The Hammer - Cor Series Book I

Chapter 44

A low cry escaped Corvan's lips and tears streamed down his cheeks at the sight of the old man in the water. Jokten's hand still firmly clutched the shattered end of the wooden spear he had used to save Corvan from the monster, yet his face was peaceful, as if he were only dreaming.

Groaning and slipping on the slick stones, Corvan managed to pull the body onto the shore, then collapsed on the gravel. His father had often told him that if he would do what was right, the answers would come in their own time. He tried his best to save Jokten, but the man had died anyway. Now there were no answers and no way out of this terrible place. Kate would die and be buried far from her home. Buried? They were in a dark world far underground. They were as good as dead and buried already.

His tears gave way to sobs that shook his aching body. What was the point of even trying to do what was right? Pain and death were everywhere. He could never win.

His father's voice came to him as if his dad were sitting beside him on the shore. "Love and pain flow together though all of life. The more you choose to love in this broken world, the more you will need to endure pain."

Wiping his tears away with the back of his sleeve he looked down at Jokten. A wry smile was embedded in the corners of the man's mouth, the same smile that he wore while swinging the spear behind the beast. The old man had lived and died on his own terms. Perhaps that was the point. In the end, loving through the pain changed you for the better.

A muted shout slipped through the fog and then another. The soldiers and the Seeker were on their way. There was no way he would let them take Jokten's body to the palace. The old man deserved a proper burial.

At some time in the past the stream had changed direction, leaving a raised island between the dry gravel creek bed and the rushing water. Pulling the body onto the high spot, he laid it out.

Prying the broken spear from Jokten's grasp, he set it aside and folded the cold hand onto Jokten's chest. Reaching over the man, he pulled the other arm into position and as he did, the soggy sleeve of Jokten's robe slipped back revealing the other hand wrapped tightly around the hammer's handle.

Corvan looked in amazement at the angular stone head before placing his hand under it. The hammer slid easily from Jokten's grasp, as if the man were giving it back to him and the blue letters sprang to life on Jokten's face, highlighting the crinkles around his eyes and the happy lines etched around his mouth.

Corvan struggled to his feet and held the hammer aloft in both hands. It pierced the fog overhead, the blue glow filling the area around him and reflecting on the water below. He breathed deeply then pulled its radiant comfort in against his chest. "It's good to have you back again," he murmured, and the blue light ebbed strongly in response. He nodded down to Jokten, "You gave your life to save me and the hammer. I promise I will do my best to honor what you lived and died for."

Placing the hammer back in his holster, he gathered flat stones from the dry creek bed to pile around and over the dead man. The work was painful at first, but as he moved, his joints loosened up and his movements became easier. When he was done, he took the broken spear and stuck it upright in the cracks of the pile.

As he stepped back to inspect the cairn, he almost tripped over Tsarek.

"I did not want to interrupt you." Tsarek said, jumping off the low rock he'd been sitting on. "I wanted to tell you earlier that I did not think your past-father survived the blast."

"Jokten was not my past-father, Tsarek. That is my grandfather that died at the entry under the Castle Rock."

Tsarek nodded. "I know about that one, but Jokten was also one of your family, from those left behind in the Cor."