Sending Teek on her mission to find his mother had taken up a good part of the night and no doubt Kharag would already be up and waiting in the guardroom for the day to begin. The man was greedy and impatient. He would likely miss the clue to where Teek had gone, raise the alarm, and start searching the palace grounds at first light. Time was quickly running out.
Corvan scuttled across the roof of the prison cell, then crouched alongside the outer wall of the palace. The back side of the blocky building was in deeper shadow with the overhanging roof blocking the murky light from the nighttime lumiens overhead. The window into Saray’s former bedroom was lower down so once he left the protection of the dark overhang, he would be full view of a set of low buildings behind the wall surrounding the courtyard—the barracks of the palace guards.
Saray had warned him to stay out of sight of the sentries at the gate; that the palace guards were well known for studying the palace windows for anything to break the monotony of their post. She meant for him to stay hidden inside the window, but he was going to be outside instead. There didn’t appear to be anyone in the gatehouse but the lumien light was already getting stronger and swinging along the wall was bound to eventually draw some attention.
Sending his two headed krypin out along the wall in the deepest shadow, just below the overhanging roof of the building, he maneuvered himself towards the first set of windows. At least he was getting better at positioning the twin ends in succession and moved smoothly through the shadows, almost like a spider on its web. His mind wandered briefly as he considered his stack of comic books at home. Batman had always been a favorite but maybe someone should write about a superhero that had the mobility of a spider.
Dismissing the random thought, he anchored one head of the krypin directly over Tyreth’s window, then lowered himself alongside it and pushed on the frame. It was locked and the inside curtain drawn, but the next window over was raised halfway and there was a light inside. Corvan pulled above it, then lowered himself headfirst to the opening to peek inside without being seen. If there were no one inside, he could go through the adjacent room to get to Saray and Jokten’s old apartment.
His head had just dropped to the level of the top of the window when a shadow drew near, along with Jorad’s voice.
“I’ve seen it with my own eyes, the scepter is here in Kadir.”
There was a murmur of a question from within the room.
“That won’t be happening. I won’t be telling you where it is, or who is carrying it,” Jorad replied. “The last thing I need is for you to run around Kadir trying to get your hands on it. Let me repeat again what I just told you. I need leverage in order to make a deal with Rozan to get Tyreth and the hammer released and that’s where you come in. I need to secure some of the best food in the place to trade with the Rozan soldiers guarding the passage. Once Tyreth is free, both the hammer and the scepter will be controlled by Kadir. I already have a medallion so with all three, I can take control of the chamber and we can work together to make Kadir great again.”
The other voice came again and Corvan recognized it as belonging one of the older men that had been at the council of Kadir just before he and Kate had left the Cor. The man said something about being the appointed leader of Kadir, and that he should be more actively involved in any plans. Jorad leaned out the window, so close Corvan could have tugged the hood off his head. The man inside followed up with a question about the High Priest and Mara.
Jorad looked over the barracks. “Leave them to me,” he said quietly, then pulled back inside the room and slid the window closed. Corvan only heard, “They will pay for what they did to. . ,” before the window cut off his words. At least he did not sound like he had bothered to lock the window.
Corvan dropped lower and caught sight of a man in a white tunic with a blue sash, a light globe in one hand. The man shut the door, and the room went dark.
A low musical note rang out below Corvan. Lifting his head, his upside-down view revealed a man in the center of the barracks parade ground. The man was using a mallet to strike a large round gong suspended between two posts. The daytime shift was beginning and soon the parade ground would be packed with soldiers.
Shoving the window open, Corvan clambered through headfirst, dropping to the floor below the window ledge. Releasing his rope from overhead, he coiled it up, clipped it back under his tunic, then stood in the shadows to one side and checked out the window.
Across the way, the soldier with the mallet was standing on the stoop of the barracks, staring at Corvan’s open window, then rubbing his eyes. When a taller man came out of the door, the man who had rung the gong pointed directly to where Corvan had entered. After a brief discussion, the taller man gestured flippantly in the direction of the prison cells then shoved the gong ringer off the porch. The man with the mallet walked uncertainly out the barrack’s gate, then disappeared from view. Now Kharag would check and find out that Teek was missing. He would definitely be coming inside the palace to investigate the guard’s report.
Easing the door of the room open a crack, Corvan peered out into the hall and checked the curved stairway leading down to the first floor. There was no one in sight. Staying back from the balcony, he stole along the wall toward the door that should lead into Tyreth’s bedroom. As Saray had noted, it was the only one without an arch. Another door opened somewhere below and whispered voices drew near the stairs. Slipping inside Tyreth’s outer room, he shut the door and crossed immediately into the inner room. The familiar scent of Tyreth’s scarf confirmed he was in the right place.
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From Saray’s description of the room, he knew the exact location of the bathing area but first he unlocked the window and eased it open a few inches to let in a bit of light and give him a way to escape. Retreating behind the shower screens, he knelt on the indented floor in front of three concentric circles of holes. Saray’s instructions were to spin the interlocking collars, line up the holes until they radiated outward and then the larger entry to the lower passages should lift up and allow him entrance. He tried to move the holes with his fingers, but the circles wouldn’t budge. Looking closely, he discovered the built-up residue between the rings was not allowing them to slide freely. He needed something that would give him more leverage.
A soft knock at the bedroom door sent his heart racing. Scrambling out from behind the shower screen, Corvan rolled under the bed and lay still.
A swath of light came from the direction of the door and two sets of boots crept into the room.
“What did you knock for? Do you want to wake everyone else up?” It was Kharag. “She’s not here. She’s dead, remember?”
“Yes, but Jorad was visiting the governor here tonight and you know how much he was in love with Tyreth. I thought he might have come in here. He and the governor were just in the room next door, where your soldier says he saw someone climb in the window. I bet he only caught a glimpse of Jorad and was too sleepy to recognize him. You’ve been working the soldiers too hard.”
“What choice do I have?” Kharag complained. “We lost a lot of people at the Battle of the Crypts, and we need everyone we have left to reinforce the city gates and also to guard the passage to Rozan. The few I have left at the barracks are needed to patrol the city to stop the people from fighting over what little food remains.”
“It’s a bad time for sure. You might just regret taking that promotion to Captain of the Guard.”
Someone sat heavily on the edge of the bed. “I already do,” Kharag said. “Earlier tonight I thought I had captured someone that could lead me to a new supply of food but . . .”
“What are you two doing in Tyreth’s private bedroom?” Jorad’s voice demanded from the doorway.
Kharag boots hit the floor and locked in place.
“We came to investigate a report that someone entered one of the palace windows, sir,” Kharag replied. “We had captured a young girl, but she escaped her cell. Then we had a report of someone climbing in the window next door, so we came to investigate.”
Jorad crossed the room. “This window was locked when I was here last. Did you open it?”
“We didn’t touch anything,” the other guard chimed in.
Corvan heard the window close, and the lock connect. “That means that someone has come through here. Who was this young girl you spoke of and were did she come from? Did she look like Tyreth?”
“No sir,” Kharag replied. “Very different. Shorter, with strange eyes that were all dark, like we have seen on some of the broken we’ve hunted down.”
“Dark eyes in a woman?” Jorad scoffed. “That doesn’t happen. Was she even acting like one of the broken?”
“No. Completely calm, too calm for my liking. I left her to sit in the cell overnight. I was going to bring her here in the morning for the governor . . . and yourself of course, to question, but she escaped.”
Jorad’s boots came toe to toe with Kharag’s. “Your guards are getting lax in their duties, Kharag. Don’t forget I have others that can be appointed to your position if you fail.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I suspect she is from Rozan and her eyes have adapted to the darkness. If she is able to move about in the dark, she could be useful to us as a spy. Send more of your guards out into the city to look for her and then bring her directly to me. Tell no one else, not even the governor. Do you understand?”
“I will do as your say,” Kharag responded.
Jorad let the man pass then Corvan heard them all leave. The door closed and locked behind them.
Corvan rolled from under the bed and crawled back to the shower pan. A cleaning brush was propped against the wall next to a stand with a water pot on top. It appeared the long metal handle would fit neatly into the holes in the floor, another of Jokten’s ingenious keys. Jamming it into the innermost ring, Corvan easily moved it into position. Moving to the middle ring, it crept slowly around then slipped into place as the soap scum released. As soon as he spun the outer ring to line up with the first two, the entire indented basin rose up on an internal hinge. Brush in hand, Corvan dropped inside onto a solid floor, crouched down and used the brush handle to pull the lid closed over his head. The three rings spun on their own accord and clicked back to their original position. A push upward confirmed it was locked back in place and he was turning away when amber light shot through the holes. Someone was back in the room with a glow globe.
“You can come out now,” Jorad said. “I noticed your footprints in the dust leading from the window. I need to speak with you. I can help you get back to Rozan if you will take me with you. I would like to make a deal with your leader that will provide your city with food. If you cooperate with me, I will make sure Kharag does not find you.”
After a pause, Jorad’s voice came even closer along with a scuffling along the floor. He was on his knees by the bed. “There is no need to be afraid, I am a priest of . . .” The man grunted in dismay, then stood and moved about the room. A door off to one side opened, then shut again. Footsteps entered the shower area and the circular shafts of light from the round holes flickered as Jorad stood immediately overhead.
Something fell and rolled about the shower pan. Tyreth’s familiar scent wafted down to Corvan. As Jorad bent to pick the object up, Corvan caught an intense look on the man face.
The man held the round item in one hand, sniffed it, then spoke resolutely into the perfumed air. “I promise you Tyreth, I will not let you die in the Rozan prison. I am coming for you.”
The man set the object off to one side then left the shower area, the small round holes going dark as the bedroom door closed behind him.
Corvan set the shower brush off one side and pulled out the glow pod Gavyn had given him. As he squeezed it a few times, a pulse of light revealed a steeply inclined round passage, its bottom coated in slippery residue.
Teek was correct. He had was now the Cor-Van of the sewers.
