Quest's End: The Broken Key #3 (27 page)

Kevik, with the reins of the twins’ horses in hand, quickly dispelled the fog and rode over to the where Seth and Soth lay unconscious amidst the guards.

“Kevik!” hollered Riyan when he saw him going to the twins’ rescue. Around him, Riyan was laying about with the flat of his sword, striking recovering guards on the head and knocking them unconscious once again.

Ping!

An arrow ricocheted off the cobblestones of the road. Looking up, Riyan saw that the archers were regaining consciousness as well and were taking up their bows once more. If they didn’t get out of there soon, it would all be over. Glancing out the gate, he saw a gaggle of locals staring in startled curiosity at what he and Chad where doing. As it seemed they weren’t planning on interfering, Riyan dismissed them, all the while hoping they wouldn’t take an active part in thwarting their escape.

Turning his back on the onlookers, he and Chad quickly jammed several of the guard’s swords beneath the forward edge of the gate to prevent it from being closed. Once four swords were in place, he glanced over to where Kevik already had one of the twins laid across the back of a horse. Chyfe had just joined him and together they were securing the other.

“Riyan,” urged Chad, “let’s get out of here.” Glancing back to the onlookers, he saw that curiosity was beginning to turn into something else.

“Right with you,” he replied.

The two friends ran back to their horses, on the way striking out at three other guards who had begun recovering. Upon reaching their horses, they vaulted into the saddle. Now that the second twin had been secured to his horse, Kevik and Chyfe quickly mounted. The reins of one twin’s horse were tied to the saddle of the other, and that horse’s reins were clutched in Chyfe’s hand as he led them away.

“Oh no,” groaned Chad.

Riyan turned to his friend and saw him looking back down the street leading into town. The yellow fog had disappeared and a score of horsemen were quickly barreling down upon them. Taking up the pack mules’ reins, he turned his horse toward the now half opened gate.

One guard was working to free the swords that kept the gate open, he had already managed to remove one of them. Others were regaining consciousness once again from when Riyan had struck them in the head.

Kevik saw the oncoming horsemen and quickly cast the yellow fog to block their path. But no sooner had the fog appeared than it vanished. His heart sank as he understood the significance of that. There was another magic user present. “Flee!” he screamed.

The four of them turned, and with the pack mules and the twins in tow, raced for the gate. Riyan’s horse ran into guard after guard, sending them sprawling back to the ground in passing.

Then his heart sank as he saw that the swords wedged beneath the gate had been removed and two guards were working to close it. Kicking his horse into even greater speed, he drew his sword and charged. Seeing a sword wielding horseman racing toward them, the two guards increased their efforts to close the gate.

From behind him he heard Kevik voice arcane words and the gate’s momentum abruptly came to a halt. Goo had materialized at the gate’s base. “Yes!” he cried out. Reaching the two guards, he struck out with his sword and caught one in the shoulder. The second guard drew his sword and was about to engage Riyan when Chad’s horse barreled into him. Right behind him came the others. A clash of swords rang out as Chyfe blocked an attack by another guard in passing. Then they were through.

“Where to?” Riyan hollered then came to a stop. The curious onlookers had turned into a determined mob. Swords were visible as the crowd blocked their escape.

“Distraction!” yelled Kevik as he came to the fore.

The others immediately understood what he meant and drew their swords and started yelling. Kevik let loose with a spray of sparks and several blasts of energy missiles. But other than a cautionary murmur that passed through the mob, they didn’t budge.

Clang!

Riyan looked back and saw Chyfe engaged with a guard. “Do something!” he yelled.

Changing tactics, Kevik raised his staff high and cast his wind spell. With the vocalization of the last syllable, a massive wind blasted into the mob. Men, women, and children were swept out of their way. It took only a second for the way to be cleared.

Behind them on the other side of the gate, the riders were closing fast. “Move!” yelled Chad.

Chyfe blocked the guard’s attack then kicked out with his boot and knocked him backwards. Turning from the gate as the guard hit the ground, he joined Riyan, Chad, and the twins as they bolted from the gate and passed through the opening created in the mob by the wind spell.

Kevik hesitated a moment as he cast a final spell, then raced after. Five seconds later, when the first of the pursuing riders passed through the gate, a horse screamed and was quickly followed by others.

After passing through the gate, the first rider had run into a patch of goo that Kevik had created on the ground. His horse’s legs had snapped as its forward momentum sent it to the ground. Those following close behind ran into the first horse, and soon there was a writhing pile of creatures, both equine and human, blocking the gate.

The comrades soon left the chaos behind them as they raced southeast out of town.

“Where are we to go?” asked Chad once they had left the last building far behind.

By this time, Seth and Soth had regained consciousness and both now sat astride their horses. Though still a bit groggy, they were able to keep in the saddle. Seth was quite distraught to discover both his and Soth’s swords still lay on the street where they had succumbed to Kevik’s sleep spell. His brother on the other hand figured it a small price to pay for escaping with their lives. “There are always other swords,” he had told his brother. To which Seth grudgingly agreed.

“As far away from Hylith as we can get,” replied Chyfe. He turned toward Riyan to forestall the question he knew he was about to ask. “He’s on his own now,” he quickly stated. “If he makes it out alive, he can use the ring to locate us.”

Riyan was grim. He hated the thought of leaving Bart alone in a now hostile, foreign city. But what else was there to do? They certainly couldn’t take on the entire city guard and hope to prevail.

They were currently on the road that ran along the river southeast out of Hylith. They kept as fast a pace as they dared with only minimal stops. Pursuit would be coming after them soon if it hadn’t already.

The plan was to initially stay on the road and keep as hard a pace as they could until darkness came. There was no sense in leaving the road before then, for the other travelers would surely inform any pursuit where to start looking for them. If there was any hope a group their size had of throwing off pursuit, it was under the cover of night. So with Riyan and Chyfe riding point, they flew down the road.

Night was rapidly approaching as Bart stared out from the barred window of a long forgotten storeroom. He had come across this place a couple hours ago. From its lone window, he had a commanding view of the gates leading from the castle area.

He watched the guards moving to and fro along the walls, twice as many as there had been before. The gates were shut and though he couldn’t see the other side, figured there had to be additional guards stationed there as well. It definitely didn’t look as if they were giving up the search for him.

How they discovered him continued to plague him. Every hallway and room he had explored leading up to the magic user appearing, were areas of common usage. Somehow, he had alerted them to his presence. Something had set him apart.

It wasn’t until the fact that he had been wearing the Cloak of Concealment crossed his mind that it all started making sense. In a castle such as the one he found himself in, wards detecting the presence of magic would have to be in place. There would always be the risk of assassins or spies walking at will in places where they shouldn’t, cloaked or hidden by means similar to his Cloak. And as soon as the wards were tripped, the magic user set out to find him.

Once he had come to that conclusion, he removed the ring used to contact Kevik and placed it securely in his pouch. If they could track him when he used magic, then the last thing he wanted was for Kevik to contact him and alert the magic user to his whereabouts. He was dying to find out how his friends fared, but didn’t dare risk it until he was out of the castle.

Casting one more glance out the window at the growing darkness, he figured it was time. The storeroom in which he stood was part of a network of secret passages that crisscrossed their way from one side of the castle to another.

It was a winding network of short passages, stairs, and in one spot a five foot vertical drop to where the passage continued. During his search, he hadn’t come across any passages that showed signs of usage. The thought that the powers that be weren’t aware of such a network within their own walls was amazing. He wouldn’t have thought it possible if he hadn’t seen the evidence with his own eyes; passage after passage, each with a layer of dust that hadn’t been disturbed in decades, maybe longer.

Before leaving the storeroom, he lit one of his two remaining candles and set it within the tube lantern. Not far from the storeroom was a narrow stairwell of sixteen steep steps that wound steeply down. At the bottom was a passage moving to the left and right. He turned to the right.

At first glance, every passage looked the same. But during his earlier exploration, he had discovered that placed at various intersections and along passages were markers. Or at least that’s how he thought of them. Little things that would help those using the passages to know where they were.

For instance, at the bottom of the stairwell leading to the storeroom, there had been three small circular holes carved into the wall. Other places held other markers: an engraving of a horse, a torch sconce turned upside down, as well as other series of holes, each containing a different number. He would pass two such before reaching where he planned to make his escape.

First he came to an engraved skull at a convergence of three passages. There he turned and followed the one branching to his left. This passage was the longest unbroken stretch he had yet come across. Following it, he came to another junction. First there were steps leading down, and then three feet further on, another passage branched off to the right. Passing by the stairwell, he followed the passage to the right.

This passage only went ten feet before turning ninety degrees to the right. After the turn, the passage went another five feet before coming to an abrupt end. There on the left side of the passage was the second marker. It was a raised relief of a small dagger.

When he had first encountered this dead end, he had thought it strange for it to be here. Figuring there to be more to it than just a plain wall, he searched for a hidden catch. He discovered that pressing on the raised relief of the dagger caused the wall at the end of the passage to slide open to the left.

On the other side of the wall were more of the secret passages. Why someone felt the need to put in a semi-hidden trigger in such a place didn’t make any sense to Bart. During his earlier exploration of the passages on the other side of the secret door, he had found them to be the same as all the others he’d gone through. Thoughts of finding a hidden cache of treasure or something special had crossed his mind from time to time, but he didn’t have such luck.

Moving to his right, he followed the passage beyond the secret door past the backsides of two secret exits. One led into a storeroom which was currently being utilized, and the other opened behind a drapery hanging in an alcove. After the alcove exit, the passage made several sharp turns before the third exit came into view.

Beyond this one was a small servant’s room, one of two belonging to a larger suite of rooms. When he explored it earlier, he found it to be unoccupied. The central room of the suite had two windows looking out on the parade grounds between the castle and the walls. Two reasons made this the ideal place for him to leave the labyrinth of secret passages. One was the fact that the windows were situated far from the main entrance and thus his egress from them was unlikely to be noticed. And two, they were directly across from the stables. He needed a long piece of rope to make it over the wall to the other side, and the stables were the most likely place where he would be able to find one.

Coming up to the exit, he placed his ear against the door and listened. When all he heard was silence, he lifted the latch and slowly opened the door. The doorway itself was quite narrow, barely two feet in width. Once he had it opened a crack, he peered through and saw that the room remained dark and empty. Pushing the door open wider, he passed through to the other side and then closed it behind him.

Bart moved from the servant’s room to the main, central room where those who were using this suite would meet and visit with guests. He entered and immediately went to the fireplace. Though it had been cleaned after the last occupant, there was still enough soot attached to the sides and up inside the flue for what he planned to do.

Using a cloth from his pack, he rubbed it along the inner sides of the fireplace. Then once the cloth was darkened with soot, he began rubbing it onto his exposed skin. This way, light wouldn’t be reflected off of his pale skin and give him away.

Once he had applied the soot to face, neck, arms, and hands, he returned the cloth back to his pack and crossed over to the window. A cool breeze blew through the cracks of the shutter. Bart swung open the shutter and looked down. It was far enough to the ground below that he risked a broken leg if he were to simply freefall the distance.

But he had planned for that. Moving away from the window, he crossed over to the main bedroom of the suite. There, the bed was still covered in sheets and quilts. Bart put his pack on a bedside table and then commenced pulling the covers off. The quilts he tossed aside.

He took the one sheet and began ripping it into long strips, each about six inches wide. Once he had eighteen identical strips, he started braiding them together into strands of three. When he was done, he had six, seven foot long braided sections lying before him on the bed. He tied their ends together until he had a makeshift rope, roughly twenty feet in length. Not nearly long enough to reach to the ground, he set the rope aside and commenced on the bottom sheet. Together they wouldn’t reach all the way to the ground, but at least it should bring him close enough so he could drop the rest of the way without injury.