Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (14 page)

Riyan moved forward and said, “Guess it was broken.” He reached the drawer and gripped the part that was protruding. Just as he began to pull it open, Bart yelled “Stop!” But his warning came too late.

No sooner had the cavity within the drawer cleared the side of the bier than a dart flew out and struck Riyan in the arm. “Damn!” he cursed as his other hand quickly moved to remove the dart. He cried out as the dart came free for its head had two nasty barbs that ripped his flesh as he pulled it out.

“Flush it with water quick!” Bart yelled.

Chad removed his water flask and upended it over the wound. He emptied its entire contents as he washed the blood away. A tearing sound drew his attention and he turned to see Bart tearing off a piece of cloth to use as a bandage.

“It’s not that bad,” Riyan said through gritted teeth. “I’ll live.” Bart wrapped the cloth around the wound and tied it off. “It’s not the wound itself that concerns me,” he said. “It’s what may have been on the dart that has me worried.”

“You mean poison?” asked Chad.

Bart nodded. “That’s usually what you’ll find on a dart in circumstances like this.” Riyan turned fearful eyes to him and asked, “Am I going to die?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “How do you feel?”

He took a moment to see if he felt the poison taking affect then said, “I don’t feel any different.”

“You could be lucky in that the potency of the poison has deteriorated over the years,” he said. “If you start feeling nauseous or dizzy, let us know right away.”

“You got it,” he said.

Then Bart glanced at both of them and said, “From now on, no one opens anything until I say it’s okay.”

Both Chad and Riyan nodded affirmatively.

Then Bart set about searching the remaining five biers while the other two examined the contents of the drawer they just opened. More rusted weapons and a few coins, three of the silver and ten of the copper.

“You know,” commented Chad, “it just seems odd to me that soldiers for whom someone took such care to build this place for and were laid out so respectfully, would have so little in the way of valuables.” When Riyan glanced at him he gestured to the skeletal remains of the man in armor atop the bier and said, “I mean, wouldn’t you think this guy here would have more than a couple weapons and a modest amount of coins?” Riyan shrugged. “Maybe it was their custom. Or perhaps their family only gave them what they had too and saved the rest for themselves.” Chad grinned and nodded. “I’d probably do the same.”

Ahhhh!

Bart’s cry drew their attention and they looked over at the next bier just in time to see him jump back out of the way of an acid spray. “What happened?” Riyan said as he and Chad hurried over to him.

“I got sloppy,” he said. “I forgot that when there are many of the same type of traps in the same place, they are often set to go off differently to foil thieves.” He pointed to the bier he was working on. “That one had the spray come out at a little different angle and almost got me.”

“You’re okay though?” asked Chad.

Bart nodded. “Yes,” he replied. “That one’s safe, you can go through it while I finish the rest of them.”

So that’s what they did. While Bart would work on one, Chad and Riyan would go through the ones he already opened. When they were at last done with this room, Bart had managed to again narrowly avoid another acid spray as well as two more Pricks of Poison. The drawers of the remaining five had contributed sixty five more of the coppers, thirteen of the silvers and five small gems to their bulging packs.

Chad patted his pack and said, “We must have a fortune by now.” Bart grinned at his enthusiasm. “Actually we have a little over three golds worth, not counting the gems and the necklace,” he corrected.

Holding up his bulging pack, he said, “How can this be worth so little?”

“It’s the copper coins,” Bart replied. “It takes a lot to make a gold. Of course, the age of the coins could bring more value if we only knew the right person to talk to.”

“Do you?” asked Riyan.

Shaking his head, Bart said, “I know a fence where we could get rid of this stuff, but he wouldn’t care too much about their age.”

“Why would we want to get rid of this stuff?” Riyan asked.

Bart removed one of the coins and held it up. “Anyone who sees this coin is going to wonder where you got it from,” he replied. “And in case you didn’t already know, Duke Alric has made it law that he gets twenty percent of any treasure recovered in his dukedom. Something like this would be considered recovered treasure I’m afraid.”

“You’re kidding?” Chad said.

Shaking his head, Bart replied, “No I’m not. In fact, if you’re found guilty of finding treasure without turning over his share, it’s considered thieving.”

“Great!” said Riyan. The plans that had been going through his mind as to what to do with the treasure all of a sudden went up in smoke.

“Don’t worry,” Bart replied. “A quick trip to Wardean and we’ll get this exchanged for regular coins that won’t raise as much suspicion.”

“How much will the fence take for doing this?” asked Riyan.

“He takes ten percent.” Bart looked at both of them and shrugged. “Ten percent, twenty, or take the chance of standing before the Duke’s Court on charges of thievery.

It’s your choice.”

Riyan’s mood hardly improved, but he could see the wisdom in what Bart said.

“Well, ten percent is still better than having one’s hand cut off.” Which was what the penalty for thieving happened to be.

Chad slaps him on the back and grins. “What price adventure?” he asked.

Then Riyan nodded as a grin spread across his face too. “No point in getting mad,” he said. “There’s treasure to be found!”

When they were ready to leave the room, they had a choice before them. They could either return out the way they came in and continue searching from there, or they could leave by the entryway on the opposite side. After a second of deliberation, they chose to return the way they entered. That way they wouldn’t miss anything or take the chance of becoming turned around.

So back out to the passage where they continued following the passage to the left. A short ways further down they encountered another room on their right holding two biers.

Bart was quick to disarm the traps, or triggered them safely as the case warranted. They acquired another twenty seven copper coins and five silver. As they left the room and continued down the passage, Riyan got to thinking that the coins he had in his pack represented more money than he and his mother could expect to make in a year or two with the sheep. He felt better about things when he came to that realization and was better able to enjoy the adventure.

Once back out in the passage, they followed it a little further until it turned to the left.

From there it went down a ways past two larger rooms on the right, each of the rooms contained three biers. They were quick to loot the gold and gems within the drawers of the six biers before continuing on. Then they followed the passage until it turned back to the left once more.

After the turn, they found two more two-bier rooms on the right and the opening to the large room with the six biers and three columns they had went through earlier on their left. Once they went through the two-bier rooms, they continued down the passage until it turned once more to the left.

The main passage had formed a square, with the six-bier room that had the three columns running through it, as its center. After they rounded the fourth corner of the square, they came across another set of stairs descending down into darkness.

“What do you say we go up and have lunch before we see what’s down there?” suggested Chad. Then in the silence the others heard his stomach give out with a loud growl.

“Good idea,” agreed Riyan. “We all could use a bite to eat and some fresh air.” They headed back up to the uppermost level and gathered what they would need for lunch.

Then they went topside and cleared the mustiness from their lungs with the fresh summer air while they ate.

Upon their return back into what they’ve begun to call The Crypt, they once again deposited all of their equipment, except their packs and treasure, on the floor of the passage beneath the entrance. Riyan came up with the bright idea of depositing all the copper coins, save a couple for each, within one of the chests that they had searched earlier here on the top level. His pack had grown quite heavy with the weight of the coins and he didn’t really feel like lugging it around. The silver coins, gems and the single gold necklace they distributed evenly among their packs.

Once the copper had been dropped off, they moved to the steps leading down to the second level. Then from the bottom of the steps they turned left and walked over to where the next set of steps descended further down.

Riyan took the lead as he stepped into the opening of the stairs. Just like the previous stair, this one held twenty steps leading from this level down to the next. He quickly descended the twenty steps and at the bottom came out into another passage running left and right. The lantern’s light revealed the passage extending into darkness to the left, but to the right it continued a short ways before abruptly turning to the left. “Might be square just like the one above,” he commented.

Turning to the right, he led the others as he headed for the corner and followed it around to the left. Not too much further from the turn they came across another entryway to a two-bier room. It was practically identical to the one above only this time, the two chests were sitting on the biers themselves at the foot of the deceased.

Riyan and Chad stayed out in the passage while Bart took the lantern inside and began to examine the chests. The first one had a mark by the keyhole indicating the possibility of a trap.

Over lunch they had been discussing traps and the way chest makers would put a mark to indicate the presence of one. Riyan had thought it rather dumb, seeing as how it only seemed to work to the thief’s best interest. But Chad had come up with another probable reason.

“Maybe it could be put there to discourage thieves?” he had guessed. “I mean, if a thief knew it was trapped, wouldn’t he be more likely to move on to a less life threatening target?”

“Perhaps,” Riyan had said. “But I still think it’s a pretty stupid idea.” He had looked to Bart and added, “It hasn’t dissuaded us in any way.”

“You got a point there,” replied Bart.

But now they stood there and watched as Bart worked on the chests. He managed to get them open in short order and within each they found a total of twelve silver coins. For the first time, the copper coins were not present.

Riyan nodded as they divvied up the coins. “That’s more like it,” he stated. Since twenty copper coins were the equivalent of a silver, having only silver kept the weight down.

They left the room and Riyan again took the lead as they continued down the passage.

The light from the lantern soon revealed two openings coming up ahead. One on the right that was similar in width to the one they just left, and a much wider one to the left. As they drew closer, the lantern’s light revealed the opening to the left to be almost three times as wide as any they’ve come across thus far.

Riyan slowed his steps as he came nearer the two openings. A quick look through the one on the right showed that it was another of the two-bier rooms with chests resting atop the biers. Leaving the two-bier room alone for the time being, he turned his attention to the larger opening on the left.

This room was almost three times as large as the three columned room with six biers they had found above. It was shaped as a diamond, with the entryway where they were standing being one of the diamond’s points. As it turned out, there were entryways at each of the four points of the diamond.

A single bier rested against the wall of each of the four sides of the diamond. Just beyond the head and foot of each of the biers, tall columns stretched upward from the floor all the way to the ceiling.

As Riyan entered the room with the others right behind, the light from the lantern revealed a sword and shield hanging on the wall above each of the biers. Also, in the center of the floor between the four biers, was an opening with stairs leading down.

They gave the stairs a quick look and when nothing other than darkness could be seen, turned their attention to the swords and shields upon the walls. Closer examination revealed that they had survived the passage of time well. Not a speck of rust marred their surfaces and each looked as if there was strength remaining in them.

Each of the shields bore a different coat of arms that was an exact match to the coat of arms depicted on the armor of the deceased soldier lying beneath. One was of a sword pointed downward with a dragon grasping the hilt as its body twined around the blade.

The next was a simple red background with but a stripe of green running from the upper left corner to the bottom right. The third coat of arms was that of a two headed grey falcon, one head looking to the right and the other to the left. In the falcon’s left claw was grasped a stick with but a single leaf upon the upper end, and in the other claw was a dagger with the blade pointing down.

The fourth coat of arms drew the attention of them all. It was a black field upon which lay a five pointed golden crown surrounded in a nimbus of light. And beneath the crown was the symbol that has been depicted on all the coins.

They took a closer look at the body laid out upon the bier beneath the shield bearing the crown. They saw the helm that the skeletal remains was wearing had a crown of sorts worked into the design. The five points of the crown depicted on the shield were matched by five protruding points spaced evenly around the helm. Gems sparkled as they reflected the lantern’s light from where they were embedded in the tips of the spikes.

“He must have been a king,” breathed Chad.

“I would have to agree,” said Bart.

Riyan nodded too. “But I’ve never seen his coat of arms anywhere before, nor any of the others.”