The Broken Key (02) - Hunter of the Horde (42 page)

They had searched the area for two days before a suitable place had been located. In a dense area of the trees they had found a fallen tree. The trunk had begun to be overgrown with foliage and there were signs of insect infestation. Above the fallen trunk was a thick lower branch extending from another tree. It wasn’t directly above the trunk of the fallen tree, but close enough to accomplish their objective.

Taking a rope, they had thrown it over the limb, then tied one end to the fallen trunk.

Using the limb for leverage, they had raised the trunk half a foot off the ground. While the others held it in position, Bart had dug a shallow hole beneath the raised trunk and deposited the two segments of the key within.

Now, they were there to retrieve the segments and take them with them to Catha.

Using the same branch as they had before, they tossed a rope over it and secured the rope’s end to the trunk. Then with all of them pulling on the rope, they raised the trunk several inches off the ground.

Once they had it raised and the others had a good hold of the rope, Bart let go. He moved to the area of the trunk beneath which the segments lay and dropped to his knees.

“I’m going in,” he told the others.

“Hurry,” encouraged Riyan. Keeping the trunk elevated was no easy task.

Bart reached a hand under the log and felt around. Panic began to set in when he failed to find the segments. Moving his hand beneath the trunk first to the right, then to the left, he finally encountered the sack that held them. Pulling the sack out from beneath the fallen tree, he could easily feel the weight of the two key segments nestled within.

Holding the dirty sack up, he turned to the others and said, “Got ‘em.”

“Good,” replied Chad as he let go of the rope.

They gathered around Bart who opened the sack and pulled out the two segments. He handed them to Riyan who placed them in his pack. While he was getting them situated properly within his pack, Chad untied the rope from the fallen trunk, coiled it, and put it in his pack.

“All set,” Riyan said as he closed his pack. Getting to his feet, he and the others headed back to where they had left Seth, Soth, and Chyfe.

“Should we tell them about the key?” asked Chad.

“No,” replied Bart. He glanced to the other three. “They’ll find out soon enough I’m sure.”

“True,” agreed Riyan.

When they rejoined the others, they didn’t comment about what they had just done.

Seth was mightily curious about the whole thing, but didn’t press them on it.

They mounted and were soon off towards the road leading south. Chyfe said the quickest way to Catha was for them to ride south to the crossroads at the town of Skerin, then turn east. From there they would follow the road as it made its way through the southern edge of the Ki’ Gyrx Forest. Once they reached the other side of the forest, it wouldn’t be much further to Catha. He said the trip should take about three days, maybe four.

It didn’t take long before they reached the road and were heading south. Around midafternoon the town of Kemmet appeared on the horizon. They kept to the road and followed it through town. Seeing as how Durik was behind them, there was no need to fear being seen.

By the time the sun had neared the horizon, they still hadn’t reached the crossroads at Skerin. “How much further is it to Skerin do you think?” Riyan asked Chyfe.

“Not entirely sure to tell you the truth,” he replied. “It can’t be much further though.”

“Then let’s push on until we get there,” suggested Seth.

So despite the falling temperature the setting of the sun was bound to bring, they pushed on. The clouds above kept the temperature from falling too drastically, but without the warming rays of the sun, they were all frozen by the time the lights of Skerin came into sight.

They stopped at the first inn they came to and got the last three rooms. Riyan, Chad, and Chyfe shared one, the twins another, while Bart bunked with Kevik.

They met downstairs in the common room for a meal and ale. Two packs were never let out of their sight and accompanied them everywhere. One contained the two key segments and sat by Riyan’s feet, the other held the magical items and was by Kevik.

During their meal, the conversation inevitably turned to Durik. “Do you think he’s made it to the estate yet?” asked Soth.

Bart nodded. “I’d be surprised if he hasn’t had someone out there by this time to check on us,” he replied. “Once he realizes we’re gone, he won’t waste time in trying to track us down.”

Riyan turned to Kevik and said, “Maybe the defenses your master had put into place will keep them out.”

“They didn’t when those men came and tried to kidnap me,” he said. In truth, he had begun to wonder about those supposed defenses of his master. The only one he had seen that worked was the one that caught the lone man during the earlier raid. If that was the extent of them, Durik had nothing to worry about.

Riders moved down the darkened road in the middle of the night, thirty five in all.

Most of them had been hastily recruited for this from some of the less than savory taverns to be found in the poorer section of town, left the outskirts of Gilbeth.

Three men led the group, one an older man with a hard look about him. From time to time the man would cough as if he had difficulty breathing. To the man’s right rode a robed individual and to his left, a man only slightly younger than himself.

Earlier in the day, a little before dusk, he had sent one of his men to keep an eye on an estate outside of town. The man had promptly returned and reported that the estate now stood empty. Of those whom he had been sent to keep an eye on, there was no sign.

Needless to say, Durik flew into a rage which only aggravated his condition.

He had barely survived the inhalation of the toxic cloud fumes. If it hadn’t been for the quick thinking of Pyck, his body would still be lying there by the Tower. But after Pyck had convinced Bart and the others that Durik was in fact dead, he had been forced to wait until they departed before he could remove the healing potion from Durik’s pack and administer it to him. Unfortunately, the delay in administering the healing potion had resulted in the damage done to his lungs being too great for the magical properties of the healing potion to completely heal. And by the time they had arrived back at Gilbeth, it had been too late to administer more. His body had already grown acclimated to the new condition and would no longer see it as a ‘new’ injury. If he would have had sufficient funds, he could have gone to a temple to have it completely healed.

He sent Pyck to various taverns in the poorer section of town to hire men. Most of those he had with him during the debacle at the Tower were back at their homes and jobs in Kemmet, only a dozen had continued on to Gilbeth with him. Now he rode with a merry band of cutthroats and thieves who were only as loyal as the coins they received.

“Do you really think coming here will yield any results?” asked Pyck.

“Since we aren’t sure where they are going,” replied Durik, “yes.” Glancing to the magic user riding beside him he added, “We wouldn’t have to do this if you could have located them better.”

The magic user sighed. “As I told you before, a man riding in the dark is difficult to pinpoint. If you would have been willing to wait until morning, I could have given you a more precise location.”

“That would have given them almost a day’s head start if I had,” he replied. “I expect to be on their trail as soon as possible.”

“Just being here is jeopardizing my position,” the magic user stated, and not for the first time.

Durik gave him an annoyed look. “Get me safely into that estate and you can return to town,” he said. He had called in a favor the magic user owed him. Even with the weight of the favor behind his request, he still had to practically force him to come along. This had been the estate of a powerful magic user before his apprentice took over, and there still could very well be wards left in place. He had to find out where they were going. No one was going to beat him to the Horde!

When they turned off onto the lane leading to the manor house, he slowed. Lex, the man whom he had appointed leader of the score of men recruited from the taverns, came alongside to see what was going on.

“Up ahead is an estate,” Durik told him. A coughing fit seized him and it took a moment to get himself under control again. When he did, he said, “I want you and your men to take the estate and hold anyone you find.”

“We can have our choice of the booty?” he asked.

“As we agreed,” nodded Durik. “There are only a few things I require, the rest is yours.”

“As you wish,” Lex replied. Turning back to the men behind him, he said, “Come on boys. There’s loot to be had.” Then with a cry, he and his men kicked their horses into a gallop and raced down the lane. Those who were Durik’s men remained with him.

“Do we really need all those men?” asked Pyck as Lex and crew disappeared over the hill that stood between them and the estate.

Then from up ahead, light flared forth as Lex and his men encountered the first of the protective wards. “Yes we do,” replied Durik. Turning to the magic user riding next to him, he said, “It’s time.”

“Time for what?” questioned Pyck.

Durik turned to him and even in the scant moonlight Pyck could see the evil grin upon his face. “You’ll see.” Then he and the magic user sped their horses up and Pyck had to hurry so as not to be left behind. His men followed closely.

When they crested the hill over which the lane traveled, they saw six of Lex’s men trapped within a Sphere of Holding. Another four lay unconscious on the ground further toward the manor house, while the remaining ten were continuing on for the door.

“You’re using them to trip the wards?” asked Pyck.

“That’s right,” replied Durik. Indicating the magic user, he said, “After they’re tripped, he can then easily dispel them.”

“Once I know what’s there, it’s a simply matter to counter it,” the magic user explained.

Pyck was amazed that despite the fact that they had already tripped magical wards, that Lex and his men were still continuing on. If it had been him, he would have reconsidered the venture after the first one appeared. He did notice however that Lex and his men were giving the tower a wide berth. The allure of booty wasn’t enough to make them brave a magic user’s tower.

When their group reached the place where a score of horses had been left by Lex and his men, they came to a stop. The magic user didn’t immediately do anything to affect the wards already tripped, rather he kept watch on what was transpiring at the door to the manor house.

Lex stood there with his men while two were kicking the door in. Even from where they waited they could hear the thuds of the men’s feet striking the door. When a crack was heard and the door burst in, a wailing spirit emerged from the fractured opening. The sight of the skeletal apparition was the final straw that broke the men’s courage. They fled.

“Just an illusion,” commented the magic user.

“Is that it?” asked Durik.

“Maybe,” replied the magic user. Nodding to the men fleeing from the estate, he said,

“Watch.”

Lex and his men fled from the manor and raced back toward where the three of them waited. “Help us!” Lex cried out as the apparition quickly left the fractured door and followed them. Red bolts suddenly exploded from the eye sockets of the apparition and struck the fleeing men.

“You don’t come uninvited to the home of a magic user,” stated the magic user.

The men struck by the bolts fell and didn’t get back up. The first volley of bolts had brought two men down, the second another three. By this time the apparition had reached the remaining fleeing men, and when it touched one, the man screamed before dropping to the ground.

“I thought you said that it wasn’t real,” Pyck said.

“It isn’t,” the magic user replied. “But the fear the man feels is real, and so is his belief in the apparition. Put those things together and you can have a man kill himself.”

“Unbelievable,” breathed Pyck. “But what about the bolts? They seem real.”

“They are,” the magic user assured him

“Can you take care of it?” asked Durik.

“Very simple really,” the magic user told him.

They continued to watch as the apparition brought another two down with its touch, and still another with the bolts. Only Lex was left, and he was coming toward them fast with the apparition right behind.

“Help me!” he screamed as he raced for them.

“Better do something,” Durik said to the magic user, “it’s getting fairly close.”

“As you wish,” he said. Then he raised his hand and quickly spoke three words. As soon as the third word was spoken, the apparition vanished.

Lex continued running even after the apparition disappeared. When he reached their side, he looked up at Durik just as Durik drew his sword and cut him down. “Sorry,” he said as Lex sank to the ground. “But I don’t need you anymore.” As Lex’s lifeblood quickly left his body, Durik began riding forward to the manor.

“What about those men?” Pyck asked as they rode past the men caught in the Sphere of Holding.

Durik shrugged. “What about them?” he asked in a voice that said he didn’t care, then continued on. Riding next to him, the magic user cast three more spells to dispel the wards guarding the estate before they reached the broken door of the manor house. There they dismounted. “Do you think there’re any more inside?” he asked the magic user.

“Possibly,” he said.

“Then you better go first,” Durik told him. When the magic user began to protest, Durik stopped him then said, “I’m still not safely within the manor.” The magic user glared at him for a moment then turned back to the door. Using his staff, he pushed it open and entered. He had already dispelled the ward which had created the apparition. Once inside, he cast a spell to detect the presence of magic and dispelled those he found. “It’s safe,” he said to the others waiting outside.