Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (29 page)

Maybe it’s taboo to them?”

“That’s not what it said,” corrected Kevik. “It proclaimed that to enter here was to die. Period!”

“Alright, calm down,” Riyan said. “But you did say that the totem had been overgrown?” When he received a nod from Kevik, he continued. “Then it could be possible that whatever danger there was is no longer present.”

“I wouldn’t trust to that,” Kevik stated.

“What do you two think?” Riyan asked Chad and Bart. “Should we heed the warning of the totem and turn back?”

“Turn back?” asked Chad incredulously. “After all we’ve done to get this far? You have to be kidding.”

“We accepted the possibility of death before we even left the Marketplace,” Bart said.

“I don’t see how this could be any different.”

“That’s true,” agreed Riyan. “We press on then?”

Chad and Bart both nodded their agreement.

Riyan nodded as well. He then turned back to Kevik and said, “If you don’t want to accompany us, we’ll understand.”

“I don’t have much of a choice one way or the other,” he replied. “The unknown danger ahead with you or take my chance with the goblins behind on my own. Better the unknown than certain death.”

“Excellent,” Riyan said with a grin. “I was hoping you would say that. Glad to have you with us.”

Kevik gave them a halfhearted grin.

Bart turned and resumed leading them northward. With the sun almost ready to crest the horizon to the east, it was easier for him to determine which way was north. He angled slightly more to the east after a bit in order to reach the river flowing south.

According to the map on the key fragment, Algoth lay on the western shore of the small lake at the northern end of the river.

As they made their way through the forest, they began to feel relatively safe. Seeing as how this area was warded from goblin incursion by the totem, they rode without fear of being discovered and attacked.

Kevik remained quiet as he rode behind Riyan. He took in his new traveling companions and didn’t think much of them. They were all as young as he was, two of them gave the appearance that they may never have done this sort of thing before. The third on the other hand had a definite presence about him. A confidence if you will. He wasn’t entirely sure that linking his fate with these three was the wisest course of action for him. But seeing how his alternative was to strike out alone, he had little choice.

“There’s the river,” Bart said after they had ridden for awhile. Through the trees ahead they could see the sun glinting off the water as it flowed southward.

“How much further to where we want to go do you think?” Chad asked.

“Won’t know until we get there,” replied Bart. Now that the river was in sight, they began following it upstream. Somewhere ahead is a ruin or something else situated near where the river leaves the small lake.

Kevik at times during the ride would turn inward and remember his master. The things he taught him, the promise of what would have come had his master lived. He had been quite lucky that his master had chosen him to be his apprentice. A magic user of such power and skill was much sought after by those wishing to learn the skills arcane.

He’s not really sure why his master had chosen him out of all the others he tested that day. From Kevik’s viewpoint, he didn’t do all that much better than the others in the tasks that they were set to do. But when Allar had announced that Kevik would be his apprentice, it would be difficult to describe the emotions he felt.

He grinned at the memory of some of the mistakes he made that first month, it’s a wonder he’s even still alive. All of a sudden he snapped out of his reverie when his eyes passed over another of the totems. “Riyan, stop!” he hollered.

“What?” he asked.

“There’s another of the totems,” he explained. Pointing toward the river, he directed Riyan’s attention to the totem that stood near the edge of the river. It was several feet from the bank on this side and facing the water. “We need to see what the other two visages are. They may give some insight as to why this place is death to those who enter.”

“Alright,” Riyan said. “Bart!” he hollered up to him. “Kevik wants to stop and examine that totem over there.”

When Bart looked over and saw the totem, he nodded.

Riyan rode over to it and Kevik dismounted. Kevik then moved to the other side and looked up at the faces upon the totem.

He pointed to the top one and said, “That one declares that it is death for any who continue past the totem.” The visage looked to be a representation of a goblin skull.

The visage just below it was one he recognized as well. “The second one means strength.” Just below the skull was carved the semblance of a tree.

“Strength?” asked Chad.

Kevik nodded. “Being in the second position as it is, I believe it’s trying to convey how serious the one on top should be taken. Seeing as how it means strength, I think it is saying that death has a strong presence here.”

“Death itself?” asked Riyan. “Or could it mean the possibility of death?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “My master just gave me a quick rundown on the most used visages and their meaning.”

“What about the third?” Chad asked. The third one was a circle with two wavy lines carved across its center.

He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied. “It doesn’t match any of the visages my master told me.”

”What is the significance of the third spot?” Bart asked. “If the top one is the overall message and the second one if I understand you right, tells the observer to what degree he needs to heed the first one, then what is the third one’s function?”

“It is supposed to give the observer some understanding of what lies ahead,” he explained. “Say a totem was placed to warn of a pool of poisoned water. The top one would be the visage representing poison. The second one would state how bad the poison is. And the third would resemble a pool of water. In essence it would say, ‘Poison, strong, pool of water.”

Bart looked back up at the totem before them. “So here we have, ‘Death, strong, and a circle with two wavy lines’,” he stated.

“Yes, exactly,” nodded Kevik.

“Would be nice to know what that third visage could mean,” commented Riyan. They stood there for several minutes as they tried to come up with ideas as to what it represented.

That’s when Chad happened to glance across the river and noticed a party of a dozen goblin warriors. “We’ve got company,” he said. The others turned towards the far bank of the river.

“They’re not crossing,” observed Bart.

“No,” agreed Riyan. “But it looks like they want to.” The goblins were acting very agitated. One even went so far as to fire an arrow in their direction. But they easily avoided the missile after it peaked at the top of its arc and came at them.

“Maybe it would be a good idea to move further into the trees,” suggested Chad. “Out of sight out of mind as it were.”

Bart snorted. “We may be out of sight, but I highly doubt if we’ll be out of their minds.”

“Still, let’s get out of here,” Riyan said. Moving back to his horse, he mounted and lent a hand to Kevik as he swung up behind him. The other two were mounted by the time Kevik was settled in behind Riyan and Bart took the lead once more as they left the totem by the river. A few minutes later the trees obstructed their view of the river and the totem.

As they rode, each continued to think about what the totem they saw might mean.

None of them were very thrilled by its presence, other than the fact it kept the goblins from coming after them.

A short time after they left the totem, Bart noticed an outcropping of stone that seemed to stick up out of the ground ahead. Its presence seemed rather unusual as the rest of the land was relatively even as it moved over the gently rolling hills. It was covered in moss and overgrown with bushes. The only reason he noticed it at all was that it protruded upward more than the lay of the land would warrant.

The course they were taking led them in the direction of the outcropping. As he rode closer, something about the moss covered rock felt odd to him. When he neared it, he realized what it was. Partially hidden beneath the moss were the unmistakable signs of carving. He brought his horse to a halt and dismounted.

“What are you doing?” asked Riyan. Kevik looked around him to where Bart was moving toward the outcropping.

Bart didn’t reply, instead he came to the rock and scraped off a section of the moss.

He could hear Chad’s surprised intake of breath when the section of moss fell away. It had revealed an eye. The eye was on its side and after removing more of the moss, they were able to tell that it was part of a head. Most likely the head of a statue.

The eyes and general features were somewhat eroded away, but the face was definitely that of a human. “Looks like we’ve reached Algoth,” Riyan said as he swung down from his horse.”

Bart glanced behind him and saw the others were coming to examine the statue for themselves. The head looked to have been broken off from a larger statue, since after they pushed back some of the bushes the jagged neck was revealed.

Chad moved further down to see if he could find the rest of the statue but only the head was there. “We better be on our guard from here on out,” said Chad. Returning to the others he added, “Whatever the totem was warning of is likely to be found within the ruins of Algoth.”

“What are you looking for?” Kevik asked. “Why is it so important for you to come here?” The others glanced from one to the other. He could see they didn’t want to let him in on what they were up to. “Don’t you trust me?” he asked, slightly hurt.

“It’s not that we don’t trust you,” Riyan explained. “It’s just that we don’t know you well enough. You understand that right?”

Kevik didn’t like it but could see the logic in what he was saying. He nodded and said, “Yes.”

Riyan gave him a grin and patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s go see if we can’t find what we’re looking for.” Returning to his horse, he again helped Kevik up behind him.

The staff that his master gave him had been an ever present companion. When riding, he always kept it clutched in his right hand. After they left the head behind and continued on, Riyan asked him if he knew how to use it.

“For the most part,” he admitted. “It can paralyze an enemy, that one I know. My master never went into very much detail about it. I’ll have to get a king’s scroll of identification in order to fully understand what it does.”

“What would a king’s scroll of identification tell you?” he asked.

“Everything about it,” Kevik replied. “But for now I’ll have to settle for what my spell of identification can reveal.”

“You know how to cast a spell of identification?” Riyan asked hopefully.

“Well, just the basic one,” he explained. “As I grow in mastery of the arcane arts, the effects of my spells will become more enhanced.”

Riyan grew silent for a moment as he contemplated what he had just heard. He wondered if perhaps Kevik’s spell of identification would reveal anything about the fragment of the key. But then he thought that it might be best if he were to purchase one of the scrolls from a scriber like Phyndyr. That way what he learned would remain with just him. He liked Kevik, but he just didn’t know if he was one in whom he could trust the secret of what they were doing.

“What other spells can you do?” he inquired.

“Just a couple,” he replied. “One of them you already saw. I can restrict the movement of another by encasing them in a green sticky substance.” He grinned as he said, “The spell is called, ‘Glavir’s Miraculous Spell of Binding’. From what I’ve learned so far, every spell has a fancy name. I just call it my green goo spell.” Then he laughed.

He was surprised that it burst out of him, he really wasn’t expecting it.

“What’s so funny,” Riyan asked.

“My master would get so mad when I referred to it by ‘the green goo spell’,” he explained. Then he grew silent as the memory of his loss returned. He had almost been able to put it behind him.

“What else?”

“I can identify objects, inflict damage by sending red bursts of power, and half a dozen cantrips,” he told him.

“Must be neat to be able to do such things,” he said.

“It is,” he admitted. “But it takes a lot of time to learn a new spell. I’ve been an apprentice now for little over a year and I only know a handful of spells.”

“I’m sure that once you’ve done it longer, you’ll be able to learn faster,” stated Riyan.

“So my master taught me,” he agreed.

They continued making their way through the trees with Bart in the lead. After awhile they came across more evidence of the people who had once lived there. Overgrown sections of walls that once must have stood tall were now little more than shattered remnants of their former glory.

The trees began to thin as they entered an area where the broken remnants of Algoth became more visible. All of it was overgrown and broken. Then all of a sudden a structure appeared through the trees ahead. Rising tall, it was covered in moss and vines.

The ground floor and the one above it seemed to be intact, but the jagged outline of the upper walls revealed that it had once stood taller. More structures were visible further behind it.

“Looks like it collapsed,” Chad said as they rode towards the building. No doorway was visible so they went around to the right to locate one. When they rounded the corner they saw that the right wall had crumbled and the interior of the building had completely collapsed in on itself. Over the years dirt had been deposited over the rubble and now trees and bushes grew out of the crumbled remains. One of the trees had grown very large and rose up out of the ruined building to the sky.

Dismounting, they gave the building a once over but found nothing of interest.

Moving on, the led their horses over to one of the nearby buildings. This one looked like it may have survived better. It was three stories tall and other than a few cracks coursing through the walls, seemed to be intact.

“This is it!” exclaimed Bart as he rushed forward.