Bart sized up the portcullis and said, “Don’t worry. We’ll get you out.” Taking hold of the bars, he gestured for the others to do the same. “All together now.” Once everyone had a good grip on the portcullis, Bart said, “Now.” Then lifting with all their strength, they strained to raise it. It wouldn’t budge. Bart let go and said, “Riyan, give me your torch.”
Riyan hurried over to the niche and retrieved it. He returned to the portcullis where he handed it to Bart.
“Chad,” Bart said. “Give me a boost.” Pulling his knife, he indicated he wanted to reach where the portcullis had dropped down through the ceiling.
As Chad laced his fingers together and cupped his hands, Chyfe said to Riyan. “That was smart thinking about using the key to operate the portal.” Riyan grinned and nodded. “I just figured I had nothing else to lose so tried it,” he replied.
“Good thing you did,” Chyfe said.
Chad gave out with a grunt as Bart stepped in the cup formed by his hands and stood up to raise Bart higher.
“That’s good,” Bart said as he reached the ceiling. “Hold it there.” There was a gap between the top of the portcullis and the stone of the ceiling, though it wasn’t very big.
He steadied himself by resting the hand that held the torch against the portcullis as he inserted the knife’s point into the gap next to the wall.
The three of them watched as Bart worked with his knife. Chad was surprised at how well he could hold Bart aloft as he was. Drills at the Guild were really paying off.
“I’m hoping that whatever might be preventing us from raising the portcullis is a certain stop that is commonly used,” he explained. “If it’s similar, I should be able to release it.”
“And if it’s not?” questioned Chyfe.
“In that case I’m sure Riyan wouldn’t be very happy,” he explained.
Several minutes went by as they stood there in continuously rising water. It was up to their hips when Bart finally said, “I think I got it but I can’t let go. Riyan, Chyfe, you two try to raise it.”
“Hope this works,” Chyfe said.
“You aren’t the only one,” replied Riyan. Taking hold of the portcullis they lifted.
The side in which Bart had his knife inserted raised an inch while the other side remained immobile.
“Okay, hold it there,” Bart said. Removing his knife, he indicated for Chad to move to the other side. There he wedged his knife into the gap and a couple seconds later, the portcullis was free.
Once it was raised high enough, Riyan ducked underneath to freedom. “Thanks man,” he said to Bart.
Stepping from Chad’s cupped hands back to the floor, Bart replied, “You can thank me later. Let’s get out of here.”
“We need to find the other two segments of the key,” Riyan said. When the other three turned toward him, he added, “The first two I tossed didn’t make it. They’re somewhere between here and there.” He indicated the passage before them.
“If we stand shoulder to shoulder,” suggested Chyfe, “we could shuffle our feet across the floor. Should be able to find them that way.” Chad nodded. “Good idea,” he said.
They formed up in a line with Riyan against one wall and Chad the other. Then together they began to shuffle their way down the passage toward the portcullis. After a third of the way, Chad’s foot hit one of the keys. Ducking under the water, he soon surfaced with it in his hand.
“One to go,” Riyan said.
The last one they found just before the small circular room wherein lay the portal.
Once they had it, they put all three in Riyan’s pack. Then Bart, Chad, and Chyfe went to stand on the portal. After they were on, Riyan stepped forward and they were immediately taken back to the other room.
Kevik and the twins were standing off to the side when they appeared. Water flowed across the room as it again ran off the portal. “Yes!” exclaimed Seth as he raced forward.
“You okay?” he asked Riyan.
Riyan nodded, “Cold and wet, but at least I’m out of there.”
“Did you get it?” asked Soth.
“Maybe we should go somewhere that isn’t so wet to discuss it,” Bart suggested. He headed for the stairs leading back to the mosaic room on the floor above.
“I got it,” Riyan replied triumphantly.
Once they were up there, Riyan took out the three segments and laid them on the floor. He put their ends together and formed a circle three quarters completed. “One more to go,” he said.
“Any idea where to find it?” asked Seth.
“Not at the moment, no,” he replied.
“First order of business should be in getting back in time to catch the Water Dancer’s return,” Soth asserted. Next to his brother, he was tracing the sigils on one of the segments with a finger.
“If we haven’t missed it already,” said Seth.
Riyan stood up and his feet sloshed from the water in his boots. He took them off, as did those who had gone to rescue him, and dumped what water out as he could. Putting them back on, he hoped they and the rest of him would dry before they made it to the surface. The coldness out there would be unbearable if he were still wet.
“Ready?” he asked.
Bart nodded and then headed for the stairs leading up. Once back on the level above, he turned down the passage in the direction they had come from. With the others behind him, they soon came to the doorway they had broken open to escape the cell beneath the pit trap.
He continued past as there was no way for them to retrace their steps to the upper level that way. There had to be a stairway somewhere around here that would take them to the level above. After passing another two doors that opened onto cells, they came to it. Bart took the stone steps as they spiraled up until they ended at a stone wall. He then paused at the top and inspected the wall for a moment.
“Dead end?” asked Seth.
Bart shook his head. “No,” he replied. “From the looks of it I’d say it was the back side of a secret door.”
Kevik moved closer to provide more light with which to see, and Bart soon found the latch that held the secret door closed. Turning to the others he said, “Like I said, secret doors are only hard to locate from the other side.” Lifting the latch, he pushed the door open and found a passageway running to their left and right on the other side.
Bart paused in the doorway. “Riyan, hand me the rope,” he said as he turned back to the others. When Riyan removed the rope from his pack and handed it to him, he secured it around his waist. From the number of cells they had passed along the passageway below, this level was most likely full of pit traps to catch the unwary.
Once the rope was secure, he turned to the left as that was the direction he figured they had originally entered this level. With Riyan and Chad holding the other end of the rope, he continued on.
He had the others keep a ten foot interval between each themselves. He remembered how he had had to jump on the trap earlier in order for it to drop. If a certain weight was required to activate the traps, or the age of the place making them not work properly, then having them spaced would cause only one person to be atop a trap at any one time. And if his weight didn’t activate it when he crossed, then the others should be safe.
Bart kept a steady pace, all the while anticipating the floor opening up beneath him at any time. When he saw the area where the dust and dirt was disturbed from their earlier excursion through the trap, he relaxed. “We’re almost out of this area. Stay spaced and keep to the right. Remember,” he said as he pointed to the right side of the passageway,
“this particular trap dropped on that side.”
He kept as far right as he could while crossing the trap and made it without the trap being triggered. Then one by one the others crossed too in exactly the same manner. They all breathed a sigh of relief when Chyfe, who was last in line, made it across without incident.
Bart untied the rope from around his waist and handed it back to Riyan. Then he retraced t
heir steps from when they had come in search of the twins. After turning the corner to the left, they were back in the room where Kevik had tried to identify the strange weapon. He crossed the room and entered the passage on the other side.
They saw the weapon still lying on the floor where Seth had tossed it. “Should we take it?” asked Chyfe when they approached where it had landed.
Kevik shook his head. “No.”
Trusting to his judgment, they left it lying there and continued on their way.
Following the route they took in, they finally made it back to the hall with the tables lying every which way.
“I was thinking,” Chyfe said as they exited the passageway and stepped upon the dais.
“If all the defenders were killed, then where are their armor and weapons?”
“What do you mean,” Seth asked.
“Out here, there are weapons lying about, yet no armor,” he explained. “Also, this is the only place where we even found weapons. Other than that one odd looking weapon with the curved blades.”
“I see what you mean,” Seth agreed. “Doubt if we’ll ever know for sure what happened here.”
They descended the two steps from the dais to the floor of the hall and crossed over to the mouth of the passage that led to the room with that fountain looking thing near the entrance.
Once in the passage, they followed it to the junction where another passage they hadn’t explored yet joined with theirs. In each of their minds was the thought of what treasures could still be lying undiscovered in the halls they had yet to explore. But they needed to rendezvous with the Water Dancer before she left. Besides, what treasure could possibly be down here that could compare to what was held within the Horde?
Bart continued on. In a few moments light appeared in the distance ahead of him. The fountain looking thing was illuminated by light from the outside as it shone down the stairwell. When he neared the end of the passage where it opened onto the room, he saw that a light dusting of snow covering the steps leading to the surface.
“It snowed,” Riyan said in a less than happy tone. His clothes still weren’t completely dry, and a shiver went up his spine as he looked at the snow.
Bart had a smile on his face at his friend’s expense as he entered the room. About to give him a humorous retort, he suddenly stopped cold when a shadow passed across the light coming in from the outside.
“What are you…?” began Chyfe when Bart turned around and gestured for them to be quiet.
In a quiet voice he said, “There’s someone out there.”
“Or something,” added Chad. He had seen the shadow too.
Bart gave Chad a look that said to be quiet about such things then said, “I’ll check it out. The rest of you stay here.” Not waiting for a response, he turned and made his way around the fountain to the base of the steps. Just before he reached them he heard a voice from the outside say, “Hey, I found something.”
“Is it them?” asked a second voice.
“Can’t be sure,” the first man said. “Snow’s everywhere.”
“Durik said to report anything unusual,” the second man said.
Bart stood against the wall as he peered up the stairwell. He could see two men standing there. Both were dressed for the cold with heavy jackets, hats, and gloves. He glanced back to where he had left the others, from their expressions he couldn’t be sure if they had heard the man mention Durik being on the island. Then his attention was brought back to the pair at the top of the steps when he heard snow crunch beneath the sole of a boot. Peering around the edge and up the stairwell again, he saw that one of the men now stood on the first step.
“What are you doing?” questioned the other man.
“Just going to take a look,” the first man said.
“Durik said not to do anything if we found them,” the second man asserted.
“Look Bannin,” the first man argued, “we aren’t even sure if they’re down there. We should check it out.”
“I…I don’t think that would be wise,” Bannin said nervously. “I heard one of the sailors say this island was cursed.”
The first man laughed. “Sailor superstition is all that is,” he replied. “There could be treasure down there too. If we wait for Durik to show up, we won’t get anything worthwhile.”
Bart saw the first man turn from his companion and begin descending the stairs. A second later Bart heard Bannin begin to descend as well. Turning back to the others, he drew his knife and signaled for Chad to join him while Riyan and the twins were to place themselves against the wall on the other side of the stairwell. They watched as the shadows on the floor of the men coming down the steps drew closer.
“Let’s not stay down here too long,” Bannin said, a tinge of fear in his voice.
“Stop being such a child,” his comrade chided him.
They listened as the two men made their way down the steps. Bart mouthed, ‘Take them alive’ and Riyan nodded. Then as the first man entered the room, they attacked.
Chyfe and Chad jumped him and had him under control quickly. Seth and Soth drew their swords and entered the stairwell. Seth saw Bannin begin to turn as he fled back up the steps and threw his sword at the man’s legs to stop him. The edge hit the man in the calf and severed his hamstring muscle. With a cry of pain, his leg collapsed and he dropped to the steps. Seth got to him first and quickly removed the man’s sword and knife. Then with Soth’s help, they carried him back down the steps to the room below.
“Well, well,” Bart said to the two men once they were set against the wall. “So Durik tracked us here did he?”
Riyan’s eyes widened at that. “Durik?” he asked. “How could he have known we were here?”
“Easy,” replied Chyfe. “All he had to do was ask around at the docks about a group of strangers. It wouldn’t take long before someone would have told him we were trying to book passage here.”
Bannin, the one with the severed hamstring, was moaning in pain as he held the wound closed with his hand to prevent blood loss. The other man was staring at them nervously. “What are you going to do?” he asked.
“That depends on how cooperative you two are willing to be,” Bart replied. “Answer our questions truthfully, and we’ll let you live.” He looked questioningly at the two men.
Bannin was unresponsive as he was wracked with pain. The other man locked gazes with Bart for a moment, then nodded.
“How long have you two been with Durik?” asked Riyan.
“Off and on for a couple years now,” the man explained.
“Were you with him when he left Gilbeth after us?” asked Bart.
The man nodded. “He was almost fooled by those ‘clues’ you left at the estate,” he said. “Once he knew they were fakes, he figured you were heading east since the false clues pointed west.”
“How did he figure it out?” Bart asked. He didn’t like hearing that his painstaking attempt to mislead Durik had failed.
The man shrugged. “Don’t know that,” he replied.
“Where is he right now?” Chyfe asked.
“Out looking for you,” the man replied.
“How many are here with him?” asked Bart.
“Little over two score,” the man said. “A dozen of us came from Gilbeth, the rest joined after we arrived in Catha. Seems Durik has an acquaintance in Catha, someone called Lord Eythryn. It was his ships which brought us to the island, and the other men with us are his.”
Riyan glanced to Chyfe. “Ever heard of a Lord Eythryn?” Chyfe nodded. “He’s bad news from what I understand,” he explained. “Never had any direct dealings with him, but a friend of mine ran afoul of him before my move to Gilbeth. A few weeks after we arrived in Gilbeth, I received word from another friend that he had turned up dead. No one was ever able to prove Lord Eythryn had a hand in it, but I’m sure he did.”
Riyan nodded. Turning back to their captives, he asked, “Where are the ships moored?”
“Near th
e old settlement,” the man replied. “By the way, we found the boat you had stashed away. It’s not there anymore.”
“Damn!” cursed Chyfe. “How are we to get off the island?” Their situation just took a turn for the worse.
Chapter Thirty-Two
_______________________
Soth bandaged the wound in Bannin’s calf while Seth tied the hands and legs of the other man. “You can’t leave us tied,” the man wailed as Seth cinched tight the rope binding his hands. “We’ll die!”
“I said I would leave you alive,” Bart told him. “I didn’t say anything about letting you go. With any luck you might be able to get free before long.” Once Soth had finished bandaging the injured man’s leg, Seth began tying his legs and hands together.
Chyfe came back down the steps from where he had been reconnoitering. “Doesn’t look like anyone else is in the area,” he said.
“Is it still snowing?” Riyan asked.
Shaking his head, Chyfe replied, “No. But the clouds look like it could start at any time. There isn’t much on the ground, just a light dusting.” Riyan sighed. “Thanks,” he said.
“It’s done,” Seth said as he stood up from finishing securing Bannin’s legs.
“Good,” Bart replied. “Let’s go.”
Riyan picked up his pack and swung it across his shoulders. He glanced at the two men and felt bad about leaving them here. The regret he was feeling must have been visible, for Bannin’s companion looked at him then started pleading anew for them not to be left down there.
Bart came to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Come on Riyan,” he said.
Steeling himself against the pleas, Riyan preceded Bart to the steps. Once he arrived at the top, it was easier to ignore the men left below.
Bart waited until they had moved out of earshot of the two men before saying, “We need to reach the settlement and somehow steal a boat if we’re to get off this island.”
“Won’t they expect something like that?” Chyfe asked.
“Probably,” replied Bart. He glanced to the cloud shrouded sky. “Might be late afternoon.”
The Broken Key (02) - Hunter of the Horde Page 47