Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (40 page)

Clang!

Bart followed them in and slammed the door shut. He and the others came together as they stared at the doors, afraid of what might be out there.

Smash!

A noise like breaking glass came from behind them. They turned and saw a ghost in armor with a sword, fighting with something that could not be seen at the window.

“Here we go again,” moaned Chad.

Smash! Crash! Bang!

Throughout the room, the sounds of shattering glass could be heard as other ghostly forms began appearing and fighting unseen opponents. All around them ghostly forms continued to materialize just as…

Bam!

…the front doors burst open.

“Back!” yelled Bart. “Back to the hallways!”

They turned and fled the hall until they reached the hallways leading further into the building. No sooner do they get there than the lord and his entourage appeared just as they had the night before. Moving to the fore of his men, the lord again fought whatever was attacking them.

“Over here to this hallway,” Bart told the others. He led them over to the hallway leading back to the kitchen, the one the lord had escaped through the previous night. He entered the hallway and moved down until reaching one of the hallways branching off.

There he paused and motioned for the others to enter the side hallway before him.

He waited there at the junction for a second or two. Then he heard the explosions announcing that the ghost magic user had joined the fray. “It won’t be much longer now,” he said.

“What do you mean?” asked Kevik.

Still standing in the junction of hallways, he glanced at Kevik and said, “It’s just like the night before. If I’m right, then the lord should run past here on his way to the kitchen.

Then, shortly after that, the last of the ghosts will fall and it will be over.” Bart turned his attention back down the hallway and saw the ghostly form of the lord entering the hallway. He nodded as he said, “Here he comes.” Stepping back into the branching hallway with the others, he has them step back from the junction a dozen feet or more before coming to a stop.

They turned to look back at the junction just as the lord and his men rushed past.

“Follow me,” Bart said as he moved to reenter the hallway and follow the lord.

Riyan helped Chad as they followed Bart. When they entered the hallway they could see ghosts fighting at the end that opened up on the hall. “They’re covering his retreat,” commented Chad.

“Exactly,” Bart said. “Just as they did the night before.” He continued to lead them towards the kitchen. When he arrived there, the lord and his party were just entering the secret stairwell.

“Aren’t we going to follow?” asked Kevik when Bart hesitated.

Bart shook his head. “No. All of our equipment, including my lockpicks, is back in the other building.” He kept an eye at the ghosts fighting in the hallway. Then, when the last one died, it laid there for a minute before an unseen tremor rolled through the building. When the tremor died, the fallen ghosts vanished.

By the light of the bobbing sphere, they glanced at each other. “Do you think it’s safe?” asked Kevik.

“It was last night,” replied Riyan. He glanced to Bart and received a nod in agreement.

Bart took the lead and they made their way slowly back down the hallway to the large hall. As long as they kept the pace slow to moderate, Chad was able to keep up on his own. His body still hadn’t recovered the strength that had been sapped by the potion.

That had actually been the first potion ever used on him. He never realized how healing potions used the energy, or strength, of the one they healed. In all the stories he heard growing up, the hero drank down a healing potion and was cured. There was never any mention of recovery time to regain strength. But then that wouldn’t have been a very exciting point to include in the story.

Back out in the hall, they found the door they came through closed. Again, no sign of any ghosts, nor was there any evidence of ghosts having been there. Just as it had been last night.

“You know,” Riyan commented as they headed for the open door, “they may do this every night.”

“That occurred to me too,” Bart said. “Every night for who knows how long.” They left the Command Building and returned to where they had been spending the night. The smell hit them before they even came close. Death. Bart was the first to enter, and when Kevik followed him in with his bobbing sphere, they saw what was left of their horses.

The fire was still burning. Bart and Riyan both grabbed a burning brand before they crossed over to the horses’ remains. “What did this?” asked Chad. They were a gory mess on the floor, almost unrecognizable as the horses had been so horribly mutilated.

Bart and Riyan glanced at each other. Bart shrugged.

“I’m not sure,” Riyan replied after a moment. “I heard the clanging of metal on metal again just before the horses were attacked. It was the same as I heard last night before all hell broke loose.”

“Now what are we to do?” Kevik asked. Everyone suddenly realized what Kevik already had. Without the horses they’ll be forced to walk out of the goblin’s territory. A prospect none of them looked forward to.

“We still need to finish our search below,” Bart said. “Once that’s completed, we’ll worry about how to get out of here.”

Riyan was still looking at the remains of the horses. He turned to the others. “This could very well be what the totems had warned against,” he said. The other three turned to face him as he continued. “I wonder if what happened to the horses happens to anything caught outside in the ruins at night. Maybe the only safe place is in the Command Building the ghosts were defending.”

“You may have a point,” agreed Bart. “It hit here first, then almost seemed like it followed us there.”

“That’s true,” added Kevik. “It wasn’t until after we got there that the ghost warriors appeared and began fighting whatever it was.”

They returned to the fire and settled in on their blankets for a little while longer, debating the whys and wherefores of what happened. When they came to the conclusion that they really didn’t know what was going on, they decided to return to sleep while Kevik kept watch until the morning. The remains of the horses on the far side of the room didn’t bother them nearly as bad as returning to the dark ruins outside.

Kevik threw more fuel on the fire and huddled close to the comforting flames.

Early the next morning they gathered their things and returned to the Command Building. They agreed that if they were going to still be in the ruins of Algoth come nightfall, they would spend the night in the kitchen where the secret stairs were located.

At least that way they should avoid most of what would take place out in the hall.

When they arrived at the kitchen, they deposited most of their equipment there except for their packs. Those they were taking with them when they descended below, just in case they came across any more treasure, which of course they were all counting on.

“I hope we find the key today,” announced Chad. He was feeling better as much of his energy had returned. A good breakfast and most of a night’s rest had done wonders.

“So do I,” replied Riyan.

As soon as Bart had the lantern lit, they made their way down the stairs and resumed the search for the key. Riyan was quite happy that he had the foresight to make arrows out of the marker coins at all the intersections to point the way back. It was now a simple matter to follow them to what they believed was the last area yet to search.

“What do we do if after searching we fail to find anything?” asked Kevik.

The three friends were silent for a few minutes before Bart replied. “In that case, we’ll wait until tonight. When the battle manifests again, as I’m convinced it will, then when the lord makes his way down here, we’ll follow him. He should lead us to something.”

“Good idea,” said Riyan. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.” They passed through two more junctions as they continued following the path indicated by the arrows. When they reached the junction containing the final arrow, Bart took the lead. The passage through which they went continued for twenty feet before ending at another cross passage. There were no coins positioned at any of these passage openings so they knew they were in unexplored territory. A quick glance down to the left and right revealed both ways extended past the light of the lantern.

He glanced to Riyan who shrugged. “I’d say left,” was Riyan’s suggestion.

“Left it is,” Bart replied. He waited a moment for Riyan to place marker coins in the appropriate spots on the floor to mark their progress. Once Riyan was done, Bart entered the left hand passage.

They followed it down for a ways before coming to another passage branching off to their left. Again, this one had no marker coins. They decided to proceed forward and Riyan marked the way appropriately. Then not too far past the left hand branching, they reached where the passage ended at another ‘T’ junction. After the marker coins were placed, they turned to follow the right hand passage.

This one continued forwards a good distance before turning to the left, then a short way to another right hand turn. They followed this passage until the lantern’s light showed where it turned once again to the left.

Ahhhh!

Before they came to the turn, Kevik screamed as the floor suddenly opened up directly beneath his feet. He must have stepped on a pressure plate and triggered a trap.

Kevik plummeted down and only his fast thinking saved him. Casting his goo spell again, he encased himself in the sticky substance, then started thrashing about in an attempt to make contact with the wall of the shaft. His fall was abruptly halted when his hand touched the wall and the goo adhered to it.

“Kevik!” yelled Riyan.

It was hard to look up, but Kevik was able to see the other three standing at the opening in the floor.

“Make your light if you can!” Bart hollered down to him.

Suddenly his bobbing sphere appeared. “We see you,” Riyan said.

Riyan turned to Bart, “You’ll have to lower me down on the rope,” he said.

“Can’t,” Bart replied. “I won’t be able to haul you both up here on my own.” Indicating Chad he added, “With his arm recently healed, he’ll be no help.” Riyan stared at him and was about to argue when he realized Bart was right. “What do we do?” he asked.

Bart began uncoiling his rope and went to the edge of the pit. “Kevik!” he hollered as he tied a loop in the end, “I’m going to tie a loop on the end of the rope and then lower the rope down to you.” He paused and listened but no reply came.

“If he’s covered in that goo stuff of his,” Riyan said, “he won’t be able to reply.” Lowering the rope down to where the bobbing sphere was, he said, “Here comes the rope. When it’s in the right position, cancel your light then make it reappear.” He continued to lower the rope rapidly until he saw the bobbing sphere disappear, then a few seconds later, reappear.

Riyan grasped the rope behind him. “Now,” Bart hollered, “you’ll have to grab hold of the rope so we can pull you up.”

Chad stood next to the edge of the pit to watch what happened below. He could barely make out where Kevik was stuck to the wall. All that was readily apparent was the bobbing sphere. Then suddenly, he saw movement as Kevik went for the rope.

Bart and Riyan felt tension begin to drag on the rope for a second before it again went slack.

“He didn’t make it,” said Chad. He and the others watched in horror as Kevik’s body fell until coming to a sudden stop when he hit the bottom. As soon as he hit, the bobbing sphere went out.

“Kevik!” Riyan hollered. They listened for a reply but none was forthcoming.

“Is he dead?” asked Chad.

“Maybe,” replied Bart. “My rope isn’t long enough to reach him.”

“We can’t leave him down there,” insisted Riyan.

“How do you propose we reach him?” Bart asked. “He’s not even conscious.”

“There has to be a way,” said Chad.

Bart considered it for a minute and tried to recall what his father had told him about situations such as this.

‘Always keep in mind,’ his father had said, ‘if a pit is deep enough, they had to have
a way for those who dug it to get out. At times it could be depressions carved into the
sides of the pit to enable them to climb out, or a passage of some sort leading away at the
bottom.’

‘But wouldn’t that allow the thief a chance to escape the trap?’ Bart had asked.

‘If the pit is deep enough,’ his father explained, ‘the builder wouldn’t worry about
that as the fall would either kill the thief, or damage him to such an extent that he
couldn’t get away.’

“There may be a way to reach him,” Bart said as he came back to the here and now.

“Check the sides of the passage for anything that might be used for handholds.” A quick check revealed there were none. “It’s possible there’s a way out at the bottom,” Bart old them. “We just have to find the other end.”

“So we are to just leave him?” Chad asked. “That doesn’t seem right.”

“What else is there for us to do?” replied Bart. “We can’t get to him from here. By the time we managed to get back to the Marketplace to procure a rope, providing of course there are any there to be had, and returned, he’d be dead. His only chance is for us to continue and hopefully find a way to him.”

“If he’s alive, he does have another healing potion,” offered Riyan.

Bart nodded. “So I suggest we stop standing here talking and press onward.” Riyan felt bad about leaving Kevik in the pit, but in the face of Bart’s logic, there seemed no other alternative. Leaning over the edge, he stared down into the darkness and hollered, “Kevik! If you can hear me, we are not going to leave you there to die. We’ll find a way to you, I promise.” The pit remained dark. Had he been conscious, Riyan was sure his bobbing sphere would have been present.