Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (50 page)

“Hot?” asked Bart with a grin.

“Very,” he replied. “What do we do if the bottom of the boat catches fire?”

“If we’re lucky we’ll never find out,” said Chad.

They continued floating for some time as they worked their way through the burning inferno. The temperature within the boat continued to rise. Already it was approaching an uncomfortable range. The goblin youth, other than a few grunts now and then, remained still and quiet.

Wham!

They were startled as something slammed into the bottom of the boat. It didn’t inhibit their progress any, but it did scare them pretty good. “A falling limb perhaps?” guessed Kevik.

“Would think so,” replied Riyan. “If it had been a tree the boat would have shattered or been pressed to the bottom of the river.”

Still they floated on. From time to time their feet would touch the river bottom. When that happened they would try to move the boat back to the center of the river where the water was deeper. In some cases it was due to the fact that the river widened and thus the water level had dropped. During those times they feared running into another fording area where the depth of the river had diminished. They didn’t relish the idea of having to leave the protection of the boat in order to carry it across. For the water outside the boat still glowed from the light of the fire, though it was no longer the white hot light. The reddish glow gave them hope that they had passed through the worst of it.

Riyan didn’t worry too much about the eventuality of having to carry the boat over a ford. After all, rivers tended to grow in size the further they went, not diminish. It was during one of those times when they couldn’t touch the bottom that he began to notice a red glow coming from the bottom of the boat above his head.

“The boat’s on fire!” he yelled in a panic.

“What do we do?” Chad asked.

Riyan started splashing water on the glow in an attempt to inhibit the burning process.

Some of the water hit the face of the goblin youth and it started to stir.

Bart stuck his hand under the side of the boat and moved it to the outside surface.

When his hand broke the water, the air felt hot, but not lethally so. “Move us to the side of the river,” he told the others. “We may be able to put it out.” Kicking hard, they worked their way to one side until they could feel the river bottom under their feet once again. “Hold it here,” he said. “I’m going to go check it out.” Without waiting for the others to reply, Bart ducked under the water and moved out from under the boat.

He stayed underneath the water as he looked up to see how bad the fire around them was. The banks of the river couldn’t be seen, but the glow of fire was all around him. He took but a moment to gauge the best location to break the surface. Once he made his decision, he kicked off the bottom of the riverbed and shot up fast. Waving his arms wildly, he splashed about to create a protective cover of water as he broke the surface.

When he opened his eyes, he was amazed at what he saw.

The woods on either side were dark, the forest fire was a good mile behind them.

What had been making the water glow and burning the bottom of the boat was a large clump of burning branches that was lying along the upturned bottom of the boat. He moved to the burning branches and removed his pack. Then using the water soaked pack, he began hitting the branches with it and knocking them off into the water. It took him a minute or so before the last branch was off the boat and floating down with the current.

Bart ducked back under the water and came up inside the boat. “We’re past the fire,” he told them. Then he explained about the branches and how they had left the forest fire behind them.

Riyan chuckled. “All this time we thought we were still in the fire, and instead were fooled by a bunch of burning branches.” The others broke into laughter at that. Not so much at what he said but due to the relief each felt at having survived to reach the far side of the fire.

“Now let’s move over to the bank and flip the boat upright again,” Bart said. He and the others left the warm, stale air inside the overturned boat and were soon once again in the cool, smoke filled air of the forest.

When Riyan ducked under the water with the goblin youth, it woke completely.

Thrashing about, it almost broke free of Riyan’s grasp but he managed to keep hold of it until they broke the surface on the other side of the boat.

“Hold him still,” Kevik said as he moved behind Riyan and opened his pack. He had seen the burns on the goblin youth’s face and wanted to help him.

While Riyan held onto the youth, he removed the last of the healing potions and returned to Riyan’s side. The goblin’s eyes were opened wide in fear as he saw Kevik move the bottle towards him.

The goblin youth thrashed about intensely as he fought to free himself of Riyan’s grip. “Hold him steady,” Kevik said.

Bart realized what he was trying to do and moved to help Riyan in holding the youth still. Chad stayed where he was and kept hold of the boat to prevent the current from taking it away.

With Bart’s help, the youth was soon being held tightly and Kevik moved the mouth of the bottle to its lips. “Just a bit to help with your burns,” he said soothingly to the goblin. When the goblin wasn’t being cooperative in opening its mouth, Kevik said to Bart, “See if you can get its lips open.

Bart moved a hand to the goblin’s mouth and spread its lips apart. He tilted the goblin’s head back as Kevik poured a small portion of the potion onto the goblin’s teeth. It may not be perfect but at least some of it will get into its system. After that he moved the bottle to the burn covering the right half of the youth’s face. The goblin’s eyes widened as the bottle came closer. And then before the first drop left the bottle, the youth relaxed in Riyan’s grip.

Believing the youth was no longer going to struggle, Riyan relaxed his grip as well.

As soon as the first drop fell onto the burned area of its face, it lashed out with a frantic struggle to free itself. Caught unawares, Riyan couldn’t hold him.

“Get him!” yelled Bart as the youth twisted out of his grip. Then it was free and made a dash for the trees. Before anyone could catch it, it was gone.

They stood there but a moment before Chad, who was standing by the boat said,

“Let’s get out of here before he brings others!”

That broke the spell of the moment and the other three rushed to help him in righting the boat in the water. Once it was again floating right side up, they tossed their packs into the bottom and climbed aboard. Bart and Riyan quickly began using the oars to move down the river.

Riyan glanced back to the trees where the goblin lad had disappeared until they had moved too far away to see it. He couldn’t help but be amazed by the fact that he had actually touched and held an actual goblin. Surprised by the fact he hoped it would be okay, he returned his attention to his paddling and sent them quickly down the river.

Behind them, the glow from the fire was still quite visible and they were more than happy to leave it behind them. In no time at all they came to where the river flowed into the larger lake. “The Marketplace shouldn’t be too much further,” commented Riyan.

“We should be able to make it before dawn,” Chad agreed.

Once out onto the lake, they used the silhouettes of the mountains as a guide and paddled for them. It took them an hour to cross the lake before the shore where they needed to disembark appeared before them. Off to their right the lights from the goblin village they saw the first time they passed this way were visible. From this distance it was hard to tell but it did look like there was movement among their buildings. At least the area where they were about to land looked quiet and deserted.

The dirt and rocks of the shore ground beneath the boat’s bottom as it ran aground.

When they were out of the boat Riyan asked if they should hide it.

“No,” replied Chad, “it’s a goblin boat in goblin territory. Who’s going to care?” Riyan grinned. “Guess you have a point there.” He tossed the oar into the bottom of the boat and then grabbed his pack. Once they were ready, they left the boat behind and entered the trees. Somewhere at the base of the mountains ahead of them lay the Marketplace and the pass leading home.

The forest was quiet as they made their way from the lake. They knew the general direction the Marketplace lay from the last time and headed that way. Bart stayed some distance ahead of the others so he could better determine if there were goblins about.

Riyan, Chad, and Kevik followed along behind and made sure they didn’t lose him.

They made their way through the trees for over an hour before Bart came to a stop.

The others stopped once they realized he had and waited. He stood there motionless for several seconds before ducking down low.

“Get down,” whispered Riyan as he scrunched down near the base of a nearby tree.

The other two followed suit. It wasn’t long before the sound of several goblins making their way through the underbrush from the direction of the Marketplace came to them.

The path the goblins were taking would lead them close to where they crouched in hiding.

Riyan held his breath as they approached. He could hear their guttural language being spoken as they passed by, and even caught a glimpse of their silhouettes in the moonlight.

The smoke here wasn’t so thick as to obscure them and he could tell there were at least five.

The goblins, completely oblivious to where they were hiding just yards away, continued on by. Not until their voices could no longer be heard did Riyan see Bart return to his feet. Riyan waved to him saying they were okay and for him to continue. Bart waved back and then resumed moving towards the Marketplace.

It took them another three hours before they were able to see the light of a solitary campfire at the Marketplace. At this point Bart waited while the other three joined him, then they moved forward as a group. Bart still took the lead but the others stayed close behind him.

Every few minutes Bart would pause to listen for any sound out of the ordinary, then would continue. Time and again he would pause, listen, and then continue on. When the buildings of the Marketplace could be seen through the trees, he started to edge around them to where the mountain began its rise.

During a brief pause, Bart explained what he intended for them to do. “If we move around the Marketplace and come at the pass on the far side,” he explained quietly,

“we’ll attract less attention.”

“Wonder if the soldiers stationed here would come to our aid if the goblins were to attack us?” asked Riyan.

“Only if we were on the other side of the totems,” replied Bart. “This side is goblin territory. We need to get past the totems to be safe.”

“Then let’s do it,” urged Riyan.

Bart nodded and they resumed their progress. As they made their way around the edge of the Marketplace, they began to notice that the place had a deserted look to it. The area where many caravans had been camped before was now empty. It looked like there were no merchants here to trade with the goblins.

“Could be due to the encroaching fire,” suggested Kevik. “They may wait until the threat is passed before returning.”

“Sounds plausible,” agreed Chad. “Should make it easier for us to get through.” Fifteen minutes later, they reached where they had to begin angling to the pass. Riyan felt extreme relief when they passed through the line of totems. They were safely on the human side again. But then Bart brought them to a halt as he pointed to the mouth of the pass.

Even though the Marketplace was deserted, there was still a contingent of soldiers stationed there. Half a dozen were standing around the solitary campfire they had initially seen a short time go. The soldiers were no more than a few dozen yards from the mouth of the pass. Any attempt to enter the pass would surely be discovered.

“What does it matter if they see us or not?” asked Kevik.

“We have no business being here,” replied Bart. “If it became known that we had spent time in goblin territory, there would arise certain questions which we would be reluctant to answer.”

Kevik turned to him. “You mean about the key and what you three are trying to do?”

“That’s right,” he said. “The less others know about what we do, the less someone else can beat us to it.”

“But they can’t do anything without the keys we carry,” he argued.

“True. But if it became common knowledge that we carried them,” Bart explained,

“our lives wouldn’t be worth spit. Everyone would be after them.” In the darkness, they worked to come up with a plan to draw the soldiers away from the pass. Most of the ideas, including Chad’s which was to set the forest on fire, weren’t very practical. Then Bart came up with an idea that might just work. The others offered their opinions and together, they worked it out.

Half an hour later they had it all set. They returned to their place among the trees near the pass, everyone that was but Riyan. He was in position at one of two small trees that were bent over and held in place with ropes. In Riyan’s hand was the knife he had found in the treasure room, the one with the dragon-sword coat of arms depicted on the crossguard.

When he had allowed enough time to pass and figured the others to be in position, he cut the rope of the first tree. The tree snapped up and threw a score of hand sized rocks toward the far side of the Marketplace. The rocks struck the side of the canyon less than a hundred feet from the six soldiers at the campsite. Bart had aimed it perfectly.

By the time Riyan had rejoined the others, three of the soldiers had gone to investigate the noise. As soon as Bart saw Riyan return, and that the three soldiers investigating the noise were in the proper position, he said, “Now Kevik.” Kevik nodded and dispelled the green goo that had been holding the other rope of the second tree. When the goo disappeared, the tree straightened up rapidly and launched about forty small pebbles outward that were nestled in a piece of bark wedged between two of its branches. The pebbles rained down on the three soldiers who were investigating the first volley of rocks.