Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (45 page)

“Forgive me master,” he said as he let go of the staff and gripped the rope with both hands.

As the staff began floating away, he started working his way down the rope to the raft. He could hear Bart grunting as he worked to keep the current from taking the raft.

Moving as fast as he could, he finally reached the raft.

“Get on,” said Bart. “But be careful, this wood isn’t going to hold under your full weight.”

Nodding understanding, Kevik placed both hands on the raft and pulled himself up.

Crack!

His left hand broke one of the boards and the river just about sucked him away when his grip on the raft faltered. Panic set in until both hands were once again holding onto the raft. Then he calmed himself by a sheer force of will and began to climb on board once more.

A little slower this time, he inched his way on top until all but his lower legs were still in the water.

“Cancel the spell!” Bart yelled at him.

Mumbling the words, Kevik dispelled the goo holding the packs to the wall. Then he felt the current begin dragging the raft downriver once more. “Thanks,” he said to them.

“Later,” Bart said as he hauled the packs back onto the raft. “Keep your eyes open for any possible rocks or anything else we may run into.

“Right,” Kevik said. He remained where he was and turned onto his back like the others. He scanned for possible danger spots while Chad and Riyan continued working to keep the raft from striking the wall.

For several minutes the current carried them on until something from the opposite side of the river entered the lantern’s light and caught his attention. It looked like a wooden dock. “Bart!” he yelled then directed Bart’s attention to the dock.

Bart nodded and said, “We need to get to it!” He sat up on the makeshift raft and started twirling the three waterlogged packs over his head.

Crack! Snap!

Beneath him he could feel and hear the planks about to give way. Ignoring the aged wood’s warning, he said to Kevik, “Goo spell.” Then with a final impetus, he launched the packs toward the approaching dock.

When the packs reached halfway there, Kevik cast his spell. The packs hit the wall with a splat a little upstream of the dock. Then just like before, the river used it as a fulcrum and swung the raft towards the dock’s side of the river.

Chad and Riyan scrambled to the other side of the raft and reached it a second before the raft struck the wall. Using their legs, they kept the raft a safe distance away.

“Kevik,” Bart said. “You’re going to have to help me to pull the raft closer.” They were now ten feet downriver of the dock.

Crack!

The wood beneath Bart gave out with another threatening crack as the pressure he was exerting against the raft to prevent the river from taking it was now being focused on the board his feet were braced against. Kevik moved over until he was in position and grabbed the rope. Then between both of them, they slowly brought the raft to the dockside.

“Okay Kevik,” Bart said. “Get on the dock. But be careful, it may not hold.” Nodding, Kevik began moving across the raft to the edge of the dock.

Crack!

“And hurry!” Bart saw the board he had his feet braced against begin to come apart.

“Just hold for a little bit longer,” he said softly to the board. Once Kevik made it onto the dock, he told Riyan to go next.

Riyan grabbed the lantern then worked his way from the raft to the dock. By this time, Kevik had already made it to the stone landing on the other side. Once Riyan was on the dock and began working his way to the landing, it was Chad’s turn.

“But it’s going to hit against the wall!” Chad hollered to Bart. His feet even now were pressed against the side of the channel as he worked to maintain the foot of space between the raft and the wall.

“I know!” Bart replied. “Just get on the dock.”

No sooner did Chad remove his feet and begin moving along the raft to the dockside than the current began banging the side of the raft into the wall. They could hear the wood begin splintering and even before he reached the dock, one of the rear planks broke off and was carried away by the current.

Bart continued holding the rope, the strain on his arms becoming quite bad. Between what he did when Kevik joined them and what he’s doing here, his muscles were a knotted mass of pain. Frankly, he’s surprised he’s been able to hold this for as long as he has.

He watched Chad’s progress and when he saw him leave the raft and make the dock, he sighed with relief.

Crack!

A large chunk of the raft behind him splintered off after striking the wall hard. He glanced back and saw that there was only one more plank behind him. The loss of that section of the raft slightly eased the pressure being exerted on his arms.

Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riyan moving across the wooden dock towards the rope in an attempt to help him. “Riyan, stop!” he yelled. The last thing he wanted was for the situation to worsen by Riyan breaking through the aged wood and falling into the river.

Riyan paused as he turned to Bart. Then a loud cracking was heard and Riyan’s left foot suddenly broke through. Chad was quick to his side and lent him a hand back onto the stone landing. The three of them turned their gaze to where Bart sat upon the raft. His feet were braced against the wood and he was holding the rope for all he was worth.

Bart lifted a foot from where it was braced against the raft and felt the raft subtly shift under him. He moved the foot closer to the end of the raft, then did the same with the other. Only two more planks separated him from the edge of the raft. One by one, he worked his way to the edge.

Crack! Snap!

All of a sudden the raft disintegrated and he was in the water. He held onto the rope as the current dragged him under. His pack across his back didn’t help matters but he wasn’t about to let that go, it held his lockpicks. Death would take him before he willingly gave them up.

So holding onto the rope with one hand, he used his other to bring him back to the surface. “Grab my hand!” he heard Riyan holler to him when his head broke through.

Looking up, he saw Riyan at the edge of the dock, reaching out his hand.

He tried to grab the hand but the current pulled him under once more. When he finally made it back to the surface, Riyan’s hand was still outstretched. Again he tried to reach it, and this time Riyan managed to grab his hand and began pulling him to the dock.

Once he had both hands holding onto the dock, he handed the rope to Riyan.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Don’t thank me until you’re safely on the landing,” Riyan said. He then took hold of the back of Bart’s pack and helped him up.

Crack!

The wood beneath them was beginning to give way. “Move!” they heard Chad yell.

Realizing they didn’t have much time, Riyan and Bart scrambled for the landing.

Snap! Crack!

The dock disintegrated under them. Riyan was the first to make the landing and just as Bart reached it, the dock completely collapsed into the river. Bart cried out as he lost his grip and felt his feet entering the river.

Kevik dove for him and grabbed his arm before the current could drag him away.

Then with Chad and Riyan’s help, he pulled Bart onto the landing.

He laid there a moment panting, barely having the strength to move. Riyan came and knelt down by his side. “Guess what?” he asked.

“What?” Bart replied. His heart had finally quit racing and his muscles began to quiet their protesting.

Riyan pointed behind him to the far side of the landing and grinned. “Another passage.”

“Let me have some rest first,” Bart told him.

“No problem there,” he said. “We need to dry out anyway before we all catch our death.” Getting up, he had Chad help him in tearing apart the remnants of the pier. Little of it remained though, most of it was now on its way down the river. At least there was enough left that they could build a fire.

Kevik came and sat by Bart while the other two worked at collecting the wood.

“Thank you for taking the time to rescue me,” he said.

“That’s alright,” Bart replied. “Couldn’t very well leave you there all alone.” He saw a bit of sadness in Kevik’s eyes and said, “Sorry about your staff.” Kevik shrugged. “I’m sure Allar would have understood,” he said.

A pile of wood was beginning to grow in the middle of the landing as Riyan and Chad continued tearing chunks and pieces from the remaining sections of planks and the pilings. When they figured they had enough, Riyan stacked the smaller, driest bits in a loose pile. Then he put one of the smaller pieces in the flame of the lantern until it began to burn. Once it had caught and didn’t look like it was going to go out, he placed it beneath the stack. It took him three separate attempts before the pile of wood began to burn on its own.

Slowly at first they added more wood to the flames until they had a roaring fire going on the landing. By this time some of Bart’s energy had returned and he sat up and scooted closer to get warm. The four comrades sat in the fire’s warm glow as they stripped down to their small clothes and began drying their things out.

“Our food’s ruined,” announced Chad. He pulled a rather nasty looking mess from out of his pack that had once been dried bread and other rations, including half a loaf of stale bread. The only thing that had survived was a few strips of dried beef. He went to the edge of the water and washed away the moist rations that had adhered to the meat.

After that he distributed them evenly among the four of them.

“Anyone else have anything?” Bart asked. Two more strips of beef were discovered in Riyan’s pack. Other than that, nothing was salvageable.

“Once we get out of here food won’t be that much of a problem,” Riyan said as he patted his sling.

“But getting out of here will,” Chad said. Then he pointed over to the mouth of the passage. “What do we do if that passage doesn’t lead anywhere?”

“Get back in the water and swim,” replied Bart matter-of-factly.

None of them relished that possibility. They didn’t even have the pier this time to turn into a makeshift raft, the bulk of it has already disappeared downstream. What was left was barely enough to keep their fire going.

“Anyone look into it yet?” Bart asked indicating the passage.

“Just peeked in through the entrance,” Riyan said. “It continued further than what the lantern’s light revealed.”

Bart nodded. Then he asked Kevik what happened to him after he fell down the shaft.

For the next hour they heard his tale and in turn told of what they had gone through and what they found. They showed him the various items they took from the treasure room.

He was especially interested in the wand.

“Do you know what it does?” asked Riyan.

“No,” he admitted. “And I’m not about ready to find out either.” He glanced to the others before continuing. “I’m about used up, magically speaking. I’ve done more magic since I’ve met you than I did the month prior to our meeting.”

“Hopefully you won’t be called on to do any more for awhile,” Bart said.

“That would be good,” he replied. “I need a break.” When half of their wood supply had been consumed, they banked the fire and put their semi dried clothes back on. Then they made ready to explore the passage. “Think the key could be down here?” Riyan asked Bart.

Shrugging, he said, “Maybe.”

Bart took the lead. Swinging his mostly dry pack onto his back, he picked up the lantern and moved to the passage. His muscles still felt the effects of what he had put them through, but a least they no longer constantly complained. They just gave off with a dull ache now and then, along with a feeling of tiredness.

He entered the passage and found that it was constructed similar to the ones above. It extended forward easily forty feet before turning to the right. Then another ten feet before they came to the top of a stairway leading down.

Bart followed the steps down with the others right behind. At the bottom, the steps ended at another passage which extended for a short ways before ending at a plain room.

It was twice as wide as it was long. No ornamentation, no engravings, nothing. Simply bare rock. The only thing in the room was a plain, four foot marble pedestal situated in the center of the room. When they came close to it, they saw that the top of the pedestal bore the insignia that was engraved on all the coins.

“Well isn’t this just lovely,” Riyan commented. “Someone beat us to it.”

“Damn!” exclaimed Chad.

“Looks like they took it with them when they fled here,” observed Bart. “Which would make sense.”

“But where would they have taken it?” Riyan asked him.

Bart shrugged. He glanced around the room another time then began moving around the pedestal.

“You think there could be a secret compartment?” Riyan asked hopefully.

“I doubt it,” he replied. “This has all the look of where it would have rested.” He had almost completed his circuit of the pedestal when the floor opened up beneath him.

“Damn!” he cried out as he reached out. His left hand grasped hold of the opening’s edge and the sudden halt of his fall knocked the lantern from out of his other hand. Just as he brought his right hand up to join his left in hanging on, the lantern smashed against the bottom of the shaft.

The others were right there a second later and helped him back up out of the pit. They looked down at the bottom a good thirty feet below where their sole lantern lay busted.

The base of the lantern had ruptured when it hit and burning oil covered most of the ground down there.

“Now what?” Chad asked. Then he groaned as Kevik’s bobbing sphere appeared and began bobbing about.

“It’s better than the dark,” Riyan said.

“Not by much,” replied Chad.

Bart stared down at the flames. He sighed and was about to turn away when something caught his eye. At first he wasn’t exactly sure what it was, only that something was other than it should be. Then he finally figured it out. One side of the pit at the bottom near the flames was darker than the others. It could be a passage.