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reverently took up the hammer and hefted it. Hendry moved close to his side. "Start easy."
    Connor grinned, raised the hammer and slammed it down onto the granite block. It struck solid, and the vibration rattled all the way up his arm. Even though he'd swung hard, it sounded weak compared to his father's. A few flakes of dust drifted off the stone, but nothing more. The hammer did not vibrate the way it did when his father used it.
    "Strength isn't everything, son. The hammer does the work."
    Connor frowned. "I don't understand."
    "It's hard to explain. It's something you feel here." Hendry tapped his chest. "Like a fire in your chest. That connection somehow unlocks the hammer's strength and breaks down the stone a hundred times faster."
    Connor stared down at the ancient hammer. His father had never spoken so openly about his work as Ashlar. Only proven apprentices learned such secrets. He ran his left hand over the worn double head of the hammer and could not help but think about his Curse.
    It had grown since he'd entered the Powder House and begun working with his father, as if intent on thwarting him, preventing him from tasting the life of Ashlar.
    Well, he wouldn't let it win, not today, no matter the cost. Connor raised the hammer and struck the stone again. Again the blow felt weak, so he tried to mimic his father's regular, measured cadence.
    Hendry gave him an encouraging smile but said, "Don't feel bad, son, it can take a long time to find the connection, and not everyone can do it."
    Connor struck the block again, and poured everything he had into the blow. The block rang from the impact, and a burning energy suddenly raced up into his arm from the hammer, like lightning in his veins.
    "I feel it, dad!" he exclaimed.
    "I know you want to, son, but I really need to get back to work."
    "No, I really feel it!"
    Connor embraced that lightning-like feeling and slammed the hammer down onto the block again, willing the hammer to respond. That energy flared through him, and the hammer seemed to blur in his hands just before it hit the stone.
    Then it struck, and the stone exploded.
    Dust and stone chips rattled the fine mesh screen, and the sound pounded at Connor's ears, despite his ear protection. Hendry shouted in surprise and covered his own ears, while Connor stared at the cloud of dust that filled the area inside the mesh and obscured the tabletop.
    He exchanged a startled look with his father and laughed. He did it! He'd proven once and for all that he could be Ashlar. If not for the Curse, he could have done it. He wanted to shout with exultant joy.
    Connor raised the hammer high, but as it emerged from the dust cloud, he gaped. One end of the double-headed diorite hammer ended in a jagged stump.
    Hendry gasped, and Connor met his father's horrified gaze. He dropped the hammer and stepped away from the table. Hendry ripped the mesh screen away, and granite dust billowed out into the room.
    Connor gasped, "Dad, what are you doing?"
    "It's riprap to me, son."
    Connor winced at his father's words. For him to say the precious block meant nothing to him right now drove home the severity of the situation.
    Hendry retrieved the hammer, and the two of them stood together as he slowly turned it in his hand.
    Connor finally found his voice and said, "Dad, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to."
    Hendry shook his head. "It's not your fault, son. You weren't ready. I knew better. It's my fault."
    "But I felt it," Connor protested. "I don't understand."
    "Nor do I."
    The dust cleared enough for Connor to see the table top. No trace of the granite block remained. Tiny chips of granite lay piled against the collar where they'd been flung up against the screen, and white granite dust lay piled almost to the top of the collar.
    In the center of the granite powder rested half a dozen ragged diorite chunks, all that remained of the hammer head. Connor picked up one that looked blackened, as if burned. It felt somehow lighter than it