Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (12 page)

“Every little bit helps,” Chad said when he saw the disappointment in his friend’s eyes.

Bart collected the coins then stood up. “You may have unrealistic expectations about this place,” he said as he turned back towards Riyan. “Judging by the construction and the state of the dead, I would guess that finding something worth real gold is unlikely.”

“Exactly,” agreed Chad. “Let’s hope we find at least enough so I can help my father with the new grinding wheels.”

Riyan gave him a grin and laid his hand on his shoulder. “You got it,” he said. “At the very least, we’re living the dream of being treasure hunters.”

“Just like the sagas,” agreed Chad with a grin of his own.

“Onward fearless treasure hunters!” Riyan exclaimed then the three friends broke into laughter. They left the crypt and returned back the way they came until they reached the

‘T’ with the main passage leading down to where they entered this place.

“Pack’s getting heavy,” Chad said.

“You’ve only got about thirty coins in there,” Bart told him. “If it gets too heavy, you can give me some of yours.”

“That’s okay,” Chad assured him, “I’m sure I’ll manage.” Riyan laughed.

They left the ‘T’ behind them and headed down the passage back towards the hole in the ceiling through which they entered. When they passed the curving narrow passage that led to the sarcophagus, they knew they were almost there.

Then Bart all of a sudden came to an abrupt halt. The other two who were walking behind him stopped as well. “What?” asked Chad.

He pointed down the passage ahead of them and in a quiet whisper said, “Look.” When the other two looked down the passage to where he was indicating, two red dots could be seen. They looked for all the world like a pair of eyes and they were staring right at them. Light filtering down from outside showed them the hole in the ceiling and the way out, unfortunately it was closer to the red eyes than it was to them.

“Back up slowly,” Bart said as he began walking backwards. Riyan and Chad both started moving backwards as well when a god awful roar reverberated through the passage.

“Run!” yelled Bart as he turned around to flee. Behind them, they could hear the grunting of a large animal as it thundered towards them.

When the lantern’s light revealed the curving passage coming up on their left, Chad got an idea and said, “Into the passage.” Leading the others, he raced into the passage and followed it quickly to the room with the sarcophagus. “Help me with the lid!” he replied.

Moving to the sarcophagus, he gripped the side of the lid and waited for the others to come and help.

“I can’t do it by myself,” he told them. “We can block the entryway with it!” Getting the idea, Riyan and Bart each came and took hold of an edge. Then giving out with groans of strain, they lifted the heavy stone lid up and off the sarcophagus. “Man this is heavy,” gasped Riyan.

From the narrow passage outside the room, they heard the growls of the beast as it worked its way towards them. “Hurry!” Chad exclaimed.

Once the end of the lid that was nearest the entryway was past the edge of the sarcophagus, they rested the lid on the edge and slid it the rest of the way to the floor. Out in the passage, the red eyes of the beast were now visible as it rounded the curve. The sheer size of the creature hampered it as it tried to navigate through the narrow way. It was wedged in on both sides and had to push its bulk through to get to them.

They worked the lid closer to the entryway. When it was within inches, they lifted the other end and set it against the top of the opening. “Now what?” asked Bart.

“I don’t know,” replied Chad. “My plan only went as far as blocking off the room.” Riyan glanced to the body that was lying within the sarcophagus. A sword lay along the top of the body, its hilt clasped in the corpse’s skeletal hands. Perhaps it was the fact that it had been within a sealed sarcophagus, but the metal looked to have withstood the passage of time.

Bam!

The creature struck the other side of the lid where it blocked the entryway and almost knocked the lid back into the room. Chad and Bart put their shoulders against it to keep it upright.

Bam!

Again the creature struck the lid, this time a small piece of it broke off. “It’s not going to withstand blows like that for much longer,” Chad said.

“Oh yeah, this was a good idea,” said Bart rather sarcastically.

“There was no other place to go,” insisted Chad. Then he glanced back at where Riyan was bent over the sarcophagus. “Riyan, we could use your help right about now!”

“Just a second,” replied Riyan. He gripped the hands of the corpse and was in the midst of trying to remove them from the hilt of the sword. Once he had the hilt free, he grabbed it and tried to lift it out with one hand. When he could barely move it, he used both hands and struggled to get it out.

The sword was massive, what you would call a two-handed sword. It took all of his strength simply to raise it and carry it towards the entryway. “Careful with that!” Bart exclaimed when the edge of the sword came close and almost struck him.

Riyan took the sword and moved to face the gap between the lid and the entryway.

He saw the forepaw of the creature poke through for a moment before it withdrew. “I think it’s a mountain bear,” he told the others.

“Great,” replied Bart. “Now kill it!”

Riyan lifted the sword until it was parallel with the ground. Then he aimed it at the gap between the lid and the entryway. He gave out with a cry and ran forward, at the same time he thrust the sword through the gap. His forward momentum was abruptly halted as the point of the sword struck flesh.

The beast roared in pain as the sword sank into its flesh. Whatever part of the body that was struck suddenly jerked and Riyan almost lost his grip on the hilt. But he yanked back quickly and retained the sword. The blade was stained red six inches from the tip.

From the other side of the lid, the beast had grown quiet.

“I got it!” replied Riyan as he showed the others the sword.

“But whether you killed it or not remains to be seen,” Bart stated.

They listened for a few seconds and could only hear muted breathing from the other side. Riyan propped the sword against the wall a foot down from the entryway as it was growing more difficult to hold.

“It isn’t dead,” Chad finally said as the sound the beast’s breathing from the other side continued.

“Riyan,” Bart whispered, “take a look.” He then indicated the gap between the lid and the entryway through which he had struck the creature with the sword.

“Alright,” he agreed. Leaving the sword where it was, he grabbed the lantern and moved towards the crack. The crack itself wasn’t all that big as the base of the lid was only six inches from the base of the entryway. Now that he took a good look at it, he’s surprised that he was even able to hit the creature through it.

He moved closer, and even got down on his knees to peer through to the other side better. Chad and Bart maintained their position against the sarcophagus’ lid should the creature again try to bull its way in.

At the base of the entryway was a small pool of blood. “It’s lost some blood,” he told the others. Peering through with the lantern next to him, he tried to locate the creature.

After a minute off looking, he backed away and said, “I can’t really see anything.”

“Try striking with the sword again,” Bart said. “If it’s close, you might hit it.”

“But that might make it mad,” Chad said.

Bart glanced to Chad. “Do you want to stay down here forever?” He waited for him to shake his head no then added, “It’s that or we move the lid aside.” Chad turned to Riyan and said, “You better try the sword.” Riyan nodded, he didn’t relish the idea of removing the protection the stone lid was affording them. So, taking up the sword again, he did just as he did the first time. He aimed the point of the sword for the crack and with a cry, thrust hard. The blade slid through the crack and failed to hit anything.

“I guess we’re going to have to move the lid aside to see,” he said after the failed attempt.

Bart nodded. “Stand ready,” he told Riyan. Then to Chad he said, “We’ll pull it back a little ways. But be ready should the beast move to attack again.” When Chad acknowledged the plan, Bart glanced to Riyan. “Ready?” Riyan raised the sword and nodded.

“Easy now,” Bart told Chad. With great care, they began pulling the sarcophagus lid away from the entryway.

Sweat beaded his forehead as Riyan watched the lid begin to move away from the entryway. He expected at any minute for the beast to launch another assault, and as the lid inched its way further back, his apprehension grew.

They finally had moved the lid back far enough for Riyan to see the creature lying just on the other side of the entryway. The rise and fall of its back told him that it was still alive. “It’s right on the other side,” he whispered to the other two.

“Can you get at it?” asked Chad.

“I think so,” Riyan replied. Raising the sword, he drove it forward and the point struck the creature in the side. The creature gave out with a grunt.

“Well?” asked Chad.

“I hit it but it didn’t move,” he replied.

“It’s not doing anything?” Bart asked.

Riyan left the sword in the creature’s body. He turned to his friends and shook his head.

Bart indicated to Chad that they should move the lid to the side. Once it was out of the way, they looked to the creature and found that it was indeed one of the large mountain bears common to this region. The sword stuck out of its side and blood continued to pump with every beat of its heart.

“Why doesn’t it attack?” asked Chad.

Bart moved closer and saw blood welling from just behind its head. “I think your first blow took it in the spine,” he said. Then he saw the eyes of the beast upon him and he took a quick step backwards. When the bear made no move to attack, he knew that the bear’s spinal column had been severed.

He turned to the others. “We need to put it out of its misery.”

“You two do it,” Riyan said. His arms and legs are shaking from the earlier attacks.

The weight of the sword plus the adrenalin rush that was wearing off, had sapped his strength.

Bart nodded and grasped the hilt of the sword in both hands. Pulling it out of the bear’s side, he raised it high over his head. Using every ounce of strength he had, he thrust it into the bear. He was rather surprised that he managed to sink half of the blade into it before the tip hit bone and stopped.

“That had to do it,” said Chad.

They watched the sides of the bear continue to go in and out as it breathed. Then, the frequency of its breaths went down until they stopped altogether.

“Maybe we should get out of here and make camp for the night,” suggested Riyan. “I for one could use some rest.”

“Might not be a bad idea,” agreed Chad. “I’m getting hungry.” Bart pulled out his knife and began carving off a hunk of the bear for their dinner.

Riyan stopped him before he could cut very deep. “Wait to do that until we’re on the other side,” he said. “It’s going to be bad enough as it is.” He stopped carving when he realized what he was talking about. The bear’s body completely blocked the lower half of the entryway and most of it was already covered in blood. Then he laughed. He’s not sure why, but he started laughing and it wasn’t long before Riyan and Chad joined him.

They worked their way over the bear’s carcass and once on the other side, Bart carved out a chunk of meat. He carried it as he followed the other two down the narrow curving passage and back to the main passage. Then it was just down a little ways until they reached the opening leading to the surface.

“Look,” Riyan when came to the slope leading up. They could see the tracks the bear made as it came down the slope. “Wonder what it was doing in here?”

“Maybe looking for a den,” suggested Bart.

“Or dinner,” added Chad.

“I just hope there’s not another one out there,” Riyan said as he headed up the slope first.

The sun had already dipped past the tops of the mountains to the west. They got a fire going and once Riyan had a spit put together to roast the meat, they went down to the stream and washed the blood off.

That night as they sat around the fire, they talked about what they found down below, the bear attack, and what they may possibly find in the morning.

The clinking of coins woke Chad the following morning. He turned over and saw Riyan stacking his share of the coins on the ground before him. Chad sat up and groaned,

“Not again.”

Riyan glanced over to his friend and grinned. “I can’t help it,” he replied.

“You must have counted them ten times last night before we went to sleep,” he stated.

“Sorry,” his friend said. “I just like to look at them.” The morning dawned a beautiful day with just a hint of clouds forming a wreath that circled the mountain peaks. Chad looked around and didn’t see Bart anywhere. “Where did Bart go?” he asked.

Riyan nodded toward the stream. “He went that way,” he explained. “Said would be back shortly.” Now that Chad’s up, Riyan put his coins away and they got breakfast going. Soon the odor of bacon and eggs was wafting through the hills.

Down by the stream Bart was walking along, simply enjoying the quiet of the hills.

When he first came to Quillim, it was more out of need than desire. Having lived all his life in the city, it was hard for him to adjust to the openness of the country. But it didn’t take long before he grew to cherish it.

Oh sure, he still longed for the city; the hustle, bustle, and constant noise, even late at night there was always something dispelling the quiet. It was home. When he accompanied Chad to Phyndyr’s, it had reawakened his longing for the streets. He just wished that he could go back.

Stepping along the edge of the gently flowing water, his thoughts drifted back to his days in Wardean. His life on her streets had never been dull. Then he smelled the odor of bacon wafting from camp and realized he’d better return before the other two ate it all.