"How many Rakash are following us?" Corvan whispered.

  “It’s not Rakash,” Tsarek said, pointing across the crumbled room. "But we need to go that way."

  Tsarek led him out of the ruined building and across a narrow alley. As he disappeared behind a low broken wall, a scrabble of claws and loud hissing erupted from the other side, then silence. Corvan slipped in closer and peered over the top of the loose blocks. Inside an open space surrounded by piles of loose blocks, Tsarek was trussed up in a thin rope, his arms pinned to his sides. Gathered around him were three smaller lizards. One had a red mark on its chest, and it was touching its claw to Tsarek's neck. When it saw Corvan, it hissed and poked its claw deeper into Tsarek's scales.

  "Do not be alarmed, Sir." Tsarek spoke and the three smaller creatures fell back in astonishment. "They do not mean any harm. I think they are here to help us, but they are afraid and unsure of what to do next."

  The largest one with the red mark hissed at Corvan, pointing eagerly over a high pile of bricks before scuttling up and over the top.

  "They want us to follow them because it is too dangerous so close to the barracks. Rakash scouts are heading this way." Tsarek slipped his disfigured long claw under the rope and neatly severed the coils. As the pieces of rope fell to the ground the other two lizards scurried to the bottom of the pile of bricks and waited.

  Corvan came around the crumbled wall into the room. "But where are they taking us? We need to find Gavyn as soon as we can."

  "They want to go to a safe place where they can hide from the Rakash who hunt and eat them. It will be best if we go with them for now so we can stay alive."

  Corvan nodded. "Can you ask them if they have seen my father or Gavyn?"

  "I can try, but it is difficult to get complicated questions across. Their communication is limited." Tsarek turned and directed a series of hisses and clicks at the two remaining lizards.

  One of them bobbed its head, hissed in return, then pointed between two piles of rubble and bounded through the gap. Tsarek shrugged at Corvan and turned to follow.

  Past the piled they entered a narrow lane. The two lizards ran ahead, poking their noses around corners, clicking, and gesturing urgently for them to follow.

  Corvan caught up to Tsarek. "Why can't I understand what these ones are saying?"

  "They speak only Hoksa,” Tsarek said. “They have never received the pure elixir that would enlighten them and allow them to communicate anything beyond basic feelings like fear and hunger." He glanced up at Corvan. "Like the dog on the story box at Kate's house. The one called Lassie. These ones understand you should not be out here where it is so dangerous. I believe they may be taking us to others of your kind."

  Corvan turned the thought over as they moved through the shattered buildings. The pure elixir Tsarek referred to must be different from what the gatekeeper was making and also incredibly potent if it could turn these animals into . . . he searched for the right term for what Tsarek was to him and could only came up with one - a person.

  As he studied the back of Tsarek's narrow head he thought back to when he was younger, and their family had a border collie. At that time, he was certain the dog could understand what he was saying but simply lacked the ability to respond. That must be what the lumien juice did for Tsarek: it let him communicate back. For humans, however, it did the complete opposite and turned them into animals, into the Rakash. He wiped a hand over his brow and stumbled in a dry pothole. If the chamber place was right about him, he was already going down the same path.

  They were coming closer the cavern wall; the streets were becoming more distinct and the buildings smaller and wider apart. The two small lizards sprinted ahead and were lost beneath the dark shadow of an overhanging ledge that stuck out from the wall. The ground had been cleared off and patches of the glowing moss ringed the edges of shallow pools. Tsarek stayed well away from the water and Corvan slowed down and followed suit, concentrating on where his feet were going.

  When he caught up to Tsarek, his friend was waiting before a screen of long vines stretching down from the ledge overhead. Corvan reached out to touch one, but Tsarek batted his hand away.

  "Do not touch! It will make all your skin bubble and burn off your body. A nasty way to die. I forgot to tell you that when I came through the settlements after we were separated, I saw that the soldiers from Kadir had planted some of these to block the way to where that old woman lives. When you see her next you must warn her not to touch them or she will die."

  "At the Molakar settlement?” Corvan asked.

  "Yes, where you left the Cor with Kate, where I waved the goodbye to you. After you left, the Palace Guard sealed up the passage going in but the old woman who helped you didn't make it out in time. I saw her in Molakar when I came through the water after I escaped from the Volisk."

  "Saray is trapped there alone?"

  "Yes. The only way she could escape is through the water of the karst but it's much deeper now." His voice trailed off as he looked to where the curtain of vines curved around to meet the cavern wall. "I believe these vines were also intentionally planted, but I think it is to keep the Rakash out and not to trap someone inside." Using his long claw, Tsarek gingerly pulled one strand away from the rest. "For the Rakash, the vines are too thin for them to sense or see in the dark." He nodded past the vine at a twisted pile of bones laying next to a human skull that grimaced as if it were still in agony. "They don't get very far."

  Beyond the bones, a shadow flickered among the swaying vines. "The small ones of my kind can run between the strands," Tsarek said. "Look, they are opening a way for us."

  The vines ahead of them parted as more of the small lizards joined into hold the strands back with their claws. Tsarek moved into the gap and Corvan stayed close behind him. Stepping over the skull, he had to wonder if that person had been led by the same lizards into a trap. He glanced back to see the vines falling back into position. There was no going back now.

  A glimmer of light shone through the glistening stands as they neared the back wall of the cavern. A rough opening had been cut into the wall and Corvan followed the lizards and Tsarek inside the tunnel with a sigh of relief.

  Up ahead, Tsarek was standing under a small lumien. "Watch this, Sir. It is very ingenious." As Tsarek stepped past the light, it went dark and another ahead of him grew brighter. “Somehow, these ones sense your movement as you pass. We are being welcomed." He smiled wryly. "Or more likely the lights are warning someone we are coming."

  Corvan followed along as the lights led them on. "Where are they getting the power if all the lumiens in this city are dead?" he whispered.

  Tsarek let out a hissing chuckle that echoed down the tunnel. "They are stealing it from the gatehouse in Anamir city. A thick vine branched off the main power source that feeds into the gatehouse and has followed the water here into Katay Alba. I used it to pull myself along when I went back to Anamir against the current. I wondered at that time where it went as I could feel the power flowing through. Whoever lives in here behind the vines has tapped into Anamir's power and is using it for their own purposes. It is very clever."

  Turning a sharp corner, they entered a round chamber. No sooner were they inside than a door closed over the tunnel behind them, sealing off the only exit. As Corvan walked slowly forward under the domed ceiling, he picked up the rasp of shallow breathing. He held his own breath, and the noise stopped, replaced by the click of Tsarek's claws and the shallow hiss of the lizard's breathing instead. Looking up, he drew in a long whistling breath that echoed back into his ears. The dished roof overhead was a reflector that amplified every noise. The sounds grew even louder as they approached the center of the floor.

  A high-pitched squeal, like one of those toy whistles only dogs could hear filled the room. Corvan reached to cover his ears but Tsarek jabbed his leg and nodded his head slightly upward. In the slope of the ceiling, Corvan caught a glimpse of movement behind a narrow slit. The pitch and volume increased and Corvan winced, glad he didn't have any lumien energy in his ears to make them even more sensitive. The intense sound had to be a test to see if they were Rakash, no doubt this high noise would drive them insane.

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  The sound ended abruptly and the room plunged into darkness. A sudden whoosh of escaping air popped his ears as an angular doorway opened up across the chamber. Tsarek passed him and headed for the light.

  They entered a corridor intersected by passages coming in from all directions. The jumble of tunnels would have been impossible to negotiate but each time they arrived at an intersection a lumien further down one of the side tunnels would glow, telling them which way to turn. Tsarek chuckled again. "No doubt these other tunnels lead into traps. Much planning has gone into creating a system to keep the Rakash out."

  Corvan following along. The problem with Tsarek's theory was that the Rakash, and people like himself, those who had eaten lumien hearts, could sense the power in lumiens even if they could not see the light. Reaching up he touched one of the lumien bulbs and realized his theory was incorrect. The small globes lacked any power of their own and were only using whatever energy flowed through the vines.

  A final light hung beneath the stone lintel of a wide door. They kept close to one side and peered into a huge room hewn from solid rock. Rough squared pillars supported a balcony that ran around the perimeter. Tsarek waved Corvan on and as he emerged from beneath the balcony, he caught sight of a thick net strung below a flat ceiling. It looked like a gargantuan spider's web with rope ladders hung suspended above from hooks in the ceiling where someone had been painting the same sort of faces and scenes, he had seen in the library of Kadir. The paintings were incomplete, but the faces were more stern and angry than the ones in the Kadir library. He felt like they were accusing him of trespassing in their sacred space.

  A line of lights strung around the railing of the balcony brightened and a man’s voice spoke out across the large room.

  "Welcome to our colony, the only true remnant of the once great city of Katay Alba.”

  A man in a dull brown cloak appeared in a doorway at the far end of the room.

  Tsarek slipped behind Corvan and whispered, "Do not call me by my name or speak to me. I do not talk, not here." He jabbed Corvan sharply in the thigh to make his point.

  The man crossed the floor toward them while gesturing overhead. "Please excuse the nets and ropes. We are working on our paintings to remind our people of who we are. We believe we cannot move toward our future unless we can first point to your past. When people abandon their heritage, they might as well remain in the darkness."

  He gestured to a side wall where a lone table sat next to a section of niches. "Most of the scrolls in Katay Alba were burned for light as our city died, but our colony has salvaged enough to teach our children the truth about the history of Katay Alba and why our colony was founded."

  The man stopped in front of Corvan and Tsarek and looked back and forth between them. "Your guide has the appearance of one of the original Watchers, but we understood they had all faded away - all except for the Chief Watcher of Kadir."

  "This one is not the Chief Watcher," Corvan said firmly. "The Chief Watcher died when he tried to hold the hammer."

  The man nodded thoughtfully. “We heard reports to that end, but I was not sure if they were true. Then who does this Watcher serve?" he asked, pointing at Tsarek.

  Corvan glanced down at Tsarek. The lizard was looking blankly at the far wall of the room, as if he was not understanding a word. “This one is my guide, like the ones that helped us through the vines outside. He travels with me, and I look after him.” Corvan was sure Tsarek looked away to hide his grin. No doubt he would disagree about who was looking after who in their relationship.

  The man nodded and clicked his tongue. The small lizard with the red mark, the one that held its claw to Tsarek's neck in the ruins, came running in from under the balcony. The man clicked out a question; the lizard responded with a long hiss and more clicks, then scampered into the shadows.

  The man studied Tsarek. "If I understand my own guide correctly, it indicates that yours is capable of human speech."

  Corvan only shrugged in return.

  The man continued. "Perhaps they are mistaken. I doubt they have ever heard any of their kind speak human language before."

  The red spotted lizard reappeared, ran over to the man and crouched behind him. The man turned toward the shadows at the end of the room and waited.

  An ancient lizard limped out of the shadows. Tsarek looked to Corvan in amazement, then ran forward to bow before the creature. The old lizard laid a twisted paw on Tsarek's head and spoke in a creaky voice. It didn’t sound like human speech but somehow Corvan was able to understand what the old lizard was saying.

  "So, Tsarek. You have not faded away like the rest. I am glad that I am not the only one of us left. There are none of their kind left who understand our tongue and without the pure elixir I lost my ability to speak theirs. I should warn you that this man's counterpart has tried to create a potion to test on us, but it is not safe. Do not accept anything she offers you."

  Tsarek lifted his head and replied in his own language. "The keeper of the gate also has an elixir he is using to create the Rakash. I was beginning to fade away, so I took a small drink. It helped for a short time but it was created for the human kind. Now I am even more tired. I fear I do not have long before I will regress in unknowing."

  The old lizard nodded. “There is only one left who has the pure potion we both need, but I would rather fade away than serve that one."

  Tsarek glanced at the man standing next to Corvan. "Do you serve this man now?"

  "I serve no one," the old lizard said. "The people of this colony believe me to be the oldest of their guides. They found me here in the tunnels with the other small guides when they created their settlement. They do not know I was a Watcher for one of the last great leaders of the council. That man only knows I am somewhat different, but he and I can only communicate in Hoksa. It is also the only way they can direct the lower creatures to do their bidding."

  The leathery face turned to Corvan. Intelligent eyes searched his own before giving Corvan a quick nod. "Come with me, Tsarek. We are causing your companion a measure of distress over this long conversation. Let us leave and continue our talk elsewhere. There is much to tell you of what has happened in Katay Alba and how this new colony came to be."

  Tsarek glanced at Corvan with a question on his face. Corvan gave a small nod and Tsarek and his ancient companion left the hall followed by an entourage of smaller lizards.

  As the troupe of reptiles disappeared through a door, Corvan looked up to find the man studying him.

  "You can understand their speech." It was not a question.

  Corvan nodded.

  "And speak it."

  Corvan nodded again but found himself wondering if it was true. He had been able to understand Tsarek's language after holding the hammer but he didn't need to learn to speak Tsarek's language. His mouth could never make all those clicking noises correctly. It was Tsarek who could speak and comprehend human language, but he didn't want this man to know.

  "I believe you are the one we have been waiting for,” the man said. “I understand you saved the life of one of our young women who foolishly went out into Katay Alba with three of our more rebellious males. I have been told that you have joined us in our fight against the Rakash."

  "I came here to rescue my father. They took him from our home and are holding him in the large building in the center of the Rakash domes."

  The man nodded eagerly. "Then we must work together. To rescue him from the old library, you will need to get past the entire Rakash army, and I can make that possible." He pointed above at the painter's net overhead. "Defeating the Rakash army is like taking on a nest of Entosk spiders. You cannot kill them one at a time or they will swarm about and kill you. Instead, you must find the main thread that is still attached to their central feeder and set it on fire. It will burn straight to their queen and eliminate her. Then the rest will die in confusion, unable to do anything without their leader.” He pointed to the table. “Come, I will show you how you can destroy the entire nest of Rakash, then rescue your father."

  The man turned and strode away and Corvan jogged to follow him towards the table and the section of wall niches filled with scrolls. Movement off to the right caught his eye and he looked over, expecting to see Tsarek returning. Instead he saw a young girl, barely visible in the shadow of one of the support columns.

  "Ah yes, this is the one." Up ahead the man was spreading a crinkled old parchment on the table and weighing the corners down with smooth black disks.

  Corvan touched a brittle edge. "There is a library full of scrolls in Kadir."

  The man’s head snapped up. "I was informed it was destroyed by the Chief Watcher and all the scrolls were lost."

  "It only appears that way from the outside. If you can get inside, many of the scrolls are intact, except where the water rose through the floor and ruined the bottom few rows."

  The man’s face grew dark with anger. "One more reason why we must stop the Rakash invasion of Kadir. That library is our last hope to preserve the true history of the Cor." He was about to say something more but instead, pointed at the parchment. "Let me show you what must be done."

  Before them was a map of a city laid out in straight lines, not at all like the circles of Kadir.

  "Katay Alba was our largest city before the Great Destruction, but now, with the Rakash clearing a space for their barracks, it is difficult to locate where things used to be. This," he pointed to a rectangle that had been redrawn in darker ink off to one side of the map, "this was the greatest library of the Cor, but now it is surrounded by the Rakash mounds. There is a circle of domes they have built from the rubble where they wait for their next portion of elixir. You must avoid disturbing them and setting off the swarm." He tapped the rectangle on the map. "The elixir they require is stored right here, in a pool in the middle of the library."

  Corvan looked up at him. “Is that the thread you talked about? Do you need to destroy the pool?"

  The man shook his head firmly. “That would only starve them of the elixir until the Gatekeeper could manufacture more, making them more desperate and dangerous, especially to our colony. They know we are here, but so far, they ignore us and stay away from our traps. If they were deprived of their drug, there is no telling what they might do.”

  He removed the two end stones and began to roll up the map. “Our plan is to send a spy inside the library to poison the pool.” He stopped and looked intently at Corvan. “That way, when all the Rakash receive their allotted portion of the elixir, they will die together."