Hammer 15: Backpack

The matter-of-fact tone in the lizard’s voice shocked Corvan. There was no way he would leave Kate under the control of the black band, lost in the caves underneath the Castle Rock and likely never to return home.

“We must help her, no matter what it takes.” Now his own voice gave him pause; it sounded more like his father was speaking.

“If we do not try,” the lizard stated, “all will be lost. If you stay here to protect your world, you may lose it anyway.”

“Why? What’s going to happen to my world?”

The lizard studiously scratched in the dirt with one of his claws. “It will depend on our success in rescuing the Kate. It may be best for now to focus on that task.”

“I’ll need to bring food, but I could never carry enough for a month.”

“No need. There will be food for you once we reach the boundaries of the Cor, but there is none in the labyrinth. I think you will only need enough for six of your days.”

“What’s the Cor?” Corvan asked. “Is that the tunnels under the rock?”

“The Cor is the place where the Kate is going. We must get inside the doors quickly to follow her. Will it take more time to pack your food?”

“Not long. Wait for me up on the rock.”

The creature glanced to the east. “You must hurry. I cannot be outside once the sun is in the sky, and we waste time talking.”

“I’ll be right back,” Corvan said as he turned and sprinted toward the house. Maybe he should wake his mother to let her know he was leaving. His pace slackened. She would never believe a story about a talking lizard. It would be best to leave a note telling her he’d gone to find Kate to bring her home as he had promise Mrs. Poley. That would hopefully cause her the least amount of worry when he didn’t return right away.

Once he reached the familiar outline of his home, he paused with one foot on the porch steps and looked back at the rock. He was not ready to leave his home, but Kate was in great danger. He had to save her.

The interior of the house was deathly silent; the radio was off and even his mother’s snore was missing. He stood quietly outside her bedroom door, waiting until he heard faint measured breaths inside. She never slept well when his father was away. He would need to be especially quiet.

Retrieving the hunting packsack from the front entry closet, he shut himself inside the pantry, lit a candle, and slid the pack of matches into the front pocket of his jeans. Filling one of the side pockets of the pack with jerky, he stuffed tinned food, bread, and candles into the main section. After moving a box of Corn Flakes, he discovered a reused waxed bread wrapper, half-full of oatmeal raisin cookies. It fit neatly into the other side pocket. An unexpected bonus was finding a small package of chocolate chips inside an empty tin labeled as baking soda. His mother knew better than to leave those out in the open.

Sneaking up to his room, Corvan set the pack on the bed, opened the chest, and pulled the grey cloth off onto his lap. There was a longer empty cavity at the very back of the tray he had not noticed before. It was about the length of the wooden case his father had shown him on the rock. If that item was now inside the box and not behind the locked secret door in the cellar, then it was likely stashed under his parents’ bed. He couldn’t go looking and risk waking his mother. Hopefully it was not important for the task at hand.

Corvan considered the metal book, but since he couldn’t read it and the lizard was a bit too interested in it, he decided to leave it in the chest for safekeeping. Releasing the rope, he tossed it into the packsack and moved on to the next indentation where a pair of slipper-like shoes were held in place with two stretchy cords. Pulling them out he found they were actually more like thick socks and since his own socks were rather thin, he added them into the pack. Having warm feet was important, and it was likely cold under the rock.

The grey cloth cover was making his legs quite warm, so he rolled it up and placed it inside the pack. Closing the chest, he added more T-shirts, his plaid long sleeve shirt, and then jammed his slingshot on top. Once he had tied the pack cover in place, he hoisted it onto his shoulders with a low groan. How would he ever manage to carry this much weight around in the caves? What if the passages were really small and more lizard sized. On the other hand, how could he know what a journey to the place called the Cor would require? He would need the lizard’s help to figure out what to keep and to lighten the load.

As he straightened up, the frame of the pack pushed hard against the hammer in his back pocket. He needed a better way to carry it, and he had the perfect solution.

Setting the pack on his bed, he knelt down to pull his army ammo box from beneath it. His mother insisted he keep anything that might cause a fire in the stout metal box. Unclipping the latches, he dug past an unopened packet of Black Cat firecrackers, three stubby bottle rockets on short bamboo sticks, a roman candle, and a metal waterproof tube of matches before he found it: his Hubley Trooper cap pistol with the Texas star on its holster. He had quit wearing it years ago, after the other kids started calling him Tex and Billy mocked him by saying he really should be carrying a bow and arrow instead.

Putting the cap gun back in the box, he stood and threaded the empty holster onto his belt. The hammer slid inside, handle down, as if it were made to order. Snapped the button top flap over the head of the hammer, he stepped in front of the mirror, and in one fluid motion released the hammer and pointed its glowing end at his reflection. He had practiced that maneuver a thousand times with the pistol and was pleased it worked just as well with the hammer. If he needed it in a hurry, he would not need to fumble around to find it.

He was about to put the explosives back in the ammo box but thought better of it. You never knew when you might need a bright flash or a loud noise. Pulling the grey cloth back out of the pack he wrapped it securely around the fireworks and the metal waterproof tube of matches to make sure nothing went off accidentally.

Tying the pack shut, he hoisted it onto his shoulder and glanced around his room. A strong sense that he might never return made a strong impression as he flipped the light switch and closed the door.

He remembered to avoid the noisy stair but with the added weight of the pack, his evasive tactics still resulted in a muted squeak. He heard his mother mumble something in her sleep, then the bed springs creaked as she rolled over. Seizing the moment, Corvan tiptoed down from the landing and scooted through the kitchen to the back porch.

Easing the back door open, he carefully closed it softly behind him. As he turned, a voice spoke from the armchair.

“I watched you sit here through the night with the hammer in your hand, but I do not see the advantage of placing one’s body in this thing.” The lizard pushed itself out of the chair. “It seems designed merely to keep one awake. It hurts the tail.”

Corvan frowned. “I told you to wait for me on the rock.”

“I was worried you might be late, and I was considering coming inside to find you,” the lizard said.

“I’m glad you didn’t. The sight of you would have been too much for my mother to handle.”

“Sir?” The lizard had a gravely wounded expression.

“It’s nothing personal. She just doesn’t like snakes.”

“But I’m not a—”

“I know, but she’s not fond of lizards either.” He pointed out at the rock. “Let’s get going.”

“Gladly, sir,” the lizard said in a huff. “It is well past the time to leave.”

“Just a minute.” Corvan crept back inside the kitchen and found a pencil and paper by the telephone. He jotted a short note telling his mother he was going to look for Kate and not to worry. He might be gone a while if he had to look for her in the city. At the bottom, he wrote his name, Cor-Van, with a tiny hyphen. At least that way his father might understand where he’d really gone.

Setting the note on the shelf under the phone, he had to blink back the tears and force down the emotions that threatened to engulf him. He had never left home on his own before. Squeezing out the back door, he descended the porch stairs with the lizard following close behind.

“I believe your belongings will be too large to fit through the labyrinth,” the lizard said. “Some of the labyrinth openings can be quite small.”

Corvan kept walking. “I grabbed everything I thought I might need. It will get lighter as we travel and eat the food.”

“Is it heavy for you?” the lizard asked.

Corvan straightened his back and adjusted the straps of the pack. “I’ve carried more than this before,” he replied, but he couldn’t think of when that might have been.

The dark bulge of the rock loomed ahead. Corvan attempted to leap onto its steep edge but misjudged the added weight of the pack and crashed back to the field. The lizard’s head appeared above him with an “I told you so” look on its narrow face.

Corvan rolled over onto his knees. “I guess it might be a bit too heavy,” he said quietly. “Maybe once we’re inside, we can go through it and decide what to leave behind.”

The lizard didn’t answer, but Corvan thought it rolled its eyes before darting up the rock and into the circle. Heaving himself to his feet, he clambered up after it, reached the top, and found the lizard waiting for him at the doors.

“Light is coming, sir. We must get inside.”

“We have a few minutes.” Corvan put his pack down by the stone door. The circle of rocks around him appeared as mute sentinels against the thin grey light of the approaching dawn. A light came on in the kitchen below him, and through the window, he saw his mother go to the sink. He lifted his hand to wave goodbye. She couldn’t see him, but it made him feel a bit better for leaving her this way. She turned away, and the kitchen light went out.

He turned back to the lizard and found a questioning look on its face.

“Why do you raise your hand and shake it back and forth?” the lizard asked. “I have seen others do this. What is the meaning?”

“We are saying good-bye.” The lizard only looked at him, expecting more. “When we are leaving someone, and we don’t know how long it will be before we see them again, we wave.” He swallowed hard. “It means that we love them and hope we’ll see them again soon.”

The lizard nodded. “We do not wave.” It shook its head sadly. “Love is not permitted when you serve the master.” The lizard jumped over to the pack. “We must go now. Once the light is fully up, the first door into the labyrinth cannot be opened until the next phase of the moon.” It wrapped its claws around the strap of the packsack and tried to move it closer to the door, but the heavy pack refused to budge.

Corvan stooped and slung it onto his back. It seemed significantly heavier this time.

“Sir,” a voice spoke at his back.

Corvan turned around, but the lizard was gone.

“I’m here, sir.” The voice came again and something poked Corvan’s side. Twisting sharply, he found the lizard hanging just above his waist.

“My claw appears to be caught in your belongings, sir,” the creature stated flatly.

Corvan chuckled as he set the pack down and unhooked the lizard.

Free from the pack, the lizard frowned at him. “I do not understand that noise you just made. I have heard it before when you and the Kate were together in your fort.”

“I was laughing,” Corvan said. “You looked funny hanging there.”

The lizard shook its head, then glanced over its shoulder at the growing light. “Is the hammer ready or did you leave it in your home?”

“I have it with me in a special holder,” Corvan said as he slipped it from the holster. He looked between the polished stone and the face of the lizard. “I just realized I don’t have to actually be touching it to understand you. It just needs to be in my possession.”

The lizard only raised its eyebrows, as if to say that was so obvious only a silly human could have missed it.

Corvan looked at the door slabs. “It should work when I put the handle in that keyhole between the rings.” He pointed the handle forward.

“Stop!” The lizard darted in front of him to bar his way to the door. “You do not need to put the hammer in that hole. The power of the hammer flows through your body. The door will open even if your feet touch the stone. That is what happened when the Kate stepped on the doors—they opened up, and she fell, throwing her arms up, like this.” The lizard mimicked the motion. “The small case with the hammer inside flew from her hand, bounced off the big rock to land near the doors, and they closed very fast. That is when I grabbed the case and carried it away as you approached.”

No wonder Kate’s scream had been cut short. “How long does it stay open once you touch it?”

The lizard briefly pondered the question. “I think until you touch it again. It shut when the hammer dropped on it from this side. The Kate was fortunate to not get hit. It closes swiftly.”

“Let’s test it and see.”

Corvan set his pack down before he tentatively touched the stone. A low rumble echoed below him, but nothing moved. “Well, that didn’t work.” As he leaned forward to test it again, the door sprang apart. The lizard pulled him back from the open hole.

“That’s incredible. Does it work the same to close it?”

Corvan leaned forward and touched one finger to the exposed edge of the door. All was silent.

The lizard was hissing and clicking, pointing at the ground where the hammer lay dangerously close to the edge of the door in the dirt. Corvan’s face flushed, and, as he picked it up, his free hand brushed the frame. The doors slammed back together with the ferocity of a massive stone mousetrap. He looked up into the wide eyes of the lizard. “How can I possibly get inside the doors without being crushed?” Corvan stammered.

“I think if you open the door, then drop the hammer inside, you will be able to climb in safely. I will go first, and you can follow. I suggest you toss your belongings in after me to avoid them getting caught on the door.” The lizard gave the eastern sky another quick glance.

Pulling the pack in close beside him, Corvan exhaled slowly, then placed his hand on the stone.

The doors rumbled open, and immediately the lizard leapt into the blackness.

Corvan called, “Heads up,” and dropped the pack. It hit the ground below with a thud. Edging forward, Corvan held the hammer out over the hole. “I’m going to drop the hammer in now.” No response. “Here comes the hammer.” Silence.

Was this a trick to get the hammer inside with him still locked outside? It might be best if he held the hammer and jumped in without touching the sides. After that he could shut it from below. As he brought his feet together with his toes just inches from the doorway, and it reminded him of the time he jumped off the high diving board at the city pool. That time he’d ended up in the first aid room.

Ignoring the warning thoughts, Corvan jumped forward and landed amid a pile of jumbled rocks. He stumbled, and his fingers touched the inside of the door frame. The massive slabs came back together with a resounding thunder that grazed the back of his head and knocked him flat on his face, his head coming to rest against the coarse canvas of his packsack.

It was so dark that he couldn’t even see his empty hands in front of his face. Empty! Once again, he had dropped the hammer. He felt around on the floor with panic rising in his throat. What if the lizard was waiting in the darkness, its razor-sharp claws ready to tear out his eyes?

“Are you here lizard?” There was no reply.

He crawled about, fumbling along the stone until his groping hand encountered a round handle, but it was just a short, thick stick with a knobby end. Patting his jeans pocket he found the box of matches, pulled it out and struck one.

It sputtered to life, and he tilted it down, waiting for it to catch.

It brightened and when he held it higher, he came face-to-face with the empty eye sockets of a human skull.