The Hammer - Cor Series Book I

Chapter 12

Corvan scrambled into the castle to find Kate sitting in the dirt. The thick body of a large garter snake was stretched out toward her. A long stick from the ruined fort lay next to its crushed head. Relief flowed over Corvan as he knelt beside her.

"Are you okay?"

"You know I hate snakes," Kate said, shaking her head.

Corvan grabbed the dead snake by the tail and carried it over to the edge of the castle rocks. It was a real beauty, one of the largest he'd ever seen. He tossed its long body into the field down below. A coyote or owl would soon make a meal of it.

Turning back, he found Kate already on her feet and brushing the dust off her jeans.

"I thought the lizard was attacking you," Corvan said, instantly wishing he hadn't mentioned it again.

Kate nodded. "I came here to prove that the lizard was just in your imagination, but ..." She pointed to where his pile of rocks had been. Kate had moved them to one side, and the dark hole through which the lizard had disappeared gaped at him.

Corvan tugged the hammer from his back pocket and held it out. "Did you see it?" he asked without taking his eyes off the spot.

"No. You said the lizard only comes out at night."

"I don't know for sure." Corvan muttered as he was edging closer. "Did the snake come out of the hole?"

"No," Kate replied, pointing at the rock. "The snake was on the other side. I was following the lines, so I could see the rest."

"The rest of what?"

"The door. See how flat the stone is in front? That lone hole is just a gap between the rocks that are holding two slabs apart. It's like the two sides of an elevator door, except its flat on the ground."

Corvan crouched by the large rock with the hammer in hand. Where Kate had scraped away the dirt, he could make out two parallel lines about 6 inches apart. Between them were the bumpy outlines of rocks under the mud. The two lines vanished under the large rock.

"It's likely just a big crack the rain has washed stuff into," Corvan said while glancing up at Kate.

Kate pointed with a grubby hand. "You need to look on the other side."

Corvan crawled around the large rock and found the lines continued a short distance before each bent out at precisely ninety degrees.

Corvan traced the lines with a finger. "This must be something the first people carved," he said. "Like the rock paintings in the caves by the river. My father says this hill was a sacred place to them."

Kate knelt beside him. "You could be right. I had just found some strange carved symbols when that snake slithered out." She brushed a pile of dirt away from the base of the boulder. "I think we need to move this big rock to see the rest. I hope there's no more snakes under it."

Kate moved back as Corvan inspected the cleared area. The marks cut deeply into the stone weren't strange at all, they were like the glowing marks on the hammer and carved into his chest. If Kate was right and this was a door, the hammer might open up a cave under Castle Rock. He stood up to push with all his might against the boulder. Kate joined him, and it rocked slightly.

"We need a pry bar," Corvan said. "My father has some long pipes in the cellar."

Retreating down the rock, Kate spoke over her shoulder. "I saw some tracks when I was moving the dirt."

Corvan caught up to her. "Three toes with claws?"

Kate nodded. "Are they from your lizard?"

"Yes. Those are the tracks I saw this summer."