Kharag stopped at the prison cell door and looked back. “You have until first light to decide. You will not be given a second chance.” The door closed behind him and Teek jumped to her feet, gesturing frantically for Corvan to come down.

  Releasing one of the krypin ends, Corvan swung across the room and landed softly in front of her. Teek immediately grabbed him in a tight hug. Dropping the krypin control Corvan wrapped his arms around her.

  “What are you doing here, Teek?” he whispered in her ear.

  Teek pulled back and ran a dirty sleeve across her eyes. “When you took down the tower everything was a huge mess.” Her voice was barely audible, her eyes flicking to the closed door. “The Rakash went crazy from their elixir and were running madly about, searching for more. Some died on our vines and in my mother’s lab entrance traps, because they could sense her lumien experiments and were trying to get into Katay Set. Everyone in our settlement was terrified.”

  “What about Kael? Is he looking for me?”

  “He knows you left through the tunnel to Kadir. That explosion at the tower was pretty much a dead giveaway. He’s got his men working to clear out the rubble and open the passage.”

  “Then how did you get up here to Kadir?”

  The question came out with a note of suspicion, and she frowned at him. “Have you forgotten that I have explored all the small caves around Katay Alba? There is a tight crack that starts over by the door into Anamir and cuts back through the rock to Kael’s tunnel, just past where it left the bottom of the tower. I was worried about you so I ran away from Katay Set to see if I could get through that crack. I found your mining lamp and there was blood on it so then I got real worried. I had to make sure you were alright, so I followed the drips of blood to the waterfall and from there to Kadir. I was distracted by the sight of that big statue and thats when the palace guards caught me. It’s too bad I didn’t have a potion to use on them and get away.”

  At the mention of her potions Corvan gripped her shoulder. “Teek, did you poison Kael’s supply of elixir? I was sure I saw you pouring something into the pool that night you helped me get away.”

  Teek grimaced and shoved his hand away. “I’m not my mother,” she hissed. “I don’t hate the Rakash, and I don’t need revenge. I poured in a power concoction of mine that was supposed to make them sleepy and give us a better chance of getting away, like the medicine Kael’s wife gave you. Remember how dopey you were on hers?” She gave him a half smile. “Anyways, I got it wrong, and my potion worked the opposite. It made them all hyper and now Kael can’t give them any more of what’s left in the pool, so they are mad at him and causing all sorts of trouble. I think it might take him a while to sort it all out and get some of his own men up here to Kadir.” She sat on the bench. “But he will do it as soon as he can. He sure wants to find you.”

  “I think I know why and it’s not exactly my fault is it?” Corvan said, his voice raising.

  Teek eyes went wide as she pointed to the door, waved him off to the back wall, then lay down just as the door to the cell open and a shaft of light cut across to her bench.

  Corvan froze. His krypin was hanging out of the light but if the guard came in . . .

  The seconds ticked by before the man outside grunted softly and the door closed again, this time with the familiar click of its lock.

  Teek leapt up and tiptoed over. “Keep your voice down,” she whispered. “Now the door is locked and blaming me for Kael’s special potion going missing doesn’t really matter, does it? As far as he is concerned, you not only stole that glowing pouch with his priceless potion, but that you’ve betrayed them all and are planning to take it to your past father in Dubok Kholm. There is a special reward for anyone who can find you and bring his potion back, with or without you alive I might add.” She peered at him in the dim light. “I don’t need Kael’s reward but are you actually taking that potion to your grandfather? Are you related to that nasty man that caused all the trouble for the Cor? The Great Destruction and all that stuff? Taking Kael’s potion to him doesn’t seem like a very good idea to me.”

  “All I am doing is trying to get him to let Kate go free before she dies. She is running out of time.”

  Teek only shrugged and looked at the floor. “Just don’t do anything stupid,” she whispered.

  “I need your help, Teek.”

  She looked at him, eyebrows raised.

  “My mother is looking for me in Kadir and we can’t let the palace guards find her. She needs get to her brother in Katay Alba, but I thought the passage was still collapsed. I need you to find my mother and show her that crack you came through.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Teek pushed in closer. “Your mother has a brother in Katay Alba? And who would that be? The one-handed leader of the Rakash?”

  “Of course it’s not the Rakash leader. Her brother is Kael.”

  Teek tapped her palm against her forehead. “You’re the strangest person I have ever met. Your pastfather is the main bad guy in the entire Cor and your mother is Kael’s brother? You do realize that means you stole that potion from your close relative? What’s next?” she hissed at him, “Gavyn is your long-lost little brother?”

  “Gavyn’s not my brother but he is just below us in the sewers.” Corvan led Teek over to the toilet hole and lifted the top section up on its hinge. “He guided me here through his tunnels, then left to look for my mother in Kadir. You could join him and then take her to her brother.”

  Teek looked into the hole, then slowly shook her head at him. “You and your sewers. No wonder your whole life stinks.” She leaned in and grinned. “Get it? Sewers? Stinks?”

  Corvan only lifted the lid higher, propped it up and nodded into the hole.

  “Are you sure Gavyn still there?” Teek asked, wrinkling her nose.

  “He took off when I climbed in through the hole on my krypin but sometimes I get a sense of where he is from this.” Corvan dug in his pocket and pulled out the curved blue glass.

  Teek took the half disc and examined it carefully. A look of understanding came over her and she touched it to her forehead. In a moment a wide smile came across her face. She nodded, her lips moving silently as she walked away from sewer hole and around the perimeter of the cell, shaking her head, whispering, smiling, then nodding before moved the glass from her face and coming back quickly to Corvan.

  “Gavyn’s on his way back for me, and I will go with him to help him find your mother. He also knows all about the tunnels around Katay Set. He was the one who showed me how to follow you through down to Kael’s library when you stole the potion. He knows all sorts of passages through the Cor. He said there is even one that goes from . . .”

  “You talked to him? With the disk? When I use it, I only see vague pictures of where he is at.”

  She put her nose in the air. “That’s because Gavyn would much rather talk to a girl with beautiful eyes.” She stifled a laugh, glanced nervously at the cell door then held up the glass. “Since this works better for me, can I keep it?” she whispered.

  Corvan nodded, grabbed the krypin control and released it from overhead. Tying one end around Teek’s waist he fastened the other end onto the wall behind the open toilet. “There is a huge spider at the bottom so we need to swing you over to the safety of the ledge where Gavyn will be. Untie yourself only when you are safely on the ledge. Got it?”

  She patted his cheek. “It’s so great I have you to take care of me. You are like the big brother I never wanted.” She grinned widely, then pulled her curved headlamp from under her tunic, put it on her head and aimed it into the dark hole. “Yeah, it’s an Entosk spider but that one’s just a baby. You should see the massive one at the river entrance below Katay Alba.”

  Teek straightened, then yanked hard on one of her sleeves until the cuff tore off her tunic. “When you close the lid, tuck this under the edge. Then they will think I tried to escape and got eaten by their pet below. That way that captain won’t bother to look for me anywhere in Kadir.”

  Corvan took the piece of cloth from her. “For someone so annoying you certainly are clever.”

  “I wish I could say the same,” Teek quipped. “But at least you have the annoying part down. So how do I find your mother?”

  “She’s hiding out in the library of Kadir. She is tall like Kael and has the same light hair. She may be travelling with a man named Jorad but don’t talk to him, only to her.”

  Teek nodded and made to turn away, but he put a hand on her shoulder. “Make absolutely sure you don’t let Jorad hear anything about me, in fact, try not to let him even see you.”

  “I got that already,” Teek said, twisting free of his grip.

  “Also, she will likely be carrying a scepter that glows.”

  Teek studied his face a moment. “You’re serious? A scepter? Like the one in the old stories and the paintings on the ceiling of Katay Set?”

  Corvan went to speak but she held her palm toward his face. “No, no, don’t even tell me more. My head’s far too jammed full of your crazy life already.” She paused. “But if she’s hiding in the library and its as big as Kael’s lair, how am I supposed to find her.”

  “Stand in the main room and sing her song.” He hummed a bit of his mother’s lullaby. “If she shows up, just tell her you are looking for Kalian’s mother. She’s the only one in Kadir that should know that name.”

  Teek nodded sadly. “I know that song, but not because my mother ever sang it to me.” She stepped up to the toilet hole. “Your mom must love you a lot to come here to rescue you. Mine is likely happy I ran away so she can work on her potions in peace.” She dug into a pocket of her tunic. “Speaking of potions, take this one along with you. It made the Rakash far to hyper, but you will be able to use it at some point. Maybe you can put one of your many relatives to sleep while you steal more of their stuff.” She stifled a giggle. “It’s amazing anyone still calls you their precious one — Kalian.”

  Corvan took the vial from her and tucked it away with Gavyn’s three seeds in his lower pack pocket. He actually did have a relative way down in Dubok Kholm he might want to use it on. “I’m glad I have you and your potions on my side. You are one dangerous kid.”

  She patted his cheek. “I don’t know what a kid is, but I am glad to be at your service, most highly esteemed Lord of the Sewers.” She gave a small bow, then grinning like the Cheshire Cat, she took hold of the krypin with one hand and held hers nose with the other as he lowered her in. Swinging herself off to the side she dropped easily onto the ledge and untied. The krypin went slack and the disk-shaped end swayed back to the center of the hole.

  “Good luck Teek. See you soon,” Corvan whispered into the hole.

  The only reply was sucking sound of the large spider moving about in the sludge below.

  Corvan lower the toilet cover, making sure the piece of Teek’s tunic was caught in the crack.

  It was time to get down to Dubok Kholm, make a deal with his pastfather for Kate’s life and get the whole crazy adventure over with.