Hammer 22: Healing

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 firestick light to hide you from the buraks while I get your rope and pack. Try to watch for them and stay very still,” 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 past him down the slope, and Corvan’s heart skipped a beat. Tsarek had just gone through the crack and the large slab of rock was still balanced over it. He had to move out of the way or it would crush him. He tried to sit up but the intense pain from his broken collarbone forced him back down.

Lifting his good arm, he wrapped his hand around the smooth handle of the hammer. The hammer could heal cuts; would its power fix a broken bone?

Drawing the injured arm over his stomach, he winced at the pain. Gingerly, he traced the path of the collarbone with his finger until he located the broken spot. The bones were in alignment. Lifting the hammer with his good hand, he gently touched it to the break. The pain seemed to ease but when he tried moving the injured arm, the ugly grating of bone on bone washed over him with waves of pain. Tears welled up. The hammer could not heal his collarbone and he was blind as well. He could not escape the buraks or the stone. Tears of frustration flowed. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand until the handle was slick with them.

“Stop it,” he whispered to himself. “Crying will solve nothing. You must take care of your arm a different way.” Two years ago, Billy Fry had broken his collarbone running to the outhouse at his home and tripping in a gopher hole. The bully had missed a bit of school, and when he returned with his arm in a sling, he was kept in at recess. Corvan remembered the time well.

What he needed to do now was to hold his arm close to his chest, with a loop of cloth tied around his neck. The shirt sleeve Tsarek had placed on his stomach was too short, but by gripping the torn end in his teeth and pulling with his good hand he managed to tear it along the seam and make a loop. Once he managed to get it in place he was able to sit up, although his stomach rolled each time bones jarred against each other.

The insignia on the base of the hammer’s handle was glowing brightly in the dark. He pointed it up the slope. He could see the crack and could also clearly see that the slab over top of it was balanced precariously and even moving up and down a bit from Tsarek’s passing. It took a moment for him to realize that the white orbs from the firestick flashing his eyes were completely gone. Although the hammer had not repaired his broken bone, when he wiped his tears away, it had healed his eyes. He could see perfectly by the light of the hammer’s glow.

A distant noise from the cave below caught his attention. Were the creatures Tsarek warned of coming? Corvan put the hammer back in the holster to extinguish its glow, then stared down the slope at the bottom of the cavern. A flat area of the floor was bounded by a few patches of some sort of vegetation that gave off a purple glow. He squinted into the gloom.

A pebble rolled down the slope above him. It was only Tsarek picking his way down toward him, the bulky pack balanced on his back. Tsarek stopped a few yards away and leaned forward, listening intently.

“What are you doing?” Corvan whispered.

The lizard leapt into the air, 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. Getting to his feet, Tsarek 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?” he hissed, then his head snapped around to stare down below.

Corvan followed his gaze. Something large was moving slowly about in the shadows beyond the open space.

“Tsarek, what does a burak look like?” Corvan whispered.

“They are hard to see. They take on the appearance of the rocks in which they live and 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 and are very large. They have poor sight, but they hear quite well.”

Corvan swallowed. “I think one is down there guarding the entrance into this cavern.”

“How do you know?” Tsarek’s voice was barely discernable, and he crept closer to Corvan. “With the fire stick out, I can’t see anything.”

“The hammer healed my eyes,” Corvan whispered. “And with the purple light down there I can see a large creature down at the far end.” Even as he said the words, Corvan was certain the glint of two immense eyes turned to blink up at him.

Tsarek stood a long time in silence. “You are correct, sir,” he said softly. “Now I can hear something moving, and there is a faint rotten smell of Burak in the air. Can you see only one?”

A strong odor reached Corvan. It reminded him of when his father butchered chickens each fall. “Yes. Just one moving back and forth.”

“It is waiting for its partner. They hunt in pairs. They have heard our noise and have come to satisfy their hunger.”

“Can we get past this one before the other one arrives?”

“We could try, but when they sense a wounded animal, they move very fast.” He stepped back to Corvan. “Let’s get a little closer and see if we can find a way around it.”

Corvan bent forward and groaned. “I can’t carry the pack with my broken collarbone.”

“I could drag it for you, sir, but we need to move quickly and quietly if we are to escape.”

A low rumble grew into a grating shriek that filled the cavern from the floor below.

“It’s too late now,” Tsarek whispered. “Its partner has arrived, and the hunt will soon begin. You must wait here and be very still while I draw them away from here.”

“But you can’t see them,” Corvan said quietly.

“I can smell them and hear them. You cannot move fast enough to get away, but if I can sneak around them, they will pursue me instead. They do not know there are two of us here and they will not let a sure meal run away.” Tsarek touched Corvan’s leg. “As soon as they are gone, get down there and move away as quickly as you can.”

“What if you get caught? I need you to guide me,” Corvan urged. “I will wait for you here instead.”

Tsarek shook his head. “Up here is a dead end. If you wait here, they will find you. You must leave this place. IfI do not catch up to you right away, just keep going down, always down. When you reach Kadir City, look for the large courtyard full of steps but do not go to the palace on the right side. You don’t want to meet the chief of the watchers. You must go to the temple on the other side.”

“How do I know which one is the temple?” Corvan said. “And who do I ask for?”

“The temple is the only dwelling in the entire city with a pointed roof.” Tsarek made his claws into a sharp point over his head. “Ask for the High Priest or one of his children, Tyreth or Tarran. If you can’t find them look for anyone in the green cloaks that only the priests wear. Never talk to the red cloaks; they are from the palace.

Another shriek shattered the air and Corvan grabbed Tsarek’s paw with his good hand. “What if they catch you?”

Tsarek pulled his paw free. “It does not matter what happens to me. You must escape and save the Kate.” He rested his paw on Corvan’s leg and looked intently in his direction. “I did not want to worry you, sir, but the Kate is not of the Cor.”

Anxiety knotted Corvan’s stomach. “What does that mean?”

The lizard ducked his head. “She can’t live long under the light of the lumiens. If you do not find her soon, she will fall into a deep sleep.”

“And . . .?”

“She will never wake up but it would be worse if he finds her first.”

Corvan wanted to ask what could be worse than death, but a rumbling growl echoed off the walls. Tearing his gaze away from Tsarek, he peered down to the cavern floor below.

Movement off to the right caught the corner of his eye. One burak rose up just below them on the broken slope. He looked back down. The other one must be hiding among the boulders on the floor.

At that moment a small form darted between a gap in the boulders near the bottom of the slope. He heard Tsarek cry out in pain, then the lizard tumbled out into the open space on the floor.

As Corvan sat up straighter, a deep grunt pulled his gaze back to the right. The second burak on the slope was now so close he could make out the bulbous eyes on its flat, angular head. It was looking at the cavern floor; its head cocked to one side. When aseries of clicks came from its partner below, this one’s head bobbed up and down. A wide mouth opened to reveal twin rows of jagged teeth.

The creature’s throat bulged like a bullfrog’s as it emitted a series of gulps and clicks. Corvan looked to the floor of the cavern. Tsarek was on his feet, moving slowly but dragging one leg.

As Corvan watched in horror, a huge rock behind the lizard shifted slightly. It was not a rock. It was the other burak. Tsarek was heading directly into a trap.

Corvan took a step forward. A pebble broke free under his foot. The burak to his right turned to face him, its flat face swinging from side to side.

Corvan froze. If he moved, the burak would know he was there, but if he didn’t, Tsarek would die. The beast stared sightlessly at him in the dark until a cry of distress from the cavern below grabbed its attention.

On the cavern floor, Tsarek was dragging an injured leg behind him as he floundered about. He stopped, held both paws over his mouth as if trying not to cry out in pain. Turning his head in Corvan’s direction he raised his claws over his head, touching them together in a point.

A dark shape loomed up behind him. For a fleeting second Corvan saw the outline of the lizard, and then he was gone.

A moment passed in eerie silence before a slow, rhythmic throbbing sounded out. The large shadow on the floor rose on its hind legs and danced in a slow circle, pounding its feet on the ground.

The burak on the slope rumbled out a response as it slid through the gravel toward the floor. As it neared the bottom and its partner the noise grew to loud grating shrieks.

The dancing creature below turned toward Corvan.

From its clenched jaws hung Tsarek’s lifeless body.