls once you are inside,” Jorad urged. “Legend says the cracks in the Cor shield will close on any who touch the walls. I will seal it once you are through and protect our people from more intruders from the outside.”

  They stopped at the entrance into the crack. Kate turned back, left Corvan’s side and approached Jorad. “Thank you for helping us, Jorad,” she said, kissed the man on the cheek, then returned to take Corvan’s hand.

  The lines on Jorad’s face softened and he looked at Corvan. “I am sorry it turned out this way. I want to believe that you were deceived by the Watchers, that you did not know better.” He swallowed. “You could not know what evil they brought on us. Many good men were deceived by them—including my brother, Morgan. In turn, he betrayed my family . . . took my wife and child as prisoners to the pace and . . .” His forearm bulged as his fist clenched tight around the hilt of the bck knife hanging at his side.

  “I’m sorry, Jorad,” Corvan said, “but I promise you, I did not betray—”

  Jorad’s eyes fshed. “No one who has been in the company of the watchers can be trusted.” He gestured toward the crack with the bde. “You must leave the Cor and never return.”

  Corvan looked into his eyes. “I understand how much you must hate the Watchers. I only hope it does not blind you to the truth.”

  Jorad shook his head. “I no longer believe that truth exists.”

  “It does,” Corvan said. “I know it has changed me for the better.”

  “Then you are more fortunate than most.” Jorad held out the fire stick. “You may need this on the other side. Go quickly. I will stall them as long as I can.”

  Corvan accepted the fire stick and stuck out his other hand to shake Jorad’s.

  Jorad looked at Corvan’s hand, then back to his face. His jaw tensed, then he turned abruptly and strode out into the darkness between the pilrs.

  As soon as Jorad was past the closest column, a shadow stepped out. Corvan’s heart thumped in his chest. Was it the Rakash? One of the grey men?

  A tiny fire stick, like a lone votive candle in a huge cathedral, came to life, throwing its feeble light up the stone spire.

  Below the light, A small figure stood in the darkness.

  Tsarek was alive and he was waving good-bye. Corvan waved back, his eyes brimming with tears. When he blinked them away both the light and his friend were gone.