The Broken Key (02) - Hunter of the Horde

by Brian S. Pratt

  “Unless we want to row all the way to land,” Chad said. He glanced at the western horizon and could barely make out the land several miles away. In good weather they might make it. But if it should turn bad, unlikely.

  “We would lose the gold too,” countered Riyan. “We don’t have all that much left from the sale of the horses.”

  “Let’s worry about that should we find two days is not enough,” Bart said.

  The others saw the wisdom in that and nodded their agreement. Seth and Soth continued rowing the small boat closer to the abandoned settlement. As it grew closer, they could begin to see the buildings of the settlement. Two looked as if they were still in good repair and could suffice for shelter. The others were in a less than pristine shape.

  One in fact looked as if all its walls had collapsed years ago.

  Riyan scanned the coastline for evidence of the ruins that were supposedly there.

  When Chyfe noticed what he was doing he said, “You’ll not find any of the ruins close to the settlement. There are a few up north, but the majority is further to the south.”

  “Might be why they built here,” suggested Kevik.

  “Could be,” agreed Riyan.

  Small waves broke upon the shore as they approached. Increasing the speed with which they rowed, the twins tried to gain sufficient momentum to bring the boat as close to the water’s edge as they possibly could. When the bottom of the boat scraped against the bottom and the boat came to a stop, they hopped out into water that came halfway up their calves. They then pulled the boat far enough from the water so that it was completely out of its grasp.

  Riyan plucked his pack from the bottom of the boat and slung it across his shoulders.

  Looking around, he spied the building which looked to have survived best and began crossing the beach toward it.

  The settlement itself sat a ways back from the beach. Those buildings which were furthest from the water had held up fairly decently, while those in closer proximity hadn’t. One of the buildings near the treeline furthest away from the shore still had all four walls and its roof.

  Riyan went to the building and peered in through the doorway. He glanced back at the others who were still coming from the beach and said, “This one will work. Its roof is still intact.”

  “Excellent,” said Chad.

  “Might be best if we pulled the boat up here in a little bit,” Chyfe said. “If the weather turns bad, wind and waves could claim it.”

  “Alright,” agreed Bart. “A quick bite to eat, bring the boat up here, then we’ll start searching for the three columns.”

  “And the one that was smashed by a giant’s club,” added Chyfe.

  “That looked like it was smashed by a giant’s club,” corrected Bart. “I doubt if a giant calls this place home. I’m sure the residents hereabouts would have seen one if one called this place home.” He then glanced to Chyfe.

  “Never heard mention of one before,” shrugged Chyfe.

  They set about having a quick meal of dried beef, cheese, and bread. Afterwards, while Bart, Chad, and Chyfe brought the boat up to the house they’re planning to use, the others scavenged firewood from the edge of the forest for later this evening. By the time the boat had been deposited against the side of the house, the others had accumulated sufficient wood to last throughout the night. They had it stacked in a pile beside the fireplace inside the house.

  “We still have most of the day left,” Bart said. “I suggest we split into two parties to better comb the island. I’ll take Seth, Soth, and Chad. Riyan, that leaves you with Chyfe and Kevik.” He turned to Kevik and held up the hand bearing the twin of the ring which Kevik wore. “If either of us locates the columns, or should a crisis develop, we can contact the other.”

  Kevik nodded. “Good idea,” he said.

  “Now let’s be quick,” Riyan said. “We only have two days and a large island to cover.”

  “Be careful,” Chad cautioned his friend.

  “You too,” replied Riyan.

  “At least there will be no angry husbands to be found here,” joked Seth. Every one broke into laughter at Chad’s expense as the two groups headed out.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  _______________________

  Riyan’s group followed the coastline to the south while Bart’s entered the forest and crossed the island’s interior on a southeasterly heading. At this point along the shoreline, Riyan’s group was able to make good time as the beach was over twenty feet wide with minimal rocks.

  “Wonder who’s going to find it first?” asked Chyfe.

  “Don’t really care,” replied Riyan. “Just as long as we can find it in time to meet the captain on his return. I don’t fancy the idea of rowing all the way back to the mainland.” Kevik nodded agreement. He didn’t want to let on, but he hadn’t much cared for the trip across the water. Being over water of such depth made him uneasy. With him he carried his pack that had one of the two remaining flasks of mixture for his far seeing spell along with the bowl. The other one sat with the rest of their equipment back at the settlement. The pack also carried the unidentified magic items which he had never seemed to get around to identifying. Truth be told, the prospect of another brush with a magical trap scared him. Not for the first time he wished that he had more experience with such things. Being just a recently raised Practitioner as he was, he was still relatively new to his craft.

  Riyan’s plan was for them to spend an hour walking along the beach then turn inland.

  That way their group and Bart’s hopefully wouldn’t cover the same ground. When they had walked the hour, they turned from the comfortable beach and entered the more inhospitable forest.

  Birds took flight and small animals scurried away as Riyan’s group forged their way through the heavily grown underbrush. A short time after they left the beach, they came across a broken stone wall that was all but covered in vines and other foliage.

  “About time,” Riyan mumbled under his breath. Altering course slightly, he led the others toward it. Part of the wall protruded out from the vines, and that’s how he had even known it was there.

  Kevik glanced around the immediate vicinity but didn’t see any columns. “I don’t think this is what we’re looking for,” he said.

  Now at the wall, Riyan removed his knife and began moving the vines aside to get a better look at it. “Probably not,” he said. “But give me a second, I want to take a look at this anyway.” What he was hoping to find was a depiction of one of the coats of arms they had found in The Crypt. The presence of such would indicate this was where they had to be. But the stone of the wall was plain and bore no engravings of any kind. Riyan even went so far as to check the other side but came up with the same results.

  “What do you hope to find?” Chyfe asked.

  “Something to indicate we’re on the right track,” he replied. Coming out from behind the wall, he replaced his knife back into its scabbard. “Let’s continue on.”

  “You’ll find stuff like this all over the island,” Chyfe explained. “Where me and my friends had been, such things as that wall were quite common.” Riyan nodded. “I figured as much,” he replied.

  Pressing on, they continued searching for the three columns. Several times while the sun arced its way across the sky, they found more of the ruins. But as with the wall they had first come across, they bore no markings.

  They did come across one statue in the course of their searching. It was missing much of its former mass. There wasn’t much more than a torso and the left side of the head, definitely human. Even so, the statue stood half again as tall as Riyan. How tall it must have loomed in its day was hard to determine, possibly three times his height.

  Riyan left the statue behind and soon came to a creek that was heading toward the lake. “We’ll follow this back to the beach and then one more circuit through the forest before we head back,” he said. Glancing back to the other two, he added, “I don’t want to be out after…” H
e trailed off when he realized there were only two of them.

  “Dark?” finished Chyfe.

  “Where’s Kevik?” Riyan asked as he came to a stop.

  Chyfe immediately turned around and all he saw were trees. “He was right behind me!” Retracing their steps, Chyfe hurried back.

  “Kevik!” Riyan hollered, fear of what may have happened to Kevik filling him with dread. Riyan was about to holler again when they caught sight of him through the trees back along their path. He was standing motionless, eyes stared off as if looking at something else. When Chyfe made to approach him, Riyan warned him against it. “It isn’t safe to disturb a magic user when they’re in the midst of performing their magic.” Chyfe nodded and backed up.

  Riyan stepped past Chyfe and moved slowly until he stood before the motionless Kevik. “Kevik?” he asked softly.

  Then all of a sudden Kevik’s eyes refocused on the here and now. “Sorry,” he said.

  “It was Bart.”

  “Bart?” asked Chyfe.

  “He and Bart can communicate through the rings they wear,” Riyan explained.

  Turning back to Kevik he asked, “What did he say.”

  “They found the double falcon coat of arms,” he replied.

  “Yes!” exclaimed Riyan.

  “Is that significant?” Chyfe asked.

  Riyan nodded to him. “You could say so,” he replied.

  “They found an area with many ruins,” Kevik explained. “Several columns were found, but none such as what the old man had described. It was on one of those columns that he found it.”

  “Does he want us to meet him there?” Riyan asked.

  Kevik got that far off look again. Then when he came back to them, he shook his head. “He said not to bother. If they find the place the old man spoke of, he’ll let us know. For now he suggests we continue searching and meet back at the settlement before dark.”

  “Very well,” Riyan said.

  “Sounds like they’re having all the fun,” Chyfe commented.

  Riyan didn’t comment. His mind was too full of the fact that one of the two coats of arms they had yet to come across was here on the island. That had to mean this was where they would find one of the other two segments. At least he hoped so. Glancing to the sky he gauged they still had a little over two hours of daylight left.

  “If we don’t want them to have all the fun then we better get moving,” he replied.

  Then he headed off towards the middle of the island instead of the beach.

  “Thought we were going to go in the other direction,” Kevik said.

  “The beach is a waste of time,” Riyan said over his shoulder. If the middle area was where Bart had found the coat of arms, then that’s where he wanted to be too.

  Kevik indicated for Chyfe to precede him, but Chyfe shook his head. “I’ll take the rear if you don’t mind,” he said. “If you go into another one of your trances again, I don’t want you to be left behind.”

  “You have a point,” agreed Kevik. Stepping out, he hurried to catch up with Riyan.

  It was a disappointed group that returned to the settlement later that afternoon.

  Despite the push into the interior of the island, Riyan’s group only found more of the walls and other broken masonry that dotted the island. He had really hoped to have been able to find something else that bore the double headed falcon coat of arms.

  “Doesn’t look as if they’re back yet,” observed Kevik.

  A quick glance to the horizon showed that there was less than an hour before sunset.

  The clouds above were already sporting a pink tinge. “If they’re not back by sunset, try and find out where they are,” Riyan replied. Then he pulled the sling from off his belt and said, “But until then, why don’t you two get a fire going in the fireplace while I hunt for dinner.”

  “Are you sure it’s wise for you to be by yourself?” Chyfe asked. Now that nightfall was approaching, the island had begun to grow ominous.

  “I won’t go far,” he said. “Just into the fringe of the forest.”

  “Alright,” replied Chyfe. “Holler if you need help.” Riyan gave him a grin and set off for the forest. After months of training with a sword, it felt good to once again have a sling in hand. It had been thoughtful of Seth to get him one, he hadn’t even thought about it.

  From the pouch hanging on his hip, he removed one of the iron bullets and placed it in the sling’s cup. He let the sling hang loosely in his hand as he approached the forest.

  Ever so quietly, he made his way through the trees. Eyes and ears alert for anything that would reveal the presence of a small animal.

  Then motion caught his eye. Through the trees ahead of him he saw a branch move in a way that could not have been caused by the wind. Stepping even more carefully, he made his way toward the branch that had moved. His eyes strained to see what had caused the movement, the sling continued hanging limp at his side.

  A rustle of leaves from a bush adjacent to the limb was immediately followed by a flash of brown as a small animal left the bush and scurried across a fallen limb. Riyan grinned and continued moving closer.

  The animal, a little bigger than the squirrels that inhabited the woods near his home, suddenly stopped and raised its head. Riyan froze as the animal looked in his direction.

  For a brief moment their eyes locked, then the animal scurried further along the limb before coming to another stop.

  Once the creature’s eyes left his, Riyan took another step closer. If he wasn’t careful, he would scare the animal away. Careful step after careful step, he moved ever closer to the animal. When he figured to be close enough to be able to hit it with his sling, he came to a stop.

  The animal again looked in his direction. He waited patiently until it turned its head and looked in the other direction. Then he raised his sling above his head…

  RRRaaaaaahhhhh!

  An incredibly loud roar came from directly behind him, shattering the silence. Both he and the animal jumped a foot off the ground. The animal raced off for dear life while Riyan turned to find Bart standing there with a smile on his face. A hundred feet behind his friend he could see the others of Bart’s group standing there. Seth and Soth were laughing hard.

  “What did you do that for?” demanded Riyan. Aside from chasing off his dinner, Bart had probably taken five years off his life with that scare.

  “Sorry, man,” Bart replied with a chuckle. “I couldn’t help myself.” Riyan glanced back to where the animal had been on the fallen limb but it was gone.

  “I almost had him.”

  “We have plenty of rations,” Bart stated.

  “Not the same,” countered Riyan. “Not the same at all.” Bart patted him on the back. “I really am sorry,” he asserted.

  Riyan glanced to his face and saw the amusement dancing in his eyes. “I’m sure you are,” he said.

  Seth, Soth, and Chad departed for the house they were using as a base of operations while on the island. “Good one Bart!” Chad hollered before he left.

  “Come on,” Bart said. “Let’s get back before it gets dark.” Disappointed at losing the chance for fresh meat, Riyan accompanied Bart back to the house. Before they made it back, Riyan had come to the conclusion that he owed Bart one. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but definitely at some point he planned to return the favor. Having made the decision for a little payback mollified him somewhat and he was able to let go of the ill will feelings he had been having.

  As they neared the door to the house, he could hear Seth’s voice coming from within.

  “You should have seen him jump.” Which was followed by a round of laughter. Then when he entered the house, everyone turned amused eyes to him and attempted to stifle their laughter.

  “Yes, yes,” Riyan said. “It was all very funny.” At which point they broke into laughter again. Riyan sighed and figured it was going to be a rather long night. He gave Bart a glare before Kevik handed him some dried beef.

/>   Once night had fallen, they gathered around the fireplace. Outside was dark, with intermittent moonlight coming through the clouds. The fire was keeping the worst of the chill at bay. But if you moved too far from its warmth, the cold quickly sapped the warmth from you.

  Bart was telling Riyan’s group of the place they had found. “It wasn’t much really,” he explained. “Just half a dozen buildings, one was two stories tall.”

  “Most of it had collapsed,” added Chad.

  “That’s right,” agreed Bart. “When we saw the double headed falcon, I thought you might want to know.”

  “I did and thank you,” replied Riyan. “I just wish we could have found something too.”

  “Tomorrow will probably be your day,” Bart said.

  “Think we need to post a watch through the night?” asked Chad.

  Bart nodded. “Yes,” he replied. “This island gives me a bad feeling.”

  “I’ve felt it too,” added Kevik.

  Chyfe went to one of the windows. They had secured extra blankets and tunics they had brought with them across the three window frames in an attempt to keep the cold out.

  He pulled back the blanket covering the one overlooking the beach area and looked out.

  “See anything?” Soth asked.

  “No,” he replied. He spent a minute or so looking out at the darkness beyond until the cold coming in through the window grew to be more than he could stand. Then he replaced the blanket back to its previous position before returning to the others.

  “I’ll take first watch,” offered Riyan. “The rest of you may as well get some sleep.

  We need to make an early start tomorrow, it’s our last full day before the Water Dancer returns.”

  After setting up a watch schedule, the others laid out their bedrolls near the fireplace.

  Most of them were able to get to sleep in a fairly short time, for the rest, it took a little bit longer.