The Broken Key (02) - Hunter of the Horde (52 page)

“Come on!” he hollered as he broke into a run. Moving in and around the ruins, he hunted desperately for the columns. Then as he made his way around a two story building that only had less than a third of the second floor remaining, he saw three large columns rising before him. At one time there had been a fourth but it was broken in the middle, numerous pieces of the broken column were scattered around the area. It looked to have been smashed by a giant’s club.

“Yes!” exclaimed Riyan when he realized what he was looking at.

Behind the four columns was a massive pile of masonry. At one time it must have been a grand building, for the stone that made up the rubble looked to have been intricately carved in beautiful patterns. Statues, or rather pieces of statues, were sticking out of the rubble in at least three different locations.

One of the statues caught his eye. It had to have been the double headed falcon at one time. Coming closer, Riyan saw that one of the heads had been broken off, but what it had once been was unmistakable.

“Riyan!” hollered Bart.

Turning around, he saw Bart’s group appear around the two story building and come to a stop. Breaking out in a grin, Riyan said, “We found it!”
Chapter Twenty-Eight

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After the two groups joined together, they approached the columns. Drawing near, they could see a dark opening at the base of the rubble just behind the center two. “That must be the steps they took down,” observed, Riyan. He moved toward them but was stopped when Bart grabbed his arm.

“Not just yet,” Bart advised. When Riyan turned and looked at him, he added,

“There’s something I failed to mention.”

“What?” Riyan asked. The others gathered around to hear what he had to say.

“The old man said that his friends went down first while he stayed up here,” he explained. “A short time later they hollered back to him that they had found something, and that’s when it happened.”

“What happened?” Chad asked. He definitely wasn’t liking what he was hearing.

“The old man didn’t say exactly,” replied Bart. Glancing to Chad, he continued. “He did say that a friend had been waiting up here with him while the others explored below.

When the others called that they had found something, his friend descended the steps to join them.” He paused a moment before adding, “At that point the old man became agitated and confused. He started screaming the name of his friend at which point Aryn and her mother showed up. They calmed him down and then took him away.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Chyfe asked.

Bart shrugged. “Didn’t seem necessary at the time,” he said.

“Great,” mumbled Chad. “So whatever drove the old man mad is down there?”

“Possibly,” said Bart. “He didn’t say anything about what happened after his friend went down to join the others. But the fact that he wigged out on me at the time we were discussing it, would suggest that something transpired after his friend went down.”

“So what should we do now?” asked Seth.

“Proceed with extreme caution,” Riyan said. “We’ve come this far through too many hardships to turn back now.”

Bart nodded his agreement. “I’ll go first and check it out,” he said. Then he glanced over to Kevik. “Would you mind accompanying me?”

Surprised at being asked, Kevik replied, “Sure.” Moving forward, he joined Bart at the edge of the opening. His staff suddenly flared as light appeared at its tip.

“Nice,” complemented Bart. Then to Riyan he said, “Don’t wander away. We may need help, fast.”

“Like I would anyway,” Riyan grinned.

Bart returned his grin. “Stay close,” he said to Kevik then stepped upon the first step.

One by one he cautiously descended beneath the ground. Kevik followed. When he reached the fourth step from the top, the light from his staff began to illuminate the area beyond where the sunlight was able to reach. Still, the steps continued down.

“What if there’s a trap here?” Kevik asked.

“Unlikely,” replied Bart. Gesturing to the steps he said, “This area has the feel of common usage. Would be stupid to put a trap where many people travel.”

“I suppose,” Kevik stated. Having been the victim of more than one trap already, he was less convinced as to their safety in that regard. In the back of his mind he thought, At least Bart was going first.

They descended thirty steps before the stairwell opened up onto a circular room that was barely twenty feet wide. On the far side of the room, directly opposite where the stairwell ended, was another darkened exit leading from the room.

What first caught Bart’s eye was the unique fountain, if it was a fountain, which sat in the center of the room. Made of stone, its base was mere inches in diameter and rose like a tube for two feet. At that point it widened into a bowl, a foot and a half across. Through the center of the bowl, the base continued its rise until ending a foot above the bowl’s upper lip. Bart came to a stop on the bottom step as he looked the room over.

Kevik stopped on the step just above Bart. He moved the tip of his staff forward to just above Bart’s shoulder, where the staff’s light was able to illuminate as much of the room as possible without actually leaving the steps. Its light played upon intricate engravings that were carved into the wall. The engravings were similar to those they had found on the outer walls of the ruined structure above them.

The light also revealed three full skeletons and parts of several more lying upon the floor. “Think those were the old man’s friends?” Kevik asked.

“Has to be,” agreed Bart. Then he realized there were more bones than what four men could provide. “Looks like others have been here too.” Most of the bones were to be found on the right side of the fountain, only one full skeleton was to the left. Part of a rib cage and pelvic bone lay before the step Bart stood upon. Of the clothes the men had been wearing there was no sign. There were however a few coins scattered here and there about the floor. From Bart’s vantage point he could clearly make out one of the coins. It wasn’t one of the King’s coins, rather one of the coins that were in use today.

“What happened do you suppose?” Kevik asked.

“Be quiet and I’ll try to figure it out,” replied Bart. He was hesitant to step into the room. Something had killed the men whose bones lie across the floor.

From the way the opening above had been positioned just behind the columns, and the fact that there was a ruined structure just behind the stairs, Bart was led to believe that this may have been the main entrance to whatever the building above had been. Or maybe not a main entrance, but definitely one that wasn’t being hidden. Main entrances were rarely trapped as the high volume of people passing through made placing one there unwise.

The room itself didn’t give off any warning signals. His eyes, however, were repeatedly drawn to the fountain in the middle of the room. “Didn’t you say you could detect the presence of magic?” he asked Kevik.

“Yes,” replied Kevik. “I incorporated that spell into my staff when I created it.”

“Then cast it now,” he said.

“Very well,” agreed Kevik. With a thought, he caused the staff to cast the spell.

Immediately, the fountain began to glow a deep blue.

“I thought so,” mumbled Bart. “Does the color tell you anything?”

“No,” he explained. “It only indicates the presence of magic, not its nature.” Bart glanced around the room, but the fountain was the only thing glowing blue. One way or another, it had to be connected with the death of the old man’s friends.

What had the old man said? ‘Olyn called back up that they had found something.’

‘Egan went down to see what they had found.’ It had been at that point when the man had started acting weird then started screaming.

Okay, what would Olyn have done after calling out that they had found something?

And that something would invariably had to have been the fountain in the middle of the room. Though by this time Bart has begun to think of it less and less as a fountain.

Olyn would have approached it, maybe even touched it. Bart nodded to himself. His father had mentioned on more than one occasion that magical traps often required a specific spot or item to be touched before becoming activated. The reason he had given for such a thing was that those who knew better wouldn’t touch it, and those that didn’t had no business being around it in the first place. But why have something like that at the entrance?

The old man had said that he had heard screams. So whatever had killed these men wouldn’t kill instantaneously, they had known something was about to happen. Might give him the chance to flee if things went bad, seeing as how he was expecting it.

Turning to Kevik he said, “Stay here. If you see something develop, or anything out of the ordinary, let me know.”

Kevik nodded. “Be careful.”

Bart calmed his nerves then stepped into the room. He took but a single step then came to a stop. When nothing happened, he took another step and again came to a stop.

When still nothing happened, he grew bolder and began to slowly make his way around the fountain. His eyes were primarily focused on the bluish glow surrounding it, but they were also casting glances about the room as well. He had to step carefully when he reached the skeletons on the floor so as not to disturb them.

“What’s going on?” Riyan shouted down from the top.

“Bart’s checking it out,” Kevik hollered back up.

“Did you find anything?” Chad asked.

“Tell them to be quiet and wait,” Bart said, annoyed at their impatience.

Kevik relayed his message and those waiting on the surface grew quiet.

As Bart finished his circuit of the room, he came back to the steps where he again stepped onto the first step of the stairway. “Looks like if we don’t disturb that thing, nothing will happen,” he said.

“Is it safe then?” asked Kevik.

Chuckling, Bart shook his head. “No. But I think we can get past this room without incident if we just don’t touch that thing in the center of the room.” Just then, the blue glow surrounding the fountain vanished.

Before Bart could comment, Kevik said, “It doesn’t last forever.”

“Right,” responded Bart. Then he turned to look up the stairwell and could see the silhouettes of the others as they stood in the opening staring down. “Come on down,” he hollered.

Riyan was the first onto the steps and was soon standing at the bottom with Bart and Kevik. Once everyone was gathered, Bart pointed to the object in the middle of the room.

“That is magical and I believe to be the cause of everyone’s death,” he said. “Whatever you do, don’t touch it or go near it.”

“But, how did it kill them?” Chad asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Bart. “I do know that we can get by it without activating its latent magical energies. Stay close and step where I step.” When he received acknowledgement from everyone, he turned back and entered the room. Giving the fountain a wide berth, he led the others to the exit on the far side of the room.

As Chad was passing by the object, he said, “The central column appears to be hollow.”

Seth paused next to him as they took a closer look. His eyes widened slightly when he noticed coins resting in the bottom of the bowl area. “Look,” he said. “There are coins in there.”

“Would you two get away from that!” demanded Bart.

Chad nodded at what Seth had said. “It looks almost as if the coins could be dropped into the opening at the top of the long neck.”

Riyan joined them, all the while making sure not to come into contact with the fountain. At mention of coins, he wanted to see if they were the King’s coins or not. But what he saw lying in the bottom of the bowl were neither the King’s coins nor the ones in use today. Rather, they didn’t look to be coins at all, just bronze slugs.

“Interesting,” he breathed. And he had to agree with Seth, it did look like the slugs would be able to pass through the opening at the top of the neck. If the threat of impending death wasn’t so palpable, he would have tried it.

“What is wrong with you people?” Bart exclaimed after coming up behind them. “Are you looking to die?”

“We didn’t touch anything,” argued Chad.

“Just looking,” added Seth.

Bart rolled his eyes heavenward and gave out with an exasperated sigh before walking back over to the exit leading into parts unknown. A glance behind him showed the others were leaving the side of the fountain and following him, much to his relief.

The light coming from Kevik’s staff revealed a passage moving outward from the room. Pools of water dotted the floor, probably having come down through the open stairwell when it rained. Neither door nor opening was visible in the area the light illuminated. Bart glanced back to the others and said, “Stay close and don’t touch anything.” He started to enter the passage then stopped. Turning back one more time he added, “Curiosity can be deadly in a place like this. Understand?” When he saw the others nod, he turned back and stepped into the passage.

It was a plain, stone passage that Bart stepped into. Not for the first time he wondered what this place had been. If he knew that, he would better know what to expect. At first he had thought it may have been a temple, but after seeing that fountain looking thing in the room behind him, he wasn’t sure.

The passage continued for thirty feet or so before coming to where another passage joined theirs from the right. He had Kevik move the glowing tip of his staff into the new passage and found it to be no different than the one they were in, plain stone.

“Should we continue straight?” asked Seth.

Bart nodded. “We can always come back if we need to,” he said. Then with Kevik remaining behind him with his light, he continued past the opening.

“What are we looking for anyway?” Chyfe asked. “You guys have never quite explained that.”

Bart came to a stop and turned around to face the others. Then to Riyan he said, “You may as well show them.”

Riyan nodded and took the pack from off his back. Setting it on the floor, he opened it while the others gathered around. Once the pack was open, he reached in and removed the two segments of the key.