Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1
Read Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 Online
Authors: Brian S. Pratt
The Broken Key #1
Brian S. Pratt
The Fantasy Worlds of
Brian S. Pratt
The Morcyth Saga
*(Conclusion of The Morcyth Saga)
Travail of The Dark Mage
Sequel to The Morcyth Saga
2- (forthcoming)
The Broken Key
Qyaendri Adventures
Dungeon Crawler Adventures
The Adventurer’s Guild
#1-Jaikus and Reneeke Join the Guild
For Joseph, my son.
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Riyan looked out over the landscape, his position on the ridge afforded him a commanding view of the valley. The moonlight overhead painted the world in shadows, among which who knew what sorts of beasts may lie. Undaunted, he turned to his companion and directed his attention to the castle nestled in against the backdrop of the far side of the valley. “Look,” he said, “there across the valley.” His companion, a man like himself who had seen many a battle, nodded. “We’ll find her in there for sure.”
The lady in question had been snatched from her home by person’s unknown. Her family contracted Riyan and Chadric to track down those responsible, rescue their daughter, and slay her captors. After several days of following their trail, it has led them here.
“Let’s go,” Riyan said and then headed out. Chadric followed close behind.
They worked their way down from the ridge and soon found themselves in the shadowy darkness of the valley floor. Heavily forested, this area gave off a less than comforting feel as they made their way closer to the castle.
Howrrrrrrrr!
Not very far off a wolf’s howl split the night. Riyan and Chadric came to an abrupt stop as they turned their attention toward the direction from which the sound had originated. The moon’s light did little to dispel the shadows as it was unable to effectively reach this far below the forest’s canopy.
“What…?” began Chadric when Riyan held up his hand to silence him. Becoming silent once more, Chadric focused his attention on the shadowy boles of the trees before them.
Then all of a sudden, one of the mountain wolves that infested these parts launched itself out of the shadows. Moving straight for Chadric, it snarled and its teeth became pale shadows in the darkness.
Riyan pulled his sword from its scabbard just as his companion was bowled over by the beast. “Chadric!” he hollered.
On the ground, the wolf had one of Chadric’s gauntleted forearms in its mouth and was shaking it furiously. “Ahhh!” he cried out. With his other fist, Chadric began hitting the beast alongside the head but the blows did little in persuading it to release his arm.
Then Riyan came to his aid. Striking out at the back of the wolf with his sword, he cleaved the beast almost in two by his thunderous blow. Kicking out with his foot, he knocked the wolf from off his friend.
“You okay?” he asked. Offering a hand, he helped his friend to his feet.
Chadric nodded. Then he took a look at the gauntlet covering his forearm and saw where the wolf’s teeth had indented the metal. “Yeah,” he replied.
“We better hurry and reach the castle,” Riyan said. “Wolves never hunt alone.” No sooner did he say that than another howl split the night not very far away. Wiping his sword off on the wolf’s hide, he gave Chadric a hand up and then they were back on their way to the castle.
They passed among the trees much more quickly now, the howling of the wolves driving them onward. Despite the frequency and close proximity of the howls, no other wolf made an appearance.
At last they reached the far side of the valley. Here the forest became less dense and it wasn’t long before the outer wall of the castle appeared through the trees. High on the upward slope of the valley where the mountains began, its dark edifice loomed hauntingly. The wall ringing the castle rose high from the valley’s floor, beyond which climbed a spire even higher into the sky. A single light broke the darkness as it escaped from a window high in its upper reaches.
When they reached the edge of the forest across from the wall, they paused for a moment. “Something’s not right,” observed Chadric.
“I know,” agreed Riyan. No guards were present upon the battlements and the gate stood open. “It can’t be this easy.”
“Could be they didn’t expect anyone to have trailed them back here,” suggested Chadric.
“You may be right.” But deep down inside, Riyan didn’t think so. “Come on,” he said. Moving quickly and quietly, he raced towards the open gate. Other than the normal sounds one would expect while in the forest, nothing else could be heard.
Upon reaching the gate, they pressed themselves against the wall and peered through its gaping maw. The inner courtyard looked clear. A courtyard stretched forty yards from where they stood to the door leading into the castle. The tower they saw with the light was but one of three that extended upwards from the main body of the castle. Two shorter ones extended upward at either end while the one with the lighted window towered to twice their height out of the castle’s central keep.
Riyan raised his hand which bore the Ring of Evil Detection. Calling upon its power, it took but a moment before a glow began surrounding a three foot statue that stood on a short column situated between them and the door leading into the castle. Exactly what the statue was couldn’t be readily determined in the moonlight from this distance. “I thought so,” stated Riyan. He glanced back to see if Chadric had seen the glow.
“Now what?” Chadric asked, he too had seen the glow.
“I’m all out of protection scrolls,” he replied. “The ring will afford me some protection against whatever it is.” He glanced back to the statue and drew his sword.
“Stay here.” When he heard Chadric say, ‘Alright’, he moved into the courtyard.
Working his way around the statue, he kept one eye on it and another on the rest of the courtyard. As he came closer, he could tell the statue was of some demonic beast.
There were wings on its back and a single spiraling horn protruded from out of its forehead. The head had a cruel visage with what looked like two dagger-sharp fangs extending upward from out of its lower jaw.
Then all of a sudden he felt a vibration in the ring, one he always felt when evil was near. The eyes of the statue flashed a dark red and the head slowly turned towards him.
As the statue came to life, he now understood why there were no guards on the walls or in the courtyard. This was the castle’s guardian.
Coming out of its sitting position, the demonic creature stretched upright and raised its head. Then it gave out with an ear-piercing screech. Growing silent, the creature launched itself off the column and towards Riyan.
With a war cry of his own, Riyan raised his shield to ward off the creature’s attack.
Bringing his sword into position, he waited.
Beating its wings, the creature flew through the air and struck out at Riyan with the claws of its feet. Riyan raised his shield and felt the creature strike it with jarring impact.
Then he retaliated with his sword, striking out at the creature with a resounding blow.
The blade of his sword rebounded off the creature, doing little more than chipping away a small piece of the marble it was constructed of. The jarring impact of the sword on the marble left Riyan’s arm tingling.
With wings flapping, it rose into the air only to turn and strike once more.
By this time, Chadric had reached his friend’s side and used his mace. He smashed the creature as its attack was thwarted again by Riyan’s shield. The mace did more damage, being a bashing weapon such as it was. But it still did not do enough to stop the creature.
As the creature made ready for another attack, Chadric came up with an idea. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a small crystal vial. Then as the creature again moved to attack Riyan, he threw it. When the vial struck, it shattered upon the hard marble surface and the fluid it had contained began burning the creature.
Shrieking, the creature fell to the ground and started thrashing about as dark smoke wafted from where the liquid had touched it. Chadric and Riyan move forward quickly and begin laying into it with sword and mace. They soon had it reduced to a pile of broken marble. When at last its movements stopped completely, Riyan stepped back and looked to his friend.
“What was in that?” he asked.
“Holy water,” Chadric replied. “Got it before we left Rynwall.” Riyan nodded his head and grinned at his friend. “That was fortunate,” he said.
“Turned out that way,” agreed Chad.
Leaving the shattered remains of the creature behind, they ran toward the door leading into the castle. Upon reaching the door, Riyan flung it wide and strode fearlessly into the castle. Dark and ominous, the interior was full of shadows as the moonlight made its way in through the many windows.
The hall they now found themselves in had the appearance of having been left unattended for some time. Cloth covered many of the pieces of furniture, spider webs hung in the corners of the room, all in all the place gave the feeling that no one’s been here for some time. If that was the case, then why did the trail of the woman’s captors lead them here? And what can it mean that a light shone from the window at the top of the tower?
Riyan glanced around the hall for a brief moment before crossing over to the stairway leading up. Taking the steps quickly, he and Chadric ascended up to the landing on the second floor. “We have to find the entrance to the tower,” Riyan said.
Chadric moved down to the entrance of a hallway that headed in the general direction of the tower. “Could be down here,” he suggested. He saw that it extended further into the castle.
Riyan nodded and then moved to join him at the hallway. Taking the lead, he left the landing and headed quickly down the hallway with Chadric right behind.
The hallway itself was rather wide with several doors lining both sides. Moving past them, Riyan walked quickly towards the end of the hallway where he hoped to find the entrance to the tower. When he reached a little over halfway to the door at the end, his ring all of a sudden began vibrating to tell him evil was close. He no sooner paused and was about to tell Chadric to be on his guard than the doors lining the hallway opened.
From out of the opened doors, skeletons bearing swords and shields rushed forward to attack.
Immediately, Riyan and Chadric formed up back to back to face the onslaught. Easily a dozen skeletons boiled from the adjacent rooms. Striking out, Riyan’s sword removed the head from one only to see its body continue the attack. “We have to go for the arms!” he hollered to Chadric. His next swing severed the sword arm from the headless skeleton.
Kicking out with his boot, he knocked the one armed headless stack of bones backwards.
It broke apart when it struck the wall.
“Yeah!” Chadric yelled as his mace smashed through the ribcage of another.
Laying about them, they quickly destroyed the skeletons. Having only received a few minor cuts, they left the pile of bones behind and hurried to the door at the end of the hallway. So far, what they have faced hasn’t been all that challenging.
Upon reaching the door, Riyan grabbed the handle and pushed it open. On the other side they found a room where the staircase leading up into the tower began. A roar filled the room as a fur covered creature leaped from the stairs. Taller than either of them, it must have stood over six and a half feet. Naked other than the covering of fur, it’s only weapons appeared to be a pair of nasty looking claws and the razor sharp teeth filling its mouth.
Shouting his war cry, Riyan raced forward with sword drawn to meet the attack. He raised his shield as one of the creature’s massive paws struck out at him. The force of the blow upon his shield knocked him backwards several steps. As he saw Chadric moving past him to engage, he yelled, “It’s stronger than it looks.” Chadric nodded that he heard then attacked with his mace. Impacting the creature’s side, the hit elicited a roar of pain. Then another of the creature’s paws swung forward.
Chadric raised his shield to block the blow and sailed backwards through the air when the blow connected. Slamming into the wall, he slid down and settled to the floor.
“Yaaaaa!” screamed Riyan as he thrust his sword toward the creature. The sword’s point struck the creature’s side and sank in several inches.