Quest's End: The Broken Key #3 (41 page)

Straining to hear the slightest sound from up ahead, he made his way to the bottom step. Moving silently, he came to the last step and looked through the opening only to find another long, empty passage extending directly away into darkness. A torch’s faint, flickering glow could be seen in the distance.

Bart turned his head back to the others and said, “Come on down. It’s clear.” He waited on the step until Kevik joined him. Then he asked the magic user, “Any word from Soth?”

“Not yet,” he replied.

“Then we have to assume things are going well up there,” Riyan said, joining the discussion.

Bart nodded. Once he made sure their group was still together, he set off down the passage toward the other burning brand. Doorways and other openings branched off to parts unknown as they progressed down the passage. As they came to each, they would peer through before moving on. All they found were more instances of destruction the grave robbers had caused. The dead stripped and lying on the stone floor, sarcophagi defaced, some destroyed completely.

As Riyan passed by one doorway, the light from Kevik’s staff reflected off of something within that caught his eye. Before he could clearly see what it was, Kevik had moved past, taking the light with him. “Wait a minute,” he said. Kevik and the others stopped and glanced back. Riyan motioned for him to return to the doorway. “I think I saw something.”

“What?” asked Bart, walking with Kevik back to where Riyan waited.

When Kevik returned and his light once again shone into the room, they saw what had caught his eye. A mural on the far wall that was remarkably similar to the mosaic they had found on the island by Catha.

The dragon wrapped tower, the lake, the hills, everything was the same. Only it wasn’t a mosaic. Rather, it had been painted on the wall. Parts of it were ruined by what looked to have been knives or other metal instruments having been scraped across its surface. Another sign of the destructive nature of the grave robbers.

“This cinches it!” Riyan exclaimed when he saw the mural. “The last part of the key must be here.” He made to enter the room but was stopped by Bart. “Better let me take the lead,” he said. “Not sure if they spent much time in here. There could still be a hidden trap they haven’t tripped yet.”

“Alright,” Riyan said as he stepped back to allow Bart to enter first. His eyes were fairly dancing with anticipation.

The room was small and there was no evidence it had ever been used to house the dead as had the previous rooms through which they passed. What purpose it once held remained a mystery. The only item of note was the mural.

“Could this be the way?” Kevik asked Riyan.

“I hope so,” Riyan replied. Keeping his eyes on Bart, he waited.

Bart stepped carefully into the room. The glow from Kevik’s staff illuminated the room fairly well. The floor was nondescript, simply plain stone. Other than the wall bearing the mural, there were no other markings of any kind. Moving cautiously, Bart would move one foot forward then pause once his weight was fully upon it. When he didn’t detect any movement beneath his foot such as a shifting plate or a miniscule drop one would feel when a trap was triggered, he would move his next foot forward and continue.

He made his way to the mural and began inspecting it. The detail with which it had been drawn was meticulous, down to the individual granules of sand at the water’s edge. First he ran the tips of his fingers across its surface to check for any irregularities. When that didn’t produce results, he began to gently press on various objects depicted in the mural.

“Why don’t we have Kevik cancel his light?” asked Chyfe. “Maybe the way will glow as it did back on the island?”

Bart glanced over his shoulder and nodded. “Can’t hurt to try,” he said. Then to Kevik he added, “Go ahead.”

A moment later they were in total darkness. No glow appeared. They stood silently in the dark as each strained to detect any glow coming from the mural or surrounding walls. Still, no glow.

“Alright Kevik,” Bart’s voice came from the darkness, “bring it back.” A second later, the light flared back anew.

Riyan glanced to Chyfe and shrugged. “It was a good idea anyway,” he said.

Chyfe nodded and turned his gaze back to Bart and the mural.

For ten minutes or more, Bart combed the surface of the mural for any sign of a hidden catch or release. When he finally came to the conclusion there weren’t any, he rejoined the others at the door.

“Doesn’t look like this is the way,” he told them.

“No,” agreed Riyan then he gestured to the mural with a nod of his head. “But with that here, I’m more optimistic about finding the key segment.”

“So am I,” Bart replied. “Perhaps we’ll have more luck deeper in.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Chad.

Bart grinned at his friend’s exuberance then moved to take the lead as they once again continued to follow the well trodden path of those who were stripping this place of any and all valuables. Judging by the looks of the items contained in the crates near the camp, they were taking everything but the dead whether it held value or not.

Once past the mural room, more doorways opened off of the passage. There were a couple side passages that joined with theirs, but the majority of doorways revealed rooms with corpses lying on the ground, their sarcophagi either destroyed or opened. Before the passage turned to the right, they came across a room free of corpses. There were markings on the floor indicating that some sizeable items had been removed. Based on the markings left behind by one item, its base had to have been close to six feet by four.

As they paused in the room to have a look around, Chad went over to where the large item once sat. “Wonder how they carried it up the cliff?” he asked.

Bart snickered. “Good question,” he replied. “I’d hate to have been one of the ones taking it up.”

Leaving the room, they moved on and came to where the passage turned to the right. Before they reached the corner, voices could be heard coming from further ahead. Bart immediately brought them to a stop. Turning to the others, he put a finger on his lips and indicated the area around the corner. Once he was sure the others were aware of what was ahead, he turned back to the corner. Stepping silently and cautiously, he crept forward.

The voices remained indistinct as he reached the corner. Ever so slowly, he peered around to the other side. Three men were standing near one of the burning torches which lit the passages. Each had a crate resting on the floor beside them. From the looks of it, they were taking a break from bringing the crates to the surface. When it didn’t look like they were going to resume making for the surface any time soon, Bart rejoined the others.

“Three of the porters,” he explained quietly. “They’re about fifty feet down.”

“Any way of taking them unawares?” asked Kevik. Bart shook his head.

“We could wait for them to come to us,” suggested Chyfe. “Better chance to surprise them.”

“No,” countered Bart. “We can’t afford to wait that long. There’s no telling how long Seth and Soth will have at the camp before someone comes down who will know they don’t belong there.”

Chyfe nodded. Taking hold of his sword, he said rather enthusiastically, “Let’s take them then.”

Bart grinned at Chyfe’s enthusiasm. Then pointing to Chyfe, he said, “You, me, and Riyan. Once we round the corner, we walk normally. May give us a chance to close the distance before they realize what’s going on.”

“Okay then,” Chyfe said with a grin. With a glance to Riyan, he said, “Let’s go.” Falling in behind Bart, Riyan and Chyfe followed him around the corner.

Standing as they were near the burning torch, the three men didn’t immediately realize others were approaching. Coming from out of the darkness, they weren’t noticed until they had crossed half the distance.

“I swear,” one of the men was saying. “These get heavier with every load.”

“It could be worse,” another man replied. “We could be the ones hauling them up the cliff.”

The third man chuckled and nodded. “Sheen took a swing at Pruss and now he has…” He came to a stop when he saw Bart, Chyfe, and Riyan appear out of the darkness. Turning his head toward them, he said, “About time we got a little help down here. You three take these to the surface. We’ll go back for more.”

Then the eyes of the second man widened when he realized the men coming toward them had pale skin. “Wait a second,” he stated. “Who are…?”

“Now!” hollered Bart as he drew his dagger and rushed forward. Behind him, the sound of two swords leaving their scabbards accompanied a war cry from Chyfe. At the sight of three armed men racing forward, the porters turned and fled.

Already moving fast, the three companions quickly closed the rest of the distance. Bart dove forward and hit the rear man square in the back. As the two of them tumbled to the ground, they knocked a second one off balance, causing him to stumble to the floor. Chyfe leaped over Bart and the two porters on his way to the third.

“Stop!” ordered Chyfe. When the man failed to heed the order, Chyfe threw his sword which hit the back of the man’s legs broadside. Stumbling from the blow, the man lost momentum and was quickly overtaken by Chyfe.

Reaching out, Chyfe grabbed the man’s tunic and threw him to the floor. Drawing his knife, Chyfe was on him in a flash with his knee in the man’s back. “Now, when I tell you to stop, you had better stop!” he yelled.

The man beneath him struggled to get away. Chyfe placed the edge of his knife against the man’s neck and said, “Give me trouble and I’ll slit your throat like a pig.” A second later, all fight left the man.

“Come on,” Chyfe said as he got off the man’s back. Taking hold of the back of his tunic, Chyfe brought him to his feet. Back down the passage, he saw that Bart and Riyan had taken the two men back to where the torch burned and had them sitting against the wall. Riyan stood before them with his sword out menacingly. Coming from the darkness beyond, Kevik and Chad appeared on their way to join them.

Chyfe brought his man forward and put him beside the others. “So,” he said, “what should we do with them?”

Bart looked down at the three men. “I suppose we could just kill them and be done with it,” he said. Fear of imminent death leaped into the men’s eyes.

“Don’t kill us!” one man wailed.

“Maybe we’ll let you live,” Riyan said. “If you’ll tell us what we want to know.”

“Yes,” the second man replied, hope dawning anew. “Just don’t hurt us.”

“Anything you wish,” the third added.

Riyan glanced to Bart who nodded. “Very well,” he said.

“How many more of you are down here?” Bart asked.

“Ten,” the first man replied.

“Where are they?” asked Chyfe.

The first man indicated the passage from which he and his two fellows had come. “Not too far is a stairway leading down to the lower level,” he explained. “They’re down there collecting the valuables and packing them into crates.”

“You make me sick,” exclaimed Riyan. “The dead deserve better than the way you’re treating them.”

The first man looked up at him. “They’re just corpses,” he argued. “Who cares about them?”

“Nothing good ever comes from treating the dead so,” admonished Kevik.

“Irregardless,” Bart said, forestalling the argument he felt was imminent, “we would like to know if there were any rooms down here bearing a certain symbol.” He then described the coat of arms, the one with the single diagonal stripe.

The three men glanced to one another for a moment while the companions waited. Then the first man turned his face toward Bart. “There are many,” he replied.

“Are there any that might stand out more than the others?” Riyan asked.

“No,” the first man replied. “Why?”

Riyan ignored the man’s question.

“There was that one area,” the second man said after a moment’s silence. When the first and third man turned toward him he continued. “Remember about a month ago? It was up here on this level.”

“Oh, right,” the first man nodded. Turning to Bart, he said, “Pruss told us to stay away. He didn’t say why.”

“I heard they had a crew up there with sledges and picks,” the third man stated.

“Pruss?” asked Chyfe.

The first man turned to him and explained, “He’s the one in charge down here.”

“Is he down with the others?” asked Riyan.

Shaking his head, the first man replied, “No. I think he’s out at the camp.”

Bart glanced to Riyan and could see that he was thinking the same thing. This could be where they needed to go. Turning back to their captives, he asked, “Can you take us to it?”

“We’ve never been there,” the first one stated.

“But I’m sure you have a pretty good idea where it lies,” Bart said.

The first man nodded. “A fair notion,” he said.

“Alright then, on your feet” Bart said as he indicated for the men to stand. Once they were on their feet, he said, “After you.”

The first man licked his lips and then turned to head down the passage from which Bart and the others had come. Around the corner he led them with Bart and Kevik following closely. The other two porters were behind them with Riyan, Chad, and Chyfe bringing up the rear.

They continued to follow the passage until they were within twenty feet of the room containing the mural. The first man stopped at one of the branching passages and turned to Bart. “It’s this way,” he said, indicating the new passage.

Bart nodded. “Alright, lead on,” he said.

“I…I’ve never been down there,” he said.

The second man piped up and added, “Pruss told us that any man found down here would be killed without question.”

“Well, we’ll make sure no one kills you,” Bart assured him. “Now,” he said and motioned for the man to precede him, “lead the way.”

He didn’t look very enthused about entering, but what choice had he? Moving forward, their captive entered the passage. Bart followed right behind with Kevik and his staff to provide light close to hand.

“I don’t know what you fellows hope to find down here,” the man leading them said. “They took everything.”

“That’s right,” agreed one of the two in the rear.