Striking a match, he examined the base of the wall. Fresh dust had fallen when Billy’s dynamite went off overhead and now his mother’s recent footprints were clearly visible, leading up to the wall. He stepped back, studying the portal until the match singed his fingers and fell to the ground. The faint portal glow had completely vanished. The portal was locked, at least until the new full moon but even then, there would be no way to carry on into the labyrinth, unless he could find the scepter and it could take him back.
His mother would have encountered Jorad on the other side. If he had been sleeping and she startled him, the man might have attacked her. He forced the thought away. His mother could defend herself and had obviously she had made it through the labyrinth in the past. With Jorad and his medallion they might already be on the way back to Kadir which would explain why the first portal was now closed.
Feeling his way up the darkened passage, he found Tsarek in his pantry, the candle from the cellar workshop stuck on the broken stub of rock where his musical crystal had been. He was intently sorting through his belongings and setting a few pieces aside. Corvan considered asking him what the metallic piece was in his original hobo bundle but stopped himself. Whatever it might have been, now was not the time to talk about Jorad and his mother returning to the Cor, nor about being trapped on the surface. Ducking through the low crawl he went through the cellar, then trudged through snow to the back porch.
Inside the kitchen, a half empty teacup was on the table. It was cool to the touch but the kettle on the stove was still warm. Had she gone to the rock right after Billy’s failed attempt to open the doors or had his mother been sitting here when he and Tsarek were down in the cellar? It could have been all the noise from the falling gears that scared her off. Either way, she had gone up the outhouse path, then stepped off to follow in Billy’s tracks.
The pencil from the cubbyhole in the kitchen wall that housed the party line phone sat next to her teacup. Maybe she had had left him a message in the secret compartment in the panty. Sure enough, a folded piece of scrap paper was propped up against the dented coffee tin she used for her farmer’s market cash.
Taking the letter back to the table, he pushed the teacup forward and spread it out.
Dear Kalian,
If you are reading this then you have returned home looking for me. Yesterday, Jake stopped by to tell me he felt guilty about some sticks of dynamite he had given you. He told me the complete story about your grandfather going missing at the Red Creek mine and also about seeing the same footprints from when your father went missing. I knew right away that you and Kate have gone back to try and rescue your father.
I went on a search and finally found the black box tucked in behind the seat of the truck. As soon as I held the scepter, I knew that I could use it to return to the Cor and bring Deyan, you and Kate back home. I hope that my grandfather has finally died and has left the Cor in peace. If not, this will be a very difficult and dangerous journey.
I have written a few notes on the back of this letter to help you know how this all fits together. Use the hammer and follow me back to Kadir right away. I will be hiding out in the library chapel. When you arrive, sing the song I taught you as a child, the one with your special name, so I know it’s you.
Neera.
He was startled by the use of her personal name at the end of the letter. All his life she had only referred to herself as “mother” and had never called herself Neera. The only person who used that name, and only when he was happier and more affectionate, was his father. Those were also the only times Corvan had heard his mother use his father’s personal name, Deyan.
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Turning the paper over he found a neatly numbered list.
- The seven cities of the Cor were originally ruled by a council, the holders of the seven medallions, who met in the chamber.
- My grandfather TaKalian was on that council, and he tried to take over the Cor by breaking into the council chamber.
- A man named Jokten was the leader of the council. He attempted to stop my grandfather by removing the hammer, the scepter, and the chamber master medallion.
- Jokten hid his wife and son in a secret cave near Kadir. Later, they sent their child, along with the hammer, the master medallion and the scepter to the surface for safekeeping.
- Their son was your grandfather, Faydor and he took the last name Wolfe from your grandmother who died when your father, Deyan, was born.
- My grandfather, TaKalian, found out what Jokten had done and sent me to the surface to bring the three items back to him. Instead, I fell in love this world and with your father and then you were born.
- Your grandfather, Faydor, insisted that when you were old enough, he would be taking you along with him to the Cor to set things right, but Faydor went missing when you were a baby and I decided to leave things as they were.
My father, TaKalian, was a man driven by hatred and a need for revenge. If he is still alive, he will want to see our entire family suffer and die.
Corvan put his head in his hands and stared at the final words. Down in the Molakar settlement, Saray had helped him put together the puzzle pieces about his complicated family history together. After that he had experienced TaKalian’s evil ways firsthand. Now everything he had once held dear, his small-town life with its relatively simple problems, had been blown to bits. Both sides of his family were part of a much larger story, one that would end badly if the head of the family that now controlled the council chamber had his way.
Sitting up straight, Corvan spoke across the table, as if the old man were sitting across from him.
“Our family will not let you win. My father is being healed in Kael’s library and he will be strong again. My mother is on her way to Kadir with the scepter and she is powerful too. When we are all together, we are going to come to defeat you and rescue Kate.” He pointed at the empty chair across from him and envisioned TaKalian sitting on his throne. “Your rule of the Cor is coming to an end.”
He was startled to see a figure point back at him from beyond the opposite chair. His own reflection in the repaired kitchen window stared back at him with silent echoes of the old man’s words from the chamber. "Yes, my boy. The desire for lumien power runs deep in your veins and it will cost you everything, including those you hold most dear."
Corvan dropped his hand to the table, rattling the teacup. His father may be getting strong again and his mother was an incredible woman, but he was just a kid. He was the weakest link in the chain, and if he didn’t smarten up, he could ruin their best plans.
Instinctively, his right hand clutched at the small pouch hanging against his chest. Possessing the Lifelight was a game changer. Its power was beyond anything that existed in the Cor. If he used just a drop to battle his grandfather, he could defeat him on his own, without putting his mother and father in danger. Reluctantly, he drew his hand away. The Lifelight had a great effect on creatures like Tsarek, and it had completely corrupted TaKalian. Even if he used it for a good purpose, that would not ensure it would not eventually destroy him as well.
Pushing back from the table, Corvan climbed the stairs to his bedroom. The door was open, his bed was neatly made and across the room the secret compartment to his grandfather’s chest was exposed, the thin upper lid propped against the wall. His mother must have used the scepter to open it.
Kneeling at the chest he noticed that the metal covered book was gone along with the few other items he had not yet had a chance to take a close look at. His mother must have known what they were for, and she obviously needed them.
In the center of the tray was his blackened fifty cent piece. Turning it over, he examined the imprint of words from the bottom of the hammer. His mother had found the coin when she cleaned his room but why had she left it for him? Knowing he had the hammer must have been what compelled her to search for the scepter so she could open the labyrinth passages. Unfortunately, she thought he still had the hammer and could follow along to meet her at the Kadir library.
Returning to the bedroom window he looked out over the Castle Rocks. The falling snow had already covered the black streaks and was steadily filling in the middle of the rocks, as if to erase all hope of ever returning to the Cor.
He had the Lifelight in his grasp but with no way to join up with his mother, find his father and rescue Kate, TaKalian would win and none of them would ever come back home. He leaned his forehead against the frosted glass.
The only other possible way back to the Cor was through the water tunnel back to where he and Kate had escaped from Molakar.
He had to find a way into the lowest reaches of the Red Creek mine.