Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (35 page)

Riyan lit his lantern, then followed Bart into the hallway and down to the kitchen where the secret stairs lay. When they entered the kitchen, the light from the lantern illuminated the oven where it still sat after they had pushed it aside to reveal the hidden steps.

“Ready?” Bart asked. When the others nodded, he stepped onto the top step and began his descent into the darkness below.

The height of the stairwell wasn’t all that high and forced them to bend slightly over in order to avoid scraping the tops of their heads on the ceiling. After descending fifteen steps they reached the bottom. A short passage extended forward from the bottom step for about ten feet before reaching a junction.

Another passage crossed over theirs that ran from left to right, while the passage they were in continued on past the junction. The walls of the passages were lined with bricks though the floor was dirt. Sconces were set in the walls every so often where torches could be placed to give the passages light.

“Which way?” asked Bart as he came to a stop at the junction. None of the directions showed anything more than a continuation of the passage past the point where the light from the lantern reached.

“The right maybe?” suggested Riyan.

“Good as any,” replied Bart. Turning right, he and the others left the junction behind.

They didn’t go far before another passage branched off to their right. It was slightly smaller than the one they were in.

“Let’s check it out,” Chad said.

With Bart still in the lead, the group moved into the branching passage. They followed it for a few feet before the lantern’s light revealed a sharp turn to the right.

Moving forward, they turned the corner and came to an abrupt halt. The passage ended a short distance ahead where a chest sat against the end of the passage.

“That’s suspicious,” Bart announced.

“What do you mean?” asked Chad.

“Why in the world would anyone put a chest in such an accessible spot?” he asked.

Kevik glanced to the chest and said, “We are in a hidden area.”

“True,” admitted Bart. “But this just doesn’t seem right.”

“Are you going to open it?” Riyan asked.

Bart sighed. “We have to. It could hold what we came here searching for though I find that unlikely in the extreme.” He glanced to the others, “You should stay back.” While the others remained where the passage turned, he moved forward. His senses were telling him that this wasn’t right, but what else could he do.

He took a single, careful step at a time towards the chest. His father had told him of situations like this where chests were placed in catacombs and other places as a lure to the unwary.

Almost his entire concentration was directed to the floor before the chest and where he’s placing each foot. He worked his way gradually closer until he felt an ever so slight shift beneath his foot and froze. It was a pressure plate of some kind, he was sure of that.

He had a few guesses about what it would do when he removed his foot, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

He brought his other foot, which was still hovering in the air a couple inches off the ground, back down next to the other. Then he slowly crouched down into a squatting position. Beginning to slowly rock back and forth on the balls of his feet, he braced himself. When he finally rocked backwards to the right angle, he leaped with all his strength back towards where the others were standing.

As soon as his feet left the floor, a section of the floor stretching from one side of the passage to the other, and extending from two feet behind the point where his feet had been to just before the chest, opened up.

“Catch him!” Riyan shouted as he raced forward and caught Bart by the arm as he came to land. His leap had cleared the trap opening by a solid foot and he quickly steadied himself.

“Thanks,” he said to Riyan.

“What happened?” Kevik asked.

“Sprung a trap,” Bart replied. He turned around to face the others and said, “This place could prove quite deadly.”

“Yeah,” agreed Riyan as he stared at the pit, “I can see that.”

“Who’s got the rope?” Bart asked.

“I do,” replied Chad. He opened up his pack and pulled out the coil of rope. “What do you need if for?”

As Bart took the rope he said, “To see if there are any more traps over there.” He nodded over to the two areas of the floor on the far side of the pit, situated to either side of the chest.

The pit as it turned out was fifteen feet deep. When Riyan took the lantern to look into it he found the sides to be sheer all the way down and the bottom looked to be covered in long spiny spikes. The floor that had fallen in was actually hinged to the floor on their side. The gleam of bones among the spikes said this trap had caught the unwary before.

Bart tied the rope to his pack and moved to the edge of the pit. He swung the pack like a pendulum until he had enough momentum then released the rope so the pack would sail over the pit and hit the floor on the right side of the chest. The other end of the rope was firmly held in his hand so he could retrieve his pack after it landed.

When the pack hit the floor next to the chest and nothing happened, he hauled in the rope. Then he did it again, this time having his pack land on the left side of the chest. As soon as the pack hit the left side, the floor tilted towards the pit at a forty five degree angle.

“That’s why you never assume it’s safe,” Bart said as he pulled his pack back in.

“First you encounter the pit. If you survive that, and you’re foolish to believe the pit was the only trap, you jump across. The thief would then have a fifty-fifty chance of landing on the solid side. If he landed on the other, he would lose his balance when the floor tilted and would plummet down to the spikes below.”

“Nasty,” said Chad.

“I’m sure that was the intention,” he said. Bart didn’t untie his pack from the rope when he opened it to get his lockpicks. “Might need it again,” he told them.

“You’re not planning on opening that chest are you?” asked Kevik.

“Yes I am,” he said. He then took the other end of the rope and secured it around his middle. Then he handed the rest of it to Riyan. “Make sure that if I fall you stop me before I hit the bottom.”

“I thought it was safe,” said Riyan, indicating the floor on the right side.

“The trigger might have rusted over the years,” he explained, “or it could be set to only go off when the weight of a man is on it. In case a thief did what I just did with my pack.”

“Oh,” Riyan said, then he nodded. “I get you.”

“Hold on tight but give me enough slack to reach the other side.” When he’s sure there’s enough slack and Riyan gave him the go ahead, he turned back to the pit. Then with a running start, he leaped and cleared the pit opening and landed on the remaining small section of floor next to the chest. Once there he waited a moment to be sure nothing untoward happened.

“Alright,” he said to the others, “I think it’s safe. Still, don’t let go of the rope.”

“We won’t,” Riyan assured him. Chad was there with him holding the rope.

He gave the lock a once over before taking out two of his picks. Pretty sure that there wasn’t a trap in the chest itself, he still moved slowly and carefully when he inserted the picks into the lock. After a moment, he felt the tumbler move and the lock was open.

Before he opened the lid, he replaced the picks back in the rolled leather. Then he gripped the lid and very carefully opened it. Inside he could see the glimmer of gold coins. There were a dozen of them lying on the bottom of the chest. They were exactly the same as the others they had found in the chest yesterday.

“Got some more of the gold coins,” he said.

Then he collected them and put them in the pouch hanging from his hip. Once he had them all, he closed the lid and jumped back over the pit.

“How many?” asked Riyan.

“A dozen,” he replied. He pulled them from his pouch and gave each of them three, including Kevik.

Kevik held up one of the coins from his share and took a really close look at it. When he was done, he saw that the others were staring at him. “What?” he asked.

“Uh, we would appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell anyone where we found these,” Bart said.

He met Bart’s gaze for a moment then asked, “Why?”

“It might arouse certain questions that you will be unable to answer,” Riyan said.

“Then maybe you should explain things to me,” he suggested.

Riyan and Bart glanced at one another for a moment, then Bart nodded. Riyan turned back to Kevik and asked, “You ever heard of the King’s Horde?”

“Sounds familiar,” he replied. “What is it?”

“It’s a treasure people have been trying to find for centuries,” explained Riyan. He then held up one of his coins with the symbol side towards Kevik. “This is the King’s insignia, or so we believe.”

“Not just us but many others do too,” added Bart. “If word got around that you had a coin bearing it, you would be inundated by people wanting to know where you found it.” Kevik glanced at the coin in his hand when Bart finished.

“A stash of copper coins bearing the same markings as these was discovered years ago and sparked a massive surge in treasure hunting,” Chad said.

Kevik looked from one to the other then finally settled on Riyan. “You guys are looking for the King’s Horde yourself?” he asked. They didn’t reply but he could see the truth in their eyes. “And the trail led you here.” Riyan nodded.

“Then the key you expect to find here…?” he asked and trailed off.

“That’s right,” admitted Riyan. “It will hopefully open the Horde’s hiding place.”

“Do you know where it is?” he asked.

They grew silent. “We have an idea,” Bart finally said.

“Alright,” Kevik nodded. “I’m in.”

“What do you mean you’re in?” asked Chad.

“I mean I’m willing to help you in your search to find the key and open the Horde’s lock,” he clarified.

“We never…” Chad said as he began to argue.

“Very well,” Riyan said, cutting him off. “A magic user would be most useful in this endeavor I’m sure. Besides,” he said as he glanced at Bart and Chad, “he now knows about it.”

Chad looked like he was about to argue the point when Bart said, “Fair enough. An equal share.” Then he turned to Kevik, “But you have to keep this secret. If word got out…”

“I understand,” he assured them.

A moment of silence hung between them before Riyan cleared his throat. “Maybe we should continue searching for the key?”

Bart nodded and led them back to the main passage. They turned down to the right again and went a short ways before another passage branched off to their left. Ahead of them they could see where the passage they were currently following turned sharply to the right.

“Continue on ahead,” Riyan suggested.

Bart nodded and passed by the passage on the left then turned the corner to the right.

After the turn, the passage went another ten feet before ending at another passage running left and right.

“Left this time,” piped up Chad.

Since one way was as good as another, they turned to the left. The passage continued on for a ways before turning sharply to the left. A little further they came to where a passage branched off to their left and extended past the light of the lantern. Ahead of them the passage went forward several more paces before turning to the right.

“Left again,” said Chad.

“Why not?” agreed Riyan.

Turning into the passage branching to the left, they followed it. The passage went straight for a short ways then turned to the right. After another short walk it turned back to the left, went a little further then turned once more to the left. Shortly after that the passage ended at another one moving left and right.

“Try right this time,” suggested Riyan.

So Bart led them down to the right and they came to a narrower passage branched off to their left. Bart turned down the new passage, then when it turned to the right, they saw a chest with an open pit before it.

“We’ve already been here,” Bart said.

“This place is a maze,” observed Riyan. “How on earth are we ever going to find our way without getting lost?”

They returned back to the main passage and thought about different strategies they could employ. Finally Riyan came up with one they thought would work. They would use the copper coins found in the chest above to mark which way they’ve already gone.

When they came to an intersection, they would put one coin in the passage through which they just approached the intersection, and two coins at the beginning of the passage through which they leave the intersection. That way if they returned to a passage, they would know which way they had come from originally, and which way they had taken when they departed.

So they took a few minutes to go up the stairs and opened the door behind which the chest lay. Riyan stood next to the door to make sure it did not close on them this time.

Then the others began filling their packs, including Riyan’s, with copper coins. There were easily a couple hundred coins, and they put fifty in each pack. They didn’t want to overload themselves. They could always come back for more.

Finished with filling their packs, they returned back to the kitchen and went down the stairs. This time when they returned to the junction just outside the stairs, Riyan placed a single copper coin on the ground at the mouth of the passage with the stairs, indicating that they had come this way. Then when they returned down the passage to the right, he placed two coins at its mouth to indicate this was the way they went.

When they followed the passage back down to the branching leading to the chest and pit, he put two coins on the ground just within the passage saying they’ve been down there. They continued to retrace their steps until they had gone over the exact same path as they had before.

“Okay,” Bart said when they returned to the passage leading to the stairs, “now we can continue.”

“This sure seemed complicated,” Kevik replied.

“It is,” agreed Bart. “But if this place is set up like a labyrinth, then this will help.” Bending over, he made an arrow of coins that pointed towards the stairs. “Just in case,” he said as he stood back up.