The Broken Key (02) - Hunter of the Horde

by Brian S. Pratt

  Throughout the night, those on watch kept the fire going and would occasionally glance outside through one of the windows. By the time morning’s first light began to lighten the sky, nothing out of the ordinary had developed.

  Chyfe had the last watch and woke everyone as soon as he saw dawn approaching.

  While the others were getting ready, he opened the front door and looked outside. A blast of cold air entered through the doorway and Bart yelled, “Shut that door!” The cloud cover had increased overnight. There was still a strip of blue to the south, but it was quickly disappearing. It looked as if another storm was on the way. Closing the door, he turned to the others, “Storm’s coming.”

  “That’s great,” moaned Chad. “There’s nothing like mucking around a forest in a cold downpour.”

  “Might not rain,” Seth said.

  “You think so?” asked Chad hopefully.

  Seth nodded. “It might snow instead,” he replied.

  “It’s cold enough,” agreed Soth.

  “Well,” Chad said, “that’s not so bad.”

  Riyan came over to Chyfe and asked, “Does it snow much around here?” Chyfe shrugged. “Some. But I’ve never known it to dump a lot at any one time.”

  “That’s good to hear,” commented Chad.

  Once they had eaten and taken care of nature’s business, dawn had fully arrived. If the clouds hadn’t grown thicker, the sun would be visible by now. Bart suggested they break into the same two groups as the day before and each begin where they had left off.

  Everyone carried a pack. Riyan’s still contained the two segments of the key while Kevik continued hauling the unidentified magical items. The others brought some food and other items they might need should they find what they were looking for such as rope, lanterns, oil, etc. The remainder of their gear they left in the house.

  “All we need to worry about today is locating the columns,” Riyan said. “Move fast and don’t spend time satisfying curiosity.”

  “I agree,” Bart said. He glanced to his group and said, “Shall we?” Chad nodded. “Let’s go.”

  The two groups each headed out and moved in the direction they felt would bring them back to the area where they had ended yesterday.

  As Riyan’s group had the furthest to go, it took them close to an hour before they reached their starting point. “Fast and quick,” Riyan told the others. “We don’t want them to find it first.”

  “Why?” asked Kevik.

  “Bragging rights of course,” Chyfe replied. “You stay in the middle again and I’ll take up the rear.” Kevik nodded and they headed out.

  Riyan set a quick pace. Whenever they came across remnants of the ancient civilization, they gave it just a cursory glance before continuing on. Riyan wasn’t about to let Bart find the three columned area first.

  They kept primarily to the middle of the island and crisscrossed it as they worked their way further south. During their third hour of searching, they came across an area where there were a greater number of ruins; walls, statues, even a fountain. Riyan’s mood picked up when he saw a column rising from within a copse of trees. It was the first column his group had come across. Excited by the discovery, he pressed on. The trees began to thin as the number of ruins increased.

  The ruins continued to increase in density as they progressed further south with more buildings, columns, and broken walls dotting the landscape. There were collapsed structures that had at one time boasted several columns, but they were all broken or fallen over.

  “We must be close,” Riyan finally said.

  “This could have been the heart of a city,” commented Kevik. “The architecture here is different than that at Algoth.”

  Riyan nodded. “I noticed that too.”

  “Algoth?” asked Chyfe.

  “Just a place we visited before joining the Guild,” he replied.

  “Look!” Kevik said, pointing off to a structure that still held a portion of its second floor.

  Turning to look, Riyan could see where a portion of the side wall had collapsed. But engraved in the section that still stood, was the double headed falcon.

  “Should we tell Bart?” asked Kevik.

  “No,” replied Riyan. “Let’s wait until we find what we’re looking for.” Moving out, they resumed their search for the three columns. Ten minutes later, Riyan came to a stop when he saw three columns rising near a large pile of what at one time must have been a sizable building.

  “That’s it!” he exclaimed as he raced forward. The others followed and they quickly reached the site of the three columns.

  Riyan scanned the area but couldn’t see the steps leading down the old man had described. “Look around,” he told the others. “It has to be here somewhere.”

  “I don’t think so,” Kevik replied.

  Coming to a stop, Riyan turned to him and asked, “What do you mean?” Kevik gestured to the surrounding area. “Where’s the column that looked like it had been smashed by a giant’s club?”

  Riyan and Chyfe quickly glanced about the area and saw that he was right. There was no such column there.

  “And look,” Kevik said as he pointed further ahead. When Riyan turned to look, he saw many sets of columns in amongst the trees. Some were solitary while other groups held three, four, and sometimes more.

  “Should we split up?” suggested Chyfe. “Looks like there may be more than one trio of columns out there.”

  Riyan shook his head. “No. We stay together.” He turned his gaze to Chyfe then said,

  “Less chance of something bad happening.”

  Chyfe nodded. “Alright.”

  Moving out, Riyan began working his way from one set of three columns to the next.

  Each time, he would search for the fourth that looked to be smashed by a giant’s club.

  When he failed to find it, he would press on to the next.

  Suddenly, Kevik stopped and got a faraway look in his eyes. Chyfe almost walked into him before he realized what was happening. “Riyan!” he hollered quietly. When Riyan turned around, he gestured to the immobile Kevik. “I think Bart’s talking to him again.”

  Fear came over Riyan. Fear that Bart had found the columns first. Returning to the other two, he waited with Chyfe until Kevik returned to them.

  Kevik’s eyes regained their focus and he turned toward Riyan. “Bart says he’s found it,” he relayed.

  “Is he positive?” Riyan asked. He had been positive too only to be proven wrong.

  “Did he find the fourth column?” asked Chyfe. He and Riyan waited for Bart’s reply.

  “Just a minute,” replied Kevik. He again got the far away look as he began communicating with Bart once more. When he came back to them, he started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” Riyan asked.

  Kevik indicated the area behind them. “He’s not too far behind us,” he explained.

  “Right now he’s back at the three columns we found earlier.” Relief washed over Riyan. Still, it would have been better if he had actually found it.

  “They’re moving to catch up with us,” Kevik told them.

  “Let’s not wait for them,” Riyan said. “We’ll keep looking until they reach us.” Not waiting for a reply, he headed out at a very brisk pace that the other two had to hurry to keep up with. It was still possible for him to locate the area before Bart and his group joined them. Bragging rights was still a possibility. Crisscrossing the ruins, he worked his way from one set of three columns to the next.

  Behind him he heard Kevik say, “They’ll never catch us at the pace your setting.”

  “I think that’s the idea,” Chyfe replied for him. Indeed, that was precisely the idea.

  After checking his fifth set of columns since receiving the message from Bart, the trees began to thin even further. The area opened up more and more, until the forest fell away completely except for a few lone trees dotting the ruins here and there.

  The buildings they saw now were
in better shape than those they had come across earlier. They still showed the ravages of time, but there were more that had sections standing erect. Riyan’s hope of finding the three columns before Bart joined up with him increased. If where they needed to find the final segments of the key was anywhere on this island, it would most likely be here.

  Then from behind him Chyfe said, “I see them.”

  Glancing back, Riyan was all excited to find the columns. Instead, he saw Bart and his group moving through the trees. They were running to catch up with them.

  “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

  _______________________

  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 expl
ained. “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.