The Hammer - Cor Series Book I

Chapter 22

Tsarek was only gone a moment before he was back and laying something heavy on Corvan's stomach. "Here is your hammer and piece of your shirt. I have put out the light to hide you from the buraks while I am gone. Try to watch for them," he said before scampering off.

Watch? Corvan could see only the white orbs. If the man-eating creatures arrived while Tsarek was gone, he would be defenseless.

A rock rolled down the slope, and Corvan's heart skipped a beat. He bit his lip and forced back a coughing fit. The boulder was still balanced overhead. He had to move out of the way, but when he tried to sit up, the searing pain from his broken collarbone pushed him back down.

Raising his good arm, he wrapped his hand around the smooth handle of the hammer. His mind cleared with a renewed sense of hope. The hammer could heal cuts; would its power fix a broken bone? He had to try.

Drawing the injured arm over his stomach, he winced as bone grated against bone. Gingerly, he traced the path of the collarbone with his finger. Yes, there was the broken spot. The bones were back in alignment.

As he stroked the handle along his shoulder, the pain eased. He lifted his arm, and the ugly sound of bone on bone washed over him in waves of pain. Tears welled up. The hammer could not heal him. He wiped his eyes until the handle was slick with his tears.

"Stop it," he whispered. "Crying will solve nothing. You must take care of your arm a different way." Blinking away the tears, he focused on flow of the hammer's words in his hands. It had not fixed his arm, but it had healed his eyes. The white orbs were gone. He could see clearly again.

A pebble rolled down the slope. Slowly turning his head, he saw Tsarek picking his way down, the bulky pack balanced on his back. Corvan waited for the lizard to join him.

Tsarek stopped a foot away and leaned forward as if listening intently.

"What are you doing?"

The lizard jumped straight up, and the weight of the pack dropped him onto his back against the slope. He looked like an upside-down turtle, legs and head churning in circles, trying to grab an advantage from the air. When he managed to get back to his feet he whispered, "I could not see you in the dark, and with the pack on I could not smell you, so I did not know you were there."

"But can't you see me now?"

The lizard seemed to look right past him. "Are you making one of your jokes?"

Corvan looked down the cavern. Even without the fire stick on, he could still see, in a murky sort of way. The far end of the tunnel faded to blackness, but he could make out the end, where it turned the corner. He squinted into the gloom. Something was moving slowly in the shadows down there.

"Tsarek, what does a burak look like?"

"They are hard to see. They take on the appearance of the rocks in which they live."

"What do they do?"

"They guard the far reaches of the Cor. Sometimes settlement workers try to escape to the outer edges of the Cor. The buraks prevent them."

"How?"

"They are meat eaters, Kalian."

"How big are they?"

"They are very large. They have a poor sense of sight, but they hear quite well."

Corvan swallowed. "I think one is guarding the way into this cavern."

"How do you know? With the fire stick out, I can't see anything."

"I can see it," Corvan whispered. "The hammer healed my eyes." He gripped the handle tightly. "There's a large creature down by the far end."