The Hammer - Cor Series Book I

Chapter 40

Corvan stumbled on the uneven pathway. As soon as he recovered, he glanced down at the water slipping by. To his relief, there were only a few patches of white foam floating along beside him.

Corvan's stomach churned at the memory of the Rakash calling out his name. The obviously knew it was not looking for Tarran but how did it know who he was? Turning his attention back to the riverside road, he plodded forward on shaking legs.

Jorad pushed firmly on the poles to direct them away from the water to the outer edge of the road. The man did like being this close to the water, but Corvan didn't appreciate being pushed along by Jorad, especially since the man had secretly taken the black knife. Corvan put his head down. He didn't know much about Jorad, yet his own life and Kate's fate were firmly in the man's hands.

If it weren't for the fact that Madam Toreg was the one behind this plan to leave the city, he would be even more nervous about this trip out to the settlements. Maybe he should have left Kate with their healer in the City of Refuge. He shook his head and muttered to himself, "No point in second guessing. We can't go back because the bridge is broken."

"What's that?" Jorad asked sharply.

"Nothing," Corvan replied.

Jorad grunted and pushed even harder on the poles.

The wall rose high over the water and the high crags against the cavern wall on the other side drew closer before the path turned to the left and swept downward to meet the farthest point of the cavern. Where it ended, a dense mist hung in the air, along with the faint roar of a waterfall.

Jorad spoke up. "This levee guides the river to the falls by the edge of the Cor. We can't go that way. We need to leave the wall up ahead, go down into the fields, then climb up to the settlement passages." The tone of Jorad's words was that of a man resigned to something he dreaded.

Corvan looked down to the left at a scene he immediately recognized: fields of dirt in carefully ploughed rows. The main aqueduct branched out to even smaller channels, separating the fields below into a patchwork of irrigation lines that fanned out like the veins on a fallen leaf. Neat rows marked the ploughed fields between them, where small plants lay withered in the dusty earth. Beyond the fields was a steep slope with a switchback trail.

"Is there another way?" he asked Jorad.

"Not to save your Kate." The words were bitter. "But each step we take away from Kadir decreases our chances of rescuing Tyreth."

Corvan walked on in silence. Although he had promised Madam Toreg he would help save Tyreth, how could they possibly take Kate up to the settlements and rescue Tyreth at the same time? He pushed the thought aside. Once they got to the settlement and found their healer, they could try to figure it out.

Just ahead, a low building stuck out over the river on sturdy pylons. Between the columns of rock, water rushed over a submerged dam. On the other side of the building, an aqueduct led down into the fields. The poles in his hands twisted as Jorad directed him away from the water toward an opening in the wall on the field side of the levee road. Corvan stepped through the gap onto a narrow stair that zigzagged its way down to the fields.

They went down two flights of stairs, then Jorad abruptly stopped.

"Taking the stairs down to the fields will take too long. Step up inside the main aqueduct and we will go straight ahead to the settlement path. My brother and I used to do this all the time when we were younger when the aqueduct was dry, like it is now."

Corvan lifted his end of the litter over the raised side of the aqueduct. The sides were quite low, with the fields a good twenty feet below them. Jorad was afraid of water, but for Corvan, it was the height that made him nervous. He focused on walking along its smooth bottom, noting the sluice gates that would have allowed water to flow into the secondary channels that fanned out over the valley floor.