Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (34 page)

For a brief moment, the soldiers defending the building were able to recover ground.

But then they began being pressed back once more.

“Where are the horses?” yelled Bart.

“They fled deeper into the building when all this started,” explained Riyan.

He and the others reached the far end of the hall just as a large explosion rocked the area near the entrance. Whatever the magic user had done was very powerful. Bart had them pause there as they watched the battle rage.

All of a sudden the defenders begin falling in droves. The magic user that had slowed the advance of the attackers fell from the second floor and landed on the winding stairs.

He didn’t get back up. The lord still fought at the fore of his men but then was practically dragged from the lines by what must have been his lieutenants.

The four friends watched in awe as the lord was pulled from the battle. His men sacrificed themselves to allow their lord the chance to break away from the battle. Then the lord and the four men with him began moving directly towards the hallway in which Riyan and the others were standing.

“They’re heading this way!” exclaimed Chad.

“Down the hallway,” Bart said, “quick!”

They turned and fled down the hallway. As they passed rooms situated against the outer wall of the building, they found defenders fighting unknown assailants who appeared to be breaking in through the windows there as well. “What’s going on?” Riyan asked.

“Their being slaughtered is what’s going on!” replied Bart. Then up ahead there was an opening where another hallway opened up going deeper into the building. “Here!” he cried. “Follow me!” Turning into it, he ran for all he was worth.

The others entered into it after him and Kevik, who was still bringing up the rear, glanced behind them to see whether or not the ghosts were going to follow. When the ghosts appeared, they continued on down the other hallway.

“They’re not following,” he told the others.

Bart brought them to a halt. “Back!” he yelled. “We’ve got to follow them!”

“Are you mad?” questioned Chad. “We could get killed.” Bart passed them as he headed back to the previous hallway. “They could be heading to where the key is!” he hollered.

Riyan and Chad glanced at them quickly then turned back to follow Bart.

“What key?” Kevik asked as he too turned and raced after the others.

Bart reached the other hallway and immediately turned to follow the direction the lord and his comrades went. Back the other way he saw where the hallway was filled with battling defenders as they slowed the advance of the attackers.

“Hurry!” he yelled to the others. They had yet to make it back to the hallway down which the lord had fled, and the defending ghosts were falling back quickly.

Riyan reached the junction of hallways and fled down the other one just as the defenders reached the mouth of the hallway he just fled from. Chad and Kevik came to a quick stop as the battling defenders moved backwards and blocked the way.

“Riyan!” Chad shouted as he stood there not five feet from the battling spirits.

“Find another way!” Riyan yelled back to him.

“Come on,” Chad said as he turned and raced back down the hallway. Behind them, the battle raged.

Bart kept the lord in sight as he and the others moved quickly deeper into the building. They were traveling down the hallway that ran past the room where he had been trapped with Chad earlier that day.

He raced past the room and continued following the lord. The end of the hallway opened up onto a large kitchen, large enough to feed a thousand men if it had too. Bart was surprised that the lord had come here.

The lord and his men went to the edge of one of the large ovens and appeared to depress three separate bricks in the side of the oven. They paused there for a moment, then seemed to walk into it. When the lord and his men disappeared into the oven, the kitchen was plunged into darkness. The light which the ghosts had been emitting was gone.

“Bart?” hollered Riyan from the hallway.

“In here!” he yelled. He moved back to the hallway and was almost bowled over by Riyan as he emerged into the kitchen.

“Where did they go?” Riyan asked.

“Into the oven,” he replied.

“The oven?” he said incredulously.

“That’s what it looked like,” admitted Bart.

Then down in the hallway the last defending ghost fell. The fallen ghost laid there for a second, then an unseen tremor seemed to roll through the building. When the tremor subsided, all the fallen ghosts simultaneously disappeared and the building was again plunged into darkness.

Bart and Riyan stood there in silence for a few moments before Riyan asked, “Is it over?”

“I think so,” Bart said. “We need to get back to the hall where our equipment is.”

“Why?” Riyan asked.

He heard Bart chuckle. “In our haste, we forgot our packs. So unless you want to continue to be in the dark, we need to get back there.”

“Alright,” he said. He then turned around and with his hand laid against the wall of the hallway, began returning to the hall.

After a minute or two, their eyes began acclimating to the darkness. Vague shadows formed from where the moonlight filtered in through the windows in the side rooms.

“Riyan!”

He heard Chad call out from far away. “Here we are Chad!” he hollered back. “Meet us back in the hall. It seems to be over.”

“On the way!” Chad replied.

As they came closer to the hall, the light from their fire became a beacon in the dark.

The two groups met back at the hall at about the same time. Riyan and Bart arrived first.

Just after they arrived they saw a white light, brighter than what a flame would produce, coming from another of the hallways. At first they thought it might be one of the ghosts but then Kevik appeared with a white, glowing sphere that moved and bobbed in the air around him. Then Chad appeared leading their three horses. They had found them in a room where they fled after the initial onslaught of the ghost soldiers.

“What is that?” Bart asked as he saw the glowing sphere.

“Just a simple cantrip I know,” replied Kevik. Then the light went out and a second later, it reappeared. “It doesn’t last very long though.” He let it continue to bob even though the light from the fire was more than sufficient. “This was the first cantrip I learned. Actually it was the very first magical skill I ever mastered.”

“It’s pretty neat,” Chad said. After a few more minutes, the light went out.

The front doors were once again closed and there was no evidence whatsoever of the battle that had raged here a little while ago. “So what happened here?” Bart asked. “Were the ghosts real?”

“I don’t know,” Kevik replied. “They seemed real. I have heard there are places haunted by spirits. Some ghosts have even been rumored to replay the events leading up to their deaths. Of course that’s just conjecture.”

“It seemed pretty real though,” Chad said. “The sound, the intensity, it all felt as if it was actually happening.”

They grew silent as each considered the events, then Kevik said, “I guess we now know why this area is marked as death by the goblins.” Riyan nodded. “If any of them had ever witnessed what we did, I could understand them thinking this place was death.”

“Did you feel something when the spirits vanished?” Chad asked Riyan. “We felt a tremor or something like it wash over us.”

“Yes, we did too,” he replied.

“But you are all not asking the right questions,” interrupted Kevik. “Who were they fighting and why? Could whoever or whatever it was have been the reason this civilization fell?”

Bart glanced at him a moment then nodded. “You’re right. But I doubt if any of us here will ever know.”

“Do you think this happens every night?” Riyan asked. “If our search takes longer, will we have another battle rage through here again?”

“As to that,” replied Bart, “I don’t expect us to stay here much longer.”

“Why do you think that?” Chad asked.

“Because I found what we were looking for.”

They all turned and stared at him.

He picked up one of the burning brands from the fire and said, “Come on I’ll show you.” Standing up, he indicated for the others to follow. When he was certain they were going to follow, he led them to the hallway through which the lord fled the battle. Down its length he walked until he came to the kitchen at its end.

“When I followed the lord here,” he explained as he crossed through the kitchen and came to stand next to one of the ovens, “I saw him and his party stop here. Then they pressed this,” he reached out and put the tips of his fingers against one of the bricks and pushed. The brick slid in a quarter of an inch. “And here,” he said as he pressed a second brick, “and here.” Pressing the third and final brick, he watched as the oven began sliding across the floor away from him.

Staying next to the wall, the oven slid back half a foot then came to a stop. Bart brought the burning brand toward the base of the oven and the light revealed an opening.

He got down on his knees and peered through it. “There’s a stair leading down.”

“But why didn’t the oven move further?” Chad asked. “There’s no way we’ll be able to squeeze through that small space.”

Bart returned to his feet and said, “I think the mechanism is just old and gave out.” He glanced at the others and then nodded to the side of the oven. “Give me a hand and let’s see if we can push it out of the way.”

The others moved into position then Bart said, “On a count of three. One…Two…

Three.” At three they shoved with all their might. At first the oven didn’t budge, but then very slowly it began sliding across the floor. They kept up the pressure until the opening was wide enough for them to enter.

“An escape route?” asked Riyan.

“Absolutely,” replied Bart. “I would also bet that somewhere down there we’ll find what we’re looking for.”

“The key?” asked Kevik. All three turned to look at him. He pointed to Bart and said,

“He mentioned it earlier during the battle.”

“I did?” asked Bart. Then after a moment’s reflection he nodded. “I guess I did.”

“What key?” Kevik asked. He looked at the three friends and could see that they were still reluctant to share their secret.

“Part of a key really,” Chad finally said and that was all anyone was willing to tell him.

“As you will,” he conceded.

“Now,” replied Bart. “We are all still rather tired, and after the events of the night it might be hard for us to return to sleep. However, I feel it would be wise to get what rest we can before we descend these steps.”

Riyan nodded. “I agree. It’s not going anywhere.”

They each cast a final look down the secret stairwell before returning to their camp.

Once back at the fire, they settled in again to sleep until dawn. Chad, who had pulled the last watch, was forced to remain awake while the others were able to nestle in their blankets. For the rest of the night every little noise made him jump. Not until the sun’s first rays of dawn entered the eastern windows did he finally relax.

Kevik was the first to awaken. He saw Chad over by the fire sitting and watching the flames. When he sat up, Chad glanced over in his direction. He grinned and waved for him to join him.

Getting to his feet, Kevik walked over and sat next to Chad. He held forth his hands to the fire and warmed them. “You guys don’t trust me much do you?”

“It’s not that,” Chad replied. “We simply haven’t known you all that long is all. You seem nice enough.”

“But only with time will you come to trust me,” he concluded.

“Isn’t that the way with anyone?” asked Chad.

“I suppose it is,” Kevik agreed. He knew he was a trustworthy person, but he could understand why his new companions wouldn’t immediately recognize that. He sort of felt the same way about Bart. Something about him put him off even though he’s done nothing to warrant it.

“You three came all this way through goblin territory for a key?” he asked.

Chad nodded. “That’s right.”

“I hope the risk was worth it,” Kevik said.

“Oh it will be,” Chad assured him. Then he glanced over to where Bart had just sat up. Next to him Riyan was beginning to stir as well. “Good morning,” he said to the newly awakened.

“You too,” Bart said. Standing and stretching, he came over to the fire. After a minute, Riyan joined them.

“I’ve been thinking that we should take everything with us when we go down the stairs,” Chad said. “It wouldn’t do to be stuck somewhere like Bart and I were in that small room yesterday without our equipment.”

“I agree,” said Bart.

“What about the horses?” Riyan asked. “They can’t stay in here, they need grass.”

“I would hate to leave them outside where anyone or anything could make off with them,” Bart said.

“In that case we need to at least take them out for water and a quick graze before we lock them in here while we’re down below,” Riyan said. It pained him to have to say that, for he knew it meant prolonging the time before they would be able to explore the secret passage they found the night before. But having been around animals as much as he has, he knew how they would suffer if neglected of food and water.

The others agreed with him. So they took the horses outside and found where a fallen wall had created an area that held water. From the looks of the pool, which was only about seven feet wide, the wall must have fallen years, maybe even decades ago if not longer. Its banks had already formed above the broken masonry as over time, dirt was blown into the water by the wind and subsequently deposited on the edges by the water.

After allowing the horses time to drink of the water, they let them graze for an hour before returning to the hall.

While they were out, the ruins gave Riyan a discomforting feeling, especially after the ghosts of the night before. He could tell the others were affected just as he was and none of them were able to relax until they returned to the hall.

Once back within the hall, they made sure to close the front doors. Bart even took two pieces of broken masonry from the remains of the neighboring buildings and placed them before the doors so they wouldn’t open while they were gone. As soon as the doors were blocked and they were ready to go, each slung their pack over their shoulder. Along with his pack Kevik took Wyzkoth, the staff his master had given him.